Workin' with N2metalworks

Thanks for checkin' out Bsombin'! So I've been working a lot on Kibatsu Creative stuff, lately. In the short time since it was founded, the company has grow into the two halves that make up Kibatsu, with the help of my partner Cory. The art/creative half & the industrial/manufacturing half. The art/creative is how it originated. Along the way, however, Nick, from N2metalworks, approached us with the opportunity to grow our business by working with N2metalworks. Since then, we have worked together on multiple projects & are in the process of doing some big things! Recently, Nick called us out to help him with a job installing a sign that N2metalworks had made for the "Tinhorn Flats" restaurant in Hollywood. It was a fun project to work on & a great learning experience. It's been awesome working with N2metalworks & we are very excited about the new projects that we will be working on together. I'll share more as we get further along with the process. For now, though, all I can say is I never would have imagined, 2 years ago, that I would be working on the kinds of things Kibatsu is working on today. We are very blessed & fortunate to be on the road we are traveling. Here are a couple of images from the sign install. Check back soon for more Bsombin'!

The Journey - pt.5

Thanks for checkin' out Bsombin'! So I've been writing about my creative journey. A quick recap... Through a series of events, I was inspired to begin exploring new "canvas" options. I decided to stray away from the norm & begin looking for new materials to paint on. I began working with glass & acrylic (plexiglass) & soon found myself being pulled into a new world of creative possibilities. My journey has been through this new world in the art universe.

...Along the way, I decided to make some pieces & send them to iconic figures, after reading articles about several artists who grew their careers by doing the same thing to promote their work. I talked to my partner Cory about it & he agreed it would be a great way to promote both my art & Kibatsu Creative. We began reaching out to friends to see who could help us get in touch with celebrities & iconic figures. To our surprise, we found we had more options than we thought & connections to some big names. While we thought about which celebrities we would choose to send work to, I got the idea to design custom frames for the gifts we would be sending out. Fortunately for us, our friend Nick, at N2Metalworks, was able to lend us a hand there. I drew up some plans & showed Nick what I was thinking. After some discussion, I decided to redesign the frames, because of some design flaws which Nick brought to my attention. After a redesign, Nick took the design & brought back some beautiful aluminum frames that were just what I had envisioned to go on the acrylic pieces. Here is a look at the original rough design & the finished frames (after the redesign) before I mounted them on the acrylic pieces.

A look at another one of my creative processes

"Chuch"...

Hello world!!!! Thank you for taking the time to see what's new with Bsombin'. ...I'm not a religious person. I am a spiritual person, though. I believe that we, as human beings, are not the "top of the food chain". I believe in "God". ...a being that is greater than us & who exist in a realm that is beyond our understanding. I don't think "God" to be what is written in "holy books", though. Instead I believe in an energy that exist through out the universe. An energy that is responsible for everything in the universe being conceived & continuing to exist. An energy that can't be fully explained by our simple minds. An entity that is too far beyond our understanding to be defined. ...The reason for the "Big Bang"; ... The factor that caused "fish to grow legs & walk onto land"; ... The force behind "evolution"; ...The yin & yang, the ebb & flow, the gravity that holds everything together & tears it all apart at the same time... Our Maker. I also feel that I am being lead, in my spiritual journey, by our maker. And, I feel that all that I experience in life is for a reason.

...With all this said, I was happy to help a church in Glendale when they asked for my help in restoring an old mural for them. Here are the before & after pics of the mural...

The Journey - pt.4

I wanted to experiment a little more with the acrylic, before starting larger scale pieces. This is a piece I made, "King James - Part1", while I was still testing out my ideas. It was like a thumbnail sketch, for me, & it also became my first acrylic stand-up piece. ...Like a mini- sculpter.

A journey of a different sort

Thanks for checkin' out Bsombin'! I'm starting to tell the story of my "artistic journey". Didn't expect it, but, at the start of this journey I was side tracked by another journey. ...a journey back home! I went back to my homeland, this past March. It had been a while since I had gone "home", so the "artistic journey" took a back-seat to the journey "home". Funny enough, the journey "home" made some serious impact on the artistic journey. Here are some pics from the first steps in the journey back to my roots & family. ...a trip to the Federal Building to get a new passport... 

A Summer "Hiaku".

"Her"

My beautiful muse

Smile warm like the summer sun

Eyes shine even brighter

2 more W.I.P.s

A pair of W.I.P.s that go together...

"La L.A." ...a work in progress

I am on a journey in a new direction, but a part of me can't abandone "the roots that grew the tree". I have a few "W.I.P.s"(work in progress), right now, that I am pushing to complete. Here are a couple of pics from the starting stages of one of the many W.I.P.s...

The Journey - pt.3

The next step in this journey was to better understand how different kinds of paint would adhear to the new surfaces I was starting to work on. So I tested some ideas & made my first piece made out of acrylic (instead of glass) to see how the plexiglass would take paints. The result was a piece I call "Angel From the City #2"...

The L.A. Marathon

Like I said, I'm playing catch-up here, with the old content... I joined the 26.2 mile club this past March.  It was one of the hardest things I have ever done. Training, while trying to be a single dad, run a business, & have a life was probably the hardest part. I sacrificed sleep, many a night, so that I could push myself to run farther than I had ever ran in my life. Blood, sweat, & tears were left behind, on the streets I ran, & probably a little sanity too. My body felt pain like it had never felt before, both, during the trainging & on the day of the marathon. But, it was all worth it, once I felt the joy of crossing the finish line & accomplishing what I thought I wasn't going to be able to do. I even finished in a decent time, having finished with a time of 04:02:17. I recently started training for next year, since I decided I want to qualify for "Boston". Once again, this will be the hardest thing I have ever done! Lol.

The Graff Girls Project pt.2

The Journey - pt.2

Thanks for checking out Bsombin'!! I am on a "journey" of sorts. It's a journey, into a new world in the art universe, for me. I have been straying farther & farther from the traditional ideas of art, over the years. But, recently, I have been going in a whole new direction. It started last year. In working on our "X-former" project, with Kibatsu, I began to entertain the idea of playing with acrylic (plexiglass) in my art. It then brought me to thinking about 3D art & prospective art. I began looking into anamorphic art & thinking of ways to make the type of art that I had never seen before. I got an idea, after remembering a piece made by, my hero, Salvadore Dalia. I saw it a few years ago when LACMA showed a collection of his drawings, paintings, sculptures, & films. The piece was a small wooden box with multiple glass planes, evenly spaced with about an inch between each plane, inside. Each plane had some trees and bicycle riders painted on them. The thing that grabbed my attention was how everything inside the box seemed to move when you walked past it. The spacing between the planes created the illusion that the images inside the box were moving, as you moved around the box & changed your prospective. I decided to try making art that would change the way it looked depending on where you stand & look at it. I did more research & found artist like Hans Hamngren, & Shigeo Fukuda, who lead me to think farther outside the box than ever before. I began experimenting & trying to find ways to play with the viewer's eyes. After a little thinking, & playing around, I came up with the idea for my acrylic art. I also started trying my hand at anamorphic art (I posted my first anamorphic effort, here on the blog, back in May). Once I knew what I wanted to do, I started looking around for places to get my new art supplies from. In my search, I found Gavrieli Sign Supplies (pt. 1 of the journey). Because of my budget, & the high cost of the acrylic (plexiglass), I wasn't able to buy my supplies right away. But, I wanted to start testing my ideas & seeing if the things I had envisioned would actually work. So, I looked around and found a cheaper, but much smaller, option. I bought some picture frames & started making some gifts that I would later hand out at Xmas time. This was stop 2 in this journey of mine. I had to substitute glass for acrylic, so I wasn't able to do all the things I had in mind. I did get to successfully test the main, & most important, ideas, though. Here are some of the gifts I gave out to friends & family last Xmas. ...the first of my glass portraits!

I'm just sayin'...

...there can never be enough of the stuff!

WTF bird?!

I've been a busy man! ...and that is such an understatement. I'm finally starting to get the craziness under control, though... I have managed to get a huge amount of content collected this year. I haven't been able to edit everything, because I have been so busy, however. Despite the hectic "rat-racing", I recently started getting the "content stock pile" under control. So you can expect a lot more post this summer. It will be a big mosh-posh of old unposted stuff & brand new content. And, I will be getting back on point with the mixes, also...

 But, before I get too into the content, & this "journey" that I am talkin' about, I have to share the "WTF bird"!!!! This thing flew into my yard one day. It let me walk right up to it & pet it, before flying onto my neighbor's roof. I have no idea what kind of bird this is & would like the internet's help in figuring out WTF flew into my yard to say "hello" to me. This happened months ago & I have yet to figure out what kind of bird this is. If you know, hit me up & let me know, please!! I would like to ID this strange bird...