Picasso Dream

Had totally awesome dream in which I met and conversed with Pablo Picasso! The older version of Picasso. I don't know how it occurred but all of a sudden he just showed up in a black car with a chauffeur. He asked me to join him so I did and we went to some market where he purchased six sausage and salami logs. He spoke mostly Spanish so I only understood half of what he said. He had me carry the logs while he spoke and looked through one of my sketchbooks. He was silent for a while then laughed and smiled as he flipped through each page. Then we came upon his estate which was a large beige/white stucco looking mansion. We climbed a staircase to the main entrance and I watched him slowly walk inside. I handed him the logs and he smiled then said, "Oh. It was your Uncle. Your Uncle thought I should meet with you." And with that he disappeared into the mansion.
I tried to follow him in but when I got inside there was no sign of him. I saw a nude model sitting on a large sofa in the living room area. She looked like she was waiting for someone. I saw a dog running around and a boy chasing him around the entire first floor. I then went up to the second floor and peered into one of the rooms, a couple was fast asleep on a comfy bed. I didn't know how to get out from there so that's when I woke up.

Secluded Artist

I have been somewhat secluded from things for the past couple of weeks. Well, secluded from the things that most people tend to take for granted in a modern society. But I am remaining as focused as I can be on my art and art related ideas. I find that I am drastically improving in my drawing skills and color mixing skills. I don't quite know what I will create with such improvements but I know it will be something on a grand scale. For now, I shall just continue to draw as much as I can and paint as much as possible. I've mainly been using cardboard boxes as canvases due to the fact that I cannot afford real canvas, stretched or unstretched. Besides, I like having the freedom to do with a box what I may and cardboard is just as durable/frail as any linen canvas. I've also been learning a lot from the Van Gogh biography I've been reading. He was very diligent with his drawing and painting. He knew that he wasn't very good at it in the beginning but kept practicing and practicing. He put up with a lot of criticism in his lifetime, the worst of it came from his mentors. It is a shame that he insisted on cutting his life short. There were plenty of other misunderstood artists during that time that persisted and continued creating well into old age. Perhaps it was just his schizophrenia/depression that got the better of him.

Here are some recent pieces of mine. The first pic is of two small paintings. A blue building titled "Building No. 1" and a black building titled "Building No. 2". Both were done in gouache paint on a recycled cola box. I tried to really make them stand out and convey a deep emotional context. That is also why I painted a red background for both of them. The second pic is just a charcoal figure sketch titled "Talk Now." It reminds me a lot of some picasso-like abstract figure. His work has also been influencing me as much as Van Gogh's. But I've yet to read a Picasso biography. I definitely will in the near future. I hacen't sold many pieces lately but that is mostly because I have been studying a lot of different drawing and painting techniques in order to expand my repertoire and add more depth to the canvas. I do see myself selling a ton of sketches and small abstracts on ebay and in person soon. I'll update on here with a few links once I'm ready to start selling again.

Figurative Picasso

Last night I drew some still life sketches of fruit accompanied by different body parts. I don't know exactly what I was trying to display by doing so. Perhaps the answer will come to me at a later time. I also drew a really quick sketch of one of Picasso's blue period paintings. It doesn't look too shabby for a sketch. It has definitely given me an idea for an original figurative painting. :-)