thejournalofash:

ash's entries

Sketchbook on my Nightstand

The greatest investment my parents ever made was in the Walmart arts and crafts aisle.


Moving two squealing toddlers from California to Arkansas, my parents left everything they had ever known to give me and my sister the childhood they never had. Growing up in Bentonville, I experienced firsthand how a place can influence the person you become. My artistic and entrepreneurial pursuits are a byproduct of the support young people receive from the resources within the Northwest Arkansas community.


Sketchbook on my Nightstand displays my first 20 years as a self-taught artist through 20 works from my childhood sketchbooks. Within the books lie hundreds of other unpictured works, serving as a reminder of the amount of time that goes unnoticed for aspiring artists to perfect their craft.


Featuring sketches from:

Underdogs of Ash

"The one thing I do that nobody else does is jump three and four times for one rebound." -Dennis Rodman (my childhood hero)

Bronzed Bull. 2025

Acrylic on Canvas

Rodman. 2023

Acrylic on Canvas

During a period when I had grown to resent the sport that once defined much of my identity, the work became less about basketball than about questioning the systems through which we assign value. Rodman emerged as a figure who resisted those systems. He built a legacy not by embodying the ideal athlete, but by excelling in the aspects of the game others considered secondary. Rodman's unwavering gaze meets the viewer without celebration or apology. His hands frame his face in a gesture that oscillates between burden and resolve. The work reflects on the underdog as a condition rather than an outcome. It asks what becomes possible when identity is no longer measured by visibility, achievement, or the roles we are expected to perform, but by the willingness to inhabit ourselves without apology.


WILDCAT. 2026

acrylic on canvas.

As a child, I could always find my father in a crowd. Standing 6'3", bald, muscular, and proudly Mexican American, he was impossible to overlook. He jokingly referred to himself as the "Bronzed Bull," a nickname that became the foundation for this portrait. In Bronzed Bull, the bull serves as a symbol of my father's strength, resilience, and unwavering instinct to protect those he loves. Perched on his shoulder is a cardinal, representing his mother, whose presence continues to accompany him after her passing. Together, the two figures explore the ways grief, memory, and ancestry remain intertwined with identity.

The work draws from the symbolism of the bull in Spanish-speaking traditions while reimagining it through the lens of my family's experience. My father introduced my sister and me to boxing, teaching us discipline, perseverance, and the confidence to occupy spaces where we were not always expected to belong. As a Mexican American father raising daughters in Arkansas, he challenged assumptions about masculinity, ethnicity, and parenthood, embracing each role with pride. Rather than portraying heroism as spectacle, Bronzed Bull reflects the endurance of family, cultural inheritance, and Hispanic representation.


As a student-athlete at Davidson College, I experience firsthand the enduring presence of Stephen Curry's legacy. Before becoming synonymous with one of basketball's most influential athletes, Davidson was a small liberal arts college rarely expected to compete on a national stage. Curry transformed not only the perception of the institution but also the assumptions surrounding who is allowed to excel. His career demonstrated that greatness is not determined by where one begins, but by the ability to redefine the expectations placed upon them.

In Wildcat, Curry is portrayed in his Davidson jersey at the brink of transformation. His likeness dissolves into the surrounding surface, reflecting the impermanence of athletic identity. For most athletes, the jersey eventually becomes a memory, a chapter rather than a destination. For a rare few, it becomes the beginning of something larger. Created from the perspective of a fellow Davidson student-athlete, the work reflects on the uncertain space where potential exists before recognition. It asks viewers to consider how overlooked people and places often become the ones that redefine what success looks like.


Testimonies of Ash

My relationship with faith is deeply connected to my Hispanic Catholic heritage, as a major piece of my testimony pays tribute to my Grama Isa and Great Grama Nonnie. Their faith was colorful, raw, and exemplified God's unwavering love in a way I never could quite put into words.


My faith journey began in high school, shortly after my Grama Isa passed. A good four years later at Davidson College, I confirmed my infant baptism, accepting Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior! In the months leading up to my confirmation, these pieces were my vessel to express my internal navigation with the Trinity and generational spirituality.

Butterflies. 2026

Trinity. 2026

Current Works:

Reflecting Girlhood


Exiting girlhood and entering womanhood, I’ve spent the first year of my twenties reflecting on what makes me look back on it with so much joy. Girlhood was where femininity felt limitless. I grew up in an environment where girls could be boxers, artists, princesses, and businesswomen all at once. My mother taught me that to be a woman today means refusing to accept a world that tells us this isn't the norm.

MOWNCHILLA

18 1/4 × 9 5/8 inches.

Acrylic on canvas.

Shotput shoulders

18 1/4 × 9 5/8 inches.

Charcoal on paper.