Half Skull

1. artrise contest

I'm participating in an art contest that is taking place in artrise's Facebook page. This is a link to the website: artrise and this is a link to their Facebook page: artrise's Facebook page.
If you wish to participate, by all means, get yourself in there! The contest is going on until December 28 and it consists of making a profile in artrise's website, and publishing that on their Facebook page, along with your contest entry and then getting as many likes as you can in your uploaded piece.
You can upload as many pieces as you like, but you win only with one of them, whichever one got the most likes.
If you would like to support me and my entry, first like artrise's Facebook page and then like my drawing. I entered "Fade", by the way. Here's a link to the drawing and through this same page, you'll be able to like their page and then my drawing:

2. Half skull


This is my most recently finished piece and I'm REALLY proud of her!
I was thinking of the possible interpretations of a half skull piece, but it always comes down to what each person might see and I really prefer not to dissect my reasons for making a piece. Originally I started the piece, because I read a little bit about transhumanism and I wanted to actually make a half human and the exposed part to be full on machine; but then I remembered a piece I'd started a long time ago that was half skull and half face, I wrote a little bit about that one in the previous entry.
BUT YEAH. While I drew her, I saw that my reference, which are these super awesome anatomical charts for artists, had little cracks in it; then I wondered if that was possible while we are alive, but it really doesn't make sense that we'd have little fractures, 'cuz the skeleton would most definitely heal. So, the artist that drew the charts musta been copying a dead body and so maybe the skull side is some kind of look into the future, minus the eyeball.
Otherwise, I just really like the human body and all the body parts inside, so the half face half skull is kind of a way of seeing two things at the same time.
Or something.
So this piece is not for sale, at least not for now, but she is most definitely available in print form, in 8.5 x 11 inch paper (VERY nice paper, mind you) and each print is USD50.00
This original is 9 x 12 inches, I used pencil, colored pencil watercolor and acrylic on paper and it's without title.

3. Share buttons and artist profiles:
I've added the share buttons at the bottom of the entry, so feel free to tweet any entry new or old that you like from this blog or to share it in Facebook or anything you want <3 Also, I've made myself artist profiles in: artelista, blue canvas and artrise, so feel free to check those out or make your own artist's profile on there =D
AND a twitter, so DO follow me there @gabrielahandal

4. Suggest page
Remember that I have a pretty nifty Facebook page and I'd love to see you there, too! Also, DO suggest the page to everyone and they mama with the "suggest to friends" link that is right under the profile picture. Here is the link to the page: Gabriela Handal Arte
Also, remember that for these holidays, there is no gift like a work of art, because it's completely unique! So, if you want to buy any of my pieces, let me know! You can e-mail me: gabrielahandalarte@gmail.com

And, finally, thank you so much for reading <3

New entry lol

It sure has been a while since I wrote a proper blog entry, I've been doing tons of things. Or at least trying to do proper work, like I'm supposed to.
A bunch of things have happened, although I HAVE written, just not as often. I was in London and had a seriously amazing time, everything about that city is full of art: the people, nature, the streets, architecture. And, well, regular art things like galleries and art stores with all kinds of AMAZING things! I was so impressed and envious of how much more rich they are culturally, there's different kinds of art events constantly and people are so willing to go and look and spend money on something that they love.

When I came back I participated in a one night art and fashion exhibit at a cafè called St. Phillippe, and was helped with the mounting of the pieces and putting up the dresses on their mannequins. I put my little abstract canvases and there were a couple of coverages of the event.
I always want to participate in the putting up of the art exhibit, my work and help other people putting up their work, just because it's such an enriching experience and I learn SO MUCH! I consider myself relatively ignorant of my field, so I'll do as much as I can to learn a bit more XD!!

Then I submitted two paintings in a two week art exhibit at La Musa de Chai. I submitted "Nyx" and this other piece with no title. These two pieces hadn't seen the light since 2008, for my first individual art exhibit XD

Right now I'm participating in an art contest in Facebook and a website called artrise.com, which is like Facebook int he sense that's for networking and socializing, but exclusively for any kind of artist. I'm participating with "Fade", which is a drawing that I LOVE.
If you want to support me, by the way, like their page in Facebook and then like the drawing I submitted. Here's the link to the drawing in their page, the like button in the drawing will be enabled, once you've liked their page =D "Fade"

This piece, I started sometime last week. A long time ago, I was doing this exact same thing, like half the face and half the skull; except the skull had all messed up teeth, 'cuz she was supposed to be some kind of alien type of thing, but you couldn't tell unless you saw her teeth. She was called (or is, I guess, if I ever take her up again) "Woman outside, alien inside".
THIS ONE is just a regular human, I guess it's some kind of anatomical thing, a study of human figure, which I love so much. I really like how she's turning out, I'm seriously proud of myself.


I also took proper pictures of this painting I did sometime this year or the end of last year, which was painted live. It was actually my first live painting event! It's definitely for sale at USD300.00, 15 x 18 inches and oil over canvas =D


I recuperated "Natura", like two days after I got back and I was SO relieved! I was afraid I wouldn't be able to, because the artists are supposed to retrieve their pieces thirty days after the art exhibit and it was like thirty two days when I went. BUT that event was so poorly organized, it was sickeningly embarrassing. That was a national art contest and the first prize was like seven grand.
I don't know who won. Here's the blog entry I wrote about her, if you want to read more =D

I've made profiles for myself in bluecanvas, artrise and artelista XD
They're all linked there if you feel like having a looksy or if you want to sign up yourself! =D

This is it for now! Remember that I have a pretty great page in Facebook, where I'm updating all the time with pictures or status messages, so like it yourself and suggest it to everybody in your friends list! =D Here's the link: Gabriela Handal Arte See you there!

And wouldn't you know it? I've made a Twitter account lol Follow me there, too! Here's the link: @gabrielahandal

Artrise.com!

Hello, everyone!

This is a very quick and short blog entry, because I'd like for you to support me in a contest I'm participating in =D

Here is the link to the piece I entered: Fade

It's a contest in Facebook, organized by a new artist social website: www.artrise.com. It's very much like Facebook, except it's specialized for us artists, wether music, dance, visual arts, anything! So, by all means, register to the website and even participate in the contest they have up right now and if not, support ME! XD

In the meantime, I really haven't made a proper entry in a while. I will, I promise, I've just been involved in stuff and working a lot and I'll show you all the shit I've been doing! You guys are great, as always, and remember about MY Facebook page; it's always aching for more people. So go ahead and like it and suggest it to everybody and they mama, with the "suggest to friends" link that is right under the profile picture: Gabriela Handal Arte.

Thank you so much for everything <3

Bleeder

Once upon a time, they called me the bleeder
Swimming up this river, with sentimental fever

That's part of a song from the Wallflowers' album "Bringing Down the Horse" and it came up whilst I was drawing my most recent piece and since there's definitely blood involved, I called it "Bleeder" =D
It's pencil and watercolor pencils over paper, I didn't take advantage of the watercolor quality of the colored pencils, though; I left it dry. I'm pretty proud of how it came out and the picture really doesn't do it justice, but unfortunately I don't have much more to take pictures with. The red looks more orange in the picture and it all looks a little bit deformed, since I've made it smaller, BUT no choice for now, really.
This one I'm not sure if it's for sale, 'cuz I like it a lot, it's very pleasant for me to look at lol


I actually wrote a little something that came to mind, whilst I was drawing it. Please remember I'm not a writer at all, so don't be mean if you don't like it or think it's lame XD

Here it is:

From the cavern that is her mouth
blood flows out
down the middle of her lower lip
down the middle of her chin
a dark red colored creek or cascade
drizzles steadily out

This is another one finished today, I'm also pretty proud of it. It's just pencil on paper, this one's definitely for sale at USD 50.00.


By the way, I've successfully sold two pieces to United States people, but in a really old fashioned way, through regular mail. Both times it's been people that I know and trust, so it's going to have to stay at that for now. Just thought I'd report that there HAS been some kind of progress and it's definitely possible to be done XD

ALSO, I added share buttons some time ago, they're at the bottom around the area where you leave comments, so feel free to share this blog entry and all the other ones prior in whichever way you'd like =D

And thank you so much for reading, wether it's the first time or you're an assiduous reader, I sincerely appreciate it! <3 The page in Facebook is doing great! And if you haven't liked it yet, I'd love to see you there, too. I'm constantly putting up updates of stuff that I've done or that I'm doing and uploading pictures of things or events I've participated in. Please feel free to like it and suggest it to all of the friends you have on your friends list with the share button that is right underneath the profile picture. Here is the link to the page: Gabriela Handal Arte @ Facebook

See you there and thanks again! =D

Affordable Art Fair

I'm going to go on Friday to the Affordable Art Fair, in Battersea Park. There's going to be 120 galleries, with the work of their corresponding artists there, there's going to be little cafes with foodz and there's going to be talks and workshops and whatever else.

It's something I would have really liked to participate in, but I found out about it like two days before it started XD I wrote to them anyway, 'cuz it doesn't hurt to ask, right? I've not gotten a reply as of yet, but I'm going to take some drawings anyway, in case I get lucky.

I'm pretty excited to see what's to be found and really inject myself with everything I'll find. There's going to be galleries from all of the United Kingdom, to my understanding. And there will be tents with the work of up to three artists in each, and the total under each tent, cannot exceed three thousand pounds.

I feel like London is pretty soaked up in art and culture, what with it's great architecture and sculptures and galleries and museums at everyone's disposition; but you can never get art to enough people, the more people you get it to, the better. You can never make it accessible enough.
Artists supposedly kind of reflect their own times and have some sort of duty with the society they live in, we're supposed to see it with our own eyes and reflect that out into our pieces. But I think of art in general, as something that is supposed to make one's soul feel good, no analysis, no horizontal lines are peaceful, red is for passion or violence, no questions, no why this or why that, "Oh, he must have meant this". I think when one buys a piece or likes a piece, it should be because when you looked at it, it fascinated you and you couldn't stop looking at it and were enthralled by the piece. It made you either feel very good inside or it just made you feel something and the piece caught you.

Nothing against analysing pieces and the old masters or contemporary artists, I just feel that sometimes, just *liking* the piece is overshadowed by wondering too much about what the artist could have meant.

And fairs like this, I think, have the capability of bringing back that simplicity to art. More approachable and not so much something reserved for collectors or something: Anyone can like art, anyone should be able to purchase art!

I'm going to have a pretty good time.

And I really like this picture from the London AAF page:


Thank you so much for reading and DO FOLLOW, if it's the first time that you stumble upon my blog!
And also, remember that I have a Facebook page I'd love to have you like: Gabriela Handal Arte. I'm always putting up some kind of update of what I've been doing and what I'm planning to do. DO LIKE and DO SUGGEST to your friends with the suggest to friends link that is under the profile picture!! See you there and thank you for everything! =D

Tate Modern

I went to Tate Modern yesterday, because I figured, I could see the old masters online and it's better for me to soak up in my contemporaries and see what's up with some real art these days. And I amused myself at how excited I was to see a HUGE Monet painting, two Jackson Pollocks, two Dalis, a Lee Krasner.
These are definitely not the old masters, but they're dead and I have huge amounts of respect for them and they seriously made in the art world whilst alive. Pollock and Dali, specially.
And I enjoyed these paintings much more than the other more contemporary work.

Dali's paintings were pretty amazing, I don't remember their names right now
I saw this one:

And another one with a phone, that I don't remember the name of.
They were both incredible to look at, I had to make sure that I could see brush strokes and some kind of texture on the painting, because it was SO SMOOTH!! And the pieces were not big at all, I don't think either of them were bigger than 18 x 24 inches; which is super comforting for me, because I really tend to go for the smaller formats for both drawings and paintings. And him and I have that in common, the small format and the amount of detail. Man, his amount of detail, sure is remarkable!!
Something cool about him and his painting is how he was a surrealist, but he painted in a very realistic way and his human figure and figurative things came out very realistic, indeed.

I don't remember what Pollock paintings I saw. I do remember one of them, that according to the explanation, he felt he was reaching a plateau or something in his work, so he was experimenting just painting with black paint. The other one was this really long painting.
I saw part of the "Pollock" movie with Ed Harris, and he does a really good job at it and it's nice to watch.

Of Monet's, I saw this one:

It really is a GYNORMOUS! painting. I don't remember the dimensions lol x_x
He did very many water lilly paintings, it turns out he was living somewhere where he had this pond as his view, so he'd do a lot of his light and atmosphere studies with that.

I feel pretty honoured to have seen those paintings live.
I mean, I HAVE seen paintings of the old masters in front of me before, but I guess I hadn't gotten *that* much into art myself and the famous museums get so full sometimes, it really killed my appreciation.
For example, when I went to the VanGogh museum, I would have loved to have it all to myself, so that I could get real close and then far from the paintings to look at whatever I want; because VanGogh used so much paint, it actually gave his paintings texture, but texture made of full oil paint. But there would always be a ridiculous amount of people in front of each painting.

That's all for now, I'd really like it if you'd have a looksie in my page in Facebook and liked it, I often upload pictures of what I'm doing and what I've done, you'd keep well updated with my work. Here's the link: Gabriela Handal Arte
And also, don't hesitate to suggest it to all of your friends with the "suggest to friends" link that is under the profile picture.

Thank you so much for reading and if you're reading for the first time, DO FOLLOW! =D

Blue Lady

Today is some kind of mixture of my work with somebody else's work, it's like a surf and turf and more so the turf, because most of the pieces that I picked of the artist that I want to talk about have to do with bathing and the sea.

First we have "Blue Lady", she's finally been finished and I really like how she turned out, her facial expression is great, it really reminds me of some kind of medieval portrait.
I'm pretty proud of her hair and it's the reason for the title, 'cuz it's all like Baroque or Victorian, just not as complicated. Her mouth looks pretty delicious and super plump and reminds me a little bit of Angelina Jolie. One of the other things I really like is her eyes and the facial expression, there's some kind of indifference and untouchableness.




The other artist I want to talk about is Bouguereau. Here's a cool website with a bunch of his work: Bouguereau
Click on the pictures to be able to see them at a nice size.
"The Abduction of Psyche" is the first piece I saw of him, I think. It's been printed on cards, his themes can be very romantic <3
I thought/think this piece is beautiful in every sense: The bodies of both characters, the fabrics, the landscape, their facial and bodily expressions, the story upon which the painting is based. It's hard to notice, but one of the things I really like, is that Psyche has butterfly wings, because that's how she's represented in Greek mythology.
I like her facial expression and bodily expression, especially, because she's completely surrendering to Cupid's arms.
There's a floatiness to them, but the weight of their human bodies also seems so real. The places where their skins touch and they're all just so palpable in general. The fabrics around them are amazing, I always admire the work of fabrics in old paintings, how REAL they make them is enviable.


I discovered the guy's name after a while that I actually paid attention to the back of the card ('cuz I'd only bought it, because I loved the illustration so much) and many years later, after having used Wikipedia and the internet in general for everything, I looked for more of his work and I'm in love.
Also, you can't tell me that's not a crazy name.
But, anyway, yeah. There's plenty to look at in the website I linked you to, but I picked out some of my favorites to show you here.
His favorite subject was the woman and, like I said, his themes tend to be really romantic. He makes skin look so creamy and LIKE skin! And his human figure is just flawless and at the same time, everything else he paints is faithful to reality.
Bouguereau was looked down upon by his contemporaries, I don't know how they couldn't appreciate the talent that he had and how maybe that's just exactly what he wanted to paint.





So that's all for today, thank you so much for reading and DO FOLLOW if it's your first time here and also like my Facebook page and suggest it to all your friends using the suggest to friends link under the profile picture: Gabriela Handal Arte

Colored Women

I just want to show what I've been up to lately:

1. "Blue Lady"
This one's finally nearing completion, she's one of the ones that was put on hold until I finished the Pet Portrait. And she's looking pretty great.


2. I have no title for this one yet, but I had an idea kind of the same as for "Blue Lady" and using one color only. I thought I had a name in mind, but I've forgotten it. Either way, since I've managed to do two pieces with something linking them (being painted with mostly one color), I thought I could do some kind of series. In this case, it would be called "Colored Women".



3. "Labret Choker"
11 x 14 inches
USD 70.00
This one's pretty great. The paper I'm using is the same brand I usually use, Strathmore, but this one's greater, because it's smooth paper; the other ones have a slight texture. And I used for the first time a brand of pencil called "Trident". I have like a million and one 2B and other grade pencils everywhere, 'cuz I never want to run out.
And, yeah, she's awesome and finished and IL her.



And that's about it for now, as far as current work that's going on. I'm going to participate in a live painting event tomorrow, it's the second time I do so in this place. It's a discotheque called "Pure", which is a pretty awesome name D:
And, yeah, going to paint there again with another fellow artist, and this painting will also be put up for silent auction.
So that's it for now, here's a link to the page in Facebook: Gabriela Handal Arte, you should like the page and suggest it to all your friends and they mama with the suggest link that's under the profile picture.
Thanks a lot for reading!

Girl.With.Mohawk - Live Painting v. 2.0

I participated in another live painting event, this time at a discotheque called "Pure" and I painted alongside my colleague Mariery Young. Here is a link to her blog: Organized Chaos
I was really excited to work next to her, because I completely envy and admire the way she works. My impression is that it's very instinctive and improvised and there is a freedom to it; freedom and speed are two things I'd really like to add into my work, as mentioned several times before, there's kind of a stiffness when I make human figure, I feel. I just want to be able to make more.
And the day before yesterday, I wanted to soak up on Mariery's vibes. I have no qualms on taking inspiration from other people and I have no care about where inspiration comes from (I wrote a little thing about that in one of the notepads at work: "Inspiration? I'll take your inspiration, no matter who you are and feed off of it". I like it.), so I tried to relax and trust my gut whilst I worked.
Which is something I believe in, anyway. Trusting your gut.

So yeah. I really would have liked to just look at her while she worked, but I had to do my thing too and since I work so slowly, I couldn't dick around XD

I did a couple of sketches, one at work with the reused paper notepads and when I got back home, I threw another sketch down on a 14 x 17 inch sketch book; just so I'd loosen up my hand. I also had NO idea how big the canvas we'd work on would be and I wanted to have a good idea of what I had in mind and I also didn't know how big our selection of colors would be. And both, the canvas and the colors were pretty generous XD

So, anyway, on to the pictures <3 I seriously love this picture <3 Mari at this point was actually waiting for the acrylic paint to dry, that's just how fast she works x_x And I was like "lol I don't have to wait, 'cuz I work so slow".
I really like how Mari looks in this picture! I think there's some movement and spontaneity (it's also a little bit blurry lol) and those two things emulate her work.


I was lusting at her work LOL



Side by side <3

Mari's piece.


And that's it! It was a very satisfying experience <3 Thank you so much for reading again! Please follow my blog, to keep updated on what I've been doing and also like my page in Facebook: Gabriela Handal Arte Also, suggest it to all of your friends with the suggest to friends link under the profile picture, I would also like to see you there!

A video!

A friend had an amazing idea for a video, based on the pictures that I take sometimes to show what I'm working on, since my face is seen only partially. And he wanted to do some kind of stop motion thing, using that.
What came out is pretty amazing. His name is Anel Reyes Saldaña and this is his YouTube channel if you want to see more of what he's done: Anlr



And there you have it! XD
I srsly love how it turned out and I love the ending even more!
DO remember to like my page and to suggest it to all of your friends with the suggest to friends link that is under the profile picture: Gabriela Handal Arte
Thank you for viewing, reading and following; if you've just started following or you already were. You're the best! <3

S/T

S/T in Spanish stands for Sin título, which means no title.

I came up with this piece, sketched it and finished it in three days, I think. Which is pretty fast for me and I'm pretty proud of myself for my speed this time around and how she came out.
Moreover, the space itself is certainly bigger than what my usual 9 x 12 inches, this one is a very oblong 12 x 18 inches. I've only two other drawings in that size.

I ROVE HER <3 Please forgive how bad the pictures are, I have no scanner and I have a shit pulse and I ain't no picture taker and I also have no patience for taking better pictures, these will have to do for now. There's a little bit of light getting in the way of the pencil, but I think she looks good enough.



I hadn't made a drawing in a while and it's always very comforting to go back to my most familiar medium.

Thanks a lot for reading, if it's your first time or you're following. If it's your first time, do follow and leave me lots of comments, likewise if you've already been following!
Also, like my page in Facebook Gabriela Handal Arte and suggest it to all of your friends with the "suggest to friends" link that is under the profile picture. I put updates up every day and sometimes, more than once a day, of stuff that I'm doing, I'd love to see you there as well!

Thanks for reading and thanks for everything. See you in the next entry!

97 Obras

Today is the opening of the art exhibit to which I submitted Arianrhod. I have a history with the place, it has the word "museum" in it's name, but it's more some kind of a really fancy and uptown gallery. I have a history, because I think it's an amazing place and I went there to ask if I could make my first art exhibit there and they were like "lol we only do recognized artists" and I was like "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU". So what I got the notice about this art exhibit, the only thing I paid attention to was that it would be in this gallery, I NEEDED to be in there XD
Then, when I went to turn in the paintings to see which ones/one would be chosen, a teacher told me it was only for ex students and current students of the school and I was REALLY embarrassed, but he told me he'd accept my work anyway and see if anything was chosen and then I high fived myself, because all the embarrassment was worth it, because a piece of mine is IN that gallery hanging right now! @_@
So there are the pictures that were taken today, for the opening. DO notice how ridiculously happy/crazy I look XD:





THANK YOU AND GOOD NIGHT.

Natura

There is currently a national contest going on, the Roberto Lewis contest and I made this piece, called "Natura" to submit to it. I'm having a hard time thinking of leaving her with strangers and getting lost or something :(
I found out about this contest maybe four or five weeks ago? And Natura came to my head soon after that, did some sketches and whatevers, got the canvas and I put her down. I didn't take many pictures of the process, because I really didn't have time to dick around with this one; me working so slowly and the deadline being today.
This painting means a lot to me, I love everything about her and what she means. I'm proud of myself for the amount of color I used and that I put in realism/human figure together with abstract in a big piece (big for me, anyway, she's only 24 x 36 inches). I have a little weight on my chest thinking of letting her go if I DO win x_x
EITHER WAY. On with Natura and the pictures:
1. Only picture I took before she was finished:

2. All these I took today, after she was finished. You can't see the little bit of white paint spatter I did in the blue part, which is meant to be kind of a universe kind of thing. The very first one is all of her, the rest are details:





~o~

This piece really took my attention and put everything I have pending on hold to work on this piece, because of the deadline. The only thing that I worked on, while having this piece pending, was Arianrhod's frame, because the installation for that art exhibit is actually tomorrow and I had to turn her in last week. So, yeah, she was the only one that had permission to distract me from Natura. Moreover, with Natura, it's been one of the few times that I've thought up so much meaning for a piece. Whilst I painted it, sometimes I felt as though I would have to explain myself in front of a jury or something at some point, like one of those ridiculous reality shows; but she just legit has all these amazing vibes full of significance, a lot of things that I really liked and didn't want to forget, so I took a lot of notes and actually printed them out to turn in for the contest, besides all the other documents and information that had to be turned in. I don't know if it will mean anything, but I thought I'd throw a little extra something in there XD
Originally, it was written in Spanish and I really like how it came out; so here I'm going to post both here: In English and in Spanish. It'll be like getting Reader's Digest LOL

Spanish:
Natura

La naturaleza que nos rodea tiene tantas formas, el color alrededor de su cara no tiene ninguna forma específica; son manchas de color, listas para transformarse en la siguiente estructura. Natura representa toda la naturaleza de todo el planeta, el sol, los cielos, el universo y su cara es de mujer, porque la naturaleza es Madre Naturaleza. Sin mencionar, que en el idioma español la naturaleza es género femenino.

Los hilos que tiene por detrás, siento que tienen alguna clase de relación con "String Theory", de que todo el universo y todo y todas las dimensiones están unidas por hilos.
No entiendo exactamente de qué se trata el String Theory, pero me parece hermoso pensar que absolutamente TODO está conectado por hilos. Pienso en los hilos de coser, que son tan frágiles. El destino se teje con hilos, las mujeres que tejen los destinos de todos en las tragedias griegas.

También, son como un círculo que se cierra, pienso que Natura es como un nudo celta súper complicado. A la vez los nudos celtas tienen que ver con la infinidad de la vida y del universo

Tiene algo del ying yang, con los colores amarillos que le salen de los lados de la cara, brindan algo de simtetría y orden. Así como el ying yang, Natura tiene bondad y maldad sin que ni uno ni el otro sea absoluto, igual que la naturaleza; y entre bondad y maldad, tiene su propio equilibrio perfecto. Un equilibrio típico de la naturaleza, que a veces nos cuesta entender.

English:
Natura

Surrounding nature has so many forms, the color around her face has no specific shape; they're stains of color, ready to transform into the next structure. Natura represents all nature from the whole planet, the sun, the sky, the universe and her face is female, because nature is Mother Nature. Also, in Spanish, the noun is female.

The strings behind her, I feel have some kind of relation to String Theory, that the entire universe and everything and all dimensions are joined by strings.
I don't understand exactly what is String Theory about, but I think it's beautiful to think that absolutely EVERYTHING is connected through strings. I think of the sewing threads, that are so fragile. Fate is woven with threads, the Fates that weave everyones' destinies in Greek tragedies.

Also, like a circle that closes, I think Natura is a super complicated Celtic knot. At the same time, Celtic knots have to do with the infinity of life and the universe.

It also has some ying yang, with the yellow that comes out of the sides of her face, they bring some symmetry and order. Like ying yang, Natura has good and evil, without being either or absolutely, and just like nature, between good and evil, it has it's own perfect equilibrium. A typical balance in nature, that sometimes is difficult for us to understand.

And that's it <3 - Here is a public link to the album in my Facebook: Una pieza muy especial
- Here is a link to the album in the Facebook page: Una pieza muy especial
- And last, but not least and most importantly, here is a link to the Facebook page, which you should like, if you haven't yet and you should also suggest to all your friend list, if you haven't yet. The suggest to friends link is under the profile picture, by the way: Gabriela Handal Arte

Thank you so much for reading, wether you're reading for the first time or you've been following me for a while now. If you're reading for the first time, please follow and like my page in Facebook, and feel free to leave me all kinds of comments!

Blue

"Everything's blue in this world"

1. "Blue"
This is one of the most fresh and recent things I've been working on and I have to apologize for everything lately being pictures from my webcam, but it takes me a while to get to a scanner and a lot of things have been bigger than the scanner and, most of the time, I'm also too lazy to take pictures and then put them up in photobucket, pictures with the webcam are so much easier XD
EITHER WAY, the thing about this piece is that I'm only using tones of blue (when I get tired of working on the pet portrait, the blues that are left are used on this piece =D) and that it's the second piece in my life, I think, that I'm making "alla prima". Meaning, I went straight with a brush and paint onto the canvas, there was no sketch previous, either on paper or drawing with pencil on the canvas. This happened precisely one of the times that I was working on the background for the pet portrait that I didn't want to waste the paints.
So, yes. Here's two pictures of it. I was annoyed that I showed to my brother and he said "Oh, I like it, it's a nice cartoony style" and I was like "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU", because that just seems to be the way that my pieces come out: with a tint of cartoon to them.
I have mixed feelings, I have no interest in hyperrealism, but I DO in realism and when I don't have a model to follow, copy or take guide from, a cartoony thing is what seems to come out XD That's fine, though, I don't mind, I'm still REALLY excited about getting to work on her face. I always have to obligate myself to work on the background first and leave the foreground for last.



2. I've been sketching more. Or trying to.
I was in Rhode Island last year, at the house of a very dear friend (she's really my bestie, bff lol ILher), and her super cool grandma showed me a book of something called "Natural Drawing" and what it talked about fascinated me, because it goes the opposite end of the way that I regularly work. I tend to concentrate on the details of the drawing and then work outwards, rather than getting everything in it's place and go from big to small.
I only remember parts of what I read and I really didn't read that much, but form what I remember, it's called "natural drawing", because you follow the outward lines of things and when practicing, you make these super wavy lines. And it requires a lot of practice and sketches, just to get your hand used to it and then you become a genie at it eventually.
Milla has been my victim of the sketches, I think it's her that I have the most pictures of, so I just open up all of them and draw every single one, one after the other, no matter what. And that's something that I've been really wanting to work on: giving my hand freedom, so that my human figure won't come out so stiff all the time and being able to draw it in every angle, position, size and everything. I'll get it <3
Here's a little sample, 'cuz I really like how this one in particular turned out XD


3. It's been about two months since I got the mohawk and I gotta say, I think me and this thing on my head were meant to be together.
This is probably the second or third boldest change to my image, after shaving my eyebrows. I had my hair down to my buttcrack at the beginning of this year, then I took a picture of Milla with this super cool haircut she had and got that hair do; then I was going through some personal issues with communication (because I just have a horrible time with confrontation and just SAYING things) and I took some scissors and gave myself a haircut like a little boy and reminded myself of my mom a lot; and then I got over that shit and gave myself a mohawk.
I feel like I should elaborate on the little boy haircut: at the time I just wanted to be more honest and open about what I felt and needed to say and getting the hair really short, kind of symbolized that want for bareness. Something gay like that. THEN, I got awesome, and got the mohawk, 'cuz I've srsly wanted one for a really long time and, like I told a friend of mine, it's like the epitome of rebellion!
I don't consider myself a rebel at all or even any of the things that a mohawk could be associated with: punk, aggression, violence; for example. BUT, I just legitimately happen to like how it looks on me and how well it looks with my outfits. I like that it gives me masculinity, just because it's so short; but it also adds femininity, because my neck and shoulders are almost entirely bare.
I like the little bit of androgyny it gives me, but that I never fail to look like a girl <3
So YES, I love the mohawk.



Thank you very much for reading this time around as well, wether you're reading for the first time or you're an assiduous reader. And if you're reading for the first time DO follow!
The page in facebook is absolutely fantastic, it gets updated almost everyday with something that I'm doing, pictures and whatnot, so you can keep updated with my work. So if you haven't liked yet, please do and suggest to your friends! The suggest to friends link is under the profile picture, it would be really great! Here's the link: Gabriela Handal Arte

Bvlgari

I got hired to paint Bvlgari perfume bottles over the weekend. The offer went that for every 100 ml bought, I would personalize it.
I was really excited and nervous; nervous, because I was afraid somebody would come up and ask me for something ridiculous. It's a funny story, the whole bottle painting thing, because I'd been contacted prior to this weekend to work, but my call center schedule didn't allow me to do it, so they hired another artist that behaved like a complete prima donna, was rude and bitter.
One of the purposes of the job, was to interact with customers and to have people see the artist working, precisely so they'd become interested and so they could tell the artist what they wanted and these things, and this previous person didn't want to be seen, didn't want anybody to talk to him, didn't want to sit in the stand that had been prepared.
So the girl that hired me called me anyway to work over the weekend and we settled on the time and that was that. Here are pictures of two bottles I did on saturday, these were both testers, because there weren't any purchases saturday or sunday, so I painted tester bottles the whole time, just so I wouldn't be sitting there.




This was my work station:

I painted three more tester bottles on Sunday, but I'm really not a picture taking person by default, so I only took those pictures. Here's the album in the Facebook page, and while you're at it, you can like my page and continue to keep updated with my work! =D
And just for shits and giggles, here's the link to the page itself =D Gabriela Handal Arte, like it if you haven't yet, suggest it to your friends; the link to do so is right under the page's profile picture! I'm always putting some kind of update, wether something I'm working on, a gig or whatever.
Also, thank you so much for reading my blog, wether you're a follower or if you're reading for the first time. And if it's the first time, I hope you liked it and feel free to leave me all kinds of comments and follow! See you next time <3