Thursday, May 28, 2009

Screening of "Drag Me to Hell"


Sac Horror Film Fest Screening of
"Drag Me to Hell"

Saw Drag Me to Hell on Tuesday night thanks to free passes from the Sacramento Horror Film Festival. I loved it! It was campy dark humor with a few moments of suspense only a little gore. It also kept you guessing as there were times when they did the predictable and times when you expected something predictable that didn't happen...It was only a little scary and a lof of fun.

It's tame enough to take a preteen or older child to see. A sensitive kid or younger then 8 might get nightmares. I don't remember any swearing in it and the sex was tamer than prime time. It reminded me of the campy late night horror flicks I was hooked on as a kid. Remember those weekend shows with a host that wore halloween makeup and a tuxedo who told corny morbid jokes before and after commercial breaks...that's the kind of horror flick I love.

Don't care for the carnage filled ax murder or brain eating zombie flicks. And sorry Rob Zombie -- I know what you do is also campy dark humored art but its too gross with creepy inbred characters that remind me too too much of some of the backwoods stereotypes I ran into in Alabama...House of 1000 Corpses gave me psychologically disturbing dreams for days (no nightmares, its not as scary as The Thing Under the Stairs [nothing but mouth full of all those sharp F'in' teeth!])

Drag me to Hell doesn't pretend to be high art, its just good ol' fashioned B movie fun that goes great with a big bucket of greasy popcorn and large coke spiked with the Captian that fit nicely in my pocketbook...

Monday, May 25, 2009

Thank You!

A hug filled thank you to the Men and Women of the U.S. Army...oh yeah a grateful hug to those who served in those other forces too...;^}

My Grandfather Raul Rodriguez and his brothers.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Hierophant Blue Block and Lovers Key Block

The blue block for the Hierophant is carved


These are the printed proofs of the adjusted keyline for the Hierophant.

I've started carving the Keyline block for the Lovers

Here is the lovers with changes I made to the design. I made the figures larger. I changed the bouquet the bride carries and I put lotus blossoms in the pool of the unconscious.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Zen 5

Zen V
30" x 40" acrylic painting on stretched canvas


This is the painting I did last night at the "Alley Arts Festival." I will be doing a Zen paintinge every 2nd Saturday at the "Alley Arts Festival" until September. In Sacramento the 2nd Saturday of each month is when the local art galleries have their public receptions. "Alley Arts" will have artists booths, music and a beer garden during the warm spring and summer months. In the winter it will be something else, somewhere else. I like the ambiance of this venue and it is soooooo awesome painting to live music!!!!

This is a scan of the 0.5" x 1.5" piece of Zen I pulled from the Zen Jar for last night's painting. As you can see I squashed it to fit within the dimensions of the canvas. I did have quite the audience while I was painting this. The best compliment came from a little boy who excitedly returned again and again and said "this makes me want to paint!" The second best compliment came from a guy who said, "I don't even like abstract but this makes me want to lie in bed and look at it hanging on my wall."

Ignorance
10 x 15" 3 color woodcut printed with acrylic paint on Japanese calligraphy paper.

Ignorance
it enslaves
it victimizes
it is without voice
it is without vision

Sold one of the above prints last night too. Woo Hoo!!! Thank you Brandon!

It was a totally fun night last night and I so look forward to more painting fun each month at the Alley Arts Festival in downtown Sacramento. My friend and mentor Rachel Stonecipher brought iced tea and kept me company while I painted. My awesome hubby Jeff helped me break down and pack up (that easy pop-up canopy aint so easy [especially for a shorty like me]). And the latin jazz really grooved! I told Jeff that I was going to have to hire a band every week to paint too...

Thank you Kevin Santos-Coy for organizing this totally cool publicly accessible arts venue!


Saturday, May 09, 2009

Zen Painting at the Alley Arts Festival

I'm thinking I will do a zen painting at tonight's event.


my zen paintings started out as an 18" x 24" drip/splatter painting on paper. I cut that painting into .5 x1" and 1x1" pieces and tossed the pieces into a jar. Occasionally I will pull one of the pieces out of the "Zen Jar" and blow it up into a much larger art work. Either I will paint it on large sheets of paper (36 x40") or carve woodcut plates. The images in this blog are examples of works I've done over the years from "Zen Jar."

Come see me tonight while I work on a new Zen Painting
"ALLEY ARTS FESTIVAL"

Tonight 6-10 PM

featuring:

Live Latin Jazz Music with:

Nagual Quartet,
La Sociedad Cafe,
and Atapaz

AND 10 Fine Artists
1 of whom is ME
On the huge parking lot in the ALLEY between:
18/19 & I/J Sts. in Midtown, Sacramento, CA

behind: 1812 I Street, Sacramento, CA 95811
Come enjoy this special FREE pre-Mothers Day event one block from the bustle of 15,000 attendees of the epicenter of the ArtWalk.

Look for the ALLEY ARTS FESTIVAL signages on the corners of the block for a great find!!

AND Great Arts Fun!!!


Friday, May 08, 2009

"ALLEY ARTS FESTIVAL"

BridgeToArt.com and KLSCstudio hosts"

Sacramento 2nd Saturday ArtWalk

"ALLEY ARTS FESTIVAL"


featuring:

Live Latin Jazz Music with:

Nagual Quartet, La Sociedad Cafe, and Atapaz

AND

10 Fine Artists

On the huge parking lot in the ALLEY between

18/19 & I/J Sts. in Midtown, Sacramento, CA

behind:

1812 I Street
Sacramento, CA
95811

6-10 PM

Come enjoy this special FREE pre-Mothers Day event one block from the bustle of 15,000 attendees of the epicenter of the ArtWalk.

Look for the ALLEY ARTS FESTIVAL signages on the corners of the block for a great find!!

AND Great Arts Fun!!!

Kev..LSC, BridgeToArt.com

Thursday, May 07, 2009

The 4 Finals

Completed all four paintings for finals in my "Composition in Abstract Painting" class.

Still Life with Japanese Doll


Diana with Friend


La Luna


La Luna Zen






The Reference Photo for "Still Life With Japanese Doll"













The reference photo for "Diana and Friend." Photo by






Reference photo for "La Luna" taken by hubby Merlyn J. Camp










Scan of .5" x 1.5" inch section of an 18x24" drip painting used to create "La Luna Zen"

Friday, May 01, 2009

Two new paintings

"Diana & Friend" based on the "Different Strokes" photo for the week 31-39 challenge. Didn't get it turned in on time but that's ok, at least I did it. Think I'll do a little taming in the top third of the left side...

Really like how he turned out. It's not even the way I had it in my head to do when I started. I envisioned this in soft violets, pinks and baby blue...I even mixed a baby pink to paint the flesh of this old white guy; but for some reason and without a thought as I was about to place that first pink stroke I grabbed the tub of cadmium red deep and dunked the pink tipped chip brush right in...Funny how our paintings decide for themselves what they will be...I guess the old white guy had more inside of him that he needed me to express in his outside. I think I'll call him "Harlequin."