Monday, December 13, 2010

270 - "The X Sample"


Today, the thirteenth of December, marks the final "Ungood Art" feature for JSVB this year.  I can't really believe I've racked up a (baker's) dozen.  As the days and weeks have progressed, I believe I have seen an improvement to my ungood art, while my good art has either levelled off or improved in such a way that I have yet to percieve it.  Either way, the gap between ungood and good art narrows, which makes Ungood Art Day increasingly difficult to service. 

So, today, I took a photo of some noxious glop that had collected on the bottom of my oven the day I tried to bake a yam.  The skin of the yam broke in the heat and fluid poured out, cooking into this black, alien-looking display on the floor of the oven.   Fortunately, it was very easy to scrape up. 

I painted in an additional Mr. Spock from Star Trek for his signature mind-meld abilities.  The Spock character belongs to Paramount Pictures, and I used a kneeling pose from the episode "For The World Is Hollow, And I Have Touched The Sky". 

I call this piece "The X Sample" in honour of my Trekkie friend Earl, who some years ago came up with a mythical "fourth season" of Star Trek episodes (the original show was cancelled after three seasons).  In "The X Sample", according to Earl, Mr. Spock becomes obsessed with a mineral sample with which he comes into contact. 

It's something of a coincidence that my picture illustrates Earl's imaginary episode.  I composited the picture first, and then searched out Earl's archives for something that was a close enough match.  Odds were good that I would find something.