I’d Recently Come To The Conclusion That I Needed To Do More Regular Artwork To Keep The Brain Juices

Bell “Gallows-Frame” telephone 1875

Alexander Graham Bell's original telephone prototype used a single magneto-based device as both transmitter and receiver.  The user spoke into the single orifice, and put the device to their ear to hear the response.

The device, which gets its nickname from its elegant mahogany frame, was the first with which Bell demonstrated transmission of voice-like sounds.  Intelligible speech would be transmitted by Bell with a redesigned unit the following year.

Acrylic on canvas, 7x5″.  From my series of paintings of historical telephones.

I could explain that this is a photo of Walt, my character in the surreal dark comedy theatrical musical Aisle Six, who long ago had Hondo the hand puppet as his best friend and co-conspirator in mischief such as trying out the toilets at Home Depot, and this image was among those used in the show during a flashback slideshow of Hondo explaining his and Walt's storied past.

I could justify posting this to my art blog by pointing out that I did a serviceable photo manipulation job; at the photocall I was actually seated in front of a plain wall on a plastic chair.

I could reinforce this picture's value as a portfolio piece by pointing out the fact that I sourced a copyright-free public domain image to use as the background, so as not to cause the production any potential problems or costs.  I could then invite the viewer to hunt down and examine the aspects of the original I had to manipulate to get a usable background.

But I won't do any of that.  Instead, I'll just announce that this will probably be the most awesome photo I'll ever appear in and leave it here.

Mojave Phone Booth 196?-2000

In the late 1990s, certain corners of the Internet took notice of a strange anomaly in California’s Mojave desert: a lone phone booth, miles from civilization. The Mojave Phone Booth developed a strong following among telecom enthusiasts, phone phreaks, and other fans of odd cultural artifacts.  People called the booth for days on end hoping to talk to strangers wandering the desert, and pilgrimages to the booth itself became increasingly common.

The National Park Service, bothered by the effect of growing numbers of visiting telephone fans, eventually had the booth removed.  Its legacy lives on, with the booth and its story inspiring literature, film, and music as well as the continuing exchange of fond memories.

Acrylic on canvas, 7x5″.  From my series of paintings of historical telephones.

I'm rather proud of the doodles in this one. Plus, I have a logo now!

I seem to be settling into a "Ripley's Believe it or Not!" sort of feel for the WHOFAX illustrations, which I quite like.

Another fact from the archives, illustrated.

I've decided what to do with this Tumblr o'mine.

I already have a standard blog and a whole mess of other stuff.  The one type of blog I'd been thinking of starting but hadn't yet was a dedicated art blog.  So, that's what I shall do here.  I've been producing various things in various media all my life, and I now have this shiny new venue for it.  Woo and yay!

I begin this project with a simple digital self-portrait, inspired by the one Adrian Lamo uses as a logo in press releases he writes about himself in the third-person.  It was the first image ever created on my current graphics tablet, completed in about 30 minutes while looking at Lamo's pic and a small mirror for reference.

This plant did not come out looking like the photo on the seed packet.

I took some video of part of my rail commute and set it to the English-language cover of Yatta! I made recently; the result turned out surprisingly mellow.  More info and an MP3 download in the track's original post.

Captioned lyrics are included if you click through to YouTube.  Here's the direct YouTube link for embedophobes.

This goofy track has gotten a far kinder response here and elsewhere than I thought it would; thanks, Internet!  I shall have to do more musical things.

I did a rotten thing.

My current business card.  The design was slightly accidental; I was playing with some vintage photos of my ancestors to pass the time while trying to come up with a new business card design, when I realized the distraction I'd been fooling around with would be just the thing to use.  It's a bit more "me" than my previous business cards.  I'd like to think my late great-grandparents would approve.

Background skyline is adapted from this public domain image.

Printed on 3x2" cardstock, with glossy coating on the front and rounded corners.  The reverse is blank, the better for writing any additional information the situation may require.  The cards are also quite useful for getting old food out from between one's teeth, though I always make sure to not use my relatives' corners for that.

WARNING: Spoilers for the Doctor Who episode "Day of the Moon" ahead.

I really liked the nanorecorders from the episode.  I started wondering how cosplayers and such might emulate the special effect of the nanorecorder in a live setting, and thought of the UV-reactive invisible ink used in things like hand-stamps at concert venues and nightclubs.  This is a quick-and-dirty sketch of how such an idea might be put to work.

If you manage to make this effect work, please let me know!