Poochi-LA: Holiday Pet Ornaments

Thanks to my aunt for giving me another great idea and opportunity to expand my work.  I did these as a special order for the holidays.  Enjoy!

"Juanita"

"Maggie"

"Bella"

"Reggie"

A full set I did for The Hamm Family

Poochi-LA: People

This was a commission piece I did for a friend, for the holidays.  Her grandfather passed away a few months ago and she wanted to find the perfect gift for her grandmother (his widow), so she asked me to paint a portrait of them taken when they were first dating.  It was her idea to incorporate their beautiful blue eyes, and I really think it added the perfect touch to the painting.  I hope her "Nana" likes it :)

12X12", acrylic on canvas

Poochi-LA: Photos

These are some photos I took a couple of weeks ago, for a friend's grand babies.  It was a lot of fun and my first time working with such a tiny baby!  Enjoy!...

Cosmo: Hair Color Final

This week concludes my 8 week course in hair color.  This was and still is thee most challenging class I've had so far... and I THOUGHT it was going to be one of the easiest, especially with my experience with color... but boy was I far off, haha!  However, with the help of some sweet classmates, I was able to make a successful hair color final.  Our job was to create a rendition of a photo.

Here's how it turned out...

Doll BEFORE

INSPIRATION photo

Doll AFTER

Poochi-LA: People

These are a few commissioned pieces I have done of people:

The one above was done for as a Christmas gift for a man's son.  The baby and woman featured were his new grand daughter and daughter-in-law.  (12X16" acrylic on canvas)

This cute lil baby girl is named Avery.  My friend asked me to paint this picture of his daughter in honor of his wives first Mother's Day.  (8x8", acrylic on canvas)

This is a very special piece.  I made this painting for my dear friend Kristina who was diagnosed with cancer a couple of years ago (she AMAZINGLY BEAT IT!!!!).  Her mother passed away from her own battle when Kristina was a young girl.  I decided to create a piece that united them in their battle with cancer and so I combined two separate photos of them that were taken years apart.  I was really, really happy to do this for my friend.  (Hi Kristina... you still inspire me daily.)  (12x16", acrylic on canvas)

Cosmo: Hair Design Final

Our Hair Design final, we were allowed complete creative freedom.  I decided to go to my roots and access my love for animals in nature.  The Gouldian Finch was my inspiration for this piece.  This design also started off as a sketch.  My favorite challenge was creating the nest in a way that was as accurate as possible to a real life bird's nest, while using the skills I learned to manipulate the hair to simulate plant life.  Everything is created with hair, with the exception of the birds and eggs, which I made out of clay.  This is by far, was my most favorite project. 

Cosmo: "Tease Me"

During my Hair Design course, my teacher approached me about an opportunity to create a doll for an upcoming "doll head show" the department would be having.  The theme was a revival of 60's and 70's hair.  I was really excited to create something for this show and incorporate a couple of my favorite features of the 60's:  floral swimming caps and the bee hive.  I started off with a sketch and went from there!  I constructed this completely out of hair and topped it off with make up that would have been worn in the time period. 

Cosmo: Hair Design Mid Term Project

For our mid term, our teacher provided us with a special occasion dress and had us create a hair style that would compliment the look.  This was a bit challenging for me because I got a really beautiful dress but didn't know where to begin.  With help from my fashionista cousin, I was able to replicate a run way look that fit the dresses style perfectly.  It ended up fusing ancient history with the space age; modern and classic.  We also did the make up on our doll to enhance the look. 

Cosmo: Hair Design Course Highlights

Today was my second to last day of my Hair Design class (basically up do's and styling).  This class was amazing.  I learned sooo much.  Hair styles that used to fascinate me and boggle my mind as to how they were made, are no longer such a mystery.  This includes my favorite of all:  The Beehive!!!  I was able to style a couple of friends hair for special events and over all gained a lot of confidence.  My teacher, Mr. Albert Grasiano, was a true artist and shared a lot of knowledge with us.  I truly feel honored to learn under such a talented man.  Enjoy!

Cosmo: Hair Design Photo Shoot

Today I had the opportunity to create a look for a model (my wonderful classmate Dani) and manifest it for a photo shoot.  Dani has a love for succulent plants and so I decided to pair that with her amazing green eyes for a natural look.  I made a head band of real and fake succulent plants and moss.  I also hand constructed flowers out of fake hair to add to her head piece.  What you see was all done by me... hair, make up and floral inspired head arrangement.  I had so much fun and Dani is a beauty so she really made the look come to life.  These ARE NOT from the photo shoot.  Those are still to come and I think they are going to be amazing.

I LOVED this project!!!

Sketch for the design...