Wednesday, March 24, 2010

KORO

This isn't MY Koro... but he's a chief of a Maori tribe and I loved the wisdom that his eyes carried. I would love to see my culture blossom with my next generation, but the truth is, the Maori culture is dying, so we should all take advantage of its beauty while we still have the time.

NATIVE

A photo JJ found that he fell in love with and asked me to do. It was the first time I had attempted a background like this, and I like it!

SOLDIER BOY

This is a photo I found that really broke my heart. This is a boy over in Africa who was trained as a soldier at the tender age of 8 and has been fighting ever since. This is why I don't wear diamonds. Go rent Blood Diamond and it'll all make sense.

WYATT & ALMA

The other half of mine and JJ's wedding gift to our cousins. For some reason I had a really hard time capturing Wyatt, he always ending up looking like Val Kilmer. So I finally got him this time... but Alma looked a little off. You can't win them all, so that's why she's getting the individual portrait of herself as well. :)

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

ROACH

A graduation present to my husband when he earned his BA degree... My father in law informed me that the head piece that this native is wearing is called a Roach, and so that's what I decided to call it.

BOSS


Big Dre. This was a requested birthday present from a good friend of mine... Happy birthday brother!

ALMA


The beautiful bride Alma... This was a late wedding present to my new cousins...

GAGA & TATOS


Little GaGa and Tatos! Just small portraits... I sell these small portraits for a small fee! :)

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

BOB

This is Bob. I don't know his real name, but this is another piece that I did at work. This was the first piece that I did that had so many wrinkles and it was fun for me to capture the character that each wrinkle brings to Bob. This is just pencil on a piece of computer paper, and was done in between calls at work. This was also a gift to my "friend" (who is now my husband). I told you guys, I seriously wanted to impress this guy, I drew for him every time he asked, and I still do! :)

CHIEF JOSEPH


This is a sketch of one of the most respected and well known Chiefs of the Native American culture, Chief Joesph. This sketch came to be when I was bored at work one day and asked my close friend (who is now my husband) what I should draw in order to take my mind off my work. He sent me this picture, not really knowing how seriously I take my art. I deeply wanted to impress him, so I spent a lot more time then I normally would on the details of Chiefs costume, the face, and the head piece. The next day I presented to him and it blew him away! I was very happy with his reaction, he proceeded to show everyone on his team my work, bragging and boasting that I did it in less then 2 days. I fell in love with how proud he was of me and how much he believed in me. This sketch showed my new husband another side of me that he fell in love with, and it did the same for me to him as well.

JESSE


This is an acrylic black and white portrait of one of my FAVORITE little boys, Jesse. Our families are friends and so it was a treat that Jesse and his mom were patients at the chiropractic office that I worked at. Almost everyday at about noon, I would see the door open and his little voice would chirped, "Mo-gan! Mo-gan? MO-GAN!" It would make my day every single time! When I left the office, I wanted to give the family a gift to represent the huge impact that lil Jesse would have one my day, so I gave them this four piece set.

B.RODD


This is an acrylic painting of my friend Brandon Rodd. I did this piece when he played for ASU. I wanted it to seem a little comic book in nature, using bright colors and sharp lines, leaving the people in the background blurry as to not distract from B-Rodd and his opponent.

I love this shot because you can see the fear in his opponents body, even though I think he was flagged for holding on this play... :)

KINGSTON


This is a portrait of my little cousin Kingston who passed away when he was very young. It was a gift for his mother and father, and a tribute to the adorable and cherubic way he would do everything. In this picture he was given a doughnut that he wasn't supposed to have, and when I approached him to take this photo, he thought that I was going to snatch his snack away from him. So with his big beautiful eyes and his head tilted downward, I captured this shot. I love how he didn't try to hide from me or even hide the doughnut, instead he just stared me down and almost dared me to take it away from him.
I love you King....