Like any normal person, when I get a new tool, I immediately begin working on obsessing over it. But when I got a new tiny watercolor palette so I could paint anywhere I go, I had to make a very tough decision quickly because I’m impatient.
This new painting has been in the works for most of August and because I recorded the painting process, the painting took longer to complete. It’s September now and I’ll never shut up about it.
I have a weird habit of trying new things, so of course, I signed up for TikTok. But now I regret that I didn’t do this sooner because it’s fun making mini-movies about my art. Here’s how I created the “Remains” painting – a story in 3 videos. Sound up.
To create this painting, I first enlarged the 6×9 sketch I drew in my sketchbook a while ago. Then I transferred it to 11×14 inch size watercolor paper using a lightbox. Then, I taped the drawing to a wood panel and attached the panel to an easel. While preparing to paint, I specifically used this ambient, serene music in my video to help calm my nerves.
I painted this in watercolor and ink vertically while standing up. Painting vertically with watercolor is challenging. Painting vertically with permanent ink is challenging insane. Why did I do this standing up, knowing fully well that watercolor and ink are watery mediums that drip down and not up?
Yup, it must be my weird habit of trying new things, again. And because I’m already good at watercolor and ink horizontally, and now vertically. After adding some black acrylic paint and more watercolor, the work is complete and referred to in all my future conversations indefinitely, such as: “Per my last ‘Remains’ painting…”. So keep my new skill in mind the next time a disaster strikes.
I have hearts in my logo, and Valentine’s Day is coming up, so how could I possibly not acknowledge this chair holiday. In this sentence, “chair” is an adjective. I’m using the word “chair” to describe the holiday because it’s a metaphor for how I looked around the room and saw something that I love.
Piece #25 is one of the new originals that are in the shop. I ended up painting some of the Pieces in more detail because I wanted to see how certain details would look with a new painting technique I’ve developed. These paintings would look pretty classy in a black frame, or both matted & framed in black. I’ve created several new original paintings available in the shop, all of which I painted at night while sitting in the chair that I love.
“A Calm Within A Qualm” 3×3 limited edition vinyl sticker – $3.49 Buy sticker
And a new limited-edition sticker from my 2010 painting “A Calm Within A Qualm”. Stick it on your phone case, your laptop, your chair, use it as a bookmark, or anywhere you’d like to have a little sanctuary. These stickers are beautifully printed by Sticker Mule.
Prints of “A Calm Within A Qualm” are also available for your sanctuary.
Right now my apartment smells like cinnamon, eggnog, and coffee. No, this is not a blog with too much information about my personal life before I share my recipe for how to make cinnamon eggnog coffee. Just mix the 3 and let me know if you like it because I haven’t tried it but it sounds good.
This blog is only about too much information about my personal life, which also happens to be my professional life. Being an artist, the line between personal and professional is often blurred.
Although like many others, my goals and plans were thwarted by a pandemic, there are still things I’d like to celebrate that are professional but personally important to me. “Celebration” is just another word for “gratitude”. Look it up.
I’ve had the privilege to focus on my art this year, allowing me to further evolve and develop my style.
I set up my website to be my main place of selling my artwork, like an independent online gallery space. Basically, I’m a business owner.
I created a show in the style of a mockumentary called Artist, which so far I’ve been able to put together 2 videos episodes but will make more as I get into a better flow of, like, actually documenting my work and talking about it. I’ve always said in job interviews that my weakness is letting people get to know me. So I’ve been working on that, including making those videos episodes and writing this blog.
During the entire year of 2020, I’ve lived and worked in Los Angeles, without which I would not have been able to make such progress during such a rough year.
This #ArtVsArtist2020 image is the first year I’m participating in the #ArtVsArtist hashtag, even though it’s been a thing for a while. Because of how much I use social media on a regular basis, I’m so ashamed that I’ve missed it before.
From what I understand is: an artist chooses 8 of their favorite artworks that they made during the year, and includes 1 photo from the year of themselves, and posts the complication image on Instagram and Twitter. My painting style evolved further around late Summer, and I’ve been very happy with that so far, so the work I’ve chosen I created all after that. And the photo of me I chose posing with my favorite tequila, Espolon Blanco, while I was making a margarita in November.
Not everyone loves social media, but as an artist I do because I use it to show my work to lots of people (who also may or may not love social media but are still on it). And my social media is a form of documenting my work and its progression. It’s like a public diary that everyone gets to comment on.
Can you imagine living your everyday private life while anyone and everyone watches you and comments on your every move?
In this episode of Artist, I answer a deeply personal question. Then I talk about bringing back my ongoing series of one-of-a-kind paintings called Pieces and take you through the process of painting Piece #21.
Oh hey, Pieces are back and I kept wanting to blog them, but so far I’ve made 3 new ones and they’ve all sold. If you’ve adopted a Piece now, or in the past, thank you!
Your turn: What did you do today? And if you did nothing but enjoy these videos, please thumbs up and share it with your friends and family.
And please take a shot every time I say “and.”
Here’s a list of all the art materials I used in the painting time lapse:
I created an art video blog in the style of a Netflix documentary show! It’s called Artist and I take you behind the scenes of my artwork. This is the first episode, where I show you the process of how I created a painting and answer a question I didn’t want to answer. It’s two tutorials in one video.
Your turn: How are you? And if you don’t know but enjoy these videos, please thumbs up and share it with your friends and family.
Here’s a list of all the art supplies I used in the painting time lapse:
One of my hobbies is making drinks and cocktails for family and friends. There’s just something I love about mixing colorful liquids and spirits. I don’t know what it is about it…
Gatherings and potlucks, most of the time instead of bringing dishes, I’ve brought drinks. Everyone brings dishes, I like to bring something different. Besides, who’d want something made from obligation instead of love? I’ve done this so many times, it became an unwritten rule – Tanya makes the drinks. Cool, I love this obligation.
This inspired a series of watercolor paintings that I’ve been adding to over the years, Mocktails – impossibly good drink recipes:
I’ve been drawing and writing a lot of new art for the past year and have scheduled 3+ months of it to automatically post on my Instagram. These posts have been appearing on a schedule since New Year’s Day. They are watercolor and ink paintings and word drawlings, usually accompanied by a caption. I’m not sure how long I’ll keep this going, but so far it’s been fun creating these ahead of time and using Instagram and scheduling apps to share some of my new work.
New posts appear on Tuesdays and Fridays: @razorberries Please enjoy viewing and reading and getting FOMO from all the nights I’ve been working.
These are not vacation photos. This is my new home.
I moved across the country to Los Angeles 8 months ago, on April 1st. Of course, I only remembered to share this here now (4 years and 7 months since my last blog post) because it’s winter in Chicago now and I really appreciate the warm LA weather. I ran away from snow. Now I’m trying to figure out what kind of umbrella will protect me from wildfires and what kind of shoes will protect me from earthquakes.
Sacred Art Chicago is currently featuring my artwork as part of their Artist Showcase Series during the months of May and June! Last week was the show opening. Just for that night, I brought some of my sketchbooks for everyone to flip through, including the one from when I was 5 years old.
The sketchbooks show the progress me of learning to draw through practice. And I’m still always learning and evolving.
You can check out my artwork at Sacred Art at 4619 N Lincoln Ave, here in Chicago, until the end of June.
Click the above thumbnails to see the closeups of the painting.
A couple weeks ago, I attended an OK Go live show at Lincoln Hall here in Chicago. Basically, it was awesome. I bought the ticket back in May and later, the show was sold-out. The venue was tiny for a now popular band that originated in Chicago. The maximum capacity of Lincoln Hall is 507. It was a very intimate setting and I managed to get to the front. One of my favorite things about the band is their creativity. I love their videos and the way they interact with their fans.
This photo is of the audience at Lincoln Hall, which was taken by the lead singer, Damian Kulash. Can you find me in the crowd? Hint: I’m the screaming brunette in the center, behind the two dudes by the mic.
Can you tell that the show was very colorful? The band sounded amazing, too. Their new album, Hungry Ghosts, is coming out in October. At the last song of the set, the band invited some of the audience to climb up on stage to dance.
Here’s the photo I took while I was up there. It captured my perspective of that moment EXACTLY: trippy lights, confetti, jumping & screaming fellow fans, and the back of Damian Kulash’s head.
Long story short, I sorta immediately got inspired and the result was this illustrarticle.
I had a show of my own coming up that weekend, Chicago’s Bucktown Arts Fest (my upcoming post), so I was pressed for time to finish. Still, I managed to get everything done.
My goal with this illustrarticle was to make OK Go laugh. Upon posting the illustrarticle last week, I tagged each of them in the IllustrArticles Instagram post, hoping they’d see the illustration and where to read the article. And, it sorta worked.
The above is how the sketch started off. I doodled it on the side of my sketchbook pretty quickly last week. It’s loosely modeled after California Street in San Francisco.
During my trip to SF back in March, I hopped on to a street car on California Street and held onto the side while riding down. The street cars don’t go very fast and stop constantly, but it seems strange to me that people are allowed and encouraged to just cling on to a pole and stand on the side while riding. So if you’re standing, there is no protection between you and the passing cars. Your only safety is your hopefully strong grip.
Things got a little intense as I was finishing the illustration. One paint brush was injured during the making of this illustrarticle. I must have leaned a little too hard on my new paint brush while inking and nearly dozing off at 1 a.m., a few hours after getting home from my job.
