Joana Carvalho

One calendar, one article

2015-03-03T13:48:00.001-08:00

Hello!

I finally received a few copies of the 2015 Aquent Calendar, which features one of my paintings! It turned out so pretty and I feel grateful to have been included! And, as a plus, my month is MARCH, which happens to be my son's Birthday month, so I'm super glad about that!

If you would like to see the other artists chosen to be on the calendar, check them out HERE.

On a completely different note, I was reading an article, by Pamela Druckerman, that it was beautifully written, so I thought I'd share here, if you want to read it too: What You Learn In Your 40s. Enjoy.

The latest

2015-01-27T11:46:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile.

So I had been 'in crisis' with my painting, and that's why I decided to take an online course called Primitive Portraits, with Mindy Lacefield. I love her style, her process, her fearlessness when it comes to painting. I need some of that.

Anyway, great class, totally worth it. But I actually could use Mindy in person, by my side, for a whole MONTH, to remind me to be messy and brave more often!

Here are some of the things I came up with for this class.

Have a great week!

Gallery Update

2014-10-28T19:51:00.002-07:00

Just a quick post to say that I updated my gallery -finally - and to reveal the names of the 5 paintings from the last post.

Stripes of Libra

The Other Side of The Story

Ciranda

Jungle Map

Marge

And, again, thanks to everybody who helped me with the names. It's actually very cool to read people's ideas and kind of get a sense of where they're coming from. And it is definitely a fun exercise to get 2 or more of those names and mix them together!

Have a great week and a fun Halloween!

The name of the game...or 'the game of the name'

2014-10-23T10:14:00.001-07:00

If you like my Facebook page you've probably seen my post about finding names for some of my paintings. I usually have names for them by the time they're done - usually it's the first idea that comes into mind (those are the best!) - but some of them just don't speak to me as loudly, per se. Plus, in my opinion, there is a fine line between a cool name and a cheesy one; and sometimes it's hard to see that line when you're standing too close!

And that's why brainstoming is the best solution! Nothing better than a bunch of fresh eyes and fresh minds throwing in ideas to help spark creativity! Anyway, here are the paintings I needed help with:

And their names:

1- White Stones
2- Circus Town
3- Night Swimming
4- Once Upon a Purple
5- Pedaling Through
6- Luna Verde
7- Golden Forest
8- Leafy Birds
9- Cricrilicious
10- For Your Eyes Only

Today I have a few more that I can't seem to name:

I need suggestions!!! Pretty please?!

Excuses, excuses...

2014-10-13T13:47:00.000-07:00

I don't have any. Excuses, I mean, for having abandoned my blog for 7 - SEVEN! - months.
So why don't I just show you what ELSE I've been doing?

I had some notebooks made and they turned out really cute. Some are still in my Etsy Shop.

And these are all finished painting, soon to be found in my store.

Got the new iphone, so I HAD to get a new case. ;-)

This one is my latest. Full of texture and "very different", according to my friends.

Finally, just for fun, here is the evolution of a painting:

Have a great week, dear one person who is still reading this!

xoxo

Good riddance, February!

2014-03-01T11:13:00.000-08:00

battling the sickies

I don't know about you, but my February SUCKED! Good thing it's a short month! Between stomach bugs and fever and runny noses, we're finally emerging and rejoining society! Jeez!

I am no Pollyanna - not at ALL -, but in the spirit of seeing the glass half full, here were this month's highlights:

My girlie won her first stripe at her Jiu-Jitsu class! Look at that proud smile!

My son was sick for so long that he started to watch Food Network, and now he and dad are bonding over food!

Valentine's Day is always a good excuse to eat some chocolate.

Girlie painted...

...and Mommy painted.

Still, I've never been so glad to welcome March, and for more than one reason:

1- it's my son's Birthday today! 9 years old! Seems like yesterday he was a baby...and sometimes it feels like forever ago! It's a strange feeling...

2- both grandmas and aunts are coming from Brazil very very soon!

3- we're all going on a big family trip to Hawaii!!!

So here's to a great month to all of us!
Have a great weekend!!!

The latest here...

2014-01-29T12:04:00.000-08:00

These are the 2 pieces I've been working on this past week. If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen some of these pictures, but I have a few more today.

This first one I started last year, after my workshop with Jennifer Mercede.

It looked A LOT different before!

There are some collage elements here too.

The second painting was also started last year. It's actually the one featured on most pictures of this post here. Lots and lots of transformation.

On a side - and completely different - note, it's been a year since we got Mocha, our dog! Happy Anniversary, boy!

Necklaces and stuff

2014-01-21T09:51:00.000-08:00

First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I know, I know, you're thinking 'it's almost freaking October already!', but better late than never.

This is year I'm gonna be better at blogging. More consistent. It's one of my goals. That and exercising. Oy...

Anyway...

Today I wanted to tell you about my necklaces that are FINALLY up on my Etsy shop! I am very excited about them and I hope you will too! For more information on each one, just click on the image!

Next on my list: MUGS!

STAY TUNED! ;-)

About time...

2013-10-28T11:03:00.000-07:00

If you're here from Studio Crescendoh, welcome! I'm very excited to be the Studio's Guest Curator this week! And I felt that this called for a new blog post - nothing like a little kick in the behind to get you going sometimes. It's been almost 2 months after all! *sorry*

So anyway, if you happen to follow my Facebook page and/or my Instagram feed, you probably know this already, but just in case, this is what I've been working on lately:

I think "the girls" look pretty cute on necklaces, yes? They'll be on my Etsy shop pretty soon, stay tuned!

Speaking of cute new products, Society6 is now offering TOTE BAGS! So be sure to check them out too! I got one and love it!

Have a great week! And a good Halloween! ;-)

On Washi Tape

2013-09-01T11:44:00.000-07:00

It's been only a few months since I became more familiar with washi tapes. I had heard a lot about it from other bloggers/crafters, but never actually used it before I got my first batch on Etsy, a couple of months ago. My initial idea was to integrate these tapes into my paintings, as a way of creating texture and more interest to the piece. A new material to experiment with.

What I DIDN'T know was that I would be using them in different ways too!

First, I decided to tape the edges of my canvasses. Instead of painting them, or masking them to keep them white, I thought that "washi-ed" edges might look cool. And it does! I love it!

Now, the second idea was a collaboration between my 5-year-old daughter and me. She made some art and asked me if I wanted to hang somewhere. I said "sure, babe, I'll buy a frame and we'll do that." She told me no, that she didn't want any frame, she wanted me to TAPE it to the wall. And just as I was about to dismiss the idea, it came to me: WASHI tape!

Now I have a whole wall filled with the kids drawings!

There are so many positive points about using washi for that:

- it's easy, cheap, and colorful;
- no nails!
- it's a work in progress: just keep adding to it!
- no more space? tired of the old art? Just take it down with no damage to your wall!

The best part is that now you can get them in major stores! Staples, Office Depot and Target are all carrying them now!

What have YOU been doing with your washi tapes?

Ch-ch-changes!

2013-07-30T11:07:00.002-07:00

I started the painting below when I was in Flora Bowley's workshop, almost 2 years ago. It sat on my studio for all this time, and I never touched it again...

...until last week, that is! I mixed a lot of paint for another piece, and I had all this extra paint, staring back at me, so I just went for it and, like Flora likes to say, I did something bold!

Hopefully it won't take me another 2 years to continue working on it.
Yeah, I'm sure I'll do something with it pretty soon.
Stay tuned!

PS: in case somebody is reading this and thinking "ooh, are you crazy? Aren't you sorry you ruined it?", the answer is no. It's actually much easier to work on it now, knowing I don't 'have to' preserve any specific parts or anything. Plus, I don't think that painting represented me anymore, for some reason. Change is good.

Jennifer Mercede

2013-07-26T15:45:00.003-07:00

Last weekend I had the pleasure of meeting one of my long time artist crush Jennifer Mercede. I've admired her art for awhile and was very happy when I heard she was gonna come back to Studio Crescendoh this year, after having missed her first class here last year.

It was a fun weekend, for sure! Jennifer was a fabulous teacher, very generous and approachable, and after 5 minutes talking to her I felt like we were old friends!

She had us to blind contour drawings of our table partners. The picture above is the drawing I made of...recognize her? Yeah, you're right, it's Tina! ;-) Seriously, though, it was fun to draw without looking at the paper - and without taking the pen off the paper. It was so freeing to not be concerned about the end result! A good exercise!

Then we got our boards and started scribbling with ball point pen, markers, crayons, and whatever we had on hand. After scribbling, doodling! There's a difference, you know!

Finally, time to paint! Start filling in the shapes you created with you doodles...or not! Or go crazy with the paint everywhere! "Are you having fun?" is what Jennifer kept asking us. That is pretty much her approach to painting: do what it feels fun, draw what you like, pick your favorite color, don't worry about the outcome.

After the first layer was dry, I got my ball point pen and did some more doodling, wrote a few sentences, did some stamping...THEN - and I'm sorry I didn't take a picture of that - Jennifer had us put a blindfold on - not joking! - and slap paint all over our boards until we covered 90% of it!!!

WHAAAT???

That'll teach you not to become attach to your painting halfway through it!

The picture above is what my board looked like after the "cover 90%" exercise (I used the orange color) and a few other colors...and more doodling...and writing into the paint...and stamping...

The next day we had a model come in so we could do some figure drawing...without looking at the paper, of course! And without taking the pencil off the paper, of course!

Many many sketchbook drawings later, we were ready to do use our wood boards. Did I mention how much fun it is to draw with a ball point pen on wood! So good! Sometimes I would use my non-dominant hand to scribble. It's good to have LESS control sometimes.

And this is how my (second) board was by the end of the workshop. Not finished. Neither is the other one. But I'll tell you this: I got everything I expected - maybe even more - from this class and from Jennifer. I'm happy.

Have you met my friend Jennifer Mercede? ;-)

Great weekend, great group of artists!

Getting it done!

2013-05-08T16:09:00.001-07:00

Lola and Mommy painting together.

So one of these days I looked at my studio walls and floors and realized the crazy amount of unfinished paintings I have.

Doodle Me Happy

I start painting after painting and never consider them done! I keep coming back to them and adding more stuff...which would be ok if I wasn't talking about dozens of them! They're beginning to pile up!

Playground

Plus, now I'm thinking that maybe I do that out of insecurity...you know, if I show you a photo of a painting and say "work in progress" and you don't like it, it's ok, because "I'm not done with it yet". Get it?

Helena

Well, now I decided it's enough. Once I heard an artist (don't remember who) saying that she doesn't like to hold on to paintings for too long because she likes to keep the energy moving... Or something like that. And she was so right! So, slowly but surely, I'm going through all my paintings, one by one, and actually FINISHING them. And by finishing them, I also mean, signing them, scanning them, and putting them for sale.

Inez

IT. FEELS. SO. GOOD.

A sense of accomplishment, you know? That I'm not walking in circles, but actually going somewhere now! Aaahhhh!

Up and Away

All the paintings you see in this post, yep, you guessed it! DONE!
And for sale through a click of the mouse! ;-)

What have you been crossing off your list?

I don't know what happened...

2013-03-04T09:31:00.000-08:00

Suddenly, it's March 2013! How can my previous post be from October of last year? Don't know. Life happened, I guess.

my table @ Stephanie Lee's plaster workshop

Last month I was in a plaster class taught by Stephanie Lee. It was very cool...messy - oh, my, is it messy! - but cool. Stephanie was really nice and funny, and always ready to answer all the questions from her students. All in all a great weekend.

lots of pieces started that weekend

Me and plaster, though, different story. I thought he had hit it off, but I was wrong. Two days after the workshop, I was home, working on my pieces, when...

my pretty cups - gone!

second piece - gone!


before	after

Crack!

All of my plaster pieces are gone. I still have the ones made with joint compound, at least. And I'm still working on them. Thinking back now, all the pieces that cracked were on the same kind of substrate: those artist cradled boards, which I LOVE and were supposed to be great for working with plaster, according to the master herself, Stephanie. I must've done something wrong when mixing the plaster, that has to have been it!

little joint compound pieces

Last night I was working on a piece for my daughter's bedroom. Not finished yet, but I'm still not quite sure where to go from here! I'm enjoying the journey, though, isn't that what counts?

Happy Monday, everyone! Go make some art!

Collected Intuitions

2012-10-09T18:09:00.001-07:00

A little photoshopping goes a looong way... real photo here.

So, the show was awesome! The space looked amazing, filled with beautiful art from all these awesome ladies you see in the picture. The energy was super positive, everybody was excited about the event.

And what a turn out! The place was packed at one point! Everybody had a good time!

Paintings were sold! Fun, fun, fun!

The most rewarding thing for me, though, was to have my family and my friends there, my greatest supporters.

My friends and I - photo by Cynthia Shaffer.

Unfortunately I didn't take a single picture of my husband and children... Thanks, Hubby, for taking care of the kids while I mingled! xoxo!

Excited...A little nervous too!

2012-10-05T09:51:00.003-07:00

Sooo...tomorrow is kind of a big deal for me...my very first GALLERY SHOWING!!!

The artists of Studio Crescendoh Painting Studio - myself included - will be showing our work together! We're all very excited! Jenny Doh, the owner of Crescendoh, organized everything and offered her studio for the event.

Every one of us will have a few paintings on display. And these are mine:

Take a look at all the great artists that will be there too!

Don't see me?

No, you're not crazy, I'm not there... yours truly here missed the deadline to send a photo for the flyer, so I did a little 'photoshopping' and here's MY version:

Ha! Yeah, baby, I WILL be there! It says so on the flyer! :-)

So, if you're in the area, stop by! Did I mention it's a FREE event? Here is the info:

October 6th, 2012

From 7:00pm to 10:00pm

Studio Crescendoh

207 N. Broadway St., Suite L

Santa Ana, CA 92701

There'll be refreshments and a musical performance.

PS: Covered parking is available at the Artists Village parking structure at Third Street and Broadway, for $2.

Hope to see you there!

Society6

2012-07-27T15:08:00.001-07:00

It took me a year...

2012-07-16T12:17:00.000-07:00

...to consider this painting DONE.

This is what happens sometimes...I start a painting like I always do - adding a lot of colors, making different marks...

layer 1

Then I added another layer, refining some shapes and finding new ones...

layer 2

By the third layer, when I decided to "embellish" a little bit more, I started to actually like it.

FREEZE!

That is the worst possible thing that can happen...you get attached.

I like it! Now what? What can I do that WON'T ruin this?

layer 3

So I put it aside and started working on something else. And this painting kept staring back at me for a year! A YEAR! I couldn't believe it when I saw the date of the first picture I took of it!

Suddenly, one day, I just wanted to finish it. I wasn't worried about making a "mistake" anymore, and that took all the pressure off, making way for inspiration to come.

final painting

Now I love it! LOVE IT! Love the colors, the shapes, the transitions. Am I allowed to love my own painting? I hope so. And I hope that other people will SEE the love in it too...

Have a great day!

Loving Homework

2012-06-25T23:46:00.001-07:00

I recently finished Mindy Lacefield's Paint Your Story self-paced class, and let me tell you: loved it! After so many months of little or no painting for me, this class was just what I needed to get me going again.

Because I knew there was going to be a new lesson everyday, I pushed myself to find the time to paint. I would tell my daughter "Mommy has homework to do" and that made me feel less guilty to actually use that time for myself. *

There was a different video everyday, which, in my opinion, is what made this class so good. The exercises were fun and playful, and Mindy had several prompts and tips that really helped.

These images are paintings that were all done during the class.

I'm really glad I decided to take this class. Totally worth it and money well spent!

* By the way, I haven't painted since the very next day the class ended! I really do need more homework! Any class suggestions???

Fire Wings of Death

2012-06-15T15:53:00.001-07:00

That title is the name of one of my son's monster drawings. My little artist is a 7-year-old boy who loves to draw - you guessed it! - monsters. Always. And this one, in particular, he asked us to scan and copy (just because he wanted to see the scanner and the copier do their thing), and when it came time to give the image file a name, he chose fire_wings_of_death.jpeg. Ha.

This is the guy.

Anyway, the other day I had this idea...well, actually I've the idea for awhile, but this week I acted on it...to add this "creature" to one of my paintings and see what would happen. So I took advantage of all of my "extensive" (not) knowledge of image transferring and started the process.

materials for the transfer

I printed the monster on my ink jet printer, got one of my backgrounds, and glued them together with gel medium. After a few seconds I started to peel the drawing off to see the transfer.

Revealing the image.

I had to spray some water and use the rag or my fingers to rub the rest of the paper off the background, leaving only the outline of the monster. Now it was finally time to start painting.

Image right after the transfer. Pardon the photo quality.

I started adding some blocks of color to really bring out the creature. Colors are hard, sometimes. The first color I used was the red on the outside of the drawing, only to then decide I didn't like it. I guess it was 'competing' with the subject a little bit...

Covering some of the background, but leaving some interesting areas untouched.

I ended up using with blues and oranges, mostly, and I was happy with the contrast. I also like the little bits of the original background showing on the final piece.

Final painting

My son was very proud when I showed him HIS monster in a painting! So cute! I think we're gonna hang it in his room.

Here are some detail shots:

All in all, it was a fun project. I enjoyed trying the image transfer thing. How about you? Any cool new techniques? Have you ever done image transferring? Share!

Remember me?

2012-05-20T20:42:00.002-07:00

I wonder if there's anybody reading anymore...it's been so long since my last post! Truth be told, though, it's been awhile since the last time I painted too, so I felt like I didn't have much to say.

But I have an excuse - a good one: we bought a house! And for those of you who are home owners, you know what the process is like...from the moment you start to look, to putting an offer, then the escrow, and packing, moving, unpacking, deciding what goes where...anyway, lots and lots of stuff to do. And then some.

For awhile after we moved, the only paint I used was house paint! Look:

We painted some stripes on the guest bathroom walls.

Almost two months later, things are starting to normalize again, and, little by little, I'm making my way back to my studio. With my youngest still not in preschool, though, it's not always easy to find time to paint, but it is what it is and I just have to learn how to MAKE time for me. :-)

what's on my easel. still in progress.

Hopefully I'll be back soon(-ish). And with more paintings to show. I miss it and I feel like I'm forgetting everything!

Thanks for waiting! ;-)

I painted!

2012-02-21T16:36:00.000-08:00

Ever since I started painting I don't think I'd ever gone that long without it. I haven't painted since last year! Well, HADN'T painted since last year. This morning I finally decided to stop procrastinating and just go for it. Because, yes, I have small children and, yes, I have been house hunting for the last 2 months and, yes, I have other stuff to take care of, but procrastination plays a part on it too, make no mistake.

A few months ago I decided to start 3 paintings to hang over my bed. We have a Cal King bed, so 3 canvas should cover the entire width. Anyway, they have been staring at me forever, like this:

And today I worked on them a little bit more and added a few more layers of paint. I probably spent no more than half an hour painting, with regular interruptions from my 3-year-old, who asked me if she could paint too, after I was done. I said yes, so she kept coming back every 3 minutes to check if it was her time to paint yet. Oh, well.

Still work in progress, of course, but at least they are going somewhere now.
And so am I.

Still here!

2012-02-14T17:09:00.000-08:00

I feel like I haven't blogged in forever! In fact, I haven't done anything even remotely artsy in awhile... The only paints and colors I've had on my mind lately are the ones that are gonna go on the walls of my new home!

Yes, we're buying a house! So, between the house hunting, the offer, the negotiations, and budgeting the necessary remodeling/repairs that need to done before we move, you can understand why the lack of art on my part.

my first 'art project' in over 2 months: a Valentine's Day box for my son

Meanwhile, my BFF came and went and all I have to show for it is this photo:

We had a fantastic time together (as did our kids, who seemed to have been BFFs themselves, which was an added bonus): we talked, and shopped, and went to Disney, and watched Bridesmaids, and laughed, and talked some more. Ok, a LOT more. All in all, a great few days...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Word for 2012

2012-01-05T13:38:00.000-08:00

If you follow some of the same artsy blogs I do, you probably read a blog post like this one already. There seems to be this trend going...people choosing their word for the year. So I decided to jump in.

I thought long and hard about this...not so simple to come up with ONE word to define your goals for the whole year, your hopes and dreams, your resolutions, your vision of how to get closer to the life you want for yourself. But I did it.

I have been known to - especially if you ask my dear hubby - get really excited about an idea, make plans, talk about it non-stop, get prepared and then...just drop it. Like it never happened. Like it was the most crazy idea ever. The last and most outrageous example was cake decorating.

my daughter's 2nd birthday

When my daughter was turning 2 I decided to make and decorate the cake myself. I had NEVER done that before, but for some reason I just assumed I would do a good job, and I had the idea for the cake already, so I did it. And I loved the result!

Long story short, I got so excited about it that a month later I had 2 "partners" and we had made cakes for all of our friends' kids birthdays. I was buying supplies, testing recipes, deciding on a name for our business and registering domain names.

some of the cakes we decorated

A month after that, one of my partner friends had basically dropped out (she wasn't really into it, plus she had a full time job), the other one was talking about going back to school to be a nurse, and I was frustrated with several failed cake recipes. Suddenly, I was like "Cake? Really?" And that was that. The "business" was over before it even had a name. Looking back, I still don't know what I was thinking...

But it is different with painting. It's self-expression, it's freedom, it's liberating... It's truly a passion. So I want to see it through. I want to see where it goes.

So my word for 2012 is PERSEVERANCE.

According to the dictionary, perseverance is steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement. That is exactly it! This year I want to be able to look past the problems - the eventual lost of mojo to paint, the low sales period, the lack of time to make art - and persevere, hang in there. That way I'll know, whether or not I become a full time artist, that I gave it my best shot.

PS: one of my cake partners actually stuck by the idea (well, sort of). She is now selling Brazilian Truffles. She finally decided on a name - SUGARTRIX - and I truly hope she perseveres as well.

My BFF is coming!

2011-12-08T14:51:00.001-08:00

Cinthia and I go way back. I mean WAAAAAY back. 1985 back. That's the year we met. We were probably around 10. But we didn't like each other at first. Well, not exactly. It's more like we had a completely different group of friends for the first four years. We sat on opposite corners in class, and we hardly ever talked at all.

Cinthia and I, side by side, TOTALLY by accident at that time.

It wasn't until high school that we became best friends. And after that we became a force to be reckoned with! Inseparable! We sat side by side, talked all the time during school hours and still came up with reasons to call each other on the phone 4, 5 times a day! We even had a joke about that. We would call and say: "Nothing..." (meaning, "I have nothing to say, but I called anyway").

In High School.

During our senior year, we were ALWAYS skipping classes! You would have a better chance to find us roaming through the halls of our school instead of inside the classroom. It was a good year!

In college we didn't see each other so much anymore, but we kept in touch.

We ended up going to the same University, although we studied in different campuses, so we never saw each other. Not long after that, we didn't even talk on the phone everyday anymore. We had new friends, new boyfriends, new routines, but still, our friendship remained.

In September of 2000, she was there, at my wedding, as my Maid of Honor.

Cinthia was my Maid of Honor.
She was waiting for me at the airport after I spent 2 years living abroad.
We became pregnant almost at the same time.
We were at each other's Baby Showers.
I was there when her son was born.
My son had his first sleepover at her house.

Showing off our preggo bellies. Our sons (yes, we both had boys!) were born one month apart.

I've been living in California for 5 years, and next month, for the first time, Cinthia is coming to visit me! Yeah! She and her son are staying with us for a week and we are both super excited about it!

We've been BFFs for 20 years! And here's to the next 20! Love you, girl!

PS: by the way, BFF, I spent the whole day digging up all those old pictures of us!