Nominated into the Semi-Finals for Orange County

Raw Artists has an annual award call RAWards.  The whole thing begins with 2 weeks of voting.  People get to vote every day for their favorite artists in the following categories: Visual arts, photography, music, fashion, make-up artists, accessories, hairstylist, performance art, and film.  Voting took place October 1st through October 15th.  Yesterday, they announced who made it to the semi-finals for each region...Mizzle Adventures was on the list for Orange County!

Now we are part of the Semi-finals showcase on November 17th.  It will be at the Avec Nightclub in Huntington Beach from 5-9pm.  All of those who attend get to vote for their favorite artists in each category.  The audience votes count for 50%.  The other 50% comes from the 3 judges who are asked to come down and look at our work.  By the end of the night, they will announce who are winners and will be moving on to the National level.

This is so exciting and nerve wrecking at the same time.  To top it off, I had signed up to do a Mud Run that day with one of my best friends.  :) We are currently making arrangements to change our wave time.  So, November 17th will be a typical over the top kind of day for me.  I think doing the Mud run in the morning will help alleviate any nervousness or stress I will feel that morning.  I've never really put myself out there like this.  It is all new and exciting. 

I want to make something specifically for this show.  I have a few things in mind, but I know the one thing I've wanted to make.  I don't think I should reveal it right now.  It will just be something for everyone to look forward to!

If you would like to attend the show, tickets are $15.  Make sure you list Mizzle Adventures as the artist you are planning to attend for.  Here is the link: http://www.rawartists.org/orangecounty/rawards2012 

I would appreciate the support!  And see your reaction to my project for the next month!

Zombie Mizzles- Part 2

Instead of my original sketch, I went with this idea instead.  It was just too disturbing to illustrate my Mizzles as dead cannibals.  But I did keep the dark and ghoulish look to them.  My Advanced Art students are enjoying the opportunity to watch my progress and my process.  They ask lots of questions about my techniques and my process.  Originally, I was only going to use watercolor.  But I decided since I am requiring my students to use watercolor and pen for their finals that I would do the same.

I used Grumbacher Miskit liquid frisket to mask my characters.  Then I painted a variety of washes of blues, greys, greens, and violets to create my background.  Honestly, I've never used a liquid frisket before.  I love the freedom to experiment with my background without ruining the main areas of my painting, but I did run into the problem of it ripping my paper as I removed it.  The paper was completely dry when I removed it.  Does anyone have any suggestions on a liquid frisket they love?  Or perhaps there is a technique I could use in removing it?

 

As for the zombie mizzle dolls, I am still trying to decide how to go about making them.  I have a visual in my mind as to how I think they should look, but am not sure how to go about it.  I need to go get some muted colored socks, or maybe bleach bright colorful ones I have to dull them out.  And then I need to just jump in and begin making it.  Until then, I did finish these guys today!  :)  They just need some eyes, names, and a small background story.

This is what they look like before stuffing!

Their cute back sides!

I'm including a photo of just their shells.  I had posted this image on my Facebook page and was a bit surprised how shocked people were by what they look like before being stuffed. It never occurred to me to show the process of one of the actual Mizzles.

It has been raining off and on today, so I'm feeling inspired to make more Mizzles or to get some more paintings started.

Monday, October 15th is the last day to vote for Mizzle Adventures at www.rawartists.org!  I hope you get a chance to vote!  And a big THANK YOU to those who did!

Zombie Mizzles???

The drama teacher has decided on Night of the Living Dead for the first performance of the school year.  I am so excited about this!  They did this play a few years ago and I loved it!!!  For every school play, the Visual Art department puts together some student artwork for the reception/ticket room of the drama theater.  This year we were asked if it was possible to do zombie/ 50's monster movie posters.  We loved this idea and ran with it.  My Intermediate/Advanced/AP art students are creating zombie self-portraits.  The teacher who took over my Intermediate/Advanced drawing class is having his students create zombie portraits of their favorite teachers...with our permission, of course!  I was going to do a zombie self portrait as a demonstration for my students, but one of my students is in both advanced classes.  I felt it was kind of cheating since he is creating my zombie portrait.  Then I remembered the drama teacher asked me to make 3 zombie mizzles to be used as props in the play.  I then decided I need to make a Zombie Mizzle painting.

This is just one sketch that I began playing with.  I think I need to add more Mizzles.  One of my students mentioned having the cotton stuffing falling out. I love that idea.  I'm finding this idea funny, but very morbid considering my characters are so sweet and fun. This makes them extremely dark.
I'll have to come up with a few more sketches tonight before committing to one.  I'm just not sure I'll be able to use it as a portfolio piece.  

When it rains...

I've been MIA from the networking, digital world for a little over a month.  It has been a crazy time with family stuff, work, and Art.  In August, I participated in the Raw Artists show RADIATE.  Here is my video interview from the show: RADIATE video  It was a lot of fun and not what I had expected.  Then the school year began and for some odd reason the beginning was overwhelming and intense.  I'm not sure why.  Maybe it is because I'm in a new room?  Or perhaps it is because as a department we decided to make sketchbooks?  I don't know. Regardless, I was asked to do another show with Raw Artists!  It was very different from the August show.  I sold prints, dolls, and one original painting at this event.  It felt amazing to have people crowd around my work and to see their eyes light up when they realized I was giving out stickers.  Here is the video interview from the show: ENSEMBLE video  Now, Raw Artists has opened their nomination voting for the RAWards.  If you love Mizzle Adventures, please vote for me.  You need to register your email address and create a log-in in order to vote.  Go to www.rawartists.org.  Then you can either search for Mizzle Adventures, or go to my profile at www.rawartists.org/roldan and click on VOTE! You can vote once a day for each category until October 15th!  I hope you find the time to vote.  Through all of this I became the webmaster for the La Habra Art Association.  I'm still figuring it all out, but I'm excited to try to help prevent the gallery from going under.  I'm still working on my manuscript, but I'm feeling more confident about it.  Being busy is usually a very good thing, but I'm looking forward to a little down time to catch my breath.