Santa Monica Mountains Recreation Area

There is some art that I do for myself and for an audience, just for the sake of doing art.  There is some art I do on spec or for cost.  But sometimes there's art that I do, free of charge, in order to further my experience.

A few years ago, I created a youth booklet for Hawaii State Parks.  It was mostly a coloring book-style activity pamphlet for kids of various ages.  It was an interesting experience because I got to work under a council of elders who oversaw my drafts and made sure that everything I was doing was properly representing the Hawaiian culture and environment.

Recently I was approached by rangers at the Santa Monica Mountains Recreation Area, part of the State Parks system in California, to help them update their Junior Ranger program.  Personally, I perceive this as a much easier task already because I'm far more familiar with the ecosystems here than I was with those of Hawaii!  I've since sent them my first set of sketches, some of which you can see above.

It's always an interesting challenge to pick up projects like this here and there.  I think commissions like this really push your abilities...AND force you to work under constraints like time and material availability!  But all in all, it's FUN.

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!