See you on Friday!

Hello my Dear Nail Art Lovers.
Tomorrow morning we are leaving for the San Francisco trip - gosh i am so super excited, this is going to be my first time in California. We going to spend where 4 romantic days full of all kind of exciting plans. So as of right now - bags are packed and nails are done.
I am going to post today nail that i have done for the trip, i hope that glitter top coat will help it last for 4 days, and neutral colors will not annoy me.




And here is a picture of my Wonderful and beautiful Kot Marshal - i guess your are so surprised on how big is he now :) He is wonderful, amazing, very loving Kot (Kot means cat in russian, but htis is how we call him around here) and i am goign to miss him so much. My friend is going to coame take care of the kot and dogs 2 times a day while we are gone, so special thanks to her :)
I hoped i can use this cool picture of Marshal as an excuse for not posting much lately.
When my Dad saw this picture he said that it must be called somehting like - "Mmmm... Those owners were delicious..." :D

Also please check out my post that i made earlier this year, with the manicure that i called San Francisco Nails :) I guess i was just inspired by the dream of cisitng Sanfran, and i am so happy that my dream is cumming true.
SAN FRAN NAILS POST

Jumping Through Hoops


So tonight are the Closing Ceremonies, and lots of people have requested that I do Olympics nails over the course of the past few weeks, and wellllll, tonight is my last chance!! Pardon the shakiness, I just got home, I went to class from 8-1, hockey game from 130-5?, and drinking from 5-7 or so with some buddies from work. Good times. Note to self: NEVER drink Newcastle after SUPER-hoppy IPA, will taste horrible and like nasty caramel. Anyway, on to the nails.



I used Sally Hansen All the White Stuff, China Glaze Salsa for the red, Pure Ice French Kiss for the blue (and mixed with Sally Hansen All the White Stuff for the midsection of the logo body), Zoya Raven for the black, Diamond Cosmetics #319 Lemon Yellow Zest for the yellow, and Nubar Forest for the green. Topped everything off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Congrats to all the countries on a job well done at the Olympics!! :)

SoulburnScripts Updated Feb 28th 2010

Max script update:

Updated 2 older script:

texmapPreview: Now mentalray's GI and Caustics are also turned off for a faster render. Exposure control is also turned off, and you can choose if it displays the background as well.
edgeDivider: Now works on Edit Poly modifiers.

http://www.neilblevins.com/soulburnscripts/soulburnscripts.htm

Thanks to everyone for your support.

This Tuesday... Janaschi & Hannes(algenpfleger) on Crimson Daggers!

So... Just got word from Hannes that he'll be joining me along with Janaschi over Skype on Tuesday's Crimson Daggers session to answer questions and talk about studies! Should be a lot of fun, hope to see you all there!

If you don't know them, heres some examples of their work & studies!

Janaschi - studies and personal work!




























Hannes! - studies and personal!

























So thats Live on Tuesday March 2nd, Crimson Daggers!


Hope to see you all there! Click the Crimson Daggers banner above to go to the LiveStream and you can follow me on twitter for updates!

Composition and Loomis PDF's!

Hey everybody! Updating this a little bit later than usual. Devin and I spent the time after the Crimson Daggers and built an awesome monster snow man out back. Its pretty huge, somethin over 6 feet, just wait til I don't show you and it rots in the backyard... Withering away as the glory of spring destroys his monster heart D:.



Check the stream tomorrow 


@6pm EST for my Monday night Character Drawing Session! 


I'll be taking suggestions from the Chat and it will dictate how the final character comes out!

Anyways heres some of the content we covered during the stream today... Basically a lot of technical questions came up and we often referred to sources online from which we learned. Hopefully you'll give these a read through and learn somethin useful!

Composition! - Be sure to READ through ALL to absorb it!

LandScape Composition Rules! - Applies to all images though... 

Phil Straub's Composition Tutorial 

Fundamentals of Composition!

Hue Value Chroma! - Very important information! It is a very boring read but I would advise you really take the time to check it out.


HueValueChroma.com

Loomis PDF's! everybody seems to be looking for these... Download them here(right click - 'save link as' to save to the computer)!


Loomis PDFs!

Other than that I don't have much else to post. Not quite done with my study just yet but I'll try and update when I can :). Hope all that info helps! Keep on studying and seeee my daggers tomorrow!

And as always I got the other supplies I mentioned like the Plaster Cast I was studying today in the sidebar to the right here ---------------->

Metal! - W.A.S.P. - "Wild Child"

Johngy Meets The Swirsk (Chuck Swirsky)

Chuck Swirsky was doing sports talk radio before there was sports talk radio. Swirsky hosted a late night sports talk show on WLUP in 1980 and '81. My friend Tom Skalski and I would stay up listening on our old clock radios and then discuss and debate things we heard the next day.
In 1990, while I was at Lerner Newspapers, we had a promotional booth at Schaumburg Fest. As I wrote in a previous post, we had a silly cardboard replica of a front page of our Schaumburg Voice. People could come to our booth and get a picture while holding it, thus looking like they were on the front page. It was very cheesy, but it wasn't my idea.
My odd brain kicked in when I saw Swirsky at WGN's stage. I approached him during a commercial break and asked him to pose with the sign. He quickly agreed, I flipped him the sign and took the picture.
Of course, the Powers That Be at Lerner at the time didn't think enough of it to run it in our paper in the fest recap. While I realize Swirsky wasn't a major celeb, he was big enough to grab a little attention if we had run the photo.
Lerner's loss is a Johngy's Beat gain. Hey, I knew a star when I saw one! For the first time ever, I now present The Swirsk on the front page of the Schaumburg Voice!
Chuck Swirsky in Schaumburg, IL-Summer 1990.

My weekend

It Ain't Easy Being Cheesy


Today's nails were inspired by something... and I'll give you a hint... They're little, and cheesy, and sometimes I have them for breakfast with my Dr. Pepper.... If you guessed Cheetos- YOU'RE RIGHT!! :-D I mixed both the mascot - Chester the cheetah's spots, with the orange funk that always covers your finger tips after a few of the electric orange morsels of deliciousness.



I used Sally Hanson Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear in 06 Sun Kissed as a base, with Zoya Raven applied with Konad Plate m57. For the orange Cheetos film on the tips, I sponged Electric Orange over the Konad pattern, and then sponged Essie Matte About You over top of it. For the shiny portion of the nail, I used Seche Vite top coat.

Dangerously cheesy.

Octomom's Lips - Another Reason to Avoid Permanent Lip Implants


This terrible photo is of the Octomom on her way to the taping of the View. As you can see, her upper lip looks very strange. In fact, it looks quite a bit like Lisa Rinna's upper lip. Did they do the same thing to their lips?

To me, this is a clear cut case of either silicone injections or permament implants to the lips. When they are injected on either side of the center part of the lip, they can create a look like this, otherwise known as a "whistle deformity." People with cleft lips can also develop a similar appearance.

I hope this is the last time we ever see this woman again, although she does attract attention... in a train wreck type of way.

Photo credit: socialite life

Thanks for reading.
Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.
:

NEON, MIRRORS, 3D AND MORE!

I got this idea from Young Nails again! They are amazing! I am soooo glad I attended the Young Nails class I just wish they had one every week. These acrylic colors are from the Young Nails neon collection and I used polish to paint the tiger stripes!

I stole this idea from a very talented girl I met at a Young Nails art class. Thank you for the inspiration Krizia! I love your ideas!

This is 3d nail art that I created with acrylic. I put the 3d art right on the nail and then covered it with clear acrylic. The nail is smooth to the touch but you can still get the 3d effect. I have to admit I was proud of myself for doing these.


This is snakeskin print done on bright summer colors. I looooovvveee the snakeskin and this awesome client!

This is mirror confetti from Young Nails!

More sparkles nails!

This is some impression nail art. I love how vibrant these colors are!

Loomis Figure Drawing For All its Worth

Hey everybody! Just wanted to throw this up because I thought it was a pretty awesome deal.

I had this up for a bit but it was always $100 and somebody just listed a copy of Loomis' Figure Drawing For All its Worth for $40. Dunno if anybody collects this kind of stuff but I figured I'd drop it on the main blog because Loomis rules. I also make a percent of course, but I've just never really seen it for cheap. Just figured somebody out theres been lookin besides me haha


Anyways, back to work for me!

Collecting Reference!

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

SHOWS AND AWARDS!

My thanks to Christiane Kingsley who presented this blog award to me a few days ago.  And, I'll go along with Ann Buckner's idea - to see who else I would pass this along to - it would be those artists I keep on my blog roll! 
Thanks again, Christiane!

And - thanks to Rhonda who also gave me this award a couple of days later!

                             
Last but not least:
My painting "Blue Pitcher and Pears on Lace" was chosen from 317 entries by juror, Judy Morris, to hang in the Georgia Watercolor Society 2010 Exhibition in Dawsonville, GA.

Oz? Vinnie Vegas? Diesel? Kevin Nash!

It seems that every time I meet Kevin Nash, he looks different. It also seems that each time I meet him, he is in a new phase of his wrestling career.
I first met Nash at the Brian Pillman Memorial Show in 2000. Nash was in his second stint in WCW and was perhaps at his popularity peak. His hair was long and he also appeared to have been recovering from a rough night.
I met him again at the first Wrestler Reunion in 2005. Nash was now in TNA wrestling and sporting a new short hair cut. I got my first glimpse of a funny, relaxed Nash.
Thanks to Klinger Promotions, I met Nash again a couple years ago. Nash had regrown his hair, which was gray-white by now. He was pretty quite, but the room was not conducive to a whole lot of intimate talk. I have since met Nash a few more times and he seems to be ever-changing. It's kind of funny.
I have to admit, Nash has grown on me. He has his detractors, but he has accomplished a lot in wrestling and nobody can deny that. Last time I met Nash, he gladly put me in a headlock for a photo (hmm, maybe he just doesn't like me).
Kevin Nash and me in Elgin, IL-early 2008.

Some finished candlesticks




I have been busy painting these wooden candlesticks. I will have them available at Artfest. I was hoping to make a few more but they are tedious to paint, and I have run out of steam. I finished spraying them with archival gloss finishing spray this week.
I am also still busy with learning some Photoshop Element tricks. I was able to make this collage in Photoshop (1st photograph) last night, I really like the way I can change the size of the photos and move them around in the frame. If you know of any photoshop tricks you think I would like to explore send me a note, I love learning new things!

That's Gonna Cause a Gummyache.


Ok, so today's nails are an homage to Fish. Not the cold, scaly, stinky kind, but the dude I work with, whose nickname is Fish. The plan today was to test his theory that he could eat a 5 lb gummy bear in one sitting. Unfortunately though, the company we work at caught wind and said 'No way Jose, not on OUR property!' So we went to Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch and he attempted the gastronomical feat there. The goal? See how much he could eat of it in a mere hour. Let me say, we were ALL impressed. He ate over 3 POUNDS of gummy bear in 1 hour. PLUS- the only reason he stopped is because we had to go back to work, he came back from lunch and promptly ate a sandwich. Seriously. In honor of what was to originally take place today, I painted gummy bears on my nails- even the best flavor - clear (pineapple) on the pinky nail, even though it is hard to make out what it is. :-P OVER 3 POUNDS! I feel nauseous just thinking about it. The thing was the size of a baby. No joke. Fish ate a baby.



I used OPI Alpine Snow Matte as a base, which chipped horribly within 2 hours. For the red bear, I used China Glaze Salsa, for the orange bear, Sally Hanson Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear in 06 Sun Kissed, for the yellow bear Urban Outfitters Yellow 1, for the green bear, OPI Green-wich Village, and for the clear bear, I used Maybelline Banana Puddin', which I can't find a link for, but I got mine from a lovely Aussie girl on Makeupalley.com. Everything was mixed with Sally Hansen All the White Stufffor the highlights. For the clear bear, I used Urban Outfitters Yellow 1 to distinguish the shapes on the bear (eyes, belly, etc). Topped everything off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

The maiden bite. He bit off his face because the bear was supposedly 'looking at him funny'.



After 3 lb. 3 oz was eaten.



And...because I found it amusing... the Spork, which isn't really a spork, but a Star Trek fork.



Eat Long and Prosper.

My teeth hurt.

Interview! Plus some more random info.

Hey everybody! Crimson Daggers just ended and I'm getting read to start on work! But before that I figured I'd drop this piece of info for you if interested. I did an interview for Dark Wolf's Fantasy Reviews the other day and it just got posted this morning.

Interview!


Also I may be doing something with ImagineFX in the future(not sure exactly what just yet). Will post more as they tell me :D. Or not if they don't want me to haha. Should be cool though, I'm always interested in doing how to's and other workshop style stuff. Hope its cool!

So, until I got some more stuff to post heres a  photo study I did today with the Crimson Daggers!




















Metal! - Venom - "Welcome to Hell"

A re-do

A re-do

Old Times at Wrigley Field

On September 22, 1983, I sat through an hour and a half of Micro Econ followed by an hour and a half of World History at DePaul University. At noon, I raced out to the #22 Clark bus and made my way to Wrigley Field. I was going to see the Chicago Cubs host the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Cubs were 68-85, mired in 5th place and managed by Charlie Fox. The Pirates were 80-73, still alive in 2nd place and managed by Chuck Tanner. The Pirates started Lee Tunnell, while the Cubs started Rick Reuschel.
The Pirates got rbi's from 7 of their players in beating the Cubs 8-3. Ron Cey hit the only homerun of the day, a meaningless solo shot in the 9th inning.
You can tell from the picture that the crowd was sparse. The actual total was 3,426. I think I took the picture in the bottom of the 7th inning, because I always moved closer as the game went on.
Tony Pena is the catcher for the Pirates. Jody Davis is just about to head to the plate. I am not sure where Marla Collins was heading. I thought she usually sat down the line, but here it looks like she is heading for the vicinity of the Pirates dugout.
Things turned around quickly for the Cubs however. In 1984, they won the National League East. Fans started to flock to Wrigley Field. Harry Caray became an icon. Unfortunately, 25+ years later, the Cubs still had not made it to the World Series.
Jody Davis (far left with bat), Marla Collins and Tony Pena (catching) in Wrigley Field in Chicago, IL-Sept. 22, 1983.

Human Lab - Facelift


The Rachael Ray Show has a very fun and interesting segment airing Friday, Feb 26th called Human Lab: Facelift. In this segment three viewers will test three different products which claim to create a natural facelift. See how these products change (or don't change) their appearance! And check out my expert commentary!

For a teaser streaming online, click here.

Thank you to the Rachael Ray Show for inviting me to be their expert for this segment.

Thanks for reading.
Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.
:

mostly



Friday 26.02.10

This week is the last week of summer!
I'm not so happy, I much prefer the hot over the cold.
I love wearing shorts, having all the doors ad windows open.
sigh.....etc.

This week's end of summer commemorative  twin set 
is not only attractive but
factually correct



original design, hand-painted badges 
on recycled timber

wear them together or separately









my favourite uber cool shop 
located in the underground 
at degraves st.
was kind enough to shoot this and post it.

thanks 

Gilbert Crockett Skateboarder Cover



As he's sandwiched between Keegan and Rowley on the cover and wearing the AV6, there's no denying it, Vans proudly welcomes Gilbert Crockett to the team!
Cover and Interview in the new Skateboarder. On stands now. Here's a preview.

I Feel So Desert-ed.


Hey everyone!! Today's nails are an homage to the seemingly endless span of desert that surrounds the lovely city of sin, booze, hookers, and gluttony that I reside in. :-P No, those aren't bats, they're vultures- the Hunter S. Thompson/Fear and Loathing/Steadman nails are to come in the near future I think. :-D



I used Zoya Yummy as a base, with American Apparel Palm Springs for the desert, then mixed with Zoya Dea to shade. For the cacti, I used L.A. Girl Army Green, that I got at Urban Outfitters, Pure Ice Wild Thing to highlight, and Nubar Forest
for shadow. For the vultures, I used Zoya Raven. Topped everything off with Seche Vite top coat so it'd dry superfast, then topped off the sand portion with Essie Matte About You. :)

Note: No bodies are buried in the desert pictured, unlike the desert surrounding Vegas. ;)


Freelance Living

Hey everybody! Wanted to go over something that I think is very important if you're an aspiring freelance artist. I talk about this all the time during my LiveStreams but I've never really posted this stuff anywhere. To some of you this may seem like common sense but... It must be enforced!

Forums 


You must always be producing work. Whether it be studies or personal work, you always have to be out there pushing your art around and letting your name be known. Make sure you take part in all the challenges on places like ConceptArt.org, CgHub, etc. These little challenges show that you can meet deadlines and produce quality concepts which is important(and many people follow these challenges, helps bring people back to your sketchbook or wherever you update). Lots of really popular concept artists use this(not just because it gets them popular, they are fun to do :)) and grow a substantial amount. Its always good to work on things outside your comfort zone, each challenge gets you thinking.

Networking 

Make sure you're always networking. This can be between forum members or just any sort of artist group you can find. Bobby Chiu hosts his LiveStreams and I'm sure plenty of people link up through there. Same thing happens with the Crimson Daggers group. People will share ideas, inspiration, resources, techniques and tutorials. Theres endless benefits to being connected in the community. Always be willing to ask questions even if you think they're stupid, if you don't know what saturation means... Find out as soon as possible! Also make sure to comment and send messages to members of the online forums to hopefully talk outside the boards. Take advantage of every opportunity to meet new people who work in the field you wish to work in.


Posting


Many artists I know are very weird about posting their work everywhere on the internet. Some don't use Deviant Art because they believe its only for anime people and 'furries'. This is ridiculous. If you're looking to get work, post absolutely everywhere as much as possible. I've gotten plenty of jobs from Deviant Art and I'm not talking about drawing Ash Catchem kissing Brock. I'm talking real jobs like cover work and interior illustrations. Don't hesitate to sign up for every single forum, website, and social networking website. All of these places can gain attention for your work and further help promote the fact that you're looking for a job.

Here is a list of places off the top of my head where you can post work -

Cghub.com
Conceptart.org
Cgsociety.org
DeviantArt.com
GameArtisans.org
Forum.Rpg.Net
Facebook.com
Friendster.com
Twitter.com
Blogger.com
Wordpress.com

If you're a freelancer and you're upset about not getting work. Just check that list and see if you're on all of these updating consistently. There is always more you can do to get noticed.

Create a Web of Links


After you've signed up for all of these websites and have started to post you're gonna wanna make sure you have a central place for people to head to. Something like a blog is ideal. Basically just any kind of homepage you can update often where you can host process work, tutorials, videos, etc. It doesn't absolutely need all that, but some kind of content that is different from the forums, and social networking sites is ideal. You're going to want to find everywhere you can on the sites above where you can post a link back to your central page. Let that be a signature, a post in the finally finished sections(example - my new stuff, got some process shots on my blog here -link-), or within the actual posts in HTML like in Deviant Art(click for example). All of these websites should relink to your blog in some way shape or form. Once they're on your blog you can focus on making content.

Awesome, I'll Hire you, Wheres your email?


If you have a website, post the email huge at the top of the website. Also put it in all your forum signatures. Make it very very easy to contact you. People are lazy and you have to make sure you compensate for that laziness.

I Love This Image... Who's the artist?

Post your website on the images you produce. Don't wanna leave any mysteries!

Stay Consistent and Don't Dissapear


A lot of people I know that I follow for their work tend to disappear for long periods of time. This is because of course they're way too busy to ever post and most of their work is buried under contracts... But until you're at that point, make sure you're everywhere(if your goal is to get those jobs anyways). I mentioned this before already but I can't stress it enough. I'm not saying you have to produce a personal illustration every day, but at least do some sketches, do some study, or just do anything to keep on moving. The main focus is to become known as a striving force. People follow those who lead vital lives. It gets them excited to follow along and keep watching your work. A vital life vitalizes. Just look at Hannes' work(check back to the beginning and watch the dates of each post and see how daily studies help) on ConceptArt.org. But really you should be studying daily anyways, and I don't mean to get all bootcamp about it until you're just hating art. I mean to just make it a habit to do just something. Anything to learn.

Portfolio

When sending out a portfolio make sure its geared at whatever company you're applying. Don't send paintings of dogs to Wizards of the Coast. Make sure it fits within the universe of whatever brand you want to work within. Also, make sure that when you send the emails to put as little distance as possible between the Art Director and your work. I would suggest the you attach the samples directly to the email. Most AD's are really busy and you want to make sure they don't have to take a lot of time to scout around links for your artwork. There shouldn't be too many to attach anyways, just send around 5 images that are your best.  It also doesn't hurt to look at their best artists and try to figure out what qualities it is about them that you enjoy. Figure out what exactly sells for that brand and try to incorporate it into you own work. When I applied to Wizards I was looking at all my favorite WotC artists. I didn't copy them but I wanted to make sure I got the general idea of that world and atmosphere in my own work.

Giving Back

Once you are working, make sure to always give back as much as possible. Provide a blog or whatever else you can think up to create tutorials or give tips to artists(couple times a week or more if possible). If you want to stay relevant and make sure you don't just drop off the map, then you'll have to stay involved. Use whatever name you've made for yourself and start helping other people. You get everything you want out of life by helping others get what they want. And that, to me, is totally true. This will help you in many surprising ways, I can tell you first hand that many awesome things have been happening since I started the Crimson Daggers. Its very beneficial in many ways to keep giving back. I don't hide the fact that it helps in promoting my work. Because it totally does and I know that it works for anyone who does it. Just make sure you're 100% honest about everything and it'll all be totally awesome. Totally promise.


So! That about does it for now... Just wanted to get that out there and off my chest because I always talk about this stuff and people who don't watch the stream just never hear it. Hope it helps!

Also, heres a study I did today!


















Metal! Blind Guardian - "Banish from Santuary"

SoulburnScripts Updated Feb 22nd 2010

Max script update:

Updated one older script:

texmapPreview: Added size feature, and it turns off render elements now when rendering, and turns off Distributed Bucket Rendering if you're using mentalray.

http://www.neilblevins.com/soulburnscripts/soulburnscripts.htm

Thanks to everyone for your support.

LOCAL BANK ROBBERY GONE AWRY

Well, this post has nothing to do with art. So, if it’s a painting you want to see here today, move along! But if it’s a funny story you need to start your day, here goes:

Late last year there was a bank robbery in Brookville, Indiana. At that time, the story caught my eye. In the latest edition of the paper, a short article stated that the robber was just sentenced to 8 years, but with credit for good behavior he could be out in four years (presumably to do it all over again with skills more finely honed during his time in the pokey!)

You are probably thinking “Big deal, what’s so funny about that?”

I’m going to let the newspaper story tell itself – picture it in your mind and enjoy! When I first read it, I was totally charmed by small town news reporting at its finest! See what you think.

Excerpt from the Brookville Democrat, Tuesday, December 22, 2009
 If there were a class for bank robbers, the first chapter in the accompanying text might contain instructions in how not to put on one’s mask and walk in front of the police station before entering the bank.
That is what police said Jody Selby did before they took him into custody less than two minutes after they said he robbed the First Financial Bank on Main Street in Brookville.
Brookville Police Department Administrative Assistant Linda Ballman said Monday morning started out kind of dull. At about 9:30 that changed.
There is a large picture window in the front of the Brookville Police Department. Ballman’s desk faces the window.
She said she saw a man in a yellow hoodie with a blue-green towel wrapped around his face walk by on Main Street heading south.
Ballman turned to Sgt. Jim Adams and said “I believe that man is going to rob the bank.”
At first, Adams thought Ballman was kidding, but he caught a glimpse of the man and had the same thought.
“It was cold outside, but not that cold,” Ballman said.
Adams went running out the front door and looked south. The man was no longer in sight. Next door to the police station is a laundromat that is closed for remodeling. Next to that is the bank..
Adams made sure the door to the laundromat was still secure and went on to the bank. When he opened the door, he saw the man with the hoodie and towel, raking money off the counter.
According to Joyce A. Ratliff, a customer at the bank, Selby walked up to the counter, put one hand on the counter, left the other in his pocket and said “Give me all your money and nobody will be shot.”
Ratliff, who stands 5 feet tall, tips the scales at 130 and will turn 56 on Saturday, zippered her purse, walked up behind Selby and struck him over the head. He turned from her, and she hit him again.
Adams remained outside with the door open. He told the man he was under arrest.
The man tried to get past Adams, and they scuffled. . . . . .
At first Ratliff, who has lived in Franklin County for four years, gave chase but she saw there were men after Selby. She then turned her attention to the money on Main Street.
Along with Ballman, Ratliff picked up the money on Main Street. Vehicular traffic came to a stand still. . . . . .
Rick Gill owns The Jewelry Inn that just relocated to its present location near the intersection of Sixth and Main, two doors south of First Financial Bank.
He stepped out of his store to walk down to the police station in order to talk to Brookville Police Chief Phil Wietholter about a matter.
Gill is a retired Indiana State Police trooper.
When he emerged from his business, he saw Adams running after Selby and the money flying.
Tim Ripperger, a former Brookville Police officer who now works for the town’s Utilities Department, happened to be in the Rosenberger’s Market parking lot.
He immediately joined the chase.
“I felt like I had two fellow officers with me,” Adams said.
Gill said he looked up and saw Ripperger in the middle of Seventh Street pointing toward a loading dock leading down to a lower level in the Firestone building.
Selby was under the front of the truck parked in the bay.
Adams walked up one side of the truck and Gill the other. With Adams’ gun drawn, Selby was ordered not to move. Handcuffs were placed on him, and he was taken to the Brookville Police Department.
From there, he was booked at the Franklin County Security Center on a charge of Robbery, as a class C felony.
According to Adams, no gun was shown during the crime, and no weapon was found on Selby. More money from the robbery was found in Selby’s pocket . . . . . .
Ratliff said she was not scared during the episode. There were two babies in the bank, and she was scared for their safety. A native of Hazard, Kentucky, she has 19 brothers (emphasis added!!!). Her mother is a retired police officer in North Ft. Myers, Fla.
“I consider this my hometown,” she said. “If people don’t get the riff raff out of town, we won’t have a town to be proud of.”
“I wouldn’t live anywhere else,” she continued.
“We caught the guy, and no one was injured,” Adams said. “That was the important thing.”

Some morals of this story:
Only in a small town can you get ALL the information relating to the police chases.
Apparently our local town is loaded with police, both current and former!
Talk about “Hoosier Hospitality” - it’s nice to know that traffic will politely stop in BOTH DIRECTIONS for anyone scooping up money from the street – I’m sure in New York or somewhere like that not all traffic would stop, and someone would jump in to grab that money and run!
I don’t know about you, but I’m going to keep my purse zipped and ready at all times – just in case I need a deadly weapon. (Left unzipped, mine would become shrapnel!)

And, I’m wondering how many of those 19 brothers survived to adulthood!

Bucky Gets High On Helium

Bucky Lasek breaks down Helium Technology & kills his bowl here.


Literati Glitterati

This is a new series on celebrity authors.

Usually you will find an autobiography of sorts here. Today, I am shifting gears a bit and featuring a novel written by wrestler Mick Foley.
Foley has been a professional wrestler since 1986. He had two best sellers, although they were both of the autobiographical nature. Unlike a lot of autobiographies, Foley's were written entirely by him, after he dismissed his co-writer (ghost-writer), figuring he could do it better by himself. In 2003, Foley's first novel Tietam Brown was published.
Antietam "Andy" Brown V is a troubled 17 year old just out of reform school. Andy lost his mother at birth and was abused by his stepfather. He is reunited with his father, Antietam "Tietam" Brown IV, and together they attempt to start fresh.
Andy is not only emotionally damaged, but physically as well. He is missing an ear and has a damaged right hand. This causes even more problems as Andy tries to fit in at high school. It seems that everything around Andy is violent and ugly, yet he struggles to find happiness in all of the mess.
One bright spot in Andy's life is Terri Lynn Johnson, the school's homecoming queen. I won't reveal what happens with this young couple or how the book ends, but I will say it is surprising and entertaining.
Foley insists there isn't anything autobiographical about Tietam Brown. Either way, he captures the teenage angst of Andy in such a compelling way. You can't help but to be drawn to Andy. You really deeply feel his highs and his lows.
A few years ago, Laurie and I talked to Foley about Tietam Brown. According to Foley, he tried "to tell a tale of innocence in a violent world." Laurie asked him about the violence and dark images and Foley said that he understood what she was saying, but still felt it was a "positive message".
Foley said that he got a lot of the material from stories he heard and people he met in wrestling. He even credits wrestling with giving him the experience needed to create characters. Foley said, "I have been doing that for my entire wrestling career."
There has been talk of a movie version of Tietam Brown. Foley thinks wrestler-actor Terry Funk would make a good Tietam IV. This resulted in excellent banter between Laurie and Funk, who seemed surprised that Foley would connect him to the abusive father.
There are some plot holes and some contrivances, but Tietam Brown is a riveting read. I couldn't put it down. I recommended Tietam Brown to several friends (non-wrestling fans) and they all enjoyed it. While none of us would say it is going to be a classic, we all agreed it was quite an unusual book and an excellent first novel.

Mick Foley and me in Novi, MI-May 2008.

Awake Tummy Tuck? Scary...


Should you consider having your tummy tuck awake? According to an article by The Plastic Surgery Channel a physician in San Antonio, TX is advertising an awake tummy tuck. No general anesthesia is used, just a light sedation and local anesthetics. In fact, you can make conversation with the doctor while she's cutting open your abdomen! The article mentions that she's not a real plastic surgeon, but trained in Family and Emergency Medicine. Scary!

I perform an average of one tummy tuck a week, and I wouldn't wish an awake tummy tuck on my worst enemy. While local anesthetics can work for smaller procedures, to perform a complete tummy tuck under local anesthetics is crazy. General anesthesia is meant to save people from experiencing the excruciating pain of having your body cut open.

Thanks for reading.
Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.
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Quick Update! - Shop Details!

Hey everybody! Just wanted to get it out there that I do have the whole Online Store thing under control now. The only thing is that instead of $1 downloads I'm gonna have to charge like $3 to cover everything. Hope thats not too bad, I figure its still cheap enough for HD videos. Big thanks to Bryan Cinman for helping me with the store!

Anyways, thanks for everyone's emails and support! I truly appreciate everything the Crimson Daggers have done to help me!

Thanks again everyone!

Getting ready for Artfest

I am starting to think of Artfest and all the work I have to do before the big event. My very supportive boyfriend and I cut the torsos this weekend. It is exciting to see all of them all at once. I even bought a new Craftsman saber saw for the event! I decided to get an early start on the sawing since it was a nice warm sunny day in Seattle.





sample torso for Artfest class "Every Persons Story"

Lutheran is on FIRE-

Between the New Jack in The Skateboardmag, and now this....

I've Gotta Go No. 2.


hahha. Did the title worry you? :-P

I was laying on the couch last night trying to think of what to do on my nails, and totally not wanting to go out to my car to get my idea notebook. Suddenly it dawned on me, based on my nails yesterday, to do pencils!! :)



I used a mix of China Glaze Salsa and American Apparel Palm Springs for the eraser, China Glaze Millennium for the metal band, and then mixed with Zoya Raven for the shadow on the grooves on the band. For the pencil portion, I used Diamond Cosmetics #319 Lemon Yellow Zest for the pencil color, and then mixed with Electric Orange for shading on the sides of the pencil. Topped off the pencil and metal parts with Seche Vite top coat and the eraser with Essie Matte About You to give it that rubery look, but my lotion made it sorta shiny. damn. Oh well, now it looks like one of those old, hard erasers. :-P

LORAC sale on Hautelook!



Woot!! LORAC Sale on Hautelook- everything starts at $4, almost everything is $4 or $5, and the most expensive item is a palette for $16.50 Head on over. LOTS of e/s, l/s, cheek colors, and palettes. :)

Hautelook


New Video Turotial - Actions in Photoshop!

Hey everybody! Been having a lot of fun with the LiveStreams and have been asked a good amount of questions. Most of which are about problems I forgot I used to have myself. Thats the real benefit of talking to people in real time who are going through a lot of the beginner troubles with photoshop. I always want to put out videos and whatnot but often forget what people are looking to learn.

So...

If you have any suggestions for further videos please drop me a comment!


Just let me know what you'd like to see and I'll do my best to produce some content! Basically what people asked me that sparked this was... How do you flip the canvas like that? As in without touching the menus. So if you ever have questions during the LiveStreams feel free to ask because I'm sure other people wonder the same.

Using Actions in Photoshop!





Hope that helps!

Metal? -  Danger - "3h11" - I love how this song is completely Streets of Rage

Alex Olson is nosegrinding in Oz today....

What are you doing?