In Progress: LA DIA DE LOS MUERTOS

DIA DE LOS MUERTOS means "day of the dead." It's probably one of my most favorite holidays. For anyone who is planning to visit Southern California, I strongly recommend visiting Olvera Street in Los Angeles that time of year.

This is the final sketch for this image and it will be done in watercolors, ink and marker.

Has anyone noticed that I super duper like mixed media? It's the best representation of life - there is nothing uniform about the world.

I am not certain if I will be selling this one yet (I actually may be donating it for charity), but I WILL be mounting it in a very special way before it is done.

ALL DREAMS COME TO PASS

"All Dreams Come to Pass"
by Dani Selvaggio
2011
(sold)

I haven't yet decided if I want to keep this piece in my personal collection or sell it. For the time being, it's for sale...that may change in the next hour or so. Or maybe it won't. Or maybe it'll change and I'll forget to update this blog.

This piece was cathartic for me - I got to experiment with materials that I wasn't necessarily comfortable using...I ended up using color schemes that I typically don't (although you can find the "shock of red" that I like; somehow I couldn't resist that)...and I ultimately ended up producing a piece where I had no clue what it was going to look like when I started. All in all, it was tons of fun. Even my fiancee told me that it was good to see me "doing art for [myself] for a change." It's been a while.

Good to be back, though!

Paul the Psychic Cephalopod

"Paul Eats the Moon"
by Dani Selvaggio
2010
(sold)

I didn't make this up. I just want to start out by giving proper credit where it is due.

The proper credit, as it were, belongs to the Germans. A couple years ago, I learned of a particular German octopus named Paul. Now, Paul has since passed away (may he rest in eight-limbed peace), but during his lifetime he was possibly the most celebrated of all cephalopods.

You see, Paul was a psychic. Each leg (wah wah) of the World Cup, the Germans would thrust Paul into the spotlight and the spunky octopus would choose the flag of the nation that was expected to win that game.

PAUL WAS CORRECT 100%* OF THE TIME!

I felt it necessary, then, to commemorate this beast by painting this image of Paul in his natural habitat; that habitat being, of course, in outer space devouring the moon.

There is so much modern mysticism in this world, I love it.

*Please note that the figure of 100% has been rounded up from "more often than not."