Ice Sculpture Beer Mug, big pour four.

This amazing thing was made by an ice sculptor at big pour. If you are from/in pittsburgh and don't know what big pour is and like beer or construction click this link: big pour four.

Painting from Van Gogh's Wheat Fields After the Rains

Instead of getting done the things i need to get done this week I decided to stop by the Carnegie, photograph my favorites and try to do my own version of them. Here is my painting from looking at van gogh's wheat fields after the rain.This was done with Holbein Duo Aqua Oil paints on canvas. I am a big fan of this type of paint that is both water and oil soluble.

PAPA token scan.

This weekend is one of Pittburgh's greatest events. About 1million pinball machines open to the public only once a year. There is a tournament going on as well that I don't know much about. Also sweet tokens:

I don't have them all though some are more rare. At least two more I think. one has a clow.

Best machines IMHO:
1. Big Hurt. You always get about 3 or four extra balls. Sweet ramp to hit homeruns.
2. Midevil Madness.
3. Family guy. Mini pinball game inside the game.

4. Pang Pang Paradise. Some sort of amazing ?Korean? game where you throw balls at a touch screen.

some of my favorites from art all night 2010

Click to see them big.
Squid sculpture
Its (almost) never lupus

Art All Night 2010

Brodie and I just dropped off our art for Pittsburgh's amazing Art All Night Show.
ART ALL NIGHT
This year has a sweet location at the old iron city brewery.


Here are some photos of our two pieces.

This is a lost foam foam zinc casting. Click here for how I make lost foam with packing peanuts.

And Brodie's

This is a clay positive plaster investment zinc casting. Pretty much the same process as this belt buckle. A better photo post patina will be coming as soon as I get down to the show and take it.

Some other pieces I wanted to bring but could only bring one:
My crayon sculptures.
Lost wax jesus
The infamous tapsticles
the first lost foam bull

giant salvador dali curtain unfolded at carnegie museum. Theseus and minotaur.

and I am out of town. lame.

post gazette article

groucho marx pittsburgh quote in a night in casablanca

"This is like living in Pittsburgh.... if you can call that living." a night in Casablanca

Peace love and little donuts (feed your inner homophobe)

If you have not heard yet you may not wish to go to this place:

From his blog cache:
This crowd will not rest until Homosexuality is mainstream; until the Second Amendment is done away with; until abortion on demand is as common and accepted as going to the dentist; until sexual images and strip clubs line our streets and suburbs; until government education is started in the womb; until disagreement with their political party is "hate speech" and becomes a crime; until they pass the Fairness Doctrine and rid the county of Conservative talk radio; until they transfer our sovriegnty to the UN, etc. etc. etc.

All this from the owner of a store that claims to "feed you inner hippie." I think I would care less if it was less ironic.

Peace love and little donuts

all his blog posts

Barbara Remington lord of the rings poster, "wilderness" (how much is it worth)

I recently saw a copy of the 6' by 3' poster in a coffee shop.... amazing. made me feel the need to scan my copies of these books into the same scene.
I will likely never own a copy of that great poster
but maybe next time there is a good sale on large photo printing i will print this.
Click the photo to make it big enough so it looks good. These are my ballantine books 1968 21st printing editions of these books first printed in 1965.


To get a sense of the magnitude here is the poster at morning glory coffee shop in pittsburgh. if you live in pgh I definitely recommend this coffee shop.






I have one, how can I frame it?
How to frame a huge poster for about $20. here is the result of my framing effort.

How much should a lord of the rings Barbara Remington poster sell for? good question. hard to know what it is worth when it is only intermittently for sale. I am going to try to track ones that come up for sale here to get a good idea.

This one went up to 112 + 10 shipping but did not meet reserve. Looked like it has some pretty beaten corners and the description said it had rips that had been taped. A second posting went up to 150 but still did not meet reserve.

Here is one that just went for $201 in pretty good condition

Another in worse condition went for $110. This
"The edges, especially the two short edges, are somewhat frayed (as can be seen in the photos). Both the left and right bottom corners have small pieces that have been torn away (again, see photos). The poster does have 3 tears within the picture itself. A photo of each has been added, with text indicating the location of the damage. Over the years, tears in this poster have been repaired by a variety of different kinds of tape. The most recent tears/nicks have been repaired with acid-free, scrap booking tape."


Sold for 139 + 7 shipping. click to see the full size image. as you can see there is some fairly significant edge wear but seems to be in pretty good shape otherwise. Special bonus for linking to me!
"Perfect holiday gift for the Lord of the Rings enthusiast. These posters are becoming very hard to get. I bought this one in the 70's and had it on my wall for a few years. It then went into a mailing tube and into storage. I recently found it again and offer it for sale. The edges are fairly severly damaged in multiple places. I have photographed the areas carefully so there will be no surprises. The entire interior of the poster is in very good condition. It has not faded at all and has never been folded. If carefully mounted or framed I think most the edge damage could be covered or camoflaged. If you are unsure of any of the damage please ask me questions. I am not set up to do returns.The poster is huge - almost 7 feet x 38 inches. See http://mike-is-bored.blogspot.com/2009/10/barbara-remington-lord-of-rings-poster.html for more information on the poster and some ideas on how to frame it."


181+6 shipping. Reserve was not met.
The poster measures 37” x 72”. It does have some edge tears and small chunks of edge missing, holes from thumbtacks, and some double-stick foam pieces attached to the back side.  Nonetheless, it was never folded, always rolled, and the colors are still vibrant after 40 years. I’m sure a lot of these issues could be minimized or masked entirely by mounting it on a foam board and framing it to hide the ragged edges.


This one with water damage along entire bottom went for 102+ 12s.There is a small 1/2 inch tear at the right side.
There is a 2 inch water stain all across the bottom.  This is more apparent at the back of the poster than in the front.  In the front it manifests chipping along the water line at the far left, and at a few other locations across the bottom (see photos).  In spite of this the poster displays beautifully!
There is a series of 3 sets of small holes spaced 6 inches apart at the top right of the poster.

 The best condition one i have seen sell yet went for 239 + 13 shipping. "There are thumb tack holes at the corners and each long side and a small tear (see photo) along one edge. I just found one other similar tear near one corner. There are six tiny pin holes in the blue sky area on the left side and four pinholes in the bright orange/pink sky area---these are very insignificant and do not detract. There is a small piece of masking tape on the back of the poster reinforcing the thumb tack holes (photo shows one of the corners)."







A puzzle of the Barbara Remington lord of the rings book covers went for $110, another for 35 +12 shipping


Another poster from a similar time period map of middle earth poster by Pauline Baynes

Another similar poster "come to middle earth" went for 56 + 15 shipping.

G20 in pittsburgh photos featuring Daily show's John Oliver

John Oliver in Pittsburgh for g20 working up the crowd to scream "F*** corporate media" Who pays him?


Local Flavor- Yinz live in a police state

Karl Marx look alike