from the inside out

Photos

2010-12-25T15:00:00.000-08:00

I got a new Nikon 3000 camera for Christmas from my dad! I ended up spending my whole entire night/early Christmas morning playing aroound with my new camera and figuring out how it all works. I absolutely love this camera. What's awesome about it is that it zooms in perfectly and has an automatic lens cleaner everytime you turn off the camera.

Since I've been taking these photographs, I feel like I'm really paying attention to shapes and textures more.

Hopefully I can take a photography class in school!

I'm back

2010-09-10T09:32:00.000-07:00

Living and breathing the Texas heat (ew) and trying to continue working on my art while still studying for school. Not even taking any art classes this year (whattup CAP Prgoram for UT Austin) so I have to make time for my paintings and drawings which can be difficult sometimes.

I've been discovering some new artists online and have come across a couple that have a similar style that I want to start picking up. They're brush strokes are both really similar to each other and I've been trying to pick up this type of technique. But, it can be hard sometimes.

Mark Boardman uses the urban environment as his subject, and uses a lot of greys, blues, blacks, whites..so each painting has a gloomy feel to it which I love!

Jennie Ottinger's paintings are so child like and innocent that it makes me wonder what her sketches look like. Her paintings are simple and use a cross-hatching technique with paint that draws attention to each subject she paints.

Also considering starting a series based on Bros and Frat dudes in their natural habitat. There's a ton here in San Antonio that it would be such a waste NOT to do some sort of study on these strange individuals.

Love, Stepha

Hangin' Out

2010-04-24T09:37:00.001-07:00

Hangin' Out
Originally uploaded by Stephafoo

"funny" video

2010-04-12T22:01:00.000-07:00

Lola is a wonderful mouse. She is very intelligent and enthusiastic. She was a birthday present from my friend (who gave her to me in a Mickey's Liquor cardboard box..thats right..NO PROPER CAGE) and I was completely grossed out by her. I even almost set her free at a park by my house. But, as I stared into the tiny face of my little mouse princess, I realized, I couldn't let this poor creature fend for herself in the wild. She would've been massacred in a matter of seconds by a bird or snake! So I decided to keep her. My mom wasn't very thrilled. She yelled and screamed at me until I cried (on my birthday, in fact) about how much she hated rodents and how messy Lola would be if I kept her. But you know what? Lola is messy. And Lola is a rodent. BUT, she is MY MESSY RODENT and I love her regardless!

TEAMMOUSE

Lola from Stephanie Sandoval on Vimeo.

Little Girl

2010-04-09T11:53:00.001-07:00

Little Girl
Originally uploaded by Stephafoo

I'm still using my spilled/dripped paint technique that I have come up with but now I am using this technique in my figures staying true to my inspiration from John Copeland. I also am avoiding detail in the faces because I don't want to get too personal with these figures.

Everyone always asks me how I start these pieces and where I get my inspiration. Some of these pieces, like the landscapes, always come from a beginning sketch(s) and I also use grids and rulers to make sure each building and structure is architecturally "sculpted" correctly. The drips and spills in paint adds a new twist to the traditional landscapes and structures.
My new paintings with the figures actually started out as a study of figures. Using an old photograph as inspiration, I start out painting the skin of each figure with acrylic paint and emphasizing each pigment of color. After, I go back over each figure with wall paint every time there is a fold in clothing.

I'm really proud of these pieces. My mom actually hates these but I love em!

Daddy II

2010-03-03T14:08:00.003-08:00

Daddy II
Originally uploaded by Stephafoo

Daddy I

2010-03-03T14:08:00.001-08:00

Daddy I
Originally uploaded by Stephafoo

New blog

2010-03-01T22:35:00.001-08:00

http://stephaworks.tumblr.com/

this tumblr blog is my "profesh" blog

(more organized, better quality)

Ill still be on blogger though!

come back to me, traditional!

2010-02-12T21:05:00.000-08:00

starting to realize that my abstract pieces are cool and all but I should also be focusing my attention back on the traditional paintings that I used to do..

In order to start these paintings, I've been looking at Jenny Saville..

fleshy colors, embellished bodily features, but nevertheless, beautiful in all ways possible...

spills and drips in architecture and urban landscapes

2010-02-05T13:15:00.000-08:00

Telephone Lines

wall paint on white board. 24' x 36' in. 2009.

Country Side Electrical Line

wall paint on white board. 24' x 36' in. 2010.

good things

2010-02-03T14:03:00.000-08:00

Patience is a virtue. I now truly believe that. In all honesty though, its hard for someone to keep going through life living the same day, doing the same things, talking with the same people, going to their same job over and over again, day after day. Often times, I feel like I work for nothing. Just living the same day out and always doing the same things. Thats how I've felt all year. Sure, graduation is fast approaching and exciting things will unfold after that but when you're in the present time and nothing seems to go your way, you start to wonder, will something exciting happen anytime soon? Well, today something EXCITING finally happened..

As I woke up today to 3 missed calls, 2 new text messages, and a voicemail, I raced over to school to see what the big hoop-la was about.

Well, hello, SOTHEBY'S..

I can't contain my enthusiasm any longer, I'm so happy that I got picked as the GRAND PRIZE WINNER for the sotheby's competition.

Free airfare to New York?

Free hotel stay in New York?

Exhibition of my work in New York at the Sotheby's Gallery?

A chance to meet any one of my personal favorite artists in New York?

New York!!?

I can't believe they picked me. I'm excited and nervous and ready to move forward!

This is a sign of good things to come... my dad was right

god does have plans

I love each and everyone of you that has supported me in the past and still supports me now, THANK YOU!

listen to my awkward podcast!

2010-01-13T17:33:00.001-08:00

http://teachersites.schoolworld.com/webpages/CChambliss/files/stepha.m4a

<3

from the sketchbook!

2009-12-23T15:14:00.000-08:00

Xmas present!

2009-12-18T13:02:00.000-08:00

What's the best thing in the world?

June-rose, by May-dew impearled;

Sweet south-wind, that means no rain;

Truth, not cruel to a friend;

Pleasure, not in haste to end;

Beauty, not self-decked and curled

Till its pride is over-plain;

Light, that never makes you wink;

Memory, that gives no pain;

Love, when, so, you're loved again.

What's the best thing in the world?

—Something out of it, I think

CURRENTLY...

2009-11-17T17:27:00.000-08:00

...influenced by the work of John Copeland!

I started these peices today and I'm pretty much just experimenting with the paint.. I would like to start on a figure study using the same techniques as Copeland only more exagerrated...

My goal is to start on a portrait by Christmas break. The portrait would most likely feature a figure in movement to really emphasize the spills/splatter.

I've started experimenting with figures in this peice..(its just the head of my friend) but it has yet to be completed.

SOME DIGITALS

2009-11-11T19:47:00.000-08:00

out of all the people in the world, my dad inspires me the most

MORE SOCIAL ISSUES

2009-11-11T13:13:00.000-08:00

SOCIAL ISSUES

2009-11-09T13:59:00.001-08:00

Burlap...

2009-11-03T18:42:00.001-08:00

is one of my favorite textures so far!

RECENT

2009-11-03T18:28:00.001-08:00

YES..finally had my senior show and it went pretty well, despite some minor setbacks. Some of the peices featured in my show were the abstraction of the blobs/blotches..tell me what yall think!

In these peices I came out of my comfort zone..A LOT. For years and years I was always taught that a good peice of art work had a literal meaning and a balanced composition. These peices represent all of those things in a different approach, a more abstracted approach.

the process of abstraction (more blobs)

2009-10-01T18:58:00.000-07:00

This one isn't quite finished either. Im not sure what to do next. I feel really odd about this one and I don't know how it's going to turn out. I guess this is what they call the process of abstraction.

Kind of a really bad picture, but you can tell where this peice is going...just using geometric shapes as a type of underpainting to really emphasize the blobs..

(I hate to call them "blobs" but Im all out of sophisticated terms for these things)

the process of abstraction (the blobs)

2009-09-30T18:02:00.000-07:00

Meet the blobs!
I think I have more of an appreciation for abstract art because of the whole creative process that each artist uses to come up with new abstract peices.
My abstract paintings started out as bruises but now they have developed into something different. I see these paintings turning into abstract spills with unexpected colors... I'm still experimenting with other media and I'll have a few more peices to photograph as well..

Keep in mind these guys aren't done yet so if I dont like how they're turning out, then I might just gesso over them..
But so far, Im diggin them..
Im doing a lot of underpainting in this one so that I can kinda see how the color will play out against the blobs..