On my way out to Whittier about a month ago, I thought to myself was “This is sad, I was born and raised in Los Angeles and I have never been to Whittier”. We’re practically neighbors. This first expedition to that far off land began as a “friend add” on Facebook, A while back, I was suggested to add “Casita Del Pueblo” by a friend, seeing as my current style of art, (Dia De Los Muertos) would do well there. I sent the owner, Yoli a message about meeting with her to show her some of my pieces.

 she agreed and I was off. The store is a well sized gallery and shop in one, 100% of what is sold there are original handmade things by local artists! i took a few original paintings of mine to show her and she liked them so much that she offered me a booth space in the “Uptown Whittier’s 2011 Dia De Los Muertos street festival”. I was honored! This would be the first festival i had displayed at! Yoli put me in touch with a guy out there that would make prints for me on good quality paper, so i ordered a big box of them and was ready for the festival. I arrived Sunday morning around 10 am and set up, my mom came with me as my assistant.

 The morning was beautiful! Crisp and slightly windy. I had two tables on which i spread out my prints. I then hung my original paintings on “A frames” that i made from white wire shelves and zip ties that i purchased from Home Depot. I also brought my face paints, figuring i might make a little extra cash painting kids faces.

At the start of the festival, a procession of Shamen walked through the entirety of the area with incense performing an ancient ritual of cleansing and renewing energy.

 Any one that knows me, knows that i am not religious nor a believer in the supernatural but this ritual  had a placebo effect on me. I actually felt positive energy after they had passed my booth.

As people started walking past my booth, it soon became apparent to me that i would be definitely be doing face painting by the crowd of kids that were asking me how much it was to paint theirs.

i put my mom to work selling my prints while i settled in to what would be a long day of face painting.

 i had decided against renting a canopy, which saved me some money but by noon, when the sun high overhead and I was sweating buckets, i realized that i had made a huge mistake so i walked over to the dollar store and bought a hat which helped just a little. meanwhile the crowd was growing…

After a while of painting faces, i had a little girl ask me if i could paint her face to resemble one of my paintings! I felt so honored, she chose my painting of Tina!

 a little while later i got to paint the face of a little one by the name of Mason. I work with kids for a living so I am familiar with how to approach them in various situations. Normally when face painting little ones tend to squirm and flinch a bit,

It was so surreal to see people walking around with my designs on their faces.

 

all the time i had been selling prints here and there, i had the chance to meet a few of those people..

At the end of the day i had made a bit more than i had put into this event so i was very pleased. I hope to build a lasting relationship with Casita Del Pueblo, in fact I have confirmed with Yoli that i will be  debuting my newest series “Paper Cranes” sometime early 2012! and with that Whittier is now another familiar place in Los Angeles,

Thank you so much Yoli and Casita Del Pueblo!

Now where is Downey?