Inspired by Return of the Jedi and Full Metal Jacket.
Category: Art
Hodor
Sunday’s Game of Thrones episode was pretty emotional.
In my post-episode dive into the internet to find out as much as possible I found this awesome story: https://ventrellaquest.com/2014/04/20/got-got/
So Monday I started working on this:
Thanks for reading!
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Print
What can I say, I love vector landscapes and movies. I have a new print at my shop and they are doing free shipping all weekend!
Cyber Monday Merch Post
Being that it’s cyber monday and you might be trolling around the internet looking for Christmas gifts I thought now would be a good reminder of my store at society6.com where I just added a new piece: 
I’ve affectionately named him Grand Moff Stardust and you can find prints, throw pillows, phone cases and other things all at the store.
Excuses
Sadly, I do not have a new travel poster to show off today. I knew this day would come, actually I’m surprised I kept pumping out those travel posters as fast as I did. As the title indicates I have been very busy between interviews, coaching and test projects but those are just excuses; I drained the well for non-earth subjects at the moment. Maybe next week I’ll have some more. For this weeks three posts I’m going to show off some other works while I try to get a new project going. Most recent in my freelance endeavors was the chance to do a painting.
The client wanted the forest moon of Endor but didn’t want it to be overtly Star Wars fan wankary. I’m coming down to the finish line on this so I thought I’d share it now. I’d love some input on how to incorporate Star Wars imagry with subtly.
Thanks for look!
With my last breath I curse my 2002 ford escort
Last week I put together my highlight reel of 2011. I have to be honest, in doing so there was definitely a note of melancholy. My outlook on 2012 was not all that bright. I had no job, no car and no prospects of anything changing any time soon. I’m here today to tell you my outlook has improved a lot in the last 7 days. While I still do not have a career to speak of, I am starting to get freelance inquiries and I am once again full tilt in the hunt for jobs. The death of my POS ford escort, and a small loan from mom, lead me to a beautiful 1999 burgundy Toyota Tacoma 4×4. I spent a bunch of time brushing up on html/css. It turns out I know more than I thought, so if you need someone to maintain your site I am your man. Finally, I’m mere hours away from having a working Buffalo Shirt screen print so get your Paypal accounts ready because I’m going into business. With how busy I’ve been this week I kind of forgot to put together an article for my blog so here is a self-portrait, a link, a quote, and a list:
Something that helps me stay motivated. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ResTHKVxf4
Creative Fields joke of the week:
There’s an old joke about a musician who has a band that plays weddings and parties. He gets asked last-minute to play a Saturday night wedding but the bride-to-be scoffs at his price.
The musician says, “I’ll tell you what: you call six union plumbers and ask them what it would cost to come out to your house and work on something for seven hours on a Saturday night. I’ll play your wedding for half that.”
Blake’s List
Silk Screen’s purchased: 3
Silk Screen’s ruined: 1
Times I put the negative on the screen upside down or backwards: 2
Girls Alex should have got a phone number from: … never mind that’s too vague
Girls Alex obviously should have got a phone number from: 1
How awesome the Poop Deck is: so awesome
How I’m doing on my Steam Sale video game backlog: I played tf2 instead. What can I say, I love hats.
Coolest thing I saw someone else do: Cyclops Rock “Optimism”
WHAT NO WOOT POST?
Woot took this week off but I didn’t!
Today I finished my first painting in ~5 years.
It’s an acrylic on 14″ x 22″ canvas inspired by The Right Stuff, a best-selling book by Tom Wolf most widely recognized by the 1983 movie. The movie follows man’s journey from breaking the sound barrier to America’s early space missions. Both the book and movie do a great job of avoiding the easy route of cold war era chest pounding patriotism instead focusing on the personality, brilliance and guts of the men that pushed the envelope in an era where limits were being broken. In this context Chuck Yeager holds a unique position. Yeager was the first man to break the sound barrier in an experimental Airforce plane called the X-1. Although this accomplishment was considered a military secret everyone knew and it established Yeager as a benchmark for every test pilot of the time. The men who eventually became world-famous as the Mercury 7 idolized Yeager as the undisputed champion of “the right stuff.” What really makes the whole movie and make me think of Yeager instead of Glenn or Shepard or any of the other astronauts is something Dennis Quaid, who played Gordon Cooper, says at the end of the movie.
Watch out for the possibly nsfw fan dance, but what are you doing watching a half hour of a movie there anyway
Skip to 6.08 to see Cooper but watch the whole thing because the ending of The Right Stuff is what make the movie brilliantly about the men, not their accomplishments. It is also the source of inspiration for my painting:
It’s a great movie and worth watching.
No list this week, just some links:
Hark a Vagrant or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Kate Beaton: http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=327
In case you weren’t stoked enough: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eauhBVERNrU&feature=share
You know how I talked about Mitch Clem a couple weeks ago, well his new comic might just be my new favorite. In case you didn’t know I’m a pretty big Raffi Against Me! fan and Baby I’m an Anarchist is on of my favorite songs by them. Anyway, check it/them/my old post out.
In other news, I’m moving to Norway
Acrylics
I don’t really have anything to write this week. I worked a couple of days finishing the window install and between jury duty and the job search the week kind of got away from me. In other news I did start doing some painting for the first time in a while.
Here’s a snapshot:
Burger of the week:
I went to a restaurant called Stacked in the Del Amo Mall. It was a strange experience. The burger was undeniably delicious and, as you can see from the picture, beautiful, but it was expensive. I wouldn’t mind the price but I felt I was paying for the abstract art on the walls and ordering off the ipad menu. The whole thing gave off the vibe of a restaurant in a late 90s romantic comedy, some place trying to be trendy and doomed to be out of business in two weeks. On the other hand, thick cut applesmoked bacon and thin cut deep fried onions…
Quote of the week:
“George Lucas hired Harrison Ford who was installing cabinets in his kitchen, his acting career being considered a failure at that point.
Just to show you, succes can lie in a dark corner, brooding and thinking to itself: “soon”.”
Best description of a nuclear explosion ever:
I think we can all agree with Colbert on this one, it never gets old.
