loveboat!

my teacher/friend/amazing artist Daniel Lim was married earlier this year,
and I made a little portrait sculpture of him and his lovely wife in a little love-boat as a wedding gift.

this was my first real venture into sculpting a specific person,
and i think they turned out pretty accurate, if i do say so myself...



if anyone is interested in a commissioned piece of this sort, or knows someone who's getting hitched and wants a unique and personal gift, I would love to make more!
this could be a wedding cake topper, an individual portrait sculpture, or anything else you could dream of. Just send me an email at jlldalva@yahoo.com and tell me what you're thinkin' of!

this and that

a little pile of things to show!

a little sketchy painting for fun-zies.

my finished (although i actually want to do a little more on it- some lighting changes and maybe a wash of color?) skull study. all those little bits were tricky.

my first live figure painting in a looong time-
this was done in a three hour class at Red Engine Studios.

my second oil painting- this time using white, black and red.

this little doll i started in a moment of "fuck what am i doing i should make something"- but now i don't know what to do with her. she doesnt have any legs at this point... i tried doing a less opaque paint job on her face, which i think i like. i am torn between sculpting in a more stylized way, like this, or in a more realistic fashion. any thoughts?

a surprise trip to northern california for my mom's birthday- we went to our little place in mendocino, i painted this little gouache study of the barn in the morning before we went to get breakfast. its too lovely up there to sleep in. my socks were soaked from the dewy grass. it really needs a brighter yellowy green grass color, i didn't bring the right colors... i want to go back already. my dream is to just go and live there for awhile and paint everything. and make things out of things i find in the ancient forests.(the deer skull i painted above was found under the stand of giant cedar trees that protect the house from winds)

another fantastic adventure- to the Wildlife Waystation in Angeles National Forest. I've been here a few times, thanks to Gary Geraths who arranges trips. Its an amazing sanctuary for abandoned, mistreated, orphaned, lost or unwanted wild and exotic animals. They are a non-profit organization, mostly relying on volunteers to care for the 450 + creatures that they have in the facility.
we were sitting about 3 feet away, with only chain-link between us and the gigantic tiger, a pride of lions, a liger, a baby bear(who spent the whole time begging for treats), an alligator, growling leopards that sound like old motorcycles, grizzly bears, wolf-hybrids and a potbellied pig named Grampa.

the Waystation is in the running for a nice chunk of monies from Chase Bank-
GO HERE and vote for them so they get money to feed their animals!

and finally, another gouache study of the inside of our little house in Mendocino,
painted on a chilly rainy night, which turned into a lovely sunny day.

spring springing

a work-in-progress shot of my study for the oil painting class
i just started at Red Engine Studios, i'll show the finished product soon!

sketchbook pages!


my gouache study i did a while ago in solstice canyon, near malibu.
thanks to andrew hem for tips and letting me crash your class!

this is a little mock-up i did for my concept for the upcoming show with the Upper 600s, an amazing group of artists and designers that put on crazy art shows in very un-white wall gallery type settings. this may become the design for one area's walls, but...human sized. this is about mouse-sized. made with string, foam core and hot glue! i'm super foam core!

various little things

hello
here are some dumb little sketches
and the start of my pig-footed bandicoot.

little gouache sketch of galliano's fall 2009 makeup. too bad he's such a jerk...i really love these faces.

uhhhh pocket was found sunbathing inside this little greenhouse. love.

this is an extinct Australian animal, which, unlike all other bandicoots, had small, deer-foot-like toenails on its front paws, and a single toenail on its back paw that was shaped like a horse's hoof. weird little thing. this guy is about the size of a kitten, which is, apparently, accurate.

ok. uh i have not been making enough things and am in a rut. any suggestions are welcome!

Finally!

so its been awhile, i had computer problems involving a full glass of beer, but all's well! so here's some shots of a piece i just finished for an upcoming show. I'll show the full photos later, the show won't be until September or October, and it will also be put into a book! its one of the more complicated pieces I've made in awhile. I put a lot of work into it, I'm glad its done!

some process shots of the herons, with my handy bird identification book and my trusted accomplice, pocket, in the background.


detail shot of one of the night herons (well more closely based on a green heron, but still.) and some tiny books and tarot cards i made.

titties.

the other side of the floor, with a luna moth being pursued by another heron.

also, here's something I worked on at my job job, which was for my bosses' kids' school play of Alice in Wonderland. I swear if I do another Alice project, I will start barfing white rabbits and teacups. It was fun nonetheless.

the book was 8' by 6', i included the last picture with a forklift in the background for scale. giant! each page had lyrics to songs as well as my illustrations.

mooning

hello! here are some progress shots of my next piece. it moves! there are lights! magic!
i used some new sculpting techniques for this figure, which has helped a lot.
starting out with a creepy skullface, with help via this blog

moon mechanism in the works...i just hope it works!

and a painted detail, with lots to still be done.

more to come soon!

Everything But The Kitschen Sync- Opens Friday!

Tomorrow night at 8, the 14th annual
Everything but the Kitschen Sync show
opens to the public!
come see my piece, and over 200 pieces by 123 artists!
its always a great party and a perfect way to see new fancy art!
La Luz de Jesus Gallery
4633 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90027
phone: 323-666-7667
email: info@laluzdejesus.com

Society of Sixes!

hey friends!
i joined and have one glorious post on Society6 !
check it out here!

<3 dalva

leaky!

hey so the show page is up for the always exciting

"Everything But the Kitschen Sync" group show
at La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles!
my piece, "seeking" will be there along with 123 other artists' work!
i suppose now i can put up a full picture, since its already on their website!

make sure to stop by if you are in the area,
the show will be up March 4th-28th, 2011!

werkity werk

helloo!
i've been working at home a lot recently, since realjob is slow right now.
also we've been going on lots of adventures!
here are some highlights!
a tiny quilt i am working on...

from a lovely trip to the huntington gardens! we had barely any time, i want to go back soon.

playing "get the cards in the hat" game. pocket loved it. LOVED it.

two new pictures of my piece that will be part of La Luz de Jesus's Everything but the Kitschen Sync show! full pictures and details coming soon!


and finally, a little dumb project i did. now my camera is not only protected, but fancy!