Paul has a question about silkscreen stencils, and I told him I'd throw it out there to see if any readers have the answer. Can any of you artsy folks help him out?

Quoth he:

"I'm looking for a company that can quickly turn digital art into the silkscreen stencil used for making silkscreen prints. I'm not looking for DIY methods or kits, and I'm not looking for someone to actually do the ink application, just generate the stencil that is used for this. Unfortunately, most t-shirt houses won't do this, so I'm looking for someone who will."

Anyone?

Living, growing architecture. I love this. I want to do this in my future home.

The "controversial" speech that Obama wants to give schoolchildren tomorrow, where, as feared, he instructs them to be good little Socialists. Actually, just kidding. He tells them to work hard and stay in school. It's actually a really good speech. Give it a read.

When Will This White House Learn You Cannot Negotiate with Terrorists? - a take on how the White House is dealing with it's detractors. Probably the best line in the entire post:

"I can’t help but look at this spineless response and see it in contrast to the previous administration. You know how gansta they are? DICK CHENEY IS STILL TALKING SMACK! You don’t see anyone of prominence telling him to shut up. The man who has been wrong about everything gets the full support of his party, yet President Obama can’t find enough audacity to stick up for a true change agent?"

Hemlock from Tyson Ibele on Vimeo.

Does anyone here have any experience with découpage on raw wood? I'm looking for advice, links, suggestions for how best to do it. I'm also trying to decide a theme for my tables and chairs. Any ideas?

Hey everyone.

It's been a rough week for me and a lot of other people I know, so I wanted to inject some beauty and color into your November morning.

I read aniika's LJ, and she is doing the most amazing art project that I just have to share with you.

She sews leaves.

It sounds odd, but look at some of these. It's this weird mix of organic and inorganic material, toughness and delicacy, and the end result are these strange, beautiful things that make me want to cry. I love them.







There are more on her blog. Go look at them!

I have not been as productive in months as I have been this weekend. I wrote, managed the Emergency Pager for work, bought sneakers and a few sweaters at ridiculously discounted prices, went to Half Price Books and had gelato with Sarah, went grocery shopping, saw Kat AND KC AND Chris Patrick Morgan AND Frances AND Jonathan, and also... painted the kitchen.

This is what the kitchen used to look like:



And this is what it looks like after Sarah, XP, KC, and I tackled it with two gallons of paint:



I'm incredibly proud of all of us. I also can't wait to tackle the other rooms in the apartment. :)

This really talented artist (Danii Laichere, or cowgirldanii) over in the petbulls community did drawings of a bunch of the members' dogs. Here's what she did of Oliver!





I am so in love with my dog. :)

Crocheted Firefly crew.

*love*

Please excuse me while I go laugh, cry, hug someone, leap for joy, kiss a baby, weep uncontrollably, and make love to a beautiful woman.

"I am not in the least anxious about her education," Captain Crewe said, with his gay laugh, as he held Sara's hand and patted it. "The difficulty will be to keep her from learning too fast and too much. She is always sitting with her little nose burrowing into books. She doesn't read them, Miss Minchin; she gobbles them up as if she were a little wolf instead of a little girl. She is always starving for new books to gobble, and she wants grown-up books--great, big, fat ones--French and German as well as English--history and biography and poets, and all sorts of things. - A Little Princess, Frances Hodgson Burnett

For my birthday, Fin/Marn/Alex/Rio got me the first pocket book of Strangers in Paradise. I finished it in a day. (I apparently have no concept of "savoring" books/movies/tv shows - like Sara Crewe, I devour them like I'm starving.) I went out and bought the second one and now I'm almost done with that. I'm also slowly working my way through the Sandman books than Jonathan loaned me, and I'm loving those as well.

I figured that I might as well start a list of recommended graphic novels and series, a la the television show list from a while back.

So...

Given the series that I already like (Sandman, Strangers in Paradise) what graphic novels/series would you recommend that I read?

1. Strangers in Paradise
2. Sandman
3. Kabuki
4. The Red Star
5. anything by Alan Moore
6. Transmetropolitan
7. Fables
8. Persepolis
9. Books of Magic
10. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
11. The Maxx
12. Promethea
13. Stardust
14. Watchmen
15. From Hell
16. Lucifer
17. Blankets
18. Powers
19. Y - The Last Man
20. Maus
21. Fun Home
22. Tank Girl
23. Preacher
24. Freak Angels
25. anything by Jhonen Vasquez
26. Kabuki
27. Lost Girls
28. The Rabbi's Cat
29. Digger
30. Astro City
31. Hellboy
32. Baltimore
33. Empowered
34. Owly
35. Jar of Fools
36. Blackhawk
37. The Five Fists of Science
38. Ex Machina
39. The Desert Peach
40. Kingdom Come
41. The Long Halloween
42. Black Hole
43. Young Liars
44. Jimmy Corrigan:The Smartest Kid on Earth
45. Death - The Time of Your Life

I really want to try this out. I need to find an abandoned building that I can play on!


MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

From HedgehogBeeblebrox on DeviantArt. Showed to me by dustthouart, who knows me better than a lot of people because she's known me since preschool. :P

On a completely unrelated note, I have discovered Pandora and I am in love.

Just look at some of these!

I want more tattoos.

( look here, just a tad nsfw )

(If anyone knows, can you direct me to it, please?)

Thanks, floatyfish! The artist is Matt Hammill.

Interview today.

Completely unrelated, but spectacular: Coco Wang has done these really beautiful, sad comics about the earthquake in China here. A fair warning: I cried by the time I got to the second strip.

The beautiful and disturbing work of Laurie Lipton.

(Warning: I wouldn't say it's exactly NSFW, but it's definitely not safe for those with a sensitive disposition. It is, however, beautiful.)

Robot-ized art. I love these - they make the back of my throat ache.

How Dirty Is That Auden Poem That Was Too Dirty for the ‘Times Book Review’? (The answer? Really dirty. Also, sort of funny.)

A hoax most cruel. This is incredibly horrifying and sad.

Labor of love. Is society ready for this pregnant husband?

Scenes created entirely out of food. Here.

Since the semester is winding down (graduating in two weeks, holy shit, two weeks, *hyperventilates*) I brought home my drawing portfolio from the semester so I could sort out what I wanted to show her for my final critique. Since I had them home, I decided to photograph the drawings. I like to think that I did so for posterity, or whatever, but it's really because I was killing time (I didn't want to work on my screenplay).

Anyway, they can all be seen on pages two and three of my artwork gallery, but I wanted to post some of my favorites here.

My conclusion: I really enjoy drawing and I think I'd love to illustrate my own books. Drawing may not be my most skillful... ah, skill, but it makes me generally happy.



( more here )