August desktop wallpaper calendar from Smashing Magazine

Zoinks. How did this happen? August already? I never fail to be surprised that I have survived to see another month arrive. Well, on to the first order of each new month's business. Rent, shment. The important stuff is:

Smashing Magazine has released their gallery of August desktop wallpaper calendars!

Alas...I'm deflated. I admit, it's a personal thing. There are, without a doubt, some gorgeous designs created by many talented individuals. But none are particularly "ME". And as we know, it's all about ME.

Meeeeeee...MEMEMEMEME! Fa-la-la-la-MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

So, it's a dilemma. What do I do? The closest design to ME would have to be the sushi monster. Here, I'll show you:


I love sushi. I love monsters. But the colors and the style (the abundance of LEVITY) really don't match my mood lately. And I think my current desktop wallpaper selection should at least partially match, or somehow complement, the way I feel. When I sit at my desk I need to feel comfortable. Sushi monster, well, he makes me feel like I'm pretending to feel comfortable. But that's not the way I feel lately. Neither like pretending nor comfortable.

How do I feel lately, you ask? Ahhhhh...I feel a bit of melancholy. A small amount of sadness. A hint of loss. A dash of hope, folded into a larger dose of reality. I distinctly detect withheld emotions. Which makes me feel missed opportunities. I feel futility. A yearning to feel each moment for what it is. But all I reach for is the big picture. Want, wish, fantasize. Self-deny, self-distort, self-destruct.

And I'm sick. And I dreamed about my grandfather last night. And the Pema Chodron disc won't play in my bedside CD player. And I broke my Ichiban eggplant.

So how can I possibly choose the sushi monster as my August mascot?

No. This month, we are not Sushi. This month, we are Night Fire. By Henrik Wissing of Moving Insect:


The design style of Night Fire is not the least bit ME. But I think it grasps the way I feel. I think if I could take a screenshot of the insides of my eyelids, it might look a bit like Night Fire.

Let's hope that I begin to feel more like me in September. God. September?

July desktop wallpaper calendar from Smashing Magazine

Well, it looks like we survived to see yet another month. And since chances are good we'll be alive during at least part of July, we should really head over to Smashing Magazine to pick out a desktop wallpaper calendar to replace June's. Otherwise, we might be unable to keep track of what day it is, and might not even take notice when August rolls around.

I have to say, Smashing Mag has put together a kick-ass selection for July. As I noted, I wasn't thrilled with June's choices, but luckily I did find an image that was appropriate for le desktop de Jen S. This month there are several that I like quite a lot, but as usual, there is one in particular that stands out as the right one for me.

And here it is, Cow & Chicken, by Vane Kosturanov.


The cow, the chicken, the sky of pea soup green ... the imagery is so perfectly Jen S., that even though the calendar rates, on a scale of 1-10, nearly zero, I will be using Cow & Chicken as my desktop wallpaper calendar for the entire month of July.

It reminds me of Chagall. Because of the chicken, mostly. Any artwork containing a chicken, or hooved creatures (particularly goats) are indubitably Jen S.

Desktop calendar selections for June

As I blogged at the end of April, each month I visit Smashing Magazine to choose a new calendar image for my desktop wallpaper.

I'm not overwhelmed by the quantity of choices I'm seeing for June. Luckily, I'm quite whelmed enough by the quality of the first candidate: Vlad Gerasimov's Whale.



I'll happily stay in the little cottage by the lighthouse until July.

Another month, another calendar desktop wallpaper

It's the end of April, so that means it's time for me to visit Smashing Magazine to choose from their gallery of monthly desktop wallpapers for a May calendar. Wallpapers are contributed by many artists from all over the world and are available in many sizes, with and without calendar artwork.

Of course, I'm in it for the calendar artwork. Otherwise I'd just use a rotation of pictures of my dogs for my wallpaper.

For May, I have decided to use this one:


My April selection is still in use:


And back in March, the first month that they offered a calendar on one of their desktop wallpapers, I used this:


I myself require a darker background (the light ones, they burrrrn!) and that the calendar be on the right half of the picture, because my desktop icons are all on the left side. (The bottom of the screen works, too, a la March.)

I encourage you to use one of these beautiful finds. Or create your own and submit it for June!