Year: 2021

Today I ordered a rubber stamp with Edvard Munch’s “painted by a madman” phrase. When he painted “The Scream”, the original artwork wasn’t received very well by a critique of local artists. One of the folks at the critique questioned…

The problem of special characters appearing as horizontal lines or blank boxes Sometimes people will use cute unicode characters as their Twitter name or Linkedin name. But then the text appears as a bunch of horizontal lines. Here’s a Linkedin…

I saw on National Day Calendar that today is National Mario Day. Now I know why it’s on March 10. Funny how National Day Calendar’s page doesn’t mention anything about how MAR 10 looks like MARIO. I love little word…

Under five minutes:• Biz in 60 seconds• WSJ minute briefing• LensWork• Little Happier• 60-second science• 2-minute jazz Conversational style:• The BeanCast (marketing)• Circulating Ideas (librarians)• Happier with Gretchen Rubin (life hacks)• MBMBaM (comedy)• ReCode Media (tech/business)• Something You Should Know• Hidden Brain• Hidden…

The “.acb” file is actually an xml file. If you open the .acb file inside a text editor, you’ll see something like this: You’ll see the color values are stored in RGB format. We want them in hex. Steps to…

Every day I check the Eiffel Tower webcam. Many days the colors are pretty nice. I’d like to grab a quick color palette to tweet with my @EiffelLive Twitter account. Today’s Eiffel Tower view is peaceful. Gray and white tones.…

A new section on Spudart.org for ideas I’m building a place on spudart.org for my quick thoughts and beginning ideas. This will be public place on the site for anyone to see. I have so many unpublished ideas that never…

Yesterday I set out to illuminate Homer’s paintings using a silly font-selecting method: Pick the free fonts based primarily on their name alone. What was my motivation? One of my friends asked, “I am curious why you underwent this exercise…

Winslow Homer’s paintings are full of dichotomies. Earlier this week, I uncovered eight paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago’s collection with wonderful dual meanings. Themes like life and death captured in one painting. To really punch these double interpretations,…

Rather mind-blowing that the Art Institute of Chicago has 184 of Winslow Homer’s artworks. Usually when I look an artist in their catalog, there are 4 results. Maybe 10. Sometimes it might balloon up to 16. But here are one…

“Formed from a single block of excavated stone, Kailasa temple is considered one of the most impressive cave temples in India. The enormous structure is one of 34 cave temples and monasteries that are collectively known as the Ellora Caves.”…

When you see something interesting, you might stop, pull out your phone and snap a pic. Then you move on. Good for you to stop and capture the picture! But what if you spent a little more time with that…

This week I learned that seahorse skeletons are amazing, Gobots were once humans, and Tuffy Rhodes tied Japan's single season HR record

A long-time art world mystery has been solved. A hidden message exists in Edvard Munch’s famous painting “The Scream”. Written in pencil in the corner of the painting reads, “Can only have been painted by a madman”. Who could have…

Which of these collages by Tony Fitzpatrick do you like best? One of these collages will become a mural in my town, Glen Ellyn, Illinois. Glen Ellyn resident, Diana Martinez, posted on Facebook: On behalf of the DuPage Public Art…

A man in Estonia spends hours cutting a circle in the bay ice, inserts a boat motor into a hole to make the circle spin.

The man who helped start both the transcontinental railroad AND one of the first famous photographers—his photos were missing for a hundred years, then found in a flea market! One of those photos was the very first photo of the…

This week I learned how power lines can burn through sidewalks, and why cars have ‘grab handles’ above the doors

For the first time ever, a Mars rover will be recording the sounds of Mars. The rover named Perseverance has two microphones. One microphone is for capturing sounds when it shoots laser beams at rocks (seriously). The other microphone will…

Pick two works of art. Google will find the visual connection between the two artworks. Using several artworks that look visually similar, you’ll see a visual bridge between artworks. What is the connection between a 4,000-year-old clay figure and Van…

This week I learned about golf balls found on the moon, fathoms as hugs, and double-cycle snowblowers.

During the first century, what did the Ancient Romans use to hold their stuff? Answer: Very cute containers! The Art Institute of Chicago’s collection has this adorable 1st century Roman container for personal items: I love how this looks like…

Poems are stamped into sidewalk squares throughout Appleton, Wisconsin. Any resident are eligible to submit poems to the program. How wonderful! What a great way for people to feel a little more ownership of their community. Resident poets can walk…

What if there was a tool that could tell you which artists in art history are most like your artwork? Upload 20 images of your artwork to this tool. Based on your art, a list of artists is generated most…

Clubhouse, Trapper Keepers, and what Jupiter would look like on our horizon if was the place of our Moon.

These Versailles trees in gray wash are relaxing. I really enjoy how this artwork is cropped by my modified version of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Art Tab. (This is a Chrome add-on that displays art in new browser tabs.…

This week I learned about joy, mazes, White House factoids, Hank Aaron, and a bunch more.

In my Christmas stocking from my dad was a little Christmas paratrooper toy. (My daughters also got a paratrooper too). A little plastic figure with a tiny parachute. Those are always fun. I searched Youtube for how people have had…

Normally when you scan something, you think your scan is going to be totally flat. But the only truly flat part of your scan is right down the center of your scanner. Anything sitting on the left part of your…

Canadian passport when held under UV light Canadians know how to party. Everyone got your passport? Turn on the black lights… and… LET’S PARTY!!! The Canadian passport comes alive under black light. The regular image under normal light is so…

This week I learned about flag trivia, chocolate secrets, Jawas unveiled, and much more!