Jiu Jitsu Love Story - Derek Cadena

My working title for this painting has been Matt's Practice, although a more appropriate title like "Jiu Jitsu Love Story" or "Couples Therapy" may be in order, since I ended up painting two sparring figures, Matt and his wife Rachel.  I painted this for Nordstrom's consideration, they passed on this one and choose the boxer, "Ramon".  I love this painting and I am glad to still have it, although I should be polite and give Matt and Rachel a chance to buy it before I decide to keep it or sell it to someone else.

I painted this image from a still video on YouTube.  In the video the couple is demonstrating Brazilian Jiu Jitsu defense techniques to a crowded room.  I heavily edited the scene, getting rid of people and other distracting elements that took away from the focus on the couple's practice. The light filters into this space beautifully, enveloping the figure by the window. The painting, in person, looks and feels as if I was actually in the room painting this scene.

The Howards for Nordstrom

I'm packing and getting ready to ship the paintings off to Nordstrom's Seattle office.  I thought I would show off the three 16x20 Howard paintings.  The original 8x10 Howard was the first painting they bought from me two years ago, they really love him...

I also painted a boxer "Ramon", which they are still considering on purchasing. I hope they do!

Beefing Up Nordstrom's Walls!

I've been so busy that I haven't posted in a month! I've finished most of the work I'm doing for Nordstrom. Their store planning and architecture department purchased a painting from me two years ago, which I was very excited about at the time! Then, just a couple months ago they got back with me and commissioned 7 paintings for a few of their remodeled stores.  My paintings will hang with a collection of other work, mostly vintage male portraits and landscapes completing a wall collage in each men's sportswear department. Shown here is an example of a wall they had previously done sans Cadena...

The designer wanted a more youthful and cheery wall layout and liked my cheesy beach boys pumping iron by the sea and said that these paintings would be perfect for some of their beach town stores, one of the stores being Westside Pavilion in LA.  So, I painted two of Beach Flex and two of Beach Pump, all 18x24 oil paintings. The two Beach Flex are the first image.

 I gotta get back to work, I'll show the rest in my next post.

Goy Paints Jewish Calendar

This is the second part of my two-part post on working with Scott Lyon on the permanent exhibit recently installed at the Mizel Museum in Denver.


This past Spring I was invited by Scott to help paint, fabricate and install pieces of the exhibit titled 4,000 Year Road Trip: Gathering Sparks. I was given the task and huge privilege of illustrating the large Jewish Calendar that hangs in the Synagogue. I had some concerns when I started, one being that I am not Jewish! I didn't know bubbe from bupkes... Although, now I know not to get the two confused.

The Jewish calendar is only similar to the Gregorian calendar in that it has twelve months. The months are lunar, which I painted a band of moon phases corresponding with observed religious holidays and their months.  Each month starts with a new moon, the first month is Nisan. Passover is celebrated in Nisan. Pictured here is a detail of the months with moons and seasons of the calendar.

 My favorite symbol that I painted here of the holidays is the Sukkah in the upper right corner of the banner, which is the wooden structure with twigs and fruit hanging from it. Sukkot is the harvest holiday celebrated in the middle of the month Tishre or Tisheri (roughly October).  Many Hebrew words have different spellings, which I was often told to change... I'm just the goy with a brush. Like the rest of the exhibit, I painted this banner in a colorful whimsical style. Here is a detail of the top half of the banner with the Sukkah.

You'll have to go the Mizel Museum if want to see the full calendar and all the other wonderful exhibit pieces. I had a blast working with Scott and the Mizel folks for those last six months, but the project is done and it's time to move on.  Now, I have seven paintings (possibly more) commissioned by Nordstrom to complete in the next six weeks. The paintings are for several store remodels. I'll be painting vintage looking mid-century styled athletic male portraits in oil for Nordstrom's menswear/sportswear department. I'm VERY excited, it's my biggest client ever! I'll keep you posted.

Derek

Sparking It Up At The Mizel Museum

This is the first post of the two-part blog about working on the permanent exhibit recently installed at the Mizel Museum in Denver.

This past Spring I was invited by Scott Lyon to help paint, fabricate and install pieces of the exhibit. There are too many projects to talk about, so I'll talk about one design of Scott's that I worked on in this post, and then I'll write about painting the Jewish Calendar that I designed and worked on in my next post.

Almost two years ago my friend and fellow Denver artist, Scott Lyon, was approached by the Mizel Museum to give the museum walls and the display cases that house the artifacts a makeover.  Scott began working with the museum's curator, Georgina Kolber, on the exhibit's theme, which is a 4,000 year journey of Jewish life, culture, art and stories.  The curator talks more about this in her interview with Ryan Warner on Colorado Public Radio.  4,000 Year Road Trip: Gathering Sparks is the educational, historic and whimsical exhibit that has been brought to life by Scott and his team that I was honored to be apart of. 

 I worked on several exciting projects, however, one of the more memorable projects I worked on was the notorious "spark" emitting disco ball, which was the most terrifying piece to fabricate and install!  Scott began this project by designing and building a rocket fin shaped wooden support covered with foam and electrical bits that would be covered by a mosaic of mirror glass. The shape of this sculpture was designed in mind with the building's mid-century modern architecture and fun funky presentation of the exhibit's theme. I remember being a little intimidated by this skeletal structure, but I couldn't wait to begin covering it. This structure was heavy and awkward, it would rock back and forth, and needed to have a separate structure built to keep it upright.  Mostly there was a lot of gluing shards of glass, which one of the shards left a V-shaped scar on my wrist after I carelessly plunged my arm into one of those pointy corners... ouch!   It took several days for Scott and I to finish, working in shifts artfully cutting glass and arranging pieces to perfectly cover the structure.  After the last piece of glass was placed and the finished sculpture was cleaned we stood back in awe of it's shimmering beauty!  Now all we had to do was figure out how to hang it, which we did quite gracefully with the help of pulleys and a very tall ladder.  When you walk up to the front of the museum you can't help notice the large atomic disco ball hanging in the lime green entrance.  Guests who visit the Mizel Museum before dusk are really in for a sparkly treat!

Pictured here is Scott, the disco ball and a few bits of other exhibit pieces I put in to collage.  

jane sloss, watercolor paintings: Featured Artist

jane sloss, watercolor paintings: Featured Artist: "Brent Rodgers Two Little Fruits Art Studio This is the second installment in a two-part series featuring the Two Little Fruits Art Stud..."

Tuff the Dog - Pet Portrait by Cadena

For the last 8 or 9 years, usually starting in October, I get calls for people wanting pet portraits by Christmas.  I painted one for a friend long ago, and her friends called me, and their friends called me, and on and on.  Some years I paint several, however, this season I only painted one. This is Tuff the Dog, an adventurous black lab who resides in Summit County because he loves the mountain life. 


If you love your pet, and need a cool portrait to show just how much you love your pet, then contact me.  I'll be happy to paint for you!