Recent Stories in Visual Arts

Paul Swortz captured an image of an ancient leprechaun this weekend to prepare you for what it likely to be an entire week of St. Patrick festivities. Keep an eye on the Sunbreak's Flickr Pool for more sightings of creatures, magical or otherwise.

This shot--by Great Beyond over at our Flickr pool--really requires no further comment.

This Friday, March 12, from 6 to 9 p.m., Roq la Rue is having its opening night for the second annual Lush Life invitational group show. Featuring works by 18 separate artists "that contain an opulence or richness, either in subject matter or technique," Lush Life 2 serves as a sort of primer course in the pop surrealist work Roq la Rue specializes in. The show features everything from Brian Despain's steampunk paintings to Travis Louie's ephemeral old-fashioned photorealistic paintings of alternate realities. Michael Brown's animal paintings pervert Margaret Keane's famous "big eye" paintings by making them far too human and soulful, while Andrew Arconti and Madeline Von Foerster ape classical painting styles while adding in surreal twists. The show also goes beyond paintings to include sculptures by Kris Kuksi, Mandy Greer, and Boomer Torvik.

From Flickr pool contributor SlightlyNorth.

There's something about this photo--the charm of an urban neighborhood, the saturating orange glow of the sun--that reminds my of my childhood in Southeast Portland, living off Hawthorne in the 1980s. Much thanks to our Flickr group contributor :MPG: for the shot.

Flickr user Photocoyote provides this rather unique perspective of the Seattle cityscape, from our Flickr pool.

From our Flickr pool, Slightynorth captures the loveliness of a sun-drenched cafe on Capitol Hill just a couple days ago, which stands in stark contrast to our gloomy, overcast morning today.

Spring is in the offing, if not the air itself, and Jack wanted something to promote preparation for a sunny Saturday. Sadly his first pick was a photo we used last week, so here is a beautiful depth-of-fieldy Plan B. Love the darks here. shawnmebo says, "Spring is waving 'hello' with it's stubby little arm!" It's never too early in the season to jump into our SunBreak Flickr pool.

By the way, if you like Seattle photography, don't miss the Superunknownwalk tomorrow. Starts at 2 p.m.

More hockey! This time in our own backyard. Thanks to prolific Seattle photographer Chris Blakeley for sharing this fun shot with us.

The greatest success of George Lucas' life was making a robot that looks like a garbage can so cute and charming. Thanks to SunBreak Flickr pool contributer Great Beyond for this heart-warming closeup.

Like many not-regular hockey spectators, I've still got hockey on the brain after Sunday's USA vs. Canada Death Match, so this photo pairing by cherished SunBreak Flickr contributer Slightlynorth really stood out to me. Plus you've got to love the excitement on these kids' faces.

A cozy NW living room indeed. Thanks to +Russ for sharing with our SunBreak Flickr pool.

A candid moment of elsewhere, courtesy of mangpages and our SunBreak Flickr pool. I like the contrast between the action of the cropped-in legs and the little girl's complete obliviousness.

The alternate title, says zenobia_joy, is "Freakishly-Long-Armed-Man escapes from the circus and snacks in the rare February sun." This is a great use of the fisheye lens to dramatic, Stretch-Armstrong purpose. Also, I would like our sun back. Have you joined our Flickr pool yet?

I know! You're wishing every morning came with a happy goat peeking back at you. My thanks to shawnmebo for this portrait in the SunBreak Flickr pool, and my admiration on the skillful depth of field.

Spring is in the air, lawnmowers are humming, and :MPG: spotted this terrific example of protective coloration that also draws the eye. Welcome to The SunBreak Flickr pool, you fabulous creature!

It's William Seward...IN HELL!  Great Beyond put this Redscale photo into The SunBreak Flickr pool, while also schooling us on the photography technique:

A statue up in Volunteer Park of William H. Seward (the guy who bought Alaska), near the conservatory, looking very dramatic in Redscale.

The one downside to Redscale film? The emulsion scratches REAL easy, meaning I have a lot of work to do in photoshop to clean up the picture. This one, for example, was a real mess.

Our SunBreak HQ squirrel has been trying various sun-maximizing set-ups.

A sea gull "takes the waters" at Cal Anderson park.

If you have not yet tried the Morning Glory Dog at Po Dogs, do so posthaste!  It is breakfast made for any time of day in delicious hot dog form.  +Russ knows what I'm talking about--thanks to him for dropping the photographic evidence in The SunBreak Flickr pool.

It's funny (and sad) because it's true!  Thanks to Paul Swortz for throwing this image into The SunBreak Flickr pool.

Leave it to the Seattle Red Cross to put a heartwarming tale in the SunBreak Flickr pool.  The story behind the image, care of their caption on the photo: 

Noah (left) and his brother Eli pose in the lobby of the Red Cross Serving King & Kitsap Counties office.

Noah just turned six. His mom, Jessica, had told him about the January 12 earthquake in Haiti. He thought about the kids who lost their homes. He wanted to help. So instead of asking for birthday presents this year, Noah asked for his friends and family to give money to help relief efforts in Haiti. The adults wrote checks. The kids gave coins. And on Wednesday afternoon, Noah and his family brought just over $600 to the Red Cross office in Seattle.

Thanks, Noah - and happy birthday!

As it's a slow Presidents Day afternoon, I will now let you all look through my photo scrapboo--hey, where you going?

All photos: MvB (2006-09)

The inquisitive eye of shawnmebo is responsible for this pearly portrait of a doggie named, I'm guessing, Pearl. There's a flat, painting-like quality to everything but that shiny little nose. Say, have you joined our Flickr pool yet?

A pair of art events are happening this evening. First, tonight's the opening reception for Sarah Joncas and Ciou at Roq la Rue (2312 Second Ave., 6-9 p.m.). Joncas's paintings adopt a manga vocabulary to American culture. Ciou, a French artist, retreads the well-worn path of weird girls and their animal pals, but she does it with moxie and a middle-school doodler's panache.

Then, tonight at 9, Artifakt Art is hosting a Valentine's art and music event at Lofi Performance Space (429 Eastlake Ave. E.). Art by Chani Murat, Dear Earthling, BeeryMethod, iamintricate, Grym, BurnOne, Dave Bloomfield, Keger, Rob Ripley and Crystal Barbre, with music by Lost Boys, HitGirl!, and others.