]]> http://lutraczyk.wordpress.com/2013/04/03/akademia-bosej-stopy-bare-foot-academy/ Wed, 03 Apr 2013 21:32:53 +0000 lutraczyk http://lutraczyk.wordpress.com/2013/04/03/akademia-bosej-stopy-bare-foot-academy/

Easter is just around the corner, so, I just wanted to stop by and wish you a joyful easter with your loved ones!!

Egg Bonus

In any light, it’s been quite some time since my last post, and that’s not because I’m lazy it’s because of a fine cocktail of big-kid responsibilities and commissions. Compound that with me trying to wrap up designs for my second wave of shirts, and you have someone moving in a dozen different directions at once. Nevertheless, it feels good to have multiple irons on the fire…even if I don’t have the proper hand-wear to manage the metal.

Speaking of metal, Cleveland-metal monarchs in Deadiron recently pressed another design of mine for an exclusive girl’s hoodie. There’s a blown-up image of it below, and you can go to their merch page if you’re interested in buying one. Speaking about  shirts, my designs are actually done (“nearly” if not “completely”) and are almost fit to be sent to the fantastic folks at Kader Printing for transfer to fabrics. Expect three all-purpose tees and one exclusive for the ladies. The crop tease below previews a few of these plus some of the other commissions I’ve been hacking away at. Keep your eyes peeled for the final results!

Oh, one last thing. While I won’t beg for “likes” on Facebook, I realize that the “likes,” at least for established businesses and the like, are a visible indicator of exposure. That having been said, gimme more. If we can break 200 by oh say the middle of April, I might be forced to do something in thanks for the support.

Don’t worry, I’ll keep my clothes on.

Ini adalah project pertama saya di tahun ini yang akhirnya sebentar lagi selesai. Saya diminta untuk membuat sebuah ilustrasi berdasarkan tulisan motivasi yang dibuat oleh guru menggambar saya ketika SMP. Disini saya tidak bekerja seorang diri. Dibantu oleh teman satu fakultas saya, Irwina Indriani. Dia membuat gambar dengan lebih menarik dan atraktif. Saya berperan sebagai pembuat konsep gambar dan finishing akhir. Ini adalah salah satu gambar favourite saya diantara 15 gambar ilustrasi yang sudah Irwina buat. Dengan gambar yang ringan dan manis, karakter menggambar Irwina tidak pernah membuat saya bosan memandanginya. Itu lah salah satu sebab saya memilih dia menjadi partner dalam project kali ini. Thank you so much~
Setelah mengalami revisi yang cukup panjang, syukurlah guru saya menyukai gambar-gambar ilustrasi yang Irwina dan saya kerjakan. Gaji pertama pun sudah ditangan (hehe). Thank you for your work hard, Irwina!

One day while flipping through a 3-year-old, dog-eared magazine while waiting for her hair to dry at the Glam-A- Rama Beauty Parlor, my mid-century Mom happened upon an article in the May 1955 issue of Better Living Magazine that caught her eye.

Squirming uneasily in turquoise, hydraulic chair, she did a double take when she recognized the name of the author of the piece as a former college classmate of hers. For just a fleeting moment, a glimpse of envy and regret flashed across my self-described, self-fulfilled, self–effacing  Mom’s face.

The article entitled The Lady is Queen of the Supermarket, was a gushing ode to the dazzling world of mid-century supermarkets and the fortunate housewives who frequented them.

 “The Self service supermarket is more than just a slick way of selling groceries to the woman customer it makes marketing day an adventure.”

Mom laughed out loud.

Supermarket shopping a big adventure?  Somehow that seemed far removed from the adventures Mom had once considered for herself as a girl when she had wanted to be a reporter for a big city daily. She couldn’t wait to get into the newspaper game unearthing scoops covering a hot breaking story, real investigating  reporting.

No sob sister stories for her.

Now she was applying this same determination, and keen eye in the bold undertaking of food shopping.Food shopping was an adventure. Mom was a first-rate sleuth at uncovering bargains wherever they were and she was willing to travel to the ends of the earth to get them.

 Leaning back in the padded soft chair, she closed her eyes  against the glare  of the fluorescent lights and began day dreaming. Breathing deeply of the nose burning acetone, ammonia and sulfur that filled the beauty parlor air, Mom’s mind drifted off.

The Case of the Suburban Supermarket Sleuth

She was no longer Betty Edelstein, suburban housewife of Long Island.

She was Edelstein of the Herald- by-line Betty F.

Maybe she’d never climb to where Pegler or Winchell, or Dorothy Thompson was, and never would. She was just Edelstein of the Herald and she was in the city room, shaping a feature story around the suicide attempt of some fading Hollywood star when word came of the trickery at the local Food Fair Supermarket

She crossed the room and checked the local ticker for details…Sale Swansons TV Dinner…buy 2 get one free …long record of  fraud….Green Giant Corn on sale…stock question…. Her story forgotten, Mom left the building.

Force of habit she picked me up.

I was Moms faithful sidekick. I was her Baba Looey to her Quick Draw McGraw, Dr. Watson to her Sherlock Holmes. Wearing mother-daughter Pith Helmets, along with  our Mother daughter suburban car coats, we headed out on this adventure together.

Securing her circulars and satchels of clipped coupons, a compass in hand, she was prepared to fight her way through the jungle of the unforeseen labyrinth that was the realm of the suburban supermarket.

Betty was ready to move out of the small confinement of the old small grocer, with its dark and narrow dusty aisles lit only by incandescent light. She was ready to say goodbye to the high prices and singular frozen food chest, and venture into the dangers of the local Food Fair, with its endless frozen food aisle.

Pulling in to the large, spacious parking lot of the Shopping Center, Mom quickly noted we weren’t alone…the lot was filled with suspicious looking station wagons.

Stepping inside the supermarket, we waited a minute to let our eyes get accustomed to the brightness of the light. She immediately took note of her surroundings- the glass, the chrome, the pastel colored walls, the soothing piped in music, and the ceilings lined with noise absorbing tiles giving a cathedral-like atmosphere to the store, making the shopping seem less frantic.

She wasn’t fooled. Not even by the scientifically placed fluorescent lighting.

It was all a set up to lull you into a false sense of security.

But Mom was on an exploratory expedition.

Turn on a Dime

She pulled a clipping from the previous day’s newspaper out of her purse and we looked at it together. Besides the advertised sale on Green Giant Canned corn, she was seeking certain information as to the authenticity of a treasure trove- a huge Swanson TV dinner cache on sale-buy two get one free.

She had been tipped off by a store circular that it existed, and she was in possession of not one, but three coupons for tens cents off any Swanson TV Dinner.

The aforementioned item had vast potential prospects; that should her investigations turn out favorable, she would return home with fully prepared meals ready to pop in the oven, available for further operations.

And with the help of her Amanna Food Freezer with the famous Stor-Mor–Door, (116 packages in the door alone, including twenty cans of frozen oj concentrate.) she could empty one shopping bag after another- there was always room for more in this big beauty!

But so far it only was a rumor.

Advertised items were often out of stock, if they ever existed in the first place. Worse, they were merely a ploy to entrap her.

She had heard that sinister warning repeated time and again from superstitious, skeptic suburban natives whenever Mom happened to run into them as she traveled up the aisles.

(L) Vintage Pulp Men’s Magazine “Outdoor Adventure” 1959 illustration Mel Philips

Once inside she began laying out her route, when she was approached by a stock boy overhearing our plans.

“You go to your death senorita, when you go up the frozen food aisle!” uttered the half-breed Columbian stock boy, in clipped lisping English. The fellows face was a dreadful yellowish hue and his discolored teeth chattered with malarial fever as he walked feebly down the fluorescent aisle to see Mom off.

Mom was leaving comparative civilization behind.

She had bid farewell to the familiarity of the small grocery store, run by familiar families, and where either Mom or Pop helped with your selection.

Her plan was to head straight towards the massive canned goods department, to the territory near packaged mixes, then to cross overland a short distance through the Northwest passage to the frozen food cabinets.

The canned goods were overwhelming, the floor jammed with open cartons blocking the aisles. The racy red and white Campbell’s soup cans with their come hither look, were merely a distraction. But the free-standing display of Green Giant corn, three for forty-five cents was empty.

Mom hastily made a note.

Our two compasses were compared. North of 65 degrees, there was nothing; that is, unless you liked the look of snow and ice and Boxes of Better-Buy-Birdseye peas lost in a mass of tangled pot pies.  TV Dinners and frozen fish sticks competed for customer attention in the frozen tundra of the open top refrigerated cases, and they could only count on their tantalizing close-ups of food to spur sales and survive in the mess.

Mom had heard stories about the frozen food cases-there were fantastic ridges of ice looming like miniature mountain ranges. Luckily we had packed our Arctic gear.

The poor stock boys were gaunt and frostbitten- even an Eskimo wouldn’t take too happily to this section- especially once winter set in.  It was not for the faint of heart.

But Mom, she was different. She would like it fine. “A gal could set a while up there”, she mused to herself, “by the Snow Crop frozen orange Juice concentrate and ponder, without damn fools coming around interfering”.

After what seemed many hours of travel through the dense Breakfast Cereal aisle where we were temporarily blinded by the bright glare of the candy colored boxes filled with make-you happy-cereals of sugar sparkled puffs and flakes, we found ourselves surrounded by shiny boxes of cake mix, the  forbidding images of Betty Crocker and Aunt Jemima glaring ominously down at us.

A wrong turn and we found ourselves on the upper stretches of the dreaded fresh produce. It was tough and strenuous passage for both Mom and me, A vast green hell, fruits and vegetables were scattered all over the floor, sprung loose from their carefully packaged Styrofoam containers,  bruised  and damaged, not fit for man nor beast, making travel quite dangerous.

Only the iceberg lettuce, wrapped in glittering transparent film, true to its name, was indestructible and survived the carnage. It would take a posse of stock boys to cut a trail through this sinister treacherous hell of fetid and putrid scraps.

The whole populous in the store was in a nervous, panic- stricken state of tension and dread.

Mom and I went down the aisles. It was difficult to force our passage through the crowded aisles dense with an undergrowth of boxes and cartons.

Passing the bloodied, display of raw cuts of meat, repose in translucent envelopes ready for the broiler, was an omen of the slaughter that might await us. Suddenly the sound was loud penetrating. The only traces of tragedy we could see was the strange red substance pooling around our feet, till we spied the shattered fragments of the bottles of ketchup.

There I found her peering down a wide swath of broken down bottles, spilled boxes,

“Mama”, I whispered. “Me, I no like this place.

In the distance we could see the fantastic ridges of ice looming like miniature mountain ranges.

Then suddenly it appeared, gleaming in their Fidel-I-Tone color cellophane laminated boxes, a  freshly unloaded carton of the treasured TV Dinners. Lip smackin’ giddy boxes with the familiar wood grained TV set, complete with two turning dials, the appetite whetting close up of golden fried chicken, the pat of butter on the whipped potatoes just so, sizzling real enough to melt the ice.

For a brief moment it seemed as if the dreaded frozen food aisle meant to live up to its sinister reputation after all! It wasn’t long before the homemakers suddenly stampeded up and down the aisles, rushing, pushing overrunning everything.

Obviously something was wrong.

By the time we clawed our way to the food cabinet the frozen dinners were all gone-like a mirage. The stock boys merely shrugged. Mom had no choice but to secure a coveted rain check, no easy feat, and she would accept no substitutions for the Swansons.

She would confront the manager himself.

Mischief and the  Manager

Vintage Illustration Esquire magazine 1951 “Full Confession” George Biggs

Meanwhile, only minutes earlier while the ladies fought over the frozen food, Wally the store manager let himself into his office making his way to the back room in the dark.

Inside the door he switched on the light and hurried to his desk. He seated himself in his chair and opened the bottom drawer, withdrew a bottle of whiskey and raised it to his lips. As he threw back his head, he saw the strangers standing in the doorway.

Mom and I quickly slipped into the room and swung the door behind us. Leaning back against the door, nonchalantly Mom watched Wally with amused eyes.

”Don’t let me stop you”, she said.

Wally, with the bottle poised at his lips gulped quickly and recapped the bottle. He offered the bottle to Mom. She smiled. Under the raw light of the unshaded bulb, Wally skin was leathery and old.

Mom said “Never use the stuff. I don’t have any bad habits” she added and grinned again.

The manager of the supermarket frowned at Mom who faced him across the vast expanse of a desk. Approaching the manager, Mom uttered “I can take care of myself.”

(L) Vintage Men’s Pulp Magazine “Adventure Life” 1959 illustrator: Raphael DeSoto

Her occupation: investigative reporter, but the manager didn’t know that,

She posed as a housewife wise enough to keep beyond the reach of the law.

“Just want what’s mine” she stated, she walked over to the desk and stood looking down at Wally. “Gimme the rain check.”

“You have more canned corn in the stockroom” Mom said bluntly, “I want some”.

The clerk laughed, staring at her through narrowed lids.

“When did you turn detective!”

He studied her. Her face was expressionless.

“You’ve never crossed my path before. Perhaps you’re not aware that I have a reputation for getting what I want,” Mom said matter of factly.

“First, the three cans of niblets corn, Green Giant, goes with me when I leave. And don’t try any fast ones with the old creamed corn switcheroo. And while we’re at it,” she added nonchalantly, before she let it drop, “I expect a rain check for the TV dinners, buy two get one free”

He sneered palpably and a steely glitter entered his eyes.

Mom pulled a hand from her car coat pocket allowing him a glimpse of a sinister looking piece of paper- this weeks circular, and her coupons for ten cents off any Swansons TV dinner. She let him draw his own inferences and then slipped the items into her pocketbook, being careful to notice that he observed the action.

Perhaps if he had known that she habitually carried a slew of them, things would have been different.

Wally placed two slips of paper on the desk top to hand to the stock boy and they disappeared into her jacket. Her hunch was right- the stockroom was loaded with the advertised Green Giant corn.

“You are a clever woman”, he said surprisingly. “Had I known a woman like you beside me, who knows, I might have owned the chain instead of just managing it.”

“It’s a deal,” said Mom and stuck out her slim long-fingered hand.

The gesture surprised Wally. For an instant he didn’t seem to understand.

Then his small white teeth flashed and he grasped her fingers ceremoniously.

“It’s a deal”, he parroted her words., as he handed her a rain check for the Swansons TV dinner, good for any time…. no expiration date.

Copyright (©) 2013 Sally Edelstein All Rights Reserved

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• Mom’s Suburban Supermarket Adventures (envisioningtheamericandream.wordpress.com)

Spanish interior designer Iñaki Aliste Lizarralde is, apparently, a fan of both floorplans and TV shows. At least this is what you guess after seeing his awesome drawings of popular TV Shows. It is fun because if you follow of any of this shows you’ll see how precise he is with the details of each plan, and how all the elements fit perfectly in each drawing. In his blog you’ll also learn what has been the base to create each plan, as sometimes the flats have changed throughout the seasons of each serie.

Click continue reading to see all the images.

never realizes what’s going on…

All photo’s/artwork  are copyrighted  and may in no way be used or altered without written consent  by the artist .

2. Did you study art or are you self-taught?
Studied art in high school and design in college. I am always learning.

3. For you, what is the appeal of art?
The creative process is something that compels me to explore. I work intuitively. That allows me space to create different avenues to a finished piece. That keeps things fresh, I am always interested in what I will be making next.

4. What genre of art would you place your work? Are you a street artist, a fine artist or do you fit into another genre? Are genres within art even important?
I am an illustrator 1st, musician 2nd and muralist 3rd. For me genres are not important.

5. Do you think that street art is seen as an equal art form to painting or photography?
Yes, thanks to galleries like Fecal Face Dot Com, Whitewalls, Shooting Gallery, Upper Playground and 111 Minna. Artists including Barry McGee, Mr. Jago, Dose Green, and Mars1.

6. Can you talk a little bit about the character you create? Where do you draw your inspiration from?
Inspiration is really hard to pin down. I’d say Dameon Soule, Alice Koswara (my wife), Mars1, Dose Green, Teebs, Goudron, Ganyan, Grant gilliland, Robert Hardgrave, ffffound, Star Wars, Mark Gonzales, Rodney Mullen, Herbie Handcock, Kid Koala, Trans Am and Jeff Phillips.

7. Are there any particular messages that you try and portray through your art?
Whatever you do, enjoy doing it. You will do that more and improve your happiness.

8. Having looked through your work, I am particularly impressed with the scale of your murals. What are the benefits of creating a piece of art on a wall as opposed to a canvas or a piece of paper?
Murals are a great way to interact with the public. I also enjoy being able to work larger. This allows me to stretch out a bit. I can fill whatever space is provided. My work will scale to fit.

9. How do you market yourself and your art?
Murals and tees help get the word out for sure.
I also post a new drawing daily and a new track a week on instagram, twitter and facebook. Also a quarterly newsletter helps update people that miss the social channels.

10. Do you think that education is important for an artistic career?
Yes, it is. It is important to know your past. You will improve from understanding the history of whatever medium you choose. Learning helps you grow.

11. If you could choose 4 artists to join you in a group exhibition with no theme, who would you choose and why?
For any group show, at least a broad theme is necessary. I’d love to do another Technical Difficulties show with Goudron, Teebs, Kid Koala and Grant gilliland. We all make art and music. We could have an art show/gig.

12. Would you ever consider experimenting with another genre of art such as video?
I am making music a lot more. We have some video and are working on putting that together.
From my experience it’s best to find people that specialize in video. I find better to tap into that. You get a better end result through collaboration.

13. What is your favourite image you have created and why?
This is gonna sound weird. Honestly, I have yet to create it. They are all valuable and influence what I am working on next. Right now it’s a live set I recorded at a local coffee shop last Friday. It will be released on nathome.bandcamp.com soonish

14. What kind of music do you like and does it influence your work?
I listen to a lot of funk, kraut rock, jazz, electro and hip hop. Although I usually have movies or podcasts on when I am working.

15. When creating a mural, do you plan out what you are going to do beforehand or do you improvise?
Prep is really important. By filling my sketchbook with a drawing a day, I have a lot to pull from. I sketch a lot 1st. That tells me what supplies to bring.

16. Do you think a piece of art loses its value once it has been reproduced, especially digitally as a print?
For sure originals have more value than prints . Prints are a great affordable way to collect art.

17. You sometimes collaborate with other people to create pieces of art. How important is it to make connections with other artists and is there a particular process you use to go about contacting someone you would like to work with?
Collaborations work organically. It’s hard to pin down the exact formula. Most times we already know each other. If a mural or art show calls for it, we work together on a piece. We talk about the theme, sketch and decide who goes 1st. After that, one artist finishes their character and passes it off to the other artist . After that we tie the background in to round out the piece.

18. Do you think that the way people can view your work, especially the murals you have created, as an image on a screen rather than outside where you were when you created it, hinder the audience from fully appreciating the pieces of work?
It’s always better to see a mural in person. Photos are the next best thing.

19. Do you know of any artists that you would recommend to be featured on this blog?
Alice Koswara, Martin Hsu, Andy Stattmiller, Jesse Ballmer, James “ganyan” Garcia, truevisuals and Max Eherman

20. Do you have any other advice for aspiring artists?
Keep a sketchbook. It’s good to have for resource. Make work for yourself, it will be satisfying and will have longevity. Mistakes remain mistakes only until you discover the lesson that is being taught. Keep looking for new techniques, it’ll help you grow. Find like minded folks, community is important. Oh and have fun!