Archive for the ‘tina illustrates’ Category

moving the blog

I’m sorry if you have been seeing crazy RSS feed action, but I’m moving my blog to tinapoe.com/blog. I can finally stop using tinavaziri.com and only keep it around for the redirects.

If you’d like to update your RSS feed, please subscribe to tinapoe.com/blog/feed.

As soon as everything is up and running, all posts here will redirect to the new url and you’ll see new blog posts going up at the new url. I look forward to seeing you there!

new plants and new garden design

In the first week of March, this year, I went out and got two new tomatoes (sweet cherry and green zebra) to put in my Earthbox. Around that time, I also picked up a bronze fennel, and a meyer lemon tree that was full of blooms and several fruit. My dream was to be overflowing with lemons at any given time of the year.

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sketchbook drawings from sxsw: people

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sketchbook drawings from sxsw: learn

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sketchbook drawings from sxsw: brand

I attended some of the panels with my coworkers from Dell. (more…)

sketchbook drawings from sxsw: workflow

At SXSW, some of the panels weren’t as interesting as some others. (more…)

sketchbook drawings from sxsw: positivity

I attended SXSW interactive this year, for the first time. It was a great experience and I made sure to capture parts of it in my sketchbook. (more…)

Propagating cat hair

It would be my dream to have 17 cats living in our house, but alas, the husband won’t let me turn into a full fledged crazy cat lady. (more…)

thyme lord

Just like we had a crazy hot summer in 2009, we had a crazy cold winter too (the neighbor’s water pipe burst). (more…)

confined in my own home

We’re having major renovations done to our house and while this is all very exciting, we’ve also had to live in our master bedroom for weeks while it’s been going on. (more…)

new year new art goals

2009 was a very slow year for this blog. There was so much change in my personal life (new job, tons of freelance work, marriage, house remodeling, husband’s job change to full time freelance) that I needed more time to myself until I got back into a normal rhythm before seriously blogging again. (more…)

Pet portrait by Red Tie Studios

David and I finished a new portrait for Red Tie Studios and it is our first official pet portrait! (more…)

hatching little nightmare

Here is a quick and colorful sketch of an unexpected little hatchling because I’ve been in a H. P. Lovecraft monster mood recently. (more…)

soul mate

I have been on exciting adventures recently. On November 12, 2009 I married my soul mate, David Poe. (more…)

fast thinker

Mr. Bee doesn’t like the cold

We don’t get much cold weather here in Austin, TX, and yet Mr. Bee and I always dread the freezing temperatures.

new illustration, mirror mirror

David and I are working on another illustration together. This one is a little darker in theme with inspirations from Lovecraft, Lumley, and our love for Egyptian lore. (more…)

quicky Mojito portrait

Sometimes the simplest things make me the happiest, like this 30 second portrait of my baby, Moj.

New illustration, portrait of Rosie

Finished a new illustration tonight, I kept this one a bit more loose and simple than the last few illustrations I’ve posted to my illustration portfolio. (more…)

nightmares

Nightmares haunt me often during the night, and unfortunately I remember all of my dreams.

five years together

Happy anniversary, David Poe!

Adrien Brody in The Darjeeling Limited

I spend a couple of hours on this hot sleepy Sunday painting a portrait of Adrien Brody from The Darjeeling Limited. (more…)

new portrait rosie

I’ve been drowning in work this year, and I’m sorry that my blog has been suffering as a result of this. I’ve been so busy that I kept putting off posting about this new portrait painting I’ve been working on whenever I have some free time, which is never. My friend Rosie came to visit me from San Francisco early this year and wanted me (and Red Tie Studios!) to paint a portrait of her. I got to draw her while she sat for me, and took some great photos for reference as well.

I’m having really bad drawing withdrawals recently! I need to make it happen.

garden funeral

My little garden is coming along slowly but surely. I never imagined I would crave digging in the dirt, touching new leaves, and getting so excited about new growth. It has become an incredibly rewarding hobby. But a garden also contains full cycles of life and death. A dying plant, a bird skull, and today, a little dead snake. I’m not sure how he died, I found him in an unused drip tray that had a little rainwater in it. I hope I am providing a safe environment for the rest of his family and all of his other animal friends.

Persian new year illustrations

Another Persian new year is near! The beginning of spring, new adventures, and warm weather. Mr. Bee and I love this time of year! The Persian Cultural Society of San Antonio, Texas contacted me recently to create a Persian new year illustration to be placed on t-shirts and promotional material. If you are in San Antonio and celebrate Nowruz, I highly suggestion buying a t-shirt at one of the many parties and events, proceeds go into strengthening the central Texas Persian community with events and gatherings.

Zoo and another birthday

This blog’s birthday was actually yesterday, two years and one day old today! I’ve been really busy and so my posts have been less frequent, I also needed a little break from blogging. But that doesn’t mean that I’m stopping any time soon, I have a ton of post ideas lined up and new artwork to show you. The two sketches are from the San Antonio Zoo a couple weeks ago. I love the zoo, I could go there every week and never get tired of it.

expressions study

The last few months have been so busy that I haven’t been blogging as much as I would like, I miss it! I have still made time to draw and paint, though. I’ve been doing little self portrait expression studies, to get more consistent looking and expressive characters for my “Adventures of Tina and Mr. Bee” series. I’ll post more as I finish them.

cat litter archaeologist

I always wanted to be an archaeologist, and it’s easy to have adventures everyday, when pretending!

finished fawn

Yay, this little guy is done. I added a lot more details to his fur, and I really like how it turned out.

christina ricci eyes

Did a quicky illustration of Christina Ricci today. I love her big googly eyes.

thankful for pie

I hope everyone enjoyed thanksgiving as much as I pied. Pie are pie. Pie pie pie pie pie.

underwater exploration

Look around, refresh your browser a few times. I moved some things around on the blog layout and added to the underwater theme in the header. Hope you like it, because I’m really loving it! My favorite part has got to be the underwater observation hub, it’s so cute and makes me want to hug it, looks like it has little arms and legs, pinchable ones.. okay time for me to go sleep. Goodnight!

little fawn update

I had a busy weekend filled with Renaissance festivities and birthday parties, which didn’t leave much time to paint. I have just a small update for you guys, and more to come soon!

the tall fawn

I have been working on a quick illustration as part of a larger series that I’m planning. I’ve gotten a lot down for just a few hours of work that I have put into this painting so far, but I’d like to move even faster. I hope to finish this in the next few days!

misfortune

mermaid magic

I met this mermaid once under the sea, she said that to get my creative juices flowing I should add random color splashes to paper and then look to find images forming from the shapes.

Doctor Tina

finished hugging

Phew, this weekend I put in more hours on this painting then I had since I started too many months ago, and it’s done. Weee!

my baby Moj

Mojito has been feeling under the weather recently, recovering from a wound on his neck. Poor baby, my heart breaks knowing that he is feeling pain. Hopefully he heals up very quickly, but in the meantime you can send him some extra love. I’ll transfer your love into extra kisses.

I’ve been working on the hugging painting, and it’s nearly complete. I also have another teaser for you featuring Mr. Mojie. He told me that he felt much better after seeing my portrait of him completed.

(if you look on my Facebook, Rosie painted a little get well card for Mojie, you should go see it)

brushing teeth

found

Haha! I found my lost thumb drive. My large purse had eaten it. I was cleaning out unnecessary items from my purse and found a sewn hole up into the lining so I stuck my finger in it and felt the metal of the USB tip. I was so excited! I already started working on the hugging painting again after too long of a wait.

my library my life

back to square one

I have lost the thumb drive I always kept with me. It used to live in my purse and never leave my side. I put artwork on it that I was working on, and transported the files to and from any computer I used. My heart feels a bit broken because the hugging painting was on that thumb drive, and I had gotten much farther on it (I hadn’t backed up my files, stupid). I need to suck it up and start working on it again from the beginning, but it is too easy to keep moping.

I should be excited about doing more art work because I’m planning to take Stephen Silver‘s nine week, one-on-one, Character Design course this fall. I’ve only heard wonderful things about the course, and I plan on my skills improving greatly.

creative sketching

San Francisco got my creativity flowing and drawing a lot. Be sure to visit my illustration portfolio and view the all new Sketches gallery.

japan town hotel

Got some early morning painting in as the sun started to shine through the Shoji screens.

old cotton pants

Maybe it’s time to throw out those ultra comfortable cotton pants that have become ultra comfortable (and thin) because they have been worn and washed for too many years.

disappointed in drawings

I am disappointed in myself because I am not drawing as much as I should be. I see my quick sketching skills going dormant and it is seriously embarrassing to look through my moleskin sketchbook. My line quality has diminished into rough chicken scratches that scream “LACK OF CONFIDENCE”.

I was so fortunate that my entire education was focused on building and growing my skills in art. I shouldn’t let it waste away. The only remedy is drawing constantly and always creating new artwork, so I finished a new quick illustration recently. I have to get back on track!

new vacation in san francisco

Four years ago I lived in San Francisco, and at the end of this month I will be going back for a visit! I look forward to enjoying the city, visiting places that I loved, and exploring new ones that I never did. David will be coming with me so it should be tons of fun.

Things I am expecting, and demanding from this trip:

• Many relaxing soaks in the Japanese style baths in our hotel
• Completely refueling my creative reserves by looking at art, LOTS OF ART
• Putting those creative juices to work by drawing a lot
• Eating amazing sushi and other great food that is not as abundant in Texas
• Maybe some shopping(!) at stores like H&M, which we don’t have in Austin
• Spending quality time with bff Rosie
• And giggling at the many sexy shops in the city

hugging

I saw this on ICHC today and it reminded me to talk about the new piece David and I are working on.

David sent me the drawing he did on his break at work one day, with some of the lighting and shadows pieced in. I love that he can draw something like this, so accurate in the details of our living room, without looking at any photos just doodling at work for fun.

It will be a nice challenge to tackle the extreme lighting situation with the imaginative perspective as I keep painting this.

people in seconds

People watching in purple.

finished portrait water girl

David and I finished the portrait we were painting. I am so happy with it! I’ve been working very hard recently to improve my skills and I think this portrait is leaps and bounds ahead of all of my previous work. It is paying off. I am so excited about where my work is headed. Now, I just need to do four dozen more illustrations.

Be sure to pop over to Red Tie Studios to view it in the portfolio there and also to read more about it in the portrait blog.

cooking with magic

My grandmother’s Iranian spaghetti and meat sauce recipe is incredibly intoxicating for the boys in my life. Especially after I add my own magic ingredients that always ensure an empty pot by the end of the night.

savior

keep it up

Gotta keep up the motivation to continue going to the gym.

moleskin meeting

This is what happens when there are over 50 people in a meeting.

I am always slightly surprised when I go for a length of time drawing from reference images to drawing from life and the huge difference it makes in the quality of my artwork. Everything looks so much more natural and it’s much less of an effort to get things right.

I wish I had live models to draw and paint from every day.

Portrait Art at Red Tie Studios

One of the main reasons that I had been absent from this blog can now be revealed, David and I have launched our illustrated portrait studio company website! Red Tie Studios also has its own blog where we are posting company news, in progress portraits, sketches, and studies.

I am very excited to have this done, to be filling up the portfolio with the new portraits that we are finishing up, and all of the new portraits that we will be creating in the future!

Portrait Art at RedTieStudios.com

Portrait Art Blog at RedTieStudios.com/blog

not dead

monsters finished

These are the last of the monster illustrations, phew, 14 total. Now my brain is free to move onto some other artwork and projects!

three more monsters

finished more mosters

finished monster01

finished boy

monsters

Quick concepts for 13 illustrations I’m doing for work. The quick flat color was not approved, thankfully, for lack of time to really flesh it out this way. Would have been nice though to experiment more with flat color on these characters as I was recently inspired by http://mojizu.com. These will be detailed B/W finished drawings.

scuba bee contest winner

The Scuba Bee art contest is now over and the winner is Froggy! The entries were judged by David and Froggy’s entry was the most playful and fun, congrats Froggy!

The prize for this contest is an 11″x17″ acrylic and color pencil painting on bristol board.

Stay tuned for the next art contest going up soon, with a brand new prize!

hands

Quick studies

Reminder: The Scuba Bee art contest is ending April 6th! Those of you who still have not submitted an entry, you better get a move on. The prize for this contest is an 11″x17″ acrylic and color pencil painting on bristol board.

drawing in bed

And watching Lost on the laptop.

beautiful characters

Watching Grandma knit

I have many secret inspirational influences that I keep hidden away and only share with my most trusted confidants. But my amazingly talented friend Adam Osgood turned me onto this one, so I can’t claim it and keep it hidden like the others: The Sartorialist is filled with captivating photographs of real people wearing beautiful clothing in day to day life. The images have a magic of their own, a little different form the usual magic that I dream about and incorporate into my work, this is real life. The images are truly breathtaking.

I want to take many of these characters and place them into my paintings, but until then, you must see the gorgeous work Adam has already done with this inspiration.

breathing, not breathing

You know what sucks? Asthma

I recently found out that I have asthma after my two colds around December and January. Oh yeah, that never ending cough that I had every winter of my life, the occasional wheezing, the mysterious “feels like my brain and face aren’t getting oxygen even though there is no wheezing” that’s apparently asthma. And the non-wheezing attacks are supposedly the worst kind, great.

I feel helpless even though I have an inhaler now… I had a non-wheezing attack on the drive home from work, it felt awful. Took nearly two hours until I stopped feeling shaky and weak.

It’s interesting and scary to feel like air is coming in half way but no oxygen is reaching my body.

happy bunny day

I always tell David that I only speak truths that I read in peer reviewed scientific journals.

It’s true, I swear.

spring and new beginnings

 

Today marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the Iranian year. If you celebrate Nowrūz, I hope you have a wonderful start to the new year. If you don’t celebrate you can still enjoy the beginning of spring, beautiful flowers, and warmer weather.

I’m going to go eat amazing Iranian food tonight, with some wonderful family and friends. Yum!

ugh music

I had been against this whole Apple Mac trend since the beginning, thinking of them as overly expensive, and inferior products. I refused to buy myself any kind of iPod. It helped that after my first year of college, I stopped really listening to music, it wasn’t important to me. David would occasionally give me new music to listen to on my computer, and I liked some of them, but I could go months without listening to anything and not think twice about it.

Recently, David got the iPod Touch, after I finished scoffing and rolling my eyes, I noticed that it was actually really awesome. We listen to it during all car rides, and often end up singing loudly, blissfully, and out of tune to each other. Busy with his new toy, he gave me his first generation Shuffle for when I went to the gym. It was nice to have at the gym, and it made me listen to some new music. At home, I started doing crazy little dances that usually scared Mojito, I’m going to blame it on the new music.

Last week, I got a third generation Nano as a gift and it has made me a little more excited about music again. I’ve downloaded a few new albums and I even listen to it at work. Maybe I can once again join the ranks of normal people who enjoy listening to music.

Reminder: The Scuba Bee art contest is still going on! The deadline is April 6th.

things that make me want to throw up

Okay maybe not really throw up, but still…

• dog smell – I like some dogs, they are cute, but 99.9% of them smell like dog, because they are dogs. And dog smell makes me gag, so I don’t think I can ever own a dog.
• fake cherries aka maraschino cherries – ugh why must they mess with a good thing, REAL cherries are good, fake cherries are so gross and sweet they make my throat burn with an inferno of hatred (fake cherries recently discovered in Hershey Kisses, blegh)
• fake strawberry – not as bad as fake cherry, but please don’t hand me any kind of candy or sweets with fake strawberry flavor. You may hand me real strawberries instead.
• real banana – I think this stems from repeated childhood trauma of my mom trying to force me to eat bananas for years because “they’re GOOD for you!”, YEARS of torture, which started my lifelong hatred of bananas. They also make my tongue itch, I have a lot of food “allergies” that hurt my mouth, but I’ve never gone to have an allergy test done because I don’t want to stop eating all the fruits and veggies that I love. Also, fake banana flavor = pretty good, and even better than that is anything apple flavored or scented.
• trash/dirty dishes – If the trash hasn’t been taken out or dishes not cleaned right away, I’ll smell it, and go crazy and think of giant germs and mold
• screaming children – No explanation necessary
• raw chicken – I don’t know why this grosses me out so much, I don’t have a problem with any other raw meat. I usually make David cook chicken, or I’ll cook it for a really long time “just in case”… also increases thoughts of giant germs and salmonella
• mold, rust, or broken glass – I fear not seeing them, getting them on my skin, and instantly dying. So if I do see them, I want to die instantly
• skin diseases – I can watch surgeries, see blood, guts and everything else EXCEPT skin diseases. Worst of all was that “tree man” in the news a couple of months ago. I won’t link to it, because I don’t want to see it again, and I don’t want to subject anyone else to the horror (giant germs)
• worms – I don’t like bugs, but worms make me want to vomit, the smaller they are the more vomit I could potentially produce

Okay, I’m done grossing myself out.

hair poison

I woke up to a clear morning, but as I was getting ready to step out the door I noticed that it was raining, hard. I stood there for a second contemplating the risks of running the few feet to my car and getting a little wet, or having to dig around for an umbrella for however long that would take and getting frustrated in the process. It hadn’t rained much (or at all) since I moved into my house back in August, so I never had a reason to unpacked my umbrellas. They are still sitting all cozy and warm somewhere in the garage. I ran with my car key ready and only managed to get a little wet.

“A little wet” is enough for my hair to turn into a complete monster. No matter how nicely I blow dried it and fixed it up, 10 seconds in the rain undid all of my hard work. The heat and humidity in Texas is why I don’t even bother fixing my hair during half of the year and just let it go curly. To make matters worse, I had no bobby pins with me once I got to work and saw the damage.

Reminder: The Scuba Bee art contest is still going on! We now have a few very cool submissions, but I know there are a bunch more of you creative minds out there who want to win sexy original Tina Vaziri paintings. The prize for this contest is an 11″x17″ acrylic and color pencil painting on bristol board.

The new deadline is April 6th.

social opposites

Why is it that strangers always talk to David when we’re out? He tries to look very unapproachable and angry but it never comes off that way. He claims that he hates them and never wants to speak to new people, but I think he’s lying, because I don’t understand it. I, on the other hand, am a more social creature, but I have the opposite problem. I look unapproachable when I would rather have people come talk to me. I think I’m the unpopular kid at school.

hands bees and cats

Three coincidences:

• David and I love talking about religious history. We were discussing the story of Lilith, and her lack of mention from the Bible. Several hours later in the day we turn on the History channel and see a show on stories omitted from the Bible, with the first story being about Lilith.
• On the same show, there was also a story about Aseneth. She was seeking purification when an angel sent a swarm of bees to surround her and to build a honeycomb around her mouth. The story was beautiful and similar to the sketch I had finished a week ago, before learning about Aseneth.
• I was admiring the album cover artwork for The Bedlam in Goliath by Mars Volta and asked David if he knew who the artist was, he didn’t. The next day a friend of mine sent me a story about a very dark painting and how stupid people thought it was haunted. David and I looked up the artist and found out it was the same man who painted the Mars Volta album cover.

I’m going to do a painting for Aseneth.

working portrait, water girl

David and I have been working on a new portrait together. I love collaborating with David because he has strengths that I could never posses, and with our powers combined, we are Captain Planet! Or just really freakin’ awesome at arting. I have been sketching in my new moleskin book recently and I’ll be posting more artwork to bypass my bloggers-block.

By the way, those of you who wanted to participate in my scuba bee contest, you are breaking my heart. I’ll keep the contest going for a while longer to give you guys time, how about a month. I would really love to give my old paintings away, they do no good gathering dust in my garage.

Now for some art: My initial sketch for the portrait.

David’s perfect interpretation of my sketch into a flawless line drawing.

My coloring work, this is the part of a painting that makes my heart swell and sets everything right in the world.

happy birthday blog friend

You are now one year old! We’ve had a great year together, you, me, and Mr. Bee. You have kept me drawing regularly, and I’ve loved every minute of it. I met some really great people through you, and I made really nice friends. Let’s make this next year just as wonderful!

art contest, scuba bee

The first of many art contests begin today, here at tinavaziri.com.

Your Objective:

• Print or Save the image
• You have one week to color it in any way that you would like (You can use any method or media; color pencils, photoshop, MSPaint, photo collage, etc), add your own flare
• Post your completed artwork in the comments
• The most creative image (extra points added for cuteness and humor), as judged by David Poe, will win a Tina Vaziri original!
• Everyone should give this a shot! The submissions will be judged on their ideas not technical skill.

The prize for this contest is an 11″x17″ acrylic and color pencil painting on bristol board.

The winner will be contacted by email and the artwork will be shipped to them after their address is provided.

do I know you?

I was at a restaurant this weekend, with David, when our young, (gay?) waiter guy kept looking at me and smiling, A LOT. This was more than the average waiter/restaurant patron exchange and it weirded me out. After I paid the bill he smiled and said, “Thank you, Ms. Vaziri!” Yeah, I know my name was on my credit card, but do waiters ever do this? It had never happed to me before. And he pronounced it correctly, not that my last name is at all difficult, just say it as you read it. Still most people manage to put the letters out of order or add in mystery letters in the pronunciation.

My first thought was that omg, he must read my blog. I don’t know that for sure, but it increased feelings of creepedoutedness.

No matter how many page views and visitors I have to my blog according to Google Analytics, I still don’t think of them as real people. Every time someone new, like at work, or MY DAD, tells me they read my blog, I just laugh nervously. “Oh! ha ha ha, cool!”.

In less than two weeks it will be my blog’s first year birthday. Will I feel less overexposed with more time?

my superbowl sunday

I am so lucky that my boyfriend hates watching sports as much as I do, instead we watched artsy films like Six Degrees of Separation.

the devil incarnate

I tried my first Girl Scout Cookie today, a Caramel Delight. They were sitting in the break room by my office, staring at me, as I was trying to decide between a cup of coffee or green tea. I decided on a hazelnut coffee and as the Flavia* machine was spurting out my coffee I decided to try one of the cookies to see if they were really as good as people always said. The first bite delivered the tastes to my tongue. I felt the sugar enter my blood stream as my pupils dilated Requiem-for-a-Dream style. I had to tackle myself, internally, to keep from grabbing the rest of the box, running into my office, hiding under my desk, and shoving the rest of the cookies into my mouth while rubbing the sticky sugar residue all over my face in the process. Caveman-like grunts would ensue. I grabbed my cup of coffee with shaking hands and whimpered back to my office. I probably need to check myself into rehab now, but at least I have found out that I can never order Girl Scout Cookies from anyone, ever.

* Flavia is a giant robot coffee maker that lets you pick from about 4 billion different flavors of coffee or tea or hot chocolate and then makes single servings of your choice. When I first started my job I spent about 3 months fearing this machine and not stepping anywhere near it. I didn’t want to look stupid trying to figure out how to make a cup of coffee. Finally one day I saw someone using it and watched them intently without seeming too creepy. Then when no one was around, I experimented pushing all of the different choices and now I can have whatever I feel like that day.

So to recap, having five different flavors of coffee and tea each day = good; Girl Scout Cookies = bad.

birthday week ramble

I’ll admit it, I’m a little scared of driving in the rain, and a little scared of driving at night, and a lot scared of driving in the rain at night. But I braved it last Friday night and went out to the movies with David and his coworkers. It would be the start of a very long and wonderful weekend. Saturday morning I woke up early, went in for a trim, and the stylist put some cute 50′s style waves in my hair. Off to brunch with David, we sat outside under heaters (hey, 60 degrees is cold for Texas), ate slowly, talked. We then went to this small art gallery to see a piece by one of my favorite illustrator-turned-fine-artist, James Jean. The piece wasn’t that impressive to me, but it felt wonderful being around real artwork. I had missed it. In high school and college we were surrounded by all kinds of work every single day, we’d go to galleries often and soak it all in. Get inspired. I can’t believe we’d let it slip by and not noticed what we had been missing.

We walked around the giant Whole Foods downtown before going home, where I passed up ALL of the free tasty samples being shoved in my face. I felt so energized that I worked on my website redesign for a few hours without needing to rest. I’m really excited about the shiny new tinavaziri.com, keep your eyes peeled, I’ll let you know when it goes up. We went out to dinner with my dad + family, then. We ate tasty bbq, had drinks, and birthday cake, and presents. Mmm nice and sleepy after drinks, and food, and cake, but we still went out to a bar that night with David’s coworkers. Came home smelling like smoke, ew, and ended Saturday.

Sunday we got up early and super cleaned house because my mom and grandparents were coming over for lunch. We went to this restaurant that had a super long wait, damn, and the bitchiest waitress that ever walked the earth, double damn. Bitcho tried to ruin our lunch but my mom set her straight, yay for moms. After my mom and grandparents took off, David and I walked around the bookstore. My favorite part of the store is the young adult/independent readers section, where I like to walk around and examine the book covers and day dream about a time when I will see some of my illustrations on these same shelves. David bought me a moleskin sketchbook and another young adult box set series, since I love collecting the ones with great covers and great stories. It was nice not being home much for the whole weekend, we didn’t want it to end.

Monday came and I started to feel sick, maybe allergies I thought, but no I had chills and pain and fever by the time I got home. I caught a cold virus, great, sick on my actual birthday too, which is never fun. The doctor couldn’t give me anything since it was a virus of course, just gotta wait it out. I’m starting to feel a bit better now, good enough to write a huge post about nothing for you guys, and to get back to reading and commenting on your blogs. Have a great weekend!

hi, my name is

Can one haircut really make that much difference? Since I have cut off my long locks three people, THAT I KNOW, have introduced themselves to me at work. I know that I don’t get to mingle with all of the 200 employees since I am usually busy in my department and don’t have the luxury of walking around all the time chatting up random people. But, we have a face directory, and I have been here for a year and a half, doing work, work that involves other people.

The first incident was in the elevator, and I was able to explain to that person that I had been working here for a while and that I had gotten a haircut. Person number two’s incident happened at a company lunch. #2 introduced them self to a newer employee and then without missing a beat, introduced them self to me, AND was nice enough to go around the tables and introduced everyone else sitting there to me. One of the other people #2 introduced to me came to the rescue and started talking about how nice my new haircut looked, a hint that obviously they knew who I was and that I had been there long enough for this person to notice a hairstyle change. #3 happened while I was talking to one of my coworkers in my department. #3 interrupted our conversation and then introduced them self. Nice.

notes of love and hate

I made one hundred fortune cookies and filled each of them with personalized notes from my heart.

predictions for tina version 24.0

Tina version 23.0 was a pretty interesting, especially along side of the releases for House 1.0 and Dad-Marriage 3.0, which included a trip to Mexico.

This past year got me blogging regularly and introduced me to many other fantastic bloggers whom I have grown to love. I started freelancing more and continued to hone my skills through creating more illustrations, portraits, and regular drawings for my blog. I finished my cosmetic dental work and got the best haircut I have ever had, making me a lot more confident. I still love living in Austin, and being able to see my family anytime I want, instead of twice a year. I have a great time living with David and Mojito. And I am starting to develop my career and future into everything I have always wanted it to be.

Tina 24.0 will be released January 23rd. Some of the new features will include:

• A new and continuously improving fitness body
• Improvements made to the additional component of House 1.1
• An additional vacation
• The growth of the upcoming Portrait Studio Company 1.0, which will increase freelance work, improve art skills, and money
• And large steps towards advancing the dream career

I will count my blessings, with health and opportunity at my side, life is and will be pretty nice. Tina 24.0 and 2008 will bring many more good things for me and I hope it will for you too.

lack of tradition or patience

This is the scene nearly every Christmas, as well as all of the other gift giving occasions. My family and friends make fun of me for it, but I’m not going to take full responsibility for this. As I remember it, my dad often told me what he was going to get me for my gifts before the occasion arose. So it’s all his fault, completely his.

I’m terrible at it, I just can’t keep it inside me. Sometimes I will try really hard, and I will hold out for weeks and weeks until I blurt it out a few days before. One year my mom was coming to visit me in college and Mother’s Day was going to fall during her visit. I had purchased her a gift already, a watch, and was waiting to give it to her once she arrived. Before her flight, I was talking to her on the phone about her visit and Mother’s Day when I spilled the beans, “I’ll give you the watch, then!” I blurted. Why couldn’t I have said “you’re gift” instead of “the watch”? Because I have an excess information release disease, that’s why. Those kinds of incidents happened to me way too often.

Here is the ring David got me for Christmas. Yes, I’m already wearing it.

’tis the season to be shopping

I have had nothing but holiday shopping on my mind lately. I was struggling with what to ask David to get me, because this year he didn’t want to guess and because he told me exactly what he wanted, a Nintendo DS with Brain Age2. It was only fair. It couldn’t be anything for the house (which I totally would have taken, because I want this place to look finished and fantastic), it had to be just for me, and something that I wanted. Usually it’s hard for me to get or ask for things I want if I don’t need them. So, I looked and looked trying to find something that I actually liked, and finally settled on the actor John Barrowman, as boyfriend #2.

But, David said 1) he’s gay, and 2) no. So I cried. Then I told him to get me a beautiful diamond ring instead!

(pause for dramatic effect)

No don’t freak out, I just wanted to get you excited, it’s a right hand fashion diamond ring, very pretty. Then I also found a great gift for my mom that I am very excited about but I can’t tell you what it is because she comes and visits my blog sometimes, Hi Mom! (i’ll post pictures after the gifts have been exchanged) I am nearly done with all of the gift shopping, even Mojito got a new scratching post which he loves. Thank god, because he was “loving” our new textured fabric chair with the blue throw pillow.

Other shopping news, I don’t have a new dress to wear to my company’s holiday party tomorrow. I have been busy and tired and slightly sickly with nothing substantial enough to call a “cold” but crappy enough to make me feel like poop. And you know how much I hate poop. So I haven’t felt up to trying to figure out what to wear, or up to getting too excited about the party. I guess I’ll go look through my closets and see if I can find something. If not, tomorrow morning I’ll drag David to the mall, he needs a new blazer anyways. Maybe we can finish our final gift purchases at the same time.

Hope you guys get all your shopping done quickly and with enough time to relax listening to some choice holiday music!

thankful

You are what I am thankful for this year.

tina tina tina

One time, when I was very little, in Germany, my dad had horrible awful hiccups that would not go away. So my mom decided that her and I should turn off all of the lights in the house, go into my room, put white sheets over ourselves and stand there silently until my dad walked by, so that we could scare the hiccups away. He walked by, got scared seeing two creepy white forms standing in the dark, and then got mad. I don’t remember if his hiccups went away because of that, but remembering it now makes me laugh.

I get sad knowing that memories are elusory. I wonder how different my childhood details actually were from what I remember of them.

I struggle regularly with the decision to let this blog become more personal, or to keep things light and on the surface. Sometimes I write posts only to delete them before they ever go live.

I can’t figure out how to sit and work ergonomically in my office. My right shoulder and neck cramp up and the muscles burn, and it drives me crazy. I just always end up slouching and moving into a bad position.

I feel guilty about a lot of things. You’d think I’d been raised in a church.

When I am older and have accomplished most of what I have set out to do, I want to spend the rest of my life living in Crete.

symbolism

I created this portrait of Michael J. Fox showing innocence through the use of religious symbolism.

commitment

There are some questions you have to get out into the open just to make sure of where you stand in a relationship.

something nice at work

I’ve been working in Flash this week, filling my brain with delicious code knowledge. It’s been a nice change from some of the more mundane tasks.

Enough about work, though, it’s Friday, which means only thoughts of the weekend are allowed from now on! Enjoy it, bloggy blog friends!

holiday season

Now that Halloween is over with, the next couple of months are going to fly by. The holiday season is always so busy and frantic, and before you know it’s gone. I’m going to get a head start and start enjoying it now!

texas ren fest

I don’t understand the dedication of the people who dress up in full costumes made of leather, fur, and 50-layer gowns when it’s swelteringly hot and humid in Texas. I was sweating when we would sit or stand under the sun, and I wasn’t wearing anything compared to those people. But, they are the ones that make the whole thing so fun. So thank you, people who are not concerned what the outside temperate is, you are the reason ren fest is so awesome! And maybe also the awesome actors of Sound and Fury with their Fakespearean show that was so freakin’ hilarious, I’ve never heard the word penis said so often in public.

just tell me

welcome future tina

Oh, what? I’m not really 94 years old? Why is it that I want to purchase this little beauty then?

I want to put it under my desk at work. But, it didn’t help that the product reviews were filled with stories about how people bought this for their mothers and grandmothers who have had knee replacement surgery and can’t really go out and walk around. Oh well, hopefully I won’t start yelling and waving my cane at little kids to get off my lawn tonight! Happy Halloween!

anger management pumpkin

I’ve never carved a pumpkin. I feel like I have missed out on a very American childhood tradition. Last year, David and I got a pumpkin carving kit but we never got around to actually purchasing or carving a pumpkin, because you know, we had much more important things to do, like watch TV. Maybe one day. In the meantime, I’ll just daydream about taking out all of my aggressions on a poor blobby human-head-shaped vegetable.

trick or treat

I created the Kraken card in the same set that included the Cheshire Cat and Albatross cards. This card game also includes extra cards on how to create each costume worn by the card characters.

mission beautify smile: complete

Back in May of this year, I started having cosmetic dental work done to create the beautiful smile that I always wanted. Yesterday I finished with the last step, I’m done, it’s pretty, I’m happy.

I’m grateful for being in this stage of my life, where I can change the things that I am unhappy about. I am totally behind cosmetic procedures because I truly believe they can change people’s lives for the better.

new portrait, alina

This is little Alina, my most recent portrait, finally finished! You may remember the Zara baby portrait from April, she is Alina’s little sister.

open arms fly high

I created the Albatross card in the same set that included the Cheshire Cat card. These are so fun to make, each little character took three hours with Prisma Color Pencils.

eloquence

Out of the depths of my happy heart wells a great tide of love and prayer for this priceless treasure that is confided to my life-long keeping.

You cannot see its intangible waves as they flow towards you, darling, but in these lines you will hear, as it were, the distant beating of the surf.

-Mark Twain

marbles and memories

This is the cover to my favorite sketchbook. I painted it over a year ago, and I think this cover helped inspire me to draw, paint, and sketch to fill the pages of the book in a way I never had before. I should scan some of the pages in and show you guys. One thing, I wish the texture of the canvas background was not as prominent, it takes away from the delicacies of the color pencil work.

spot

A while ago, while in college, I created five illustrations for Tint Magazine’s 3rd issue. Tint is a small publication that has national expose and covers women’s issues on a multi cultural platform. I created the illustrations pro bono to help the publication, but unfortunately never saw them in person once printed.

momentum

This painting was part of a series which also included the same girl looking into an indoor carnival then later ending her adventure masked. These paintings started as a dream of the indoor carnival scene when I was a child. I later developed the dream into a series where I continued the adventure that my dream did not finish. I love pieces that tell a story.

investigate me

I had a dream the other night where I was younger and at some kind of school. Gil Grissom was there too, of course he was quiet, intelligent, and strong. I had my camera with me so I started taking photos of him, I was trying to pretend that I was taking photographs of other things too, but he saw what I was doing. He disapproved of the photos because our relationship was supposed to be kept secret. What a deliciously forbidden love we shared.

more pets please

Have you guys seen how adorable these fennec foxes are? I totally want one but I’ve read that they are a handful to care for. They only grow up to 3lbs and are the size of chihuahuas. They are very spunky, active, and smart, but can destroy furniture to make their nest. If I worked from home, I think I would get one in a heartbeat!

the last pharaoh

Queen of Egypt.

This one is a very old piece. My technique was still rough at the time, but there are many elements of this one that I still like. I look at this portrait as one of the fist and most important building blocks of my style. The coloration of the skin is something I have continued to do in a similar fashion. Also, the proportional differences in the body, taking note of the delicate hands.

Do you have old work that you always look back on?

missing the beach

This piece was created with children’s book illustrator Kelsea Parks as a collaboration.

Kelsea moved to Charleston, South Carolina this month, so she won’t have to miss the beach anymore.

harry hotter

moon light

This is an unpublished cover for the book Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce, from the series called The Immortals.

I created book covers for this entire series and another one, called Emperor Mage, can be seen here.

poem

To find out a little bit more about the process of this piece be sure to read my Textures post in the how-to’s section.

discovery

a different kind of geek

Mr. Bee is a very famous archaeologist. You may have seen certain feature films based on his character, played by a sexy human actor. Mr. Bee may not be as ruggedly handsome as his movie counterpart, but he is just as smart and geeky in his vast knowledge of cultures past.

19th Dynasty pharaoh, King Amenmesses had a tomb decorated for him in the Valley of the Kings.The tomb was originally created for Amenmeses, but the decorations were erased and replaced with painted plaster scenes for the burial of a daughter and a queen. Why was Amenmeses not interred? Is he still alive? Such mysteries are the adventures Mr. Bee faces daily.

can you hear me now?

An editorial piece for the Performance Edge Journal issue 2, on demystifying VoIP call quality measurements.

I’ve updated this illustration to create more depth by adding detail to the foreground VoIP dogs, and blurring the background into space.

twist

the blogs of david

Everyone in the “Poziri” household was excited this passed weekend about the rehaul of David’s blog. We moved him to WordPress and he is enjoying all the control he has over every detail of the project. There is a sexy new flash ad on David’s blog that you’ll have to go see.

Mojito felt the energy and was extra sweet to me yesterday, and even came to lay in my lap WHICH HE NEVER DOES! I was speechless even though it only lasted 37 seconds. We even celebrated with Mr. Bee by having three spoonfuls of honey, each.

camouflage

approval from the wise

rejection

The fourth and last book of the series The Immortals by Tamora Pierce is called Emperor Mage. This is an unpublished cover for this book. I created covers for this entire series, and the cover of the first book, Wild Magic, can be seen here.

kitty crazy brain activity

cat suit

future of network management

I finished a new illustration for the Performance Edge Journal issue 2. The article is about the future of network management and the difficulties ahead if proactive approaches are not taken.

my paradise

My paradise is filled with magic and cute creatures.

b to the m to the delish

goodbye birthday plant

signs of natural life

kissable elvis lips

This is my first painting with Corel Painter X, I am very impressed with the program, and I’m still trying to figure out all of its power.

remember

This painting was the inspiration for the thesis I wrote in 2006. It is a depiction of a vivid dream I had when I was five years old.

lostylost

stuck in my throat

botanicals

beauty

baby portrait

I finally finished this painting after many months of working, reworking, debating, and reworking. This painting also was the inspiration for the new look and feel of tinavaziri.com.

dream spider death spider

I started and finished this in one day. This project inspiration came from this random drawing by some kid:

time to visit my mom

sleep mouth fuzz

stupid everything

yeah, never seen it

spring romance

family

beach vacation

peeping tina

lame dreams

squish squash

something something..

brave the cold

snip snip

blleeeggghhhh

lame.com/difficult

determination

eyeware

shoe lunch

kitty sweater

cooking blues

bad movies

the best kind of saturdays

the most awesome day

taking in the sun

oh, leonard cohen

borg honey

winter sale