There Will be Blood

Here's a sketchbook spread inspired by my Food For Thought series. These pieces incorporate butcher paper and food-packaging into each drawing.

Prince of Los Cocuyos

Here are pieces I illustrated for a an English textbook geared towards giving 5th graders more courage to write, They accompany an essay by accomplished Cuban-American poet and writer, Richard Blanco, who's family emigrated to the United States in the late 1960's.

Richard learned to make paper-plate turkeys in school.

As a child attending school in Miami, he learned about the American tradition of Thanksgiving. Richard attempted to introduce his family to this unique celebration, but their deep roots in Cuban culture made this endeavor a challenge. His family didn't exactly adapt to a classic Thanksgiving dinner, but they ended up having a joyous celebration anyways.

He ventured to the super market to purchase a turkey and fixings.

While at the market, Richard got a strong taste of consumer advertizing.

Attempting  to ride home with a frozen turkey on his bike handle-bars proved to be a challenge...

Richard's attempt at a traditional table setting turned into a crazy mish-mash of styles.

Richard Blanco  became the first immigrant, the first Latino, and first openly gay person 

to be the U.S. inaugural poet (at President Obama's 2013 inauguration).

A special thanks to art director, Carmela Stricklett,

at Amplify for this really fun opportunity.

 
You can view my drawings accompanying an essay by the great Rosa Parks, here.

Food for Thought

Have you ever kept seeing an image in your mind's eye, and were compelled to find a way to honor it? That's how this series of drawings got started. I won't say much about them, other than it was fun to play with pastels, charcoal, and other mixed media. I'm curious about what you think.

"Haddock" - Mixed media on butcher paper

"Jumbo shrimp" - Mixed media on butcher paper

"Flounder" - Mixed media on butcher paper

You can view a big gallery of my personal projects here!