Here is a collection of video clips from our trip to West Fest. Debbie and I had an amazing time at the event. We will never forget it. The vibe of love filled Speedway Meadows that day. ( October 25, 2009)

The image above shows six of the twelve mugs in the “Morning Visions” collection. These patterns were created using scans of my acrylic ink and watercolor pieces. Stop by and see the entire collection at Dream Matter Designs

July 4th 2009

I have been enjoying designing products for my newly created Zazzle store over the last few days. I recently designed the skateboard graphics for four skateboard decks. You can view them above or visit Dream Matter Designs / Skateboard section.

Over the weekend I began implementing my surreal collage pieces into designs for products at Dream Matter Designs. You can view a lager image of the shirt featured above by CLICKING HERE.

I have created an online community for fans of the tv series Dark Shadows. If you are a fan please click the image above and join us at Dark Shadows : Return to Collinwood. Hope to see you there.

Last night while surfing around the web I found this film from the french animator and film director Rene Laloux.

(May 5, 2009)

Saturday Debbie and I launched The Art Symposium website.The Art Symposium is a question and answer session with a panel of  artists from around the globe. Each month the panel is asked one question and the answers are posted on this site. 

Another project I have been working on is The Way Back Machine Network at Ning. This is a meeting place for people interested in the era between 1960 and 1975. 

Members of The Way Back Machine can use many features such as photos, forums, and chat. We have a huge collection in the works of music players and videos from the time period. It is a real groovy place to hang out online. Come join us.

 3/2/09 

Over the last few days I have been suffering with back pain. I have been unable to do much for any length of time. I have tried to get some work done in the studio but could only manage to sit in the chair for about an hour before having to retreat to the bed or the couch to lay down. Debbie is still swamped with design work and works a very long day. I have been worried about her because of the long hours she works at the computer without taking a break. We are both very obcessive when we are working and can become so focused on what we are doing we become obivious to anything going on around us.

3/14/09

I have had several days of back pain with little sign of relief soon. I can only stand or sit for short periods of time. The only place I can find comfort is on the couch with my legs up or laying in bed. This is driving me nuts not being able to do anything. 

Debbie finally had some time away from the computer and the constant stream of work today and was very happy about it, lighting up the house with her smile all day long. There was very little went on here today to write about. 

This moring I went out on the porch and took some photos of Perkins. Debbie batch processed them in a feature in Photoshop and created a slide show on line where you can see the outcome of this photo shoot. 

Click to see Slide Show of Perkins

I also took a short video of Perkins while he played with a stick I shook about in front of him. You can see this by click this LINK.

3/15/09

I have spent the day laying around with my back problem and not doing very much at all. Amanda and Josh came down this evening with dinner. Amanda cooked some great food and we all ate and sat around  talking. I had hoped they would stay and watch the travel channel series Mark and Ollie Living with the Machigenga. Amanda was experiencing some stomach trouble so they had to leave just before the show started. Debbie and I have been watching this program for the last few weeks and really enjoy it. 

4/9/09

I have been spending most of my time in the studio working on a new Dream Matter in graphite and charcoal and during breaks from my art I have been working a bit on my blog The Way Back Machine.

The blog is about the the culture of the 1960’s and early 1970’s. I have always had a fascination with this period and this blog  is an outlet for this fascination. I have been seeking guest authors that have experiences to tell of their life during this period.  Some of the guests have expressed their experience in poetry and other short stories.

The poster series I created recently is greatly influenced by this time period. I am offering these poster for the price of $15 + S&H.  Below are some examples of the poster series.

Each poster print is signed on the back. If you wish to order one of these poster prints contact me at: sound_of_water@yahoo.com

Yesterday Debbie and I took some photos of ourselves out on the porch. Below are the results of this photo session.

3/10/09 > 12:30 a.m.

Now that I have my blogs a bit more organized I am ready to get back to writing posts again here at the Wiggly Universe.  I will be getting back to posting daily activities here and art related activities at The Art Studio of Steve Smith blog.

Not much going on to really write about lately. Debbie is swamped with design work and I have been working in the studio on my art mostly. For the last few days I have had a lot of trouble with back pain and unable to do much. This pain is very hard to deal with at times and makes it hard to focus on anything. Needless to say, this has hampered my daily workout routine with the Soloflex machine…which I really hate to miss out on. The weather is getting better now and I think I will be able to get out for some bike rides on the trail in the up coming days.

I am still spending most of my online time at Facebook…which is another reason I have not posted here in a long time. When I get up out of bed each day I turn on the computer and before I check my yahoo mail I head straight for Facebook to check out what is going on. Once I look about there I check my mail and walk away from the computer to head down to the studio to begin work.

Last Saturday Debbie, Josh, Lindsay and I went to the Salvation Army store in Healdsburg in search of goodies. Debbie and Josh were the only ones to come home with any purchases. It took me the whole time to wonder around and see everything that was there. We all had a great time together and I hope we can do something like this together again. The photo shows the lower buildings at the Salvation Army. There were three other buildings at this location. Two behind me, which are the clothes barn and snack bar and one to my left which  is a rehab center. So, you could come to this place and find some bargains, eat a hot dog and kick the habit all at once..ha,ha,ha.

I stumbled upon an interesting item today online… a street level tour through Sebastopol using google maps. (LINK TO MAP HERE) You can click your way around the town with this map. I called my Mom and had her follow the link to the map. Then as we talked on the phone while I helped her make her way around town. The link to the map above…starts out just below where Debbie and I live. To your right you can see a cluster of blue town houses…this is where we live. Mom and I must have messed around with this map for over an hour. It was nice to be able to show her some of the places I had talked about here in town.

 If the link works correctly you should see on your screen the image to your left. I know I am going to have to play around with this and see what all one can look at with this map feature. It is amazing to me the stuff one can get online. A wealth of information at the click of a button. I guess being from the generation before the internet I will always find the internet an amazing thing. 

I just checked out to see if the small town of Pine Grove West Virginia had this feature and it does! You can only take the main road that goes through Pine Grove and toward New Martinsville…this is where I grew up…WOW!  it is really weird to see this town after five years away.

(LINK TO PINE GROVE) 

The photo to your right should be what you see when you click the link above to visit the town of Pine Grove. Click the arrows straight ahead to make your way down past this town. Main Street Pine Grove is not shown here and you are not able to make your way over into town from this road because google does not go over into town on this map.

The key to getting around on this map is to use the little yellow man. Click and hold to move him about on the map in the lower right hand corner. I am going to stop here and go goof around with the map then get ready and go to bed.

9:47 a.m.

This morning I had to see if I could find any information about Google Street View. I wanted to see what type of camera set up they are using to get these images. At Wiki you can see photos taken of the cars and the apparatus they mount on top of the cars to get these images. (LINK)

Debbie has gone out this morning to a meeting and I am sitting here experiencing extreme back pain for the third day in a row. I don’t think I can even sit here long enough to write much because of the pain. I really need for this to get better… I hate to have down time…there is a lot of artwork I would like to get done today and this back problem is going to put the halts on it.

Below is a collection of photos taken as I walked around our house.

A walk around our house / 3/9/09

(3:35 p.m)

I have posted a poll question to determine the poster print that I will send to the printer. You can cast your vote by clicking this LINK.

I am presently working on  ” The Art Studio of Steve Smith” blog. (CLICK ABOVE IMAGE TO BE TAKEN TO THE SITE) Since my days are filled with work in the studio. I am trying to keep readers updated to the progress of my new series of ink drawings. after several months of experiments I am now getting closer to new work in the medium of ink, colored ink and watercolor.  

During my experiments with photos of my drawing in Photoshop I have created some digital pieces which I upload online for others to view. Below is a mandala I created during the color testing last night. 

(Dec. 12 / 2:25)

Over the last few weeks I have been setting up my studio in a room downstairs. The studio is now finished and I am spending a lot of time working to create new pieces. I am still mainly hanging out online at Facebook, if you have a profile there send me a friend request. I will add a few photos below to show you the new studio. 

( December 1, 10:44 a.m.)

Over the last few weeks I have been spending a large amount of time at Facebook. This site has turned out to be the best online community I have every experienced.

A week ago, Bernard Dumaine and I collaborated on an exquisite corpse technique film, last night I put the video section together of our second EC film. I will post a link or the video here as soon as I get a soundtrack added to the film. I also started a group at Facebook for Exquisite Corpse and Collaborative Films for those that are interested in creating these videos. By clicking the banner above you will be taken to the group. 

The Exquisite Corpse process is as follows: Two or more artists collaborate to create a film. A section of film is created using animations,stills and live video footage.The artist then creates a short clip created from the last seconds of their section to be sent to the next artist taking part in the exquisite corpse, from the short clip the next artist begins their section of film. This process is continued until the film is completed and then assembled. It is important that the artist receiving the shot clip have no knowledge of the elements within the full section of film the short clip was cut from.

Collaborative Surreal Films are created by two or more artists working together in a collaborative fashion to create a video. The creation of a collaborative film can be discussed and planned by the artists taking part in the film.

(December 2, 2:54 p.m.)

” The Green Frame”

(Dec. 6 3:16 p.m.)

I have created two extentions groups of the Exquisite Corpse & Surreal Collaborative Films group at Youtube and Vimeo. Click the banners below to be taken to the sites.

The Vimeo Group

The Youtube Group

My Youtube Profile.