Conexión Drácula

Last night was the opening of the art exhibit that shows the pieces produced at the artistic residency Conexión Drácula. There was a total of eight visual artists, a photographer and a writer/poet. Each one produced two pieces and we all participated in the production of a third collective piece.
I'm to show you my two pieces and explain how the process went.
For the first challenge/piece, we were shown the Dracula Chimera orchid, which is a pretty strange flower. It's hairy, it's lanky, and just not the kind of daintiness that you expect to see in a flower I guess.
We were all sitting in a living room and we were asked to provide with adjectives of the impression the flower gave us, a list was made and once there were enough adjectives, we were the assigned an adjective at random.
I got "venenosa" -> "poisonous" and I wanted to portray it in the Poison Ivy way. So this is what I produced:

We were meant to keep our word to ourselves until the end.
For the second challenge, we were assigned the finished piece of a fellow artist at random and I got Luz Eliana Tabares's piece.
Her piece made me feel some kind of uneasiness, it reminds me of a furry beast, she painted an iris right above the labellum of the flower; which by the way is set horizontally, because she didn't want it to so obviously look like the orchid. It's some sort of animal at a very aggressive moment, which was precisely the word she got: animal.
So I wanted to retain the animal/beast/chimera/eye, but I made the piece vertical and a creature that is in a calm and passive, maybe observant, moment. After painting for a while, I started getting the feeling that they were both creatures that belonged in a bestiary from the Middle Ages.
Here they are both together and a closeup of mine:

The residency was a really memorable experience <3
That's all for today, I hope you enjoyed it and don't forget my Facebook page: Gabriela Handal Arte
See you next time!

Burns like incense

This piece was relatively quick, it took maybe two or three days. It would have been one day, if I didn't faff about so much.
I used pencil, colored pencil and acrylic over a Strathmore 18 x 24 inches and 80lbs drawing pad.
I have to say that it came out almost exactly as I had her in mind, I'm aware that there's some sensuality/sexuality to her facial expression and the entire piece itself; but it's really more about passion, and they're not necessarily together by default.
I see some comic in her, some illustration and still some art. It's one of the few times where the use of acrylic is essential in the piece, rather than compliment, as I use it normally.
The burning of the edges of the paper, also to do with the whole theme of the piece, I think is a nice addition.
Here's two pictures, one of mid-process and finished.
Also, I participated for the first time in an artistic residency, the only one so far here in Panama; it was a crazy great experience. I'm refraining from showing pictures of the pieces themselves, for now, so that they can be seen in all their glory in the art exhibit.
The opening will be on July 18th, 7:30pm at the Edificio de la Gobernación and after that, it'll be open for a week. The pieces are definitely for sale and you are more than welcome to go and take all of your friends to the opening or the art exhibit itself. Here is a link to the Facebook event: Conexión Drácula 2012
Here is a link to the residency's page: Residencia de Artistas Conexión Drácula. The residency is once a year, for now. This time around, they put out the open call and they chose eight visual artists, a photographer and a writer.
It really was an incredible experience and you shouldn't hesitate to apply next time they put the open call out again.

And last, but not least, remember my Facebook page: Gabriela Handal Arte. You should like it and share it with your friends.
Thank you for everything and see you next time =D