Art Blocks for Ghana: My Panel

A month or so back I decided to participate in the "Art Blocks For Ghana" project.Everyone participating were given a square wood block to work with the theme of "Home". There will be an exhibition of all the wood blocks at Gallery Nucleus in L.A, in March 2011.

You can check out more information about the project and see what others have done by going here.

When I first started thinking about what I should do for my project I had a mental block. What does home mean to me? Does it mean the memories I had as a young child playing out in the country in my Grandparent's fields with my cousins? The times I remember cooking with my Grandmother? My mother and father tucking me into bed?

no....i didn't want to do something too literal....and then my husband said why don't you draw Bella? I though okay, why not she's cute! Right away I took some pictures of her and once I was done doing the pictures....I started to wonder.....how does Bella translate to the theme home?

then...it struck me! To let some of you that don't know this, Bella is a rescue dog. We found her at the humane society in Pasadena. Apparently the owner she had before was a homeless man and he wasn't able feed her anymore so he brought her in so she could find a safe home. One night just a few weeks after we brought her home from the pound I was sitting on the bed ( watching tv and doing some fun sketches) she curled up next to my legs with her favorite hedge hog toy ( which we call it her "baby" ) and fell sound asleep. She looked so peaceful I had to do a few quick sketches of her.

Well, as I was struck by this memory, I searched for my sketchbook of the few sketches i did of her that night and the one below really struck me.....in the sketch she looked at home. home....a place that is warm, safe and full of love. Bella was rescued and found her home.


here are a few of the sketches I had:




below is the the sketch I picked and the final outcome of my board which I titled "Rescued".



10x10 wood board, ballpoint pen, paint brush markers


I decided to not fill the whole panel and did the drawing on the lower right corner to show that in this large space, Bella is not concerned with anything else in the world but her "baby" and her new home. I wanted people to feel as though she is being cuddled and hugged by the corner of the panel.

decor8

Happy Friday to you all, I've been a little obsessed with this website decor8. This website combines beautiful finds and a lot of the time inspires me to do something with my art, or help me dream about what i want to do with my home.


i love the color palette she put together here.




i want the fridge so bad!




i think this is a such a cute idea for the holidays if you have a small space.

Cute Characters

For a few years now I've been following Non Dairy Diary. This blog has cute fun patterns, sketches and a few fun downloads.

Some Art

so i promise my self this year would be the year of more sketches. so here are some.

5 more months....

So sitting here at work, I tend to look out my window and space out. While doing this about...lets say a few minutes ago, I realized that in 5 months I'm going to be married!
It is pretty mind boggling, the other night while i was drifting to sleep, I came to a slow realization that soon my room will no longer be MY room. That it will be either one of my brothers or a computer room. no longer will i have my yellow walled and white trim room that i love so much. No longer can I wake up on the weekends and find my family right outside my room sitting in the living room watching tv and having breakfast around 11 or noon. No more nights of Anthony playing his game loudly where it wakes me up and makes me yell at him to lower it lol. No more coming home from work to find dinner ready to eat with my whole family. In 5 months my life is going to completely change, and i am excited about it, starting my own family with Alan, but at the same time I'm sad that I'm no longer my parents little girl living with them.