This morning, my friend Dan asked me if I wanted to accompany him to meet a well-known instagram artist named N.C. Winters. He had posted on instagram that he was doing a live-painting in front of Rhino Art Shop here in Encinitas. Very cool. We go to check it out, met N.C. himself and talked to him for a few minutes, then let him focus back on his painting. We were in awe with his work.


 Alongside N.C. were about 10-15 other artists working on their own barrels, along with a DJ playing inspiring tunes while they worked.




Afterwords, Dan and I grabbed coffee/tea, and Dan spoke with the person in charge of the Barrel painting event. Apparently they hold it once a year, and once the art is finished, they display them in front of the art shop for the year. Dan asked if he could be a part of it for next time, and the guy explained "Well? There's still a few hours left, and a couple barrels available if you want to do one now!" I convinced Dan to do it, and Dan convinced me to collaborate with him. So, we rushed home, changed into "whatever-don't-give-a-shet" clothes, grabbed our art supplies (spray paints, paint markers, etc) and rushed back to the shop. The man in charge showed us a barrel we could use, and we immediately started putting whatever on it. We had no plan. The event had started around 10-11am, was scheduled to end at 5, and it was already 3 when Dan and I began our bin! I was very intimidated, due to not being that great at spitting out artwork like no other. Dan, on the other hand, is fantastic at it. Either way, we were both nervous at first, especially with only having two hours to fill this thing. It was fun and exciting, none-the-less! And so, it begins:

And another "Talented Tuesday" is upon us - it was already a total success. For this week, I was inspired to draw an album cover from a new favorite band I found on Spotify called "In Hearts Wake". Their music has helped me immensely through the tough changes between my mother's passing, and other personal events. One of their songs "Wildflower" hits close to home and makes me think of my beautiful mom. My best friend.

Today is a very trying day. Today marks one month since my mother passed away. It's hard to get used to this new "norm", but I still hold on to her strength and courage that she so bravely possessed all these years.

I'm very spiritual. My mom was, too. Our family has a thing about feathers and hummingbirds. Before my mom passed away, she told us that hummingbirds would be one of her signs. The morning after she passed, my aunt, sis and I were sitting on our backyard patio set drinking tea/coffee. A hummingbird swooped around us and perched on a tree right next to us. It sat there for one-two minutes, staring at us. It was a very emotional and captivating experience. Truly beautiful.

Today, I woke up very depressed. My mom had been heavy on my mind for the past few days. I went to go eat at Jorge's, a mexican food restaurant. As I was walking on the sidewalk (and being oblivious to everything) I all of a sudden look down. My eyes immediately saw a big, bright and beautiful white feather. It has to be half a foot long, and was all by its little lonesome, smack dab in the middle of the sidewalk in front of Jorge's. I smiled big, got chills, and thought of my mom. I never find white feathers like this. I felt so lucky.

Thanks to my wonderful cousins, Heather and her wife Nataly, I have joined them in Talented Tuesdays where we devote to part of our day to becoming creative. I did a quick sketch. I need to dedicate more time in the art world because for a couple years now, I've been dry out of ideas or any motivation to create anything. Here is what I have chosen to do:

A t-shirt design I did for my adobe illustrator class. I used my wacom tablet which was very fun and easy to use on my macbook pro. With adobe illustrator, the brushes you can use are simply endless. Online, there are various kinds you can download for free. The more I learn from this class, the more I want to explore my creativity.

For this piece, I drew a wolf and named it Rooknox after a toon I play on one of my games. It didn't turn out exactly the way I wanted it to, but I'm not disappointed. I still enjoy the outcome and hope to get better with more practice.

I recently adopted a rescue german shepherd that I named, Soja, after one of my favorite reggae bands that have some pretty inspirational music. Soja has been a dream come true to me. I've grown up always wanting a German shepherd. He's incredible. Every time I look at him, I feel as though he popped out of a movie screen or from the TV show K9 cops, he's that stinkin' gorgeous.

Here's some photography of that handsome boy.

Just a quick little post. I did this project for my Photoshop class. I'm having a lot of fun learning CS6, and can't wait to do more. This took me about 3-4 hours to do. Happy Halloween!

Mine and Dan's newest obsession is spray painting. I have found a new love for creating stencils and using spray paint on canvases. It takes hard work and dedication (like all art) that leaves you with a creative reward in the end. I'm loving it, and hoping to create a side business in the future of my own T-Shirt company. I'm thinking way ahead too quickly as I have a lot I still need to learn, but it's always fun to dream and take action. :)

PS. That tree and skyline stencil took 9 hours to cut with an xacto knife. Left my fingers feeling bruised. TOTALLY worth it!

I got to paint my first pair of shoes. I grabbed a cheapo $5 pair of white canvas shoes from Walmart and didn't know what to do with them for about two weeks. Finally, I just went for it. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out, but I need to tape them up better so I don't get paint on the edges, and also not leave the tape on like Dan said because otherwise it leaves a sticky residue over time. Looks like I'll be needing to buy Goof Off. Oh, and add to the list: black laces. I used the black laces on my running shoes because I was too impatient and wanted to see how they'd look RIGHT away, but they're way too big. ;)

I got to try out some spray paint yesterday for the first time, and it was a lot of fun. I must add that I was trying to make the spray paint drip on the top, but it didn't go as well (at all) and I felt I was just wasting the paint. End results in my opinion: looks like the painting has hair. Haha. Oh well, it was fun! :) I want to start designing and cutting out my own stencils, then just put whatever on there. Need to buy my own colors as well since Dan only had those three.

This weekend has been wonderful going out to different beaches in San Diego and hiking around. It felt great to take my Canon out since it had been a while since I used it.

These first two photos are from Torrey Pines State Beach where you can hike the trails before heading to the bottom where you end up at the actual beach. The second to last photo was hard because I had to level my camera on the cliff and set a timer. I seemed to be the only one who didn't jump in time. :( Still a great photo, though. ;)

























Here are some photos taken the next day at La Jolla Cove. Beautiful beaches, just smells like fish and seals. I don't care, I LOVE it there! The second picture looks like it could be half the earth.


















After the cove, we headed down to check out the Ocean Beach Tide Pools and the pier. It was gorgeous, the beaches were richly blue, and I almost felt like I was in Hawaii. Dan and I want to get our friends together and spend half a day at this beach. There's a little secret area where you have to go through a cave to get to the other side where it's a more private beach with cliff diving. Photograph of me on the other side of the cave was taken by Dan.





Later, we ended up walking the pier. Beautiful views, great tans. ;)