Modified

Two new things, made better:

1) Fantastic new bike. It came with awful stickers all over, because designing great bikes has fuckall to do with decent branding.

After removing the stickers (by way of hairdryer and library card) I replaced the front emblem with a copper elephant, which I made some time ago.

2) I was given a dollar store planner after complaining that my life was too complicated. As you can see, it's ugly and the first few months have already passed.

My solution was to remove the cover and rebind it.

Choosing end papers is always my favorite part of binding. I ended us using a map for this one.

I also used a file folder for the cover, and left one tab on, for reasons of whimsy.

Escalation

I have finally taken some pictures for those of you who were left hanging by my previous post regarding a workplace cartoon feud. I think the war is over now, as Brenna and I have moved on to more ridiculous projects, but these remain hilarious.

Bear trap by B. Zedan.

TNT by me.

The VelociRapture: a work in progress

The four horseraptors of the apocalypse.

This is just the beginning phase of what I hope will be a miniature installation (if I can find an appropriate nook in which to install it). It's based on a very inspiring pun I came up with a few months back. I was going to draw it, but then I figured, "Shit, why not build it?" I am primarily a sculptor, after all.

Of course this sort of thing can quickly digress into Raptor Circus.

hijinks

A couple days ago I was sitting in a cubicle at work, when the tiniest anvil ever fell out of the sky on me. Ok, actually it fell out of the hand of Amanda, who had been put up to it by Brenna.

Of course you know, this means war.











Brenna was on her weekend at the time, so before I took off yesterday I left a tiny (and somewhat janky) paper banana peel on her cubicle floor. I can only hope that this escalates further. As Amanda put it, "Work should be more like a cartoon."

In all seriousness though, if there are two things I love, they are:
A. Anvils
B. Miniatures

Well played, Brenna. Well played.

Halloween h2o (you see what I did there?)

As I may or may not have mentioned, I hate my camera. It is a Canon Power Shot A560, if that is relevant to you. Sometimes I can take decent pictures with it, but apparently nobody else can, which is a problem when I need to appear in said pictures. So, here is a blurry one of my costume, which I will just have to rephotograph using a timer.













I also did this last minute headdress for my roommate's Día de los Muertos costume. Took about 15 minutes.

Halloween: Part 2

Clearly the mask is underway. By now it has a base coat of paint. Hopefully I'll have time tomorrow to finish painting it and sewing the details on the fabricy bits after work and before I have to wear it. As planned, absurdity seems inevitable.


On a side note, please take a moment to appreciate the extremely literal use of masking tape. That is all.

Halloween: Part 1

As a person with a brain which is into meticulous details (much to its own annoyance) I love projects with extremely fleeting applications, such as Halloween costumes. It only has to make it through one night, so I can jump right in without "planning" and "patterns" or any real "vision". I figure it's good for me to work against my own nature, and actually made a lot of effort when I was in school to do things in a sloppier manner than I would normally be comfortable with. Of course, this way of working can leave you with a lot of "Did I really just make this piece of shit?" moments, but it also can end in a lot of happy accidents, as well as extra time for things like sanity.

Anyway, I am being a mermaid, of the Magritte variety. You know, this one:


















I figure that even if it ends up being more along the lines of "piece of shit", it will still be plenty absurd. Watch out for photos of the finished product soon.

Back in Nam

I just got back from a three week trip to Viet Nam. I spent time in the jungle of Cúc Phương National Park and the mountains of Sa Pa, but mostly in the urban cluster fuck of Ha Noi. I spent a lot of time sketching and was definitely inspired to do a new installation, just as soon and I find the time and the space for it.


The jungle is LOUD.


Jungle Study, done in park cafe, involving some fictional plants.













Sa Pa mountains.














Clouds, mountains, terraced rice paddies: 3 things I don't know how to draw.











Bamboo ladder street. Everything in Ha Noi is arranged by street.















What can I say? I simplify things. My western brain can't cope with Viet Nam.










I would add more, but formatting image heavy posts is a real trial of my patience.

First post: no content.

It's been a few years since I made any attempt at blogging. Years in which I have gained a bit of insight and direction. Good, relevant years. Now, at long last, I am back. My hope is to apply a bit of the insight and direction I've obtained to my blogging.

My first and somewhat lackluster offering: my first attempt at time-lapse video. It seemed fitting for an introductory post, as it is a self-portrait.

I used a free program (frame-by-frame) to make this. If you just want to dabble it's fine for getting started, but if you're at all serious, I wouldn't recommend it. There are many frustrations.