"Yummy Spam Musubi" -- NFT for sale on Solsea!

"Yummy Spam Musubi!"

I imagine everything is okay in the world, and we are all just sitting under the sun and eating SPAM Musubi together. SPAM Musubi is seriously the best comfort food ever. It's like the perfect mix of savory, salty, carbs and seaweed.

Whether it's food or artwork, I know we can all use some friendship and comfort right now...

I originally did this painting for Tiki Oasis 2020. It is a watercolor painting. The original has sold, but the NFT is available on SolSea!

Here is the link to my collection.

"Helping out each other" a new painting!

"Helping each other" is a painting about the Dapper Elephant helping out a senior citizen get up from the bus bench.  The other animals didn't realize the senior citizen needed help because they were looking in their iPhones. I painted this as a goal for myself in 2017: Look down less in my IPhone and see more of the world around me. 

Another reason for this painting is because I'm in love from the Dapper Elephant! After painting him eating a slice of cake inside the Chinese bakery, I was curious to what he would do next!

A small update

Oh man, so much has happened over the past two years. After having my son Bobby, I no longer have time to sit down and paint my usual acrylic paintings. I have crossed over to digital painting because I can work in short spurts after putting my boy down to sleep. There is also no paint to mix and no drying time needed.

Having a kid takes up so much time that it makes clear what you really want to do with your free time. After much soul searching, I decided to put Panda on hiatus and focus on small, intimate paintings that are inspired by my childhood. "Panda" expressed the side of me that wanted to be cool, but now I want to dive deeper.

Here are a collection of tiny water color sketches to get the creative juices flowing:

Hello Kitty and Dear Daniel spending their first week of fall together.

Girls Drawin Girls' Powerful Women Show in Boston

In November I will be in the "Powerful Women" group show at the Wallace L. Anderson Gallery in Boston! The show is hosted by Girls Drawin Girls, a group of talented female artists who are into drawing pinups!

To me, a 'Powerful Woman' embraces her sense of play and knows that sometimes she is the center of attention and other times she is not.  My paintings "Come Together" (the girl is the main focus of attention) and "Movie Night" (the girl is having a mellow night with Panda's nieces and nephews ) illustrates the duality of my definition.  A personal goal of mine is to think of others more instead of myself.

Both paintings are 16" x 20" acrylic. "Come Together" is on stretched canvas while "Movie Night" is on board.  Each painting will sell for $400.

I vended at the Tonga Hut Tiki Bar this weekend!

Last Sunday I had a blast vending at the Tonga Hut Tiki Bar's Halloween party. There were about 10 of us vendors that ranged from clothing, kitsch items, sculptures, art and food. Even though the event was small and only 4 hours long, I made such good connections with the Tiki Enthusiasts! They really 'got' my work... I sold more in 4 hours than 2 straight days at the San Francisco APE comic con. It was really eye opening.  Also, all day the DJ played cool exotica and lounge music. :)

I will be featured on Cocktial Nation's podcast on Sept 20!

I did something personally scary but fun-- I went on a big podcast/syndicated radio show to talk about "Panda and Me"!  I love the intimacy of a honest, long form conversation on a podcast.  However, I am more used to listening to podcasts than being on them. :)  But I couldn't say "NO" when Koop Kooper reached out to me.

Koop Kooper's podcast/syndicated radio show is "Cocktail Nation." Imagine being at Don Draper's house party in his 1960's swank Manhattan apartment. You and everybody else are dressed to the nines, sipping cocktails and grooving on some cool lounge music.  "Cocktail Nation" strives to bring this retro coolness back into our 2014 technology focused lives. It's a fun listen.

After being on his show, of course I had to make some art about it!  So ta-da, here is a retro movie poster promoting our episode. The car in the poster is actually Koop's pride and joy, a 1964 Austin Healey Sprite. I had to remind myself to draw the steering wheel on the right hand side. :)

My interview airs on Sept 20, Episode #328. You can find the "Cocktail Nation" podcast on iTunes or go to www.cocktailnation.net to see if a nearby radio station broadcasts the show.

"Elvis Panda and the Mermaid" Chalk Painting at the Sylmar Olive Festival

Here are the step by step photos of how Tom Fremgen and I created this 10' x 10' giant piece in two days! It was a lot of fun, even in 96 degree weather. We got to hang out with other chalk artists and chat with the public.

I created this painting as a concept for the chalk piece. I ran out of time and thus, half of this painting is digitally done on top of traditional paint.

Day 1: After riding around in a golf cart with the organizer, I found my pavement spot at the festival. The first thing I did was prime the ground with white tempera as a base. This helps the chalk adhere to the surface. Then I created a grid so I can transfer my drawing accurately

I laid down a simple background and stared working on the mermaid's hair. Yellow and orange chalks are vibrant!

While I am working on the hair, Tom Fremgen is rendering Elvis Panda

After the hair, I work my butt off on the face. I draw reference lines to guide the placement of the eyes, mouth and nose. When working on such a large scale so closely, it's easy to get thrown off.

The end of day 1

For day 2, Tom Fremgen and I filled in the rest of the background and added in details. Even though I laid down a base coat, there are still areas where the chalk doesn't stick to the ground

I take multiple photographs of the finished piece because it's hard to capture a 10'x 10' art on the pavement. The camera distorts the proportions. I wish I had a tall ladder.

Here I am putting finish touches. Hopefully this shows the scale of the piece.

Tom Fremgen and I finished just in time for judging. We are gross and exhausted. If we do another chalk piece together, I promised that he can pick the subject. — with Tom Fremgen at Sylmar Olive Festival.

Chalk Painting at the Westfield Santa Anita Mall

Here is an intense one day chalk painting event at the Westfield Santa Anita mall.  I learned that i should prime the surface before I start chalk painting. The surface was so smooth and waxy that it didn't take my  chalk at all in some areas.