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?

It's Personal: Wedding Boutonnieres

So I'm gettin' myself married soon!  That's right - I found some guy who's not completely terrified out of his mind by the prospect of waking up next to me for the rest of his life!  How fortuitous!

One of the things that my Dear Fiance is super duper obsessed with is comic books.  It's kind of his thing.  I let him nerd out about that, he lets me nerd out about my bug collection.  It's a fair exchange.

At any rate, I wanted to give a little nod to his love for comic books without letting them overwhelm the day and turning our wedding into "that comic book wedding."  The solution: comic book boutonnieres!

Here's where they are now: little comic book roses, constructed out of old ("but worthless" - his words, not mine) books with some hot glue.  I've made six of these suckers and have since added a couple of very discreet and suuuuuper tiny silver rhinestones to them at random, just to give them a little extra wedding sparkliness without someone being able to look at them and say, "HEY THAT'S SPARKLY."

The string they are tied with in the picture is just temporary, to hold them in place.  They will ultimately be paired with a little sprig of baby's breath and tied with some thin twine.

Art!  It's useful!

An Old Bedtime Story

Private Product

2012

(in progress)

Concept art for a children's story...I know what you're thinking: what kind of f***ed up children's story is this?  Personally, I have this weird fascination with black widow spiders.  I am simultaneously awed and terrified of them.  Seeing one - for realsies or on the internet - literally gives me the creeps, making my skin crawl.

The children's story represented here, however, is actually kind of adorable.  I'll share more about the plot once the concept art is finished, but it's for a direct-to-video release pitch.  The goal for this piece is to portray a feeling and theme that will encompass and represent the entire production in one shot: gloom, trouble, inspiration, triumph!

We'll see what happens!

Character Concept

"Auroura"
2012

sketchbook

Concept design for a character of a fantasy comic/book series.

Contest Cuteness

"Jojo"
2012
Sketchbook

I'm in a volunteer group that was hosting a contest for their 2012 t-shirt design. The winner gets a free t-shirt!

This is my submission, using their mascot as the inspiration for the design.

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!

UNTITLED

"Untitled"
by Dani Selvaggio
2012
(sketchbook/sold)

NERD LOVE

"Nerd Love"
by Dani Selvaggio
2012
(sketchbook)

Nerds in love. 'Nuf said.

MARAVILLAS

"Maravillas"
by Dani Selvaggio
2012
(for sale)

Here is the finished version of the DIA DE LOS MUERTOS piece that I had been sketching out in September of last year. Initially I had planned to have it done in time for Dia de los Muertos, but of course - work and other time constraints prevented me from being able to sit down and actually finish it. Incidentally, it all worked out for the best because I definitely needed the practice with watercolors that I hadn't had the time to develop.

At any rate, it's done. My goal was to make something that was very visually "Californian." I think I achieved that with the color palette (to me, California = dusty), but there are other things I would have changed, knowing how it's come out now.

Enjoy!

FIREBIRD

"Firebird"
by Dani Selvaggio
2012
(sketchbook)

When I was little, my dad spent a lot of time in the formerly-known Soviet Union on business. When he came home, he'd always bring a little souvenir for me and my brother that was very Russia-esque. One of my favorite things was a book of Russian Folktales and I very quickly became obsessed with the story of Prince Ivan and the Firebird. When I started this sketch, I intended for it to be completely firebird-centric. It quickly turned into a sketch of my favorite symbols that I remember from the book.

...I have no idea what happened to that book. Hm.

KEYBOARD

"Keyboard"
by Dani Selvaggio
2012
(sold)

Happy 2012, everyone! My resolution this year is - once I've gotten through my long list of commissioned projects that I'm working on - to do more art for myself. The last few days have been especially fruitful: I got a new set of watercolors for Christmas and just played around with them all weekend. The next couple of posts will be some examples of what resulted from that...mostly just playful sketches, nothing of too much depth!

First up is KEYBOARD. I've started calling it that because everyone who has seen it starts referring to it as "that one with the keyboard." Well, why not? The sketch was outlined with ink and then I used masking fluid before applying the watercolors. I also used a technique of defining some edges with tape (just good ol' scotch tape leftover from Christmas wrapping) and did a sort of layered watercolor application.

To say that I feel like this at work a lot is an understatement. Art is life...I can't even begin to explain how suffocating it is when you're trapped in a little box without any windows in sight for the majority of your waking hours.

...not to worry, viewers! The next few posts are not so angsty-dramatic! Enjoy!

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!

ALL DREAMS update

No pictures today, sorry...I opted to exclude the regular photo or scan because the piece is very close to being finished and posting it now would negate the grand reveal.

At any rate, I'm kind of excited about the way it's coming out. It hasn't been a typical piece for me...rather, it's been very exploratory, which I think is a celebration of coming back to doing art for myself rather than for business. The color scheme is nothing like what I'm used to and I have been forcibly limiting myself to the supplies I find at random rather than waiting and seeking out the supplies I feel like I "need."

The colors are very muted, very indiscernible at times. I used dried up glitter glue that I mixed with a little measure of paste and water and re-stuck (it gave it this amazing chunky texture that was incredibly organic, contrasting with the extremely inorganic feel of the material...awesome!). It was my first experiment with masking, which I only had a toothpick to use to apply. All in all, I was stretching my boundaries and learning to laugh at myself. And, surprisingly enough, the piece was not ruined! It just looks like a beautiful, all-over-the-place, colorful sketch gone awry.

I have decided to finish it up with a few oils (something else I haven't touched in a long time, acrylics being my preference) and I'll hopefully have something to grandly reveal to you in the next couple of days.

"Dreams" In Progress

Some examples of the masking and watercolor-over-the-masking so far. How this will actually work on the cheap-o paper I'm using, I really, really don't know...but that's okay!

The Art is in the Process (otherwise known as, "I destroyed my painting.")

I have this problem when it comes to making art, where I focus on the end result and how to get there. This goes against everything I believe art should be, which is completely process-driven, with the end result being a secondary happenstance. Art should always be in progress, always in flux.

With one of the current pieces I'm working on, "All Dreams Come to Pass," I slapped myself on the wrist before I made any stupid plot notes and decided to just run with it, knowing full-well that this would probably result in the complete destruction of my painting.

It has, so far, and I kind of love it anyway. The ink is bleeding all over the place, the colors really didn't turn out how I envisioned, I have no idea what I'm doing with the masking paste and everything is a complete mess. But the more it got screwed up, the more fun I was having and the less serious I took my expectations for myself. I don't recommend this approach for every aspect of life, but for yesterday it suited the moment and was really very liberating.

I love my painting. It's like a My Little Pony farted all over my paper.

A Million Billion Things

"All Dreams Come to Pass"
by Dani Selvaggio
2011

in progress

Oh, man...sorry for the radio silence, folks.

There was a while there that I was locked out of this account, for whatever reason. This morning I was finally able to gain access again.

I hope to updating this blog a lot more frequently now. I have so many new projects in the works. Some I'm being paid to do (rocks my socks) and some I'm just doing because it's art.

Here's a little teaser of something I'm working on. You can totally see my sketchy notes if you look close enough. I'm hoping that it will be one that I can introduce in a local show sooner or later. The main part of the design was taken from a thumbnail version of a logo I was hired to do - I maintain copyright for all logo design until a final logo is approved and purchased, so when they chose a different version of the logo for their business, I jumped on this one. It kinda just popped off the page for me (and I'm super glad they didn't use it).

The words on the bottom part of the project are from a poem I wrote and have yet to publish. The unfortunate thing is, in the form the poem takes in this image, it would defeat the purpose of the piece to publish the poem now. Why? Because in the soon-to-be-painting, the poem is scrambled. In the actual poem, it's...er...not.

Ahhhh, art...I feel like I'm breathing again.

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!

In progress: KILLER

Here are some parts to my upcoming piece KILLER. I'm hoping that this will be finished by spring 2010!

I had enormous fun constructing the raven, although using scissors to get a clean, straight cut on miniscule pieces of black paper was certainly a pain. However, I'm incredibly happy with the result. A lot of its detail is completely lost in this image, so you will have to keep checking back for updates. :-)

Have I mentioned that I hate digital cameras?

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.