So for some time now I've wanted to get a Team BME tattoo. Now, I already have a “BME tattoo” in my opinion — my chestpiece is directly inspired by material from BME that I relate to (it's just not a logo). But that's why I say I wanted to get a Team BME tattoo… I wanted a tattoo not so much about BME, but about the people who created BME (ie. you), and for me, going through the process of getting the specific tattoo — and yes, the icon, as silly as that sounds — was important.
The tattoo was done by Matt Ellis (
www) at
Waycool Uptown. I've never actually been tattooed by Matt before so you might be wondering why I didn't get tattooed by my “usual” artists since I'm such a regular at
King of Fools. Simply put, they're not BME/IAM members, and it wouldn't be appropriate at all for this tattoo! Matt is here of course, as are Gary and Kim and others at the shop (and it was really fun catching up; their shop is open concept so it's easier to chat), and as a point of trivia, I've actually known (at least casually) Matt longer than any other tattoo artist in Toronto since we went to art school together
looooong ago!
He graduated though, but I couldn't make it past one year.
Anyway, thanks Matt for the tattoo, and thanks to those of you who were the inspiration!
Thanks to Jon for heading down to the server room and restoring BMEworld and the mailserver. We've just doubled the size of our server room to give us space for more boxes, so that may mean some downtime (hopefully just a few minutes/hour at a time at most), but the good news is that it will mean that we can finally start rolling out all the features I've been promising for, oh, twenty years or something.
Yesterday I was asking people in my house to smell my paints to see what they thought (since they're all flavored with spices). I don't think I explained very well why I do that. I do it for two main reasons:
- It makes subtle changes in the way the paint dries and can be manipulated.
- More importantly, I believe that by being exposed to a unique smell, it helps bring out ones synaesthesiac abilities on a subconscious level… That is, because the paint smells differently, it will affect the way you use it, causing you to paint differently with different paints.
Anyway, I know I've blabbered on about using different polymers. I'm actually moving a little past that in this painting, and suspending different types of pigment inside resin (I'm thinking about painting part of the background with shredded, partially melted crayons suspended in gray/brown transluscent polymer), and using liquid resin as a wet medium to combine paint on the canvas.
Here's a few closeup examples of the painting's current state:
Those are photos from the painting that are a few entries below, to give you a better idea of what it looks like if you see it up close. Because my hands shake I have been painting larger and larger, with less and less detail, so in order to make up for that shortcoming (and the fact that while I can draw, I can't really draw
that well), I do my best to at least make
the paint itself seem interesting.
EDIT: I was asked if I was concerned that I may be creating paintings that don't last, because they fall apart in the future. My feeling is that, yes, this is a possibility, but to be honest, I cover them with so much thick polymer that the whole thing is basically sealed in plastic and almost bulletproof.
I saw my trainer's blog today (I'm installing stuff on his new computer before I head in to the gym at noon, right after Saira who trains with Daniel as well) — I think I should send him a link to Vegan Body Building, because it really is possible to build a gigantic body without the diet one common wisdom suggests is the one for bulk and definition.
I guess this voodoo doll explains my dreams that night… I am not entirely sold on the unexpected penetration at the end but the rest was fun.
I'm not sure whether this is more offensive to people from any of the over fifty different countries on the African continent, or if it's just a general affront to anyone who's made it farther in school than, say, grade one. Good fight though — bring on the gladiatorial games so we don't notice the Empire crumbling!
Thus California March Break starts late for Nefarious….
