Canadian Tuxedos, Being A True American & More Wally Progress

Breaking News! I finally got a jean jacket! I felt like I was failing as an American without one. Not anymore. (Cue  "Only in America" -ahhhhh I take that back. Cue "Bye Bye Miss American Pie". That's better.) The next few years of my life will be dedicated to slowly but surely breaking this bad boy in. Wear, tear, love, patches, buttons, maybe even studs. Who knows. 

In other news I am coloring in Wally The Wordsmith right now and it's so much fun. I'm using a retro-ish color palette. In other words every color is burnt. I'm also using a fun stamp pattern for the blacks. I made it in photoshop. We're going to offer it as a free download over at Hoodzpah soon. Get excited. Here's how that's going.

- Amy
Listening to: Donovan's "Season of the Witch"

New Hoodzpah Logos, Submarine & Dune

[Fig. 1: New Hoodzpah logo and stamp!]

Some Recents In The Life of Amy Hood:

• Recently watched Submarine and it was pretty hilarious. It also had a great soundtrack written by Alex Turner, frontman for the Arctic Monkeys and The Last Shadow Puppets. It's a somber - but not depressing - soundtrack that perfectly fits the film.

• Recently designed a fun new alternate logo for Hoodzpah. It's got a vintage, classic feel, like it was made by an 1800's letterpress shop. We got stamps made and the whole shebang [Fig. 1]. Stamps are so much fun. And they look so legit. Best $25 bucks I ever spent to get those two bad boys.

[Fig 2: Kyle McLaughlin in DUNE, directed by David Lynch]

• Recently rewatched Dune. Or the first half. I've realized that I'm at that point in my life where I don't trust any of the judgements or opinions that I formed when I was in highschool or younger. Things I used to hate I now rather enjoy, and even love. For a free wheelin youngster, I was pretty uptight back in the day and pretty narrow minded on what was good/entertaining/interesting/important/cool. So I decided to revisit Dune after a friend brought up the fact that he watches it daily. My first go around I thought it was boring and cheesy. It was a mystery as complex as dark matter as to why people thought it was a "cult classic." Upon revisiting, I get it now. Maybe because between age 15 and now I discovered David Lynch's other cult classic Twin Peaks, one of my favorite shows. Maybe because Dune features a younger Agent Cooper (I love that man). Who knows. But I get it now.

[Fig 3: Bloomers: V Generation; Heels: Aldo; Sweater: Mossimo at Target; Necklace: F21; Smile: Courtesy of my mama.]

• Recently wore bloomers in public. And it was awesome. [Fig. 3]

• Recently woke up early enough to see the sun rise.

• Recently redesigned my blog! As you see it now! Simpler... sleeker... Golder.

• Recently discovered this gem:

Painting Progress, Lessons Learned & Tattoo Sleeves

Me and Sara Jr.  Click this to enlarge. You know you wanna.

I finished the background on my portrait of Sara last night and for the first time ever in my history of background painting, I love it! I usually end up picking something too stark or bright, which ends up taking away from the subject. Like on my portrait of Jordan, I wanted a warm brown fading to black, but it ended up a burnt orange that was WAY too bright. So this time I did some research on how to pick the perfect background. I found that you should choose a color or tone that you've used in the subject, but a toned down, muted version of it. So I chose a few teal hues that were in her eyes and skintone, then muted them down by adding yellow, red and black. Here's what I ended up with! I wanted the painting to have an overall all "cool" feel - like she's an ice princess. Tonight I'll either finish up her halo or get started on her sleeve of tattoos.

The sleeve of tats is going to be hard because of the angle of her body. She is looking up at the viewer and her her back shoulder is on a higher plane than her front. I'm not sure if that really translated in this painting, but I'm hoping the tattoos will clear that up. I also have to finalize my tattoo design that I'm going to put on her arm. I'm wavering between two ideas: 1. An art nouveau, Mucca style tattoo of a woman, much like his painting series of the seasons. 2. An intricate tattoo incorporating classic nautical iconography like a ship and crashing waves and maybe even an octopus reaching up to gobble said ship up. Floating banners and a compass would also be incorporated somewhere. Suggestions or votes on which idea are welcome!

Back to work. Hoodzpah just got a job designing some soft goods for the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival and we couldn't be more thrilled. We want to make Robert DeNiro proud so we're wasting no time in getting started!

- Amy

Listening to: JD McPherson's "North Side Gal"

Rock N Roll Paintings, Mini-Adventures & Thackery Binx

[Fig. 1: "Come Together" © Amy Hood]

Things I've recently discovered and subsequently loved:


1. Painting with India ink. Instant gratification. The variations you can achieve with just your brush stroke, or adding a little water or layering the ink are so unique to that medium. It is my new favorite medium. Expect many more ink paintings to come. Kobe portrait is next on my list. (I know he had a rough night Sunday, but he did break another scoring record didn't he?! Give the guy a break. Yeah, I'm talking to you Eric, if you're reading this.) Here's a recent commissioned painting I did for Sara Wilkins [Fig. 1] as a present for her Dad for Christmas. Turned out pretty fun. I especially love Ian Anderson, mid prance.

[Fig. 2: Don The Beachcomber. Sara and Yenny!]

2. Don The Beachcomber. This old tiki lounge [Fig. 2] that was established in Hollywood in the 30's but now resides in Sunset Beach, up the coast from our new digs in Newport. I went with Sara and my sis, Jen, after our mini vacay to Palm Springs this last week. It was like being on the set of Elvis' Blue Hawaiian. I'm sure it used to be like one of those old themed Hollywood clubs that the stars hung out in. Like the one in The Aviator where snow was falling and there were hot chicks wearing fur hats and swinging from trapezes while the bandstand howled. It wasn't that cool, but it was still pretty rad. They also had some killer Mai Tais that are supposedly world famous.


3. Palm Springs. I could definitely start doing winter breaks in Palm Springs from here on out, lounging pool side and working on my tan.


4. Rye Bread. Once hated it and now can't get my stubby fingers on enough of it.

[Fig. 3: Thackery Binx]

5. Thackery Binx on NCIS: I love crime/myster/investigation shows of any kind. And I mean any. Columbo, Hawaii 5-0, CSI: Miami, Law & Order:SVU, MacGuyver, Twin Peaks, The X-Files, and even stooping to Matlock and Murder She Wrote. The one exception to this was NCIS, the murder/mystery genre's dorky, dweeby little brother. All this changed when my pops was watching an episode over Christmas break and I sat down and watched long enough to realize that Thackery Binx, my adolescent crush/soulmate/star of Hocus Pocus, was in fact alive and well and still acting on NCIS [Fig. 3]. Hollywood had not eaten him up as a yummy childhood star and spitten him out a bankrupt coke-head with a bad goatee (poor Corey Feldman). So I guess what I'm saying is, that if the only things on were Wipe Out, Everybody Loves Raymond and NCIS, I'd watch NCIS.


- Amy
Listening to: "Rock And Roll Heart" by Lou Reed

Chillun's Illustrations, Constellation Tattoos & Jimmy Durante

 

I posted some sketches a couple weeks ago from the children's book I'm illustrating for the lovely Blythe Hill. Yes, she's the same Blythe Hill who created Dressember. Good memory! Here are a few more of the final illustrations from the book.

In other news, I had a lot of interest from visitors of this blog about my constellation tattoo series. So we (when I say "we" I don't mean my imaginary friend, I mean my twin sis and Hoodzpah partner in crime, Jennifer) decided to make them into postcard mini-prints. They're 4x6 mini pieces of art that you can give to friends with little notes on the back. It's a print of an original piece of art, signed by me in gold and silver, for purchase for you and yours! The 4 pack of the Bear Constellation is available over on our Hoodzpah Esty shop for just $13.

- Amy
Listening to: "As Time Goes By" by Jimmy Durante. He had the best voice. "Goodnight Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are." 

Dressember Week 2, Scandal & Fraulein Maria

The second week of Dressember, was full of some fun ones. Scandal broke out of the jean shirt outfit, but there was a spaghetti strap black number underneath for warmth. Reports were filed and an investigation ensued, but my name was eventually cleared and I was exonerated of all charges. I even had the Dressember creator take a peek for proof! No cheatin' here ladies and gents. Pure dedication. The photos are from instagram, so they're fun but a little pixelated. The crowd pleaser in this week was the Swedish schoolgirl/missing cast member from The Sound of Music (a.k.a. the yellow dress with the knee highs and the wide brimmed hat).  Click on any of the pics to enlarge.

I am so excited to wear pants. Heck, I'm so excited to just be able to wear whatever I want. 

- Amy

Listening to: "I Am 16 Going On 17" from The Sound of Music