new pieces finished

almost dead.

and after a lot of struggle I finally managed to finish my three new pieces. these last weeks have not been the easiest ones, I must say. bad eyesight, artistic crisis, improvement work around the house - have had to work hearing the bum bum of hammers all day long. but art prevailed, and the pieces got done in time for the show - yep, I'll be at Common Grounds this weekend.

last night I even had a little time to change the blog look. and planning a website makeover too. but first I need to take care of a couple commissions. for now, enjoy my new stuff!

a new hope

have not heard from the cafe people in a while, so I'm assuming that the show is not going to happen - or it's not going to happen so soon. to tell he truth I am a little alleviated since I'm in a middle of an artistic crisis and feeling nauseous every time I look to one of my pieces. pieces I loved so much and had so much pleasure doing. I don't know what happens to me from times to times, really. my husband says that I am too much of a perfectionist, and he is not wrong. what I know is that I feel this urge of taking my work to a next level, of doing different things and doing it now. this is not a negative thing per se, but when you look at most of your old work with a certain despise something is not ok. I feel so lost and suffer to a point of losing my sleep at night trying to find solutions, looking for answers in other artists' artworks and all sort of inspiring images, until eyes and back cry for rest. seriously.

I have an artistic ideal very clear in my mind. the problem is to achieve this ideal when you hand simply doesn't obey your mind. well, I am passionate about Japanese/Chinese art, and my goal is to get the closest possible to its elegance and simplicity. I love the empty spaces, the limited palette, the sensation of calm and peace. but when my hands touch the brushes, dude... it's like a volcano of color erupting from inside myself spilling its vibrant lava all over the board. I cannot help it. I get crazy with the paints before me. so many colors - why to save them? I don't know if this has something to do with my Brazilian cultural background, all that sun and heat and colors ingrained in my DNA. and I thought I was not a typical Latin American girl.

but anyway... today I decided to calm down and experiment. I used a small piece of board and drew the profile of my friend and honorary model Iara, and working with watercolors in an aleatory manner.

I totally liked the result, and could have stopped if I had not thought that something was missing at the top. I also missed my usual abstracts filling up the hair. in the end I thought that a butterfly would make a charming addition, but the watercolor effect at the top didn't really match the one I did. I messed up the job. but nothing that an exacto knife couldn't fix.

I've been trying to work more on my pencil drawing, to make it more realistic. I love the combination colors/monochrome and really want to continue in this path. this little work ended up cheering me up and making me think that nothing is lost... I now have the spark I needed to keep creating.

I'm alive.

so, I have my new lenses and they seem to work fine, but my eyes still get too tired when I focus on computer work for too long. so I decided to avoid it, mainly at night. anyway, I have a few books to finish reading and need to put some workshops together too!

to tell the truth these last days have found me a little lethargic and lost. it's being a little hard to work for the show. I'm living a bit of a crisis concerning to my style and simply aborted 2 pieces I spent quite a time working on. I am now trying to finish 3 new ones and I hope to be able to do it this weekend, so I can breath, clean my house and start other stuff. even the Tree of Life is likely to be redone.

pics of the new works soon - if I don't decide to incinerate them.

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!