iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

I’ve also generally just taken a few more photos I’m proud of recently - all with my cute little compact Konica 35ef

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

Ok I’m realizing I never posted my film stuff from Cincy 2025 on here LMAO I’ve got a serious backlog. Shot these on Cinestill 800T using a thrifted zoom lens, came out way better than I thought

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

My tennis twitter cred can get renewed, AMA about 2 days at Cincy

Casper Ruud and Rinderknech on court at Cincy

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

Seems like Colorplus was the perfect film stock for a sun-drenched weekend

Film photo of the front of a lake cottage

Film photo of a man and baby sitting on a swing bench looking out over a lake, from behind

Film photo of a cottage under trees on a sunny day

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

Took these two pictures less than two weeks apart (mostly to document the marquee changing the Thunderbolts name) but it’s crazy how different the 35mm film vs the iPhone camera looks. Same conditions, same place, but one looks like a memory and the other looks like a screenshot.

Picture of a person standing in part of a Regal theater, with “come see Thunderbolts today” on the marquee. It’s on film.

Picture of a person standing in part of a Regal theater, with “come see the New Avengers today” on the marquee. It’s an iPhone photo

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

God she can’t do shit. There’s a fucking rat

Toy rat still there, cat now ignoring it

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

Dr Ellie Sattler: All right, I’ll go turn the power back on in the park and see what happened to Arnold. I wonder what on earth could’ve happened to him? The noble velociraptor:

A calico cat perched on a coffee table, with her two front legs held in front of her like a dinosaur.

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

Also had a great time taking the Ektar 100 film for a spin. Didn’t like this one as much as I thought (it’s a bit temperamental) but there are a few I loved:

Three people walking at a distance in a window-lit stairwell

The Denver capital building photographed from a high distance

The Denver skyline shot from pedestrian height

Two people walking away, trees with white blossoms shadowing them on the right side, on a sidewalk

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

Tried out some lovely new 200 ISO Kodak Gold 🎞️ film stock on my Konica, these raws really tickled me. They feel so warm, which is nice for the turn in seasons. I’m still figuring out some of this camera’s wonky focus, but it’s been fun to work with it.

Cherry blossoms from below, against a bright partly cloudy sky

An oncoming train in an outdoor metro station with a dark overhang

A parking lot lined with budding trees on a warm spring day, shot from above

The black silhouette of a cat light from behind by some bright windows. The cat is seated, head tilted to the right.

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

Hello Kitty Island Adventure has completely taken my brain over, I haven’t had time to do any personal art in a while but this little guy is the one I keep returning to when I have a few minutes to add stuff. Still not done, but has been fun to use different media than usual (pencils + paint)

A paint and colored pencil drawing of a little cat in the Sanrio style with an egg on its head, striding towards the viewer on a beach.

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 21/04/2025

Also this is one of my favorite photos of me ever

Laying on couch, grinning into the camera with a calico cat on their chest.

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

Well the cookie is looking better but the tissue is rough

Additional progress picture, more paint touched on the tissue paper and cookie

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

Realized how fucked up the proportions were, slight setback.

Progress picture, the cookie has been painted over red

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

More APS shots, this time from film 20+ years expired! Fuji 200A ISO

A Chinese-style gazebo in a lush garden on a hill

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

Catastrophic next stop but we move, gotta figure out light somehow

Progress picture, more work done on the napkin

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

Taking a little break from other projects to see if I can do a quick and dirty 2-3 day painting. I’m trying to follow Gurney’s process, which means doing this light acrylic wash step that I never do. I sort of like the loose look but will be finishing this, since it’s a gift for our local bakery.

A painting in progress of a checkerboard shortbread cookie on a small blue plate, partially wrapped by tissue paper. It’s a very loose, desaturated painting with visible pencil sketch lines.

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

Film developed! 35mm 400ISO on my Konica

Photo of a frozen/freezing small waterfall

Photo of a bobcat backhoe shoveling snow on the top of a parking garage

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

Finally got my film back from my first spin with the Konica camera, and these are two of my favorite photos I’ve ever taken.

Portrait orientation photo of a colonial era house far away across a snowy field, on a sunny clear day.

Portrait orientation photo of a reconstructed colonial era bed under a window

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

Yet more extremely expired APS film. This Kodak stock degraded so badly, I’m never touching it again even when I go back to APS. If I can’t find the Fuji stuff, I’ll just wait LOL. That said, I like a few:

Expired film photo of a calico cat on a windowsill sunning herself

Expired film photo of young adult tennis player serving. He is mid-serve, reaching for the ball above him in the air.

Expired film photo of a calico cat nuzzling a typewriter

Expired film photo of a stark row of snow-covered trees.

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

Emilia Perez must be stopped at all costs, I will be watching this year’s Oscars with mounting dread

Edited screenshot from Conclave with subtitle: “This is award season Aldo. It’s not a war.”

Second screenshot showing Aldo Bellini in conclave saying “it is a war. And you have to commit to a side.”

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

Shot a disaster of an APS Kodak roll (the Fuji stock DEFINITELY has preserved better) but I did get this horrifying image out of it! Very Inland Empire

A grainy, underexposed photo of the inside of a WMATA metro car. It is tilted at a slight angle, and the car seems to be empty. The image has an uncanny and foreboding energy, with film grain obstructing the edges of the view. It is tinted a sickly yellow.

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

Closed the year with Argylle (torturous) so we had to have a crazy three-film day yesterday and it was cleansing to the soul.

A screenshot of recent Letterboxd activity, listing The Secret of Roan Inish (4 stars), Dreams (4.5 stars), A Complete Unknown (3.5 stars) and Argylle (1 star)

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 22/12/2024

Committing to these fuckass proportions and color choices because it’s the only way I’ll learn. The only thing worse than a bad painting is an unfinished painting!

Additional progress on the can painting - the leftmost can has been filled in with red and blue, and the top of it has been further painted to look like metal. The other two cans have some shading put in to the top

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

Hmmm is the color scheme of the top wrong or should I just commit - the eternal question

The next step in the painting progress, showing the cans with some transparent white paint suggesting the shape of fish on the cans, and the leftmost can with the top partially painted

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

Decided on a warm underpainting at the last minute to maybe help them pop more off the background. Mixing this color was incredibly annoying

The same painting as above, but with the cans colored in with a burnt sienna underpainting

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

Doing a color study of some cans and they are way out of whack proportionally, but theoretically that’s not an issue. It’s getting on my nerves a bit though

An incomplete painting of three cans in a row seen from above, with the background filled in with rough color blocks and the cans only lightly sketched in pencil.

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

Can’t say I love how this looks, but I said I was gonna try and develop a rougher, more painterly style so I’m gonna keep trying stuff like this until it clicks!

Loose paint sketch of a small building with a Spanish terra cotta roof and stairs on both sides. It is harshly lit by the sun from the left, casting a harsh shadow across the right sides of the building.

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

When this shop said they were sending expired film, I didn’t think it would be “official film of the 2002 FIFA World Cup” old. This is only gonna develop if I take a photo of the sun at high noon.

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

Excellent developments in Movies with Peebs last night. Apparently Wrath of Man was NOT holding her attention. Sorry Jason Statham :/

Calico cat sleeping on a gold blanked on a sofa, with its head resting on a thin white table in front of it. Behind the cat is a small Christmas tree bedecked with ornaments and lit with white lights.

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

This is the most maddening passage in this story for me. Even pre-LED, HOW COULD THIS NOT BE COVERED BY REGULATIONS? Car sizes are increasingly extreme and as a sedan driver, every SUV or bigger is shooting light into my eyes.

Vehicle size is another issue that comes up regularly, since NHTSA regulations for headlights don't include a standardized mounting height, even as cars have ballooned in size in recent years. This means a perfectly aligned headlight in a larger car can still wreak havoc on a smaller car: "Where the midsize Civic might not give you glare," Trechter, the former lighting engineer, said,
"that F-350 [truck], if you're sitting in a [sport-size] Miata, is gonna absolutely wreck your eyeballs."

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

Seen in Dulles this morning… for sale: Madam President shirts, never worn

A rack of red short sleeved tee shirts that say “Madam President 2024” with an American flag underneath. The sign on the rack says NEW and also SALE.

A rack of blue short sleeved tee shirts that say “Madam President 2024” with an American flag underneath. The sign on the rack says NEW and also $9.99

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

I never did finishing touches on this Heron and Goose painting, probably because it was just a sketch page that got way out of control. Probably gonna do something like this with a bit more refinement in the future because I like the concept - just would need better layout #bird #art

A small painting of a blue heron and a Canadian goose. The goose is floating on the water, and the heron is perched on the riverbank. The goose has a jester’s hat floating over its head, and the heron has a crown floating above its head. The piece is a thin vertical painting.

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

Me two minutes into (insert any Denzel movie here)

The quoted tweet, but with several words redacted so that it now reads “Denzel’s [redacted text] been incredible”

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

My grandfather had a health scare this weekend and I spent a night + most of the next couple days in the hospital, but I got to bring him home yesterday! Decided I’d treat myself at the first place I went, and the siren song of the glazed donut called me. Hello, new favorite sweatshirt

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

Finished varnishing and taking pics!!!

Portrait of a dog painted on a wood board. It is a fluffy dog with pointy ears and a visibly gray face. It has a pink collar and a name tag that says Lily

Viewed from below, showing its pink edges: Portrait of a dog painted on a wood board. It is a fluffy dog with pointy ears and a visibly gray face. It has a pink collar and a name tag that says Lily

Viewed from above: Portrait of a dog painted on a wood board. It is a fluffy dog with pointy ears and a visibly gray face. It has a pink collar and a name tag that says Lily

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 13/11/2024

New LB top 4, 3,000 years of longing hit me like a bus! I also swapped Blue Velvet out for SP2 for now but knowing me, it’ll prob swap back in at some point.

A screenshot of a Letterboxd 4 favorites list, showing the films Whisper of the Heart, Three Thousand Years of Longing, Spider-Man 2, and Fantastic Mr. Fox

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 10/11/2024

One underrated step while completing final steps was adding some green and red tones to several areas to bring up the warmth in the more raised areas and cool down the ragged edges of shadows. Not sure if that comes across at all in pics, but it made a difference in person. Progress Left —> Right

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 10/11/2024

I also added an accent color on the sides! I’m excited to get this signed and fully varnished. Afterwards, I really want to work on portraiture and some more gestural painting.

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 10/11/2024

This one took a while, but I really had a good time with the process and approached it with a bit more prep than I have in the past. This type of fur pattern really requires A TON of pre-planning or it looks completely flat. I used more negative space than individual hairs this time and it helped.

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 10/11/2024

Finally done with this portrait, all I have left is varnishing and signature before sending it off! I love #painting on wood panel, it holds up to many layers beautifully and really complements that approach. I wanna loosen up my style, but I’m very pleased with this one! Progress pics below:

A painted portrait of a dog, you can see its head and a small sliver of its body in frame. It has a pink collar and a purple bedazzled bone nametag that says “Lily.” The dog is an older, mottled colored tufted haired creature, with perked up ears.

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 08/11/2024

Posting a cat since I haven’t posted her on here before: Meet Princess Bubblegum (PB) and wish her good luck at the routine vet and vax appointment tomorrow

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 08/11/2024

Getting closer, we’re in the endgame now. Brought some more life to the eyes and finally started to add the gray.

The same dog portrait as the quoted thread, with additional progress. It appears to be nearly done, a painting of a fluffy dog with a visibly graying snout, staring directly towards the viewer.

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 06/11/2024

We keep working on what we can. Day by day.

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 02/11/2024

In a fascinating place with this one now, the couple of steps where it could possibly all come together… or become clear that something’s wrong. Still got to hit it with some more shades of whites and highlights before I step back and start refining.

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 31/10/2024

Got more of my APS film developed, I love the way PA looks in the fall

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Max (painting era) @maximalisms.bsky.social · 29/10/2024

Finally going to devote some more time to this today, I’ve only had time for tiny additions in the last month.

Same dog portrait as quoted posts, with additional progress on painting the tag that says Lily

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