Moly_x_portrait exchange !

I forgot to mention that i've joined my first moleskine exchange. Which I'm pretty excited about there are about 15 artists from all over the world. We'll be sending each other japanese moleskine sketchbooks a month at a time. The theme is portraits, this is still my first time so we'll see how it goes. You can check out the progress on our exchange blog right HERE. So far I've read introductions and looked through the blog I introduced myself and tried to read through everyone's posts and introductions. It looks like a very good group of enthusiastic artists. I'll keep everyone updated here and on the exchange blog. 

Peace, 

RGPS

cps

Swamp Woman

This is an older piece I just found that I wanted to share. It's acrylic, watercolor and colored pencil on illustration board. I made a mono-litho print of this same piece which I'll look for when I get the chance. I did this a couple of years ago and even though I've done more elaborate and "finished" piece I'm still drawn to this simple drawing and idea. 

peace,

RGPS

cps

Coleoptera

I don't like insects very much, but i do think that Beetles are awesome. This is another ballpoint pen sketch in my almost finished sketchbook. It took me about 40 minutes with a couple of breaks here and there. The actual name of this beetle is : Macrodontia Cervicernis. I actually came across a book on beetles and i borrowed it from my library the book is crazy it has the best photos. It was called " An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles" which chronicles the work of scientist J.B.S Haldane. I'd tell you the author but the book is in my basement and I'm too lazy to go look. I did a couple of other drawings in this and in another sketchbook I'll try to upload them later. I actually have one on my flickr, which you should definitely check out. Click here -----> RGPS

Peace,

RGPS

cps

Chuck Palahnuik and Insomnia

It's about 2:45 in the morning, it's Tuesday. I can't sleep. Which is a reoccurring theme lately in my life. I have no idea why but I just can't seem to go to sleep at a "normal" time or get a decent night's sleep. I don't complain about this often because I feel like i get a lot of things done during this time. I do a lot of artwork, I read a lot, and I write in my journal. All things that I think are high up on my priorities list. I draw and I sketch and I write down ideas and I write about things I've seen or done during the day that I want to remember. Tonight I actually did a drawing of one of my favorite cameras my old Canon FTb, it's an ink drawing on bristol paper. I thought I would be satisfied with that but i still couldn't go to bed. I ended up staying later and I did a portrait of Chuck Palahnuik. I don't know why exactly I was compelled to do that. I didn't actually think about it till after I was finished. I think it's pretty funny that I couldn't sleep and I drew a portrait of Chuck Palahnuik who wrote Fight Club which is about an insomniac. Did I mean to do that ? I definitely didn't, just a coincidence. Anyway the portrait didn't take too long and I think it came out pretty decent considering I did it pretty quickly. I'm actually still not tired or sleepy and it's 3:05 am now. 

Goodnight and sweet dreams (hopefully),

RGPS

cps

Maxillofacial surgery and The Cup

I did a decent sketch of my nephew's high chair, but I lent my cousin my camera since he went away on a trip. I didn't feel like trying to sit and get a crispy and clean photo using my phone so I decided to post this piece up on the blog. This is a self portrait I did not too long ago. It's an ink portrait on paper it's based on some x-rays after my maxillofacial surgery. I got the surgery several years ago but it is still a motivator for my artwork. It very much changed my way of thinking and the whole process was very tough and artwork was definitely my best friend and comfort during the recovery process. I've done a couple of pieces that are directly commenting on the surgery but this is the latest and I'm pretty proud of it. It's exactly what I envisioned it to be when I started working on it. A 13 x 19 in. archival print of this piece is hung up right now at "The Cup" coffee house in Wantagh, Long Island NY. Me and HP have had some artwork hanging there the whole month of April and we've slacked on getting a small reception together because of certain circumstances. But anyway if you live in or around Long Island please check it out or even if you live in NY. Here is the exact info : 

The Cup 3268 Railroad Ave Wantagh, NY 11793. Take a trip to the cup and have some coffee or tea and look at some good artwork from two very hard working starving artists. Me and HP have about seven or eight pieces hanging each. Ranging from drawings, to  paintings, etchings and we even have some giclee' prints up. I hope you get a chance to see the work and I hope you enjoy it. 

Peace,

RGPS

cps

Coffee Time

Here's a drawing from over the weekend. I was visiting my girlfriend and she was busy baking for her godson's birthday party which was the next day. I happened to be sitting in front of the coffee maker and I never drew one so I went for it. So this is the result of about fifteen minutes of drawing. I used a Zebra fine ballpoint pen. It's definitely my favorite pen to draw with and i always carry it. I have a sketchbook that i've filled almost entirely with drawings using this pen. I'll upload some photos from this sketchbook as soon as I get a chance. 

Peace,

RGPS

cps

Love in the time of cholera

I was looking through some of my sketchbooks and i bumped into this drawing. It's a drawing of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. He happens to be one of my favorite authors, and I have to say that "Love In the Time of Cholera" has to do a lot with that. I read this book some years back on one of my summer trips to Bolivia. I always wanted to re-read it but was slacking. Some years pass and a movie version of the book was released here in the US directed by Mike Newell, starring Giovanna Mezzogiorno as Fermina Daza and Javier Bardem as Florentino Ariza. I went to watch the movie in theaters when it was released two years ago, and i was decently happy with it. I enjoyed the movie but some parts of the movie were a little "off." Needless to say the book was better but that's always a given. I just caught the movie again recently on tv and decided that between that and the drawing I found I might as well make a post telling everyone to watch the movie and more importantly READ THE BOOK. Both Bardem and Mezzogiorno do a good job, i think that the script was lacking in a few departments, I won't get into it 'cause i don't want to ruin the movie for anyone. I also suggest reading Marquez's last book "Memoirs of my Meloncholy Whores."

Peace,

RGPS

cps

Sketches in watercolor

I did these earlier today. Quick sketches in watercolor on watercolor paper. I had some scrap paper lying around so I decided to doodle on it. The glue container is watercolor and some thin markers. I was doing some hand studies earlier in ink, I'll try to upload them a little later or tomorrow. 

Peace,

RGPS

cps

Watercolor Portrait

This is a watercolor painting I recently finished. It's a portrait of my dad. It's one of many I've done of him. If I get a chance I'll look through my stuff and post different ones in different mediums. This was done with black ink and watercolor on 140 lb watercolor paper. I used a Rapidograph sketch pen, which is kinda of pricey ($25.00) but it's a good investment it'll last you a long time and you won't be disappointed with it's performance. Plus the ink is refillable you can mix and make your own colors of ink. Anyway I'm actually pretty pleased with this portrait as soon as I finished I emailed the pic to a couple of people for critiques and I've gotten good reviews so I'm pretty satisfied with it, plus my dad liked it an he isn't easy to please. 

Peace,

RGPS

cps

Apologizing

Apologizing is not that bad ! and sometimes it makes you feel much better. I got into an argument with a friend over a small miscommunication and we hadn't spoken in a day or two. I decided that it was time I apologized for the things I'd said. So I did exactly that. I explained why I said what I said and then I also threw in my apology. 

Sometimes it's tough to apologize because you don't feel 100% responsible for the cause of the problem, but sometimes it's good to apologize for your part in the argument. Anyway after I did what I had to do I automatically felt much better. Plus to make things even better my friend accepted my apology and then proceeded to apologize for their half of the problem. So now all is well and I feel very glad to have done what I've done and I'm glad they did what they did 'cause we're way better friends for it. So even if the other party doesn't extend an apology (assuming they have to) apologizing is definitely a good idea. So stop being a fucking baby and  APOLOGIZE !

Peace,

RGPS

cps

Laziness!

I have to apologize because all of us here at C.P.S are terribly lazy. We started off our idea and have had several small gatherings to figure out what we want to share and how we're going to do so. Even though all these meetings have happened we have yet to put our ideas into action. I'm going to start writing as much as possible and posting some artwork and random thoughts I want to share. I want to encourage some of the other CPS members to join me in my battle against laziness and i also want to ask you to do the same in your own personal life.

  I think that in these tough times economically we need to start to remember the smaller and more important things in life and stop thinking so much about these material and unnecessary things. So we will be blogging about our artwork, out thoughts, our family lives all the things that are important and DON'T COST A THING !  we hope you enjoy and you stick around. 

   Peace,

   RGPS.

   cps