hours and hours

way after the fact, here is my piece , "Hours" from the Upper 600s show a few weekends ago.it is reversible, like an hourglass.



for purchasing inquires, please send me an email!



also this is my little experiment in banners. i still have lots to work out.
i'm going to sell these two for cheap, since they are my first attempt, if anyone is interested.
they have bamboo at the top, strung with embroidery thread for hanging. they are backed with white fancy fabric. the "now what?" is hand stitched onto the velvet and cotton.
please email me if you are interested in purchasing one! or both!

cats n paintings n ideas

it was real warm today and pocket decided she LOVES the little fan i had going.
look at that face of bliss!

a portrait of prince that i am working on. still need to do more...i'll be done by the end of the week, as this is my last week of classes at Red Engine Studios! wah! : ( it went by so quickly...

(pocket also loves the pincushion. i intervened before she ate any pins.)

well i made another dreamcatcher, this one is more normal so far.
not sure what to do with it now.

we got to paint sarah last saturday, which is always fun. i wish the face turned out better...

i'm trying to improve my sewing skills. i have ideas but they never turn out nice enough. also i think i tend to try to use the wrong materials because i think they will work, or at least i pretend they will, when really i should be using something more suited to the project.


what project, you ask?
below is my first attempt.
i'll get better. im still not really sure what im doing. so i won't tell you yet.



and finally some random drawing, because its too hot for shirts.

dreamz

here is the finished little dream catcher.
it has lots of pretty things hanging from it, some crystal beads, feathers and whatnot.



it is for sale, if anyone wants to buy it! $45 ! email me if you are interested!

summertime

so here are some things. this little tea sprite I made a long time ago but never took photos of it finished- i poured resin for tea, which was dyed green with ink and a little silver ink to give it sparkle! her hair is actually made from tea bags. i drink a lot of tea.





this is a work in progress- i am making a small (7" diameter) dream catcher. mostly because i need something to keep me busy. maybe ill go into mass-production.

here are some shots from the amazing Terra Obscura show put on by the Upper600s! A lot of people put a lot of work into this show, and it showed! my old dream catcher/ chandelier was hung over the band, which was fun! i managed to not take any pictures of my piece, duh. i'll show it to you when i get it back.


this was the garage room, which was really amazing! blacklights and string, turned out even better than i imagined! you can see my piece in the foreground there.


and finally, another life study. kind of a weird photo...
anyway...yeah. someone want to offer me a job? commissions? anything?

work in progression

hello! i am taking a break from working on this piece to show you all whats goin' on here.... my piece (still unfinished! AHH no time!) for an AMAZING show that will be up for this Saturday ONLY! In case you didn't already know about it - Terra Obscura- put on by the Upper 600s and featuring a heap of amazing artists! go to it!


this is sort of a reversible piece- it can go upside down, well..there is no right side.
its supposed to be reminiscent of a hourglass, or just the reversibility of things.

here's how its looking now, i'm not sure i love the paint job yet...we'll see how it evolves.




this is the frame/stand that the figures will go in. i cut wooden triangles for the bases.


aaand finally, this is a 3-hour figure study i did on Saturday.

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!