50 Shades of Takeout, 12″ x 12″, mixed media on canvas by Kellie Day, illustration by Erika Lopez, Gift

I saw this upside-down biker chick illustration by Erika Lopez and couldn’t help but incorporate it into this little gift for a friend. Her illustration perfectly captures the sassiness that simmers within me.

I learned of Ms. Lopez through a collage kit, bought in Boulder, that included scraps of her infamous book, “Flaming Iguanas”. The little tidbits of writing had LOTS of naughty words and COMPLETELY unexpected phrases – it was love at first site!

Her bio says things like:

“Erika quickly adjusted her ambitions and aimed to become a famous cartoonist for porn magazines. That didn’t go so well … so she moved (to San Francisco) and ended up living with a Gothic meth lap dancer and a bleach-blonde Eskimo call girl from Canada.”

Really.

I immediately jumped on Amazon and bought an intact version of her book for bedside reading, and one for further shredding.

Other elements of this painting include a Loteria Rooster and a page torn from a racy scene of 50 Shades of Grey.

As I work on several larger paintings for a February show in Telluride, Colorado, I’m having fun lightening it up with these fun little pieces in between.