Getting Ready for the RAW "Radiate" Showcase

The Parish on 6th St. Austin, TX

http://www.rawartists.org/karinaprado

I've been preparing for the RAW "Radiate" showcase now for a few weeks. It's the first time that I've ever been part of an art show (okay, there was that one in high school). Naturally, I'm excited and nervous. I'm really blessed to have friends in my life that are helping me out with this. My friend, Renee came with me last night to the walk-thru of the venue at The Parish on 6th Street. She also brought her friend, Kakii, who is a guru of lighting and setup. Together we were able to decide on the perfect area to hang my artwork.

What I need to do now is figure out the arrangement of the pieces and equipment to hang them.

Study of Frida Kahlo - A Portrait in Oil

Underpainting for Portrait of Frida Kahlo - unfinished

Last night I started two underpaintings. My intention was to work on finishing the Cheetah Girl Portrait, but the layers weren't dry enough to add new color. I didn't want to muck up the work I had alredy done on it, so I decided to start a new underpainting. I actually started *two* of them, but the one I'm going to talk about in this post is the Frida Kahlo portrait.

I would rather be creative in my work than realistic, but I'm not sure how to do that yet. I think that if I wait around until I get a good idea, nothing will get done - so in the meantime, I'm going to just study Frida Kahlo's face.

In my own personal opinion, Frida Kahlo was a beautiful woman. She wasn't attractive by the standards that society set for women, (to *me* she was) but her spirit and transparency made her rare. She was unique in her art, beliefs, dress and physical appearance. I've decided to try to capture her real features in this underpainting. The photo that I'm using as a reference is a black and white picture of her that I found in a music video. I hope that when the underpainting dries and I'm ready to glaze on the colors, I'll have that spark of creativity that I've been waiting for. I hope that what I learn in this study will help me to preserve the likeliness of the subjects that I choose to interpret in the future.

Maybe I should just stick with oil.



Underpainting done in Ivory Black and Payne's Grey

First layers of colors glazed on using Liquin.

Cheetah Girl, in progress    Karina Prado

I had purchased oil paints a few months ago with the intention of experimenting with them and taking a break from acrylics. I hadn't used oils for about ten years and back then I was using turpentine and linseed oil as blending mediums. I find that oils are easier to work with when I compare the process to working with acrylic paints. The blending process alone is miraculous. I like the richness and the consistency of oils. It's like my mind just remembered what to do. I should also add that I find the smell of oil paint amazing. I think that I may stick with them for now, since the experience was so enjoyable and less frustrating for me.

¡Feliz cumpleaños, Frida Kahlo!



Tributo a Frida, unfinished by Karina Prado


Frida Kahlo is one of my greatest inspirations.

She was beautiful, brilliant, courageous, talented, dynamic and free. Her art is so real, raw and striking to me. When I see her work, I am speechless at the subject matter and other times, I feel that she is staring at me in her self portraits, inviting me into the world as she saw it. She was steadfast in her beliefs and did what she wanted. I will always see her as a woman ahead of her time.

RAW Artist: Karina Prado

I just found out that my work was accepted for the August 16th show of RAW: Natural Born Artists here in Austin, Texas. The show is called "Radiate" and will be showcased at The Parish on Sixth Street.

I'd better get busy with the new pieces. My friend Kanokwalee has a great idea about a theme.

Here's the link to my artist profile at RAW and the show details.

http://www.rawartists.org/karinaprado

Willie Nelson

My friend Renee and I were walking around in downtown Austin, when she pointed out the Willie Nelson statue to me. At that moment, I thought it would be a great idea to transform my old coffee farmer painting into Willie Nelson. He's a big deal in Austin.

My New Instancanvas Gallery

I was approved to open an Instagram gallery today. I posted square-sized Instagram photos of my work here. I honestly think that everything I have on here is horrible, but I'm going to post items anyhow. It just makes me want to push myself harder to create something beautiful.

instacanv.as/karinaprado1111

Joseph's Chicken Coop Project

Photo by Kanokwalee Pusitanun

This past weekend I worked on a panel for my friend Joseph's new chicken coop (that he constructed himself!). Here's a link to Joseph's chicken coop project.



OBEY on South Congress, Austin TX


My intention was for the rooster to be colorful, but it didn't end up that way. Earlier that day I had taken a walk down South Congress in Austin. I stopped to stare at the OBEY wall installment by Shepard Fairey next to Homeslice Pizza. Shepard Fairey's work looks like propaganda, and I can see where this style emerged in my rooster. My friend Joseph grows his own garden and is raising chickens so that he can have fresh eggs. He also makes his own compost. This inspired a feeling of rebellion in me - "I want FRESH homegrown food!" I started to listen to songs like "Battleflag" by Low Fidelity Allstars and "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes while I worked on it, so the rooster ended up looking like he was ready to fight by the end of the project.



"ILL Gallo" The finished piece



No. 2 - El Diablito

Wow! Usually I struggle with creative block when I'm trying to paint. This time, it's kind of scary how easy it was to knock this Loteria card out. I've been struggling with some issues lately - and some negative feelings. I thought it would be healthy to release these feelings and work them out on canvas.

I started out with a heart to represent the place where I was experiencing the most emotion. As I thought about the things I wanted to say (or yell), I added brushstrokes and definition. I started to love the face that was emerging, because I recognized the expression. At the end of the process, I felt peaceful and healed. It was a good exercise for me. I learned that my negative feelings want to be heard, not stuffed down. The most important thing I learned through this piece is that they want to be heard by me.

Tattoo Artwork

My old friend from high school wrote to ask me if I could design a tattoo for him. He had the concept ready in his head and was very specific about what he wanted. He's a medical professional and wanted the caduceus symbol comprised of the anatomy of a man by Da Vinci, angel wings and serpents around the legs of the man.
His tattoo artist completed the detail in the serpents. I love the way it came out. When I saw the pictures, I really felt that it was a powerfully symbolic image with deep meaning.

Following My Art.

Creación de Adán    - Michelangelo, The Sistene Chapel

I love to research the lives of artists.

I've been borderline-obsessed with this topic since I was very young. Learning about the life of the person who created the art helps me to view their pieces with more depth. I can't interpret a work of art comfortably unless I can feel a connection to the artist.

What purpose does this serve in my life? Why do I feel the need to connect in this way? I don't really have an answer to these questions. What I'm certain of is that the importance of needing to connect to art is a driving force in my life. Art has propelled me in different directions. It's the hand of God on my life. It connects me to people. It tells me where I'm going to go to school, what I'm going to do as a profession, what church I'm going to attend, where I'm going to work, and where I'm going to live. So, too, art has been the driving force in the lives of other artists and their work is the visual record of its inspiration.

How did the creative force play a role in the outcome of the artist's life? How connected was the artist to this energy, and how much of their piece was inspired by that? These are all questions that push me further into the art world. There is so much to discover. So many people to meet. So much art to look at and interpret. To me, it's another world to lose myself in. One artist leads me to another, just as a work of art leads me to another. I grow and my life is richer as I continue on this path of discovery.

"Heaven", our Shih Tzu Puppy, Art and Dreams.

I need to mention that we were recently blessed with the most adorable puppy I've ever met. My sister-in-law has two shih tzus named Lola and Louie, and they had their first pups in February. We were fortunate to be given one of these puppies and my daughter picked the black one. She named her "Heaven", and she's brought so much happiness to our lives in the short time she's been with us.

This is a video of Heaven when she was still drinking from her bottle. Heaven's grown up so much already. She's not drinking puppy milk anymore. Yesterday she learned how to bark during play time. I used the "stabilizer" feature on YouTube, thinking it would fix the shakiness that occured during recording. I think the original looked better. Ha! I predict that I'll be posting more content about Heaven in the future, so please consider this a formal introduction.

Now, on to ART.

Yesterday I mentioned that I joined an online art "academy". Last night I watched one of the demonstrations in oil painting. I was mesmerized, while watching the artist display her skills. It was actually very amazing and I fell asleep thinking about the painting she created.

Let me tell you about the dream I had.

I've been wrestling with a life decision. Should I move back to Arizona? I've been seeking divine guidance on this, because moving to Austin was such a major decision for us. Well, last night I had a dream that I was standing in my apartment and it was empty. My family had moved on without me. There were items that were left behind strewn about the floor and the electricity was turned off. I felt that I had also been left behind. I knew that I needed to find a way back, and started to look online (on my phone) for a train ticket back to Arizona. Maybe I feel "left behind" because my sister and her family moved back to Arizona. I may be feeling disconnected and those feeling are being expressed in my dreams.

I Desire Better Art.

Last night I meditated on the topic of desire.

I learned that desire is the thing inside of us that drives us to fulfilling our goals in this existence.

Today I came across a link to an online art "academy". I'm not a person with impulsive tendencies to purchase things that I don't need - especially online products. However, I felt a desire to push the "add to cart" button on the site after reading the description of the course. After another intense five minutes of trying to talk myself out of it, I pushed the PayPal button. I immediately received a link for the video courses and pdf files for the books that are included in the first month of the course. I'm a little skeptical about this adventure, so I'm going to journal my thoughts as I go along. It's better for me to see if I've made any progress creatively as a result of my online purchase -  that's my goal. =)

Dear Lady Who Stole My Wallet at Wal-Mart

I'm writing this blog post in case you decide to Google my name. I pray all is well with you, and you are being blessed. I also hope your situation is changing for the best. I would imagine that things must be rough for you. With that being said, I need to let you know that a detective contacted me from the Austin Police Department and they are working on my case. I had to file a police report because there was a piece of Federal property in my wallet that has to be replaced. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. There's a good chance that you'll get caught, since you were caught on surveillance. If you still have this, please contact me at karinaprado1111@gmail.com so I can tell you where to send it and I'll drop the charges. I know you have two little kids and they don't need their mom to be in trouble with the law. I hope you never do this again. God bless you.