My Stupid Life

Little Buddy and Anton

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 10:16:08 -0800

Little Buddy and Anton

Animated gif of Bill Haverchuck by Mark Portillo. Every thing...

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 10:14:06 -0800

Animated gif of Bill Haverchuck by Mark Portillo. Every thing about the show Freaks and Geeks is perfect. Everything.

Bunny Habitat. Smokey (or is it Mini? I always confuse the two)...

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 10:13:07 -0800

Bunny Habitat. Smokey (or is it Mini? I always confuse the two) the bunny in the Peter Rabbit Village of Children’s Fairyland.

Peter Rabbit Tree House- restoration in progress.

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:12:41 -0800

Peter Rabbit Tree House- restoration in progress.

by Disney studios. Book plate for framing (via flamenconut)

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:01:27 -0800

by Disney studios. Book plate for framing (via flamenconut)

Happy Birthday Vivian! I drew these little Pikmin dudes on the...

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:40:10 -0800

Happy Birthday Vivian! I drew these little Pikmin dudes on the outside of her birthday package. We love Pikmin.

FLECTO VARATHANE: TOUGH ENOUGH TO SKATE ON! When it rained a...

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:47:50 -0800

FLECTO VARATHANE: TOUGH ENOUGH TO SKATE ON! When it rained a couple of Fridays ago, I took the opportunity to clean and reorganize the paint shed at work. That’s where I found this wonderful lid for a gallon of Varathane floor finish by the Flecto Paint company, which I guess is now owned by Rustoleum. I can’t even imagine a time when paint companies crowned young ladies titles like “Miss Varathane.” SO COOL. I would be so excited to see rollerskating girls on top of paint cans again.

This is the paint that we use to top coat almost everything. Wah Wah. BORING.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. So happy to finally have co-op...

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:03:59 -0800

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. So happy to finally have co-op play in a Mario game!

This Martha Stewart glitter painting tutorial appeals to the...

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:17:44 -0800

This Martha Stewart glitter painting tutorial appeals to the ten-year old in me. It’s great how in this step, the cat looks like it’s bleeding. BLEEDING GLITTER.

Trouble in Facebook-land?

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:36:43 -0800

Trouble in Facebook-land?

Bobo and Coco hand lettering project!

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:24:00 -0800

I haven’t been too excited about anything lately to blog, but one thing I am pretty much ALWAYS excited about is sign painting. I’ve only been practicing this craft on and off over the past 3 years and have since developed a great appreciation for any artist that incorporates nice hand drawn lettering in their work…BECAUSE IT’S FREAKING HARD!!! But, when done well it’s amazing and beautiful, and even when not done so well it’s kind of charming.

I’ve found that no one really teaches you how to do this stuff either. I had to stumble through it, first by using all the wrong paints and brushes, until I finally learned about One Shot sign paints and squirrel hair brushes. What. A. Difference.

These guys are living, breathing, paintbrushes. Photo by Michael V. Flores.

Sign painting for me is pretty interesting because it requires my hand to be very slow and precise, which is not how I normally work. The reward comes from painting the perfect curve or pressing/twisting the brush just right to adjust the width of the line. It’s mostly a relaxing activity, except for the discomfort of having to wear a respirator- oil paints are STINKY.

Today I did a project for a former staff member. It is a tribute to two of our dearest animal friends that have passed away this year- their names painted on their feed buckets. Because I really love process photos, I’ve uploaded my own photos of this project to my Flickr account and have written some short details about each step. Click on the slideshow above if you’d like to read about my process. Some people get really excited about painting their cars or skateboards, I am really excited to have painted these buckets. Rest in peace, Coco and Bobo.

The Squirrels of Fairyland, by Michael

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:55:19 -0700

Click to see this wonderful Flickr set of photos.

Photo

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:48:34 -0700

"And while sea cucumbers are vile — eating them is like eating thick slices of lip —..."

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 05:18:52 -0700

“And while sea cucumbers are vile — eating them is like eating thick slices of lip — they’re exactly the kind of thing that generations of immigrant mothers-in-law have lovingly served up to their gagging families in the name of health. So, needless to say, I made a special trip out to Chinatown, and returned home with a bag of gross undersea flesh tubes for my mom-in-law to cook up.”

- An accent on love / Cherishing our immigrant parents — malapropisms, cultural disconnects and all by Jeff Wang.

thatchriscastillo: Watch them catch them underwears.

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 13:00:33 -0700

thatchriscastillo:

Watch them catch them underwears.

The truth.

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:03:25 -0700

The truth.

YEAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! Loverboy-working for the weekend (via...

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 19:14:58 -0700

YEAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

Loverboy-working for the weekend (via Ryder276)

cockenblog: WILL SMITH WEDNESDAY Wednesday is looking pretty...

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:03:12 -0700

cockenblog:

WILL SMITH WEDNESDAY

Wednesday is looking pretty good so far.

Just one recent example: last Tuesday, I had at one point...

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:49:39 -0700

Just one recent example: last Tuesday, I had at one point studied a map of Queens with my sons. Later that day I spilled some yogurt. Sure enough, I ended up having a feature-length dream the following night about getting a yogurt stain in the shape of Queens on my pants. Worse, my dreaming self found this very upsetting, and I woke up all exhausted.

From Christoph Niemann’s’s amazing blog. It was difficult to choose just one drawing to post!

Good Night and Tough Luck - Abstract City Blog - NYTimes.com

Photography retrospective for my high school art teacher, Joan...

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 09:20:11 -0700

Photography retrospective for my high school art teacher, Joan Frederick.