design
I found this company called shape when I saw this bike. I’m in love this bike. I know I could probably never afford it, but I am in awe of the amount of research and precision that went into designing it. When I looked further on their website, I realized that all of their products, though few, are equally as beautiful. Quality not quantity my friends.
now to find a bike this nice that I can afford. . . now thats a conundrum lol
lifeasasketch t-shirt project
Some of you may remember way back here when I had a go at making t-shirts of my paintings and pretty much just failed miserably. Well I’ve had a second go with newly designed tee’s and even a few other accessories, all with my art on them. I’ll be updating the store regularly with new designs and different projects.
Feel free to take a look and contact me with any requests or ideas!
Stefan
embracing the hippie inside of us
Back in October I wrote a post here about switching from conventional deodorant to a salt stone. Though there were some that flat out laughed at me, most of my family was like hey, we’ll see what happens to him. I think this might be due to the fact that one of us is usually in some sort of experiment like this, so its viewed as no big deal.
So after making sure that I didn’t start smelling like an alpaca, some became curious. I am now happy to declare that I’ve effectively pulled 3 out the 5 other people in my household over to the salty side!!!!! Woot for embracing the dirty hippie inside us all!!!
bored in class
Paulina, an art student in the one class I interpret for at UTEP was apparently bored in class the other day. Personally I think this is a much more fabulous use of ink than for math. . . he he
a rant about brick walls and entertainment systems
So I have a friend who has a beautiful brick wall in his living room, and I am mad at him. Out of jealously that he has a brick wall in his living room? Partly ha ha, but mostly because he’s COVERING IT UP WITH A BUILT IN ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM!!! Such beautiful brick could be the backdrop to many a painting . . . 😦 how sad.
You see, I’m all for modern, in fact I embrace my electronics wholeheartedly but! I feel that in todays society in an attempt to stay modern, all to often the awesomeness of vintage beauty is overlooked. Thus houses are built cheaply, cars are tin cans, we shop at Wal-mart, and brick walls are being covered up by entertainment systems. . .
ps this is not “the” brick wall, this was at an underground art show in Younstown
old technology changing the city
The last time I went to Paris I saw something I had heard about since 2007, a public bike system called Velib’! In my opinion this is a genius solution for the worldwide problems of urban congestion and pollution. Here’s how it works
Image via Wikipedia
Seventeen thousand bikes are stationed at Twelve hundred stations all over the city. You walk up to a station, swipe your card, get a bike, and you’re off! When you get to your destination you park your bike at a nearby station. Once you’re ready to leave again you just repeat step one! This takes out all the hassle of owning a bike (theft, maintenance, storage) and gives you all of the pros of using one (exercise, less congestion, mobility)!
The question was, would something like this really catch on? The answer was a big fat oui! Bikers on the streets of paris have doubled. This has led to the need for expansion of the public biking infrastructure. This in turn is having the real long term effect of reducing the number of cars on the road!
Now, the success of Velib’ is contagiously infecting other cities in Europe such as Barcelona. Above is a video from faircompanies outlining their version of public biking. More recently Canada has embraced this great plan as well! Montreal runs a system called bixi (bike + taxi) and Toronto is in the process of doing the same!
Its amazing to me how some of the most complicated problems can be solved with something we’ve had for years. . . what else are we missing?
my favorite unorthodox methods
I guess most of my paintings are considered “modern” which is funny to me simply due to the fact that they’re done with traditional materials. . . u know; paint, canvas . . . the usual. Anywho, I’ve noticed that most of the time I don’t use a brush. In fact, I rarely do. The other day someone asked me how I paint then. . . and I replied. . . “very unorhodox” So here’s a list of my fav unorthodox painting methods. . . in no particular order
Gravity-completely lied about the order so far cuz this is my favorite method. . . ha! Yeah in this method I rely on gravity to manipulate the paint as I drip it from great heights (remember my friend “greatness” is relative). As the paint falls it never hits exactly where I want it to. . . this provides. . . shall we say “character.” Alot of times this method actually technically ruins what I had going. This always leads to new things though, that I would have never tried otherwise
Knives- yup totally lied cuz this is also probably also considered my favorite. . . But yes painting knives are probably the one instrument that I consistently use to physically manipulate paint. I use them for everything; to scrape paint off for backgrounds, to tweak out of place spatters, blending, everything. They do what I want without leaving the “footprint” that a brush would leave behind, this gives the illusion that the paint moved itself
the spatter- also up there on my list. This is a very general statement btw, “spatter.” there’s a few different types.
1) Spattering with an instrument of squeezableness. U know those cool ketchup and mustard bottles in elementary school, the yellow and red ones. . . yeah those. I buy clear ones and fill them with a mixture of paint and water. . . and bada bing bada boom, I spatter!
2) the gravitational spatter iron lung- I combine the power of gravity and great heights with the first type of spattering and then blow on the result to manipulate.
3) the hurl- in this method I stand far away and do as the name implies
These are only 3 of many methods I use so I’ll most likely update you guys with more later. In any event, the point that I’m trying to make is, test your boundaries. Question them, test them and destroy them. Arts classes in school drove me nuts because everything was about technique and how to do this, and how not to do that. Art is my form of expression, how you can express without experimenting, experimenting with what works for you. That is why I spatter, that is why my ceiling has paint speckles on it. I love to paint, so why not paint with love
the complexity of chaos
you’ll notice a newbie in my blogroll! Caleb, a good friend down here in the Chihuahuan desert keeps me company alot of the time. You’ve seen him in a few of my videos. . . a brilliant editor, director, graffiti artist, and musician, he’s never leaves us bored. An all-around free thinker when it comes to art and the community that it creates he’s developed a very unique style. Check out his site and see what I mean
in the dark
The public views collaboration as risky, at least in my opinion. Hear me out. For example. . . lets say when Jack White collaborated with Alicia Keys for Bond. There were those with the opinion that it sounded. . . well. . . strange. However! There were those of us that looked at the sheer talent of each individual artist and thus respected the song. . . no matter the sound. This though is all from the audience’s perspective eh. To me, art is about the artist, not to be self centered but think about it. We create art to express ourselves, who we are, what we feel, what we believe in, who we love. . . SO! If collaboration results due to these factors, the satisfaction that an artist receives from his or her work is magnified when successfully achieving it with the help of someone with a similar train of thought. The symptoms worsen (and by that I mean become more magical) when said collaboration is born from more profound origins.
Flashback
I did these paintings quite some time ago as a graduation present for a dear friend. Because of the hustle and bustle of life and moving away I haven’t seen them in almost two years. When I went home for vacation and saw them hanging up in his apartment however, it felt really weird. You see, I had forgotten all about them, the time it took me, the new methods I was experimenting with. . . and to stand there in the present while mentally being thrown into the past, remembering everything that went along with them. . . its well. . . chilling! Anywho, the point is I forgot about these, but love em, so here you go
Experimentation can never be classified as unsuccessful
My reasoning lies in the definition of experiment “a test, trial, or tentative procedure; an act or operation for the purpose of discovering something unknown or of testing a principle, supposition, etc.” Even if an experiment is a failure, its mere existence is a “testing of a principle” with in turn defines itself as successful. Get my drift?
well at least thats what I’m telling myself after my genius t-shirt idea. But as Edison would say, I didn’t fail in making graphic t’s, I just found a bunch of ways not to make them. Had fun though he he
acting manly
I think they’re trying to tell us something. . .
Apparently this artist had a message, so I thought I’d broadcast it to the world for them. This was found in a skatepark in east El Paso.
-life as a sketch- 