Somewhere Better Than This Place, 1

I recently began working on a new series for an upcoming show this month in San Diego. This is the first in the series- in particular, a collage of memories surrounding my hometown (Calexico) and home county (Imperial). Some things hold more personal significance than others, though I didn't want to exclude anything that had a potentially beautiful aesthetic quality. Also included: a portrait of my parents on Christmas Eve, circa mid-1970s.

Polaroids

I finally gave in to shooting a portion of my last pack of Polaroid 600 film after about a year (or perhaps more?) of hoarding it in a dark corner on my bookshelf. I took my beloved camera out to the Redondo Beach arcade -a total time warp- for this special occasion.

Urban Gardening

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings

It's been a while since I focused on any sort of portrait, so I figured Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings would make for a nice little warmup. Without going into it too much, I was trying to maintain a retro feel by keeping it mostly "black and white" while giving it a slight modern element with a little bit of color. So... did you spot all 8 Dap-Kings? (;

BP

A small, new piece inspired by the tragic disaster that's currently going on in the Gulf of Mexico. There's no emergency exit for this one... so very sad.

I ( ) L.A.

New postcard designs that are printed on recycled card stock (so the background is actually brown instead of white, just to clarify). Send me a buck with your address and I'll send you whichever you want.





Send your dollars and/or cool stuff to me:
4141 Santa Monica Blvd. Apt. 214, Los Angeles, CA 90029

On Tour and On Sale

I've forgotten to mention that my t-shirt design for the New Pornographers is currently on tour and on sale. The t-shirts may in fact be for sale online once the tour's over, but for now... head on out and see them live! (One of my favorite bands, ever!)

Mas Alla de la Pared

This is a new flier that arrived in my inbox last night for the Mas Alla de la Pared show– a continuation of our Dentro y Fuera de la Pared show that was on display at Mexicali Rose in Mexicali, Mexico this past February. The opening will be this Friday, June 18th at 7pm at the Centro de Espectaculos Promocasa (FEX) in Mexicali, Mexico and is presented by the Sistema Educativo Estatal Instituto de Cultura de Baja California (roughly translated as the Baja California State Educative System and Institute of Culture). I won't be in attendance unfortunately, but if you are in the area please stop by!

Succulent "Thank you!" note cards

Yet another set of note cards for the Etsy shop...

Greetings From Silver Lake

A new piece based on some of the more iconic signs seen on Sunset Blvd in Silver Lake. I wanted to create a portrait of the neighborhood, and excluded much of the extreme corporate signage in the area in order to avoid a potential watering down of what gives Silver Lake its unique, quirky charm. I'm still loving the brown kraft paper, though it sure does eat away at those Aquarelle colored pencils...



(On a side note, this piece also made for a nice postcard— I'll have a few for sale Sunday at the Atwater Village Festival.)

Squirrely "hello" note cards

A brand new set of 3 note cards is up for sale on Etsy this evening (or technically, morning) in case you were ever looking to send a lazy squirrel "hello" to your friends via snail mail. The note cards will also be on sale this June 13th at the Atwater Village Festival from 11am to 4pm. More items to come soon!

Website Relaunch

Ah, good old HTML... I've been working on a new layout for the website and it has finally arrived at www.jennifercuellar.com. Please check it out and leave me some suggestions if you'd like! Thanks!

99 Red Balloons / Atwater Village Street Festival

My Ecotone (How the Coyote Came to Los Angeles) piece is now up for sale at the Canteen Gallery website alongside some awesome work... a nice opportunity to buy great work at a great price! All pieces are either $66 or $99.

I am currently working on some new items that will be up for sale at the Atwater Village Street Festival on June 13th to celebrate Atwater's Centennial. Most of the items will also be available at my Etsy store, along with the restocking of the ol' Internet and Greyhound comics.

Parallel Universes Come Together

This is a piece inspired by the Parallel Universe I and II pieces created for the ¡¿Que Barrio?! show last month, and a result of the two coming together. I was hoping the image would portray the idea of these corporations attempting to overshadow each other (especially in Mexico) and having the potential for never-ending growth, as symbolized by the negative space.

Parallel Universe

Aside from working on the design for the ¡¿Que Barrio?! flier earlier this month, I've also been working on a couple of pieces for the show itself. I've been bouncing around between issues when it comes to my work lately, and I thought it'd be interesting to find a link between consumption in Mexico and the U.S.

OXXO is the Mexican equivalent of the U.S. based 7-Eleven corporation, and I thought it'd be interesting to portray each outside the boundary of their usual country by placing the OXXO piece on display in the United States and the 7-Eleven piece on display in Mexico. (I'm aware that 7-Eleven has some presence in Mexico though it is less common than that of OXXO convenience stores, not to mention that it is based in the United States to begin with.) I also wanted to give the piece that convenience store feel by working on brown kraft paper, otherwise known as the paper used to create paper bags. I should be in town for the opening in El Centro so if you're in the area come stop by!

Coney Island rebirth

My Coney Island 3 piece (though modified a bit as seen below) has been selected for use for an upcoming New Pornographers shirt this year! Having been a fan of the band for many years now, I'm pretty excited that they chose my design. I can't wait to see the final shirt.

¡¿Que Barrio?!

This is a flier for an upcoming show I'm participating in called ¡¿Que Barrio?!, a binational show taking place on both sides of the U.S.–Mexico border this April/May. I've been hearing so many good things about the work going up for this show... can't wait to see it!

Ecotone (How the Coyote Came To Los Angeles)

I was recently invited to a group show at Canteen Art Shop + Gallery in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The theme of the show is "99 Red Balloons" (all pieces are 9" x 9" and $99 or $66 in price) and this piece is an imagined interpretation of how the coyote arrived in Los Angeles. I've seen quite a few coyotes roaming around the neighborhood in the past couple of years, and though it was initially very strange, I now consider them a normal part of our urban landscape.



Graphite and Stabilo Aquarelle watercolor pencil on Rives BFK printmaking paper.

Self portrait

New self-portrait created for the Brooklyn Art Library's Self Portrait Project.

The Motion Makes Me Last

Between working on three projects at the same time, I found this gem of a music video which I seem to have been posting in all my usual Internet hang out spots for all to see. It's one of the most subtly beautiful videos I've seen in a long time... my favorite moment is at about 0:54 when the piano comes in along with the cars driving atop the bridge. (Directed by Matt McCormick whose film, "Some Days Are Better Than Others", I cannot wait to watch.)

Coney Island 3

I often find myself working in sets of threes, and this is no exception. I've created 2 other Coney Island pieces this year, and yet there is still something that pulls me back to the photos I took of the famous Cyclone roller coaster when I was there. I thought I'd finish off the set with one more piece, which will be up at the Land of Odd Gallery's 5" x 7" show this March.

I wanted to incorporate text (as I had with the 2nd piece in the series), and the idea of "Over and Over" came from both the idea of returning to the Cyclone as inspiration for several pieces, as well as the physical act of the roller coaster itself, remaining on the same track and repeating the same course day in and day out.

Prizefighter

This was a fun, simple commission that I completed late last week... very few requirements (b&w, 1920s–50s gentleman) and lots of freedom. I thought a portrait of a boxer with a black eye would be a nice break from my usual work. I think the ink wash complemented the idea pretty well.

AIGA Nebraska Love/Hate contest

(Photo property of AIGA Nebraska)

I had sort of forgotten about the AIGA Love/Hate contest that I entered a few weeks ago... winners were chosen and cards were printed/sold (actually still being sold online)... and I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of 18 winners! Aside from being professionally printed, all of the designs were also exhibited at the Bancroft Gallery in Omaha.

There are some pictures from the opening night of the exhibition at the AIGA Nebraska Flickr gallery, and the entire set of winning cards can be seen here.

Wish I could have been there... looks like it was a really nice show!

Mexicali Illness (February 13th-March 5th, 2009)

I'm going to be in a group show this coming Saturday at L'Keg Gallery here in Los Angeles. The opening reception begins at 8pm and will feature art by myself and these great artists from both Mexicali and Imperial Valley.

Paulo Aguayo
Juan Jose Cardoza
Pablo Castañeda
Heriberto Castro
Ismael Castro
Edgard Collins
Fernando Corona
Daniel Gibson
Guillermo Jauregui
Elizabeth Lopez
Ariel Molina
Edgar Moreno
Hermanos Moroyoki
Cinthia Rios
Karla Paulina Sanchez
Julio Torres
Marco Vera
Maiko Yanome

Musical guests (beginning at 9pm):
Blue Jungle
Spider Problem
Beastial Mouths
DVA DAMAS

Hope to see you there!

Bowery Bear

Bowery Bear is a new piece being donated to the El Centro "Hope For Haiti" benefit auction (this Thursday, February 4th from 5–10pm at the El Centro Town Square).

Animal Collective

I rarely do full on digital coloring, but I figured if there were ever a time, this was it.

Buildings are people too

Long Distance Relationship


Long Time No See

The love lives of bicycles

Heartbroken.




Lonely.



In love.

Dentro y Fuera de la Pared: 7 Artistas del Otro Lado.

(Translation: "Inside and Outside the Wall: 7 Artists From the Other Side.")

If you are in the area, do please stop by and check out some new work at Mexicali Rose. The opening will be on January 29th, starting at 7:30pm (and ending somewhat late, so I hear!) with musical guest Blue Jungle of Los Angeles. This'll be my first time showing outside the States, so I'm pretty excited. Everyone's work is also looking quite lovely, so I'm positive it'll be a show worth seeing. Hope to see you there!