World Record Postal Combo Project Submissions

Here are my submissions to the World Record Postal Combo Project.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/streetarthistory

My First Batch of Moo Cards!

These are my first batch of Moo cards. I'm quite pleased with them.

I have to admit to being a total skeptic when I first saw these "advertised". My thought was, why would I want to pay $20 for a pack of 100 half size business cards. (Apparently I'm not much of a trend spotter). Now that I have some of my own, I really like them. Since Moo cards are so tightly connected to flickr, the ease of which it is to have these cards printed is quite the incentive.

Here's the Moo site:
http://moo.com/products/minicards.php

Art Trade with Danny Mansmith

Stitching Detail

I've been looking forward to trading with Chicago based, Danny Mansmith for a very long, long time. He just sent me some amazing pieces art!

There's so much to enjoy about his work. His fabric wrapped dolls are so cool, his ability to draw with a sewing machine is astounding and his stitched flowers made from magazine pages is so unique.

Danny is a true original.

Art Trade with Tim Grimmer!

I just received these excellent ORIGINAL drawings from my buddy Tim Grimmer as part of our art trade.

Tim and I met in a college drawing class way back in 1990. At the time we were the two best artists in the class. So we had an informal competition each week to out-draw each other. Of course this "competition" was how I remember it. He may tell you he was unaware of any competition. If that's the case, then I'll have to embarrassingly admit defeat. After all I viewed him as a "threat" and if he didn't view me as a "threat" well then... he was the better artist. Maybe I should ask... or maybe I don't want to know.

Anyway, Tim and I are absolute polar opposites in personality, and over the years, very different artistically. Yet we speak a common "visual language" that keeps us connected all these years later.

So thanks Tim, I'm honored to have some of your original ink drawings in my collection.

Art Trade with Tricia Joy!

Tricia Joy (Patricia Anders) sent me an amazing painting along with a collection of giclee prints, note cards, some moos and a great little sculpture. I love seeing a large batch of her work in one place. It's fun to study her unhindered imagination.

Check out more of her amazing & imaginative art here:
www.patriciaanders.com

My ACEO Cards Now on ebay!

Over the last year or so I've experimented with creating ACEO cards. For those who may not know what ACEO cards are, ACEOs are known as Art Card Editions and Originals. These 2.5" x 3.5" cards are also referred to as Artist Trading Cards (ATC). These Small Format Art (SFA) pieces are created in a wide variety of media. For many they are extremely fun and affordable to collect. Anyway, I include them, from time to time, in my art trade packages. They've always been well received, so I thought I'd start posting small batches of them on ebay.

Below is a link to my current items up for bid. To check out the wide variety of ACEO cards available by other artists do a simple word search through ebay. There's a lot of artists doing some amazing work.
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZsammoart

Guerrilla Art - San Francisco

Seal Rock Wikipedia Entry


Golden Gate Park Wikipedia Entry


Playland at the Beach Wikipedia Entry


The Bear at the Cliffhouse

Here's a batch of guerrilla art my Flickr buddy Danny B placed around San Francisco. He was kind enough to take photos of where he placed them. The locations he placed them are all within a quarter mile from his home. Danny B was also kind enough to send a list of links specific to where he placed the art. (Links are located under each photo).

Art Trade with NKDBY

I received this AMAZING stenciled canvas from NKDBY! 18"x24" of serious canvas goodness!!

Be sure to check out more of NKDBY's art and photos here.
www.flickr.com/photos/nakedboy/

Here's the 12"x16" acrylic on canvas painting I sent his way.

Sweepstakes Experiment

It's been a busy 8 weeks of art trades (pics to come), guerrilla art drawings and preparing for the Art Hop. As a result I've been on the verge of artistic burn-out. So I decided to put down the brushes and pens for awhile and immerse myself in something completely different. And that something different is the world of online sweepstakes! Granted, I rarely if ever participate in any contests, online or otherwise so this is very new to me. However, I figured filling out a dozen or so online entry forms a night would be pretty mindless, and it could be fun if I win something. Well it didn't take long, I just won free milk for one year. Yep, four days after I began this little experiment I've already won. Apparently all I need to do to claim my prize is fill out the provided affidavit, have it notarized and that's it. It also looks as if I can opt for the cash option which I believe to be somewhere around $180+

Guerrilla Art - New Zealand

Here's a batch of guerrilla art heading to Nelson, New Zealand. New Zealand has been on my list of places I'd like to send art... needless to say, I'm pretty excited about this batch.

Pastel Drawing on Braille Schwans Catalog

I was researching Schwan's Frozen Food products, when I noticed you could sign up for their Braille food catalog. Being curious I signed up.

When I got it, it was a spiral bound, 60+ page, completely Braille booklet. Since I don't read Braille and the texture was intriguing, I thought it might be good for pastel drawings.

http://www.schwans.com/customerService/CustomerServiceContactUs.aspx?tb=6&SubjectCode=7

Stone Age Logo

Here's a "logo" I did a lifetime ago. I'd say sometime around 1991 or 1992. Long Before I knew anything about computers, quark, Illustrator etc. Now it's immortalized in rock.

In a way it's sort of symbolic given I created it in the "stone age"...


(This rock can be seen at Scotts Mill County Park - Kalamazoo County)

Guerrilla Art - Barcelona, Spain

I recently received an email from an individual living near Barcelona, Spain. She generously offered to place some guerrilla art around her neighborhood for me. This is the batch of Sharpie drawings that's heading her way. (Since she's so kind, she gets to keep a few for herself.)

Kalamazoo Art Hop This Friday!

Here's a sneak peek of my art exhibit at the Copy Cup for this Friday's (Oct 5th) Kalamazoo Art Hop. (Special Thanks to Cory van De Griend for the interior photos).

I've also included some publicity photos of a few of my cardboard paintings. I'll be offering nearly 40 cardboard paintings for sale at reasonable prices opening night. A number of my paintings on canvas will be for sale as well.

I won't be attending the show but that's certainly no reason not to enjoy some great coffee and art.

Here are the links to the Copy Cup and The Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo. http://www.thecopycup.com/
http://http://www.kazooart.org/calendar/index.asp?id=19405/

Furnace Filter Painting

Thought I'd try painting on a furnace filter. Doesn't hold enough paint to make the surface opaque. However, the appearance changes dramatically against different colored walls. Definitely a fun experiment... I included it in my Art Hop exhibit at the Copy Cup on October 5th... (see previous post).

New Batch of Paintings

These paintings and more will be on display during the Kalamazoo Art Hop at the Copy Cup starting October 5th. http://www.thecopycup.com/

Bottle Return Gallery

Here's some of my art hanging in the "Bottle Return Gallery" in Scotts, Michigan. (Actually it's the back wall of a convenience store). It is, by far and away, my favorite gallery.

That being said, these paintings and more will be hanging at http://www.thecopycup.com/ in downtown Kalamazoo the month of October. This is part of the Kalamazoo Art Hop put on by the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo.

Peeps® Armada

Every year at work, for the past 5+ years, we've celebrated the arrival of spring with the flushing of a Peeps down the toilet. This year the annual Peeps Flush didn't seem as exciting. As a result we decided to try and do something different. After months of trying to think of something clever to do with them, we were greeted by a huge puddle behind our office. And so was born a new tradition... the Peeps Armada. (Unfortunately only one of the Peeps sails remained in tact).

Girl Face Drawrings

Some recent drawings. A few with some quick color added.

Austria Guerilla Art

I haven't posted for awhile since I've been in the process of moving. Now that I'm somewhat settled, here are a few guerrilla art pieces that made their way to Vienna, Austria.

Scotts Mill Antique Tractor Show Photos

New tractor tire close up



Went to the 16th Annual Scotts Mill Antique Tractor Show today. I think I've been to about 6 of them over the years. I'd have to say I'm not into tractors or anything old timey but it's a great excuse to eat at the "Stop & Squat Food Spot"... nothing like dried out hamburgers, cheetos, Snickers bars and cokes... ahhh Heaven on earth.

Libraryman Character Illustrations

Here's a couple character illustrations I did for Libraryman. Libraryman (aka Michael porter) is a library maverick/advocate who gives presentations on online social networking as it relates to libraries.

Here's his blog for all you library types:
libraryman.com/blog/

New Painting - Style Departure

My house had a gas leak recently. In spite of my potential premature death by explosion I decided to doodle a bit before I met my maker, or before I met Earl, the gas man (which ever came first). Fortunately, Earl, the gas man came first.

Because my life was spared, I had a sudden invigoration of creativity and decided to turn my doodle into a painting. It just so happens, it fits well with illustration friday's "twist" topic.

REJECTion at the Post Office

Whenever I take mail to the local post office to have weighed, I'm frequently at the mercy of one particular postal lady. She has an insatiable need to absolutely dominate every customer she has to "serve".

Her favorite bullying technique includes leaning over the service counter so no one can lay their packages down. She then proceeds to give disapproving glances while eyeballing the TO and FROM addresses. She'll then begrudgingly grab your mailer and inspect every square inch of it. If she finds ANYTHING "wrong" with it she'll either REJECT it and send you to the back desk to fix it or she'll just say "I don't think the post office will accept this... but we'll try".

Ice Cream Cartons

These microscopic elements are the 400 ice cream cartons I've worked on in the last two years.

I've been designing/laying out ice cream cartons for nearly 9 years. Lately I've been curious about how many I may have worked on over the years. Rough estimates put the number easily over 1000 possibly closer to 2000. Surprisingly, I've never gotten bored working on them.

Ben Carter is THE MAN!!!

Pictures credited to State Police Trooper Mark Kassuba and WoodTV 8


This is an amazing story! I heard about it on my local news last night and started seeing the story circulating on the internet today. Since it happened in nearby Paw Paw, MI I thought I'd post it here.

The gist of the story is, this guy's wheelchair accidentally gets lodged in the grill of a semi-truck. The driver is unaware and commences to drive down the highway for nearly 5 miles going upwards of 50mph. I won't divulge much more so you can watch the video and read the article for yourselves. (It has a very happy ending)
http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6623359

Coincidentally, as I was typing this post, my sister called and mentioned she was one of the people who checked on his condition at the hospital. I thought that was pretty cool.