Loving Leonardo

I have been reading a chapter book about Leonardo Da Vinci and mom and I went to the computer to see his famous painting.
I decided to just remember it in my mind then went downstairs to make this drawing and write out her name.

It's Greek to me

Having just turned 9 a love for all things Greek continues for Santiago with this drawing of a noble ship.

My first gallery show at Nickelodeon in Los Angeles

This December I got to put two of my drawings in my very first gallery show at Nickelodeon in Los Angeles. Mike who saw this blog and draws cartoons for some of their shows invited me and my work is above and below the sign in the middle. My drawings sold and I decided to give the money to my school to build a library. There was some great art by children there and I'm so happy I got to show others how much I love drawing.

Drawing is what I do the first thing in the morning when I wake up. I put on my robe and slippers and sneak downstairs while Mom and Dad are still asleep.

When the hear the pencil sharpener go wwwwrrrrrrrrrrr! my parents know I am up and busy doing my favorite thing.

How to learn Spanish

Please click on 2010 [to the right] 2009 and 2008 under Blog Archive to see all my posts and how I am growing as an artist.

A great thing to draw is Loteria Cards and I like the pictures so much. I am happy when my friends and their families come to visit me at our home in Mexico. I feel lucky because I speak Spanish. My grandmother whispered it in my ear when I was very small. I listened carefully to her words and now that I am 8 years old I can talk to people in my town like the man who leads the donkeys down the hill in front of our house or the taxi guys who drive green cabs. I can order ice cream and my favorite flavor is guanabana and that is a hard word to say but not for me because I practice.

The first thing I like to do when a family visits us is break out the Loteria cards and it is a fun way to learn Spanish. There are all these great pictures and it is like bingo but instead you shout out ¡Loteria! We use frijole beans to mark the ones we get like El Alacran and La Campaña. I did this drawing so you will know what it is like. There is a very great artist and friend named Beth Krommes. She sent me scratch magic paper that is really fun to use so I could practice art that is a little bit like what she does. Thank you Beth. She made a beautiful book called The House in the Night that won the Caldecott Medal because it is super amazing. I sent her one of my Loteria drawings because she is really special and I'm so glad she liked it.

Chile God

Yesterday we had tacos and my Dad keeps getting me to try little bites of different salsas. I had a good one yesterday that had cranberries in it but some of them are just too hot!
We have been studying the Greek gods and goddesses in 3rd grade.

I decided to draw this picture of my own Mexican chile god breathing fire. He keeps trying to trick me to try one more chile. That is why I drew the two angels of reason carrying the lantern, shield, candle and flashlight to guide me in making good choices when eating salsa.

This Wednesday my Dad and Mom are coming to our class to work with Mrs. Lau our teacher. We are going to help my friends draw Greek gods and goddesses for playing cards. Dad and I came up with a very simple style using shapes this morning and I am excited to show you these drawings I made and tell you what I learned by doing them. You can draw things so they look real or you can stylize them like this. Check it out.

Let's Talk Turkey

Grandma Lo-I can't wait to have Thanksgiving with you and here is what I want to eat!

Exploring Greek Myths through drawing

In my third grade class with Ms. Merrill we have been reading Greek mythology. I loved these stories so much I wanted to draw them. I asked my mom to take me to the library so we could check out more books on myths and Jason was very strong and clever.

This first drawing is of Jason leaping into action with the Argonauts rowing their mighty ship.























Phineas the blind man was tormented by Harpies who kept stealing his food. These strange creatures are part human and part bird.


















The Argonauts used nets to capture the Harpies and in return Phineas told them how to find the golden fleece.

















In this scene Jason and the Argonauts are traveling through a dangerous area with rocky cliffs to get to the golden fleece. That's Hera wife of Zeus carved out of wood on their ship to watch over them.

In Mrs. Lau's class we worked in groups to tell stories about Greek myths by drawing them on 3 by 5 cards. Then we had to fill out little pieces of paper about our classmate's storytelling. Here is what Evan wrote about my drawing of Zeus.





















Thank you Evan for your question about how do you learn to draw.

Now I want to tell you the answer.

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE and remember to have fun!