Goodbye Barcelona, Hello Madrid

June 23rd, 2009 · Zac · Art, Inspiration, Spain 09, Unsanctioned Public Art No comments

More graffiti in Barcelona

Really nice futbol stadium in the middle of Barcelona

Barceloneta Beach

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Architecture outside the Arc de Triomf walkway

Arc de Triomf in Barcelona

Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia in Barcelona

Hotel Gaudí in Barcelona

These circle-in-a-square stones were everwhere in Barcelona

Meat booth at the Boqueria in Barcelona

Shellfish in the Boqueria

Pablo Picasso's old stomping grounds

Outisde of Pablo Picasso's old house/Picasso Museum in Barcelona

It feels just like home in Barcelona for some reason...

Christopher Columbus Monument in Barcelona

I have been without internet access since we left Barcelona the other morning so I have been unable to get a post up in the past few days. Nonetheless, we finally arrived in Madrid after a long crazy day. Barcelona was great in so many ways that I can’t do it justice in only one post.

Barcelona was a great city with a very interesting and complex people. Although the people were a very passionate and hard working bunch (from what I noticed), they also seemed to value the arts and leisure. Barcelonians definitely knew how to have a good time and this was made apparent when we walked along Barceloneta Beach at night. The nightlife was definitely very lively and energetic, even until the wee hours of the morning. Aside from the nightlife, there was just so much to see and do that it was almost impossible to experience everything that the city had to offer in just three days. Each morning I would wake up to the sound of just a few trucks humming about but as the day progressed other peripheral sounds and scents would seep into the airwaves. I shouldn’t forget too much about Barcelona, at least how it looked, because I took close to 530 pictures. Yeah, 530 pictures.

We did get into Madrid safely but not without a few crazy moments with airplanes and taxi drivers. All is well though and I am comfortable in this new place that I will be calling home for the next few weeks. More to come from Madrid!

Happy late Father’s Day Dad!

Zac

Kentucky to Barcelona

June 18th, 2009 · Zac · Inspiration, Spain 09 No comments

Our First Plane Out of Nashville to Atlanta

Mediterranean Coast Line of Barcelona

Graffiti Out the Window of the Metro Train

Barcelona Street Level

Our Hotel Rooftop Getaway

View from the Rooftop

I have arrived in Barcelona after spending a very long time on a couple of planes. Jet lag is already setting in and hitting me hard but I have managed to stay alert enough to get my way through Barcelona via the Metro and footing it to the hotel. After being in Barcelona for only a short while, I can already tell that there is much to do and see in this town. It is a beautiful place and we couldn’t have been greeted by better weather. It is very sunny and around 80 degrees!

I’m very excited about the trip and I think it has finally hit me that I am in a totally new place. It is unfortunate that we will only be in Barcelona for a few days because it is such a rad city. By the way, when I speak of we I am speaking of the student run ad and PR agency Imagewest that I am traveling and interning with.

Check back soon for more updates, I have only just begun to explore Barcelona and Spain. Again, for quicker updates check out my twitter.

Zac

Leaving for Spain

June 17th, 2009 · Zac · Uncategorized No comments

I’m leaving for Barcelona tomorrow in the morning. Stay tuned for updates from Spain. I’m going to try to keep you all updated on a daily basis with photos and news either from here on my blog or via my twitter page. By the way, this blog is now complete so you shouldn’t see any more major changes to the aesthetics in the near future.

Stay tuned!

Under Construction

June 15th, 2009 · Zac · Spain 09, Updates No comments

Hello everyone, I am just letting you all know that my blog will see a few changes within the next few days. If you check my blog regularly you should already notice that the overall look of the blog is much different from a few weeks ago. I’m hard at work getting this new theme tweaked with my own personal style and get it the way I want it to look before I head off to Spain. I want it to be much more simple while at the same time maintain my personal branding and style. The last theme was long overdo for a overhaul and I never had the time to do it until now…

Stay tuned for the new changes to this site as well as many updates from Spain! Again, for faster updates and blurbs of my going-ons, check out my twitter at http://twitter.com/ZacStout .

Thanks,
Zac

Interesting + Inspirational + Bizzare

June 2nd, 2009 · Zac · Art, Inspiration No comments

Check this out.

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I won’t go into too much detail because you can read it all at that website but basically a man named Alan Brown found out that he gained the ability to draw and paint soon after he had brain surgery after a stroke he had suffered. Prior to the surgery he barely considered himself an artist of any type.

This story definitely made me analyze and rethink the ability and skill aspect of being a fine artist and where it all comes from… Is it a trained ability or is it a natural ability? Or both? Who really knows?

Pretty amazing story that I just wanted to share!

Zac

Twitter + Madrid Summer 2009

May 19th, 2009 · Zac · Uncategorized No comments

I have finally registered an account for Twitter and it can be found at http://www.twitter.com/ZacStout . Now you might ask, “Why are you using Twitter when you have a blog and every other social networking contraption known to man?” Well, about a month ago I applied for a position with a student-ran Ad+PR agency called Imagewest International to travel to Madrid, Spain. Long story short, I did get the internship and I am very excited about it.

So why Twitter and what does it have to do with the Madrid internship? Twitter actually is a great quick and painless way to update the masses about what is going on with me and that is why I created this Twitter account. You will hopefully be seeing daily updates via Zac Stout in Madrid about the same thing that I would post on here, only it will be much more condensed. I do also plan to post much more regularly here on my blog along with pretty pictures and the like. I will post very soon about more details on the Madrid trip as they are made available to me.

Stay tuned!
Zac

New Updates + Halftone Show Art Prints

May 13th, 2009 · Zac · Halftone Show, My Work, Print Making, Updates, zacstout.com No comments

I know that you all must be thinking that I have been wiped off of the face of this earth because I have not posted on here in a few months but, in fact, I have been working very hard on many different projects. I have now simplified zacstout.com and made the overall look cleaner and I have also added two new portfolio pieces. One of those portfolio pieces, which I am very proud to introduce, is something that myself and a fellow designer and friend have been working on for the past several months now.

This new project basically is going to be a very large and comprehensive art print/design/web shop in which we design and produce various art prints and posters. It is called Halftone Show and the website, which houses all of our work and news updates, can be found at HALFTONESHOW.COM. It should be a fun little side project and it will be great to do on the side of everything else we both do in the future. It has been really gratifying for both of us because it allows us to reach back to our fine art dwellings and produce great design and art without having to worry about anything or anyone else.

So there you have it, a pretty big update and also the introduction of a new project that I will continue to keep you all updated regularly on. Also, stay tuned for a set of quick updates about graduation and other happenings with my design career and where it is headed. I wanted to also link up my buddy’s personal site which can be found at mattplappert.com . He is the buddy of mine who is taking on the Halftone Show project with me.

Stay tuned!
Zac

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Random Nostalgia

February 26th, 2009 · Zac · Inspiration One comment

Just an image that reminded me of playing soccer in my more youthful days. I was thinking about it and I just realized how much of my life was devoted to the sport. This image was via Dropular.

Dropular, just in case you were wondering, is a great new site that is much like FFFFOUND in that it is an image bookmarking site. The main difference between the two will be that Dropular will allow anyone (assuming they register without any problems) to be able to “drop” any interesting image from the world wide web onto the site. Not sure of the other details involved in the registration process but it should be interesting as soon as it leaves beta. As with FFFFOUND, Dropular will be a great place to find inspiration or just relax and have a random view of the web and perhaps have a few laughs/sighs in the process.

Zac