Jeff Quiros Artist

For portrait practice and for promotion, I offered to do pop art drawings for Facebook friends from photographs they sent. I got over 30 requests within 24 hours and then I cut it off. Many really loved the drawing of them and some gushed about it, others were more “meh”.
It was a good exercise for my portrait drawings and it also increased my understanding of my audience.

On this New Year’s Day I am posting an emotional self-portrait. That is a representation of a complex set of feelings rather than something that looks like me. It’s still representational don’t you think?
“Turn” represents my conviction to turn my career in a direction where I am making a great living for myself and my family in the new year and beyond. My purpose is to create art and not to make money. That said, there should be a bridge between doing what I love and monetary independence. That’s the turn I’m making in 2022.

A favorite I just finished. I don’t usually express it out loud, but sometimes the struggle is so deep and so real. It came out in this piece.

An apropos sentiment for the holiday season. Strive to live in harmony and bring peace on earth.

Something a little different for my birthday post this year … colors less intense … composition more abstract. But it sings and dances, don’t you think?

I am really drawn to the elegant simplicity of this one (pun intended))). Oddly it has so far been less popular than others on social media. Interesting paradox – keeping my own counsel regarding my art but mindful of the need to spark interest in others to produce income.

A recent favorite of mine on a recurring theme on the difference between what is real and what is apparent. We can and do create reality.

Sometimes inspiration for my art is not so subtle. The smoke filled air and orange sun in Northern California is a frequent reminder of the living hell firefighters further North are going through on a daily basis. May they be safe.

Ape faces are a “thing” in the NFT space these days. Most are cartoon type creations. My version reminds me of a woodcut I did of a Tiki god back in high school I think. My Dad really admired it and had it framed and hung in his dental office for many years. I wonder where it is now.

I did some work with the SF Mission Food Hub, a great organization that feeds 9000 families weekly. Visiting the Mission District put me in mind of the Latinx community and culture and this drawing popped out. Though I’m a native San Franciscan, my father was born in Guadalajara and the culture sings to me.