When I first encountered Juan Francisco Casas’ art I was stunned. Sure, there are a lot of artists out there that can draw lifelike figures. But how many of them work with nothing but a blue Bic pen? And draw photographs up to 10 feet tall? As far as I know – exactly one.

Here is what the Daily Mail had to say:

They may look like pin-sharp photographs – but these amazing pictures are actually drawings created with the humble ballpoint pen.

The stunning pictures, measuring up to 10ft high, were drawn by a rising star of the art world, Juan Francisco Casas.

Casas, 31, can use up to four 14p ballpoint pens for a canvas and his works are already a sell-out at exhibitions.

Formerly a traditional painter, Juan began the drawings three years ago based on photographs of nights out with his friends.

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Several months ago I was pleased to be contacted by Dr. John Silber’s assistant about a photo featured in my article about a Weekend in Denver. Dr. Silber, who spent 25 years as President of Boston University, was completing a new book entitled Architecture of the Absurd: How “Genius” Disfigured a Practical Art, and was interested in using my photo of the new Denver Museum of Art as the inside cover for the book.

I was quite pleased to provide the original images for Dr. Silber’s book, and even more pleased when he generously sent me an autographed copy! Thanks Dr. Sliber!
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Once again from the mind of Colby Jones, the truth about weather in Texas.

Yet another funny one from Colby Jones. How does he come up with this stuff?!?

Cartoon courtesy of Colby Jones…

This weeks theme… Art!

• Ron Mueck: Hyper-Realist Sculptor
• Adam Burn: Burn Comics (Contains nudes. You have been warned.)
• Matt Bilfield (make sure and look around the site, not just at this one piece)
• Bob Staake Illustrations
• The Beauty of MS Paint
• Peter Callesen Paper Art
• Paintalicious

This video is as cool, or possibly even better, than my previous post on Incredible Japanese Kinetic Machines.

In this video, the creators of this Rube Goldberg machine (a machine that performs a simple task in a complex way) have woven the kinetic reactions all over an entire house!

As it weaves it’s way throughout I can’t help to wonder if someone’s mom is about to come home and freak out at what the kids did when the parents were out of town or something (like with the 60 foot slip-n-slide).
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A flamboyant painter and sometime writer, sculptor and experimental film-maker, Salvador Dali was probably the greatest Surrealist artist, using bizarre dream imagery to create unforgettable and unmistakable landscapes of his inner world.

Dalí was born on May 11, 1904, in Figueres, Spain close to the French border. In 1916, Dali discovered modern painting on a summer vacation to Cadaques with the family of Ramon Pichot, a local artist who made regular trips to Paris. The next year, Dali’s father organized an exhibition of his charcoal drawings in their family home. He had his first public exhibition at the Municipal Theater in Figueres in 1919.
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I have a habit of clicking on the pictures of pretty women in the “Recent Visitors” area of the sidebar over on the right side of my blog – but not for the reason you think…

You see, a lot of the time those photos are images that Spammers (example) have assigned to a MyBlogLog profile in order to get people to click on it to take a look. I hunt those members down and ban them with impunity. Every once in a while though you see attractive ladies over there who actually are bloggers, and its really nice that they stop by here and grace us with their presence.

Of course, we have Lisa Marie Mary who is a regular… but I also recently spotted Stacy Reed, and upon arriving at her blog immediately spotted this completely awesome name tag that I can only assume she created. Fantastic work there Stacy! Oh, and that is a kick ass tattoo you got there… and quite sexy.

Hmmm. Many people are claiming this is the greatest short film ever created. Props to Rich Skrenta for pointing it out.

The Academy-Award nominated animated short-film by Mark Osborne tells the story of a lonely inventor, whose colorless existence is brightened only by dreams of the carefree bliss of his youth.

By day, he is trapped in a dehumanizing job in a joyless world. But by night, he tinkers away on a visionary invention, desperate to translate his inspiration into something meaningful.

When his invention is complete, it will change the way people see the world. But he will find that success comes at a high price, as it changes himself, as well.

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Now I’ve seen a lot of artists using wild methods of manufacture like Denny Dent, Banksy, Chainsaw Jack and more. But I’ve never seen this before!

Jorge Castillo (hope I spelled that right) uses an old fashioned typewriter to “draw” incredible pictures. Basically there is no better way to describe it, so you just have to watch this to see how he does it.
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