Shen's Books/ Videos

The site is pretty awesome, a wealth of childrens books about the many many cultures from Asia and a video series on a multitude of multicultural books, authors, and supporters in the publishing world. Check out this video focusing on childrens books on immigration, the arrival is one of my favorites too. peep these kids books about food!!

April/May Love and Light switch

New switch plates for the end of the month. Pick them up here

Children's Portrait #8- Alec

This one is for my cousin's little boy Alec, who is about to turn 2 this year. He's half African American, half Mexican and he's got some beautiful eyes. More children's portraits on the way.

If you would like a portrait painted of your child, please click HERE.

"My new site" by Swash Design

Peep this! My boo created a new site for my art work. Its got organized sections for different art, its clean as Boateng, and its smooth as Billy Dee. Theres some beautiful functionality there that allows you to swipe from image to image, expand them, and there are links to the my other realms of the inter-webs. If you need design for web, print, or brand development as an individual artist, your organization, magazine, or business check out her beautiful work at Swash Design. She takes care of business, on time, professionally, and with one of the most incredible eyes for design and illustration. And she's fine as hell. Sigh, I am one lucky man. What do you think of the design? Pass it along.

Dollars and Sense-1

"If it don't make dollas, it dont make sense" -Bushwick Bill/ The Geto Boys

 Ok, so I'm going on a path of more financial stability and better knowledge of how to make money, save it, and get out of debt. Like many folks, I went to art school (among many schools formal/informal) and I have debt. Not only that, I'm a freelancer so sometimes if I'm not teaching it can be hard to save and plan with a paying schedule that is up and down.

 Financial literacy is a skill,a razor sharp sword that can arm you against poverty or leave you defenseless if you're not literate in its language. I have a tiny working knowledge of it. No one in my family taught me to save money or necessarily how to do it. They all just stressed "work hard, study hard" (Korean grandmother voice*. And to be quite honest, there's nothing wrong with working to maintain and provide. My grandparents worked well past retirement age, like so many of our relatives now.

But at a certain point you just want to break the cycle of being broke right? Not to say I don't want future generations of my family to work, but to say I want to learn more about how to keep the wealth I make and pass it on. When I work it is selling my "time" so I'd like to have more to show for it at the end of the year. And for you lefties I'll probably touch on the evils of Capitalism. Later. Now though, instead of making excuses I will be looking for answers and asking a lot of dumb questions. Like this one:

Why do people use excel to manage their money? What is managing money? And How do you do it with Excel?

"I use a template that was made on excel. Can't remember where i got it. Only useful cuz it adds stuff up. It was helpful for me to keep track of all my expenses for a few months to see where i am spending and where need to cut back". -Sun (Homie/Mom/Do-er)

Heres a screen shot of my Excel"practice". Yes, practice.
 Peep this video I watched .
There's formulas to this shit god(Ghostface killah voice)!


If you're scratching you head, Excel is a program that allows you to make organized spreads of numbers, items, and other things. It comes with Microsoft Office and if you are using a library computer, they usually have it under Microsoft office.

More on this and the path to becoming a man coming soon. Follow me on this nerdy quest, leave comments, suggestions, and questions.

Stuff i'm listening to 1

via Muphoric

Postcards!

Postcards of Meshell and Short Story 10, ready to send to Art Directors, friends, and supporters.

Purchase here

Character 44- Me! (New Blog look)

Whaddaya think? New look! The inspiration for this guy comes from an old photo my mom or grandma took when I was a kid. We had just come back from a fair and I had a spear (no, really!) and face paint. It was taken at my grandma's house in San Francisco. I can't find the picture so I decided to draw it from what I remember and add some cool wings. Que chevere, no?

Think i'll use this for awhile til I get bored of it. Updated a few tings here, look around....

Character 43-Gentleman in Paris

Not 1 More (Poster)

A piece to support todays national day of action to say "Not One More" deportation. The whole fight to keep "immigrants" out is ridiculous because it isnt just a policy, it is a racist plan to separate families, take wealth while giving nothing back, imprison folks who migrate to work/live, and to deceive the common american who may receive only a piece of the story. I don't want to get all into it, but look up the history of California, what was Mexico. Check out NAFTA (an unfree trade agreement), and look at race and how brown people of Asian, Arab, and Latino decent are treated and demonized in the media. Also, peep the link between large banks , private prisons, and detention centers. Coincidence? Are Polish or Dutch immigrants having their families broken apart or having their doors rammed? Something to think about.

More artwork from some amazing artists here at "Not One More Deportation" a national call for art put out by NDLON- National Day Laborer Organizing Network.

"Spirit"- Positive Wall Affirmation

Spirit, the next in the series. This one is painted on a mirror frame, so as to see yo' self. More on the way yall. Link to Store.

April love and light switches

Hand painted for your casa, available at the store

Muphoric Sounds 30- Maylee Todd

Heres a short write up about Maylee Todd's new LP. Go read and listen por favor.
In case you're scratching your head, Im a visual artist yes but I like music and I write about it occasionally.

Jazz Portraits 29-Meshell Ndegeocello (revisited)

This is a print, so if you'd like a copy of this original 11"x17" piece, go here to the store.

I decided to revisit Meshell for fun and because I felt i could improve on the last illustration of her. I know the songs i list in my piece are not all Jazz Songs, but that is the beauty of music. What is Jazz really? What is any musical genre? Sure there are rules, but often people don't even know what they want to see or hear until they experience it, then it changes the rules with out asking permission.

About this piece. I decided to mix up various photos of her and I know it does not look exactly like her, but that wasn't the point. The point was to have fun and just interpret through my lens. Also, I wanted to share her music with any of you music lovers who are not yet familiar with her sound.

I've been a fan of her music for quite some time, if you get a chance, support her by getting one of her many and diverse records. One love!

Short Story 16- The Mail Lady