August 2007

Since a National Geographic reference was the topic of the previous post, I thought I’d add this image as well. This watercolor was completed about 8 years ago on watercolor paper.

The article was about the importance of a certain Indian river to the life of the people that surrounded it. I don’t recall the name of the river or the issue of the magazine where I found the picture. If you happen to know, be sure to let me know in the comments below.

This watercolor doesn’t look like most other watercolors because it was made in a very slow and detailed way, giving rise to an opaque finished piece. Watercolors are known for their transparency and accidental effects, so many purists might think that i’m killing the essence of watercolor by painting in this way. My response is: I like how it looks, so there. Besides, limiting the ways a medium is used because of “the way it’s supposed to look” puts an unnecessary barrier on the range of your work.

I read a lot of National Geographic. The stories are enlightening and the images are breathtaking. This is definitely a magazine that I don’t throw away at the end of the month. I have used the images in National Geographic many times as a reference, and this drawing is a perfect example.

I don’t really remember what the article was about, but I do know that it was published about 8 years ago and it had a regular American town with people that you’d see every day.

The photo I used as a reference for this drawing struck me as very tender. The woman was busy sewing a garment while talking to the girl, and the girl seemed tickled with what was being said. Or maybe she was reacting to the photographer? Who knows. In any event, the expressions on both of their faces was priceless and I had to draw them.

As for the drawing itself, it is pencil on watercolor paper (I liked the roughness of it). At the time I was experimenting with making the outlines of subjects much darker than the shadows within them, and I think it works very nicely for this piece.

“Sitting Bull” was commissioned about 3 years ago by my boss at the time. I worked at a computer lab at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez doing regular maintenance and upgrades. My boss was a bit eccentric as far as Native Americans were concerned, and had all kinds of paraphernalia around the office and at his home. Sitting Bull was his favorite character from Native American history, so as soon as he found out that I could draw, he asked for this picture.

I designed the overall composition based on two different pictures that I found of Sitting Bull. I thought a cloudy night sky would be a good contrast to the figures in the foreground, so I incorporated into the picture.

Interestingly, at first the sky included a moon because I have always envisioned Native Americans as dancing in the moonlight. Maybe that image was engraved into my mind by movies and other media, but nevertheless, I thought the moon was a good addition. Unfortunately, an ink spill ruined the drawing of the moon so now there is only a dark spot in the upper right-hand corner.

This image of a lion fish was created about a year and a half ago as a tryout for a graphic design position. I was trying to prove my artistic skills be completing a digital painting using only Photoshop and a Wacom tablet. I liked the result very much, so I’m including it here as my first art post.

I like lion fish because they are extravagant and beautiful and scary at the same time. I wanted to reflect that in the painting. Also, I tweaked the colors of the fish to be a bit more orange so that it would clash with the blue background. The shock of complementary colors makes the image pop.

The white lines were added as a unique touch to show that I wasn’t simply copying an image of a lion fish. I think the lines also help denote the features of the fish, which would be lost in the sea of camouflage markings that cover it.

I’m starting a lot of new things this week. Most notable of which is my name change. You see, I got married about a month ago and hadn’t decided to change my surname, until now.

My motivation wasn’t the usual one: I just suddenly realized that Jennifer Montes is a much rarer name than Jennifer Garcia, and thus suitable as an artistic name.

No, I’m not a heartless bitch. Really. I love my husband, but marrying him would not be the sole reason I would change my name. What’s in a name anyway?

Anyway, given that Jennifer Montes is a much rarer name, I was actually able to find an unused domain name for it. So here we are.