every wallpaper on this site has tags assigned to them.  one of my favorite tags is #itookthispic.  in this section, there are elements in the wallpaper of pictures i’ve actually taken OR that came from a picture i have from either friends or family.  it’s mostly the former, though.  i love wallpapers that use this method, because it makes me feel like a lil piece of me is with y’all out there in the world.  it makes those wallpapers extra special to me.

i got inspired to talk about wallpapers like this, so i figured i’d post some info on the wallpapers in that section!

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SUMMERWEEN

i made this summerween wallpaper last night and i realized that i had to edit the top of it because it cuts off just above jamie lee’s head, for instance:

i duplicated the paneling to the left of her head vertically, then i had to try to multiply the leaves from the tree to the right of her head.  both were kind of annoying to work on, but then i remembered that I HAVE BEEN TO THIS ACTUAL FILMING LOCATION (several times), so i used a picture i took of the house WITH said tree:

the sun was blaring that day i was there, and i can even see some of the lens flare/rays from the sun in the wallpaper itself… man, i always love these little touches.

the breakdown on the others in this section:

1. susan’s garden apartment: the magazine rack at the bottom of the table with the phone was from a picture of me in our house from 1985.  this wallpaper is a recreation of my mom’s interior decor from when i was a kid.  she still has that half moon poster, she loved that peacock chair and the wicker accents, and we had 2 of those pink torch lamps – and 2 black ones, too.  she also had those little round tables for years w the table cloths.  when i sent this wallpaper to her she was like OMG… lol.

i couldn’t find a decent picture of a pink torch lamp like we had, so i found one VERY similar to it, edited it to fit the shape and colour better (you can see a pic of my mom’s below, alongside very 80s hanging artwork, the vintage candlestick holder, those gaudy curtains, lol – the 80s… WHEW!).  i also had to create the cushion for the peacock chair, as it didn’t exist in the image of the chair (not actually my mom’s, but i do have pics of it).

2. classic bath and body works: i had to recreate the gingham awning and the checkered border by hand and 4 of the vintage products in the image are actually B&BW products i still have!  i found the lamps online and created the wood store interior shelf/look.

3. the creepy cabin: this was a cabin my friends and i stayed in one summer, in maine.  i edited the shit out of it, colorized it and flipped it to make it look like a creepy reflection – inspired by the upside down.

4. the best things in life: when i cycle locally, there’s an overpass on the highway that has some padlocks.  i typically take a picture anytime i’m out on a ride in this spot, and i thought this little padlock was cute.

5. twin peaks – the chef tried to stab jerry: this scene makes me LOL every time i see it, and the last time i rewatched twin peaks (which is one of my favorite shows of all time), i was inspired to make this a wallpaper.  the background is an image of the dining room at the great northern, the hotel that the guy on the left owns on the show.  this is also where the scene takes place in the show, and the last time i was in seattle, my buddy ricardo and i took a ferry over to bainbridge island to go see where it was filmed.

the place is called the kiana lodge, which is the house where some of the characters live in the show, where they find laura palmer’s body, and also the interior of the great northern hotel.  man, david lynch seriously multi-tasked that spot!  anyway, they let you tour the place when there aren’t events happening (it’s a spot they do weddings, parties, maybe conferences, etc.) and i took a bunch of interior shots – the background being one of them.

6. plain city elementary school: one of the first times i went to salt lake city, my bestie bee took me to an abandoned school at night  it was SO creepy.  i loved this dead end hallway with the green light.  i amped up the colour in photoshop a bit, but it was actually green for some reason.  extra creepy!

7. korn – some corner in bk: when i used to live in central queens, my bestie lauren and i used to hang out in williamburg all the time.  that’s where our cheers was… and i would constantly see my favorite graffiti artists leaving their work behind.  korn was always one of my favorites, and i took a pic of this one night.

unfortunately, korn aka jeffrey gamblero died in a horribly tragic way.

8. LFGM subway sign: i took this pic of citifield before a game…  not much to this one, lol.

9. ave/running man freight train: another one of my fave graffiti artists is ave – he does the running man character/symbol.  some of my favorite graff and street art artists are just little images like that: ave, korn, pink cloud, katsu, matt siren, swampy, neckface, meres, rate, the miracle ghost, etc.

10. phoebenewyork – be confident: the lil lady characters phoebenewyork comes up with are tooooo cute, and whenever i’m downtown, i try to find them to take pics.  i took a pic of both phoebe’s on the electrical pole here, the love me sticker and the matt siren sticker.

11. mets – bathroom floor: i actually already covered this one! 🙂

12. korn – queens blvd: i actually already covered this one! 🙂

13. nyct relic: my city keeps changing… retro things keep disappearing, but i love the mix of old nyc and new.  i love when i find these gems and i loveeeeeeee the old MTA logo.  i think i flicked this one down near 8th ave someplace, but i forget.  i added a colourful background at the bottom with drippy glitches, just to make it look cool.

14. mta – f train (ave N): there was a smol window in which i lived in DEEP brooklyn.  i loved it down there… it feels like a lifetime ago.  when i had moved down there, the train right by my house was under construction for months, so i used to have to take the F train home and walk over to my apartment on 14th and ave M.

i have no idea why the lights were green, but i came home one night from being out and about and took this shot.  i thought it looked good and creepy!

15. faust in flushing: when i used to take the express bus into work in the morning, the bus would drive through main street, flushing and take the grand central to the midtown tunnel every morning.  the faust piece read “flushing” on the tuxedo store – and that store has been there since i was a kid in the 80s!  i love that it still exists, and i love that faust did a piece there.  i took the picture of the stores/parking lot and edited in the flushing meadow park elements.

the bus would pass the queens museum while on the grand central, and that’s where the unisphere and the pavilion observation towers are, so the wallpaper is sort of an ode to my ride into work in the morning.  it’s also super queens. ♥

16. RIP 5 pointz: you can read about 5 pointz here, so i don’t get angry and rant as to why it’s no longer there AND what’s there now.  i can’t express how much it made me love graffiti at a young age, and how epic it was to see it every time the 7 train took that wide ass turn right before hitting the city.  i took this pic on a ride into the city one day, i suppose.  i know it’s not super clear, the train was moving and i probably didn’t have the steadiest hand, but i love that i took that pic. i added the meres bulb next to the text that reads “5pointz” and specifically chose that face bc i know how much it meant to meres.

17. rate, ojas, trap: i took this pic downtown, not much to it.  i added the trap star from another picture, that’s why there are bricks in the star.

18. welcome to queens/TWA: i took this pic at JFK when i came home from a trip once – i colorized it and i added the “welcome to queens” sign, trying to make it look like one of those highway signs.  this was before the renovated the TWA building (which now has a hotel on the backside of it).