Tuesday Work Flow

I am about to sit down and start my workflow for today. One of the perks of working from home is that I can work when I want to. I had my friend Lah over and we discussed some future plans of opening up our own salon/studio, which I am excited about. Having my own studio is something I have wanted since I was young. In the meantime, I will be still doing my freelance designing.

I wanted to show you the finished drawing of the Ohm I drew for my sister, Nique:

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One of Nique’s brothers is apprenticing in a tattoo shop in Colorado and he got to do her tattoo. I think it is his first one on someone else. Here is the first session:

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I think that’s pretty awesome that he got the chance to do it and his tattoo mentor helped him through it.

Now, I am about to sit down and finalize a tshirt design for a client. I drew a rough sketch on paper, but I am going to try and work on it in photoshop or paint shop pro.

I have always wanted to design tshirts and clothing since I was young. I love tshirts. In fact, my everyday basic look would be a tshirt, a good well worn pair of jeans and some chucks, sometimes I put a flannel over it. I just feel comfortable. Here are some of my favorite looks. (these are old, I cant wait until my hair is long again)

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I love graphic tees, especially Marilyn Monroe, which if you didn’t know, I am obsessed with her. I found these two tshirts in a local tshirt shop and I want to get them sooooo bad. Check out these pretty babies!

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You can also say that I am obsessed with the tattoo culture, so anything related to tattoos I love!

Here are some other tattoo related photos that I love right now:

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Alright my lovies, time for me to quit messing around online….getting distracted. So, see ya in the next post!

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I Paint a Mean Face

Howdy yall! This past weekend, I was pretty busy painting faces and I gotta say that I love my job! I love that I get to play with paint and bring a smile to someone’s face no matter what the age. The weather turned out gorgeous once the rain passed. I was able to record a quick lil (somewhat a tutorial) video before heading out. I remembered to take a few snapshots too of a few faces, because I always forget to or I don’t have time.

 

If you’re a local in the area of Hampton Roads, and were wondering if I do birthday parties or other events, the answer is YES! I do! You can comment or email me to inquire about rates and scheduling at cecilia@sweetsurrenderart.com

Jermie and I were working our gigs and while I was facepainting, He was dressed up as Sponge Bob and Elmo. hahahaha I couldn’t help but laugh at him.

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The best thing about the beach is all the cool shows that we put on. I didn’t work Saturday, so we checked out the fire show they had and Matthias got to be one of their helpers.

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Look at Bella Boo! She has really gotten into skateboarding, so has Matti, but I wasn’t able to get a pic of him. But I think it will be a while before he skateboards because he fell off a trampoline today and broke his arm!

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He is being a trooper! He is going to get a green cast! I am going to paint it of course if he wants me to.

Don’t forget to check out my latest video below and subscribe so you don’t miss any adventures in “The Life of An Artist”

As always, I leave you with some motivation! Thanks for reading and see you again soon!

xoxoxo, Cecilia

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Day of Remembrance-Life of an Artist

It’s Memorial Day today! As you may or may not know, I come from a long line of US Navy family members to include my grandfathers,my father, my mother, a couple uncles and I served 4 years in the US ARMY from 2001-2005. I joined when I was 17 and was stationed in Fort Drum,NY. I did a tour in Afghanistan and Iraq and being in the military was some of the BEST and worst times of my life, but I wouldn’t have traded it for anything in the world. So, this post is dedicated to everyone I served with, those who are serving now, and those who have served in the past. Without our military, we would not be the free America that we are today.

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Here are a few pics of my family that I was able to conjure up.

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I wish I had more pics of everyone in uniform, but nobody really has any online Sad smile 

Here are a few military tattoo drawings I have done in tribute to those who have served. All of these have

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So, thank you again to my fellow vets! Have a safe and fun Memorial Day!

xoxoxox, Cecilia

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Friday Awake and Wired

Good morning yall! I just finished editing a video that I filmed earlier this week that I kept putting off, and actually I didn’t even have to edit it so yay! This week, like almost every week has flown by! I wanted to share some photos and a video of my past week and some of the things I have been working on. Arabella and I and had some good mother and daughter time last weekend at the Chesapeake Jubilee, she was my lil helper. While I facepainted, she put temporary tattoos on the kiddos that came by our table with Executive Tattoo. It was a good time although it had rained on and off on saturday and things were a lil muddy, but we didn’t let that put a damper on our weekend!

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Here are some designs I was working on which I am thinking of putting on a display board for whenever I have any gigs.

Of course, I have to share some of my artwork that I have been working on:

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Here is A progress shot: the rose on the left is a the first rose I ever drew about 4 years ago while living in Colorado, and then the rose on the right is a rose I did a few months ago. I love seeing how I am improving over the years. It is true to get better you have to PRACTICE!

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I have been working on this dragon design for what seems forever, I originally rendered it with a red and yellow dragon, but the client wanted to see more red in the dragon, so I redrew it and stayed up all night coloring it!

Then, I started on this Ohm design for my sister, Nique!

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Before I forget to post, check out my latest video on youtube!

And if you missed the video I posted last week, you can see it here too!

Have a marvelous day!

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Nerve Wrecking

Hello my lovelies! How is everyone’s Monday? Mine was good, it was more like a Sunday for me because I worked my butt off this weekend painting faces! I worked with Tattoo Skills at the Shake, Rattle and Roll Car Show in Suffolk, VA painting faces! It was actually a HOT day and I sweated all my makeup off! Check out my lil facepainting sign I whipped up for my gigs!

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Also,  I wanted to let you know that I finally did my first tattoo last Friday. All I can say is the experience was nerve-wrecking, but of course in a good way. I had such adrenaline and I don’t think I have ever been more focused on something in my life. One of my friends volunteered his arm for me. I filled in his cross he already had with more black, then added the year 2011 at his request, then added 3 roses to the bottom, which I will later fill in.

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I think for my first time on someone else, I didn’t do half bad. It’s a learning process for us all. I cant wait to shade it in after this is healed. I used a stencil with carbon paper and stencil spray and of course made sure everything was as clean as possible. I know after doing it, I definitely feel it is my passion and this was just the first step to fueling my passion. I am excited for more to come.

I finished editing this video on Friday and forgot to post it since I was bombarded with doing my first tattoo, so here it is, I made a quick video just showing the artwork I have worked on-which if you read my blog, I already explained some of this and you will see me get shy in front of the camera too. hahaha Enjoy!

Progress and tattoo designer tips

 

See you in the next post!

The only person you should try to be better than, is the person you were yesterday.