Happy Birthday Mikey!! + two paintings..

My crazy ass obsession (ass obsession?!) with Michael Jackson still holds strong even 16 years after first discovering him on TV as a 6 year-old kid. Today he turns 50, which is about 12 years old in MJ years..

This year was also the 25th anniversary of his famous Thriller album, and I have the great liberty of using the album artwork to create some MJ-inspired art for Gallery1988 LA's show, Cover Band, which opens October 7th. Artists in the show choose an album from Rolling Stone's Top 500 Albums of All Time, and create artwork using the album itself as a canvas, kind of like a collaboration between the artist and the record.

hi!

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In other news, there are so many things I've been wanting to post but haven't because 1.) I've been in NY with limited access to the outside world 2.) I've been too busy or 3.) I'm lazy. So I'm going to start as far back as possible..

In June I was part of Gallery1988 SF's show, Everyone In Together. Both pieces sold before the show's opening (yay!). Here are a couple pictures of the process, sorry for the low quality pics these were all taken on my camera phone:

Base layers are put down

Getting the background texture just right

Then the people start to emerge! The girl on the right is based off of a picture of my girl Misa

When I started painting, the girl looked like Britney Spears. I tried to change up her face as best I could, and she ended up looking like Tila Tequila, or something.

Up on the gallery wall

I love red dots!!! :)


That Is Not Okay
12 x 12 inches
acrylic on wood



You Can't Game Tracy
12 x 12 inches
acrylic on wood



And... here's a pup that I saw in a pet store window. Seriously.

Looks like a freakin gremlin right? A cute one...

*heart melts*

Back from NY, and back into the groove =)

I just got back from filming a show in NY for MTV called The Engine Room http://www.mtvengineroom.com I was one of 16 digital artists from around the world chosen to compete in creative challenges.

Watch it when it premieres on Sept 15 :) . It premieres on MTVu, so if you can't watch it there, you'll be able to catch the episodes on the website.


In the meantime, I'm getting back into some web work, back into art making, and of course back into the PaintByWord groove. If you're bored or have time at all, send me some words that start with the letters M and N; email them to me at atorneros@gmail.com.

Thanks!!!!!