Category: Paintings

Calaveras

16×20 Acrylic on Canvas

Inspired by an art lesson I teach around this time of year about Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). I really enjoy this lesson because it teaches what Dia de los Muertos is really about, and we get to draw skulls. Most people think this holiday is pretty much the same as Halloween, which is further from the truth. Dia de los Muertos is a religious holiday in which families gather to honor friends and family members who have died. It combines elements of Catholic as well as Indigenous Mexican religions. This was often done in order to make the assimilation to Christianity easier (fun fact: the date Christmas is celebrated is based on a Pagan holiday). The prominent symbol is the skull, which represents death. This holiday is known to be the one day where you don’t need to fear death, but celebrate it, since death as big a part of life as living.

Stenciled Calaveras on found 11x 14 canvases. Spraypaint and Acrylic

The easiest way to sadden an art teacher is throwing away your artwork in front of them. I got tired of students working a class period on a painting, and then throwing it away because they didn’t like it. So I’ve amassed quite a collection of used canvases from my students, which I have been using from time to time. They worked perfectly for this series, since it allows each calavera to be quite unique and colorful.

Stenciled Calaveras on found 9×12 & 8×10 canvases. Spraypaint and Acrylic

calavera paintings

Tags calavera, day of the dead, dia de los muertos, festive, skull

Paintings

Antonia Pantoja

Portrait of Antonia Pantoja, founder of Aspira for Antonia Pantoja Charter School. 30×40, Acrylic on canvas.

Prints available for sale through Fine Art America

Tags antonia pantoja, aspira, charter school, portrait

Paintings

The Girls II

Post author By josean
Post date May 10, 2010
1 Comment on The Girls II

2009-Present. A continuation of The Girls series.

Select Giclee prints available for sale

Tags bold, color, eyes, face, girl, Girls, portrait, stare, woman

Paintings

The Girls

Post author By josean
Post date May 2, 2010
No Comments on The Girls

2009-present. Acrylic on canvas. What started out as just an experiment turned into a full series. I played around with continuity, the backgrounds flowing from one painting to another. At times, I was working on several paintings at once. Each canvas at one point was used as a palette for the previous painting(s). I played around before and during using abstraction, patterns, and designs. Using some makeshift printmaking methods, the right figure was then inserted into the background, and layers of colors were added, creating a unity in the painting. This series has been a successful and fun one, actually leading to several commissioned portraits in this manner. I am currently taking limited requests for portraits in this style, contact me for more information.

Select giclee prints and print canvases available for sale

Josean Rivera Fine Art on Facebook

girl art

Tags abstract, bright, color, emotion, Girls, intense, portrait, women

Paintings

Animus Santi

Watercolor and pencil 2007-2008. Inspired after reading about St. Guinefort, a greyhound that was made saint in the 13th Century as well as St. Christopher Cynephoros, referred to as the Dog-Headed Saint.

Top Left, Right: Unnamed Saints as birds of prey
Top Center: Bishop Stefan of Perm as an owl
Center: St. Kirill Novoezersky as a dog
Bottom Left, Right: Saints Ferapont and Martinian as rabbits
Bottom Center: Reliquary of Saint Anthony of Padua’s nose as a pig
The reliquary of St Anthony is based on his tongue and jawbone which are on display at the Basilica of St. Anthony in Padua. I recalled being terrified after seeing it in person as a 5-year-old. This created a fear/fascination of churches growing up, since so many in Italy have relics of saints, usually a body part.

Madonna and Child as Owls

The Free Thinker

Based on St Albertus Magnus(1200?-1280), known as Saint Albert the Great, A Dominican bishop who became famous for his knowledge of and advocacy for the peaceful coexistence of science and religion. He was also one of the first to apply Aristotle’s philosophy to Christian thought. He was also known for his writings on alchemy (Magnus is deeply rooted in legends regarding alchemy, one stating he discovered the Philosopher’s Stone and passed it to his pupil St. Thomas Aquinas). Behind the Free Thinker are the stages of alchemy regarding permutation of lead to gold.

The Cautious Saint

Select Giclee prints available

Tags alchemy, angel, anthony, bird, byzantine, cat, cautious, child, christopher, crown, cupid, Dog, dogsaint, eagle, eye, gold, guinfort, hawk, madonna, Magnus, moon, owl, padua, rabbit, relic, religion, reliquary, russian, saint, Saints, seeing, st, stained glass, sun, thinker, transmutation

Art Drawings Paintings

Saints

Post author By josean
Post date March 7, 2010
2 Comments on Saints

Saint series 2008-2009. Series based on a fascination of some of the more unusual saints out there and their unusual circumstances of martyrdom. And armadillos.

Select prints now available for sale

Burial of St. Avraamy of Galich and an armadillo

purchase print

Apparition of the Theotokos as an armadillo imploring St. Sergy-Marginal Scene

purchase print

Armadillo ordaining deacon

purchase print

Saint Aubert of Avranches- According to legend, in 708 he had a vision in which the Archangel Michael instructed him to build an oratory on the rocky tidal island at the instructed him to build an oratory at the mouth of the River Couesnon. Aubert did not pay attention to this vision at first, until in exasperation Michael appeared to him again, this time driving his finger into Aubert’s skull and ordering him to complete the task again. Michael is said to have appeared to him a total of three times. After this Mont-Saint-Michel was built

St Catherine of the Wheel. Daughter of the pagan governor of Alexandria, converted to Christianity in her teens. She visited the Emperor of Rome, Maximus where she managed to convert his wife. In turn he sent many philosophers to dispute with her, all who ended up converting (they were subsequently martyred) He eventually had her imprisoned, and when the people visited her end up converting he had her put to death by the breaking wheel. According to legend, the wheel itself broke when she touched it, so she was beheaded.

St. Lucy. She consecrated her virginity to God, refused to marry a pagan, and had her dowry distributed to the poor. Her would-be husband denounced her as a Christian to the governor of Syracuse, Sicily. Miraculously unable to move her or burn her, the guards took out her eyes with a fork.

purchase print

St. Peter of Verona. Italian priest murdered by an assassin hired by the Milanese Cathars, a christian heretical group. According to legend, his murderer struck his head with an axe. He then dipped his fingers in it and wrote on the ground: “Credo in Unum Deum” while reciting the Apostle’s Creed. All while missing the top part of his head. His murderer eventually confessed his crime and ended his days as a lay brother in a Dominican monastery , where he enjoyed local veneration as one of the blessed.