Matt Maldre
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spudart.bsky.social
Matt Maldre
@spudart.bsky.social
280 followers 240 following 1.7K posts
Designer & artist. Web Strategist @tribuneagency.bsky.social.
- Documenting the strange beauty of ordinary things
- Art, tech, and random discoveries worth sharing
Chicago / Glen Ellyn, Illinois
🎨 spudart.org
🏠 mattmaldre.com
🏢 tribunecontentagency.com
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spudart.bsky.social
TIL that Georges Seurat was just 26 years old when he finished his giant Pointillist painting. Now a famous painting hanging in the Art Institute of Chicago. www.instagram.com/p/DRxPY3mD_qO/
Georges Seurat, who was born on this day in 1859, was just 26 years old when he first unveiled "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte—1884" to the public. The young artist had labored for two years on the monumental composition. Inspired by research in optical and color theory, Seurat used the painstaking Pointillist style, juxtaposing tiny dabs of colors that, through optical blending, form a single and, he believed, more luminous hue. The enormous work was only rarely seen in the three decades following Seurat's death in 1891 at the age of 31. Its visibility dramatically increased in 1926 when the painting entered the Art Institute’s collection and became a much-loved and nearly constantly displayed icon. See "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte—1884" on view in Gallery 240.
December 2, 2025 at 10:22 PM
spudart.bsky.social
Gmail: 99,179 read emails.
Me: hovering over the delete button
Not today, milestone. Not today.
December 2, 2025 at 8:23 PM
spudart.bsky.social
A couple weeks ago, I researched digital TV antennas. It wasn't really fun. Seeing Amazon continue to recommend antennas gives me a kind of anxiety.
December 2, 2025 at 6:14 AM
spudart.bsky.social
I love carving out a little spot in my parkway to put my garbage/recycling/yardwaste.

1. It helps to prevent the cans from tipping.

2. It's easier for the pickup person to set it back down. (respect for the people who empty our cans)

3. It's like a little home for the cans. It's so cute.
I don't know why I'm typing this alt text. My message already explains it all. Garbage can in green. Recycling in blue. Yard waste bags. Two. Glen Ellyn, Illinois. Maybe someday someone will be searching "Glen Ellyn" on Bluesky and come across this random photo. Hi!
December 1, 2025 at 8:09 PM
spudart.bsky.social
I love walking along a trail through snow that hasn't been compacted yet.

(This is a vertical pano, so Bluesky might crop it in the preview. Click through for the full image)
Manor Woods in Glen Ellyn, IL. Snowy trail. Trees. Um what else to say? My boots are inside the snow, because the snow if fluffy and soft. Not many people have walked this trail yet. I love walking on through this neighborhood woods after dropping off my kids to school. I actually came across another person on the trail. That like, barely ever happens. Over four years or so, I've only encountered maybe five or six people on this trail after school dropoff.
December 1, 2025 at 7:53 PM
spudart.bsky.social
I've used this document scanner for ten years. I love it.

ScanSnap iX500. The model is discontinued, but it continues to work great. Need a quick scan? Boom. Done. Much better than shooting a pic of a document with my iPhone.
December 1, 2025 at 7:43 PM
spudart.bsky.social
My kids wanted me to set this daily alarm.
Six seeeeeeeeven!
November 26, 2025 at 9:15 PM
spudart.bsky.social
The things I would make if I learn how to do 3d printing.

(Every now and then I think of something, but I never write it down. Now I made a MacOS Reminders list to keep track.)
3d printing - [ ] Tiny King Kong figures - [ ] Macro lens adapter for Kodak Charmera - [ ] Hot Wheels track apdapter that splits into one track into two - [ ] Third guardian lion at Art Institute of Chicago (from Alsdorf Galleries)
November 26, 2025 at 5:28 AM
spudart.bsky.social
Dual-meaning bumper sticker. It works for the highway and for your life journey.
Bumper sticker that says, "PLEASE BE PATIENT"
November 26, 2025 at 1:06 AM
spudart.bsky.social
My out-of-office message for this week.
Thank you for your email. I'm out of the office for the rest of this week. Happy Thanksgiving! We have a family tradition of decorating the Christmas pineapple with tiny ornaments. This year we started another family tradition with a pineapple—making it into a pineapple turkey for Thanksgiving! (Image of pineapple laying sideways with handmade turkey head attached. Turkey head is made of construction paper. Cut out by a 1st grader) If your message needs attention before then, please contact tcacustomerservice@tribpub.com. I will respond on Monday, December 1, after I have successfully digested all the traditional holiday fare (and potentially a small bite of pineapple turkey). Hope you have a gobbling-good Thanksgiving! Matt Maldre
November 26, 2025 at 12:29 AM
spudart.bsky.social
While searching eBay for King Kong figures. This funny guy unexpectedly popped up.

The auction: www.ebay.com/itm/40619054...
My super-cool keyword search: www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_...
King Kong Bundy Vintage Titan Sports LJN WWF Bendies 4.5" Mini WCW Wrestling
November 25, 2025 at 5:38 PM
spudart.bsky.social
If I learn 3D printing at my local library, the first thing I'll make is tiny King Kong figures.

In the 1990s I bought a King Kong figure at Party City.

In the 2010s I took photos of him climbing the Wrigley Building in Chicago. www.spudart.org/blog/when-a-...

I cannot find these figures cheaply.
November 25, 2025 at 5:34 PM
spudart.bsky.social
This is what I use AI for: I asked it to count the number of letters and make some sort of analysis.
Numerical Meaning Interpretation Let’s interpret by rank and symbolic association: 1. A = 81 (Dominant / Foundation) 81 = 9² Nine often symbolizes completion, finality, or an intense full cycle. So A represents the core emotion fully realized — the primal scream. 2. H = 45 45 = 5 × 9 Five is associated with human experience (five senses, five fingers), nine with fullness. H becomes the human release of a complete emotional state — breath, exhale, letting go. 3. E = 12 12 = structure, order (12 months, 12 tribes, 12 disciples). E brings reason and clarity, a moment of definition within chaos. 4. U = 11 11 often represents tension or transition, a step before order (12). U is the deep internal rumble — movement from chaos toward change. 5. G = 7 Seven = wholeness, perfection, completion in biblical and cultural symbolism. G becomes the resolution point, the grounded truth inside the scream. 6. I = 3 Three = identity, trinity, unity, the minimal unit of structure. I is self emerging from the noise.
November 25, 2025 at 5:26 PM
spudart.bsky.social
I'm gonna miss discovering pennies like this.

(From a 2012 photo shot with a macro lens on my iPhone)
www.flickr.com/photos/spuda...
Macro of a US penny from 1945. Photographed with iPhone with a macro lens.
November 25, 2025 at 4:48 PM
spudart.bsky.social
The $1 #SpongeBob SquarePants eraser from #Target looks cool with the #macro lens on the #Charmera.
November 25, 2025 at 4:15 PM
spudart.bsky.social
To shoot macro with a Kodak Charmera, stick one of those iPhone lenses on it.

The Charmera was too thick to hold my iPhone lens clip, so I painter-taped it on.
Macro of USA quarter The lens is from one of those phone lens kits you find on Amazon. https://amzn.to/49AG4OL
November 25, 2025 at 4:01 PM
spudart.bsky.social
I didn’t realize it while photographing this Ewok at the Art Institute of Chicago, but the Ewok’s fur (as depicted in the action figure) kinda matches nicely with the Pointillism in Georges Seurat’s painting, 'A Sunday on La Grande Jatte'. #blueskyartshow
The image is a creative juxtaposition of a Star Wars action figure with a section of the famous painting _A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte_ by Georges Seurat.  - The figure is an Ewok, specifically the character Paploo from _Return of the Jedi_. - The background is a close-up of the grass and a leaping dog from Seurat's painting, known for its pointillist technique.  - The original painting, completed in 1884–1886, is a masterpiece of Neo-Impressionism and is located at the Art Institute of Chicago.  - The image humorously combines pop culture with a classic work of art. https://www.artic.edu/artworks/27992/a-sunday-on-la-grande-jatte-1884
November 25, 2025 at 3:41 AM
spudart.bsky.social
Frozen 3 comes out November 24, 2027.

I just added it to my calendar.
November 21, 2025 at 6:15 PM
spudart.bsky.social
Your Bluesky account is amazingly balanced.
1.2K followers
1.2K following
1.2K posts
November 21, 2025 at 5:25 AM
spudart.bsky.social
I did a search in my Google Photos for "jellyfish" hoping it would give me a result that is not a jellyfish, but something that looks like a jellyfish.

It did not disappoint.

Here is a very underexposed image of an Art Institute of Chicago lion wearing a Cubs hat in 2016.
Screenshot of Google Photos search for: jellyfish Hello, jellyfish—I mean lion The regular exposed photo. I took three exposures, because it was for an HDR photo (in HDR photography you capture multiple exposures of the same image and merge them together later to get a wide depth of tonalilty)
November 20, 2025 at 4:19 AM
spudart.bsky.social
Imagine encountering this creature floating in the nighttime air.
Flower Hat Jellyfish (Olindias formos) at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Illinois, USA
November 19, 2025 at 5:37 PM
spudart.bsky.social
April photos, now on my Flickr.
flickr.com/spudart
November 19, 2025 at 5:35 PM
spudart.bsky.social
Here's my settings to export the filename, title, and caption from my photos.

{fileName}{tab}{title}{tab}{caption}
November 19, 2025 at 5:26 PM
spudart.bsky.social
Have you ever counted the stars on your American flag to make sure there are 50?

Today I took a photo of my flag, specifically for my post about the flag having 50 stars. I figured I’d count them. Lo and behold, the image showed just 49 (one star was hiding in a fold). Here's the 49-star image.
USA flag with 49 stars. One star missing. It was in the fold of the American flag. I later retook the photo, making sure all 50 stars were shown.
November 19, 2025 at 3:25 PM
spudart.bsky.social
When someone you know turns 50 years old, fly the American flag that day. 50 stars on the flag for their 50th birthday.

(Plus, I like reclaiming the American flag to be for *anyone* in America)
American flag with 50 stars flying in Glen Ellyn, IL, USA
November 19, 2025 at 3:10 PM