that wasn't well planned

...back from a little sojourn up north and ready to do some serious relaxing.. but damn that small annoying red eye (a common problem i get in the tropics isn't a conjunctivitis at all ... its damn eye patch material again ... a detached retina , having the op tomorrow ... not happy jan!

there might be a hioatus in here

le dudas's missus snowbaking

le dudas's missus snowbaking, originally uploaded by sigh clone.

watercolour on paper

The problems of our digital common

I found this article on the future of the digital common in a tweet from chrisbrogan

I have been worried for a while that all the popular Web 2.0 sites get quickly overwhelmed with the ME-TOO celebrity WANNA-BEES that just copy ... so little originality and creavitity anymore ... the masses have taken over, filled up the space and wasted it and the bandwidth to look around ...then behind that there is the wild west style mentality of self importance and greed... the digital prairies are free and now they are mine ... so i'm a little worried about how innovation and culture are going to survive or is the net going to become the ultimate in New Reality TV (reality TV is of course not reality but is contrived to look like what the produces want o show as reality)... do we want this?


But i am not in favour of locking away content and establishing restrictive copyrighist mechanism that transfers the profit from the artist, innovators and creators into the hand of the few "media" owners ... look at the music industry and the syndication of cartoons.. only the most famous artists have benefited ... so i like the copyleft idea and I would rather have my work displayed in on-line galleries on the digital common ... i hope that isn't destined to soon be a thing of the past

cassio in watercolour

cassio watercolour, originally uploaded by sigh clone.

this was a "gift" (a freeby request) for the winner of the flickr expose your wife group comp ... at first i was very disappointed at the paintings flatness .... BUT it has grown on me ...mainly the pose and composition and the fact that the colours work well

a hot night and a new haircut

It has been hot down under... especially last night... too hot to sleep soundly, so i found myself sketching in the wee hours of the morning... and it was good

I used a stronger sketching paper with a finer tooth and it took the harder punishment I seem to produce when I have a conte crayon in my hand... but the natural sanguine colours where perfect to do a portait of rebecca a new twitter friend... and a fellow Victorian to boot ... I loved her furtive look

I know a new haircut can mean a lot, just click on the link and listen to the great waif song.

more charcoal sketches

Nude Drawing a Nude

Just a bit of cubist inspired fun, and I especially thank Annie for the photos

2 minute torso

I have been very careful not to use black in my watercolours... it is a bully and kills the delicacy of anything newby... BUT ... sometimes I just want a deep dark negative space... so I have been experimenting lately ...but i still cut it back with raw umber and violet... it wasn't to scary after all

Ode to a tree in summer

Of all the wonders of nature, a tree in summer is perhaps the most remarkable; with the possible exception of a moose singing "Embraceable You" in spats. ~Woody Allen

warm up exercises

Just like good sportsman i suspect artist need to warm up ... get the body performing what the eye seas and the brain has visualized ... movements must be practiced and practiced again until the skill appears a second nature ... rapid sketches at a life class are like laps to a swimmer... road miles to a cyclist ... sometimes you need to do thats curved line without thinking .... just let your eye control your arm no concious thought required ... the trouble is i tend to get totally obsorbed in the act of sketch I can not tell if my training is working... or if i should be sketching more ... just when does a healthy passion move into an obsession?

the flat earth society

I've been out wandering around in the area used in the film lucky miles and yes it is that bloody flat ... the music Oeske Cherde by the throat singer's Huun-Huur-Tu is worth a listen by itself.

Sweet torso

Considerable disciplinbe was required this time not to eat the "paint" ...:)




Ok this did take a little longer than 2 minutes... but it is the same skill expanding exercise only this time a using smarties (they were created by Rowntree in 1937, M&M's are a copy that started in 1949)

(at last) posting pictures to twitter

well I'm pretty happy ... i can more easily include pictures in my twitter posts now, using the very new twitpic tool ... check it out! ... it just the sort of thing i like nice and simple, and does a good job of it... so watch out for more of my art tweets ... (you have been warned!)

Not all purples are the same

Violet might officially be a colour mid-way between magenta and blue, and warmer than indigo. Yet I like violet most for my shadows on skin tones ... but not just any violet, I prefer dioxazine violet (or windsor violet)... its warmer and more vibrant. I tend to combine it with crimson, sap green and/or yellow ochre, in many of my watercolour sketches of nudes

Violet is the artist's black

sketching a torso

I think this is a cool way to show art, maybe I'll have to video my two minute torso's from now on.... BTW this is not my work watch the video and see the artist (she is very pretty)