{I own and created all the images and videos except for one in this post}

I woke up today with my brain bombarded by conflicting artistic urges. I have been on a serious streak lately and I'm sick of it. I don't want to think about varying forms of governance, fraud, agorism, atheism, the pros and cons of a new voting system or the latest blockchain startup. Tomorrow I might, but not today.

TODAY I WANT TO BE RANDOM.

Some days I also experience the shortest of attention spans. Today is that day. In this post, I will cover the following topics: how to paint your car for under $40, how to print on a marshmallow, how to make spontaneous videos with strangers on the street and other random stuff will be thrown in that my brain is unaware of right this moment.

First topic: using exterior house paint to paint your car. Luckily, I have a video that shows this exact thing:

So, all you need to do is buy a variety of colored house paints at a hardware store. Make sure that the paint you buy is matte finish. That's the only one I ever used on my car. The paint also needs to be exterior house paint. You need a bucket for rinsing out your brushes and some towels, too.

My thinking at the time I first tried out house paints to paint my car was: "If it's good enough for a house, then it's good enough for a car. Both are outside."

I did zero research when I decided to use house paints on my car. I never Googled anything. I'm a big fan of pure experimentation and this was the definition of that spirit.
I painted my car many different times using exterior house paint and I never had any issues. It stayed on, much like it would if it was applied to a house. I never had any cracking or peeling issues. I definitely would recommend this method because of its affordability. For my first design, I spent about $40 and used just four colors: baby blue, pink, black and yellow.

I used my car as a canvas, repainting it many times, usually with different seasons.

One year, I let the kids in the neighborhood paint my car for fun. The one thing that never changed throughout all my car's different incarnations was the bumper. It always had 'STELLABELLE' painted in bold letters on the back. The last painting I did was in baby blue and it was basically a moving billboard for my YouTube channel.. I have a love/hate relationship with YouTube mainly because I have a hard time committing to regular vlogging and I'm plunged into serious introverted phases where I want nothing to do with making a video or speaking publicly.

NEXT TOPIC: HOW TO FILM STRANGERS ON THE STREET

The woman featured in my car painting video was a total stranger.

She was waiting for the bus, and I remember vividly being sort of amazed and drawn to this person. I always carried my camera around to capture real life moments, even way before smartphones came out. I think I was able to film her by dancing around with my camera, and she just responded naturally. I gravitated towards her because she had those giant sunglasses and big red hair. So, I just asked if she wanted to be included in a video. After that, we began dancing around, and I filmed her. It was all quite informal and fun. This is generally how I interact with others when making video projects. People usually say yes because I'm having fun and I create a no-pressure scenario.

Onto the next topic.............PRINTING ON MARSHMALLOWS.

The most creative book I've ever found is titled, Tattoo A Banana by Phil Hansen.

In this book, I learned how to print on marshmallows using basic office equipment. These you cannot eat because the ink is toxic. For this experiment, all you need is a jumbo marshmallow, a color inkjet printer, a piece of paper and clear packing tape. Luckily, I made a how to video that explains the process. It's actually easier than you might imagine:

And, finally, The Double Sandwich Dance Video.

This video was taken at various fairs, street parties and the like. It also features myself in a wetsuit and a mask dancing around my apartment in California.

What is a double sandwich dance, you ask? I have no freaking idea. For a large part of my adult life I have been interested in plastic sandwiches for reasons I don't even understand. I like the utility of a sandwich and that you can put whatever you want inside two pieces of bread and come out with a different taste each time. I love fake food, too and it all started with my brother giving me a gag gift of a fake spilled Coke when I was 8 years old. Remember those?

[Image Source: http://www.fauxfooddiner.com]

Gag gifts and fake food are still beloved by me.

I've spent a fair amount of my time creating useless, gag-oriented gifts like: moustaches for babies, little postcards, well, you get the idea. At one point I opened a little online shop that contained a collection of absurd products. But, like many things, I couldn't stay focused on this idea for very long. Ah, the story of my life: a very, very, short attention span.....

I hope you enjoyed this random post,
Stellabelle