Goo Goo Dolls

Last night, Jermie and I went to the Goo Goo Dolls concer with Parachute and Michelle Branch as the opening acts at the Portsmouth NTelos Pavilion.  We have not been to that venue before and it was held outside. We got there are the sun was going down and thankfully, it was not as humid as it usually is and we had a breeze going through the air which was a nice lil treat!

Parachute was the first band and I have only heard one of their songs, but atfer watching them and listening to them, I am in love with their songs! They have a similar sound to the Goo Goo Dolls. I bought their album and got it signed by all of the members and a few pics.

 Michelle Branch followed next and I love her songs too. I sang along with her main songs that I knew. She is about to release another album after 8 years and we got her autograph too on my shirt and my ticket.

Then of course, the Goo Goo Dolls came on. It was such a great show, the lighting I loved and their stage presense was just inspiring. Some of their songs took me back to the past and brought tears to my eyes because I remember their songs and music in some of the toughest parts of my life. I was able to record a few songs as a video, including "Iris", but the memory card was full and the end of Iris was cut short, but I am happy to have just been there!

Next time they come in concert, we are gonna have to get VIP and back stage passes, because it was just amazing. 

That was it for my night last night! Thanks for stopping by!

Quote of the day: Lyrics of "Iris" enjoy!

and here is my all time favorite video of this song at one of their concerts:



Sweet Surrender Art. Beauty. Fashion.

Pin Up Birthday Theme

i am usually not into celebrating my birthday, but over the years, I have built a fonder appreciation for life due to the events I have been through the past few years, so I feel the need to celebrate not just my birthday, but my life and all the people in it.

I wanna have a birthday party with the theme of Pinup for the girls, guys can be greasers of rockers if they wanna. But I just really wanna dress up in pinup style. Lately when I do my makeup, I always do the classic pinup. In a way, I also want to celebrate my grandmother and my greatgrandmother whom have lived during the 50's and I have always had an obssession with it.

I wish that I could actually have a theme party and everything and go all out, but instead, will have it at a bar that a few of my friends work at down at the oceanfront. It will be fun and interesting, so we will see.

Here are a few pics I found of Pin Up Models that I liked:

Hope it inspires you!

I would post quote of the day, but I am fallin alseep at the keyboard. So, next time, I promise!

Sweet Surrender Art. Beauty. Fashion.

Birds, Infinity and Music

This morning, I met up with my "Galaxy" theme model, Shiloh to give her a lil gift basket I put together along with a cd of her photos from our shoot. When we had met up months ago to discuss my photoshoot ideas, she had told me of her idea she wanted for a tattoo. She wanted to incorporate birds, music notes and the Infinity symbol, so this is what I came up with.

And of course my camera died and I cannot find the charger, so Shiloh took a pic for me and tagged me. So, here it is.

Feminine and cute, she loved it!

I wish I knew how to tattoo, but it will take some time, not to mention some training and equipment. My birthday is coming up around the corner, and I am planning on getting equipment and start an apprenticeship or mentoring with another tattoo artist.

For now, I am trying to draw everyday and enhance my skills and get better with each drawing. One day and one drawing at a time. :)

Quote of the day:

Sweet Surrender Art. Beauty. Fashion.

Custom Sneaks

My sister came from Denver to spend some time with me, and while shopping at TJ Maxx, we found some black and white converse sneakers and we got the grande idea to paint our own designs for these shoes just for US. By no means am I gonna try to break into the custom sneaker biz, I will leave that to my friend Elom, (check out his blog here ).

My sister and I

But we wanted something to represent us and our sisterhood :) Nique is an artist as well, she loves to paint with bright colors and is really into abstract art. She wanted a design with a sun and an Ohm symbol, so here is what I came up with, check it out:

me working on some of the details

She wanted me to do whatever I wanted on her other shoe, so of course, I did my signature stars, moon and universe with my Sweet Surrender name

For the colors, I used my airbrush gun, then went back through with my paintbrush to add some contour and depth, then went back through with my marker to get some of the fine lines.

Nique painted something for my brother and I painted something for her to take back to Denver.

She painted Sublime because my brother sang one of their songs on a video I posted

Here is what I painted, just something abstract with teaks, blues a lil bit of pinkand some swirlies.

That was part of my weekend! I hope you enjoyed it and draw inspiration from it.

Quote of the day:

Sweet Surrender Art. Beauty. Fashion.

Face Charts

When designing what I am going to do for a makeup look, I like to use face charts so I can see what it will look like before I makeover a face. This is also a good way to record which different makeup looks I have done. M.A.C. and other cosmetic companies make their own face sheets as well. At Paul Mitchell Academy, we have them too.

For the Photo Stylist Contest, I have to make a face sheet for each of my makeup looks, so here are my three sheets I made for the Galaxy theme, the peacock theme and the mermaid theme.

I added my own artistic flair to it of course and my lettering. I love the colors I used for the hair and the shading I can do with my PrismaColor Markers.

I hope this inspires you today to make some creative makeup face charts, :)

Quote of the Day:

Forgetting our dreams is kind of like planning a big trip, packing all of our bags, setting up itineraries and all, finally getting on the road and realizing that we didn't map out the trip and that we have no possible way of finding how to get to our vacation destination. Never forget your dreams, because your dreams are what guide you through life.

Life is filled with many stresses and it sometimes may be easier to put our dreams aside and make as stable an environment as possible for ourselves and our loved ones, instead of keeping the faith and pursuing what is in our hearts. When we forget our dreams, we say to ourselves that we aren't important. We say to ourselves that we choose not to live life to the fullest extent and we say to ourselves that we have no hope or faith for our future. Pursuing our dreams is what defines the real, true quality of our lives, because they allow the person at our deepest core to surface and live.

Sweet Surrender Art. Beauty. Fashion.

Cover up Tattoo Design

One of my good friends from when I was like 12 years old asked me to draw up a tattoo to cover up a panther he had tattooed on his back. What he wanted was his son's name, NASH written in alphabet blocks. So here is what I came up with, see the before and after:

His tattoo he wants covered up

Here is what I came up with. I drew the lettering over the existing design.

I hope he likes it, I havent heard back from him yet, but I know he will. I have more tattoo drawings to do, so just wanted to post this.

Sweet Surrender Art. Beauty. Fashion.

PhotoShoot Complete

The last week of July was intense for me, mainly because I was trying to shake a cold like a hobo trying to ask for change in Denver (lol which I have had happen before! lol) and I was working on getting back into drawing AND finishing up my photo shoots for this style contest.

Last thursday, Chloe and I had our Peacock theme shoot and this past sunday, I had my Mermaid theme with Michelle. This was all such a fun experience and I am proud that I actually did it. It may not be perfect and I may not even win, but I got the experience of it and learned alot about what works and what doesnt.  For my first real time doing a makeup photoshoot, I can honestly say that its not bad.

Here are a few pics of me and my models and the photographer, Charisse goofin around after the shoot.

Chloe and I....and I never realized how "freckly" I look until now. Weird

Chloe and Charisse rockin it out

Shiloh and I after our Galaxy shoot

Touchin up her makeup while getting some test shots

Michelle and I posin for the camera

I completed my face sheets earlier tonight so I can send them in. I still have a few more things to list out, such as all the products I used for makeup and hair, and I need to edit the photos I have chosen to send. I will post the photos and the facesheets when I get it done! I just wanted to share this with you.

Today, my school got the results of a Paul Mitchell Contest that the school held a few months ago. The contest was to sell certain products and if you sell 3, it gets your name in the drawing, my name along with 4 other girls was randomly chosen from our school, and we found out the results. One of the night students won a smoothing iron with all the signatures of the top stylists of Paul Mitchell. That would have been so amazing to win something like that. I am so happy for the girl who did win, and this was actually the first time our school has won a contest, so that was super cool!

Ok, I am rambling and I need to get to bed. I am sorry I have not posted as much as I usually do. I have my sister visting from Colorado and just been busy with non-art related stuff. But I will be back up and running next week I promise!

Quote of the Day:

Precious memories. Think of a memory as a power, only you can relive the experiences that you have been through, whether to please you aesthetically, to grab wisdom by using your past experiences to help you make new decisions, help interact with other people, or to help with problem solving. We keep memories for a variety of reasons sometimes to hold on to the things we love the things that have made us who we are and who we never want to lose. It is kind of like how Oscar Wilde says "memories are small diaries that we will keep in our heads always."

Not every memory will be pleasant because it is not just good things that make us who we are, we are molded and shaped by the bad things that happen in our lives as well. We must learn to never let memories go, but never let our past determine our future either.

Till next time, surrender to your inner artist!

Sweet Surrender Art. Beauty. Fashion.