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

3 Art Exhibits

I went to three art exhibits about two weeks ago, I wanted to get the entry into June, but I didn't. Either way, yes, three art exhibits.
It's important for an artist to keep going to art exhibits to be aware of what fellow artists are doing; after all, art is also a business as is any other career, and to keep ourselves rich and our imaginations fed with new stuff all the time.
By the way, I made all the images smaller, but linked them to an outside page so you can see them full size, if you click on them <3

1. "Hechuras" by Martanoemí Noriega
I liked this art exhibit for the most part, I found some of the pieces to be too busy for my taste, but a couple of them had this nice movement about them. I guess, it's because they involve wood burning, ochre colors, black and very dark brown were very present. The only one piece with the color red in it, reminded me of a comic panel in which an explosion just happened.
I liked that a lot of the pieces were vertical, I think that lends itself a lot for being bought and to decorate a home and I thought that the ones that were horizontal would have been better if they'd have been vertical, except for the one that's called "Sol", which is the one that has like a black sun dawning over the edge of the piece, it's certainly very nice <3
I HAVE however mixed feelings about the wood burning, I read about wood burning in Wikipedia and I guess it's a super old form or art, but I feel as though it pollutes?





2. "Vaivenes" by Kansuet
"se nace en la hamaca,
se duerme o cescansa en la hamaca,
y se muere en la hamaca"
I am incredibly envious of this person's work, just because it's SO BEAUTIFUL! This was my favorite of the three art exhibits I visited that day, I love the surrealistic vibes and bubbles that surround his perfect human figure, which is also perfectly consonant with what happens whilst one is asleep. I'm amazed with how perfectly well he achieved the facial expressions of sleep, that very peculiar face of vulnerability and innocence.
The title of the art exhibit: "Vaivenes", which is kind of like, coming and going, is allusive of the swaying of a hamock. This artist is a Kuna and hamocks are a really big part of their lives, hence the amount of images of the kids on hamocks =D
Something else I noticed was how the pieces didn't have the prices, yet they were still sold. I guess that's what happens when you're famous or people know you, if they're really interested in a piece, they'll go ask how much it is and regardless of how much it is, they will buy it ***ENVY****
Moreover, I really liked the gallery itself, it's called Allegro and I'd never been there before, but I really liked the vibes of the place, the soft lighting and how welcoming it felt and kind of like a home <3




3. "Crónicas de una Visión"
This was the least favorite of the three art exhibits, a collective one. I have no problems with collective art exhibits, obv, I just didn't feel as though this one had anything out of the ordinary, moreover the place itself gave me strange vibes, it's some sort of a loft place, with bare walls and floors and very angular. The pieces here didn't have any kind of information next to them, no title, name of artist, media used, price, anything; the place and that peculiarity of no information on the pieces actually made me feel kind of confused or something.
The pieces that I did find really interesting were the one with the bull, just because I thought the way it was painted was curious and there were some with this really old school looking human figure, with bits of objects painted onto the piece, like one had a lighter, another one had a blue rose; but at the same time, I didn't notice any kind of brush strokes on the canvas, it didn't even look like canvas. I thought it was some kind of collage or maybe it had varnish on it.




So, those are the art exhibits I went to. I'm proud of myself, 'cuz I went to the three of them in one day XD
SO YEAH. The page is going on nicely and I update regularly with status updates, pictures of things I'm doing, wether at my day job or at home or gigs that I've scored; such as the one that I have for this weekend in which I'll be painting Bvlgari bottles at a mall here. I'm REALLY excited about that =D
Like my page please and tell everyone you know, suggest it to them, so that we can be more and more and more in there! The more the merrier! Here's the link: Gabriela Handal Arte

Thanks so much for reading, wether you're reading for the first time or you follow this blog, thanks a lot! And if you're new, feel free to follow and leave me all kinds of comments! See you next time! =D