Winefred Is Coming to Get You

you'd think, especially since it seems he's trying to instill fear, that Freddy Krueger would opt for the more adult version of his name now. Fred Krueger? that's scarier right? Frederick Krueger? maybe he uses Freddy because it's short for Frederica or Alfreda or Winefred.

Pets Are My Campbell's Soup Cans

well look at that. 2 days after my blog's anniversary and here's another pet portrait. i guess the next 8 years are going to be similar.

You Have to Have a Norm in Order to Have Different

i broke with my usual style for this one. not only did i let the background become the foreground and cut off the white stroke, like i just recently did with this pair of surfboards, i also painted a light layer over the black outline (for the fishing line) and left out the white stroke on that part completely. i'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. the fact that it's a part of a series and slightly strays from the format of that series it what makes it good. this would be less impactful if it wasn't surrounded by thousands more that are based on a specific formula.

Blog Bday

Ali's Art Adventures started 8 years ago today! i guess it's appropriate that i painted a couple of dogs today. if you've been here for those 8 years - or even just some of them - you'll know that pet portraits are probably my most common request. happy birthday, blog!

Didn't Rise for the Blog Post, Though. Short and Lazy

i really rose to the occasion for this painting.

Last Name: Chargeum. First Name: Won't

this is the first name of the lead human in Pokémon. his full name is Ash Ketchum. if the real world followed video game rules, my last name would be Paintum.

New Name! Same Great Podcast!

i've created three diamond club paintings before this one. back then they represented the fans of the NSFW Show podcast. Brian and Justin have since gone independent so they're now Night Attack! still so awesome. and i still freaking adore those guys.

Three Hump Camels Are Even More Mad Than Me

when in need of a camel emoji, you have the choice between one hump or two. what the crap?! there are so many unrepresented-by-emoji animals out there and yet there are two camels?? this is species-ist.

Ignorance Is Bliss

there was a bunny that looked just like this that lived in my yard when i was a kid. i'm sure he was a pet that escaped because of the fact that he was white and lop-eared and in no way looked wild. i was always surprised to see him because he seemed like he didn't belong in the wilderness and wouldn't be able to survive. but he did. and i'm going to assume he is still out there currently.

Bruce Wayne Went as Hulk

this is The Incredible Hulk as Batman. i'm guessing someone made Bruce Banner mad at a halloween party.

I Don't Know How Skilled I'd Be at Getting Into a Wetsuit, Though

i figure skate so i know i have the balance thing down. i also skateboard and snowboard so i know i have the balance standing sideways on a board thing down. i feel like i'd very quickly pick up surfing. i've also heard surfing is super hard so i should probably try it and get my butt handed to me by a wave before i get too cocky.

Should Have Executed Before All the New Ones Were Released

this is the scissors emoji. this is making me want to paint every one of them now. i just googled and there are 722. That would take me 1.98 years to get through. worth it!

Unflattering Nomenclature

this is ol' dirty bastard. when i start being a rapper i'm going to use the name "young clean person born to married parents".

This One Again

this is my second Miss Saigon painting. i'm surprised two people wanted that subject. perhaps that's just a testament to how long i've been doing this project. which is 8 years. and exactly 2,465 paintings. so 0.08% of them are Miss Saigon paintings.

Guessing About the Subjects of My Paintings

sorry i forgot to post yesterday! i had my big "Welcome to LA" Power Hour Concert (my official first show after moving to Los Angeles) and i was very distracted with that. in case you were wondering, it went splendidly and everyone had a blast :D



the pic below is from the requester's short film. i do believe he's the guy in the orange hat because he asked me to put the orange hat fellow in the middle. or maybe he just likes orange hats. or doesn't like aviators.






this is catbug. i forgot this character's name so i couldn't find the original requester's email. i did some frantic and fruitless web searching for quite a while until i finally gave up and texted my nerdiest friend a photo of the painting. she knew the name immediately. human google.

Possibly Also Toonie

this is for a Canadian requester. the loon is on their $1 coin. i can't believe they got rid of 1¢ coins in 2012. i mean, it makes sense. i just think it's crazy they actually executed on the idea. you could even say it's loony. hah!

He's Probably Pretty Good at It

this is a beaver. so he beavs. what does that verb even mean? how do you beav?

Twitch Before Twitch Existed

i loved watching my brother play video games as a kid. i don't know why. now i can't even bring myself to play them let alone passively watch someone else be in control. and this was back when link was basically two pixels. a green one for his body and a grey one that occasionally stabbed out from the green one for his sword. if my brother could make that interesting, he should have kept up with it. he'd be bigger than PewDiePie by now.

My Representation May Be Lacking Some Elements

these three are the band known as Paramore. not sure how they play instruments with no arms or sing with no mouths but i swear it's a band.

Not the First Time I've Encountered This Problem

this is a Game of Thrones painting. i decided i wanted to write about how i'm weird with watching series i like because i don't want them to be over. while writing, i realized it felt familiar. perhaps i've done too many paintings.

Might Work at Starbucks

this requester sent me a photo of himself and asked me to paint him as a judge. i didn't make him send me a copy of his Juris Doctor degree and now i'm regretting possibly misrepresenting the world. wait, what if he didn't even pass the Bar?? and then he has to be elected, right? jeez this whole painting might be a lie.

Truth Is Just a Matter of Perspective

i googled "hedgehog" to find some inspiration for this caption. the wikipedia page for this animal says they're in the subfamily "Erinaceinae". when you google "Erinaceinae", it says "Did you mean: Erinaceidae" and shows you the wikipedia page for that term. oh man! this is my first encounter with recognizing a wikipedia error.

as i was typing that last sentence, i realized it was a lie. for quite a while on my own wikipedia page someone had written, "In 2008, Spagnola started a free art project called Fred Durst for President." hah! i thought that was freakin' fantastic. though since then someone has corrected the error.

oh dang i also just realized that i started this project in 2007. don't trust the internet, guys.

Flying Space Thing from an Episodic Science Fiction Narrative

i told the world that i've never seen Star Wars. that may or may not be true. and for reals, i've never seen one single episode of Star Trek. so i know nothing about this ship. actually, this may be from Firefly or something, i dunno.

Right Ear Is Right

this requester wanted his cat to "seem like she's brave and has a righteous spirit". and also have a clipped ear. i know i got at least one of those right.

So Many Names

Star of David or Shield of David or Magen David or מָגֵן דָּוִד or Māḡēn Dāwīḏ or Mogein Dovid or Mogen Dovid or ✡

Free Art Is Still Free

this is a enemy from Mario games wearing a pattern from a cloak on a character from the card game "Magic: The Gathering". twice the nerd for still zero dollars!

This Is Not My Character. Nor Is It a Reflection of My Character

well. now the words "dick" and "butt" are on my blog. and this image is a part of my canon. let it be known that i follow through on that painting what people ask for thing.

Active Art

this is one of two in a series that doesn't exist yet. the requester wanted a lock first and said he'd ask for a key once he had more money to support my project. that's pretty darn great. i guess the lock will stay closed until then. now this has me thinking that after he gets the key, he should get another painting of a lock that's identical to this one except that it's open. then replace the paintings with each other, back and forth every few days all while denying to his houseguests that it keeps locking and unlocking.

Eat Your Cash Before It Goes Brown

this is what the dollar bill would look like if monkeys ruled the earth. or possibly it would just be bananas. though i don't know how currency works when it's perishable.

A Violent Pair

i'm attending a music conference this weekend and yesterday i was at that from when i woke up until i went to sleep. you don't realize how much work you put into a career that feels like play. anyway, that's my excuse for forgetting to post yesterday.



this is a cat with dozens of weapons. if you count claws and teeth.




this is a bird with a weapon.