Tuesday, April 28, 2009

#180

Here’s the art…finally.

So…this newsletter is going out a little late this week. We had a few pieces that weren’t quite finished on Sunday, so I wanted to wait for them to all be done and listed today before I pestered you. One of the auctions that started today is for the “Dancy Pants Trio”. I think this may be the first time that we ended up naming the finished art piece after the name we had given the pattern. Yes, we name our pattern shapes so that Jo and I can talk about what we’re going to make and have a common vocabulary to do so. Other pattern names include: Sprout, Stumpy, Long Tall Sally, and Mini-Weird Bunny. As you can see, we cut to the chase on naming these things after their attributes. Now that I think about it, Jo and I do this for people around town too…especially when we don’t know their names. Mr. Green Jeans and Faux-Hawk come to mind. I wonder what people are calling me. Freckles? Curly? Short Pants McGee?

-Dylan

Sunday, April 19, 2009

#179

Howdy, all.
Here’s the art…


Today is my birthday. Notice the lack of exclamation points. If I went by years, I’d be 36 today. But I prefer to gauge youth and age by a more accurate unit of measurement…crazy eyebrow hairs. I’m at the stage now where I have them, but still do something about them. Once a man loses the will to fight them, he might as well join the rest of the owls in the military history section of the bookstore.

I spent a couple of days this week working on a music video for some friends of mine that travel around playing gigs as an acoustic duo. I wanted them to have a video to show club owners who might want to book them, and I also wanted to give my new HD camera and editing program a test run before I shoot my own music video. I got some natural light bulbs, some white foam boards, and dismantled an old electric drum kit to build the light stands.


We shot the performance from several angles, then I edited them together to hopefully make it look like a single performance. Here ‘tis…
(don’t forget to hit the HD button on youtube’s video player if your internet speed permits)

See you next week…

-Dylan

Sunday, April 12, 2009

#178

Hello, all.
Here’s the art. We were busy this week…

I’m still working on some odds and ends of my music video that need engineering before I can shoot it. The other day, I took the brake cables off a rusty old bike and connected them to the puppet drummer’s feet, so that you can control the bass and high hat pedals from backstage. Here’s a short behind-the-scenes video I made after finishing the first foot…
I used my new high definition camera to shoot that video, and I obviously have some experimenting to do to get the colors to look more vibrant. But if your internet speed permits, you can choose HD down in the toolbar.
I also made a black shirt, hood, and gloves for my son to wear while he operates the drummer puppet for me. I thought that my doll sewing skills would cross over into making clothes, but I was mistaken. Let’s just say it’s a good thing that the purpose of the outfit is to not be seen.

-Dylan

Monday, April 6, 2009

#177

Hello, taxpayers.
Here's the art…



Yes, friends, it's tax time again…the one time of year when making money is a bad thing. Here are a few ideas for the "occupation" line on your 1040.
1. Whistler
2. Mismanager
3. Potato Sack Test Pilot
4. Thumb Wrestler
5. Artist

Use a crayon for added effect or send pictures of yourself mailing it to cause further confusion. They can’t get us all!

-Dylan