Patterns in Nature

This is one result of a rainy summer. Mushrooms. I have no idea what kind this is, but it's got a nice pattern.

Project Runway - Car Parts Challenge

Spoiler alert. Don't read (or even look at the pictures) if you have not seen Project Runway (Season 5) - Episode 7 yet!!!


As I've mentioned before, I love the Project Runway challenges where the designers use recycled materials to create their fashions. I knew this challenge was going to happen because I heard Heidi Klum mention it in an interview, when the new Project Runway started.

For Episode 7, the designers got to take car parts out of a group of cars, and create a design out if it. No fabric was used.

Above are two pieces made entirely out of seat belt straps. The kimono/coat on the left is stunning! I was really worried as it was being made, but the final result is perfect. Unfortunately the dress on the right is not. It's a great idea that is poorly executed. The length is too long, though I do like the loose, uneven use of the seat belt straps. The part that is really unfortunate is the top is very badly fitted. Oh well.


Above are four other looks I liked a lot. (Click on the image if you'd like to see it bigger.)

The flared part of the dress on the the far left is made out of car air filters, that were decorated with a marker. Great idea and nice dress!

The left center is created out of seat vinyl, with seat belt straps as embellishment along the top edge of the dress. Really good detail, and quite a nice piece, though I was worried that the judges would have a problem with the exaggerated hips. Thank goodness they did not.

Center right is a dress made out of various car parts. Very nice!

The right dress is hard to see in this picture, but the top is made out of textured floor mats and is really cool! I don't know what the bottom part of this dress is made of, but I think the whole outfit works very well.

More episode details, and fun editorial comments, can be read on projectrungay.blogspot.com.

There's a recap of Episode 7 on buddytv.com.

Rubberband Ball

My family's rubberband ball looks pretty much the same as it did weeks ago.


It took a while to see what was different this time from last. It's pretty subtle. I noticed a yellow band was gone on the front left side, as per the photo below.


I try to post updates every two weeks or so. If you'd like to see what it's looked like in the past, click here. To see what the first picture I posted, in July 2007, click here.

There's also a short movie of my rubberband ball on youtube, that shows the pictures I took from July 2007-June 2008.

2008 Weekly Mixed Media Project

This is the front side of my 35th Weekly Mixed Media piece this year. Below is the back side. I post the back sides because they are usually interesting.



I decided to use green scraps, from previous mixed media pieces, from weeks 3/52, 17/52, 31/52, 33/52 when creating this piece.

You can see my 2008 weekly mixed media work (so far) on my website, and read about it here on my blog.

Sad News About Fabric Stores

All locations of The Fabric Place, located in eastern Massachusetts, are going to close before the end of this year, and I am very sad about it.

Check out thisisframingham.com's post about The Fabric Place, to learn more about this treasure.

I have been shopping at the store in Framingham Massachusetts, since 1978, when I moved back to Boston after graduating from Art School in Philadelphia. Back then, I didn't have a car, so I took the "Peter Pan" bus line that drove down Route 9 from Boston (I got on in Brookline, where I had my first apartment) to Framingham. It was a 20+ mile ride. Quite an adventure for a 21 year old who was unfamiliar with the Boston area. Now I live about 3 miles from that store.

At least 10 years ago, the fabric stores in Chinatown, in Boston, closed. I remember how sad that was, but it didn't affect me very much because I did my shopping at The Fabric Place.

This isn't only a Boston area problem. "Fabric Stores Struggle to Stay in Business," was published on July 07, 2008, about fabric stores in New York City.

Mood Designer Fabrics is my favorite fabric store in New York City. It's become famous thanks to Project Runway. I think Project Runway has helped to inspire people to want to sew, but not enough to stop the decline in numbers of fabric stores.

Here is a quote from an interesting article in the Patriot Ledger with an explanation about why there are few people sewing their own clothes, "Saftler blames it on cheap clothing from China, which started flooding the market in the 1990s through companies like Wal-Mart. That made it more affordable to buy new clothes instead of purchasing fabric and repairing old clothing."

I admit that I don't make my own clothing any more, mainly because of time, but a little because it is cheaper to buy than to make clothes. Quite often I decorate and enhance my clothes with lace, ribbons and bindings, to make it more unique. (Read a previous post about this very topic.)

I do however, sew curtains, pillows and tablecloths for my home, so I guess I will be depending on Joann Fabrics (which is really a craft store, not a fabric store) and Ikea (which is also not a fabric store) to make my purchases.

For my art work, I have always bought the fabric I print and paint on from Test Fabrics. They seem to have a good international business, and have a good internet presence, so I imagine they're fine.

Art at the Conventions

The Democratic National Convention is August 25-28, in Denver, Colorado, and the Republican National Convention is September 1-4, in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota.

Thanks to an article in the New York Times, there's some national PR about different art that's happening around the conventions. You can read "Your (Nonpartisan) Message Here," by Julie Bloom (published on August 15, 2008). Here's the blurb for the article, "For the coming political conventions, Minneapolis and Denver, the host cities, have urged artists to make works that address the political process."

If you are going to be in Denver or Minneapolis, during the conventions, you should read her article.

If you don't have time to read her article, or aren't going to be in the area, here are a few quick links for you to check out:

"My Yard Our Message is a user-created yard sign project, launched in conjunction with the United States presidential election," sponsored by The Walker Art Center. Read more.

"The UnConvention is a non-partisan collective of citizens who have come together to create a forum in which to promote the democratic and free exchange of ideas on important issues. It exists as a counterpoint to the highly scripted and predetermined nature of the contemporary presidential nomination process and convention," also sponsored by The Walker Art Center.

Part of their mission is "To umbrella the myriad artistic and educational activities (exhibitions, lectures, performances, etc.) that will take place in the Twin Cities during the lead-up and staging of the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota." Check out their Projects Page.

I'm more interested in what's going on in Visual Art, than performance art. I do have to say that I am very much looking forward to the performance art I'll see by Jon Stewart, and my hero Stephen Colbert, on Comedy Central during both conventions!

Trash Becomes Art

Back 10 plus years ago, I used recycled paper towels that had years of paint on them, and incorporated them in some large stitched pieces. Pictured above is a detail from one of them. Remembering the paper towels, a friend sent me the following information, which I find interesting.

From New York Magazine on August 18, 2008: "Artifact: Remains of the Night - Transsexual party promoter and downtown fixture Sophia Lamar has saved eighteen years’ worth of tissues used to remove her makeup. Her favorites, below, have been mounted as a collage and installed at the gallery Asia Song Society......"

2008 Weekly Mixed Media Project

Above is the front side of my 34th Weekly Mixed Media piece this year, and below is the back side.


Since I started this project at the beginning of the 2008, I've been posting directions, with photos, about how I made each piece, each week. Documenting it made this project was more than double the time it took to create the art. In evaluating my time, and the fact that I feel like I haven't made as much art as I'd like to this year, I decided to stop documenting my process in this project. I will continue to photograph the front and back sides of each piece.

If you are a reader who has been looking forward to directions each week, my apology. I will continue making Weekly Mixed Media pieces each week through 2008, and posting the final results. I just won't be publishing directions and photos of each step.

You can see my 2008 weekly mixed media work (so far) on my website, and read about it here on my blog.

Project Runway - Keith's use of Fabric

Spoiler alert if you have not seen Project Runway (on Bravo TV), Episode 6 in Season 5 yet!!!


I LOVE the way Keith Bryce understands and uses fabric when he creates his clothing on Project Runway! This post is not about my thoughts about the fashions he creates. Just about his playfulness with fabric. What a treat!

Here are some of the different ways he's used fabric so far:

1 - torn strips (dress)
2 - layers of scallops (skirt - you have to take my word for it because it's almost impossible to see in this photo.)
3 - whole piece of thin transparent fabric that has body, and becomes opaque when bunched up (skirt)
4 - layers of squares attached at the top as diamonds (dress)

If you watch the show, and you love fabric, I'm sure you'll have a sense of what I'm trying to say.

Juror Comments

I was a juror, with Virginia Spiegel, for the Journal Quilt Project II: Elements—Earth, Water, Air, and Fire. The show will be shown at the International Quilt Festivals, starting in Fall 2008 in Houston Texas.

For anyone who is not familiar with the Journal Quilts, here is a little background info:

Back not quite eight years ago, there was a discussion on the QuiltArt email list about making quilted journals. I wrote in to share what I was doing by making a quilt a week. There was discussion back and forth about what people felt they could or could not do time-wise. Shortly thereafter, the Journal Quilt project was born, thanks to the organization of Karey Bresenhan, Director of the International Quilt Festivals.

There are two books about these two projects, the "Creative Quilting: The Journal Quilt Project" is a book by Karey Bresenhan, about the first five years, and also "The Uncommon Quilter," a book about my project.

The Journal Quilt Project is in its seventh year, and this is the first time that it has been juried. It's also the first time I have ever been a juror. I have wanted to have the experience of jurying a show for many years. I felt it would be a good experience for me as an artist, to see how submitted work is seen by the jurors, and also to be able to be a part of a team picking the pieces for a very strong and cohesive show.

About jurying this show:

I didn't realize how hard it is to be a juror. Virginia Spiegel and I not only live very far away from each other, but are in different time zones, so we communicated via email and phone. We both agreed to look at the images of the 155 submitted pieces, and to rank them in our order of preference for acceptance. Then we emailed each other our list, discussed the jurying process back and forth a few times via email, and spent at least 2+ hours on the phone discussing how to make our selection. We then slept on it overnight, had some more emails back and forth, and then spent an other hour plus on the phone the next day.

Though we are not able to tell each artist why or why not their piece was/wasn't accept in the show, I do want every one to know that we could tell how hard each artist worked on their piece, and we feel that everyone should be very proud of their entry!

To answer a few questions that have been asked on the QuiltArt email list:

Q - Were artist statements looked at and considered when making the choices?
A - Yes. Personally, I wasn't going to read the artist statements at all until we had chosen the work, but felt I had to because there were many details that were not obvious when looking at digital images on my computer. The statements were usually very helpful.

Q - Was workmanship a factor in picking the work?
A - I can't speak for Virginia on this one, but for me, no. I looked at (in no particular order) color, contrast, design, balance, technique and did we already have many pieces in the element to choose from? As an example, there were a lot of fire or water pieces. I didn't count how many we chose in each category, but I was aware there were a lot to choose from.

Q - Since my piece was not accepted in this show, does it mean it won't get accepted in another show?
A - NO! Each jury has different results, and each show has different applicants. Please DO enter it again, in another show that's appropriate.

---

For anyone whose entry who was not accepted, I hope you will keep making work, and keep entering shows. The odds of being accepted in this show were about 30%, compared to Quilt National which I think is closer to 10-15%, depending on the year.

My hats off to everyone who made a quilt, whether it was entered it or not (since some people missed the deadline because of reasons out of their control), and whether it was accepted or not. You should all be proud!

I'd like to say thank you to Karey Bresenhan for inviting me to be a juror, Amanda Schlatre for organizing the work for jurying, and to Virginia Spiegel for being wonderful to work with. (Please be sure to read her blog about jurying.)

I don't have comments on this blog, but feel free to write to me at jeanne@jeannewilliamson.com, if you want to share something.

Motorcycle Art, and Lace

My neighbor got a new motorcycle, and I love the design painted on it! He's had it for a few weeks, but I only recently got to take pictures of it. When I was taking them, his brother (proudly) told me the design was spray painted through lace, which I knew immediately when I first saw it. (Hence my interest.) And, the fact that it's black and white, how could I not like it?!


Here's a detail of the front. and back. Pardon me for not knowing the names of the parts. I know absolutely nothing about motorcycles.


Lace must be making a comeback. There was a lot of it in the New York Times Women's Fashion Fall 2008 magazine recently. I'm not sure how long this link will work, but features called "Veiled Threads," and "Black Widow" are some examples of lace in today's fashion. (For both links, click on "Images Index" near the upper right side of the page to see a good example of what's in the magazine. If the links don't work, click on "The Images" near the top left, right under the banner.)

I especially liked an Alexander McQueen dress they showed, that has black lace peacocks mirroring each other, over a white strapless dress. In looking for the picture, I found that Alexander McQueen has MANY beautiful lace dresses for Fall 08. Check it out. Very inspirational.

12 x 12 x 12 August 2008

There's a HUGE concrete building being built in an office park in Newton Massachusetts. I've been watching it about once a week, for many months. Even if it is in the early stages of construction, it puzzles me that there are almost no windows (at least not on the on the street side of the building). I have no idea what will be in this building. The massive sections of concrete, and the very square openings for windows at each corner, inspired me to create this piece for my August 12 x 12 x 12.

After I painted the tan-ish color over the 1" (approximately) printed grid, I decided it was b-o-r-i-n-g, so I added a lot of stitching. The blue check "sky" area was way too bright, so I painted some of the tan over it after all of the stitching was complete, and the batting and back cotton shrunk, which made me to decide to wet the whole thing, so it would shrink more evenly. It was very rainy and humid the day I created it, so I had to dry it in the dryer. That is probably why there is so much more texture in this piece, compared to others.

If you want to know more about this series, you can read past posts about my 12 x 12 x 12 series here on my blog, or see all of the completed work on my website.

Design of the Beijing Summer Olympics Medals

I don't know if many people know this, but the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics medals are especially interesting. The designer incorporated jade in the back side of the medals. Quoting from Wikipedia: "In the long history of the art and culture of the enormous Chinese empire, jade has always had a very special significance, roughly comparable with that of gold and diamonds in the West."

On the left is the silver medal with pale green jade, the gold medal is in the center with pure white nephrite, and on the right is a bronze medal with darker green nephrite. Below are images of the front sides, which are also very nicely designed, but I am especially interested in the back sides. I think they are beautiful.


And since this post is about China, I suggest a very interesting movie I posted about on March 21st, called Manufactured Landscapes. It's very good, and has really stuck with me. Please check it out.

Rubberband Ball

There are not really any changes with the my family's rubberband ball since two weeks ago. Still waiting for the major black band to break, but I don't think it's going to happen for a long time.


I try to post updates every two weeks or so. If you'd like to see what it's looked like in the past, click here. To see what the first picture I posted, in July 2007, click here.

There's also a short movie of my rubberband ball on youtube, that shows the pictures I took from July 2007-June 2008.

More Art from Construction Materials

On exhibit through September 1, 2008, in the John Madejski Garden at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England, "Poly & Chai", by Yung Ho Chang. The installation is a set of free standing screens, created from green recyclable plastic paving blocks commonly used in parking lots, driveways and construction sites all over China. Visitors are encouraged to walk through this installation.


One of the most fun things about having a blog is the sharing of information and ideas. Lesley Zampatti sent these pictures to me (and her permission to post them), after a recent visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Thank you very much Lesley!


This exhibit, and the materials used, are of interest to me since I use construction fences, which are also grid-like, in my work. If I had access to the green recyclable plastic paving blocks, I would definitely make monoprints of them on fabric and try using them in my art work.

2008 Weekly Mixed Media Project

This is the front side of my 33rd Weekly Mixed Media piece this year. The back side is below.



My inspiration this week is a bush that I pass on my walk (when it's not raining!) each day. The bush is called a smoke tree (latin name: Cotinus). I find the feathery plumes very interesting.


To create this piece, I cut on 10" square piece of tan pre-felted wool fleece, and another light green, of the same size. I put the light green one on top of the tan one. Then I cut some loosely (barely) spun brown wool yarn, and some light green lengths. I arranged the brown like branches of the bush, and the green as a mass of leaves. I've had my sewing machine for I can't remember how long, and I've never used any embroidery stitches before, and I doubt I will many more times while it's in my possession. I commonly use only the straight and zigzag stitches.


Then I took the scraps of last week's shredded red pre-felted wool fleece, and I scattered them on top of the "bush."


To tone the color down, I placed a layer of purple silk organza on top of everything, and the started needle punching it from the top down, taking care to felt as much of it as possible.


Felting it from the organza down causes the organza to pull and tear a little, but that's OK. It all felts in nicely over time.


I did most of the felting from the back side up, trying to blend everything as well as possible.


Notice that the "bush-like" yarns are not at all noticeable on either side. Live and learn. I've been doing this weekly project is to learn about what is predictable and what isn't, and what does and doesn't work. Of course all of this experimentation depends on if you felt from the top down, the bottom up or both sides pretty much equally.

This piece wasn't working out at all as I thought it would. When I was at a loss as to what to do next, I decided to use my sewing machine to stitch many dark brown "branches." Then, using a leaf-like embroidery stitch on my sewing machine, using green top thread, and I stitched many many "leaves."

After that I tool a 6" square template, I chose the section of my design to crop, traced it with a pencil, and trimmed it to size.

I'm not thrilled about this piece. It's OK, but nothing to call home about.

You can see my 2008 weekly mixed media work (so far) on my website, and read about my process/progress here on my blog.

More Construction Fence Art

Seeing that I use construction fences in my work, this project is of interest to me. I don't think it is still on "exhibit", but I just heard about "The Fulton Fence", which was (or is?) a temporary installation in Fulton Street in New York City, that included construction fences and other materials. It was scheduled to be on view through the spring of 2008.

I wish I had been able to visit NYC to see it. Here is a video about it on YouTube.com

I also didn't know that there were so many colors of construction fences available. I've seen orange, and more recently green and some blue, but not yellow. I don't use actual construction fences in my work. I print off of them instead. The color is interesting, but not really important to me. The shapes and textures are.

Art with fiber - on exhibit at the Atlantic Works Gallery

There are some pieces on exhibit at "Safe", at the Atlantic Works Gallery, in East Boston, MA, that have fiber in them.

James Jaxxa, "Flowerhawk" and "A-9 Flowerhawk", are both created with folded paper, foil, tape, staples, plastic beads and sequins.

Leigh Hall, "In or Out", is a drawing of a chain link fence, made of thin black electrical tape, that is applied directly on the wall.

Patricia Berube, "The Bathtub" is a painting that includes pieces of paper sewing patterns that are applied on the piece in a very subtle way.

And, my Orange Construction Fence Series #40 (shown above) is monoprinted and handpainted on fabric, stitched, and includes some yarn.

Safe is open Fridays and Saturdays from 2 to 6 pm, or by appointment, until August 29, 2008. If you can't visit the exhibit, you can see a selection of the work online.

Art with fiber - on exhibit at the Bromfield Gallery in Boston

There are some pieces in the exhibit "A Woman's Place", at the Bromfield Gallery, in Boston MA, that have fiber in them.

Sherry Autor, "From Where I Sit," acrylic, charcoal and fabric.

Catherine Evans, "She Was on Fire," acrylic polymer on rubber, red wire on surface, mounted on box.

Cheryl Murphy, "She is," installation of bras and life objects.

Virginia Fitzgerald, "Cast," plaster tape, chicken wire, wreath frame sculpture.

Also, my piece, "Skeletal Fence Series #5," mixed media on fabric.

For more about this show, as well as thoughts about about women's issues and art, read Mo Ringey's blog entry.

This show is open through August 23, at the Bromfield Gallery.

Art in Beijing - At and Near the Olympics

If you didn't get to see the Opening Ceremony on TV at the Olympics last night, try to find a way to see it. If you can't find video, then these pictures from the NY Times show snapshots of what you missed. The pageantry was beautiful! 15,000 people participated in the creative part of the event, and many times there were 2008 people per segment dressed in beautifully designed costumes what were dyed, stitched, draped, and etc.

There's more than the Olympics going on in Beijing. There's a very strong art community there. Here's an overall description about the 798 Art Zone.
Also check out these web sites: Beijing's 798 Arts District, 798 Space, and Art Scene Beijing.

I'd love to be in Beijing, to not only see many Olympic events, but to also see the art.

Front Loading Clothes Washer

For the past 11 years, I've had a front loading clothes washer. I had a first generation Maytag Neptune until last week. Buying a new washer was not a planned household expense, but the old one had recently gotten REALLY LOUD, which meant it was starting to fail. I was warned by a repair person that it would start to leak soon because a bearing needed to be replaced. After finding out that it would be $900 to repair it, it was apparent that it was time for a new washer.

I replaced it with a Frigidaire Affinity. The reason I'm writing about this, is to share with anyone with a top loading washer, how little water a front loader uses, how gentle it is on what you're washing, and how much cleaner everything gets. A top loader can use up to 40 gallons per cycle, but a front loader uses 7-10 gallons per cycle.

An added plus with my new washer is that it sucks the water out of everything you washed so well, that it is now taking half the time to dry each load. It used to take 40-60 minutes in the dryer, per load, but now, using the same setting on the dryer, it takes about 20 minutes. Nice! Not only does my front loading clothes washers help with a lower water bill, an unplanned benefit will also be a lower natural gas bill due to less dryer use.

One might ask why I'm writing about this on an art blog. The reason is that besides using a washer for household laundry, I also need it for shrinking, +/or washing extra paint out of, the fabrics I use for my artwork. And, my dryer helps in my collecting lint for various (or future) art projects.

Some Interesting Reads About the Art World

There was a thought provoking article in the NY Times Magazine, "New Looks", by Rob Walker, that was published on August 3, 2008. The Times offers a blurb about what it's about "An art entrepreneur makes his way into a new realm -- the art world."

The article is about street artist Brian Donnelly, also known as Kaws. A few quotes from the article, to peak your interest:

"One thing Donnelly had not done until lately, however, is forge a relationship with a dealer or art gallery. This wasn’t because he shunned or had a problem with the traditional gallery system. He says it’s just that “nobody asked.”"

"It seems odd that someone already making a good living as an artist is only now being introduced to “the art world,” but Donnelly’s story may say something about the different ways creative work can acquire value these days."

"So why bother with galleries at all? Winkleman notes that it remains much harder for artists who operate outside the art-world structure to end up in museum collections, which is still seen as “the quintessential validation” by many."

--

In my readying for this post, I checked out Mr. Winkelman's blog, and thought his post about the NY Times Mag article was also interesting, so be sure to read "Selling Solo vs. Working with a Gallery." Also worth reading, including the 63+ comments in response, "Tuesday's Aside : Investing in Yourself."

One, one page magazine article led to many interesting things to read, and to think about.

2008 Weekly Mixed Media Project

The front side of my 32nd Weekly Mixed Media piece is above, and below is the back.


I wanted to use my new shredding scissors again for this week's creation.


I cut two 10" x 10" pieces of navy blue pre-felted wool fleece, and put one on top of the other. Then I cut one 5" x 7" piece of red pre-felt.


Using my shredding scissors, I cut a few inches in to both of the long ends of the red, to shred them. The fleece didn't always cooperate, because sometimes the shredded cuts fell off, but I decided that that would be a part of the design.


Then I cut an orange pre-felted wool fleece about 2" x 7".


I cut into it with my shredding scissors, which was a little more successful because I was cutting shorter cuts, and the orange fleece was a little thicker. After making the cuts, I placed it on the red fleece, in the center.


I needle punched it top down, to start, which locked everything in to place.


I flipped it over and felted it from the bottom up, then flipped it to felt top down, and repeated it many many times, until it was solidly felted. The top side looked like the picture above, and the bottom looked like the picture below.


Using my sewing machine, and a slightly lighter navy top thread, and a white bobbin thread, I stitched some lines on one side, in the blue section, to add some texture.

Using a 6" square template, I chose the section of my design to crop, traced it with a pencil, and trimmed it to size. I decided to have the design be off center, because if it was centered, I felt it would have looked like a giant spider or lobster, and I didn't want that.

You can see my 2008 weekly mixed media work (so far) on my website, and read about my process/progress here on my blog.

New Construction Fence

A neighbor, who lives a block away from me, but in another town, found a construction fence that I didn't already have, a green honeycomb design. I live in Natick, Massachusetts, and she lives in Wellesley, MA. Wellesley has a wonderful dump/recycle center, as well as a "Reusables Area," where townspeople can bring household items they don't want anymore, and anyone can take things home for free. Very enviable by those of us who do not live in Wellesley.

If you're interested in that sort of thing, there was a nice radio segment from National Public Radio's (also know as NPR) "All Things Considered," on June 27, 2008, that's worth listening to: "Town Dump New, Chic Place to Shop" by Tovia Smith.

Safe

My Orange Construction Fence Series #40 will be on exhibit at "Safe", at the Atlantic Works Gallery, 80 Border Street, East Boston, MA, from August 8 - 29, 2008. The Opening Reception is Friday, August 8, from 6 – 9pm, and I am hoping to attend.

Gallery hours are Fridays and Saturdays 2 to 6 pm or by appointment. If you can't visit the exhibit, you can see all of the work online.

Rubberband Ball

Here is a visual update of my family's rubberband ball. The photo above is the front side, and below is the back side.


On the front right, there are quite a few bands that have fallen off, specifically a yellow, two blues and some tan bands. The picture below explains:


I try to post updates every two weeks or so. If you'd like to see what it's looked like in the past, click here. To see what the first picture I posted, in July 2007, click here.

There's also a short movie of my rubberband ball on youtube, that shows the pictures I took from July 2007-June 2008.