I just updated my Synectics Daily Prompt calendar—now there’s a creative prompt every day. Synectics is a set of strategies that help spark new ideas in art and writing Tomorrow’s prompt: “What human qualities does your subject have?” (Animate) calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0...

Last week I published my 4,000th blog post. I've been blogging all the time since 2001. In the past two years, I've gotten into a good routine of publishing every Wednesday. Here is #4,000: www.spudart.org/blog/kodak-c...

I often open logos from other companies, and the black is not a true black. - Red: 31 - Green: 31 - Blue: 31 It should be: - Red: 0 - Green: 0 - Blue: 0 You can tell the logo came from a legacy CMYK environment, and someone converted it to RGB without adjusting it to true black.

It brings me such joy that Savage Chickens continues to produce funny comics. @savagechickens.bsky.social & www.savagechickens.com

March photos, now on my Flickr. flickr.com/spudart

While waiting with all the parents for their kids to come out of school, I'm the dad who sits on the ground, photographing the leaves through a toilet paper tube with a tiny Kodak Charmera toy camera.

Someone placed a pumpkin in our local woods. It seems like a nice gesture to feed the animals. However, there is a $500 dumping fee. Imagine if the person put a carved jack-o'-lantern in the forest. You'd be able to trace back to who illegally put the pumpkin there.

Getting my Flickr up-to-date. For the next nine days (or so), I'm adding highlights from each month. Here's February. flickr.com/spudart

Pressing ginkgo leaves in my book "The Way of the Ninja: Secret Techniques". Eventually, these leaves will be part of my "365 Hues of the Ginkgo" art project. #blueskyartshow

Weird vertical halos appeared when moving across the sun while capturing a panoramic with my iPhone. #photooftheday

When viewing one of my Pinterest boards, the thumbnails are really small. I click on one of the items in the board, and I'd like to click something to view the next item in the board. Surprising that Pinterest doesn't have this feature.

While waiting to pick up my daughter from school, I collected about 20 ginkgo leaves, thinking I would use them to continue my 2010 series "Yellow ginkgo leaf on _______". www.flickr.com/photos/spuda...

I like taking photos of my Kodak Charmera taking photos more than I do taking photos with the Kodak Charmera. Put another way... the resulting photos from the Charmera are ok. But it's more the act of taking the photos with the tiny camera that I enjoy. In this case: Process is over product.

This ginkgo leaf was sucked onto a vent. Looked like a #miracleleaf. Not really miraculous since anyone could replicate it, but it certainly looked magical at first glance!

The painter James McNeill Whistler sure looks like he was a character. via #ArtTab www.artic.edu/artworks/144...

#miracleleaf would be a great series. Have you witnessed a Miracle Leaf? Last month, a single leaf floated mid-air at my daughter's school. I saw it at morning drop-off—and it was still there at pickup! I filmed it: youtu.be/_g-F_RROsmE

Shot with a Kodak Charmera, a toy camera. It has no macro capability, but sometimes close-up blurred photos can be fun. #photooftheday

The #773Sounds radio show on @wxav883.bsky.social gave the tip that the Chicago-based band, Empty Pockets, is giving away a free Christmas album! store.theemptypockets.com/products/par...

@wxav883.bsky.social Regarding the opening of #Rockology today and Athena not liking red sauce on her pizza... It sounds odd to us in the 20th century. But she would be at home in the Roman Empire. They had no knowledge of the existence of tomatoes.

Just when you think the napkin is looking like a paper airplane, it transforms into a TURKEY.

Two songs that will get me to sing and chair-dance are: - "Pizza Puppy" by Parry Gripp - "Chicken Nugget Song" by Nick Bean

On Veteran's Day, I'm reminded of an art series I did in 2009. Whenever I visited a town, I'd look up to see if a veteran from that town died in service. Then I would write a prayer for the family on a sticky note and put it on a pay phone in that town. #VeteransDay www.flickr.com/groups/stick...

Kids' ceramics is the best. Here's a #macro of my daughter's coil pot. #blueskyartshow

Ginkgo trees like to drop all their leaves at once, creating a blanket of leaves on the ground. The tree's loss of leaves reminds me of all the lost lives in war. #photooftheday

I put my Geocities up around 1998. It was taken down October 2009. It lasted just 11 years. My earliest spudart.blogspot.com post that is still alive is from 2002. Blogger has been keeping webpages alive for 23+ years.

I love when artists I bought from on eBay over a decade ago resurface with new, interesting auctions. Artist Brevki is back. www.spudart.org/blog/artist-...

Flying the flag early for Veterans Day

Hold onto your seats, internet. The Mighty Mauler has created a Bluesky account. That's right. The Croquet Superhero® is now on Bluesky. bsky.app/profile/migh...

A funny title for a cute print, "The Unwilling Dancers" By Helen Hyde, 1912 via Art Institute of Chicago www.artic.edu/artworks/776...

As if the Christmas Ewok wasn't odd enough, now there is Valentines Ewok. www.entertainmentearth.com/product/hsg2... It's giving me an odd craving for strawberry ice cream.

A great thing about the #Rockology radio show is that Pete plays movie soundtracks on vinyl. (You can listen Wednesdays 9am-11am CST @wxav883.bsky.social) Even greater is if your classroom is listening to Rockology, Pete will give your class an on-air shout-out in the middle of the soundtrack.

I hope the Art Institute of Chicago's new conservation wing continues to display this collection of Wheaties boxes from the 2002 photo conservation department. Photo via: www.artic.edu/about-us/dep...

Using Paul Klee as inspiration when sorting Halloween candy. www.spudart.org/blog/making-...

The Art Institute of Chicago doesn't own any Banksy works, but their website search box created the next best thing—accidental connections between street art, ancient sculptures, and Impressionism. See how Bankoni, Monet, and Bakst became honorary Banksy works. www.spudart.org/blog/banksy-...

I'm excited for an upcoming blog post on spudart.org this Wednesday about how laying out Halloween candy is like Paul Klee's method of making art.

Got some cool art-related text? @greg.org has a dedicated phone number that you can call and read the text. He'll make a mixtape of all the recordings. greg.org/archive/2025...

I’m not really sure why Fanatics is selling a Scooter action figure (from the Muppets), but they have it on sale for $9.89 www.fanatics.com/disney/the-m...

One of the houses during trick-or-treating gave us illuminated balloons! In this video, you'll see that the second balloon changes color. (they both actually change color, it's just how the video got captured)

Of the approximately 210 pieces of candy that my 1st grader got on Halloween, just one is a Nestle Crunch. Nestle Crunch seemed to be a more popular candy bar during Halloween when I was a kid in the 1980s.

I'm trying to figure out when the Tribune Tower in Chicago decorated its windows blue and pink. I also posted this question to r/chicago on Reddit: www.reddit.com/r/chicago/co...

Parry Gripp is so genius for keeping his songs to a maximum of 2 minutes. I love his peppy tunes. But yeah, two minutes is probably enough for a lot of his tracks. e.g. 'tacocat' is 38 seconds. A fun song. Only 38 seconds. That's all we really need. He makes the 38 seconds pure bliss.

Who wants another cupcake? I'm fine with one, thanks. The size of this cupcake! (for reference, see regular-sized cupcakes on the left)

Yesterday, I noticed someone put a spider in their tree by the sidewalk. It was a fun surprise, so I bought a spider and put it into our ginkgo tree. It's supposed to light up, so I'll turn it on tonight.

I've reached the 200th song on my "Discovered 2025" playlist! The 200th song is from Parry Gripp. Fitting, because I've been digging his fun songs for years. This one is "Abominable Snow Cone" The abominable snow cone Don't let it into your home Full playlist: open.spotify.com/playlist/3Hd...

The tiny country of Monaco has water rights two nautical miles wide and extends seaward for 100 nautical miles from Monaco’s coast. via brilliantmaps.com/map-showing-...

Using a $30 Kodak Charmera keychain-camera to record two minutes of morning sun in my local woods youtu.be/rOdqoijLFrU?...

Tomorrow is the average first day for the first snowflakes in Chicago.

The rise and fall of the soap opera via www.statsignificant.com/p/what-happe...

Usage of social media peaked in 2022 via flowingdata.com/2025/10/03/p...

Because I like contributing to the world, I added three missing trading cards from the 2025 Panini Squishmallows Halloween set. Geli #48 www.tcdb.com/ViewCard.cfm... Regina #84 www.tcdb.com/ViewCard.cfm... Mallow Styles #13 www.tcdb.com/ViewCard.cfm...