I can pretty much guarantee that you won’t find anything cooler to do with 8 minutes and 33 seconds of your time today than watch this awesomely artistic footage of a woman performing sand art. I don’t know much about it because the site which pointed me over to YouTube to check this out is all in French and the YouTube description appears to be in Russian. But honestly who cares? For someone just puching around a bunch of sand, this is extremely fascinating. Watch this.

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As I briefly mentioned in my Lolla Recap post, the little shops and artists that set up in the “green zone” at Lollapalooza is a must stop-by for anyone attending the festival. Even if you don’t buy anything, the artistry and interesting bits of jewelry, clothing and art is really fun to browse through.

While I found a really cool belt buckle at one end, by far the best booth and the one I spent the most time in was William Stidham’s “Sacred Heart” art tent. The giant murals of several iconic musicians are instantly eye-catching and upon further examination entrancingly engaging. I’m no art critic but I know awesome when I see it – these paintings are awesome.

While mostly paintings of musicians were on display at Lolla, William delves into other celebrities and subjects as well (like his Wine, Women and Dreams series). From the Pope to Honest Abe Lincoln. But browse through the gallery and I can guarantee you’ll find something to your liking if you’re any sort of music enthusiast at all (e.g. Dave Matthews, Hank Williams, Bob Marley, Dolly Parton, Bono, Ray Charles, Sting, Jim Morrison, John Lennon, Willie Nelson, SRV, Miles Davis, Elton John, Johnny Cash, Frank Sinatra and of course Elvis – just to name a small handful).

“The Sacred Heart Series is a collection of iconic paintings imbibed with the sacred heart imagery that I grew up with in the Catholic Church. Each of his sacred hearts has touched the world with the gifts that they have been given. Using their heart energy, these artists and shape shifters were able to change people’s lives through the use of their gifts. Without them the world and the way we experience it would be a little dimmer.”

I got a chance to talk with William for a while and he was a super gracious “host” in his tent – letting a few of us take shelter from the rain for a little while even knowing we weren’t planning on a purchase – and very friendly and interested. A super cool guy that even though I didn’t have the funds on me to purchase a full print, he and his hooked me up with an awesome guitar pick necklace of which you can interchange the hand painted guitar picks with any artist you choose. Definitely take a second to go over to his web site and browse through the imagery. Some of it is breathtaking and who knows? You might find something you’ll want to hang on your wall or maybe even a gift for someone else.

My two personal favorites (Miles and Dave):

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Awesomely whack.

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