Josie Portillo

Holiday Greeting Cards

2011-11-30T21:02:00.000-08:00

Now available through my SHOP.

The Longest Train Ride to Zermatt

2011-10-19T17:28:00.000-07:00

New personal work, I posted more about this on my other blog HERE

7” Vinyl Artwork

2011-10-12T15:04:00.000-07:00

I was recently commissioned by the indie pop label Cloudberry Records to design the Artwork for the Swedish musician, Nixon’s upcoming album. I had fun painting this while listening to his music, and also got to do a lot of Halmstad reference research (which is where Nixon is from). Needless to say, I’d really love to travel there someday!

And the album will be a 7” vinyl, which I’m pretty stoked about.

Viva Vinyl!

Media: Gouache, Pen, Brush Pen, Photoshop

Illustration for Oh Comely Magazine

2011-09-08T23:16:00.000-07:00

I was way excited to find this waiting for me in my mailbox yesterday.

I recently did a full page illustration for the article "No Ghosts, No Junk Mail," written by Ellie Phillips featured in Oh Comely Magazine's Issue 7. Oh Comely is a UK based lifestyle magazine full of a bunch of cool illustrations and unique articles. If you're interested in checking it out, you can find it through one of these locations HERE

A big thanks to Laura Callaghan, who was the illustration editor for this!

Aster

2011-09-05T19:33:00.000-07:00

My buddies Anna Topuriya and Pei-Jeane Chen just launched Hunters Hunt,a collective site that will serve to promote artists and sell goodies. This is the painting I contributed to their launch!

You can purchase this print HERE, (free NPR Calendars with every sale of this print).

New Prints + 2012 NPR Calendar giveaway

2011-08-19T16:05:00.000-07:00

I just added some of my latest prints to my Etsy shop. Also, I am currently giving away free copies of the 2012 National Public Radio Calendars I worked on with every purchase made as a thank you to all my Etsy customers :]

Or if you're interested in just the calendars you can find them through NPR's shop HERE.

Summer, 1996

2011-08-04T11:34:00.000-07:00

"Monsieur Bauman and His Beloved Dog Nushka"

"The Balcony of Sunflowers"

"Verveine"

I'm currently working on a personal series based on my childhood summer's at my aunts house in Switzerland.

Bluecanvas Issue 9 Launch Event

2011-07-13T20:39:00.000-07:00

Bluecanvas' 9th issue launch event will be tomorrow evening and I will be a part of it!

I will be in both the magazine and the exhibit. So if you can swing it, please come by and pop some bottles with me! The downtown LA Art Walk will be going on as well.

Info:

When: July 14, 2011 6PM-2AM

Where: Exchange LA 618 S. Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90014

For the longest time I have been wanting to do one-off gouache paintings of my UFO series and thought this exhibit was the perfect opportunity to finally do it. If you remember, they were all originally done digitally but I must confess I had much more fun painting them traditionally and think the result is much more interesting.

Here are some of the pieces that will be at the show tomorrow.

They are all gouache on illustration board.

Harry Potter Tribute Exhibition

2011-07-05T12:03:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! This is the painting I did for Gallery Nucleus' Harry Potter Tribute show opening this coming Saturday. Come by and check out all the cool art work, the list of exhibiting artists is really good! For more info on the show click HERE. If you want to see what Nucleus wrote about me and my painting, check out their BLOG.

2012 NPR Calendar

2011-06-21T12:51:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy to finally get to present to you the illustration I did for NPR's 2012 Calendar!

It was a really fun project to work on, AND I had lots of freedom with it. The assignment was to come up with a visual interpretation of what NPR means to me. One of the reasons I love NPR is because it is a great fountain of information which in turn allows me to feel integrated into my community, despite the hustle and bustle of living in a big city such as Los Angeles.

Art director Katie Burk and the team of designers at NPR gave me a lot of great feedback, which I'm so happy about! The calendars will be available through shop.npr.org in August. AND my illustration will be for the month of May!

This was my initial sketch

The Trail of Your Blood in the Snow

2011-06-15T15:27:00.000-07:00

Lately, I've been experimenting with a lot of traditional and digital mediums a lot more than ever and I feel it's resulted in a lot of variation in my work. Which I'm pretty happy about......As long as I can keep my style consistent of course!

This painting was based on the most heart breaking story I have ever read, "The Trail of your Blood in the Snow," by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and will be part of a personal series titled "Collected Stories." More to come Soon!! :]

I'm also really Excited because next month I will be an exhibiting artist at the Bluecanvas Issue 9 launch event in Downtown LA. And, to top things off I will also be a featured artist in their Issue 9 magazine! Click this link for more info.

AND I will also be part of the Force Fields art exhibit on July 2 in Santa Monica. This will be a benefit show in order to raise money in the fight against malaria in Africa. I will be providing more details about this show soon!

Gone on the River Album Cover

2011-05-26T13:12:00.000-07:00

I recently had the exciting opportunity to design the cover of Kevin Dukes' instrumental solo EP, Gone on the River. The release of his EP comes at the same time of the Mississippi River flooding disaster, so in efforts to help with relief, he will be donating the proceeds of the first weeks sales to the Red Cross.

Find it on Itunes or Amazon.

Foxes

2011-05-24T12:40:00.000-07:00

Now selling limited edition Giclee prints of my original gouache "Foxes" painting on ETSY.

Signed and numbered. :]

New Blog!

2011-05-18T12:00:00.000-07:00

Hello fellow artists, friends and wonderful folks who come from great distances to visit my blog!
I have jumped onto the Tumblr band wagon, which means I have a NEW BLOG!
Hope to see you there! :]

UPDATE: Art For Japan

2011-05-09T19:41:00.000-07:00

The Painting I did for "Art For Japan" is finally up on Ebay being auctioned! I believe the auction will end in exactly one week! So if you'd like to own an original gouache painting by yours truly, then start your bids! All proceeds will be donated to AmeriCare for the benefit of Japan. Thanks to the talented illustrator Meg Hunt who put this auction together!

Book Project

2011-04-28T11:41:00.000-07:00

This was the initial style I was playing with for a children's book I'm currently working on. The style has shifted in a new direction, that for now, must remain a mystery. However, I really wanted to share these initial illustrations I did!

Update!!

2011-04-12T23:46:00.000-07:00

Update: My new website is finally up and running!

~~I'm currently in the process of changing up my website to a new host.~~ So in the meantime it will be down and so will my email unfortunately :[ but for now you can contact me at portillo.josie[at]gmail.com if you need/want! Thank you!!

Also, I'm currently busy working on a handful of projects, so hopefully I will be adding some of that work to my new website. Stay tuned!! :]

Mid Century Modern Designers

2011-04-10T16:44:00.000-07:00

Two little gouache paintings of some of my favorite MCM designers. More little portraits to come!

George Nelson

Charles&Ray Eames

Art For Japan

2011-03-28T11:10:00.000-07:00

When I was 18 Years old I had the wonderful opportunity to go to Japan with my high school dance team (Yes, believe it or not I used to dance). When I was there I was lucky enough be graced by their genuine hospitality, wonderful culture and not to mention amazing food, I will never forget that experience. Now that I’m an illustrator I’m happy to give back to Japan in any way that I can. This is an illustration (inspired by my stay in Shinjuku, Tokyo) I did for an art auction called “Art For Japan,” put on by the talented illustrator Meg Hunt and her sister.

For more details about this auction visit: Art For Japan

Gouache on 8×10 wood panel

And...here's a sketch I did for it...

You can also see this post in my new blog

New Prints!

2011-03-21T01:26:00.000-07:00

Hello! I just added 7 new prints of some my latest work to my Etsy shop.

Thanks for stopping by!! :]

Off With Her Head!

2011-03-01T11:47:00.000-08:00

Two gouache paintings I did for an upcoming Alice in Wonderland show.

I think I had "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane on repeat when I was painting this, seriously one of my favorite songs. :X

17 Poisoned Englishmen

2011-02-21T13:37:00.000-08:00

I have a new blog, I'll try to keep it a bit different than this one.

Jet d'Eau

2011-02-08T15:25:00.000-08:00

" The years of glory and power had been left behind forever, and now only the years of of his death remained."

-Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Bon Voyage, Mr. President

A lot of my childhood summers were spent at my aunts house in Geneva, Switzerland. I truly miss this peaceful place I consider my second home.

17 Rosaries

2011-02-07T13:19:00.000-08:00

I Sell My Dreams

2011-02-02T20:30:00.000-08:00

"Some windows had to be opened and others closed to achieve the perfect degree of warmth, and there had to be a certain kind of light from a certain direction, and absolute silence."

-Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Mid Century Home

2011-01-23T11:04:00.000-08:00

I was recently contacted by Marco of the "Mid Century Home" to do guest posts on his blog every Sunday. Here's my first post! Check it out if you haven't already!

Blue Canvas

2011-01-18T16:19:00.000-08:00

I will be featured in Blue Canvas' home page for a whole week 1.18.11-1.24.11.

Also I was chosen to be published in Issue Nine of BLUECANVAS Magazine scheduled to be released July 2011. Thank you Blue Canvas!

Check them out if you haven't already.

Les Diaboliques

2011-01-17T15:23:00.000-08:00

I was inspired to paint this after watching Les Diaboliques, a 1955 french suspense film directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot. I need to watch more movies like this. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Modern Findings

2011-01-13T10:36:00.000-08:00

I feel so honored to be featured in Modern Findings. One of my favorite mid-century inspired blogs!
Check out the rest of the Article!

The Wizard of Dark Street

2011-01-10T13:11:00.000-08:00

I got the chance to Work with Egmont USA to design the book cover for The Wizard of Dark Street (a mystery and detective novel) by the talented Shawn Thomas Odyssey, Set to be released nation wide July 26, 2011.

Knight Of Cups

2011-01-03T15:35:00.000-08:00

Hello, hope you're all having a good year so far!

As much as I really love painting digitally (mainly for convenience), one of my goals this year is to paint traditionally more often. Here's a gouache painting I made for this months tarot card theme group show at The Hive Gallery in Los Angeles. I was chosen to do the Knight of Cups card.

The show runs from 1.8.11 through 1.29.11. If you're in LA, please stop by!

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-15T14:50:00.000-08:00

Wishing you all a Happy Holiday!

Pasadena Humane Society

2010-12-06T12:53:00.000-08:00

I've decided to donate 25% of all my Etsy sales in the month of Dec, to the Pasadena Humane Society :]
If you know me, you know how much I love doggies!

Also, thanks to everyone who came out to the Common Rally show on Saturday!

Photo credit: Sarah McClure

Mountain Biking and Polar Bears!

2010-12-01T13:58:00.000-08:00

This painting was inspired by my boyfriend, who loves riding his bike in the San Gabriel mountains and running into bears once in a while!

I love bears.

Etsy

2010-11-21T17:37:00.000-08:00

I'm finally getting around to posting more prints on Etsy.

Russia and UFO's....

2010-11-16T23:32:00.000-08:00

One day I hope to visit Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, Russia. For now, here's a painting of it.

I was listening to a lot of Vladimir Vysotsky while painting this. Does anyone listen to any of his music? His voice and music are amazing and inspiring.

Also, I'm really happy that my website is finally up and working again, with a new layout. Thanks to my boyfriend Scott Dukes for helping me with my site!

Save The Pups!

2010-11-11T21:15:00.000-08:00

Next month, I'll be participating in a fundraiser show hosted by Common Thread Studio, called Common Rally.
I will be one of 20+ artists selling artwork in an effort to raise money for the Pasadena Humane Society. Come and spend money.
Do it for the doggies :P.....or you can just stop by to say hello. Dogs are also welcome!

Also, my website is currently down but I'm working on it! Should be running by next week!

The Monster Mash

2010-09-21T00:46:00.001-07:00

Next month, I will be part of a group show at the Hive Gallery in downtown LA themed "Hell V. The Monster Mash," curated by Nathan Cartwright. The opening will be Sat Oct 2, (8pm-12am).

If you're in the area, stop by and say hello!

For now, here is my piece for the gallery, it's an 8x11" gouache painting titled "Bloody Square Dance" :X. Since I haven't painted traditionally in so long I decided to document my steps.

I love my gouache paints so much

I Sort of like how messy my desk gets when I paint. I don't know why.

El Mariachi

2010-08-26T10:44:00.000-07:00

This is personal work for a book I want to eventually publish. It's going to be a Spanish ABC book.

The Matador painting I posted a few weeks ago will also be part of this series. Now I have my letter "M" covered. :]

Which reminds me, if you live in Los Angeles, you must try the mole fries and cucumber-melon juice at Cacao Mexicatessen in Eagle Rock. Just do it. I promise you'll love it!

Work In Progress

2010-08-24T19:59:00.000-07:00

I'm Currently illustrating a children's book titled "A Halloween Story" written by author Scott Lisbin.

I'm so excited to be working on this because Halloween has been one of my favorite holidays ever since I was a kid and used to make homemade costumes with my brothers.......Pirates, gypsies, vampires and hobos!

My deadline is creeping up and I'm so excited to see the final product for this.

Also, just finished illustrating a book cover for a story about wizards, magic, detectives, and murder mystery for Egmont USA Publishers.... and will post the images as soon as I get the green light. Can't wait!

On another note, I really have a hankering appetite for beer floats lately.
Chocolate stout..............something I can't get enough of :X

Viva Spain!

2010-07-14T23:27:00.000-07:00

Well, I gotta say I'm really happy Spain won the World Cup. So to honor my Spanish ancestry, here's my Matador painting.....

Although I'm against bullfighting, I really love matador outfits. I'd like to wear one. Someone please bring me a sangria.
Ole!

Atomic Summer

2010-06-28T22:58:00.000-07:00

It's gonna be a good Summer......

IllustrationMUNDO

2010-06-15T18:16:00.000-07:00

I had the honor to be interviewed by Nate Williams of IllustrationMUNDO

You can see the interview here: http://www.illustrationmundo.com/wp/3987

Eleanor

2010-05-27T14:12:00.000-07:00

First Painting for a new project I'm working on! More details coming soon... :]

Prints

2010-04-28T00:05:00.000-07:00

So, I'm finally selling some of my prints on Etsy
Find them here http://www.etsy.com/shop/josieportillo

Thanks for looking!

More UFO Stuff....

2010-03-15T20:47:00.000-07:00

This is a made up view of Notre Dame De Paris.

For a while now, I have been obsessed with trees, UFO's and Paris. I thought I'd go ahead and throw all of them in one painting......

These are some color studies for this painting, I have the habit of painting quick color sketches before I start working on my final paintings.

My initial ideas for a painting usually manifest themselves in the form of 2 minute sketches...Like these...

(ov0)

Picnic

2010-03-09T23:04:00.000-08:00

A picnic sounds really nice....

Some quick color studies

Pancakes!

2010-03-02T00:19:00.000-08:00

I'm currently working on a personal series inspired by some of the things I love the most, mid-century design, and my ideal home.

Also, I really want to start making simple, abstract paintings just for fun. This small painting I included is my subtle way of starting..

And lastly, I'm not sure why the colors look a bit unsaturated on here, but if you'd like to see a better version of these paintings........... www.portilloillustration.com

Atomic Play Time

2010-02-17T13:05:00.000-08:00

This is my dream home.

Some close ups of the details....

I really love smores

UFO's

2010-01-21T19:52:00.000-08:00

I want to travel the world in a UFO, really.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'd fly over monument valley if I was piloting a UFO...

JPL

2010-01-17T20:27:00.001-08:00

I've been meaning to post these up for a while now, I painted these few months back during the San Gabriel wildfires. The colors in the sky were crazy during those days.

Animation Short!

2010-01-14T23:40:00.000-08:00

I'm finally getting around to posting this animation I made last summer. It's the first animation I've ever done and it was quite the challenge but I loved working on it and plan on working on more. The Idea for this animation was inspired by both "True Love Waits," by Radiohead and "Si Tu N'etais Pas La," by Frehel.

Enjoy!!

Done!!!

2009-12-21T11:19:00.001-08:00

A big thanks to everyone that came out to Art Center to see my grad wall!

Grad Show Preview

2009-10-28T23:42:00.000-07:00

Here's little preview of what my grad wall will look like.....

only 6 more weeks left!

All of my pieces will be redesigns of "La Vie en Rose."

I'm obsessed with Edith Piaf's music so working on this has been a lot of fun.

Sequence

2009-09-10T01:43:00.001-07:00

True Love Waits

2009-07-21T19:51:00.000-07:00

..In haunted attics

I'm Currently making a short for my 2D animation class,

This is a little preview of what my animation will look like.

Maximilian von Heune

2009-07-07T23:39:00.000-07:00

Here's Another character redesign I did based off the movie Cabaret.

.........He's a rich German playboy baron..

YArrrrr!

2009-07-04T01:38:00.000-07:00

Ahoy there mateys!

Here's some of my process

Home Alone!

2009-06-25T16:40:00.001-07:00

The guy behind the ice cream truck is up to no good :X

Life is a Cabaret...

2009-06-21T23:46:00.000-07:00

Willkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome!

This is my character redesign of the Master of Ceremonies for the film Cabaret.

I'll be posting the rest of the characters very soon...

Home Alone

2009-05-05T20:40:00.000-07:00

Here are some character re-designs I did for Home Alone. There's something about cheesy 80's/90's movies that I just can't get enough of.

Animation Backgrounds Final!

2009-05-05T00:38:00.000-07:00

Two kids growing up in El Salvador in the 1970s.

La Vie En Rose pt. 2

2009-03-06T16:28:00.001-08:00

La Vie en Rose

2009-02-27T18:43:00.000-08:00

Edith Piaf......Singing in the streets of Monmartre.

The Bicycle Thief

2009-01-22T17:08:00.000-08:00

I based this illustration on the 1948 Italian neorealist film by Vittorio De Sica.

It's a really sad movie but totally worth watching.

This is the scene where Antonio gets his bike stolen :/

Strings

2009-01-01T23:46:00.000-08:00

More 'Style' work!

Kay Nielsen + classical stringed instruments = my inspiration for this painting.

New Style Work

2008-12-02T20:48:00.000-08:00

In the style of Eyvind Earle

Kite Flying

2008-11-27T12:12:00.001-08:00

Birdy

2008-11-26T23:14:00.000-08:00

pio pio

The Photog.

2008-09-03T12:28:00.000-07:00

This in an acrylic painting of my boyfriend..

done a few terms ago.

The Suave Smoker

2008-08-18T23:24:00.001-07:00