Tuesday, September 30, 2008

I'm not really cranky ...more like frustrated

my artist output has been considerably ham strung over the past few weeks for good reasons i had an eye operation, my scanner is on the blink and I'm getting frustrated with myself ... simple things are getting habits of both taking longer than i think and worse ...not always working

still i am fairly patient ....ok i have made three ladies cry recently ...but there were circumstances and they all know to come the officious, bureaucratic procedural crap on me ...what i meant to say was that I will persevere and keep going till they job gets done .... to my satisfaction ... which can be long after most others give in ...the bitter pill with my sketching was that laboring over a painting, specifically watercolour, just results in an ordinary composition and muddy colours... just as i was learning to be quicker and more spontaneous, suddenly my eyes where letting me down ...then I wasn't choosing the right colours or tones either .... this sketch was a case in point ... it started out a while ago ... I ruined it with too many washes ...so i simply washed then back, rubbing them & soaked them away ... then I added more ... ruining it again, more washed and some gouche ... more rubbing ... then charcoal ... layers of goodness followed by mistaken strokes and colours ...and all the time cutting it back, simplifing focusing on the feel ...the result is nice and mellow ... I have lost the focus in the curves and light in the necklace but there is a charm in all that reworking and strength in the curves... kind of like being a frustrated and cranky old bloke who is starting to worry he will be stop being young at heart .... but that is just silly creating good art keeps you young!

Sunday, September 28, 2008

30 thousand visitors


apparently i was wrong ... i was thinking it would be nice to celebrate having my 30,000th visitor to this humble sketchblog... something that is likely to happen tonight. i was shown the error of my ways by a very young and very net savy daughter of a friend who investigated my site rathertha watch the final episode of doctor who ... ok she did watch when captain jack was on the screen ...but what she discovered is that I have lost my loyal followers ... most visitors where where not return visitors ... i had become promiscuous ...my pulling posers where diminissing ... big deal i said .... and that was a big mistake ... did i get an ear bashing, and I have to admit a lot made sense ...i wamnerd around all over the place art, techy junk in poor grammar and i wont even mention the special criticisms of the illustrations ... so young net savy folk, sorry this place will remain bit pedestrian but i am sorry if I have bored anyone with my art .... that is one area i will diligently continue to work on improving ...so if you are a regular reader please tell me what draws you back so I might strive to improve that as well.

PS opps my eyesight must not have been on the ball yesterday (when I wrote this), still another 1000 to go ...still no reason not to seek feedback and what you would like to see my blof focus on.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

something deeper



just rene

Watercolour on paper

Thursday, September 25, 2008

don't blame the messenger



this is a promotional clip from a new ABC/tripleJ program called the Hack Halfhour, you can download a vodcast of the first show here ... i think whilst it may not answer all the questions ...it does ask the right questions ...what is the implication of "sharing" personal stuff about our lives on-line ...it is a complex issue and yes there are dangers, but there is so much to gain ...instead of hysteria about youtube being responsible for the finish school shooting (btw it wasn't youtube it was the gunman that killed!) we urgently need more open discussion about what powerful tools social network gives us today ... tools that can be used to solved the many problems that face our society today

two interpreations

watercolour artpad on-line sketch
Two variation on a flickr friend's portrait, convetional watercolour on the left an artpad "sketch" on the right, click here to watch the on-line painting process.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

talk about pork barreling



well this is about the most perfect justice for all the overhype of the USA pork barreling and such ...

the artist name is pricasso (if you look carefully on his site you will find his real name and if you ask nicely he may do a portait of you)

The gates of baku



watercolours on paper

I sketched these a few weeks back ...had almost forgotten them ...these are just two simple quick sketches i liked ...i think they captured the day and the feel of the place.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

bigger must be better ...right?

new pallet on the left, old on the right
I have to admit that i am a tad dissappointed with my vision particularly up close ...well actually my arms are no longer long enough ...so detail paint strokes are a strain further and even more distressing is the ability to mix just the right colour and keeping it separate on my palette ... lots of buggers and other french adjectives ... so I've taken the bull between the horns and bought a much bigger pallette with lots of space and I think I'm on the right track again.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Ink Blots - trying out art.com's artpad



i have had a bit of fun trying out art.com's new tool artpad ... my first effort is not quite up to paopi's wonderfully beautiful ink blots (see also her blog)... still it is a lot of fun and the saved image capture all your brush strokes, so that the entire painting process can be viewed at any time by others ...how a art work is created lets you see the roots of its beauty, and feel the life develop in it. Click on the gallery image on the right and see what I mean.

serious artistists take note: ok there is a downside art.com own everything you save and do on their website so you are signing away your rights to arkworks by using it, You give art.com a royalty free license.

Friday, September 19, 2008

is easily amused


Not sure why? ...i`m well o'er all th' shipmate and pirate jokes on accoun' o' me eye patch ...but i jus' love this shipmate speak translator... perhaps its th' big boys an' new toys thin' ... but its a blast ... an' I be shpore I`ll bore all on twitter an' utterli well before I get tired o' this.

Don't panic and no need to look up your daughters its just international talk like a pirate day.

technology on art



technology can get into art also

Thursday, September 18, 2008

bolder, firmer, lighter


Bold in pink

Watercolour on paper

My experiments with watercolours are continuing ...I love the medium ...butI think I am going to start disagreeing with the conventional wisdom that watercolour is an unforgiving medium ... sure i have ruined a lot of my own work ... but i don't thoink blaming the medium is the right approach ... watercolours live the paint crawls and pools and diffuses across the page in many ways sometime horrid but often in the most beautiful ways ... so the painter, ...the creative control, needs to use and guide these natural forces ... to me that was a big revelation ... be confident and bold with the brush strokes and let the medium calm down the drama and pull it together ... use washes and glazes to let the viewer's eye mix the colours ...don't obsessively muddy my palette & the paintin with too many shades and hues ... let the colours run and blend and dance

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

getting into the loop



Want to become more intimately involved with my art?


Regulars who read this blog will probably know of my passion to get original art on technology ...beginning with all those screens that all of us look at everyday. Why not start with your phone ...So if you have a mobilephone or iphone with WAP or WiFi access, point its browser at the following address or use the QRcode. That's all that is required.

http://art4all.tumblr.com/mobile

problems with the unauthentics


I administer a few groups (perhaps to many) on flickr ... mainly grown up groups (18+) that mainly allow nakedness and this seems to have become a honeypot for folk with fake ID, stolen photos and anti-social behaviour ...I'm starting to worry that there are a lot of weirdos on the web ...but it is going against my general opinion of what social networking and web 2.0 are all about ..in fact i have for the past couple of years been quick to jump to defend the social networking phenomena ...normally locking horns with those peddling the broad generalization that nude equals pornography and all old men on the net are perverts, and anything popular of the web must be porn ... because these things simply are not true.

There where a few signs, I should have noticed ... i fairly quickly didn't like second life, because everyone was so busy being something they are not ... and ending up being mass carbon copies of each other in an air brushed glamour/pseudo celebrity way ...that scared me away ... also myspace (yes I used to have a myspace page) became like that as well but in a kitchy glitzy (sorry bling) way ... i realized that was what younger folk than i wanted (they wanted to be noticed and accepted as part of the cool group ...the grown up folk that blogged and flickr'd and twittered still seemed authentic and original and nice to be with...but the door is open and some of the "look@me'ism" and fakr wanna bees are infiltrating flickr and twitter ... and it is so boring.

I for one don't think it is adolescent boys or dirty old men ...I think there are just lots of folk that are scared to be themselves ...& why do so many guys think using a "hotgirl" ID and posting stolen images is not strange?.... they are easy to spot but why are they doing it? surely ts not the small dick thing ...but why oh why must I spend time removing and blocking so many now ...grow up people.

Here are a few more sensible words on the subject of on-line authenticity from suze (a twitter friend)she has also started a promising podcast geekgrls

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

late afternoon at the beach


marie on the beach

watercolour on paper

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

out in the sunshine


pencil on paper

The beautiful spring weather is letting me enjoy the great pleasure of working in the outdoors, sketching and painting quickly, soaking up the warmth and delicacy of the light, watching the shadows dance and the whole world blossom

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

another melbournian beauty



Diane Watercolour on Paper

It is spring and the beauties of melbourne are venturing out into the sun ...letting their hair down, having fun ....and maybe frocking up as well for the spring racing carnival ...and life is good