Matt Maldre
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spudart.bsky.social
Matt Maldre
@spudart.bsky.social
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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November 26, 2025 at 4:39 PM
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.)
November 26, 2025 at 5:28 AM
Dual-meaning bumper sticker. It works for the highway and for your life journey.
November 26, 2025 at 1:06 AM
My out-of-office message for this week.
November 26, 2025 at 12:29 AM
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
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...
November 25, 2025 at 4:48 PM
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.
November 25, 2025 at 4:01 PM
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
November 25, 2025 at 3:41 AM
Buttons are so much fun to make and wear.

Here's a fun project. Every day, pick one photo from that day and make a button with the photo. Wear all your buttons on one jacket. By the end of the year, your jacket will have 365 buttons, capturing the year.
November 23, 2025 at 4:15 AM
I added six more quotes to my quotes page.
www.spudart.org/blog/quotes-...

“Sometimes, the best things happen in the in-between moments.”

“Headlines should inform, not manipulate”

“Gray is the chameleon of colors, effortlessly working with whatever surrounds it.”
Quotes by Matt Maldre - Spudart
Everyone should have their own collection of insightful quotes they have said. Thanks to the age of the internet, I’m able to go back to previous blog posts and comments to find some of my sayings. “G...
www.spudart.org
November 23, 2025 at 4:13 AM
Frozen 3 comes out November 24, 2027.

I just added it to my calendar.
November 21, 2025 at 6:15 PM
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.
November 20, 2025 at 4:19 AM
April photos, now on my Flickr.
flickr.com/spudart
November 19, 2025 at 5:35 PM
If you ever need to export your photo metadata from Adobe Lightroom, here's a great plugin: LR/Transporter.

www.photographers-toolbox.com/products/lrt...
November 19, 2025 at 5:24 PM
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)
November 19, 2025 at 3:10 PM
I just updated my Synectics Daily Prompt calendar—now there’s a creative prompt every day.

Synectics is a set of strategies that help spark new ideas in art and writing

Tomorrow’s prompt: “What human qualities does your subject have?” (Animate) calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0...
November 19, 2025 at 3:16 AM
Last week I published my 4,000th blog post. I've been blogging all the time since 2001. In the past two years, I've gotten into a good routine of publishing every Wednesday.

Here is #4,000:
www.spudart.org/blog/kodak-c...
Using a keychain camera to record the morning sun - Spudart
Finally got my hands on a Kodak Charmera (nearly impossible to find). Took it to the woods this morning and shot straight into the sun. The lo-fi quality makes it feel like 2003 cameraphone nostalgia.
www.spudart.org
November 18, 2025 at 7:44 PM
I often open logos from other companies, and the black is not a true black.
- Red: 31
- Green: 31
- Blue: 31

It should be:
- Red: 0
- Green: 0
- Blue: 0

You can tell the logo came from a legacy CMYK environment, and someone converted it to RGB without adjusting it to true black.
November 18, 2025 at 6:49 PM
It brings me such joy that Savage Chickens continues to produce funny comics. @savagechickens.bsky.social & www.savagechickens.com
November 18, 2025 at 4:52 PM
March photos, now on my Flickr.
flickr.com/spudart
November 18, 2025 at 4:43 PM
While waiting with all the parents for their kids to come out of school, I'm the dad who sits on the ground, photographing the leaves through a toilet paper tube with a tiny Kodak Charmera toy camera.
November 18, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Someone placed a pumpkin in our local woods. It seems like a nice gesture to feed the animals.

However, there is a $500 dumping fee.

Imagine if the person put a carved jack-o'-lantern in the forest. You'd be able to trace back to who illegally put the pumpkin there.
November 18, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Getting my Flickr up-to-date. For the next nine days (or so), I'm adding highlights from each month.

Here's February. flickr.com/spudart
November 18, 2025 at 12:16 AM
Pressing ginkgo leaves in my book "The Way of the Ninja: Secret Techniques".

Eventually, these leaves will be part of my "365 Hues of the Ginkgo" art project. #blueskyartshow
November 17, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Weird vertical halos appeared when moving across the sun while capturing a panoramic with my iPhone. #photooftheday
November 17, 2025 at 3:17 PM