Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

I’ve had this thing for about four years. Maybe five. For some reason it will only work with Windows 98. I can only guess that the manufacturer did not design this to ever be upgraded for other operating systems. Remember when people thought that our heads would all explode and computers would spontaneously combust at midnight on January 1, 2000? That ridiculous Y2K scare? I bet this vinyl cutter, or “plotter” as they are officially called, is the only relic that suffered from Y2K. The engineers that designed it didn’t believe the world would go on once the year 2000 came along. They thought we, as a people, would never need anything beyond Windows 98.

Anyway, when I first got this plotter I made one sticker with it. Within the next week my laptop, with Windows 98, refused to turn on. Literally, the thing just died. I had an older computer that I tried to hook the plotter up to, but the thing is from 1999. I mean, look at this set up.

Look at that tower! I’ve lived in apartments smaller than that thing. This computer is pre-ethernet and so pre-wifi you should be changing your pants because you peed them from laughing so hard. For you youngsters out there, that means to get this beast connected to the internet you need an actual phone cord. And a dial-up connection. That is your only option. Anyway, for some reason I have never been able to get the plotter to work on this old machine. It has caused me countless hours of greif and frustration. Every few months I pull this dusty thing out and give it go and nothing. There is some sort of magic in the night tonight that made it work…FINALLY.

Now, I can make my own fancy vinyl cut out stickers.

And I couldn’t be happier.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO ME!

Maurice,

You will be missed. Thank you for all of the wild things you left for generations to cherish.

- Jeff

This interview cracks me up.

Part One:

Part Two:

Looking back over the past ten minutes of my life I’m having a difficult time remembering how I ended up on You Tube searching for Suzanne Vega doing a cover of Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day”. What would possess me to hunt down such a thing? I really don’t know, but that’s what I was doing when I came across this video of a gazillion different singers each singing a line from “Perfect Day”. And yes, Suzanne Vega is one of them. Oh, internet…

For a list of all the singers in this video click the “show more” option on the video page.

The big talk on the internet today is facebook buying instagram for $1 billion. The photo above is my opinion on the whole thing.

Hello All!

I have decided to close the gallery for spring break this year. With the kids out of school for a week it gets hectic and pretty overwhelming trying to run the shop and keep watch over hyperactive needy children.

I will reopen on April 11, 2012. If you would like to purchase artwork (not art supplies) please send me a message and we can schedule an appointment so you won’t have to wait until April 11. However, the best thing would be to order online at http://www.etsy.com/shop/jeffclaassen. Although the gallery will be closed I’ll still be active online and will be shipping out orders.

I also suggest visiting the galleries that represent my work.
Fiona Bleu Gallery
900 Embarcadero
Morro Bay, CA

Lumen Gallery
Capitola Village
112 Capitola Ave
Suite 100
Capitola CA

Artifacts Fine Art Gallery
775 Main St
Cambria CA

Thank you all for your continued support!

- Jeff

Here is another little beat I made using iKaossilator. I made this while hanging out in the donut shop.

Every Tuesday I have an hour to kill while Evy is at her baton twirling class. It’s too much trouble to drive home for an hour so I’ve gotten into the habit of getting my Thai iced tea fix every Tuesday afternoon.

Get Korg’s iKaossilator in the app store!

Seriously, I’m no musician, but I’ve become obsessed with music apps. Here’s a little something I came up with using Korg’s iKaossilator.

I was going for a dark creepy vibe.

I finally read the manual for this thing. At first I thought I could figure it out by pressing buttons here and there. That worked for a little while, but I knew there was a lot more to it that I wasn’t getting. All the knobs and lit up buttons are just so exciting to look at I skipped the whole reading the instructions thing. Because of that I end up opening the app once every couple of months, get frustrated and turn it off. My musical background goes no further than “Hey, I like music”, so that’s been a problem in the trying to make music department. Maybe people with some musical background have the know how to start pushing buttons to figure it out, but not me. Today I watched some You Tube tutorials and reviews and that helped a little bit. Tonight I read the manual and I feel like I’m getting a much better understanding of this complicated machine. Yes, I’ve made a couple of awful beats, but they are for my ears only. If I make anything worth sharing I will get a Sound Cloud account and upload it there for all to hear.

For a person like me who likes music and has always wanted to dabble a little in it the Korg iElectribe seems like a great place to start. The actual Electribe can set you back about $500. Keep in mind, that’s just the machine. You still need speakers and whatnot to hook it up. The app, on the other hand is only $20. That’s the kind of dabbling I can get behind. It would suck to spend $500 just to see if it’s something you’re into only to find out that you hate it. $20…not so bad.

Read all about it in greater detail at http://korg.com/ielectribe.

If any of you are already using the iElectribe I’d love to hear stuff you’ve made with it. Feel free to send me links or post them on my Facebook Wall.

See ya!
- Jeff

Visit Dr. Cain’s at:
778 Marsh St
Downtown SLO, CA
www.drcainscomics.com

I always love when I get asked to paint something that wouldn’t have crossed my mind to paint. Today, it was headphones. I’m pretty excited to get started on these.

I’ll post some photos of the completed headphones as soon as I finish them.