Education Through Bubbles

I found this comic in the paper quite a while ago and I thought you all would find it just as interesting as I did. What do you think? 

On Creative Work (and getting it done!)

In the same vein of thought as my post Breathe Out last April, I just found this article on creative productivity: j.mp/17tEcyn

It's talking about the kind of work discipline that I'm struggling but aspiring to adhere to right now in grad school. It's definitely the tough-love attitude I need to have with myself right now. 

The piece includes quotes like this one from Chuck Close: “Inspiration is for amateurs — the rest of us just show up and get to work.”

What is the Purpose of Education?

What do you all think? 

I think this video really sums up how I feel about it...

Remember my map/book?

A long time ago, I shared with you my newly-created map/book of Crater Lake: http://cafeeffervescence.blogspot.com/2012/03/dear-bloggies-i-thought-i-would-share.html

Now, I've decided to take on the challenge of creating a more easily reproduced version of the book... So I can share it with a wider audience... So you can have one and share it with more people! (not in a collecting material stuff way, but in a sharing the ideas within the piece way). It's such a tactile item that photos and video just don't do it justice.  The final version must and will have a narrative/message beyond just its coolness as a physical thing.

So, visit the blog at bathymetricbook.blogspot.com and go 'like' the "Making Of" video on YouTube!

This is all in preparation for presenting about this project at a cartography conference in October.

p.s. You should definitely tell me what your overall impression is of the project and the way I'm presenting it, especially if you're confused about something. It's hard for me to have an outside perspective on the whole thing.

Arduino

I'm taking a course in the art department this semester called "Interactive Objects and Environments." One of the first things we're covering is basic electronics and Arduino.  Arduino is a little board set up with input and output jacks that you program to do something... you can attach sensors as inputs and motors, lights, etc. as outputs. You write a simple program, and it executes that logic. 

Here is my Arduino setup: 

The Arduino is the blue circuit board near the top. It's small enough to sit in the palm of my hand.

 It has a thick, black cable plugged in that's coiled on the right side of the photo- that's a USB cable, which is connected to my computer. It is used to upload the program to the Arduino and to supply the Arduino with power. After I've uploaded the program, I could switch that to a USB wall plug, and the Arduino will still retain the uploaded program... If I want to change what it's doing, I change and save the program on my computer, then re-upload to the Arduino. 

The object near the bottom is a small Servo motor, which is a black box with a white disc attached (you can see the round white disc). There's a motor inside which simply rotates the disc. The Arduino connects to it via the red, black and yellow wires and sends signals to the motor to tell it to rotate or pause. 

The white semi-circle is a paper dial that I've taped onto the body of the motor, and the black trapezoid with cutout is taped to the rotating disc. 

Now, here's what I've done so far with this setup...

It's a tradition/convention when you are learning to write computer code that the first thing you try is to make the program write the words "Hello World." So, I created a "Hello World" program for my Arduino + Servo motor assembly... 

I chose an interesting anagram of Hello World to display on the dial: "droll whole." (droll: curious or unusual in a way that provokes dry amusement. Amusingly odd or whimsically comical. While you may have seen it used to mean 'dull,' that doesn't seem to be an official meaning, according to Grammarist).

While I chose it mostly because it made more sense than anagrams like "doll her owl", I think we can still find some artistic meaning in its use... I see it as a comment on the entire exercise; the "hello world" tradition could be seen as droll in the way it anthropomorphizes the computer. Or perhaps it's the computer's opinion on the world to which it's said hello...

Please suggest any other interpretations you come up with!

The Fearsome Lights!

Before you can fully understand my latest art project, you first must understand something.

Through various fan forums, I've been rediscovering a lot of 90's cartoons and becoming a fan of a lot of them. One of my favorites is...

DWD had several quirky and memorable villains, and at one point, it teamed up five of the fan favorite recurring villains into a team known as the "Fearsome Five" (an obscure DC comics reference).

And I love every one of these guys. Especially Megavolt, the spacey and insane technopath. There was a long story in which I put together a $200 cosplay of him once...anyway, because of this, when I found several glass sculptures at Crafts Direct shaped like lightbulbs (which Megsy collects in canon), I had the idea to get five and paint them to reflect the Fearsome Five. A friend encouraged me to do the project, and it's probably one of the most ambitious and unique pieces of fanart I've ever done.

I present to you the Fearsome Lights.

I'll first post a pic of who it's supposed to represent followed by what I painted.

Megavolt

Reginald Bushroot

The Liquidator

Negaduck

Quackerjack

My next acrylic project will be original content, but a little more complex. I have some old cigar boxes a friend gave me to revamp, and I want to play with rhinestones some more. So you can eventually look forward to seeing more from my acrylics work!

...

Oooo-kaaaay, because I know some of you want to see it...

Re-covering a notebook

I thought I would share this bit of craftiness with you...
I have this cheap little hardcover notebook, which I've been using for general project, meeting, and life notes. It began to fall out of its cover, and I think it's a little tacky, despite the skydiving theme, so I decided to repair it while also re-covering it...

I used a scrapbooking paper that I wasn't especially attached to, but had a fun pattern and good color. For the spine, I used a dark-blue, thin, plushy-velvety material backed with paper, which I also bought in the scrapbook papers. This was the first time I'd used it, and I recommend it. It glues very well and has a great texture. 

I repaired the text-block in my home-made book press: 

The end-sheets, which are glued to the inside of the cover and help hold the text-block in, are the same paper as the cover... it comes with a different print on each side. 

...and now my old, falling apart notebook feels completely new! 

Ramadan!!

Hey everyone, hope you all are well. Ramadan, my favorite time of year is here :D Just thought I would share with you all :) If any of you are up to the challenge, perhaps you can fast with me for a day or more :)

This video is targeted towards a Muslim audience, but I thought I would share it to you so that you could briefly see what the importance of Ramadan is for us :)

I Painted This

Again, just posting some art I did. I like to buy wooden boxes and the like (I have also received some as gifts) and paint them with acrylics. This is my latest and the biggest I've done. I experimented here with stencils (the fleurs-de-lys and the other swirly patterns) and wood glue (the rhinestones).

The Future of Books

Karolyn! Check this out! Doesn't it remind you of what we were discussing yesterday? :|

Top Eleven Literary Villains

A couple days ago, I made a list of my top eleven villains from books. I thought maybe I should post it here because we're all kind of book people.

Girl Scout Cookies

At Long Last: The Drag Pictures!

Apologies for not being around here a lot - I haven't thought of much inspiring stuff to say.

However, I do have a follow-up to the post I made about drag a while back, and that follow-up is...I HAVE PICTURES!

I consider this equal to posting an art project.

This is the outfit set from Hysteria:

And from Uprising:

(At this point, my fedora flies off, so I chuck it into the crowd, remove the pantyhose holding my hair back, and finish the song with my real hair out)