How Are You Feeling Today?

A friend asked me about creating a mood poster like what was popular in the 90's for a friend of hers and I was thrilled to do so. Thus, the robot poster was created. Then, Sailor Moon shortly followed. She's so expressive that I just had to. The whole point of these posters is that yes, they're a throwback, but they're also to get us talking about our feelings and emotions and putting a label to how we are feeling. I'm selling both of these posters on my etsy if you're interested. I offer 8x10 and 11x14. Click HERE to go straight to the shop!

Walter Mercado.

Walter Mercado. I didn't even know who Walter Mercado was until this year thanks to RuPaul's Drag Race (and Alexis Matteo), but then I watched the documentary on Netflix and found myself captivated by this magical, astrological man. For this mini piece, I was inspired by the star tarot card because that's who Walter is; a STAR! Mucho mucho amor, Walter.

Lydia Deetz.

"I myself am strange and unusual." - Lydia Deetz.

I FINALLY DID A PAINTING OF WINONA RYDER and not only did I do it, I did it well. Wild to think that it has taken me 30 years to finish a piece and feel good about it. I've been working relentlessly on her and I feel so accomplished. Not to mention, her in this movie is just the absolute best possible casting. So, cheers to this. I'll be doing way more in the near future.

Lydia Deetz.

Winona Ryder is a tough person to draw/paint. Have you ever tried?! Man, what a challenge. I did this painting of her as Lydia Deetz with some darkness on one side of her face. It was a challenge, but hey, we're hitting the challenges head on, people!

Eliza Schuyler Hamilton.

My dear Eliza. Eliza is one of the most expressive and resilient characters in the entire Hamilton show. Her song at the end really gets to me. It hadn't before, but now I just can't handle it. THE GASP! Say what you will, but I do believe it's her breaking the 4th wall and realizing her story is being told. Powerful. I love it so much. This is when she is mourning during It's Quiet Uptown. Her strength and courage throughout the show dealing with loss, heartbreak, betrayal; it's incredible. So, the show started with Alexander Hamilton and so did my series, but both, appropriately, end with Eliza.

Aaron Burr.

Pardon me, are you Aaron Burr, sir? I wanted to do a very formal painting of Leslie Odom Jr. as Aaron Burr for the Hamilton series. I tried to focus on combining the painterly technique and black and white. I feel it works better in color, but I do love the rich red for the background, as he does have blood on his hands.

Angelica Schuyler.

I was way too excited to mess around with the colors when I painted Angelica where I tried to capture the passion and emotion she brings to the stage when she performs. She has such strength, but vulnerability and my whole goal was to capture movement and emotion rather than a still moving likeness. Messing around with this paint style more and falling in love with it with every stroke. I love, love, LOVE the purple on the side of her face. I wish the photos did the colors as much justice as looking at it in person does, but it's still bold & vibrant.

Thomas Jefferson.

What'd I miss?! Daveed Diggs is one of my favorite actors in Hamilton and arguably one of the best rappers of all time. I was way too excited to paint him. I wanted to go with the purple background because it reminds me of his Jefferson outfit.

King George III.

I was way too excited to finally get around to painting King George III IN COLOR. I started it one way and it ended up another. I got extremely painterly with this one and it made me so happy. It was a new direction/style and one that I want to dive into more. Took me about 3 hours and it's quite small: 2x3 inches.

Alexander Hamilton.

It's wild to think that I haven't done any portraits from Hamilton before this. My first one is of none other than Alexander Hamilton. Lin-Manuel Miranda, man. What a friggin all star. This is actually a super small portrait, but it looked really good in the marble frame. I painted this right before it started streaming and have watched it probably 6 times. So, that's where I'm at. First of many portraits from this amazing musical is what I say.

The Wood Sisters.

I want The Wood Sisters to come get me. When I went on a road trip out west last year, Matt and I stopped at The Little A'Lee'Inn Cafe and there was a photo on the wall of these two sisters and I knew I had to paint it. It makes me laugh and also uneasy. I think the best things do that. It has a glitter background, but it's kind of hard to tell. Anyway, beam me up!

Hobbit Holes.

One of the greatest experiences of my life was visiting the Hobbiton movie set in New Zealand. It allowed me the opportunity to get up close and personal with the hobbit holes seen in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films. I've been working on my digital painting skills by painting them.

My most recent hobbit hole is this one with the blue door. I drew it based on a photo I took while there. Here's included a photo of me there! Andddd I spent a lot of time drawing/painting it!

This one with the blue door took me 12 hours. No exaggeration. I did it on procreate. In this particular image with the three different paintings, I wanted to show my progression. Each piece is separate. The first piece took me 45 minutes and it was more of a study. The second piece took me 6.5 hours and it was the same reference as the first. The third is my most recent and it's the one that took me 12 hours with a different reference.

I printed one of them to hang up. I'm so happy with it. I hope that you, too, can share in my appreciation for progress and hobbit holes because both are magical.