UNPLUG: The Painting: The UNPLUG painting and its companion blog are simple reminders that my existence is a modest part of a greater whole. I do not seek an entirely unplugged life but I do seek a soul enriching connection with our little planet’s natural wonders.

I could use a little more of that.

  

Loving some of the new Alternative Motivational Posters above by my Frederic Terral of Right Brain Terrain. Freedom, Believe Yourself, and a handful of others now available. Check them out. Also, if you want to wear the positivity peak at some of his PositiviTees.

We aren’t telling you what the blank stands for and neither is Fred Terral, the designer of this great new print “____ The Planet.” The idea is that you have to make that decision, rather your actions make the decision. Obviously, politics have been swimming around our heads as much as anyone lately, so we keep finding ourselves at the Alternative Motivational Poster website for our inspiration (especially during the RNC). Have a look at some really great prints with a progressive message and cheap prices. And just because it wouldn’t be appropriate otherwise, everything from the ink to the tube used for postage is made from environmentally responsible products.

Realizing that the human face is a much more expressive than a few well-placed characters , Right Brain Terrain has come up with a project called Real_Emoticon. It allows you to use your own visage instead of Mr. Yellow Happy Face. All you have to do is send in three successive photographs against a simple background and they’ll transform you into a visual cue. We’re practicing getting the dollar signs in our eyes just right.

Today has been frustrating. The boss sucks (not Josh, who’s always lovely … our other boss. Bruce Springsteen), we barely ate, and there are high demands placed on our productivity. But whenever the wish for a blood clot to travel up to our heart and explode in the pointless Tuesday meeting strikes, we look at Squares from RightBrainTerrain.com. Somebody actually had to cut up tiny pieces of magazine paper, playing cards, and other sundries to form this striking, if not head-bangingly tedious piece of art. It works even better than their alterna-motivational posters, and reminds us that there are people in the universe that have infinite patience — and way too much time.

Motivational Posters: The only two words in the English language that, when used together, capture the horror of both office cubicles and principals’ office’s. I know they must serve some deep-rooted need in order to sell the way they have, but all I ever felt “motivated” to do with them was to set them on fire. The sad news is that these classics are still sold from the pages of magazines (mostly those “located in the seat-pocket in front of you”), but the very happy news is that their days may be numbered. Right Brain Terrain, producer of the world’s first alternative motivational poster (you’ve seen em here before), is about to begin distribution of their beautifully designed “AMP’s” that are “not intended to inspire one to get off the couch and run a marathon” but do serve as creatively inspiring “subtle reminders of our imperfect nature or of our personal victories.” And they are subtle; the art direction of these posters leaves plenty of room for personal interpretation and leaves out all of the claustrophobic effects of the “other” motivational posters. Other perks of the AMP’s include their beauty, their un-cheesy-ness, and their, um, motivational qualities.

Meet The Marks is a recently finished children’s book by our friend Frederic Terral, the genius behind Right Brain Terrain and the Alternative Motivational Posters. The book plays with ‘marks’– a period, question mark, and very cute exclamation point. The 36 page book is for ages 4-6, and Frederic hopes to create a series of them but isn’t quite sure where to go from here. Print it himself? Find a publisher? We love the idea and told him we’d ask our readers, what do you think?

Art is generally a difficult thing to buy for someone else–but hopefully narrowing down our favorite posters, affordable sculptures and limited-edition prints from the vaults will help make that purchase for friend or family easier. Enjoy!

• DNA11: Fingerprint Art: Our friends over at DNA11 continue to live their mantra “From Life Comes Art” with their latest product: Fingerprint Portraits… Continue Reading

• Right Brain Terrain: We covered the fabulous posters of ironic, witty and maybe even borderline genius designer Frederic Terral of Right Brain Terrain before…Continue Reading

• Scott Rench: Scott Rench has got to have one of the most inventive lines of artwork I have seen in a very long time, not to mention… Continue Reading

• All Pop Art: allpopart.com does retro inspired personalized pop art. It looks like a ‘buncha folks got crazy with a few Photoshop plug-ins and after final touchups… Continue Reading

• ISO 50 Prints: Scott Hansen, the talented designer/musician behind ISO50 just released three brand new poster prints in time for the holidays… Continue Reading

• Chuck Anderson: Chuck Anderson has a nice little update to his site No Pattern, including a pretty bad-ass print titled Good Parts of Bad Dreams… Continue Reading

• The Poster List: Sick of bare walls but can't bring yourself to put up a poster of Pink Floyd or Jerry Garcia? We are too… Continue Reading

• BetterWall: Ever wonder what happens to those big vinyl street banners that are displayed at museums when an exhibit ends? BetterWall is a Colorado… Continue Reading

• Jeremy Prasatik: jp33 is the online portfolio of graphic artist Jeremy Prasatik– a seriously talented young individual. His multi-dimensional portfolio… Continue Reading

• DeeDee9:14: Dee Adams paints because she is obsessed with the idea of simplifying. As a kid she would worry her mother as she sat at a table and colored… Continue Reading

• Tra Sheltrow: Tra Selhtrow was born in what he calls ‘the middle of nowhere' Kansas. He graduated from the Columbus… Continue Reading

• Jefrey Lacson: Jefrey Lacson creates very intricate and interesting artwork–they're collages, digital assemblages, or “3-D constructions” as he calls them… Continue Reading

We covered the fabulous posters of ironic, witty and maybe even borderline genius designer Frederic Terral of Right Brain Terrain before. The set was titled Alternative Motivational Posters, a refreshing group of imaginative posters that inspired things like confidence through great design rather than a photograph of some boardroom looking guy giving a firm handshake to an office co-worker. My favorite piece from his new set is entitled Peace, where olive branches are being dropped from the sky to blossom as olive trees in the earth below. Printed on 100% post recycled consumer paper with soy and vegetable based inks, very nice!

Today is a special day, it’s my birthday and I have some gifts for you all! Just a little thank you to all my readers, friends and supporters.

•T-Shirts from Dadawan and Naive Clothing.
•Some Awesome (I mean AWESOME) Alternative Motivational Posters from Right Brain Terrain.
•Slimmy Wallets (which gets my stamp of approval as best wallet, ever).
•BlackCoat T’s from the great folks at Koyono.
•10 Android8 Fun Packs– with some great designer toys and other goodies.
•A set of great designer underwear and top from ISeeFrance, something for the ladies!

I’ll be choosing names randomly from my mailing list (You can sign up for my mailing list in the right menu bar), so if you want in on the fun– sign up. I promise I won’t share any of your information, spam you with viagra or mortgage advertisements, etc, etc.

Also pending my win at the Nike iD Blog Contest, I will have 50 pairs of shoes to give away, too– so get voting!

Damn that’s a lot of good stuff! I’ll be choosing winners randomly tomorrow.

It’s refreshing to find visually inspiring posters that truly pull your spirits up–and cleary show the talent of the artist and visionary behind it. Rather than show you those almost perfect and unrealistic moments of a person climbing a mountain to invoke courage, these Alternative Motivational Posters leave a little something to the imagination. Never getting old, always adapting, perfect for any uninspired moment. AMP’s second series of posters are now available. (What’s a little Focus for $14.95?)
Thanks [NOTCOT]