Friday, December 23, 2011

Pandora, such a distraction..

As of right now, this absolute second im listening to KC & the sunshine band- Boogie shoes.. im on pandora! If your wondering who is kc and the sunshine band, then i suggest you get it together and go explore music.. go on! get!

Any who, seeing how thats out of the way, i didnt even blog last week! I haven't even been to the gym, geeze i feel really guilty about all that. As it seems i do remember mentioning a few things in the past, such as the sewing project i was so wrapped up into. It was to be a surprise for a friend of mine who resides in virginia. It was an owl by the way.. i stumbled across the photo one day while on the web and thought "hey! i can make that, well at least ill try" It turned into a success, altho my photos that i took of the owl pillow i made seem to have disappeared. Just my luck.. well at least i have a pic on my phone.
Took me a few hours to start and finish this sucker, but i managed to do it.  The important thing is that the recipient aka Jessica loved it. i thought it could have been so much better. The above pic is the photo i stumbled across and the pic below is the only one i have of it being made. 
I think its not too shabby, if i say so myself. That there was my first actually sewing project n i completed it all on my own. i even showed my mom n she asked what pattern i used, i was proud to say "i didnt use any pattern at all!" Perhaps i shall make another owl, or another random item. Im not sure what will come in the future, right now actually im kinda distracted by the song thats being sung ...its "City" by Sara Bareilles on Pandora. Yes pandora yet again. I guess thats the mini blog for now. Tommorow is christmas eve and i absolutely must wrap a few gifts. Have a merry christmas.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Billboard Time!

So seems that i haven't blogged in quite a while. Here it goes in November 2011 i entered myself into "The Digital Art Show" hosted by Clear Channel Outdoor-San Antonio. Had it not been for the little birdy Diana i would not have entered it or heard about it. Well i kept putting it off, but one night i finally made the time to email my art works of The Elephant aka Homer, The bike aka Eighty-Sixed i wont place in the top 40 but at least the people of Clear Channel will get to view my artworks. Im that young artist just trying to make a name for myself.

To my surprise a week or so after i entered i received an email.. the first line read: " You won,"Elephant" made the top 40!! " I was in awe, yet again. Seems thats been happening a lot lately. Yet i get shocked rarely, its seems that my drawings are better that i think. I received conformation that The art work will run from December 5-18, 2011. Its December 13th today, and i have yet to view this (below) on a billboard. I think just seeing my name up there will amaze me. I shall go billboard hunting tomorrow to find all the locations. Don't get me wrong the publicity is great, yet all that really matters is that my Elephant is viewed, im not looking to make any money or anything. I just want to get my name out there. Already i have a few request and that is amazing. Guess this week im gonna be a busy little bee and drawing my heart out. 

As for the locations they sent me a lovely little map. So get out there San Antonio! I already recieved a few photos of my billboard, but i want a bunch. I have this idea in mind to make a collage. Thats an idea that is likely to turn into a project. Below is a map, so if you spot it, snap a pic!! Thats all for now
Hope u have a lovely day, although its all rainy and foggy here today in San Antonio.
If the photo is too small to view the locations, here are the 5 locations:
281 @ Paso Del Norte
1604 s/o Hanover Cove
1604 @ Braun
IH-10 @ Fredericksburg
IH-35 @ SW Military

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Its a step in the right direction...

        Shock, Astonishment, Taken Aback.. This is the way i felt as they said "....Coming in First Place/ Grand Prize Jaclyn Valdez!" In my mind i had no clue of what i would say or even do. I was in complete shock but some how my feet began to walk through the crowd to the microphone. I grabbed the mic and suddenly "Hi! Im Jaclyn Valdez... ". They wanted me to introduce myself as well as depict the inspiration of my art work. My grandmother is partially the reason i chose to have El Mariachi playing a trumpet. She is my inspiration, plain and simple. I was happy enough that my best friend Maria and my Grandmother showed. That right there made me as happy as i could be, what pushed it over the edge was my Dad being there. He never saw my art works displayed, i would tell him about it and he would always say "oh thats good". I was very disappointed when i had an art work in the San Antonio College Art Gallery and he didnt go view it. This i think, made up for it. He told me he was proud of me, Im sure that will forever be in my memories. Going into this Mariachi-Themed Art Exhibit, i never would have imagined that i would be walking away with first place. All i wanted to do was get my name out there and have a few people check out my art work. I had absolutely no idea that it would even sell! Geeze, tonight for sure is the night of surprises. 

Well it just goes to show you that if you believe in yourself and work as hard as you can you can achieve your dreams. I can honestly say that im proud of where i am. Never would have i thought that i would be here in this situation. Its a step in the right direction, a step to achieving my future. I hope to accomplish more. I just hope that next time i dont have to drink 2 glasses of wine in order to have the liquid courage to grab that mic. Although this is nothing compared to the 1,000+ audiance members that i had to talk to once, but thats another story, another blogg actually.

This would be the address of the blog describing this event. 
And this would be the web address of the Nonprofit Organization, Centro Cultural Aztlan!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

A thought in my mind...

Tonight I sit here, and yet there are so many projects I want to accomplish. Too many to be exact. I love to design, I love to explore new materials, I love to use my hands and create something that brings happiness to someone else. Is there a job for that? I think the closest thing would be Graphic Design. Today i was told that I should become a Documentarian. That sounded like a lovely idea. I wouldn't mind that career one bit.  For example, I always was infatuated with the idea of photo shoots and how everyone was always focused on the subject. Yet at these photo shoots i never paid much attention to the subject being shot, i paid close attention to the photographer. I would pick up my camera and start taking photos of the photographer who was taking photos of their subject, hoping just for an instant to capture the magic of it all and the creative process the photographer is glowing with. Photography also has been a big part of my creative world. Documenting has always been in my mind, I always think to myself that i need to capture all that is around me.One day ill wake up and everything will be changed yet ill be too blind to to realize what has minutely changed around me. I always have a camera with me, i just want to capture those tiny moments and look back at them one day in awe.
Im not too sure but i guess im just going on and on.

I must say i think of myself as a simple person, i appreciate life's little things and i want to capture it all, well at least most of it. I love taking a photograph, drawing a giant art piece or creating something amazing for someone. With that said, theres a project in mind that i hope to start tomorrow and hopefully finish. My next project is a sewing project, i just hope i have a bit of the sewing talent that my mother has. If you can imagine it and it involves material my mother can make it. Hands down she knows everything about sewing. Well lets see how this goes, im off to buy all the supplies tomorrow, wish me luck.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

El Mariachi

Well just a few weeks ago, October 28th 2011 to be exact,  I decided to enter an art work into the "Mariachi Festival exhibit" for the Centro Cultural Aztlan here in San Antonio. Well on my previous art works ive always tried to take a photo every time i completed a section of the art piece. For this art piece, which ive named El Mariachi, i took a photo every 10-20 minutes. Looks pretty cool actually, hopefully the gif works correctly. Upon creating this piece i was jamming out to Selena on Pandora, and no not Selena Gomez, Selena Quintanilla! I had to have motivation while drawing, that and it was about 2 in the morning and i was trying to start and finish before i had to go and turn it in. I finally turned it into the Centro Cultural Aztlan around 3 i wanna say. But here it is! Hope you enjoy! 


El Mariachi, 24 X 36, Charcoal On Newsprint 


   


Wednesday, November 9, 2011

On my mind..

Well im not proud of it yet i have been putting my art on hold this year. Why? well i come to terms that i am just scared off my ass of where it can lead. Thats just me i guess, i mean everyone has told me i have much potential and can flourish greatly. I guess the whole "money" things gets me. I create art and my huge charcoal drawings for people to see and enjoy, not necessarily to sell. I would be completely happy with people enjoying my art works and telling me their opinions, rather than them trying to buy them and have them away in their houses. Im not too sure but i fell like if people are going to start buying them then that pushes me to make even more art works. Im in the process! i guess i find it hard to part with a drawing that took up so much of my time, altho it does make me happy to kno that it brings someone else so much joy that they are willing to shell out money for it. I guess im just rambling on about money and art. oh well i guess that this is what the art blogg is for! more to come and hopefully its not of me rambling on and on..

Sunday, November 6, 2011

One Small Step

My name is Jaclyn Valdez & I'm absolutely crazy about creating art work. From massive charcoal drawings, to spray paint and logo design I am always willing to try something new and jus create. Ever since I can remember I have always loved art and photography, I hope by creating this site that I can get out there into the design world and basically launch my career. Thus the name Design Launch!