My Display at the October 2011 FAML Art Show

We celebrated Halloween a little early with costumes, Heather’s homemade candy, and a distinctly spooky theme encouraged among the artists. As big a fan as I am of this time of year, I had to contribute. here’s a better look at the piece I made for this show; a spraypaint reconstruction of the famous movie poster for George A. Romero‘s 1978 zombie flick, Dawn of the Dead:

A spraypaint reconstruction of "Dawn of the Dead"

FAML Art Shows are held on the first Monday of every month at The 321 Local in Cocoa Village, and are free to the public. Come see local art and hear local live music in a fun and social setting!

My Display at the September 2011 FAML Art Show

As we approach the Halloween season, I thought it’d be cool to showcase just the paintings I’ve done of those who are no longer with us — even if they only ever existed in fiction — in the fashion of a somewhat traditional Dia De Los Muertos shrine, complete with LED candles, artificial Mexican Marigolds, and these custom sugar skulls:

Sugar Skulls for the September 2011 FAML Art Show

FAML Art Shows are held on the first Monday of every month at The 321 Local in Cocoa Village, and are free to the public. Come see local art and hear local live music in a fun and social setting!

My Display at the July 2011 FAML Art Show

Some of us slipped out long enough to visit nearby Lee Wenner Park to see the excellent annual fireworks display. The only spot I could get was right behind a big palm tree, but I kind of like how everything aligned in this photo I took:

Fourth of July 2011 Fireworks at Lee Wenner Park

FAML Art Shows are held on the first Monday of every month at The 321 Local in Cocoa Village, and are free to the public. Come see local art and hear local live music in a fun and social setting!

My display at the June 2011 FAML Art Show

One of the most interesting people I met was a professional firedancer — Talk about performance art! Here’s a photo I snapped while she was doing her thing:

Firedancer at The 321 Local.

FAML Art Shows are held on the first Monday of every month at The 321 Local in Cocoa Village, and are free to the public. Come see local art and hear local live music in a fun and social setting!

The Samsung Intercept (SPH M910)

Everything you need to know can be found in “Samsung Intercept: GPS Fix for Intercept Froyo 2.2” and optionally “Samsung Intercept: How to get your own MSL,” though I have cleaned it all up and added additional explanations in the remainder of this article (below). Be aware that this guide is meant only for Sprint Samsung Intercept users who’ve lost their GPS after updating Android to version 2.2 — No other cases are (necessarily) applicable.

1. Backup your data. The remainder of this process involves a hard factory reset, and data that isn’t tied to your Google account (or other online-storage accounts, like Facebook or DropBox) WILL be lost. Android 2.2 for this device eliminates the Memo or Notepad app, too, so make sure you at least jot down any important notes you had if this is your first time attempting to upgrade from 2.1 to 2.2.
2. You need your MSL number. This is a six-digit number specific to your phone. Jot it down somewhere handy! You can get it one of two ways — Either:
   1. Call Sprint (888-211-4727), get to a tech support representative and ask them for your MSL, Or…
   2. Get the ConnectBot Android app, either by searching the App Market for its name or the QR Code in the following sub-step. Open the app, select “localhost,” “connect,” type in “getprop,” and look in the results for “[ril:MSL]: [xxxxxx]” (where the six x’s are your MSL).
   3. 
3. Go to your phone dialer and punch in ##786#. After hitting the last pound key, you’re automatically taken to an otherwise hidden system menu.
4. Choose “Reset.” (But just for fun, check out “View” for some really deep phone stats, like total up-time, total call-time and so on).
5. Enter the MSL and confirm any dialogues that pop up.
6. Your phone will reset back to factory, and roll in any Over The Air updates as needed.

If your Intercept is like mine, this will have solved everything and GPS will be back to full functionality. I’m not sure why this works — Perhaps Sprint or Android modified the 2.2 update for Intercepts to fix some code issue with the original release back in December. At any rate, I’m back to being happy with my smartphone. Good luck, and feel free to leave questions or comments here!

EDIT (2010-02-11): Thanks to Maurice (see comment below) for catching that typo and reminding me to include a note about backing up data first.

The finished work.

The image is crafted on the computer and projected.

The image is traced onto vinyl and cut by hand.

The stencil is applied to the canvas.

Splatter- and sponge-painting for depth and energy.

The splatter-painting stencil is removed.

Another stencil for primer is projected, traced and cut.

That stencil is applied to the canvas.

Gesso is painted on and the stencil is removed.

The primed canvas, ready for paint.

Dark and medium greys are painted in first.

Light gray and white touch-ups complete the piece.

The finished work is available for sale from my Etsy store.

EDIT (October 27th, 2010):

The painting sold to a collector of technology-inspired artwork in San Jose, California!

My long-time friend (and client) Jon Skinner runs his own business there — FX Enterprises. In exchange for helping out a bit with the front desk, I have a place to advertise and display my art, meet with clients, and take care of all of my freelance jobs. I’m surrounded by computers, comic books and video games — Couldn’t ask for much more!

Here’s some shots of the new digs:

Over the front entrance. I designed the new logo and store sign for Islander when they opened in the mall about a year prior.

At the front entrance. I designed this sign for FX a couple months before I opened up alongside them.

Inside the store looking out. I made this 3'x3' poster for Islander a couple months before I moved in.

Our outside wall. I designed this 8x4 vinyl banner shortly after moving in.

My workspace. I designed the prints a few weeks after getting in place.

Screenshot: www.SubSonicRadio.com

I didn’t want to post here about it until everyone could see it in all it’s glory, so it’s technically old news, but a user theme I created for Subsonic Radio finally went live today. Subsonic Radio is a site that hosts and streams virtually every bit of Disney-related audio imaginable, with a very active forum for fellow enthusiasts and nostalgia-junkies. The site is owned and primarily operated by one Subsonic himself, who added an additional layer of user-interaction to his site by allowing visitors to develop and submit their own themes. The first link in this post should load the site with my theme in place.

Any one-time-or-greater visitor to central Florida’s own Magic Kingdom should immediately recognize the inspiration behind the theme: the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad attraction in Frontierland division. About 90% of all of the imagery in the theme was cut and assembled from amateur vacation photographs of the attraction, and all of the audio in the Flash originates from amateur video shot while riding the coaster. In this sense, the theme is as much a tribute to the ride itself as it is to the community that shares this media with everyone online.

I originally developed the theme over the course of a few weeks, and submitted it in late June of 2009; so it’s been dormant for almost eight months, but good things are often worth the wait. Subsonic has help, but most would be surprised to know how much time and effort goes into running such a dynamic website! Now that it’s up, the site’s many and frequent users are chiming in with their positive reviews in the forum. Give it a look!

Bat Country (Hunter S. Thompson) - Front

Taking a cue from my splatter-paint background in “Box Company Prophet,” I repeated the process this time primarily with India Ink (a nod to Hunter’s friend and artist, Ralph Steadman, whom is responsible for much of the iconic visual style associated with Hunter’s published works). Black and white engine enamel (not merely spray paint, another intentional nod to Hunter’s appreciation for fine automobiles) were also used to create the background space for this piece. I spent about an hour and a half just layering up these materials.

Bat Country (Hunter S. Thompson) - Edges

Using the more fluid media for the background meant having to adapt my masking methods, as well. Up till now I cut my masks from newsprint or recycled paper (as they’d just be thrown out when I was done), but the India Ink would have soaked right through. This time, I made my paper mask (a silhouette of the foreground space), used spray adhesive to affix it to two parallel sheets of plastic cling-wrap, then trimmed the excess. The result was a disposable and fully water-proof mask, made from common household materials.

Bat Country (Hunter S. Thompson) - Close-Up

The color pallet for this painting, the monochromatic gray-scale, was derived both from newsprint (being the original platform for Hunter’s sports journalism) and the source photograph for this image (a black and white photo by the Associated Press that I cannot otherwise identify).

Bat Country (Hunter S. Thompson) - Frame

As is the case with all my portrait paintings thus far, the original piece is available for purchase via my store on Etsy.

Bat Country (Hunter S. Thompson) - In-Situ