Intro to Web Design
Aug 25th
New workshop just added to the September Schedule. Check the workshop/classes page for more details.
Quote for Today
Aug 22nd

Henry Moore
“There’s no retirement for an artist, it’s your way of living so there’s no end to it.” Henry Moore – Sculptor
Brandon Pence – Florida Artist – Studio Tour
Aug 16th
Here’s some pictures from my studio, i.e. my room. I am moving soon (in less than 2 weeks) so I don’t mind showing these now.
My place is fairly simple. I like to keep my guitars near my PC because sometimes when I am stuck creatively, I’ll take a break and play music. Often times I will leave the amplifier (A Marshall MG100HDFX full stack) turned on so I can just pick up the guitar, turn the volume knob and play. I mainly play a Jackson Randy Rhoads model in Drop C tuning however I also love my PRS SE Custom in standard 440 tuning. But usually if I am stuck creatively, I want to play some riff-based songs so the Jackson gets more play.
I don’t keep much traditional art. My walls are mostly covered in movie or music posters. The Rocky Horror Picture Show, KMFDM’s Xtort, a Texas Chainsaw Massacre poster (autographed to me by Leatherface), Saw 1 and 2 posters, etc. cover the walls.
I like very dim lighting when working and actually in general. My eyes are overly sensitive to light so a lot of light gives me a headache.
Because I like dim lighting, I really prefer paper lamps. These came from Ikea and I absolutely love them. The light is very soft and mellow, which helps me focus and relax. I also love underwater plants, as seen above. I frequently buy them from fish stores. Most of them are meant for aquariums and I buy square glass vases and fill the bottoms with black rocks and other earth tone rocks and bury the plant in them. It makes for a very low maintenance yet beautiful visual. Since they are aquatic plants, you only really have to water them when the vase is running out which is caused by evaporation… in short, you only have to do anything to them once a month. Very hard to kill and very cool looking. I plan to have a few more when I move.
This is my actual desk. It’s a black desk with white legs that I purchased from Ikea. Ikea rocks for cheap furniture.
On the left I have several external hard drives. I very rarely delete files. Often when an HD fills up I will simply buy a new hard drive. Currently I don’t have them hooked up and I have more than can be seen in this photo. I probably have around 8 total external drives and am currently using 3 internals. Next to each monitor is an Ikea paper lamp as described above. My monitors are Samsung Syncmaster 226BW’s. My keyboard and mouse are a Logitech set. The keyboard I don’t remember but the mouse is an MX Laser mouse. I like the keyboard because it has built in mp3 controls for winamp and it has a separate detachable number pad which acts as a standalone calculator. Which I never use. But I like that it frees up desk space.
On the right hand I have a ceramic tile I keep a beverage on so it doesn’t damage my desk.
In the middle of the 2 monitors in the darkness is a Joker mask from The Dark Knight. It came with the DVD when purchased at Best Buy. Since the photos were taken I have also added 3 figures; Dr. Manhattan, The Comedian and Rorschach all from Watchmen.
But yeah. That’s my setup.
Anyways stay tuned to NWFLAA.com for more updates and also feel free to check out my website at
http://brandonpence.com. Thank you very much for reading.
Music I’m digging on…
Aug 3rd
Here’s some songs that are motivating me lately or just making me smile.
Stars is legit one of my favorite bands period. Often times when I share their music with someone, people say it doesn’t sound like the music I’d like. I find that rather insulting; their music is poetic, deep and beautiful. I am hoping to go see them in November in New Orleans. I love their music so much I can listen to it all day on repeat. I can do that with very, very few bands.
Lady GaGa has been my “fun” music for awhile now. This is just one of her lesser known songs that I find incredibly catchy.
Arcade Fire’s latest album “The Suburbs” is just flat out brilliant. I didn’t think they would be able to top Neon Bible but The Suburbs is amazing. Great album from beginning to end.
Broken Bells are the best thing to come out of 2009 so far (aside from The Limousines debut album). Their music videos are just as awesome as their music and I find them highly inspirational.
Here’s “The High Road” by Broken Bells
The End of Kodachrome
Aug 2nd

The Afghan Girl by Steve McCurry
Probably one of the most recognized National Geographic Magazine covers is “The Afghan Girl” from 1985. The photographer is Steve McCurry. The film is Kodachrome. Kodachrome was the favorite of many professionals (personally, I preferred Fujichrome back in the day), and so it was a sad day when Kodak decided to discontinue the film last year. Kodak gave the last roll of Kodachrome ever produced to Steve McCurry. The images on this last roll are being kept secret for now. National Geographic is planning the big reveal in an upcoming documentary. Listen to the story
here.

Steve McCurry by Ahmet Sel






