A few weeks ago, I received a rather interesting email request from Bobby Solomon at Kitsune Noir. Instead of describing the content, I’ll let Bobby tell you in his own words. The last line is the best!!!

My name is Bobby and I run a blog called Kitsune Noir.
Through the blog I run a project called The Desktop Wallpaper Project, where I ask artist and designers to create wallpaper sfor people’s computers. These are given away every Wednesday in a ton of different sizes including iPhone and PSP to people looking for a change to their desktop.

I was curious if you’d be intrested in creating something for the project?
I’ve loved your work for… probably years now, definitely since you first started popping up.
But I’ve had a couple beers so I thought I’d email you and see if you’d do it?

Who could turn down a request like that? Thus the creation of INFECTIOUS. I sat down last night and rendered all of the requested sizes and then double-checked to make sure that I hadn’t forgotten any (a not-so-uncommon reality). I was quite surprised to see it posted so quickly today!

If you choose to download INFECTIOUS, I hope you enjoy it. It’s the least I can do for everyone who has supported my work—both online and off. Yes, I did this for the sake of good karma. Also know that this image will never be available in print form. This is a gift, so do with it as you see fit.

Unlike a lot of artists who view the internet as a venue for digital shoplifiting and income loss, I feel that the number of honest people is significantly larger than those who are not. That said, if you choose output the image, do so prudently and, above all, MAKE SURE THE COLOR IS RIGHT!.

In February, I mentioned that I was invited to participate in a group show at 1000 eventi gallery in Milan. Yesterday, I received a series of installation photos taken of the exhibition. I was thrilled to see that I shared a space with Andrea Mastrovito. His cut flower garden installation made from books is absolutely astounding. In the previous post, I poked fun at him for “stepping on my toes”. Perhaps I sounded offended or ‘put-off’. If I did, then I need to choose my words more carefully in the future. I am a huge fan of Mastrovito’s work. It’s smart, multi-layered, delicate and, most importantly, crafted in a similarly obsessive style (which I fully embrace). It’s terrific to know that other artists share the same love for paper as I do. Watch for Mastrovito’s next show at Foley Gallery (NY).

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I will be at Art Chicago on Sunday (May 3) to sign copies of my book at the Aperture booth (#12-653). The event is scheduled to begin at 1pm.

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“You opened us up to a world we never knew existed!”

— Clare Buchs

Just one of the many things I learned at Design Ranch

With the lingering scent of BBQ on my fingers and the smell of campfire on my jacket, I’m doggone happy to report that Design Ranch No. 8 was phenomenal. I’m also sad to say that it’s over (insert dry wind audio and tumbleweed visual here).

Three of my fellow ranchers and I arrived after a 2-hour van ride from San Antonio just as the low-tech (imagine large transparencies and a classic overhead projector)/high energy keynote presentation by Ranch Bosses Kelly Stevens and Kellie Toombes got underway. I no sooner had my registration packet in my hand when I heard my name followed by “I don’t think he’s here yet.” Without a moment to spare, I doubled-timed it up the steps into the dining hall and shouted, “I’m here!”  The applause was loud and humbling as I shucked my backpack and stepped up to accept my kick-ass belt (with horsey buckle and monogram) from Kelly. I received an additional award of 25 cents for my ‘perfect timing’ (though in retrospect, that award should have gone to our van driver who had to stop and visit the privy on the way—thus delaying our arrival). For a brief moment, I felt like the biggest toad in the puddle!

Oh yeah, I’m still wearing it! BONUS—the buckle can hold a silver dollar.

After grub (insanely delicious), I moseyed on over to the hospitality room. It’s there that I met screen printing wizard hotshot deity wunderkind master boy wonder, Jay Ryan of The Bird Machine and his equally talented wife, Diana Sudyka. Both were (and still are) super nice SUPER NICE and I enjoyed the time we spent together. Better still – they live @2 hours from me so you can bet we’ll be seeing each other again soon.

(courtesy Kelly Stevens)

Jay’s HOT DAMN-IT’S CAKE (courtesy Kelly Stevens)

Diana’s HILLBILLY UNICORN (courtesy Katharine Bobbitt )

I also met Geof Peveto and Christian Helms of The Decoder Ring Design Concern, the masterminds behind the Design Ranch No. 8 identity. Smart design mixed with sharp humor and jaw-dropping visuals.

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Friday morning found me looking for ‘Round Up’—the site chosen to host my 3 workshops. I wandered a bit and then saw a directional marker with my name on it. However, it was pointing toward a tree, which has me thinking about how fun it would have been to build a treehouse rather than tearing up flattened wood pulp! With a full room, sharp knives, tasty tomes and eager fingers, we saddled up and got down to work.

(courtesy Kelly Stevens)

Look at how well they pay attention

(courtesy of  Sabrina Vega)

After divulging the Secrets of the Knife (along with a variety of ways to flush the angry varmints from their covers), I stood back and watched the magic unfold. Many have heard this already, but I’m going to say it again: The results were astounding. Everyone (and I do mean EVERYONE) wowed me by creating the illusion of 3D from the 2D characters that were given to them (I handed out the books with no real method to my madness other than having fun by heightening the suspense).

I have to admit that I was more nervous than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rockers because I didn’t think one-book-per-person would be enough, but I was purring with delight when my posse started putting books together to create their own tall tales. That’s when I realized that they truly got it! The other two workshops went just as well.

Since I had no room for my new Nikon, I brought my tired, old Coolpix point-and-shoot and wound up with more bad pictures than good. Fortunately, many of my new friends have generously agreed to share their pictures:

(courtesy Matt Fangman)

(courtesy Matt Fangman)

(courtesy  Matt Fangman)

(courtesy  Matt Fangman)

(courtesy Kelly Stevens)

This is hilarious! (courtesy Kelly Stevens)

(courtesy Maya Lee)

(courtesy of Aaron Gibson)

Doesn’t Blair look as sweet as a desert flower? (Matthew Sturtevant)

(courtesy Clare Buchs)

(courtesy Clare Buchs)

Following a brief (and unplanned) nap after lunch, I hustled over and crashed  Grace (Ready Made) Hawthorne’s Sweater Ready workshop. Two hours later, I had a new pair of hats made from felted wool.

(courtesy of Lauren Mulkey)

However, my daughter looks a lot cuter in them than I do:

The word ‘adorable’ does not come to mind when I wear these

Saturday’s finale included music under the stars. This was preceded by a silent auction that included several pages from the official Design Ranch No. 8 handbook—’dirtied’ specially by me (they sold for $50). :

Swinging and cutting (courtesy Kim Schlossberg)

Kelly badgers James Victore (courtesy Kelly Stevens)

(courtesy Jason Puckett)

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(courtesy of Aaron Gibson and Kelly Stevens)

Thank you again to Blair Richardson and Kelly Stevens who twisted my arm to do this over a year ago. Actually, it only took 1 email (each) to convince me!!! Judy Schulz took it from there and had me chugging the Design Ranch Kool-Aid months before I got there (mmmm BBQ flavor!) Oh, and don’t forget:

• Always drink upstream from the herd
• Never drop your gun to hug a grizzly.
• Never kick a cow chip on a hot day.
• Never slap a man who’s chewing tobacco.
• There are more horses asses than horses.

Tomorrow morning will find me on a plane bound for San Antonio, TX. From there it’s a 2 hour ride to the Waldemar Guest Ranch—the oldest operating girl’s camp in the nation—to teach a hands-on, 2D-t0-3D workshop at AIGA|Austin’s DESIGN RANCH 8. If you’re going, be ready to earn your merit badge in the fine art of X-acto wrangling.

This has been simmering for a while and it’s finally time to take the lid off.

More work from my students at Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University. In Progress [I], the goal was to construct and photograph a situation or tableau that occupied a relatively small space. This time around, the class was forced to look far beyond the tabletop. The challenge was to modify (not vandalize) an interior or exterior space and photograph the results. City streets; apartment bathrooms, bedrooms and livingrooms; attics, basements, woods and waterways were all temporarily modified. The following students have been kind enough to allow me the opportunity to share what they’ve created. More will be posted as it becomes available. Take a look and you will understand why I will miss this group when school ends in two weeks.

ANDREW—Pac-Man chalked onto the streets of downtown Grand Rapids.

JENNIFER—Paper being.

BROOKE—Basement space becomes space.

LACEY—Attic transformation

KRISTEN—1 bathroom | 30 pounds of peas!

Coming soon: The Constructed Portrait

ALICE—

Sixty years. Can you believe it?

I’ll be honest – I should have posted this 7 months ago. To say that I’m embarrassed by the oversight is an understatement! Move back the date to when I was initially asked to do this and my tardiness comes in at just under a year.

So, without further ado, I am pleased to (finally) announce a limited-edition, 20″ x 16″ (unmounted) print created especially for Aperture—SUSPENDED, 2008. Chosen from a list of 3, SUSPENDED pictures two voluptuous co-eds turning on the charm while turning up the heat in an effort to land the role of teacher’s pet. The edition size is 4o and at last check, over half were gone. However, the current price leads me to think that even fewer prints are left.

SUSPENDED is only available through Aperture so when it’s gone, it’s gone. Hurry—the bell’s about to ring!

The new Jane Hamiliton novel is finally available! No, this is not a book review—just a cover story!  This is one of two different illustrations that I created (part of my agreement) for Laura Rider’s Masterpiece (the cover layout you see here is the first proof). The other cover image is going to remain a mystery for now (it may be used for the paperback edition). The entire process was a blast and working with Anne Twomey at Hachette Book Group USA was a real treat—extremely nice and very funny.

I read the manuscript (yes, I liked it), and put together a handful of digital composites. Early on,  Anne had this vision of Laura Rider being Snow White-like with birds fluttering around her head and fauna scampering at her feet.  After seeing the samples, she decided that it wasn’t going to work. I agreed.

With the field narrowed down to two I located, ordered, cut, arranged and photographed the books. Once the high-resolution scans were uploaded, I sat back and did what I always do—worried about whether or not they would be rejected. Sure, it’s ridiculous and irrational (I’ve yet to disappoint anyone), but I can’t help it. To illustrate just how illogical my thinking can be, I offer the email that I received from Anne a few days later:

I’m such a worry wort sometimes all of the time.