Untitled in Progress

Here's a canvas sketch of the mixed media piece I'm working on now.  It's never a dull moment - I actually pulled this sucker out as I was setting up for the P!ay Showcase, being well aware that this particular piece is a little too risqué to show at that family-friendly venue.

Updates to come over the next few weeks (months?  Hopefully not) that I'm working on this one.  As of yet, it's untitled but I'm pretty sure I know where I'm going with it.  Who knows?

Little N's Room

"Little N's Room"

by Dani Selvaggio

2012

(gift)

One of my dear friends is SO PREGNANT right now. Her baby is due soon and she asked me if I would, as my gift to her, do a mural in the nursery. I am so full of love for her baby already that there was no way I was going to say no.

She is filling the room up with a set from the Carter's brand that features a bunch of little woodland creatures, so we agreed that the mural needed to reflect that. I painted a couple of trees, bees, birds, and fuzzy little animals in Little N's new nursery, centering around a little nook where my friend will be putting her rocking chair for snuggly naps and storytime.

The mural took about a week's worth of work (that is, a WEEK, not seven evenings...my friend was extremely patient with me since I only had time to come over in the evenings after me regular job and work for about an hour each night). At any rate, it's done and I can't wait for the little woodland creatures to welcome Little N home!

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."

OLDER PIECES

"Untitled"
by Dani Selvaggio
2006

private collection

Like anything else, art requires training. This is a type of eye warm up where you put your pencil to the paper at one point and don't lift it up until you've completed sketching the contour of what you're looking at...oh, and you can't look at the paper either.

"Bottom of the Canyon"
by Dani Selvaggio
2001
for sale

My first attempt at "abstract." The texture experimentation came out well, but I was still really too confined in developing my own style at the time.

Killer

"Killer"

by Dani Selvaggio

2009
sold

It is at last complete!

My favorite sort of media is "mixed," so when I came up with the idea for "Killer," I immediately jumped upon the approach of mixed media.

I'm hoping that this piece will be one of the stand-outs when I have a show. I'm really happy with the way it came out, though I may end up adding more to it in the future. Don't be misled by the 2-D appearance of the work: it's actually inclusive of a lot of 3-dimensional elements. For example, the astronaut in the forefront is not simply plastered to the canvas. He's actually floating about two or three inches above it. The "heart," comprised of tangled thread, is free-hanging between him and the canvas. I used recycled styrofoam as a base for the "floating" appearance (styrofoam doesn't biodegrade for a few millennia, so I try to put it to use when I can).

I'm glad I was successful in making the astronaut float so that you can still see the detail of Kali and Pele from certain angles. I want people to feel like they can approach this piece and inspect it close-up - I'm glad that you can still see the grand majority of it all.

Enjoy!

Far Fallen

"Far Fallen"

by Dani Selvaggio

2008
for sale

I am a huge fan of Italian opera and Puccini in particular. My absolute favorite opera of all time is Madame Butterfly. What is ALSO very special to me is a memory I have of going to see this opera for the first time as a treat from my father when I was about twelve years old. I was absolutely captivated by the climax where Butterfly commits seppuku and Pinkerton rushes onto the stage only seconds too late. For the number of scenes leading up to the final one, the Soprano playing Butterfly has been clutching and wringing her hands in agony. And then as she slits her wrists, she throws her hands up into the air...and, cascading to the stage come these liquid, unfurling ribbons of bright red silk. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life.

I kinda hate this painting because it doesn't come anywhere even close to capturing what I saw.  Oh well.  I might take another crack at it in the future.

Cradle of Civilization

"Cradle of Civilization"
by Dani Selvaggio
2008
commission

The photo of this piece did NOT come out well (again with the digital cameras!). In order to get clear shots in my studio, I had to angle the camera against the painting in a really strange way. It resulted in either weirdly distorted photos of the image or blurry shots. *sigh*

"Cradle of Civilization" was my particpation in a 24-hour art project for an organization that was raising money to support developing communities in Kenya. It was a donation that was auctioned off.

Here's a better glimpse at some of the detail. Again, I had to take these photos quickly, but they ended up coming out very...wacky? At any rate, enjoy!

Recompense

"Recompense"

by Dani Selvaggio

in progress

commission

The title "Recompense" is an little bit of a joke. The person who commissioned this piece had been competitively bidding on another piece of mine, but lost and were vocally bummed out. I agreed to make them a personal piece that to make up for their loss. Nevertheless, take the title to mean what you will!

I decided to do a single image that tranlated onto two pieces of canvas. Considering that I didn't know how large their display area was, I decided to use two smaller canvases so that they didn't take up too much space. The size of the original painting in question was my reference.

Because the original painting had to do with what I like to call "confined nature," or an instance of man displaying nature in his own constructed habitat, I decided to do something similar here: twigs in a jar of rocks.

Winter's End in California

"Winter's End in California"
by Dani Selvaggio
2009
commission

This piece was done as a birthday gift for a woman I love who celebrates her birthday in the summertime. However, she always reminds me of spring! For those of you that live in Southern California, you know that our seasons hardly vary...we have windy, fiery, dry, and more dry. But the best time to see California is that liminal season between winter and spring, when everything is at its freshest and the wildflowers are beginning to grow. I tried to evoke something colorful and "new" in this image, but kept it as simplistic as possible at the same time.

Here are some details for the bougainvillea:

"Despite a Wall"

by Dani Selvaggio

2003

For sale

Although this piece doesn't quite fit in with the rest of my style of work, I do adore it very much so. The colors are particularly important here, especially because the character that emphasizes a masculinity is done in the culturally feminine hue, whereas the character that emphasizes femininity is colored in the masculine. Yet each tone fits.

This was back when I unfortunately titled my paintings on the actual canvas itself. Silly me! Additionally, my painting signature was different as well. Nevertheless, the painting itself is one of my personal favorites. I enjoy limiting my color palette and seeing where that takes me. Sometimes the best way to encourage creativity is to restrict oneself!

Acrylics: THE MURAL PAINTING

"The Mural Painting"
by Dani Selvaggio

2006

Private Collection

This is my first piece when I came back into "doing art." Don't let the cartoonish look of the face fool you - this is actually an homage to a hidden mural in my childhood neighborhood that has since become overgrown with geranium bushes and bougainvillea vines. This canvas captures the last soft smile of the sun before the plants overtake the wall completely.

This piece is a favorite of mine to display and it's certainly made its rounds. Right now it's being loaned to a private collection until the end of this year.

Collage: REINCARNATION OF POETRY

"The Reincarnation of Poetry"

by Dani Selvaggio

2007

commission

Here's a collage I did back in 2007 as a commission piece. Mixed media is my favorite type of art, because you're not limited to what you can create but you're still tested by practical limits. It's all about pushing the envelope.

This piece in particular is a collage on canvas (magazine and music sheets), with acrylics and glitter glue. Yes, glitter glue. That's one art supply I don't like using, really, but using it as a very limited resource added the feminine touch that the commissioning patron was asking for while still very much my own style.

It's one of my favorite recent collages.

Piece in Progress: KILLER

Although I have a number of paintings that I'll eventually be moving over from myspace, I thought I'd start with a piece that's currently in progress.

This piece is called KILLER, and it's meant to be a religious statement. I never go into detail about what my pieces mean because I'm of the mind that art should reflect the viewer's opinion.

That said, I hope you enjoy.

I started out with the background, which is simply acrylic on canvas.

This was followed up by the second layer, two watercolor images - one of the goddess Kali and one of the goddess Pele, both in aspects not typical to their mythology.

And, finally, I began to arrange the second layer onto the canvas. The positioning seen here is not permanent. Soon I will add the third and final main layer; afterwards, I will be able to go back and add the mixed media detail.

I certainly hope that future photos won't need to be edited. The edits you see here were done for myspace and facebook. But with blogspots "adult content" confirmation option, I'll be able to post my artwork here free from threats of removal.

After all, it's art.

Thanks!