Copyright 2008 - 2010

The following images are original works of Alexis E. Rodriguez (unless written as otherwise).
Use of any image without consent is strictly prohibited.

Portrait Challenge








Facebook challenge. Their in order from when I started to now. Time limit is about 30-45

Self Study



Attempting to hone my skills.

Filler Post 2




Here's the byproduct of a few days of blog neglect. There's more coming soon. Criticism/ questions please!

Figure & Perspective


The piece is as the title implies. This snapshot is just a piece of the entirety but, I'll post more as I get further along.

Portrait: Starry Eyed



Decided to entitle the piece "Starry Eyed", since it was inspired from one of my favorite songs (it's a piece of a lyric.)

Mixed media. Under layers include (> = seperated by a layer of workable fixative): a graphite drawing > Some gesso and matte medium > charcoal> a few washes of ink and water > an oil mixed with turpenoid oil (Burnt Umber and Titanium White i think?) > removed oil wit ha paper towel and kneaded rubber > and theeeen added a bit of color with pink and blue conte crayons. There's more I could do but I don't really want to. I feel its finished as is.

There's alot of textures that my low-tech phone camera can't catch. I wish I could take a higher res photo and different angles.

In hindsight,from this study, I've learned that I can achieve this end result in a quicker fashion than what I performed. I also need to work on my portraits (that's no secret though), especially in the aspects of value and line work.

Portrait: Phase 3 pt. 1 - Oil Wash!




Here's the end of my oil wash application. I did several coats to achieve a variety of drip marks, under the weight of varied consistencies. It's helping to bring out the texture that was built up by the matte medium. The next step is to remove paint from areas that need highlights.

Portrait: Phase 2 - Charcoal and Ink Wash!

A step up from the graphite version. There's also some built up textures from a few coats of matte medium

Poem: Escapism

When tough times come I realize that I

Tend to climb up on the clouds and pretend to fly

I look up and latch my ogle onto the sky

I know that if I look away my wish will die

I’d probably fall to the earth just like my

Tears rolling off my face if I happened to cry

So I stay fixated, well, at least I try

Conscience reminded me of my web of lies

The figment crumbles from what I materialized

My ascended reverie now a fallacy of mine

I look pass my feet as the fluffy base spread wide

The walls I erected fall per reality’s rise

I land very softly, to my own surprise

Conscience was there to prevent my demise

Enthralling me, it laughed; inclined, I asked “Why?”

It said “If it wasn’t for me, you‘d be one unlucky guy!”



Portrait: Phase 1

Been itching to do a new technique i discovered at an art showing the other day. Here's the base drawing.

THIS BLOG IS NOW DIAMONDS!


What's up everyone, it's been a while! Been a little busy with school work and everything. I plan on working on my painting, and attempt to train myself to use oils. I'm also working on bettering my poetry and lyrical talent, and am even collaborating with my cousin, who lives aaaaall the way in Florida!. Anyways, for content's sake, here's a quick image I rendered on CS2. Amateur photoshop at it's finest!

Either or, Neither, or Nevermore

A rhythmic patter ensues, and it’s eternal; the heart

A brief and bereft halt interrupts us, momentarily; it skips

From either love or loss it spawns, subjectively; whenever

Instinctively, unnervingly- forever insubstantial; we feel


Fear and love

In either hand

Wherein sight of

Do we understand?

Like stars above

Or earthly land

Two emotions thereof

Are equally grand


Notwithstanding failed finales, we remain in pursuit of them; it starts

Selfishness overtakes sanity and procreates obsession; with lips

Although we fake reins over action and impression; forever

Enslaved are we forevermore to a longing of cohesive algorithm; we seal


A somber malady

A beautiful melody

A sweet reverie

A harsh fatality

With intents actuality

We embrace openly

In pain secretly

A revolting reality


As to attempt a blatant revealing of our faults and revelry; depart

Embark on the voyage, engorge in ecstatic galore; a trip

Embargo your blood flow as you find what lovers adore; we’re clever

To become a part of you as you are one of me; until


A vanishing point

As horizons shatter

A deathly anoint

Our affections gather

Persons, one joint

Separation is rather

An ill-chosen appoint

A cleansing lather


On an plane of existence we coincide with each other; apart

On an axis we roam, convergence we can’t avoid; we rip

With grids we align as if coordinates were deployed; together

We realize that you and I exist for none but one another; we heal


As hands turn

And pivot freely

Our flame burns

Like candles ideally

Flesh is earned

Words are steely

As your yearn

Softens my feeling

Poem: Keys

I told her

Her love is the key and my heart is just the door

She could be my sea, and I could be the shore

We could be close, like the numbers three and four

That she would feel my love inside like an apple core

She told me

Together we could fly like a shooting star

It sounds really nice, be I can’t see that far

I’m doing the speed limit and you’re a runaway car

You’re like a blur: when I try to see you, it get’s hard

And then I

Caught her gaze as she let it fall to the floor

Said that if she didn’t have enough throttle, I’d give her more

And if she couldn’t bear arms I would be her warrior

That she was the only one I planned on fighting for

She stood up

And flashed a faux smile that tore my imagery apart

I had the right one in my hand , but played all of the wrong cards

She might have stolen from me and I could call it burglary

But I let her in willingly when I let her have my key

I made a few copies, though…

Sketchbook: Gesture and Figure








Here are some sketches of gestures and figure studies.

Sketchbook: Objects and Ideas




Here go a few random sketches pulled out of my sketchbooks. A few objects and ideas.

Poem: 9/1/10

Refining


Delve into the coal mine; my allegorized perception

Pressure forces brilliance; as lucent as a silent plea

This sentience constructs a foundation of remarkable deception

Amalgamated dementia, the fascia to erroneous glee


At its entrance, disambiguated silhouettes carve into the light

Onyx alternations: the positive and negative of memory’s pristine

I recall the past with clarity among my emotion’s insight

Despite it all, I attempt to grasp conceptual relationship by any means


Complications arose, birthed from our interlocking lace

Attempts to reconcile turn into systemized trolleys

If I wear a smile, could we be saved by its face?

Or would we plunge into the depths of spite and melancholy?


The veiled innards of this cave conceal prolonged warmth

And these eyes, though dilated, are accustomed to an amity ever lit

Hope casts a luminous reflection of our past, and juts it forth

As this miner unearths the diamond in sediment’s respite

This really makes me sad...



This is definitely a wake-up call for me. I don't think I've ever really encountered too many people who stood firm on idiotic stances like this. Like... I don't even know what to say about it. What's worse is that I know there are more people in America who believe in and will participate in this.

Here's a link to the web page article: http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/09/07/florida.quran.burning/index.html

I just need to know what prompts someone to think: "I want to use radical methods to fight and advocate against radicalism." That's like trying to dry yourself off with water.

Two Poems

Sketch


Let me scurry through my mind and then

Finger through some rambling’s

Think about my day again

Self-questioning without an end


Rectify my wrongs

Write lyrics to a song

Conform to the throng

Or worry that the syllables in this line make it seem much too long


I could change the genre

Seize life by the arm, or

Shock audiences with whispers

Like a double entendre


Whatever I strive

People will know I’m alive

Simply because I have a drive

That will never “take five”

-------


Impression


Do I Impress you?


Well, wait until you listen to

What I have to say and why you’re one of the few

If you think my work is comparable to a jewel

Then think about the facets of a gem, and a craftsman’s tools


What I show is a ruse; and what I possess, we all do

A polished up surface breaking free from the crude

These words are just that- and if you don’t have a clue

Then I’m afraid you’re in for disappointment and rue


I’m about as unimpressive as untying a shoe

About as stale as old chips when you first chew

Occasionally awkward or unpleasant, like accidental drool

Or when your eyes falter from an accidental “I love you”


I won’t blame you if you detach the urge to pursue

Because I know when you see me you always think “Well, he’s kind of cute...”

... Wait, you say after all that, you still think I’m “kind of cool?”

Well I don’t object, but I do think you’re some kind of fool…


… Buuuuut, we can be cool fools together... "WINK!"



Love this commercial. Awareness as a nation and to our fellow American citizens is such an important aspect of our lives. It saddens me when I see or hear people who devalue another man's social status due to religion or personal morals.

Poem: 9/1/10

They Could


They could turn your allure into a language

And from you I would still find myself speechless

They could make your heart seem like a war zone

And, like a soldier, for you I wouldn’t dare to regress


They could reveal all of my wrongs

And, for you, I would atone

They could take the all the air from the earth

And I would still be able to live on your breath alone


They could veil the world in darkness

And I would still be able to find your light

They could force my eyes to close

And you would still be clear in my sight


They could find a way to stop us

And I would still find it difficult to not be moved by you

They could remove every pen, pencil, or paintbrush

And I would still have an inkling of what draws me to you

Smile!


Haha this one is definitely old. Done way back in high school. I threw it through two filters in Photoshop CS2 to give it a grainy texture. Originally it wasn't as interesting as I remember hoping it would be. I figured I'd post this since I did happen to pull shapes from one block to make a smiley face... and who doesn't need a smile in their life?

Quote 8/31/10


Talent is awareness; self-granted thought provoking actions or words with a distinguished endpoint, sculpted from a medium relative to determination. Learn to evoke extremities in strokes of simplicity, and learn to share what you garner with others. Talent may be a blessing, but, what is aptitude without affection and appreciation, but futility.

-Alexis E. Rodriguez

Study: Flower (Color)


3rd part to the study. Applied color pencil over the oil paint. All in all, this isn't the effect I was hoping for, but the contrast between the flower and the backdrop is nice. There's a real gloomy feeling, like a storm is brewing in the skies. I'll see how I apply this to my future piece...

Part 2 of the study. Applied stronger value contrast and Burnt Umber oil paint

Study: 8/29/10


The 1st stage of my latest study for my upcoming piece.

Poem: Cookie Craving


It’s been a long time since I last had a cookie


Focus becomes inexplicable; hunger took reign as it arrived

Depravity wallows within walls, narrowed -emaciation; sweets deprived

Remembrance of the decadent delicacy eludes my mind

I close my eyes and imagine dough refined, deliciousness contrived


Logic is replaced with obsidian parallels

Thoughts from onyx, boiling over in desire’s jail cell

Where to excavate, and plunder kitchen cabinets –I cannot tell

And yet I rummage through my suffering, to no avail


Stomach’s insight in sight, sugar is a preference

Chocolate chip is tertiary, and what’s second equals irrelevance

Indulgence is a must, and satisfaction resembles imminence

I suppose you could say that I really want a cookie, more or less





Short Poem


CONFUSED

Many stories are left untold

A few of mine own are liken to perpetuity

Or to a game of poker: “The inevitable hand that folds”

Opposing sentiments, that to no end, are riddled with similarities


I may prompt you to wonder just what I mean, or what I see

With blatancy under my belt, relevancy revs revolutions

It’s no big deal, only that which is most dear to you and me

An idiosyncrasy we succumb to repeatedly; unreliable viability; “rotations”


Cognitive cautiousness causing effective affections like the clogged cogwheels of a clock

Or call it like, love, or lust; either or, neither, or nevermore- it makes no difference to me

Flower Study



I have an idea for an upcoming piece that
involves detailed drawings of plants.
So I've been practicing a little before I attempt it.


Sketch: Flowers


A simple sketch I made before class this morning.

It reminds me of this song. Arurian Dance by Nujabes.


Under Construction



I'm taking the time to mess around with
Blogger's super fail editing system.
We'll see how it turns up.
In the meanwhile check out some older
posts and give me some feedback.



Misc. Images





Here we have a few pieces and sketches that were done over different periods of time. Some years, others just a few days ago. Questions about a specific image? Ask away. :]

Leading2Love

I've come to the realization

That love is a ridiculous sensation

That requires no physical relation

Only wishful thinking leading to elation



A dipped and dazzled fabrication

Born of socioculture situations

A repetitive mechanic; organic mechanization

A sentiment that for granted, it is taken



Without it we'd be cringing in desperation

Maniacal proprieties; overran with confusion

Too much and it feels like an obligation

Erratic eyes with minds desperate for liberation



She's guilty as charged; a criminals implications

Cupid on jury duty, winning is out of the question

I look into her eyes; an ocular temptation

And soon enough, I came to this realization.



Maybe I'm just thinking about it too hard.

A Poem: Food for Thought

They say God doesn’t give you anything you can’t handle.
So what about death?
How do I prevent my last breath?
Life isn’t something I want to take for a gamble.
But I still take my next step
Without knowing what comes next, or what is left.
Have you ever felt an emotion evoked from the way your life might compel
A situation that demands you to scorn the heavens with a sharp gaze of rebel?
Or speak up with the voice of a rebel, in the same manner of the devil
With a similar interest of an arsonist, a prerogative of a fire starter
Alongside the lament of a martyr?
You want to believe, but you can’t convince your heart or
Lift your hopes up or even look back up.
“He” hides behind the sky; A veil of blue with specks of white
That prompts us to worship with what we feel is our minds eye.
Why am I so afraid to lie? And why do I pray for the day that I die?
I can’t fathom a distance that high;
A place where which he dwells, the “Most High”
The one where my questions go to for replies
I guess this questioning is what they call a sin
Because apparently against him, I can never win
Even if my faith is what makes him great
In the end I’m just one man, riding the span of my life until the end of my plan.
So until that day arrives, I’ll just do what I can…
I just pray for another day, but no matter our origin you can’t deny that life is great.

Contact Info

Thank you for viewing my blog. If you want to contact me you can find me on the following:

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E-Mail - rodizme@yahoo.com
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