serious small thing

cositaSeria, originally uploaded by susisco.

Cosita Seria, that's me.
Words on the illustration are from a favorite song of mine...

Artist Secret

Paint Brush, originally uploaded by susisco.

Here's a little secret of mine, I have a hard time believing I am an artist. I work in the arts, I paint and draw whenever I can, but just never really can convince myself I am one. I can't stop thinking of art, and always feel the need to express myself through paint/illustration. So I leave my problem to not being dedicated enough, but how do you balance out the time?

There is always an excuse for not being a working artist:
- Full time job
- Freelance work
- Socializing
- Responsibilities
- Trying to have balanced life

Once the above is figured out I still need to work on my craft. Practice, explore, improve, do more. I think this year I'm starting to believe I'm an artist. I'm def. doing more, and sacrificing more of the above. This change has made me feel better calling myself an artist. Still not fully there but getting there.

Note about the picture:
This brush I've had for a really long time and has worked and still works wonders for me. I unfortunately can't read the brand name anymore and can't remember where I got it. I love my old brushes. I hope it lasts a while longer.

sacrifice

sacrifice, originally uploaded by susisco.

This is just a reminder for myself. I need to focus on my goal and remember to give some things up so I may aquire what I really want to accomplish.

Note on the illustration:
It started out as a ink drawing on illustration paper but then I stepped over it and smeared it, so then I tried fixing it and just messed it up even more, even the knib of the pen broke and almost fell in my eye. Not a good night for me. Because of the pain it caused me I took the drawing into photoshop and just messed with it a bit more. I will be redoing and hopefully shit wont go wrong then.

Rough Expression

red, originally uploaded by susisco.

New Painting done, also updated on www.idontdopretty.com.

Inspiration: Expressionism
Size: 9x 12"
I love Expressionistic paintings, the brush strokes and deep color tones. Like some of the works of Oskar Kokoschka and Emil Nolde (his faces I don't care for but the colors and brush strokes I like).

Sell Out!

In the spirit of the new year and trying new things I decided to open up my cafepress shop. Why not right! It's free and I'm online, seems to make sense. Visit my shop make suggestions and purchase.



or open up your own shop.



Here's to a prosperous new year. I should try sleeping too.

I don't do pretty is LIVE!!!

My Art Site Screenshot, originally uploaded by susisco.

I don't do pretty.com is finally LIVE!

I bought this url a while back with the intentions of posting only my artwork, but I never did anything with it for a few reasons. I was working long hours, didn't have much work to put on the site and wanted to create something easy to update. I still don't have enough of the type of work I want to display but at least I found a easy way to update the site. Thanks to paul stamatiou posts I can use my flickr set and update the site through there.

Quick and Dirty, LOVE IT.

Working

Working, originally uploaded by susisco.

I started working around 11pm on 12/29/07. I have to say it is just wonderful putting on some music in the middle of the night and painting away. I love the silence of the night and I guess now early morning since it's now 1:26am on 12/30/07. This is the time I feel more at peace and relaxed.

Art Piece: Not relaxed, a little angry actually, oh well

My music this evening started off w/ some BEBE (MALO CD), Paul Simon (Graceland) and now CCR (the best of).

Happy Holidays

My dad's office Newport Beach Harbor, originally uploaded by susisco.

Merry Xmas. Today I went over to where my dad works. Just hung out for a little bit. It is a beautiful sunny day here in CA. Turning out to be a very nice xmas eve for us. I hope you all have a great holiday.

Skate Boarding Dog

My Friend Greg saw the pict of Santa Monica and then sent me the video below... too funny.

Hollywood

Axl Rose?, originally uploaded by susisco.

Thanks to Tina and her friend I had a fun Sunday driving/walking around Hollywood. I had to share this photo to show the wonderful diversity of Los Angeles. Last week I put up Santa Monica boardwalk guy w/skateboard. Super "cool" dude, now I have to show you Hollywood. Here we get the leather jacket, motorcycle riding "superstar". I love that we came across this guy w/the Axl Rose jacket whose bike died on him. He was on top of a flat bed tow truck. Absolutely love it.

Santa Monica

06_skateBoard, originally uploaded by susisco.

I love LA. Really I do. It drives me crazy sometimes and people can be so self involved here but I just love how diverse and fun it can be. I went Sat. to Santa Monica to take some action shots for the photography class I'm taking and this is what I found. I'm not very good at taking action shots (good thing I'm taking the class) but I just had to post this because it is so LA.

Music w/Suzie

I'm posting some links to songs just because they say my name.

Ben Harper – Suzie Blue

Creedence Clearwater Revival – Susie Q

Ramones – Suzy Is a Headbanger

And this one just because I like the song and well I am a cosita seria:
Aterciopelados – Cosita Seria


Art Update:
I'm working on a new painting but I'm not happy w/it yet. Hopefully I will finish it this weekend and post. But then again I'm getting a wisdom tooth pulled out Thursday so we shall see how I feel after. Good Times.

PS: This post just gave me idea to do my inspirational play list. I might do that next. But for now I really need to get some rest.

Have a great one!

Photography Class

Elevator, originally uploaded by susisco.

I love happy accidents. Last week I started a photography class and have been taking pictures like crazy. I was on my way to lunch with camera on hand and was fooling around with settings and took this shot just for the hell of it. It is now my favorite.

Peace redone

hiddenFace_wHair, originally uploaded by susisco.

I did another one w/Hair. Everyone seems to be responding really well to this one. Thanks for the compliments And yes this one has an owner already.

Inner Peace...

Back from Costa Rica. The trip was definitely too fast but I had a great time and am happy to have been able to go. My traveling partners were the best, had a super chill time with them and would love to travel with them again. Puerto Viejo was absolutely my favorite spot with its warm water beach that was practically my own (hardly anyone else around). I never felt so at peace then when I was at Puerto Viejo reading my book and listening to the ocean waves crashing and the birds in the background. I so didn’t want to leave that spot.

I’ve been hiding from the world since I got back not wanting to return to reality. I’ve kept my interaction with the computer to a minimum and ignoring my phone. Trying to keep my high from the trip because come Monday the routine starts again and my inner peace will be disturbed. I miss the green and the blue of Costa Rica (okay chilling and enjoying nature instead of being stuck in front of a computer 24/7).

PAINTING INFO:
Oil Painting 16x20"

The trip seems to have been good for me; I got another painting out this weekend. Hidden face is a self portrait of me trying to hide. Maybe I should call this one inner peace disturbed. My coworker says I need to be more creative with naming my paintings. I just don’t care for that part. Call them what you want and see what you want out of them. I already did my part.

All packed and ready to go!

All Packed, originally uploaded by susisco.

I'm off to Costa Rica!

Finally a vacation, no computer no work and hopefully some adventure and rest. I hope this trip gets me inspired to design and paint some new stuff. Lately I am drawing a blank w/my graphic design and my personal artwork. All work and no play finally has left me zonked and uninspired.

One other good thing about this trip I will be back on a bike. Some of you know how much I love cyling and am very excited to do this RailBike Tour. 24 miles or so traveling on a rail road track through Costa Rica, that's my kind of fun. The rest of trip I plan on just going w/the flow and see what kind of trouble I can get into ;-).

Have a great week!

woman

woman, originally uploaded by susisco.

For some weird reason I seem to only be able to start my paintings using some sort of ochre yellow tones. Even if I originally plan on using a different color I can't seem to get away from the yellow.

This is a small oil painting done on a piece of cardboard from a shoe box or something, don't remember exactly from where.

the Effect

butterfly, originally uploaded by susisco.

Lately I've been super busy w/work and haven't had time to paint. I had promised myself to paint more but unfortunately responsibilities always seem to get in the way.

Currently trying to work on: Abstract portrait

Currently working on pushing pixels for many hours

wasted talent part 2

MATT I HAVEN'T PAINTED!!! I am busy conquering the world with my great design. There are you happy now.

Greg

greg_16x20_090207, originally uploaded by susisco.

I started this painting of my friend a while ago. I'm happy to say I finished it, finally. Now if it resembles him I don't know anymore, I looked at his mug for so long It all started to look the same.

What I used:
Oil on canvas, 16x20.

Hardest part:
Knowing when to stop or keep going

This is actually the most realistic painting I've ever done.