Happy Birthday Papa

Today would have been my grandfather's 82nd birthday. This is based on a photo that either I or my sister took of him on his 80th birthday. I'm not a morbid person. I miss him, but thinking about him makes me smile. He lived a pretty full life and had a great sense of humor. I could always count on him being up late at night to talk to.

Darfur Kid

24" x 18"
Acrylic, Coffee and Red Wine on Canvas

I started this piece about 2 years ago. I had just gotten back from Israel where I had attended a bunch of 'Save Darfur' rallies and this was my way of expressing my feelings about the subject. The truth is that every couple months, I take this painting down off my wall and work into it a little more. Up until a few months ago, it was just black and white but I've been experimenting lately with different media; specifically red wine and coffee. When you mix the two together, the color you get is so rich and suggestive. Also, it makes the work smell great.

An Era

36" x 48"
Acrylic on Canvas

Controlled Fall

24" x 18"
Pastels, Ink and Acrylic on Canvasboard

I started this piece for an advanced drawing class last semester. The assignment was to take a digital source (in this case, a photo I found online and manipulated in Photoshop) and to represent it through drawing. We weren't really supposed to use paint but I felt a need to have a thicker more heavy mark to offset the delicacy of the girl being thrown backwards.

Diamondback Cartoon

Coca Cola Ad - Graphic Design Project

This is another Project I did for one of my graphic design classes. The assignment was to choose a recognizable ad and alter the message.

It's based on Magritte's "Ceci n'est pas une pipe".

The idea behind his work was that advertisements and drawn representations of things may depict objects are products but that they are not in themselves those objects and they cannot provide the same satisfaction as the objects and products they depict. I basically took his concept and set in a more contemporary context.

Diamondback cartoon from last week

Diamondback Cartoon

Naked Decor Design for Class

This is another graphic design project we had to do for class. Basically the assignment was to re-brand this design firm, Naked Decor and come up with some collateral material to demonstrate how the brand might look when used by the company. I tried to go for a trendy but high-class feel with young adults as my target audience.

Logo Idea --


On a Business Card --


On an Envelope --

Dancer Stamps - Shai Goller

I designed this set of stamps for one my graphic design classes. The assignment was to incorporate the message of "Celebrate" and to make it appeal to a relatively general audience. I chose to draw the dancers because to me, it's the most physical form of celebration. Also, people are my favorite thing to draw. They can be so expressive and that's what I tried to depict here.

Diamondback Cartoon

Acute Mountain Sickness

24 half-inch spikes attached to the bottoms of my boots bite the ice under my feet. I can barely feel the ice axe in one numb heavily gloved hand, while the trekking pole in the other hand and my 5 layers are my only weapons against the wind. I’m standing on an almost-perfect 30-degree angle of tightly packed snow. Below me are 17,200 feet of boulders, rock, ice, snow, sand and clouds. In the east, the sun is rising, causing the clouds below me and the snow that surrounds me to glow a sublime white. In front of me stands the glaciated summit of the dormant volcano, Pico De Orizaba in Mexico -- less than 1,300 feet above me. The third highest point in North America, looks so close. We’re not going to make it.

My friend has just come down with a case of Acute Mountain Sickness, or AMS.He stops climbing and begins chipping away at the hard snow at his feet using his ice axe. Then he sits down in the seat he’s created. With his ice axe and trekking pole, he stabilizes himself in that position while I hurriedly climb up a couple hundred feet to catch up with my other climbing mates; KG and CJ who are far more experienced ice climbers than I am.

When we get back to my sick friend, we assess the situation. He says that he feels dizzy and I can tell that he is disoriented. His lack of stable footing indicates that he is somewhat light-headed and he says he’s starting to get a headache. He needs to descend immediately.

While it may not look that serious on the surface, AMS bears some heavy risks. If one who acquires AMS and does not descend to a lower altitude, it may escalate to Pulmonary Edema, where fluid collects in the lungs, or Cerebral Edema -- swelling of the brain. Both of these, if untreated, will result in death. Someone with AMS also runs a risk of falling down due to disorientation and dizziness – and it’s a long way down. If my friend slipped at this stage, he would slide about 1,200 feet on ice-like snow to a hard and rocky grave at the foot of the glacier.

So we turn around, tie ourselves to our friend with a rope, “just in case,” and slowly begin to make our way down.

As we descend, I can’t help but feel a tinge of disappointment. At 17,200 feet, this is the highest altitude I have ever reached and we are so close to the peak but some things are more important than reaching the top. They tell me, “There’s a reason it’s called ‘climbing’ and not ‘summiting.’” And the mountain isn’t going anywhere.

Alba. There isn't really that much to say. I feel like a bit of a sellout drawing her but there was this really awesome picture and I was like, i need to do that. So i did.