Untouchable

This is the result of some more lyrics

 that Myles showed me. Comes from a Lupe

Fiasco song. The background reads as follows:

"Uncomfortable as an untouchable

touching you."

Ze

Exit Through the C-Store

a three layered stencil inspired by a documentary

Exit Through the Gift Shop. An amazing documentary about

the most influential street artists of our time. This movie also

has the added bonus of witnessing a complete fool turn into

a million dollar artist over night thanks to the crazies of the

LA art scene.

Who cares about that though. What you see above is a direct

influence of the documentary. This movie makes you want to

express yourself in the most illegal ways. I, however live on a

campus that does not appreciate this form of art. So I created this.

Each color is a  different layer stenciled out on a 5 by 5 foot board.

I have already googled "how to make your own temporary paint"

and have done test runs to make sure my wife doesn't get fired.

Once spring comes around this picture will be plastered on the

concrete with words of affirmation above it. Campus security

cant get upset at affirming words right?

Ze

A Train Ride

 Funny thing is that there is some

old guy just centimeters away

from Rachael's right hand 

Interesting art from a gallery in Chicago

an attempt at looking scared

Both tried to look frightened, at first 

glance you would think that only one

fit the desired profile, but carful examination

reveals the curvature of Allie's mouth resembling

a smile. Both fail, but had a great time doing it.

Is this a life lesson? lets be stubborn and say no.

Allie, Jurgen, and I went to Chicago to hang out

with Rachael (the one laughing hysterically at nothing).

It was truly great being able to connect with her.

Honestly, I naturally don't like to go out of my way

to see everyone around me succeed. It takes a lot of

energy. But Rachael is someone so rare in this world

that I feel I want to move mountains when they get in

her way. She posses a selfless love that people like

Jurgen and I can only sit back and smile at something

that we may never fully understand.

Ze

Neato

Fun for Free

I thought Jurgen was going to fall off a cliff that day.

Where he is standing in that shot there was a very

powerful wind, so much that Jurgen could lean forward

and not fall. I was waiting for the wind to stop, and be 

  forced to reenact the Sly Stallone movie, Cliff Hanger.

The second pic is Allie and Regina having a great amount

of joy simply by playing chicken with the three inch waves.

Ze

Good People

Life Friends

Back Home

Jurgen (looking like he's in a North Face ad)

Bubbles on shore

Back home for the holidays, it was a beautiful time

with multiple families and friends from other countries.

My love from my home state of Oregon is about as

patriotic as I get. If you look closely you can see 

the reflection of Jurgen and I in every one of those

colorful bubbles.

Hope the holidays were good for you as well,

Ze

Lineage of Swag

Here is the more legit poster for my friend.

Merry Christmas Cory.

Ze

Dry Spell

My friend had the funniest christmas picture

I have ever seen on facebook. So naturally

I stole it and used it as my own.

Ze

Finals Finals Finals

I have been taking my schooling here a little 

more seriously then the last time around, which

in turn has made me take a break from this dude 

(yes, my blog is a man).

 I'll Be back in a bit though.

Ze

The Distance

Blue Scholars

One of my best friends presented to me a great 

idea the other day. His mind is like a lyrical dictionary.

He has a great depth of understanding when it comes to

lyrics. Recently he has been trying to find a way to do

something with this talent. He's still unsuccessful in finding

something significant, but at least he is incorporating me into

his love for lyrics.

The idea is this: he comes up with a visualization of what a

set of lyrics means to him, and I turn that visualization into

a design (like the one above). This poster comes from "The

Distance", by Blue Scholars.

A collaboration among two friends

Ze

Where I Live

West Campus Suites

Allie is the Hall Director for West Campus Suites.

At the beginning of the year I made staff shirts for

her and this was the result. Some of it had to get 

tweaked a bit because the university was afraid

it might get sued by a company (snickers), crazy right?

I would never steal from the actual snickers company.

I would steal from someone else who stole from the 

snickers company. I know it doesn't sound any better.

Ze

Just to Get by

(click to enlarge)

Many moons ago my friend introduced me to

another side of the rap industry. One that that

has more meaning than the mainline stuff you

hear on the radio.

This quote speaks many truths in my life. When

Allie and I lived in Buffalo, all we wanted to do

was buy a plane ticket to central America and start

helping people. We wanted to build a school for

orphans and have a health care facility on the side.

We still want to achieve this, but we realized that,

just like the quote, without knowledge of what we

were getting into we were bound for failure. We are

now at Truman State University to attain that

knowledge and to one day understand what it means

to achieve such a long term goal.

Ze

Ansel

(click to enlarge)

Some of you may have already seen this one.

The other day I learned how to change a picture

into a layered illustration, like the one above 

of Ansel Adams. We I read up on this technique 

I was eager to give it a go.

I didn't expect this quote to come from Ansel Adams.

I think it's because the world knows him best by his

pictures, not his words, but it makes sense. This man

spent his whole life observing nature. He would spend

hours upon hours in one spot waiting for the sun to give

him the best lighting on his subject. To care so much for

something and to witness your government not sharing 

that same level of care would be devastating.

Ze

Possibilities

(click to enlarge)

I was recently asked to create a T-shirt design for a

University sponsored event called the MLK challenge.

I made them a design that I'll post later on, but I made

this poster for my own personal agenda. I don't like war.

I especially don't like paying for war. every time I see how

much money the US spends on war it makes me want to leave.

society is so 

sophisticated 

and yet we use

 the most ancient 

means

of settling 

disputes, 

war.

This thought has been on my mind for too long.

Ze

Hello Again

Last time we talked I was in Buffalo NY.

 I was a youth minister living with my best friend. 

Minus the living with my best friend part, much 

has changed since then. I am now going to school 

to be a nurse and eventually a nurse practitioner. I

 study constantly but the arts are still a big part of 

my life. It's the main way my brain knows how to 

express it's thoughts. These thoughts, these hours 

spent creating images that have meaning to me, 

are useless unless shared. I have no idea how frequently 

I will post on here, but every time I create any form 

of art, be it paintings, music, etc... this is where it 

will land for my community to understand how I feel.

Lets Begin by Letting Go,

I love that.

-Ze-

160/365

Mr. Bubbles

I have no idea who this man is. The first time
I saw him he was looking down on the busy downtown
street that he lives on just mean mugging everyone.
At first I was put off by this but then he sat back down
and started to send hundreds of bubbles to the pavement.
I'm sure that doesn't sound that special but it was amazing
how that act changed my attitude and the attitude of those
around me. Everyone was happy at this display of playful
generosity. I have no idea what his motives are, but I wish
there were more out there like him.

159/365

Books through the eye of a fish

I recently got a fisheye lens. This thing is so fascinating
to me. The amount this lens can capture and the unique
distortion it creates intrigues me. You'll be seeing more
pics with this lens my friends.

ZV

158/365

Corner of a local book store

I've been out of commission for awhile,
and upon looking into the possible future
I can definitely see a lack of posts during those
summer months. Not because I don't care.
But because I will be engaging with some of my
closest friends and family and trying to take in
every minute of it. I love you all and thank
you for looking at the pictures of my life, even
when I do not post them for a long time.
I will try to keep up with these until my summer
of friends and family begins.

ZV

157/365

This Person is Awesome

For those of you that don't know, my best friend
(which just so happens to be my wife too)
is awesome.
But not just some favorite lip balm type of awesome.
She is WWE (formally WWF) off the top rope kick ass
awesome. She isn't just some warm glass of milk awesome.
She is a couple drinks into the night and that song
comes on that every person mumbles the words to but
belts out the chorus awesome. She isn't found a $20
bill on the street awesome (which is pretty awesome).
She's ripping through the Amazon on a off road segway awesome.

Currently Allie and I are going through a huge decision.
For all of you that don't know, I am a VERY easy-going
person. Once a decision is made I roll with it. Allie is a
contemplative thinker, making sure every angle and
outlook is covered. This is funny to me simply
because I do not posses that mindset and never have.
I'm thankful she does however, or else there would
be nothing to counter act my thinking.

Even though the way her mind works stresses
me out sometimes, it is very easy to see just
how awesome this person really is. She thinks I'm pretty
awesome too but that reminds me of a Paulo Coelho
quote that basically says, "love is not something that is
pressed upon you by another, you have had it all your life,
love is something that is awakened within you at the
presence of another." I believe that. I am so loving to
Allie because she awakens this great love within me.
because I know that the love I have to offer is reciprocated
with the same gracefulness. We have very unique
standards for ourselves and I have yet to meet another
person that is so similar in goals and values. It's a
damn miracle that I am here now, to think that
she is here with me as well is fascinating.

ZV

156/365

Chow

Just a simple template for this really
nice Cafe/Chocolate shop.

ZV