Recent t-shirt concepts.

Self-portrait
pencil

I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel of what I've produced recently. Here's another doodle I made, and the first watercolor I've ever done. I don't especially like the watercolor, I think it started with a bad drawing, but that's life. Now I'm going to have to start plugging away at making new art.

For my next screeprinting project, I've designed several white on black images at the request of my friend Victor.

The first image is a portrait of sci-fi author/psychedelic shut-in/Nixon hater Philip K. Dick. The line "the empire never ended" is repeated over and over in the book Valis, and sums up PKD's belief that the Roman empire still literally exists, changed only cosmetically, still just as oppressive as it was 2000 years ago.

Which is the more effective caption?

This is a screenprinted t-shirt I made last week. This particular piece isn't my own drawing, it comes from illustrator Sam Weber's website. I chose this beautiful, elegant image to learn the screenprinting process, of which my friend Jess showed me the ropes.

Detail of the shirt

warpsmith is now my art blog, not a livejournal as I've used it in the past. Still no friendlist, but if you'd like to tune in and give me feedback, that would be swell. I plan on making and posting a new piece of art as much as once a day, and I'll try to establish some discipline in this way.

I think I'll start with a doodle I recently made.

For reasons I don't want to explain here, I'm closing this livejournal. In the end, my participation in LJ has been more destructive than creative for me, and it's better to just stop altogether than to continue posting rare and impersonal entries. I'm deleting my friendlist rather than the journal itself, because I don't want to lose a few things I've made here that I am genuinely proud of. Please don't take the deletion personally, I just don't want the temptation to spend any more time on LJ reading my f-list.

If you know me personally, then you know how to reach me. Take care.

If you rub Jesus on your head, your hair will stand up on end.

I saw this driving home from work.

WHAT?!

Here's a follow-up to last week's LOOTING 2 THE X-TREME post.

Does anyone know where I can fence a baby?

This is regarding your story on Jabbor Gibson, the man who saved 100 people with an abandoned schoolbus.

I believe this was incredibly irresponsible reporting with a clearly racist bent. How could your station actually run a story of such evident heroism and call it "an extreme act of looting" in the very first paragraph? There were other instances of odious bias in the online story as well as the news clip, such as calling the passengers "renegades" and using the word "admitting" to describe Jabbor's statement, as if it were an "admission" of guilt. Also, your reporter describes the act as "stealing" the bus without so much as a standard "allegedly". I'm not a lawyer, but I'm fairly certain taking abandoned property is salvage, not theft.

This piece made my skin crawl, and everyone I have shown it to has had the same reaction. The media's portrayal of black people in this crisis is becoming a major issue, and upon reading this report, there is no question as to why.

Who submitted this piece? Jimmy Olson, Cub Reporter?

Look what I found in my kitchen!

Seems that someone in my house OMG HATES AMERICA!
You know, aside from me. HAW!

!!!

Haha oh shit LOOTING 2 THE X-TREME!!!

So here's the story: An 18 year-old Nawlins kid jumps behind the wheel of an abandoned school bus and rescues 100 people, including an eight day-old newborn. Having never driven a bus before in his life, he gasses it for seven hours straight to the Houston Astrodome, whereupon the cops initially don't allow the victims entry because... wait for it... they're not "official"!

"I don't care if I get blamed for it, as long as I saved my people
...and this really sweet DVD player."

...now he prowls the badlands, an outlaw hunting outlaws, a bounty hunter... a RENEGADE.

mcbrennan on American Reichstag and The Destruction of New Orleans.

I hate the cult of 9/11. All hail 9/11! The alpha and omega! The answer to every question, the ultimate Orwellian rhetorical smackdown. It justifies every injustice, excuses any crime, stifles any dissent. It was a horrible day, true. Seven, eight large buildings were partially or totally destroyed, 3000 people were brutally killed. The psychological shock was awful. Malevolent men used our collective shock and fear to turn not only our country but the whole damn world on its ear, protected from all criticism by the magic equation 9/11, chanted like a mantra by our jug-eared Cheerleader In Chief.

mcbrennan

Zombie Phil want BRAINS!

...also wants zombie dog minions.

Faith Popcorn is the Nostradamus of Trends and the Oracle of Marketing! She has predicted Jesus Barbie and "foodaceuticals". WE HAVE WRITTEN HER A LETTER.

Dear Faith Popcorn,

I have seen the future, and it is WRAPAROUND SUNGLASSES. I live in sunny Sarasota Florida, and let me tell you, IT IS VERY BRIGHT HERE. Now you might ask yourself "why aren't regular old Ray Bans good enough? Huh?" Well, you have to understand that the sun gets into your eyes from the sides, and it suck-diddly-ucks! I have seen the old people wearing theses amazing contraptions on their heads for a long time, and it has yet to make it really REALLY huge with the youngsters. But I feel that this is about to change, considering that their is an enourmous* hole in the sky RIGHT OVER THE FREAKING ARCTIC. I'd attach a bar graph, but I'm sure that you are already aware of this environmental "TREND"!!!! HAW!

In any case, Faith, soon it's going to be extra bright, and we'll all want to protect our valuable cones and rods. This is going to be fabulous. I'd like to market these specialty sunglasses to the youth market, and I was hopinf that you'd consider bankrolling my project, and possibly working into your corporate consulting and oracular business seminars.

What do you think, ay?

Love,
Philip & Kelli.

Who's Michael Jackson?

P.S.

Sarasota residents!

The Brownstone Cafe is in danger of shutting down! It is one of the only watering holes in this city that is youth-friendly in a town otherwise overtly hostile to anyone that isn't fossilized and entombed in their Mercedes. It is a welcoming, friendly place that has played host to many music and art shows, and has always provided a pleasant meeting ground.

Sadly, the owner and soft-spoken barkeep, Earl, passed away last month, finally succumbing to brain cancer after a long battle. Earl is survived by a wife and two small children. This also leaves The Brownstone rudderless. Apparently, a group of businessmen are interested in purchasing The Brownstone and leaving it open, and in the interest of this happening, my friend Adam has started a petition to show these businessmen that there IS an interest in keeping the doors open.

Please, if you value The Brownstone Cafe, sign the petition and show your support in any way you can! Mention this in your own journal!

OH MY GOD. WHAT THE FUCK. BARBECUE.

Sylvester Stallone is directing a movie about the life of Edgar Allan Poe, from his own script. Not starring, though. GOD DAMN IT. I hope he follows it up with a self-penned Woody Allen biopic. Could anything possibly be better?

Today I got scammed by a traffic cop. I am absolutely certain it was a scam.

( NOT HAPPY WITH COPS RIGHT NOW. )

So how do I fight this guy in court? Is there any way I can get some evidence, like dispatch records (which might tell me whether or not there actually was an incident that the k-9 cop was rushing towards), to help my case? I mean, I'd probably be taking a big risk going to a judge and telling him that I think the cops are scamming people to fill ticket quotas. What do I do?

Are there cheap lawyers that handle cases like these? Should I just bend over and take it?

burkean, take a look at what just came out!



( It was evening here, But upon earth the very noon of night. )