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This was an experiment to see if a blob-y sort of wash and then going in with a fine liner would look good. I think it turned out okay, but I didn’t spend enough time picking the verse.
The "Elder Things" from H. P. Lovecraft's "At The Mountains Of Madness" are one of the very first Ancient Aliens/Astronauts to show up in literature!
Long before the human race even began to evolve, the Elder Things travelled from a distant star to our planet. They built an amazing civilization, with ruins that could withstand even a billion years of emptiness. Within their massive, ornate cities, they also created the amorphous Shoggoths as a race of slaves, servile creatures to do their bidding.
The Elder Things ruled in eace until Cthulhu and its Star-Spawn invaded, setting off the first major war in Earth's history. Amazingly, they were able to fight off Cthulhu, until the ancient One retreated to sleep beneath the waves in his city of R'yleh. The Elder Things then came into conflict with the Mi-Go and even the Great Race of Yith, still surviving each conflict until they were finally at peace again. But this, too, did not last, as the Shoggoths gained minds of their own, and soon rebelled against their masters. The civil war with the Shoggoths was the most brutal one yet, and the Elder Things nearly destroyed themselves in order to subdue their Shoggoths again. And yet, after surviving so many wars, their time was running out - the first great Ice Age came, and this spelled the doom of the Elder Things. Survivors had to flee their great cities or die, with a few remnants settling beneath the ocean, in an environment that could sustain them. But soon, even their cities were overrun by rebelling Shoggoths.
There are hints that the race is not entirely extinct in the Cthulhu Mythos, and at least some survived frozen long enough to be revived (temporarily) in At The Mountains of Madness. But for the most part, the Elder Race is long gone, leaving only a few scattered ruins and the monster Shoggoths as evidence of their once-great society.
Featured on Nerditis's Figure Photo of the Day: nerditis.com/2013/03/31/figure-photo-of-the-day-elder-thing/
Featured on Poe Ghostal's Pic of the Day: www.poeghostal.com/2013/04/pic-of-the-day-elder-thing-by-...
Silly Thing - one of the vector characters I developed over past two years. Presented as vinyl mural at Arca de Neon exhibition, Muca Roma, Mexico DF, October 2007
More vector characters at my PND! Blog:
Chloe: *plops down beside Suki* “Where’s Jon going?”
Suki: *licks the last bit of icing off her fork* “He’s gotta call some dude about a business thing. He’ll be right back. *offers her plate to Chloe* Want my strawberries?”
Chloe: “Yeah, thanks.” *grabs the offered berries, pops them into her mouth*
Suki: “Chlo…”
Chloe: *swallows* “Huh?”
Suki: “Have you ever been so happy that it’s edging into scared?”
Chloe: *nods* “Yep.”
Suki: “That’s where I’m at right now.”
Chloe: “I get that. You’ve never known a world without your grandfather. He’s been the monster under your bed, but unlike most kids, you couldn’t outgrow him, because he was real.”
Suki: “Yeah, there’s that. But that’s not what I meant. I don’t think Grandfather being dead has sunk in yet, and probably won’t for a while. I meant it’s so weird to see Ru smiling and laughing. He never did that before, at least not in public. He’s so happy, which makes me happy, but I’m scared, too.”
Chloe: *brow furrows* “Clarify.”
Suki: “Ru, he’s suffered a lot. Put up with a lot. He deserves this happy beginning more than anyone will ever know, and I’m straight up buggin’ over the thought that something’s gonna go wrong. It could all come crashin’ down, y’dig, ‘cuz the world’s just that kinda bitch sometimes. I just wanna protect him. I just wanna protect him like he’s always protected me. I owe him.”
Chloe: “He can take care of himself, Suk. And he doesn’t want your gratitude. He just wants you to be his bratty, little sister and love him.”
Suki: *sighs* “You know that scar above his eye? Grandfather backhanded him into a desk when we were kids. It was my fault.”
Chloe: *reaches over, twining her arm around Suki’s* “Wanna unload?”
Fashion Credits
**Any doll enhancements (i.e. freckles, piercings, eye color changes) were done by me unless otherwise stated.**
Chloe
Dress: IT – Misaki – Bonjour Collection
Slip: SugarbabyloveDoll – etsy.com
Slippers: La Boutique
Chandelier Necklace & Sugar ‘n’ Spice Bracelets: Me – Knife’s Edge Designs – Ooo La La! Collection
Doll is a Costume Drama Giselle re-rooted by the amazing valmaxi(!!!).
Suki
Dress: Liv Doll Fashion
Sandals: IT – Poppy Parker – Sunshine Games
Winged Things Necklace & Earthly Delights Bracelets: Me – Knife’s Edge Designs – Into the Woods Collection
Doll is a London by Night Ayumi transplanted to a Misaki body.
Title: The First thing he noticed is she was alone, the second was the magnificent ring she was wearing.
We read about this type of scam a few years ago in a magazine, may have been either Life or Holiday.
Travelling alone in Europe, a wealthy, designer clad, British female, was waiting for her flight in an airports’ lounge. A gypsyish youth of about twelve came up to her, grabbing her wrist, he spit a mouthful of water onto the sleeve of her satin blouse.
Before she could react, A handsome man gallantly came to her rescue. Called off the youth, who darted away, snickering. The nicely suited gentleman then produced a silky handkerchief began to wipe her sleeve and hand dry. All the while, speaking in a foreign accent, expressing regret on the unkind assault that had occurred upon such a lovely lady. . He stayed long enough to make sure she was okay, and then went along his way, still apologizing profusely for the delinquent youths of his country.
Long after the incident, she realized that the 10,000 dollar sapphire ring she had been wearing was gone. The same finger of the hand that gentleman wiped with such care.
Later she reported the loss only to find the authorities indifferent to her plight. As she recounted her tale, She remembered seeing that same gentleman coming into airports restaurant. She had gone there bite to eat before going to the lounge to wait. He had caught her eye and had bowed as he went past her, heading up to the bar. She had recalled feeling that someone was watching her after that.
Authorities theorized that the gentleman was one of the professional conman, who stalked airports, resorts and hotels, looking to part susceptible victims from their valuables.
After taking down the information, they admonished her for falling for such a transparent scam. Then shooed her off, promising to report developments. As far as we know there were none, and her ring was never recovered.
We would be interested in obtaining more facts about the above, or similar stories
Props courtesy of Chatwick University Theatre
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Courtesy of Chatwick University Archives
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DISCLAIMER
All rights and copyrights observed by Chatwick University, Its contributors, associates and Agents
The purpose of these chronological photos and accompanying stories, articles is to educate, teach, instruct, and generally increase the awareness level of the general public as to the nature and intent of the underlying criminal elements that have historically plagued humankind.
No Part of this can reprinted, duplicated, or copied be without the express written permission and approval of Chatwick University.
These photos and stories are works of fiction. Any resemblance to people, living or deceased, is purely coincidental.
As with any work of fiction or fantasy the purpose is for entertainment and/or educational purposes only, and should never be attempted in real life.
We accept no responsibility for any events occurring outside this website.
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my first post this year!
horay!!!
well...that is just some randon drawing...just training...it was fun!...
maybe i will add some colors later...don't know...
don't have much to say!heheheh
happy new year everyone!
that's all folks!
Marvel Two-In-One / Heft-Reihe
The Thing and The Living Mummy
The Power to live... The Power to die
cover: Ron Wilson, Chic Stone
Marvel Comics Group / USA 1983
ex libris MTP
.... well, we are home safe and sound albeit somewhat tired! However, as always it is great to see our "sweet thing." We had a great surprise when we arrived at Glasgow airport ~ after clearing Customs and collecting our bags - actually one bag is missing although we have been told it will be delivered either later this evening or tomorrow morning - we heard Pop Pop, Nana and our little Lewis came running towards us. Mom and Simon brought Lewis to the airport and that was also a sweet moment for my wife and yours truly!
Our Daily Challenge - SWEET .....
Hey a 100% complete impression, boots and small things notwithstanding.
MVD in Dagestan/Ingushetia/extremest shithole area
This is a book what I am reading now. It's about Adrian Mole. How funny! :)
By the way my school began one day ago. The great thing is that I see my friends. But the learning isn't so great. :)
So I'm sorry if I won't be on flickr in next days, I think, I will be busy. :)
Part of the fun of this Top 1000 list thing is matching photos that kind-of, sorta fit with songs.
This one was particularly intriguing. The young lady in this photo is clearly fetching, but equally clearly is high maintenance.
Two songs, both Top 1000 locks, fit this candid shot very well -- James Brown's "I Can't Stand Myself (When You Touch Me)" and the Big Bopper's "Chantilly Lace." Though both have blatant femdom themes, the Big Bopper's take is much sunnier, so I'm going with that as the next addition to the Top 1000.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b-by5e4saI
Chantilly lace and a pretty face
And a pony tail hanging down
That wiggle in the walk and giggle in the talk
Makes the world go round
There ain't nothing in the world like a big eyed girl
That makes me act so funny, make me spend my money
Make me feel real loose like a long necked goose
Like a girl, oh baby that's what I like
What's that baby
But, but, but, oh honey
But, oh baby you know what I like
[Chorus]
What's that honey
Pick you up at 8 and don't be late
But baby I ain't got no money honey
Oh alright baby you know what I like
[Chorus]
If not now, when?
Let's face it, sometimes you have to walk on the wild side, or as Seal put it, we're never gonna survive unless we get a little crazy......."
The thing I like about dance is that people get completely lost in it; they lose the consciousness that there is a camera pointed at them. I don't really get that from other types of photography where people are involved.
gallery1studio.com
Stage and Performance photography by Stephen Weir
+61 402459199
First thing I usually build for a new model is the frame - you obviously need something to mount the hoods and cabin on, and to attach the trucks to. So let's take a closer look at the frame for the new FM.
Building frames for a 7-wide model is a bit trickier compared to 6 or 8-wide - there are simply no 7-by-something plates available, and to achieve the odd width while maintaining the necessary sturdiness can be sort of a challenge.
The design above at the top is my standard ladder frame. It consists of sandwiched offset 2x16 a/o 2x14 plates for the beams, and 2x3 struts. This frame provides a fair amount of sturdiness, but long engines will require an additional "spine", as shown here.
The frame shown at the bottom is a completely different approach, designed to overcome this need for additional support structures - the "spine", made of a Technic beam, is built into the frame. Mounting Technic holes on system studs results in a very strong connection, and those beams are VERY hard to bend. I used this design for my GN NW-3 and it proved very stiff, but its frame is a bit shorter, so I'm not sure if it'd work as well for my FM. I think I'll stick with the ladder frame for now.
Street Artists – charmers and deluded
www.ravishlondon.com/londonstreetart/index.html#charmers
Whilst many street artists, graffiti artists and the lowly tagger are self-publicists, there are important differences. The point is, is that street artists are in the main psychopaths, charmers in the mould of Tony Blair, who believe they are doing the right thing and want you to believe they are doing the right thing. The street artist, despite his iconoclastic and challenging art, is not trying to piss you, the general public, off. Instead he intends to seduce you with the beauty, audacity and complexity of his 'gift'. He wants to take your breath away such that you feel blessed, and forget he has trespassed, vandalised and imposed his will on you. He wants you to forget he is using your walls and your property as a canvas, so you don't get angry that he has decided, unilaterally, psychopathically, that his need for his art on your wall, is greater than your right to enjoy your wall, as it is, without interference.
The tension between the desire to be yang and the natural tendency to be yin causes the street artist to become deluded. Artists confuse using the streets to expand coverage of their art with democracy! French artist, Invader who mounts tiny tiled mosaics of space invaders in London asserts, ‘Nothing is too much for the street. Because if you make a piece like this and you sell it to a collector, maybe his friends, his family and a few people are going to see it. I mean maybe ten, twenty, lets say fifty people. But if you put that in the street, in a good street, its fifty people every five minutes who are going to see your work, and that’s much more interesting, much more exciting.’ At first this sounds like Invader is eulogising the ability of street art as a form of free expression, of connecting to the public, but it could also be barely containable glee at realising the income to be derived from gaining a name and interest amongst the thousands of people who take a curiosity in the work, as they walk past it in the street. The street artist will use all kind of rationales about the greater good of street art to hide his hugely problematic egoistic tendencies. The street artist claims to operate according to the mantra of the treasured late John Peel, to give to people not what they want, but that which they didn't realise they wanted. He will argue that the buildings he pasted his work over are in need of brightening up. He will argue, like it has been argued about T.Magic, that his attempts at using the pavement to illegally advertise his business is about fighting for the rights of a ‘forgotten community’ ‘to be heard in a world of limited space’. More often than not he will claim to be fighting consumerism. Cartrain for example says, ‘Graffiti doesn't tell people to buy crap they don't want, unlike advertising. I consider my work artistic and creative, not mindless rubbish designed to annoy people.’ (Trendall, 2007). In an interview with Charles Darwent, Sweet Toof explained, "It's about reclaiming space. We have to put up with advertising, that can take up the whole side of a building. We have no say in that." But in actual fact, whilst claiming to be fighting consumerism, the street artist or graffiti artist is often only adding another consumerist message, albeit in a more sophisticated and indirect way. Many street artists are delivered hot from the fresh warm lips of Margaret Thatcher, whilst trying to give the impression that they are in some sense the next Che Guevara. They are like those annoying socialist workers who bang on about corporations, whilst at the same time smoking Marlborough Lites and drinking Carling.
So street artists are charmers, and all the evidence is that, despite criticism that they are vandals and criminals, they have, by and large, charmed the general public, private interests and authorities a treat. Arguably the first to be charmed was the media, who love street art for several reasons. First, the audacity of many of the pieces and the location of the pieces makes great photographs and great reading. Second, the moral arguments around street art causes a rage in the soul, which arouses interest and keeps readers stuck to the paper. Arguably, the celebration of street art in the media has raised the status of street artists and the rich and famous all want a slice of that. So, in 2008, art auctioneer Bonhams held London's first auction of street art, Village Undeground held an "urban art sale" and a piece by Banksy attracted a bid of £208,100. Musicians have also been keen to get street artists to do their album covers. Faile worked on the design of a Duran Duran album (Shift, 2008); Banksy on the design of a Blur album. News of the high and the mighty purchasing street art, gives street art the appearance of legitimacy. The elevated status of street artists in turn prompts gallery owners who are keen to maximize their commissions, asking street artist to put on shows, in the hope the artists cache will attract in buyers. And, like this, street artists are laundered from illegality into legality. Best example of a street artist being laundered, is Ben ‘Eine’ Flynn, who was laundered by Prime Minister David Cameron, who bought a piece of art from this reported ex-convict, for a present made to Barack Obama. >In 2011, the same Prime Minister decided to pose in front of graffiti art when talking about his government's response to the UK riots. Graffiti, it's alright, it's for the kids, those riot prone darlings.
Furthermore local authorities, now aware of the financial value of street art, and of the publicity that it brings, are loathed to tear down pieces of street art. The Head of Street Environment Services in Islington, seduced, said: “As the Head of Service I do have some discretion and with regards to street art there are pieces of very attractive street art which do feature in books, and calendars and websites. Some of the Banksy work, my personal opinion, is that they are very artistic, I genuinely believe that it does add value. The stuff that we've got there's groups of people who come to look at this kind of work, because work of Banksy has been sold off for huge sums of money." In Shoreditch, for example, most of the street art remains for as long as it takes for the rain to dissolve it, for another artist to displace it, or for some envious art collector to rip it off the wall.
Private interests have been seduced too. The firm Pearl and Coutts, when it found out that Westminster Council wanted to remove a Banksy exhibit from one of its walls, went to the length of taking Westminster Council to court, to try, unsuccessfully, to have the image protected. Ben ‘Eine’ Flynn found himself at the centre of another process of legitimization, one which began in 2007 and 2008, when he started painting letters on the steel shutters of shop fronts around East London. He said, ‘Once I'd done about six and had photographs of them, then I could approach the shop owners and say, "I'm an artist, this is what I'm doing, can I do yours?" Invariably they say yes and invariably they say, "My shop's called Ruby Handbags, can you paint an R and H'?"
The ability of street artists to charm authorities has caused some degree of consternation and resentment amongst graffiti artists and taggers, who are often looked on less favourably. Graffiti artist Robbo, speaking to The Sabotague Times, commented that “Over the years negative connotations associated with graff have been exaggerated, it’s unreal that people can end up in prison for a long time, yet someone puts up a stencil and that’s OK, because it brings tourism to Shoreditch."
Street art as coveted commodities
www.ravishlondon.com/londonstreetart/index.html#...
So the cultural cache of street art, or at least of certain street artists, has meant that street art has now become a commodity, of considerable value, to be bought and traded, and to be treated as an investment. The commodification and value of Banksy’s work, and the absence of any successful attempt to prosecute Banksy, has meant that in effect, he has been able to spray money on to peoples’ property. In 2008 Luti Fagbenle made £208,100 after putting up for auction a piece of work, which Banksy had mounted on the wall of his Portobello Road office. Now, when, someone finds a piece of street art on their property, they may not necessarily first think about how much it will cost to sandblast the graffiti away, rather they might first stop to think about whether it is a Banksy, and how much they might get for it (see this London story from 2009.
Now some people, rather than enjoying the aesthetics or experience of street art, want to know, "Who did the street art? Was it Banksy?" See, for example, this message posted by Hooked on the internet, "Checked out this new Banksy piece yesterday. Fantastic work and great to see everyone enjoying the piece, had three long conversations with random locals about the pieces while I was taking some pictures. Lots of others kept stopping and asking if we knew who did it or if we were Banksy! ".
The age of the internet has created a virtual street art world built in part on the real world of street art. But how does the virtual street art world differ from the real world of street art?
In the real world of street art, the artist plans what he or she is going to do, where he or she is going to do it and then executes the plan. Those who happen to see the art, and enjoy it, encounter it as a moment of serendipity. The experience is brief and embedded in their every-day narrative of going to work or walking down a street, and whatever day-to-day thoughts they may be thinking. The appreciation is cursory. For many more the art may not even register; it may be nothing more than background noise. In any case for most people, unless ardent fans, their experience of street art is dilute, they may see only one or two pieces at any one time.
The virtual world of street art, however, is something different altogether. In the virtual world, street art is concentrated. There are blogs and galleries which rip the art from their geographical location and juxtapose the images next to each other. Here, viewers of street art get a concentrated experience, delivered to them through the click of a mouse, rather than the motion of their legs. The sights, sounds and weather of the city are lost. Sometimes the street is completely cut away, leaving just the art, and the claims that the art was once on the street, so that street credibility continues to dangle, from a very thin thread, from the photographic representation of the art. Whilst in the real world street art is transient, the virtual world of street art has the power to prolong the life of transient pieces. The magic that might have been shared by a few who had the luck to walk down a street at the particular point in time the work was mounted, and just before it was taken back down again, can now be shared by millions for years and years in the virtual reality of street art.
It may also be the case, that the virtual world of street art, creates more viewers of street art, and creates more fans than the real world itself. The amateur world of cataloguers and commentators, desirous to know who did what begin to create anthologies of artists work, create stars of the street art world; interviews help to construct personas; they help provide a context and understanding, through which street art can be more easily represented and understood by consumers of the mass media. In so doing the community of cataloguers and commentators on the internet have arguably digested and helped the mass media link into street art, and helped marketers and auction houses commodify street art.
It might be argued that the increase in street art, is in part, not an increase in the purist form of street art, i.e. art which attempts to relate to the environment in some way, but instead, an increase in the appropriation of streets and walls as canvases for artists struggling to get recognition through galleries. It is ironic in some ways that many street artists eulogize about the democratic effects of putting art on the street, i.e. that it is available for everyone, when in fact it maybe that it is only when the art is reframed from the street on to the internet, that they get their biggest viewing figures. Is it really street art when it is on the internet? Has the virtual world of street art created two forms of street art?
A case study of the famous 'spat' between two street artists, Banksy and Robbo, which has been commented on earlier, serves to illustrate some of what we are talking about here. The actual street art events in this spat, in the real street art world, comprised a set of alterations of different pieces of graffiti and art over a period of time. For many in the real world of street art, for passers-by with no knowledge of street art, the modified works Robbo, with the exception of Banksy's initial modification, added no aesthetic value. Furthermore without knowledge of Banksy, Robbo and their 'spat' most passers-by would not have been able to read into the significance of the modifications as they presented. In many ways, in the real world of street art, the modifications were meaningless. Finally with the iterations made by Banksy and Robbo occurring over just a handful of days, few would have seen the pieces, and fewer would have seen the complete evolution of these artistic modifications.
However, as was pointed out, the internet creates a virtual world of street art. One of the principal effects is that transient street works can be captured electronically and maintained for perpetuity on the internet. So the successive modifications made by Banksy and Robbo were immediately captured, so that people could enjoy them sometime after they had been destroyed. The narratives provided by the bloggers and cataloguers helped readers make sense of the modifications, enjoy the joke so to speak, and provided the basis upon which lovers of street art and graffiti could debate the ethics of the modifications.
It is interesting then to ponder whether Banksy and Robbo might have gone to the lengths they did, if it wasn't for the virtual world of street art. It is clear that without the internet, the work and the understandings of the work would only have been enjoyed by a very small number of people related to the artists themselves. What we are left to ponder then, is whether street artists are now creating street art, with a view to how this will be seen in the virtual world of street art first, with considerations about what people who actually really do see and experience it in the street, second?
In fact, some have argued that the 'spat' between Banksy and Robbo, may have been a sophisticated and intelligent piece of marketing, an attempt to manufacture a 'street art story', which served to raise awareness and interest in both artists. Certainly the spat created an interest in Robbo, which led to Channel 4 filming a documentary about Robbo's attempts to get even with Banksy, and to a gallery inviting him to do a show, something which he had never achieved during his days painting graffiti on trains. Certainly if this was an example of manufactured marketing, it absolutely relied on the dynamics of the virtual world of street art. The mass media, who took up the story of the 'spat', relied in part on the narratives and context provided by bloggers, to present the story to the public.
It should also be pointed out that this hyper-world of the internet isn't just an add-on to the real world – in some ways it has now taken over – so the real world of street art is ultimately a means to an end, a means to making it in the hyper-world. Street artists now, arguably create their wares, with an expectation that they will be seen on the internet. Most artists for example provide their signature to the art, and many have their own web site. This led one street artist, in 2010, to mounting up the words, "this will be available on canvas later" on a wall in Hanbury Street, just off Brick Lane. Well it has made it to this web page.
small thing
"As often as not our whole self turns its back contemptuously on the so-called great moments and emotions and engages itself in the most trivial of things, the shape of a particular hill, a road in the town in which we lived as children, the movement of the wind in grass. The things we shall take with us when we die will nearly all be small things."
Storm Jameson
"I find you in all the small and lovely things; in the little fishes like flames in the green water, in the furred and stupid softness of bumble-bees fat as laughter, in all the chiming radiance of warmth and light and scent in the summer garden."
Winfred Holtby
A custom Indian dance. Indian weddings are all about fun, singing, dancing and lots alcohol (for guys of course). The beautiful ladies dress traditionally in a long drape called a Saree and adorned with ornate Jewellry, Mehndi (a form of tatoo done on the palms and feet and it fades away in a few days). The jewellery that the pretty girl in the picture is wearing is Jhumka (Earings), Choori (Bracelets/Bangles), Nathni/Koka (Nose piercing). Not to forget - nose piercing is a traditional Indian ornament and is considering graceful unlike the west.
Please avoid contacting me on flickr for any reason involving a relationship or ownership within this game! I do not like that. Seven people have done so and have gotten mad at me now for not wanting to go through with it. I would like friends to take pictures with, but I do not want enemies. Thank you!