Hyperbolic Logic

The term “starving artist” exists because for the most part it is true.  It is hard to make a living off of art, and supplies are expensive.  This is why the salvation army is so nice.  And not just for kitschy pieces like the seagull clock below that will impress your hipster friends.

Frames to me are insanely expensive, especially nice ones.  At Salvo you can save hundreds of bucks by purchasing framed photos or paintings.  It is hit or miss on having the correct size or style, but you can’t beat the prices.  The frame for my picture below would probably cost over $100 new, I got it for less than $12 at Salvo.

I didn’t like the natural wood color of it so I spray painted it flat black, then left it outside in the snow for a couple weeks to get a nice aged look.  Spending a little more time on it will yield a better color and finish if that is what you are going for.

Another possibility is painting directly on the print or photo that is inside the frame.  I bought this huge framed print of a seaside sunset for around 20 bucks.  I then used that as the background for a new scene I painted on.  Here is a picture of the work in progress with some random dude standing next to it

And the finished product, framed and ready to go.

With some imagination and inginuity you can make something out of all the tchotchkes littering the shelves.  I turned a small clock into an unhappy robot. 

I cut out pieces of plastic and mounted them to the various hands on the clock.  Strategically placed holes and facial features allow the face to change as the features rotate around the face.  The mouth changes, and one of the eyes changes from green to red to yellow.  I painted rivets on the side as well.  Some examples of the faces it makes as it spins around are below.

It basically looks like a robot getting more and more nauseous as it spins around.  Unfortunately the plastic battery holder is broken so it only works intermittently.  I’ll be picking up a new one from Radioshack soon.

So who wants to give me some money?  I need it because Juxtapoz Magazine is having a Charity Auction to raise money for the Power House Project of Detroit which buys and restores neglected houses in Detroit and makes them energy neutral.  There is a lot of great stuff for sale, including the original art for Snoop Dogg’s album cover, signed by Snoop himself.  Some examples of art for sale are below.

The album cover ^^^

Ryan McLennan

Catherine Brooks

Kehinde Wiley who has work up in the Milwaukee Art Museum

WK Interact

Eric Siador

This is my first post on this blog.  Yay!

I’m a 25 year old mechanical engineer, artist, musician, science and cat enthusiast living in Detroit.  I’ve always enjoyed the act of writing, and feel I do a good job at it, but haven’t had many opportunities to write about things I enjoy.  These days I mostly write reports about the results of tests and experiments I conduct at work.  It is somewhat interesting and I like creating well written concise reports, but nobody actually reads them.  I’m not sure anybody will read this either but hey at least what i write will be out there. 

I was apprehensive about getting a blog because I feel blogging, twitter, and facebook are deluding people into thinking they are the star of their own online reality show.  The result is a continuous flood of information on the dull minutiae of everyone’s daily lives.  The internet at its best connects people with similar interests and makes it easier to find information that would otherwise be hard to come by.  Everyone has some subject that they are an expert in, and blogs help people share their knowledge and experience with an audience who will be helped or inspired by that information.  I’m not going to make posts about the great sandwich I ate for lunch (besides this one) or whatever.  I’m going to post things that I know a lot about, and hopefully help or inspire people (and vice versa) along the way.

What is coming down the pipeline are posts about art, artists, making art, graphic design, music, creating music, interesting science or engineering things, environmental engineering, cars, the auto industry, etc.  I’m a huge musical omnivore and do a lot of research into various genres, bands, and their influences; so expect to see some reviews on CDs that I find important.   I’m also writing a series of articles called “The Guitar Hero, Not Dead but Underground” about modern day musicians that belong in the pantheon of guitar gods like Page, or Hendrix but are unknown by pretty much everyone. 

So, I got the stereotypically self conscious first blog post out of the way.  I hope you enjoy what I have to write.  And a big thanks to my Uncle Timm who put this whole thing together.  He has a lot of interesting blogs on everything from technology and web development to the beautiful nature preserves he owns, so check them out on the side bar.