I received my incredible Reddit Secret Santa present this morning - an interactive painting from user TheBlackSquid! This is so completely awesome - totally beyond anything that I could've hoped for.

The painting depicts a red octopus floating in the water seemingly contending with a large thousand-legged creature flying above. I love all the patterns that are detailed onto the painting - they look just stunning in person.

That's not all, though - the painting includes four knobs with associated magnets. You can snap them on to the painting and move them around to suit your desires (see the Flickr photos and Vimeo video for more details).

I've been playing around with the positioning of the knobs and right now they're closer to "eyes" on the large mass. I've positioned the painting right in the heart of my kitchen - encouraging people to play around with it and explore.

TheBlackSquid also included a letter and USB drive with the painting (the drive contained photos, video, and some music to listen to - Blonde Redhead, Gorillaz, LCD Soundsystem, Pantha Du Prince, and The Octopus Project). I've uploaded all the pictures and one of the videos - along with some of my own pictures of the unboxing:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeresig/sets/72157625485109803/ http://vimeo.com/17884278

I really wanted to link to TheBlackSquid's artist page - but he doesn't appear to have one (if you're reading this, let me know and I'll put it up!). Instead, please contact him and let him know how awesome he is! http://www.reddit.com/user/TheBlackSquid/

Also see this submission that I made over at /r/art/ to promote his work: http://www.reddit.com/r/Art/comments/emuof/interactive_painting_from_my_reddit_secret_santa/

Thanks again TheBlackSquid - this is just fantastic. :D