and the winner is....

number 2:
Matouš Svěrák (Deviantart)

I received 15 entries, and it was hard to draw only one number!! thanks to each one of the participants for their interest and for all the sweet words. you are fabulous folks. I plan another giveway for the Autumn Equinox, not sure if I'll be able to draw another portrait, though, but we'll see.

let me know if there are interest in discounts on originals and portraits, so I can also include some good discounts in the giveaways.

congratulations, Matous! I'll be contacting you soon!

Solstice giveaway!!

as I promised a few days ago, to celebrate my birthday (today!) and the Summer Solstice I decided to present you, followers and friends, with a special gift. this is my way to say "thank you" for all the love and support I've been receiving, as both explicitly and silently.

I will be doing a giveaway of an 8.5 x 12 full color Astroportrait (a $200 value), which is a fine art customized portrait inspired on your astrological profile - for the ones who are not familiar with that, please check it out on my store. all you have to do is to send me an email with the subject Portrait giveaway, containing:
- your name and email
- which one of the groups below you belong to
- answer to the question: which one of my pieces is your favorite?

I'll write you back with a number. on this Jun 21st I'll be drawing a winner. sounds exciting?

and since I care about every person who watches and supports me, there are some rules for the participants:

1. participants must be part of one of the following groups:
- followers of Mesmerized by the Sirens blog (this one!)
- followers of Inspirais blog (my blog in Portuguese)
- my Twitter's followers
- my Facebook's friends list
- my RedBubble's watchers list
- my Deviantart's watchers list

2. gift is personal and nontransferable, i.e., you shall not give it to another person!

3. due to the shipping costs, unfortunately only US and Canada residents will receive the original artwork. an international winner will receive only the digital version, at least if willing to pay for the shipping. sorry! :(

I have to meet some deadlines at the present, then please notice that I'll just be able to start the job by late July. but you have only until June 20th to email me. so, run!

and Happy Solstice!

work in progress: The Calling

feeling a little handicapped since my laptop cable broke inside. no way to use it until the new cable arrives, what may happen next week. I can't access my softwares and reference pictures and other important stuff for a while. fortunately I have the family desktop available at least to read and answer emails. but as there are bad things that come for good (pretty much all of them, I'd say,) I can now catch up with my readings and give some deserved rest to my poor eyes, that have been suffered a lot on the screen exposure.

I keep on working on the non nude pieces that will be shown at the cafe next month (what, didn't I tell you that I'm going to display some works at the Common Grounds Coffee House, in Lexington- KY next month?) they don't want nudes, so I'll have to complete my set of paintings with some new ones.









feeling specially happy with this one, named The Calling, and pondering whether or not I should put it for sale. I've been putting a lot of emotional energy in this painting, that ended up becoming pretty much a type of self-portrait. yep, it's my face again. The Calling is about the freedom of being yourself and following your path in life, or responding to the call of your soul. it has a more organic aesthetic and also more naturalist. it seems that I definitely incorporated the heart in my personal iconography, along with the masks and butterflies...

Persephone

Watercolor and pencil on illustration board,
10 x 8
2009
s o l d

Model: Adhara Batul

In Greek mythology, Persephone was the goddess of the underwold and of the Spring growth. Daughter of Demeter, goddess of the harvest, she was abducted by Hades and taken to the land of the dead. By a determination of the Fates, she was forced to stay for two seasons each year after eating pomegranates seeds, thus becoming consort of Hades and queen of the underworld. The painting depicts her sorrow after having the seeds.

watercolors on sale and getting ready for the Solstice

the spirit of the Solstice and of my coming birthday descended over me and I decided to cut off on the prices of my watercolor on paper paintings and commissioned portraits. the paintings are now listed at $60 each (old price: $100 - 120.) I really want them to go. the comissioned astroportraits cost now $200, 9 x 12, full color (it was $230). but notice that I'll be accepting commissions of portraits just from mid July.

I'm also thinking what will be my Summer Solstice present to all the ones that watch my work, either here, on Facebook, Twitter, or on my mailing list. I intend to raffle a gift among my friends and watchers every season, and this first one will be something special, promise. ;)

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I decided to discontinue the direct sales of open edition prints. all the process of hiring a printing service, picking up the job, bring it home for handling, then going to the post office for shipping, was not really paying off. from now on all my prints will be handled by RedBubble and Imagekind. if you want them signed, just send it to me with a prepaid envelope, so I can send it back to you with a little love! if in the future people get interested in limited editions, I'll be willing to do it depending on how many people manifest their interest.

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as I predicted, my Ebay auctions were not successful. I'm thinking on trying again, although I still cannot start my prices at $9.99...