Dia De Los Muertos

'Muerta'
9x12 charcoal on toned paper

May your lost loved ones remain in your hearts and remembered forever.

Stay Grim

*reference: Hezza Suicide

Thom Yorke

Thom Yorke
9x12 oil on canvas board

I wanted to stretch my art muscles a bit and attempt a portrait painting using only natural hair brushes instead of my usual combination of natural and synthetic. I gave myself a bit of a restricted palette of colors to work from also. I thought the final result came out quite well.

Stay Grim

Toska

'Toska'
9x12 oil on canvas board

*reference: Alle Suicide

Suicide Girls Models

Soft Pink - 7.5x9 Charcoal on paper
Things Are Different Now - 9x12 Charcoal on paper

I did a couple drawings for fun in between paintings. I've been using the images of Suicide Girls as reference material for a number of years and I've been impressed with a lot of the work that I've seen on that site model-wise and from the photographers as well. I encourage anybody that wants unique and beautiful looking models to use this site as a source.

*reference: Macarena Suicide, Hezza Suicide

Cheers!

Auggie

Auggie
11x14 oil on canvas board

A portrait I did for my friend of her late puppy. He was a rescue from the pound and was getting up there in age. I wanted to show my sentiments with something physical, as I feel sometimes, words can't do enough. It was my first time painting an animal in oils where I actually felt comfortable enough to make it be the sole subject. I think I got his likeness down and I also had an opportunity to work on my nature background skills. RIP little pup.

Stay Grim

El Alacran

'El Alacran'
5x7 oil on canvas board

My piece for Noche de Los Muertos show in Santa Barbara. The show's theme was Loteria, the Spanish Bingo-like game. I chose the number 40 card El Alacran (The Scorpion). I couldn't make it to the show in person, but I saw photos and heard from the curator that it was a great turn out.

Cheers!

Marilyn Rondon

Marilyn Rondon
9x12 oil on canvas board

A portrait of the awesome Marilyn Rondon aka Totally Stoked. I had the awesome chance to meet her when I visited New York for the first time in September of 2012. I had been following her work on Tumblr and Instagram (which is now unavailable). This painting was done sometime in February of 2013 but I never got a chance to get a good photo of it. Check out her work if you get a chance!

Enjoy!

Please Remember

9x12 oil on Arches canvas paper

reference: Dot Suicide

Silent Laughter

9x12 charcoal on pink charcoal paper

This will be at the show "The Greatest Show on Earth" at Blackbird Studios in Las Vegas, Nevada on June 7 If you're in the area you should check it out!

Little Whispers

Hey everyone!
So I haven't been doing ANY digital works AT ALL since I got really into doing mainly traditional works, and really exploring what I can do with oils. I decided to finish up this one since it was nearly finished when I last worked on it which was about June of 2012. I might start doing more digital works and try to balance a digital and traditional art pattern.

Hope you all like it!
You can buy some of my stuff on my Society6 shop, like this one!

Paint Dump 2013

Colleen

Julie
Naomi
Phoenix Suicide

Natalie

Stephanie
**all oil on A4 paper
Deathblow - 7.5x10 oil on moleskine paper

All of the above are studies I did in about 3 hours or so. It was a great learning experience for me. I found better use of muting down colors and achieving more realistic color tones and I liked experimenting with brighter and newer colors. On to more painting!

Enjoy!

B.A.T.S.....

Holly - 8.5x11 oil on gessoed paper

This is the beginning of something big....

Suicide Girls Feature!

My work was featured on the Suicide Girls Blog, go ahead and check it out!

Also I've been painting some studies lately, you can see the posts on a regular basis on Instagram, search my name: @grimhearts85

Cheers!

Food For Thought

I follow many different artists (painters, illustrators, photographers, etc) on the social site Tumblr, and I have many chances to have a glimpse at what these people do and sometimes what they have to say. I came across this post and wanted to share it. Maybe it will enlighten you a bit.

lucaspassmore

Are you a full time photographer ? and have you ever considered doing something else ? im asking this because my friends are telling me that i would probably starve doing this kind of job

 Anonymous

Bukowski famously wrote, “Find what you love and let it kill you”.  And I’d sure count starvation as a lethal means to your extinguishment.  But, such is the life of an artist…at least one at the onset of their career. 

Yes, you will starve.  You will starve, because it will take years to develop your skill, knowledge, and deep understanding of your craft, as well as your voice, your style, and to build an audience (aka clients) that can sustain you long-term.  If it were easy, everyone would be doing it and we’d all be amazing.

I’m definitely starving.  I’ve only just begun to understand one or two things about photography and am easily a decade away from even reaching the bottom-rung in this industry.  Right now, there is so much I don’t know, don’t grasp, and am completely ignorant of, and it will take years of practice just to begin to.  

…but it’s all worth it. I look at my friends, all my age or younger, and they have nice houses, luxury cars, take amazing vacations (and rub it in on Facebook), go out to lots of fancy dinners… and while I can’t say I’m not envious, I whole-heartedly accept that I opted out of a more ‘safe path’ for my life in place of doing something I absolutely, truly love. 

You have to think about it like this: will you die if you are not able to do photography for a living?  If the answer is no, then you’re definitely not cut out for this; you already have the wrong state of mind.  So, keep photography as a fervent hobby; you can still shoot lots of pretty models or sports or nature or whatever genre you express yourself through, and be artistically sated.  But in doing this, you must accept photography will always come second or third or forth in your life. If you can live with this, you’re probably much smarter for it.

However, if the answer is yes…’yes’ you’ll die if the rest of your life is not absolutely consumed with photography, then understand and accept it’s going to get far, far worse before it ever gets better.  You are going to spend YEARS of your life scraping by (and it could very well be indefinitely). You’ll forfeit a lot of luxuries and comfort. You’ll fail a LOT.  And worst of all, you’ll go through endless ebbs and flows of hating your work and yourself for the rest of your life, no matter how successful you are. 

But this applies to all of the arts.  So, if you choose this path (and remember, it IS a choice), the good news is you won’t be alone:  painters, dancers, musicians, writers, film-makers… it all applies; that’s why the arts community is so strong everywhere you go… because everyone ‘gets’ how hard it is.  So even if your family/friends aren’t supportive, know that if you begin to put yourself out there, there is a strong community that will embrace you.

But this doesn’t put food on your table. Doesn’t pay your rent or bills. Doesn’t allow you even the most basic things, like filling your gas tank all the way up (so many times I just put in $15 and pray I don’t have to drive much that week).  

…and that is just the state of the union; I don’t have the answers to this, because I have been going through it myself, and will continue to for a very, very long time.  Do I like this? Of course not.  But there’s nothing I can do… I have to put in the time, just like everyone else.  And if you wanna do this, you will, too. 

Nothing of value comes easily, nor should it.  You not only must, but you NEED to work hard for things of worth. My father imparted this to me when I was thirteen years old. He had an insane work ethic, just like his father.  He is not wrong.

Yes, you will starve. The question you have to ask yourself is, “Will I allow myself to, for this?”.  

A Gift

l'heure-d'été - 8x10 oil on canvas board

This was a special gift for a secretary at my work.

Lady and Machine

Robocop - 9x7 oil on thick cardboard paper
Wanderlust - 9x7 oil on thick cardboard paper

These were both fun to do, especially Robocop, the colors were a challenge. I used a few different references to achieve these colors. Well worth it.

Prints of Robocop are available at my Society6 Shop