Ok, so I am developing the new www.maelstromarts.net website. The initial design was a cool idea, and it was the first one I ever built, so I tried to make it as artsy-fartsy as I could, which is all fine and dandy, but then I realized that as much as I like the idea of ‘organized chaos’ and whatnot, the site did not look as ‘professional’ as I wanted, or would have liked. More new on this later.
Take care for now…
It has been quite some time since my last post. Lots of things going on. Anyway, I am going to rebuild my website and update a lot of my pages; upload new artworks and delete others. Blah.
Anyway, soon to come Maelstrom Arts.net Mach 2.
Later
Today is Sept 8, 2008 and it is the first day of the new semester at college. What can be said other than here comes yet another 15 week schedule of classes and knowledge to filter into our minds. While I sit here at work, many things are going through my mind, as an artist, as an employee and also as a husband and father… and the main question is ‘How am I doing?’ Indeed, it is the question I ask myself the most… just ‘how’ am I doing in the great scheme of things? Well, I feel that I am doing pretty well, but not to my fullest potential, that of course is not a fault, it is just a reality. Being in a position of such responsibility makes things a bit difficult to put in order, but it is not impossible. It is just a matter of organizing priorities. So, what the heck am I talking about? Well, I am 36 and I am married with four children. I work full time as a graphic designer and I am also a full time student. Not only that but I also have my freelance work and my hobbies which make my days filled with moments of creative stress. But, is it truly stress? I do not know if that is the appropriate word… I guess I can actually call it a ‘creative vortex’ because my mind is constantly swirling with ideas, inspirations and to-do lists. All I need to develop is the correct chart in order to tackle each situation accordingly. It isn’t really stressful to the point of angering me… no, it is more like a library filled with so many books and I do not know which one to read first because they are all of the highest interest to me. It is just a matter of saying, ‘Ok, I will start with this, and then move on to that…’ I think of my kids a lot. True, I am not always the most approachable man on the face of the planet, but I do love my kids. I think about all the artists before me and what made them who they were. Many of them were misunderstood, many of them were antisocial and many of them had failed families because they were too engulfed in their work or vices that clouded their true creativity. That is not the kind of artist I want to be and it is sure as hell how I do not want to be remembered. I don’t want to be remembered as a one-dimensional artist, nor as a creative force that shuns away from the public eye. I do not want to be like Leonardo Da Vinci who had incredible visions and ideas, but who was known to hardly ever complete a masterpiece due to procrastination. I do not want to be like Jackson Pollock, who had a style all-his-own, but was an alcoholic and womanizer who ultimately lost his life due to his vices… I do not want to be a failure. I want to be a victory… in my life, my work and of course in my mind. I have seen the work of many of my peers, the artists with whom I associate myself with, and it is all fascinating, but do we share the same mindset? It is hard to say because we are not in each other’s creative vicinity 24 hours a day. All of us have different lives and different responsibilities, but what unites us as artists is when we are close together… a kinship, a brotherhood… a family. And as students that share the same classrooms and instructors we tend to build a reputation as a group that will either exceed expectations or disappoint. I do not want to be ’slumped’ into a group that has no sense of importance or urgency, no matter how ‘cool’ the individuals may be or how it may enhance my personal reputation amongst the masses. My individuality as an artist can take me places, but my networking is what will make me a force to be reckoned with. It is how I treat those around me and promote myself that gets my name out there. Those whom I associate myself with should also have this ’sense of importance and dedication’ because it makes no sense for one person to have a mindset of urgency and for everyone else to sit by the sidelines and expect good things without putting in an effort to obtain it. That, my friends, is pathetic. So, with this new semester I hope to achieve more importance, not as an egocentric individual, but as a man who wishes to be the best he can be. I want my wife and kids to be proud of me, and I want to be able to provide for them the best way I can. I sure as hell cannot achieve that by having a poor attitude, can I? It’s all about my surroundings… ‘You make your surroundings and your surroundings will make you.’ If I associate my life with that which brings me down, of course I will become a depressed pile of excrement, but if I surround my life with that which makes me smile, I will find more reasons to enjoy what I do. the color of the glass through which I see… if I lens is foggy, so too will my vision be. I hate sounding philosophical, especially when my words seem jumbled up… I am just writing it as it comes to mind. It makes sense to me, and hopefully it will to you as well. Ok, back to work…
This is not graphic art related, nor is it about my career… it is about my dear friend Charlie Rodriguez. This blog has been posted on other sites, and since this is my personaly blog I opted to copy and paste it here as well…
I may be completely out of line for the following post, and for it I apologize before hand.
One of my best friends, Charlie Rodriguez aka ‘Charlie Chulo’ aka ‘Paulie’ was killed a few days ago by a stray bullet. I do not know all the details, actually nobody knows yet, but I am very upset and pissed off at the entire situation, especially since he was such a happy person, full of life and lover of music and performing.
We shared in two bands together in Puerto Rico, the Spanish rock band ‘Eclipse’ and the Spanish punk band ‘Coraje de Tres’. I was the bassist and he was the drummer… we, as many musicians know, were the backbone of the music being performed. I have plenty of great memories of this beautiful person, whom I am missing greatly right now.
It sucks that we, as human beings engulfed in our own daily bullshit, forget about those people whom we have shared such great times with, and for brief moments we forget that we are mortal. Well, my friend Charlie was a performer, hell he would play for free, he enjoyed the crowd so much, and seeing everyone enjoy themselves with music. For him to be lost to such a tragedy is complete and total bullshit. He is a man who should have died of old age with a crippling arthritis while trying to hold a goddamn drumstick in his hand instead of stupidly losing his life to some morons unbelievable disregard for life. Bullets were shot, one went stray and that is the end of my good friends life, while he was in his apartment.
I mean, what the fuck man? Why the fuck do there have to be so many assholes with such a low respect for the one fucking life that God has given them, so much that their anger and disregard for others causes them to think they can take lives as they wish, completely forgetting that the bullets they shoot will hit an innocent victim on the side… THAT is how my good friend died.
Guns don’t kill people… people kill people, intentionally and unintentionally, and that is the sad, sick reality of life and I am goddamn pissed off about it.
Charlie, I love you brother. Be sure to bang those drums hard and heavy while on the steps of heaven. Rock the choirs.
And to the individual who held the gun, forgiveness is given with as much pain as I feel. Charlie had two children, a boy and a girl… now fatherless. May you not meet the sad end you caused him, but if it were up to me and if I were to set aside my spirituality and beliefs in a life after death, I would say… fuck you and your weak world you damn sad excuse of a human being. God forgive me for the thoughts…
Take away an innocent life by your ignorance. You know whom you have to answer to and may HE have mercy on your soul.
There is absolutely NO WRITTEN LAW that specifies how a creative program HAS TO BE USED. This idiocy has pissed me off beyond belief. SURE, there are rules and guidelines to follow when using a certain program, but NOWHERE does a manual state that tools have to be used in a certain way. If we, as artists have the ability to create, we sure as hell have the freedom and the RIGHT to use all tools and all mediums as we damn well please. In the great scheme of things, no one, and I mean NO ONE has the right to censor or conspire against the rights of an artist and their freedom of expression. And as for the supposed ‘Orphaned Works’ Bill… that is the most ridiculous crap I have ever heard. Artists, protect your works, protect your integrity and for Pete’s sakes don’t let ANYONE dictate what you create which, by artistic and creative RIGHT is your voice and your vision. Corporate entities, the voices of fake superiors and the individuals who claim that their eye is superior can all kiss my ass.
Getting a Degree… that is. Myself and many of my fellow students have decided to continue studying. So, classes have started and it is now time to ‘put up or shut up’ when it comes to the duties and responsibilities involved with extended studies. In other words, time to stop wasting time, hit the books and study.Oh yes, ladies and gentlemen. College life, especially for those of us who have a family, can be quite time consuming. Priorities have to be rearranged and one can only hope that somehow and someway the day gains a few extra hours in order to complete all the assignments and projects. Personally, I would say that it would be a lot easier for those students who don’t have children, live at home with their parents and work a part time job. But, then again I can be wrong. Each and every case is different.However it goes, many individuals spend their idle time with ridiculousness instead of putting what they learn into practice. ‘Schoolwork is for the classroom and homework is for the last minute’. I can honestly say that I too have fallen into this trap, where procrastination becomes the hindrance to our capabilities. In other words… laziness. Even the top students in every school have their moments of ‘ho-hum’.It gets depressing at times, but what is someone to do? There is no magical formula to balancing out life. Each person has to find the combination that works best for them. I have no problem with waking up at 4:00 a.m. in order to work on a project; but that’s me. Others may find that method ridiculous because they’d rather catch a few more z’s. Then there’s the possibility of ‘hanging out with the guys’, or ‘ladies night out’ and assignments get put in the back of the mind. In another instance, it is the 40 hour work week that becomes the stone in one’s path. For each student there are different situations which makes one’s life either a breeze or a complicated Picasso.So, what can we do? Plan ahead? Does it always work? Nope… but we can surely try. The most important thing is not to lose focus and concentrate on the big picture. With each closing chapter there is always the next one and with each passing moment we need to take the necessary steps and make the required decisions and sacrifices to achieve our goal. Yeah, I am using a lot of big words and trying to sound philosophical. Blah. Here’s the way I should really say it…Stop wasting time and get your ass in gear… and of course, I am including myself. … and every other Thursday it’s sushi and saké at Fuji’s. Beautiful.
The title of this blog is not to be taken lightly because it has to do with personal growth. We, as human beings tend to follow our hearts and with it come the trials and tribulations of the journey.
A little over two years ago, along with several other hopefuls, embarked on an educational journey at the Nossi College of Art, and last Thursday April 24th, we achieved our dream of obtaining our degree, for some it is the first, for others their second. The majority of us started our education in the summer of 2006, and we witnessed as many of our cohorts chose different paths during our time together. Of course, we wish them the best in their endeavors, but we remained and kept our creative dreams alive… and here we are, at our Portfolio Review, showing-off our stuff! And now, with our Degrees in tow, we plan on making our mark throughout the creative world.
This blog is a tribute to them and I would like to invite all of you to visit their websites and support their creativity. I am proud to network with these individuals and I am also honored to call them my friends. So please visit my website and check out my links page to visit their sites.
Later…
Oh by the way, a handful of us have decided to continue our studies in the Bachelor program… so another two years of books, homework and very little idle time. Spiffy.
So the time has come to walk down the aisle and obtain something that was sought after and fought hard for…
No, I am not talking about a spouse, I am talking about a Degree. You know, the ‘other’ love of your life that takes time away from your family and friends. Well, that time is near for me.
So, happy day.
So, what has been achieved in this long illustrious journey? A lot, and it has seen both extremes, from the most satisfying creativity to the downright frustrating creative blocks. I’ll be damned if I’ll be a hypocrite and say that it has been easy because it sure as hell wasn’t. yeah, there were times when I thought, ‘What the hell am I thinking?’ It is at those times when I had to reach down and find the true inspiration… and get caught in a zone of creativity, but in order to do that i had to shut myself off from everyone and everything… which can be a very bad thing.
I don’t want to lose focus on what is most important to me, especially my wife and kids. My love for art and my fanatical desires to achieve greatness has been a burden in many ways, and my family has paid the price many times. It is shameful and sometimes I regret the idea that I even returned to art. So, I have to find the true medium between my hobby and my responsibility. It can be trivial, but in the end it comes down to this… without my wife and kids I would have no inspiration for my art.
So, I dedicate my degree to them.
In the meantime, you guys can have fun looking at my latest creation…
The following portrait was created in Photoshop and by use of an incredible camera… the Photo-booth tool on the Mac-Book Pro. YEP! There are lots of cute bells and whistles incorporated into the Macintosh which can lead to hours and hours of unstoppable creativity. I took approximately 40 pictures of myself, using the different filters and a cheap $5 spotlight strategically placed on my desk. then, I imported different images into Photoshop and played with the filters to see what would happen. There is absolutely no science behind it. As a matter of fact, the only ‘illustrating’ I did was the grid I placed on the image and I lowered the opacity and used a filter on it as well.
is this a ‘thought out’ piece? No, not really… it is just how I spend my time while waiting for the day to end.
Yeah… I love you too.
Besides being one of my beliefs, it is also the name of my latest piece.
I really wanted to create another piece that symbolizes something important to me and my views, but I wanted to create it in a different manner.
It all started out with viewing some pieces by M C Escher. I know that he was a genius and his works are truly magnificent, but how the hell did he do it?
Math… that’s how.
Now, I am not a mathematical genius, but I do enjoy playing with shapes and dimensions, so I decided to take a crack at it. This design started off with a simple hexagon. I drew one lizard on it to finalize the ‘placement’. Then I scanned the image and imported it into Illustrator, made it a template and started to build from there. Now, even with a template there is a lot of work to do in regards to spacing and dimensions, so I had to use a series of guides.
Now let me say this… thank God for the ‘duplicate’ option, because with that tool it is a breeze to develop artwork like this, BUT there are many factor to keep in mind, and you most definitely need a template in order to get the measurements right.
The gradient tool is also a fun tool to play with… it’s always nice to ad texture to a background.
Many people who have seen the original piece have said it would be a great tattoo… hmmm, my heart goes out to whomever wishes to endure the pain for it! However it goes, I am very proud of this effort, and trust me, there will be more to come.
Once again, thanks for stopping by and we’ll see you again.
Peace…
Ok.
Here is the latest piece I have developed.
This piece is entitled Imagination Is Limitless. Why? Because it is… so there.
Ok, onto the story of it’s creation…
I wanted to create another ‘organized chaotic piece’ that involved multiple images and layers, but I had no idea what I was going to do. I had no absolute vision for this piece. Ok, so what images was I going to use? Well, I know that I took dozens of pictures of my kids and I building a snow fort, so why not use those? Ok…so, I just created a blank canvas in photoshop and started to upload images and resize them and I started to place them in rows and columns… not really planning anything.
Ok, so here we go… over 100 images uploaded, and I just stared at the screen. Ok, now what? well, what will happen if I added some textures? Sure, why not… so I started to go through the other images that were on the camera and I found some wacky photos that my daughter Anastasia took that I was about to delete, until I realized something… ‘Hey! I can use these for textures!‘ My daughter Anastasia love the camera… she will work that sucker just as well as she works her way through peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and chocolate milk, and interestingly enough, some of these pictures were pretty good!
So, I started to upload my daughters pictures and ad some filters to those as well. Now we are getting somewhere… I knew something good was happening because my surroundings soon disappeared and the only thing I was feeling was the creative orgasmic flow of adrenaline. And that was a good thing… better than sex at times.
So, after 25 hours or so of uploading, editing, retouching, resizing, cropping and flattening… I give you ‘Imagination Is Limitless‘
