Thursday, March 19, 2009

Little Girls for March

I decided to do 3 “Little Girls” for the month of March. They are in honor of my all time favorite TV show and actress, 'I Love Lucy' and Lucille Ball. As I was walking to work one morning and thinking about the finished pieces, I got teary-eyed as I thought about the many mornings I have spent watching the show. I felt a great sense of gratitude for the many years of laughter, smiles, and joy that she has brought into my life. (Maybe that’s why I’m called Ricky). Even to this day, I am still watching the shows and cracking up out loud. While at Berkeley, I even scheduled my classes around the morning shows. I admired her for her courage to be a comedian and not just your glamorous Hollywood starlet.

The Paintings

1) Lucy’s Rosy Red Ball- It is my favorite dress she wore on the show, I think she looked absolutely beautiful in it.
2) Lucy’s Chocolate Covered Ball- This is definitely one of my favorite episodes. Just watching her face/eyes as she shoves the chocolates into her mouth, still makes me laugh out loud.
3) Lucy’s Friendship Ball- I loved that even though they had their quarrels, Ethel and Lucy were always best of friends.

The different colored balls represent the different personas that Lucy played. Any future painting of her will have a different colored ball.

If you are interested in having another Lucy image from you personal favorite episodes, I am more than happy to have it commissioned.

Lucy's Friendship Ball

Lucy's Chocolate Covered Ball

Lucy's Rosy Red Ball

Lucy Framed

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

A Rose For Mr. Griffith

The piece below was commissioned by my close friend Ralph Negron for his friends and bosses Rose Apodaca and Andy Griffith.

At first, I had a challenge with finding a photo to work from, but after spending some time on her blog, I came across a photo of them on their wedding day. I was immediately taken by it. Not only did she look beautiful, but the joy on his face as he looks at her inspired me. She mentions in her blog that even though she goes by her name, she would be okay with being called ‘Mrs. Griffith.’ This inspired me to name the piece which is in honor of both of them especially since I don’t paint male images in my work and they appear solely as silhouettes. And so the idea is that he allows her to be the beauty in his life, his joy, his ‘rose.’ And she’s okay with belonging to him, hence the title of the piece- “A Rose for Mr. Griffith.”

A Rose For Mr. Griffith

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Little Girls for February

In honor of the award season, which has always been of great inspiration I have “Kate Wins-A-Globes.” More importantly, in honor of our new president and first lady, I have “Fist Pumping First Lady…He’s Seeing Stars, Seeing Stars.”

Soon after Titanic, I had the opportunity to wait on Kate Winslet while working as a pool attendant at The Bel-Air Hotel. She wore a one-piece black bathing suit to the pool area and she looked absolutely gorgeous. As one of my favorite actresses, I was happy to finally see her win not only her first, but also her second Golden Globe in the same year. As an A-List star, who’s done a wide range of roles, I mostly admire her for her courage to bare herself unlike many others. And so in honor of her 2 wins, I gave her 2 ‘golden boobs’.

Prior to viewing the inauguration on TV, I knew I would be emotional… I was. Mostly, I cried as I watched the thousands of people gathered around to see him sworn in and I imagined the millions more watching around the world. I felt inspired to paint a second ‘Little Girl.’ Throughout the election, I loved the emotion and show of affection the Obama’s displayed in doing their little fist pump gesture. “Fist Pumping First Lady… He’s Seeing Stars, Seeing Stars” is in honor to her, to him, and to every woman who has stood behind her man. Because as the old saying goes, ‘Behind every great man is a great woman.” In this case, a great ‘Little Girl.”

On a lighter note, I found a little sense of humor in the fist pump and the cartoonish idea of him seeing stars from being playfully hit by her and in doing so seeing his own dream of becoming President.