Every time we go to Gen Con, I come back inspired from all the creativity and energy I see around me. Artist's Alley is filled with incredibly talented artists and I always seem to pick up a print or two. I have more art than I have walls now. I am always in awe of how creative people are. I'll post later about the paper sculpture I purchased which hangs in my car. It's my favorite thing from the whole con.
But this year I was drawn to some of the great sewing pieces I saw and the incredibly detailed miniatures that were on display. I took more pictures of the miniatures than I should have. But I was just struck each time by how amazing they were. Miniature painting is something that I've been thinking of getting into. I picked up a starter kit last year, only to find that all the paint was too dry to work with. I would like to start painting, although looking at the ones on display is both inspiring, and a bit daunting.
Seriously, look at that detail
I loved the personality on this piece. Love this little guy.
And of course, the dragon. Fantastic!
The sewing I took pictures of was also a bit of wishful thinking. I'm still terrified of the sewing machine. I know it will try to eat my fingers. Jess tells me that there's nothing to it, but I think she's lying. Still clearly there are plenty of talented people out there.
I stopped this woman as she was eating lunch. I felt bad but I loved the skirt so much. The back was also covered with emblems. Such a simple design but such fun. I had to stop her and compliment her on the skirt. She was very gracious about it.
What I love about Gen Con is that it's not just one type of art. There are the professional artists certainly. And the creative cosplayers which continue to stun me. And the hobby enthusiasts who make and create. But there's also the creative art that just appears at the show.
The robots above were built out of Legos for a giant game of RoboRally. Some very familiar faces to make the game even more interesting.
And this octopus was created on site, out of cards, by someone who just happened to like building card structures. By the end of the weekend he was destroyed for charity. Temporary art. No wonder I come home inspired.
Here are a couple of examples of Smith's photography. I love the nostalgic feel of the photos. They are exactly like images my parents had of their houses growing up. The 1950s cars and the old fashioned storefronts that we simply don't see anymore.
Each images is like a little piece of history. But it's a history that didn't exist. What you are looking at are models. Elaborate and beautiful little models. Smith has created little scenes that he then takes out into the real world to photograph. 
Below is a great example of how those models are built. Smith offers insight into how he creates his images on his 
Don't be confused though. The image above is an aerial photograph of the actual Paris hotel in Las Vegas. Barbieri uses a technique called Tilt-Shift to create the illusion of smallness. He blurs the edges of the photographs to give the image a sense of the unreal. We look at the images and see scale models when they were actually taken of real-life objects.
Olivo has normally worked from city to city creating a site-specific series of images. His photos from Las Vegas were the first that I'd seen and they were so unreal that for a while I simply could not believe that he hadn't built a scale model and photographed it. I include images from Vegas, Rome (The Coliseum), and New York. I'm so in awe of this man's work. The ability to create unreal images from real landmarks is so incredible to me that it seems like magic rather than incredibly technical photography. I understand that Olivo has done some videos using the same technique. I'll see about find them and posting them. In the meantime, enjoy more of Olivo's work at a good article by 
