Pack up those icehouses....

....cause this place is finally melting.

Minnesota temperatures stay below freezing all winter,
but today it hit a balmy 36º,
and there was some water running in the gutters.
It's the last day of February,
it's a full moon,
and it's heading to spring.

Louderhorn Inn is ready.
Meryl and I picked up some pussywillows today,



and spent some serious loot at the local gardening store.
We'll be starting seeds inside this year,
and we'll have the sexiest vegetable garden in Minneapolis.
Just you wait and see.

What's Your Fan-ta-ta-sy?

Those are Meryl's feet in skates on Powderhorn Lake.
Rachel joined us this afternoon for a little ice skating,
my first time in skates since I was 8?
I did pretty well, though,
and didn't even fall once.
I haven't seen any of the Olympics so far,
but I'm pretty sure I'll be ready in 4 years.

Dark Dark Dark sang us some songs last night.
They came back to town for just a couple weeks before their big tour.
Right before they played,
Mike Gunther came out and did a Ludacris cover.
On the ukulele.
So good.



Before the heading to the Hexagon to see the show,
a few of us had gone out to dinner to celebrate Meryl receiving a big grant from the Minnesota State Art's Board.
She had applied for the grant way back in June,
but only found out that she got it yesterday.
The funny thing is,
the grant is to go to Japan.
I know we just went, and all,
but here's a pile of money that she can only use for that purpose.
So I guess we're headed back for another visit.
So crazy, going to Japan twice in the same year.
Anyway, a big congrats to her.

2010 is already trying to get ahead of me.

New, New New.

I got new business cards in the mail two days ago,
and then today I got new stickers.
And I'm pretty excited about both.
(the cards have a raised spot UV coating)

But even better,
shawnhebrank.com is a brand new website.
I've needed a new online home for a while.
Stop by, check it out, and let me know what you think.

Award Ceremony

The results to the I Want Your Skull "Anti-Valentine" Contest are in.

1.

Amber wins.
(in every possible way that her submission could win)

First, she has a upside-down heart.
It's black, and crossed out, too.
Next, there's the calendar in the background,
and Valentine's Day is crossed out, there, as well.
What else?
How about a little of her bird tattoos I did peeking out from her shirt.
And then, for some extra credit,
she went and posted it on her blog.


2.

Matt comes in a close second place for his submission.
His photo might not be fancy,
(or even in focus)
but he's holding a real heart. (from what, I don't know)
That literal bastard.
Nice work.

3.

Li gets the bronze just for having the first submission of the first contest I ever held on this blog.
It was also the biggest heart submission I got.


These three will each be getting a copy of the I Want Your Skull Issue XIII
Thanks to everyone for your submissions.
I enjoyed this immensely,
and will hold other contest type things again in the future.

Old Lighthouses are so Romantique

hahaha, sorry.



That's me, standing (2 dimensionally, at least) right between two lighthouses.
And I was supposed to be at work.

Meryl and I headed up north to Lake Superior for Valentine's Day.
And what's better than seeing two lighthouses while on getaway weekend?
...
How about three lighthouses?



But really, c'mon.
I do better than that.
How about we make it four,
and this last one doubles as a bed and breakfast, also.

(I want you to know I had a room reserved a month in advance)



The Two Harbors Lighthouse was super cute.
We didn't see the resident ghost,
but Meryl might have scared the other guests with her midnight kitchen run.

We had a really nice time on the North Shore.
We hit up some museums, an aquarium,
an antique shop, and the same restaurant twice.

(and big thanks to Rachel for being the nicest person ever,
and having Shamira for a Valentine this year!)

I Want Your Skull Contest

The I Want Your Skull 8's arrived in the mail this weekend,
and they look so good.
And I have an extra one that I'm giving away.
(the first time I've ever hosted a contest, even)
How do you win it?

Just email me a photo of you holding an upside down heart.
My favorite of the all the photos I receive by Valentine's Day gets the new issue.
I'll even ship it anywhere in the world for free.
It's that easy.

If the submissions are dope,
I might even find prizes for 2nd and 3rd place.

So send me the photo(s) to :
anti_valentine@shawnhebrank.com

And here's the actual art I did that got used for the cover:



Man-tiquing.
It's been a long time since I last went,
so Ryan and I headed out in the snow yesterday to hit up a couple spots.
I got another sexy hurricane lamp.
This one even had some kerosene still in it,
and I lit it up once I got home.

I made some business cards for Ryan,
and we listed his gazillion skills on the back.
In exchange for putting together the cards for him,
he gave me this super sexy bear skull.
So dope.

Art on Ice.

Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lakes.
Unless it's winter, and then there's none.

Ice fishing shanties pop up on the lakes each winter,
and I love everything about them,
except for the fishing part.

Luckily, this is Minnesota, so we have the Art Shanty Project.
There's 20 different themed ice houses on Medicine Lake,
(super close to Identity Tattoo)
and Meryl and I spent a few hours there today.



The highlights were the Shan-Tea (hosted by bearded ladies),
the ArtPost Shanty (the world's only post office on ice),
and the Art Swap Shanty (which we swapped some art with).



We're back inside now, of course,
staying warm and working on mail art.

I Want Your Skull VIII

The latest issue of I Want Your Skull is out today!

I've been waiting not-very-patiently for it to be released,
since I did the wrap around cover way back in October,
and I'm not very good at keeping secrets.
But since it got released today along with promo photos,
here's a shot from their website:




I was super flattered to have been asked to participate in such a huge way.
They also asked some questions for a mini interview inside the zine.



You can go HERE to see more details and to grab a copy for yourself.