iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

This, plus that, and here we are:

Calvin and Hobbes strip. Hobbes asks Calvin, "Do you think there's a god"? and Calvin replies, "Well *SOME*body's out to get me".

Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

This is how I look... to someone living on a planet 30 light years from earth. Just got this picture a few days ago, had not seen it before.

A young man in a green shirt is standing in front of, I don't know, bamboo

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Name your fav Star Trek species, wrongs answers only.

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

If you see this, post your getaway vehicle

a metallic humanoid shape emerges from a spaceship, greeted by mid-20th C. US army soldiers

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Name your favourite Disney princess (wrong answers only).

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

A melody cuts through the noise... I wasn't sure about this one until I saw the bird. All it needed was a head. This is from today. It'll probably be a while til the next one; I'm starting to get bored with what I'm able to do.

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Had to keep going. That oughta be it. A mistake? There are no un-dos in painting, but the photos still exist.

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

I think this gives it more depth. Probably done, now.

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Is this done? I don't know, I'll see how I feel once it's dry. But I definitely like it better.

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Last one from the marathon two-day 7 painting session. This one is pretty different for me... I'll leave it alone for now, but I may transform it later if I'm still unsatisfied with it. It's a little too, I don't know, hippie tye dye or something.

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

another painting. this one makes me think of a grasshopper or praying mantis but only indirectly. This one is more interesting in detail, but the whole has grown on me.

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

One more for now, then I'll wait a bit before posting more. This one is better in the details, I think. As a whole it's a bit of a mess.

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

I'm working on getting a balance between a painting being interesting from a distance vs. up close, and I think this one is getting there. Photos are still coming out a bit blurry bc I should use a tripod instead of holding the phone in my shaky hands, but color is good.

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

New painting. Trying something new. I don't know what painting means to me, I just like doing it. Music I take very seriously, probably too seriously; painting is just for fun. Overall shot came out a little blurry, but the detail shots are good.

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Played at the Red Room (Baltimore) last night, with Eric Franklin. We had never met before, but it worked out quite well. I played the mechanical monk, which I built ~30 years ago, the electric saron (~35 years ago) and a quadmotor-box, which I made Tuesday. :D

A man in a Sun Ra t-shirt hits electrified steel rods with mallets behind a table of weird musical instruments

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

another painting from yesterday. really struggled with this one, and I'm still not satisfied. I don't use an easel, I hold the painting in my lap (very nearsighted) so often the paintings are more interesting in detail than as a whole.

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

another yesterday painting: Whale approaches the reality tunnels

abstract acrylic painting. With the canvas in this orientation, it might resemble a whale-shaped object headed toward openings in long, swirling tubes

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

An overwhelming number of things to do, yet I'm compelled to use my time in the least possible productive way...

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

New painting... the full view isn't so clear, so I added a few detail shots. I think my paintings aren't for walls, they're meant to be held in hands and examined.

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

A more recent addition to the tradition...

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Here's a chart that includes nuclear in the comparison: world-nuclear.org/images/artic...

Chart showing carbon emissions for various power sources

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

emerging from chaos into chaos...

three bright yellow neuron-like stars emerge through striated waves of color in a multicolored striated dark cosmic background

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

New painting! I think now I'm going to have to record an album, call it "Nachtopus" and use this as the cover.

abstract acrylic painting on wood circle. blue and silver striped bottom layer, orange above, black octopus shape over top

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Mulberries! Harvested them for the first time this morning... didn't know I had mulberry trees until very recently, and we've lived here over 6 years.

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Here are alternate views... the whole point of round is there's no fixed view.

same as prior, rotated another 90 degrees

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

www.subvert.fm/paul-rubenst...

digital drawing of me playing a double-necked microtonal instrument I built through a mixer to two amplifiers. A blue bird sits on one amp.

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Here's the second of the two new paintings:

Round abstract painting composed of multiple layers of multicolored lines, curves and smudges.

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Two new round paintings, here's the first one:

Circular painting mostly filled with small, overlapping circles. Each circle is unique and has patterns of multiple colors. Some are multicolored empty outlines of circles, not filled in like the others.

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

Second round painting, acrylic on wood. One of the nice things about these wood circles is that you can paint on both sides... more bang for the buck. Haven't done that yet, but will.

vibrant multi-layered chaos of multicolored brush-strokes and squiggles

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

First round painting, acrylic on wood. "Peacock". Exploring textures lately, so this could fit the #artchallenge #texture...

round painting with striated texture, many colors, with circular swirls scattered throughout. Hopefully doesn't look too much like a pepperoni pizza

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

The second of two paintings from last night/this morning. The dragon came from the unconscious, it wasn't intended. I added the eye in its seahorse-like head, but otherwise it appeared on its own.

black, yellow, red dragon with seahorse-like head soars through windy skies of white, blue, orange and yellow. A star or sun gleams out from behind a hind leg. some kind of red-orange vortex? is superimposed over a wing or is maybe something else entirely

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Did a couple new paintings between last night and this morning. Tried out some new textures, partly inspired by enyaslung.bsky.social Here are two views of the first one, the second will come in a separate post.

two yellow and orange stars frame a striated background of black, purple, red and blue. The background is light blue. In the centers of the stars are multicolored overlapping triangles. A wispy grey hand reaches out into roughly the center of the canvas from left to right.

same as previous, horizontal view. Now the hand reaches up from the bottom of the canvas.

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

To try to get the colors more accurate, I tweaked the hue control. Major tweaks can totally transform the feel of it...

Same painting, vertical view, but the greens are now purples, red and orange are now green, and yellow is blue.

same again, background is now blue and violet, and squiggles are mostly red with the middle layer ones green

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Paul Rubenstein @ubertar.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

All of my recent paintings have no set orientation. So this could be vertical, or reversed, or both. I like the idea of rotating them every now and then. I just ordered some wooden discs to paint on. Here's another view:

same as above, but the canvas is vertical rather than horizontal

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