United Airlines Commercial for summer Olympics

I recently had the honor to work on a United Airlines commercial this past winter up in BEAUTIFUL Ojai California. Duck Studios produced it and Jamie Caliri directed. Jamie and his crew made an amazing paper cut out commercial for the Super Bowl a few years back. It was called "Dragon" and it won several awards after it's release. I recommend you look up the commercial and the making of on You Tube if you have a chance. This commercial, like the Dragon commercial, is primarily paper cut out stop motion animation and a little after effects. I look forward to posting some cool behind the scenes pictures after the commercial has aired.

These are some quick gesture drawings I did in the early stages of the project.




The view of Ojai out of our studio windows. Stunning!

more Dogs

This was my Valentines Day gift to my husband. I made cut outs of our beloved dogs Humphery (a Patch Beagle) and Janie (a Fox Terrier mix).

I'm Shortie

This is my friend Peter's chiwawa mix Shortie. This dog is a character and so is his owner. I like characters so I made him this little statuette in honor of his "old man like" dog.




His little leg has a hinge in it so he can scratch himself when ever he feels the urge.

Queen Eliza-BEE-th

Samurai Beetle from "Band Of Bugs" show

The "Band of Bugs" show opening on Saturday was great! I believe 500 people showed up to check it out. Thank you for coming out to the show and supporting us. The show will be up till March 3rd. Lou, Don, Amanda, Michele, Alex, Chris, and myself have some pieces that are still available to be purchased on the Gallery Nucleus website.


THE INSPIRATION:
I was looking at Rhino Beetles on the internet and got a Samurai book for Christmas. Put them together and what do you have --Samurai Beetles. I plan on making more because this was really fun to make.

"The spider and the ladybug" for bug show

"Egyptian Scarab" for bug show

via Wikipedia: "The scarab was linked to Khepri ("he who has come into being"), the god of the rising sun. The ancients believed that the dung beetle was only male in gender, and reproduced by depositing semen into a dung ball. The supposed self-creation of the beetle resembles that of Khepri, who creates himself out of nothing. Moreover, the dung ball rolled by a dung beetle resembles the sun."

...interesting

African Mask Butterfly

"African Mask Bugs" for upcoming art show

These are my African Mask bugs that I've made for the upcoming art show at Gallery Nucleus Feb.9th. One is based off of a ladybug and the other one is based off of a picture of a real insect I found on the internet. Unfortunately, I forgot to write down what kind bug it was. It looked cool so I made it.


Here it is out in nature.

"THE BUG SHOW" FEBRUARY 9TH AT GALLERY NUCLEUS!

This is LOU RAMANO'S piece that we used for the show flyer


Local Californian Wasp: 5 1/2 X 5 1/2


This is one of my pieces that is in "The Bug Show" at Gallery Nucleus on February 9th at 7pm. Other artists in the show include:
Lou Romano
Anna Chambers
Chris Rabilwongse
Don Shank
Amanda Visell
Michelle Valigura
Alex Kirwan


For more information, please click on the Gallery Nucleus link listed under "Gallery links".

Rodeo Kids

A logo for an elementry school fund raiser.

Tree Trimming 2: Ornament Show

This is a little dove ornament I made for a show that will be at the J Flynn Gallery in Costa Mesa California. Sorry about the crappy photo. I need to get a better camera.
Here is the list of artist and the information for the show:

Our Wedding Cake

Here are a few pictures of our wedding cake that I mentioned a few post back. I made all the butterflies from paper and poked them into the cake with wire. Unfortunately, I had a window of 10 minutes to place them on the cake at the baker's home the day before the wedding. It was pretty stressful and they almost didn't make it on there. I'm so glad I did it and the end product is ALMOST what I envisioned it to be. It's always more grandiose in the mind. The last shot is Darth Vader crashing our reception. A surprise for my husband and friends that would appreciate that sort of thing. I'm in the middle of wiping the cake off my face after Shannon smashed a piece on me.

CHOWDER!!! Watch it!

CHOWDER is a new show on Cartoon Network and it premiers TONIGHT November 2nd at 7:30. It is wonderful, funny, unique, has beautiful art direction and awesome music! If you don't catch it tonight, Tivo it or check the schedule on www.cartoonnetwork.com.

I'm getting hitched

I decided that planning a wedding is not enough work so I gave myself art projects just for the event. One of them is this flower girl basket. I'm also making my cake topper. I'll post that picture if it turns out the way I want it to.

Kunoichi - female Ninja

She just assassinated her target and is returning her weapon to her hair where it will be disguised as a hair ornament.



I read about the Kunoichi and it inspired me to create this piece for the Ninja Show at Gallery Nucleus. This is how they are described:

As with the male ninja, they were spies and helped with the ninja's fight (in various different ways) against the samurai. Mistress of deception and 'flowery combat' were among their skills. She was a spy, messenger and observer. Her training, although similar to her male counterparts, focused more on the psychological techniques, including manipulation, disguise, feminine charm and the use of female intuition. They were also taught how to not only play with the emotions of others, but to keep their own emotions in check - they were not allowed to fall in love with their targets!!

These women, or kunoichi as they were called, were given special training in psychological skills and intuition. Taught to manipulate men high-up in the enemy hierarchy, they were known to conceal blades inside musical instruments and sex toys. Shimma kunoichi, ninja family members, were trained as spies who were taught not to fall in love with their targets or lose sight of their ultimate goal after successful seduction. According to Rumiko Hayes, a ninja black belt and the wife of Stephen Hayes, head female agents were sent around the country to collect young female orphans, whom they raised with care. These orphan girls were forever indebted to their agents and would do whatever they were asked in terms of seducing men. Karima kunoichi were women who were not part of the clan but were temporarily hired as maids, mistresses, entertainers, fortunetellers, prostitutes, or artists. In contemporary times, female ninja often fulfill the same roles as men, working in security and law enforcement.

Yo Gabba Gabba

Yo Gabba Gabba is a brand new children’s program that will be airing on Nick Jr. and Noggin in August. You can watch a sample of the show on you tube or visit their site at http://www.yogabbagabba.com. I'm really excited about this show and very honored that I got the opportunity to be apart of their first season!

Some bugs

This is a piece I did for the "Power in Numbers" show coming up this weekend at Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra.
The show runs from May 19 - May 28, 2007

150 artists were requested to create pieces that fit within a 5X7 dimension. All work will be priced at $50 or $100. They will be donating 20% of the profits to charity. The charity affiliated with this years Power In Numbers will be Susan G. Komen for the Cure, an organization to help with the fight against breast cancer. Please visit their sight (linked in the right margin) for more information.

Marie Antoinette

Stills from Paper Cutout Video for Class of 3000

Last month I collaborated with the talented Mr. Chris Staples and Joe Horn to create a paper cutout music video for the Cartoon Network series Class of 3000! André Benjamin wrote the song, Joe boarded the video, I created the puppets and Chris animated, filmed, and edited the video. This music video is imbedded in the episode called "Prank Yankers" which aired on Friday February 23rd.

"Mekka-lekka hi mekka hiney ho!"

Jambi from Pee Wee's Playhouse! This was done for the "After These Messages Show" that is up at the Gallery Nucleus till March 6.

The Water Queen

This is a piece I created for the Nucleus Gallery Show "After These Messages". The piece was inspired by the Rankin Bass movie "The Life and Adventures of Santa Clause". My paper lady is based off of the "Water Queen Immortal" puppet from that movie.

Hypothetical record cover

This was one of my pieces for “The Cover Art” show at the Nucleus gallery. I thought it would be fun to do an old Indian dude playing a sitar as a cover image for an East Indian music album.

White Elephant Show (3 1/2in X 3in)

This is the piece I created and donated to the WHITE ELEPHANT show
being presented by ISM quarterly.

Red Fox

This little fox is a work in progress. I do this sometimes. I'll make one part of the sculpture and put it aside until I get an idea for the environment to put it in. I'm leaning towards a forest. I'd better start cutting some trees.

Thank you Amid!!!

Thank you Amid for the write up in Cartoon Brew! It is the ultimate animation blog. Thank you for informing us about the future of animation, and keeping us in touch with it's inspiring past!

More Ikebana

White Fish

White Moth

Ikebana

Ikebana is the art of Japanese floral arrangement.

Japanese Fruit Girl

Hong Kong Junk Ship

For my brother in law..the Orthodontist

Dr. Stewart White
Helping keep Santa Barbara beautiful.

"Arabian Nights"

Just Hatched

Kali

Paper Polish Chickens

Toucan

Cuckoo Clock

I made this as a gift for my friends little baby girl Scarlet . It is inspired by Bavarian cuckoo clocks and Mary Blair. I put their Boston terrier Jinx and myself looking out the windows to personalize it bit.

Brazilan

Medieval Tapestry

Three Painted Ladies

Silly Mona

Geisha