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!