Cyclone's Sketchblog

The view from my window

2011-10-29T22:22:00.003+11:00

It has been a few weeks since my accident and I can not remember much of that time but I have become very attached to the view from the window beside my bed in this rehab place. It is my one contact out into the real world. Hospitals are not my favorite places, and the daily routine is becoming torture. So it was a big achievement to sketch, the shadows of the world outside. It was an even bigger achievement to figure out how to scan my sketch and then post it here.

Well I have to thank an anonymous gift, of a niffy android phone. This phone, its camera and its apps (still discovering new things) has let me escape from the plaster and bandages and be out side maybe not in the real world but in cyberspace.

Thank you however you are.

Doodling is good for your well being & health

2011-09-28T15:17:00.004+10:00

It is something I have known for a long while now doodling is really good for you. In one of the latest TED Talks Sunni Brown wants Doodlers to Unite! She presents a much more succinct case than this rambling blog. However she should have really finished with a doodle herself (the nice cartoon illustrations in the talk may be hers) but I like seeing people draw.

If you have any doubts about the positive value of a doodle, go now without delay and get some scrap paper and a pencil or pens and place them close to where you work, watch TV or whatever you do. Then next time you are there pick up that pencil and and start putting a few marks on the paper, scribble drawing anything. See how much more you remember, how you have relaxed ... go on do it!

Winter inspiration

2011-09-21T16:20:00.003+10:00

My twitter friend Dee doing a swirling dance infront of the winter sun.

Just the inspiration I need to restart my posting on the interwebs again.

Last Sketch for a while

2010-11-10T15:03:00.004+11:00

I will have to close up my web activity for a while, and permanently close a couple of accounts, due to childish but persistent hacking and stealing of my identity and on-selling it to Chinese and eastern European types with very dubious morals. So please be careful of emails you may receive that look like they are from me. Especially don't send money or personal details.

I now suspect those behind the Faux Social entity aka Annie Stoner because I outed their Impossibly over Photoshopped photos. I still reckon she is a total FAKE

It is the wholesale stealing of my art works. Scrubbing the signature that disappoints me the most. If you see illustration you believe are mine, and without my signature, and used as a teaser for some dodge website. Please posts details and maybe a link as a comment on this blog post. The ones with my signature are likely to be legitimate copies and I appreciate such people and friends who re-post, especially as most ask nicely.

Sketching in the sun

2010-10-21T23:10:00.005+11:00

It was good to have the brush and pen back in my hand after a short hiatus. This sketch is of a twitter friend Curvaveous Dee whilst she coincidentally was enjoying some sun as well.

Water, as in watercolour is the sworn enemy of most felt pens (their ink is water soluable) ...so you need to make sure the paper is dry before using the pen. But I think it is worth it, the strong sharp line is enhanced by the delicacy of the wash below!

Chat Roulette Girls Speed Painter

2010-10-19T22:03:00.001+11:00

I was sent a link to this video, presumably after my last posts reference to chat roulette.
Chat Roulette Girls Speed Painter - Watch more Funny Videos

Hacking me ..Hacking you

2010-10-07T23:44:00.004+11:00

Seems I am the ongoing focus of attention of what appear to me to be very childish attempts to spam the comments to this blog with Chinese links to a number of dubious sites. Now that unwanted attention is now moving into my other accounts. Luckily google is paying a little more attention to detecting suspicious activity around gmail than they have been to helping bloggers. But dear reader I will diligent search you out those childish hackers and continue to delete them and report them to the appropriate authorities. And otherwise I ignore them amd please do the same.

中國垃圾郵件發送者和黑客應該被忽略

So please ignore any links in chinesse from this blog, or strange emails even if it looks like it was posted by me.

doodling is good for your health

2010-09-27T23:28:00.004+10:00

I must admit I have been very busy not being healthy ...on the treadmill of medical tests, specialist, health fund claims and more tests I was starting to feel rundown and gloomy ...i should have picked up the brush and ink sooner ...an hour or so doodling and I was away in a happier place ...even with the clouds getting darker and darker outside and then heavy rain.

Another water nymph in pen & ink

So I'm not alone

2010-09-25T10:00:00.001+10:00

Seems I'm not alone seeing the potential of art rage to free up the mark marking on a computer screen. I realise what I was doing is what Andrea Bianco calls "speed painting"

A speed painting is a painting where you try to define the main concepts as quickly and effectively as possible.

He has a great blog post about and even better, it includes links to a wonderful pdf file he wrote on how to do it in art rage and he even has includes some brushes he designed for the technique. This is all great art, I think any tools that really help you put down what we what to show needs exploration and application. Just because it is not smelly, sticky or messy to use should not lessens its value

a long standing party trick

2010-09-23T14:15:00.005+10:00

http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
A long standing party trick on mine, is to do quick sketches of my friends and others ...candid ones while they talk, laugh and dance ..the sketches are just that quick pencil, pen or brush squiggles ..a bit of fun ..and normally well received. I've even been brave enough to attempt a few on the computer, using my bamboo tablet ...trouble is I'm still learning the rope and my computer prowess (or lack of it) detracts from the spontaneity ...well last night a young friend showed me art rage, and even where to download a starter version for free. ...I was away, it made immediate sense to me ...especially when one of the ladies stripped off to pose nude for me ...the whole thing only last two minutes but it was talked about all night.

Mood & Tone

2010-09-12T22:44:00.002+10:00

Limiting the palette, simple gestural strokes, focus on skin tone and bold composition ...getting the right mood sounds simpler than it really is

The Hat Series

2010-09-09T14:54:00.003+10:00

Watercolour & gouache on paper

more computer art attempts

2010-09-01T22:33:00.005+10:00

In a busy house tonight, lots of coming and going ... and getting ready to go out ...must be time to try out some rapid sketching in corel painter. The watercolour is nicely like a real wash, and those washes can be dried at the click of a button :) and ...and it is a big AND ...the felt pen tool can be any colour, even a light pinkish purple that has strong coverage over the underlying image ...wow such artistic freedom.

"exploitation" of nudes within art

2010-08-30T15:36:00.009+10:00

I'm becoming a bit more opinionated than usual in my discussions with colleagues about the value of nudes in art ...not so much the nudity versus porn bandwagon that so many social networks seem to be hoping on (and something I am just straight out bored with) ...no I mean real art. I haven't been exhibiting my nudes ...mainly because they are a more personal part of my art journey (ok posting them in here means they are not so private anymore) So my opinion may not count for much, BUT I'll give it anyway. In very general terms the nudes in contemporary art look a bit old hat or mass produced and trite, a few are there to shock but the rest just sit their blandly, not grabbing your attention. Cleo hidden away in Young and Jacksons still celebrates life & femininity. A lot of art in the private calleries doesn't. I blame political correctness, timid artist are becoming scared to slather on the sensuality, lusciousness of paint and arousing colour. All the same I have been savaged by more than one feminist friend, coincidentally all with the same argument saying that porn has over exploited nudity and everyone is bore with it. Come on...

Perhaps I'm getting old but surely painters are allowed to be sensual and erotic in their painting of nudes. May they do with colour,with feeling, with a wink in their eye. I know of two great female artist (both shown here) that have a wonderfully refreshing perspective on the modern view of commercialized nudity . The first is Sophi (aka Carolyn Weltman, an example of her work is on the left) who's art for engineers I have mention before and the second Hazel Dooney (an example of her work is shown above) who's self.vs.self blog is a way better read than this blog you are reading now. May there be many more. Perhaps I need to start exhibiting my work.

Que le meilleur artiste toujours peindre le nu feminin.

mood in pastel

2010-08-29T16:09:00.005+10:00

I had my rant about strong colour in pastels in the last blog post ...so now I'm using them in a more muted colour schemes ...not to disprove my own rules, just to show that pastel is a lovely way to capture mood and feeling

red satin dreaming in pastel

2010-08-25T14:51:00.001+10:00

red satin dreaming pastel
Originally uploaded by sigh clone

The power in pastel for me is in its rich colours, not the smudged out weak colours that fashion industry know as pastels. Soft artists pastels are almost pure pigments (ok there are binders and fillers in them) so I like try and use that power, just enough smudging to get the tonal gradations but I reckon the media leads itself to powerful full on strokes or contrasting colours. I had a lot of fun sketching these red satin sheets against delicate skin tones

hand .vs. computer

2010-08-19T14:43:00.008+10:00

I'm still playing around with computer generated painting via Corel Painter Essentials. I do really like the programs BUT I don't really like the tracing paper it kind of stiffles my action ...maybe I need a bigger tablet? I don't really want to draw lines anyway ...they become so restrictive. SO what about the eye dropper and "taking" my colours from the photo (under the tracing paper) ..its also a very nice feature BUT I tend to get very bland washed-out colours ...not the colours I would choose by eye ...maybe I am being a little harsh. Here are two portraits of the same saintly friend from flickr. I trust you can recognize my hand drawn effort.

two minute torsos ...some more

2010-08-12T17:12:00.003+10:00

Whilst pastel doesn't lend itself to ultra fast sketches (the tones need to be worked and blending reworked before the pastel looks rich!) I still like the two minute torso exercises as a way to lead into a fuller exploration of gesture & posture & composition & ... the list goes on and on ....what is working well for me at the moment is to do this quick torso sketch in watercolour ...then begining of the pastel ...I have even rubbed pastel over a watercolour ...life is to short not to exploit and enjoy it ...even when painting

framed

2010-08-02T23:12:00.003+10:00

Checking around the photo "hosting" sites, like twitpic, yfrogger, img.ly ...etc and reading all the "fine print" in the terms of use ...it is pretty obvious that many sites now consider nudity offensive and not to be posted! ...some still say pornographic, but most now just use the words nudity or nude!

BUT that is not the real shock ...the real issues is in the "fine print" that might try to suggest that the owner is responsible for the content and it must be his own (ie they is the copyright holder)

...BUT and it is very legally worded when you post anything you are given them (and anyone they want to share it with the right to use your image "royalty free"

Art ...orginal art ...is not welcome ...I'm getting the message

Does this offend you?

2010-07-29T12:13:00.007+10:00

Ok I admit it I like to sketch nude ladies ...what is worse I often like to do it quickly ...do gesture studies, two minute sketches of torsos, I have been posting this on the net for some time. Some sketches have been heavily criticized, by self opinionated wankers (the wankers bit is my opinion btw) but I hope enough people see beauty in my work as well. However I suspect I am fighting a loosing battle over the censorship of nudes on the social webs ...and that is because these places quickly adopt the manners and conventions of the crowd ...and that is unfortunately that nudity must equal porn ..it doesn't! I know that! I'm a grown up!

For a while there I thought Flickr had got it right offering a content filtering system that let you mark the content safe, moderate (and they had prepared good guidelines, so this equals exposed breast) or restricted (full frontal nudity and other things offensive!) They also had 18+ groups for grown ups. All was ok but then they started marking folk like me unsafe, which means if you don't log in and click that you are old enough to look everything I do is hidden from you. At Least they didn't remove my account. From recent discussions in some flickr groups a lot of accounts have been summarily suspended. The anti nudity witch hunts are probably increasing, yet I think there are just reasons, there is way too much stolen porn and other folk's photos and artwork being re-posted in flickr and all across the net these days. It is theft and plagiarism gone feral and it is distasteful ...Unlike my art!

The real rub for me came today when I discovered I have been suspended on TwitPics, presumably for posting the sketch above. No reason give no correspondence, just messages at the end of links that image no longer exist and member suspended. Such is life.

So Artists may soon not able to display their own original and real art, if it doesn't conform to the latest web stampede/fashion on popular social networks. The trend is worrying, aussies should particularly watch out for the net censorship noose (aka clean feed) proposal Senator Stephen Conroy is fashioning for australian web users (he is suddenly quiet about it at the moment? that's right there is an election loaming, but the stupidity is still their on the books).

Vive Le Art

chalk on my fingers ...again

2010-07-28T23:54:00.003+10:00

kool portrait,
originally uploaded by sigh clone.

I haven't used my pastels anywehere near enough for a while ...I like being able to apply the rich pigments directly mixing the colours on the surface ...but i think i need to have a watercolour wash of use coloured paper to really see that richness ...which doesn't scan well by the way

...Vive le pastel

dark torso

2010-07-28T15:22:00.004+10:00

I've started to find my own way to work in corel painter essential ...I like to start with a little bit of "borrowed" colour into a quick background wash,(broad wash brush) then add a few tiny little details (using the edge cloner brush) or just tracing some free and easy fine lines (using the 2B pencil brush and purple colour) and splash or two on the nipples for interest. Still not quiet 2 minutes but getting faster and freer. Hard to image it is done on the computer ...or am I pulling my own leg?

giving it a red hot go

2010-07-23T23:40:00.004+10:00

Its winter here now and has been cold, rainy & cloudy for a few days ...great time to stay inside by teh fire and watch the rain ..and maybe practise with my hand at painting on the computer ...I have a new wacom bamboo tablet with corel painter ...still in the learning stage ..those demos & tutorials make it look easy but ...but ...ok there are lots of buts ...and hows? ...and arhhhh! So there I was with a blank canvas and staring out the window with a bad case of "painters" block ...just as the sun was setting it was beautifully silhouetted against a large banksia tree and some dark clouds ...strongest of warm colours (almost the colours of the aboriginal flag) ...I had to go for it ...and it was easier than I expected. Choose the brushes (impasto followed by opaque arcylic), select & mix a couple of colours and wow ..you can push the colours around on the canvas just like real paint...not as hard as the instruction seem to make me believe.

I think I could get used to this!

the apron

2010-07-23T13:49:00.001+10:00

the apron
Originally uploaded by sighclone

watercolour, pencils & felt pens on paper

Mixing media

2010-07-17T10:58:00.007+10:00

I've always like the idea of mixing media ...the transparency of a watercolour wash the strong powdery cover of pastel, the sharp lines of pencils the wispy flourish of a chinese brush and ink. my experiments with digital painting and specifically corel painter have let me change brushes (and paper) mid creation! ...Ok the results are not always great but it has inspired me onto to spend some more time experimenting with real mixedup media ... this is based on a natural redheaded friend from flickr ...I start with the lightest of soft pencil sketch, I usually leave these lines in not bothering to use a rubber (that's what aussies call an eraser) to remove then later and add my favourite mauve and purples for shadows with a little burnt sienna touchyes ...first one wash then another to darken the darks ...letting the washes dry completely between each coat...then onto the pastels I work with only a few colours at a time rubbing them in by hand ...building up layers of smeared pastels pigment ...richer in colour than I could achieve with watercolour alone ...but with some of the transparency that eludes just pastel work ...I also use a few strokes of soft pastel pencils to highlight a bit of detail or an important compositional edge...voi'la

Stop nagging me gmail!

2010-07-15T18:26:00.002+10:00

I must admit once the sun comes out, I feel i'm well on the road to recovery ...ok a bit slower than before but my creative juices are starting to flow ...and I know I've missed a lot of conversations and posting but I get a guilty conscience whenever I look at my gmail account ... its nagging me ... UNREAD EMAILS ...UNREAD BUZZes ... buggar it they can stay unread ...sorry if they are yours ...I have my life to live ...those things that slipped under the cracks may just have to stay there

C'est la vie

Summer Light & Shadows

2010-07-14T16:53:00.009+10:00

The weather has closed in cold and wet ...the wind is whistling in from the north west and the sky is grey ...a perfect day to sit in my studio and watch the rain drops on the window and sit down to experiment ...I had a request to sketch a beautiful Natual Redhead and the photos showed such a wonderful Light & Shade ...the model is pretty wonderful as well. The Water soluable Wax crayons did well enough but maybe not delicate enough. So back to the old faithfull soft pastels ...unfortunately I set to work with them on an off-cut of certain brand of french watercolour paper ... it let me blend wonderfully delicate shadows and an intense sea ...but alas all the rich colour pigment just fell off! As if there was a magnetic repulsion in the paper onto my scanner.

Je maudis votre chère doux corps soyeux édentée, vous papier français fait à la main Vixen!

Joanie sketch

2010-07-12T09:04:00.004+10:00

Quick sketch, not exactly a torso, but close enough to two minutes. Testing out some new Neocolour II water soluable wax crayons, with some pencil and wash as well.

That is some cyber woman

2010-07-06T00:23:00.005+10:00

You would have to admit that the cyberwoman on tonight's re-run of Torchwood, puts those cyber nasties on Dr Who to shame.

Auto vs manual

2010-06-29T14:19:00.007+10:00

I've had time to review the tutorials that come with Corel Painter ...and i've tried out their auto paint and trace features ... the three images about were created in only a minute or two using avrious auto-paint options ...look they are effective but in the end I am unimpressed. The colours are nice in the modern painting example in the middle, close to those I might choose. But sadly the auto Van Gogh of the right is an embarrassment to the poor guys reputation, particularly the colours, also the watercolour sketch on the left lacks the transparency and delicacy that makes watercolour such an appealing medium.

Ok could I do better? I choose this photo, of a flickr friend, for a "two minute torso" exercise, that I have found enjoyable and a way to test out new techneques or just shapen up my work. so here is my first computer generated two minute torso (ok it did take more like 18minutes because I was still learn and doing a lout of s)

I used the chalk and pastel brushes because the marks they left where close yo want I get when sketching. So I started with my favorite pale blueish purple to start the shape of the mid tones, adding a couple of colours in the darks. When sketch I also often just have a few reference smudges or colour patches over on the edge so I can judge the relative tonal values

Next I added strong colour using a wide and fast infill squiggles. Then I got the blend tool and smoothed them into the previous areas.

I have repeated these last two steps several times, building up the form ...and i do like how it lets me do that ...however I gave up at this point ...normally about know I would put in a few "detail" lines with a pencil, generally with a quick open flourish ... just to bring a few key parts into detail ...alas my detail line work is still a bit clumsy and I was consigning all my work to the place (where ever that is)

So my final conclusion is I actually love the my bamboo fun tablet (it won't stop me painting of sketching conventionally) it is a terrific tool. Expect to see more or my work created with it, Yt I am unlilely to start selling my direct computer art anytime soon.

too much fun

2010-06-25T17:20:00.002+10:00

I actually went to buy a new scanner (my old one died a far while ago, they don't seem to last for me) and I got side tacked by a slicky shinny thing called a bamboo fun. Its kind of a cross between a touch surface and a graphic pen tablet. It is just a few flat pieces of plastic molded together really, maybe heavier than it looks with a pen and a usb cable. I liked the black small ones but the bigger one only came in grey ... I really needed the room for my hand to flourish rather that colour cordination with my laptop ...so grey it was.

The really best part of the story is how easy it is to use. Take out of box and plug in ...not hard at all. Ok there is one big limitation as a mouse substitute it is really hopeless and clumsy ...or maybe I haven't got the hang of that part yet! Once I loaded up corel painter essentials which came as part of the deal I was hooked. I could rub with my finger press hard or soft with the pen. change the drawing "brush" from feltpen to soft pastel to a bristle brush, even a smudge. It was very natural ... so natural I haven't read the instruction manual yet (its on a pdf file somewhere) or the tutorial videos they can wait I'm having too much fun

sick of being sick

2010-06-19T15:07:00.005+10:00

Being under the care of the medical profession is a time consuming business, and I'm so so sick of it. Clearly no one knows what is wrong, ok I've had all the test and scans & xrays but i just want someone to listen to me not the machines ...whinge over ...the drugs are making the symptoms bearable ...just

What I want want know is some time to be creative

oh yes and sorry for the lack of posts lately, I not one who likes to use excuses, maybe I can focus some that inspiration and creativity into more posts :)

The yellow bra in pastel

2010-06-09T23:18:00.001+10:00

Pastel on Paper

mucking around with tone

2010-05-28T13:00:00.002+10:00

pastel on paper. with watercolour wash under the dark tones

2010 Funbag Fascination Calendar

2010-05-27T13:08:00.001+10:00

Forgot to post this, the 2010 Funbag Fascination Calendar is out, on flickr. Better late than never I guess, but you should have noticed by now that I use small versions of the calendar pages over on the right hand side.

INSTRUCTIONS :: HOW TO MAKE a PERSONAL COPY OF THIS CALENDAR.

This is DIY (do it yourself) calendar, and only for personal use (see the copyright and wrong discussion at the bottom of the right-hand side column.

First click through on each image (you will get through to flickr were they are stored) and the select all sizes, and get the largest size images (they are all 710 by 710 pixels, this is 12cm at 150dpi and matched a CD jewel case size), download to your computer and print them out. The instructions to assemble your calendar can be found here

interviewing me!

2010-05-26T10:44:00.005+10:00

blog interviewer.com has interviewed me ...no kidding ...well i filled out their questions and you can read it spelling mistakes and all here. They rate themselves as a behind the scenes look at the web best bloggers ...some of their other interviews are fairly insightful also (eg rick green's organized doodles is worth a look). I'm just a little puzzled why i ended up in the photography section with an adult rating!

...oh that's right I sketch nudes!

buxom dreams

2010-05-25T23:42:00.000+10:00

pastel on paper

what is art?

2010-05-24T00:19:00.003+10:00

I get asked this question a lot ...as if i should know the answer! ...welll i suspect art like beauty is in the eye of the beholder not the object or the action ...so I can labour and toil and call what i di art, but i would be lying ... i think my art is a gift of inpiration or joy to the viewing ...a gift i may never seen given ..but one i give in honesty and full knowledge that it may not be recognized of generate income of bring fame ...but is a gift all the same.

Stolen Art

2010-05-21T23:13:00.003+10:00

I'm not sure why the art heist in paris has gitten so much media coverage, when so much art is stolen every second on the net. Sure the picaso, braque, modigliani and matisse works are worth a lot these days, as museum pieces. The reality is they should be worthless, ok the could earn the thief or indiscreet purchasers a lengthy jail term, while they are at large. The problem I an getting more and more confused about is what is the real vale of art and why is the art creator so unlikely to benefit from its value. The worse problem in my mind is all the direct theft of art, photos, videos and songs because it has been posted on the net. Doesn't the artist deserve something?

I will skip over the question of whether art is also stolen when it is largely copied (plagiarism?)

If you have valuable art and are worried about it being stolen, make sure it is properly photographed (you gallery or agent can help with that) and document it specifically with your insurance and not down the useful web servicw the Art Loss Registry (which lets you register stolen works). It will also let you do additional check up on that "unearthed" Picaso from the guy at the pub!

restlessness

2010-05-11T11:27:00.006+10:00

I have become restless in my art ...two things are nagging me about what i see others doing ...the first is fashion and fads, the look at me i'm a celebrity wannabee ..which is just copy/plagiarism in disguise ...and most of all boring ...you don't neeed it to look like a beyoncé or lady gaga film clip ...ok lady gaga is becoming a recycled madonna and single ladies has more than a few dance moves from the Yolngu Zorba Dance ...don't get me wrong there is talent there also but i yearn for more originality in the rest of us

yet I know you need to follow some rules of say composition and sketch a pose that artist and photographers have used many times ... but it works

the second concerns is about colour ...i love colour ...i'm sure you have noticed that ...its just that colour consciousness seems to have left the building ...am I the only one who see the beauty in a purple shadow? perhaps i just need to keep sketching :)

BTW I'm still posting on TwitPics

They say ...

2010-05-05T22:56:00.005+10:00

They say that doing too many self portraits is the way to madness ...they sight Rembrandt through to Van Gogh and many more ...well I might have a dutch name but I'm not the slightest bit psychotic ...Ok I keep getting reminded I'm a child with an inflated super ego (them there are harsh words from a professional) ...its justt6hat those self reference things keep cropping up amongst my scratches and doodles ...ok the one below I did waste some time creating on-line. It is supposedly me in the future according to my webface.com ...to be honest it looks nothing like me. It even looks a bit creepy, kind of troll like a photoshopped buddy icon on a dating site, and he is the last sort of bloke I'd even chat with ...little lone draw ...C'est la vie.

Surely there may be some advantages to appearing mad, a little off or not quite the full bottle maybe I'll be left alone. ...alone to create and just do what I want. But then I am reminded by someone who knows these things there is zero benefit in going crazy

“Madness is to think of too many things in succession too fast, or of one thing too exclusively” Voltaire

Alas poor twitpics....

2010-05-02T14:58:00.002+10:00

i liked the way the badge or widget or whatever it was from Twipics worked (just on posting the last item I had uploaded to twitpics. All automatic and no code to copy and paste ...something that tests and old bloke like me) ...but alas it has disappeared without trace and I have to do some editing and such to show my work here ...such tedium

Time to look for a new photo to twitter methods : )

By Bye Twitpics ...was nice while it lasted

Don't forget to revisit Pandora

2010-04-20T12:50:00.004+10:00

Congratulations to the Hungry Beast Team, their Avatar 2 trailer has had over 1.5 million hits on You Tube

Appropriation or Plagiarism

2010-04-14T23:32:00.002+10:00

The Art news that Melbourne is a buzz with this week is the discovery that Sam Leach, a local Melbourne boy, and winner of the prestigious Wynn Prize for Landscape, was outed for copying. No one realized how heavily he had borrowed from the 1660 work Boatmen Moored on the Shore of a Lake by Dutch master Adam Pynacker. Leach makes no attempt to deny he was "influenced", the gallery says they didn't realise. but the tongues are wagging on radio and TV, plagiarist rather than appropriation!

Yet it is hard to be totally original, some of the best art is built of previous ideas and works.

Good artists borrow. Great artists steal.

(Pablo Picasso)

Thinking too much

2010-04-10T22:58:00.004+10:00

I am about to die, not tomorrow, not next week but some time. The trouble is I'm loosing little bits of what life is about and that worries me a lot more. I think it is so important to live life to the full. Sometimes I need to do the living on my own so I can focus on creative stuff. Other times I need to be surrounded by company, preferable the amiable encouraging kind ... but a good argument never hurt anyone ...at the moment I seem to be getting a lot of flack about living on the net ...being too social ...letting my "bad habit" be viewed by the world (sketching naked ladies is not in my view a bad habit, posting it on a blog might be what offends them so?) ... and laughter, what a joy a group laugh can be. ...but I do need to live on the edge occasionally too ...take a risk, back my own judgment ...sometimes it is my art ...sometimes its the ocean ...now it may be my health, such is life

I am not an adventurer by choice but by fate
Vincent Van Gogh

two minutes for boobs

2010-03-27T11:49:00.007+11:00

I've been distracted a lot lately by stuff in the real world ..fixing, repairing, doing errands, drinking beer and yarning with friends ... the stuff that gets in the way of those creativity juices ...not excuses so much as different pathway in life STILL I did have some new paints to trial ...I had loved using a set of cotman colours in a neat plastic travel pallet (I'd got on special some time ago) but was coming to the end of the best colours and I can not get the replacement tubs ..such is life ...any way I decided to splurge out on the equivalent windsor & newton grown up watercolors (and they are about twice the price) I loved the cotman Dioxazine Violet (for the under painting of shadows of tone, maybe with a little red to take the edge of the intensity) then glazing this in layers Raw Sienna and Alizarin Crimson over this. Well a two minute torso exercise seemed a logical first start ...ok this is more precisely a two minute boob job...and yes it took longer than two minutes but I was having fun ...nipples are difficult forms to make convincing ...and these where particularly proud nipples ..I had to do three separate washes in violet to just leave enough edge and tone. then it was back to wet on wet washes with the colour glazes ...I was very pleased it turned out very magically translucent, but where the new colours better? not sure, nice model though.

Autumn is for ART

2010-03-26T16:52:00.002+11:00

art show appeal
Originally uploaded by sighclone

This time of year is art season, down here in the south eastern of Australia ...and I'm busy preparing for, getting things framed and transporting work back and for to art shows that have been popping up everywhere ...OK you won't find my works in the Archibald this year, btw congratulation to Sam Leach, who won booth the Archy and Wynne prizes ..and good works they were too ...my works are still competing with everyone elses for wall space ...especially in those expensive little inner eastern surburb galleries (no they are not even listening?) and shows.

So my theory is grin and bear it, if my art truly appeals, I will get enough to pay for my materials and perhaps framing ...after that ego could be in danger of becoming harmfully inflated.

Such is Life

REALLY - or yet another of the FauxFolk

2010-03-25T12:33:00.013+11:00

Annie Stoner- nude from behind
Originally uploaded by AnnieS25

I chatted with this idenity a while back on ipernity, she seemed nice enough and I even decided to use her photo for yet another return to my 2 minute torso exercises. ...that started well enough

then I noticed something ...can you see it?

hmm ..why is the waistline so different? ...have i lost it? have i got the anatomy so wrong? ...that skin is pretty damn flawless ...why is annie's head and body in such different proportions in her other photos ...am I paranoid or is she just too flawless to be true ...and how does a body like that sing like stevie nicks? ah mais oui, encore un autre faux pas

perhaps not,
Is she fake?
She is a photoshop abuser

hope i'm wrong on this one.

PS Well not surprisingly I got a less than happy email from the identity involved. about my "bullshit blog" post, seems it was a jaded boyfriend that supposedly started the rumor she was fake. This is very feasible and thus I have removed her name from this post (and my illustrations, to avoid my contribution to furthering the shadow on her name in net searches). However she added "buy my album and see for yourself" ...well that just complicated things ...I can find her songs on last.fm and ovi podcasts & they are free to download BUT not for sale in either ITunes or Amazon. I remain very skeptical

SPOILERS | Hungry Beast

2010-03-25T10:30:00.003+11:00

SPOILERS | Hungry Beast
You'll have to watch the clip to discover what spoilers are. I must admit I love the hungry breast's GRAPHics ...trés trés chic ...and this time I don't think I missed the intent of the self reference at the end of the spoiler segment.

The cane toads piece with wonderful ...but so truthfully sad ...maybe it may have had a happier ending if Peter Garrett had offered them free insulation!

all buzzed out

2010-03-19T12:36:00.003+11:00

Seems buzz has got the huff with me ... i have so many unread Buzz'es, is that the right term?, that they are ow just showing 100+ unread ...what the ...i don't scroll back on twitter ...do you really expect me to read them google? Isn't my gmail bulky enough it? are there empty spasces on a server somewhere just creeking for more! Or sm I just to stuck in things to do in the real world?

Such is life

2010 Funbag Calendar

2010-03-18T08:03:00.000+11:00

I will have to admit that I have been a fraction slow getting this year's funbag fascination calendar organized. I'm sort of doin as the year goes along, which should matters since it is designed to fit into an old CD jewel case and sit nice and neatly on your desk ... you will just have to keep and eye out and download the new page each month.

Here are my sketches for next month calendar girl.

river nymphs

2010-03-13T14:04:00.002+11:00

A couple of rough sketch ideas for a new series of water goddesses

the satire is not lost on me

2010-03-03T23:32:00.010+11:00

The Hungry Beast, a good new show on the ABC, tonight had a segment with lots of graphic detail and the true terms about Labiaplasty, a bit of a surprise from conservative aunty. Yes it was about snipping the lips back of a woman's genitals. I have no complaint about the segment but I get the feeling most people missed the point that it was satire not a documentary. I doubt the plastic surgeon was really a doctor at all and the expert witness, a graphics artist from a soft porn magazine, who voice was disguise to protect his identity. Come on! Are models really going to undergo surgery to look neat, just to get in a cheap magazine when a bloke at a computer screen of said magazines can airbrush it all out in a flash? Are you starting to realize now? This was good satire, but it is not to be taken too seriously.

The truth is the Hungry beast team is hoping to exploit the same classification that let the magazine publish clear and frank frontal nudity photos.

PS Seems I miss read the intent of satire in the story (see response in my comments) & I'm not trying to critize the hungry beast team, they are well worth a watch

The first drinks on me

2010-03-01T11:37:00.002+11:00

Well I finished Feb Fast without any big fan fare. Not having alcohol for a months was a lot easier than I expected, ...probably because most of my friends where in it as well. The community response was pretty amazing as well, nearly $650k raised in support of services working to reduce alcohol and other drug related harms in young people. Well done everyone.

Watching the weather

2010-02-11T11:56:00.009+11:00

Today is supposed to be exciting weather, and I have taken a twitter friends tweeted request literally.

I wonder what the difference is between thunderstorms & thundery rain? Be on the look out today ... weathergirlbug

So just for today I'll be updating this blog with my hand painted observations of how the weather is progressing today. ....Live Art on the Internet? ...Calm Down, old fella, just my observation of the sky from life in watercolour wash

Twitter me some love

2010-02-10T17:30:00.003+11:00

A Canadian twitter friend & follower, who just happens to be great singer ... has just posted her latest song and especially nice animated video onto YouTube ...This is worth tweeting your friends about ...go Marcomé ....check out her other new age style music

out of my depth

2010-02-10T17:17:00.002+11:00

First Itunes is playing naughty ...now twitter ...or is it just karma getting back at me for slagging off apple inc

on being a non-apple 'puter artist

2010-02-09T17:41:00.002+11:00

I'm starting to get depressed by the loyality my creative friends show to second rate apple'ness on their computers. I really don't like the appl'ific software ..it only appears easy to use because it doesn't let your do very much ...ok ok some really creative types can do ammazing things but they tend to do all that with a lot of work ...manual work ...lots of fiddling .... lots of time wasted ...my feeling is in 75% of the cases just doing it manually with a pencil and paper... or paint or whatever ...would have done a better job probably in less time ...I have come to associate apple software as a time black hole just sucking in the creativity and giving a bland results, if any result can be created in a reasonable time frame. RANT OVER

So Having said all that, I am finding it hard to find the type of artistic software I would like to use to do my art directly on the computer, a much battered but loved toshi notebook running vista. Corel draw & paint are ok but expensive .. the adobe stuff also ok, albeit applish, but even more expensive ...gimp is pretty powerful and free but oh what a learning curve ...where is the middle ground?

Ok back to the rant, Itunes has trashed my music library yet again ...and goobled up most of my free disc space in the process ...bugger ...buggger ...more bugger ...it is time I learnt the lesson I should have realized sooner ...remove itunes and try something else ...so I'm rebuilding with songbird portable (ie it and the library are happy on an external USB drive) and now for my ipod ...hangon Ipod device not supported ...What the?

its too hot to worry about all this now but keep me away from apples tonight! even the edible kind

with a little help from ipernity

2010-02-06T15:54:00.003+11:00

This is my first attempt at a blog post images directly from Ipernity ...why? Well Ipernity if a lot like flickr but at least so far doesn't have quite the same shame you, because you post nudity, attitude as Flickr ... maybe thats because it is essentially europian and more grown up ...maybe the trolls that ruined flickr with stolen pornsite images haven't found their way to ipernity yet ...no matter there is a chance I can once more be publically viewed and my links won't be blocked ..so if you are bored with flickr stick around and I will give you an artist opinion of how it find it in some future posts

DON'T PANIC if i have sketched you and posted that only on flickr, it will be safe from me ...I'll keep my flickr presence. If you prefer the image removed, also let me know and better still tell me if you prefer it also posted in ipernity

That wasn't so bad

2010-02-05T13:48:00.003+11:00

Its a dull day here ... drizzly rain, which we need badly but not art inspiring I'm afraid ... and after my third coffee of the morning and a twitter read or two ...I got an itch to change my blog template

I was scared this would be a big technical issue, requiring too much patience and text editing ... so I had keep avoiding even looking ... ok I was wrong

I soon founf Deluxe templates, and liked their creative art template as I was seeking a sketchbook look & feel ...i still have to tweak that stuff over on the right but overall I'm please and it was easy to change the template (just read the instructions that come in the zip file with xml when you down load it. the step about backuping your previous template is good advice) :)

The Great Wall ..or Not

2010-02-03T23:07:00.004+11:00

I'm not happy I've just deleted a larger number of anonymous comments in Chinese with lots of links to goodness knows where and what, added to MY blog posts ...many just posted in the last day or some in posts as far back as 2004 ... not sure who would spend so muck time doing that, ...AND how have the bypassed the standard google steps to stop anonymous comments ... inscrutable ,, or just childish ...No matter they have been deleted and will keep being deleted ... MOST IMPORTANTLY dear readr do not follow these Chinese links I suspect they is no good to be found behind them

HEY GOOGLE
How do I even reportt this stuff to you?
Do you even care?

iPad

2010-02-01T23:50:00.004+11:00

iPad
Originally uploaded by vicequeenmaria

I'm not sure the ipad is really likley to live up to te hype ... but i'm also certain it will be a very popular must have toy for most ...and a tools for a few creative types ...i do see it as the technology that overcomes the resistance of the OLD CENTRALIZED CAPITAL CONTROL of the creative folk among us. ..Magazines and newspapers will struggle but the real battle line is all about intellectual property and copy right or wrongs ...if it just means more blanant stealling of work and plagarism then we will be living in a darker world ...on the other hand if we learn to share and acknowledge creativity, we could be on the verge of a gold era with nifty toys to enjoy it in our pockets

raising the flag

2010-01-26T23:56:00.000+11:00

i feel like dancing

2010-01-24T00:14:00.004+11:00

Went along to the globe to globe festival of world music today in the semi-official capacity of artist for the brazilian style full body paint for the samba band ...ok just for the girls (no photos sorry) ...massive amounts of fun ...even got to play in a west African drum band workshop ...loved it ...this evil rhythm type dancing is for me ...it was a great day out ...great food ...great music and lots of dancing ..lots of happy faces, multiculturalism does work and is alive in this little corner of this humble globe

View from on Top

2010-01-17T22:59:00.002+11:00

“There are many paths to the top of the mountain, but the view is always the same” ... Ancient Chinese Proverb.

Beware I am a promiscuous tweeter

2010-01-06T17:55:00.004+11:00

I actually get a lot of flack from my so called friends, because I'm an old guy and I tweet, that almost as perverted as using facebook to them. The really bad news I must hide from them (seriously they will never read my blog ;) ...is I am not choosy where I tweet ... I will tweet from anywhere using anything ...shame on me ...I know this because I have checked with TweetStats.

Happy New Year

2010-01-03T15:11:00.001+11:00

Still scannerless, ....but happy :)

Wishing everyone of my friends a happy new year and maybe it be both pleasurable & prosperous

yes ...but the food is great

2009-12-16T14:22:00.002+11:00

One thing about having my studio out he back of a french patisserie and cafe, is I get the most wonderful day old cakes for morning & afternoon teas ...just things like a decent coffee morning and afternoon are a great plus in temselves ... not sure it gets anymore art done but it sure is the right way to live ... just in case you are worried i am geting to pampered, I do help out in the cafe from time to time

watercolour sketching

2009-12-11T19:29:00.001+11:00

lotta 5 watercolour,
originally uploaded by sigh clone.

It has been a while since i painted something to post in here ... I'm still painting but just not for my blog much ... had a lovely email from a web fiend which included some christmas photo that inspired me to get the brushes out ... problem is I had no watercolour paper .. not too bad i thought, i could handle it ... the washes don't glide on standard printer paper the water sinks in and goes a bit greyish ... the second wash didn't help ... normaly that would starts to bring on the translucency . . it sank in as well and looked even muddier ...damn ... used a few pencils to put a few colour highlights in but I certainly miss that 300gsm archers

why is nudity so misunterstood?

2009-11-21T10:15:00.001+11:00

Saw this posted on You Tube by Blunty3000. It does so many things right, starting with acknowledging the other contributors, looks at the human form as beauty, uses the censored blackouts sensibly but most of all it demonstrates that nudity can be treated a perfectly normal form of artistic expression.

Nude
"Consider this video both a love letter to the Human form, and an open letter to any and all either interested in the nude in art, or are confused by it, or have trouble telling what is art and what is porn, or simply want to explore what goes on between model and artist in the creation of artistic studies of the naked human body.

Thank you to all who helped me make this video, It simply would not have been possible without you. Thank you to all the artists who either offered their work directly, or allowed it's use through the Creative Commons copyright license, Your generosity is greatly appreciated. :)" ...Blunty3000

changing scanners

2009-11-19T21:07:00.001+11:00

yet another sketch of walkabout,
originally uploaded by sigh clone.

my long suffering scanner died yesterday... in an acrid flash of something electronically amiss it breathed a last vile breath and just stopped .... we never really got along ..she, I called my scanner a she, she always kept me wondering what my image would turn out like ... too dark, too litle, crinkle marks, not eogh contrast ... no matter whoi adjusted the control she would still just always insist on the last word and over tweek something ... ok i found her infuriating ...BUT I had grown accustomed to her face

So soon i have to learn to use another mistress ...just fpr now I'm making do with a multi-function printer that will do some basic scanning, ok scans quiet well and without the fuss

tagging people in flickr

2009-11-17T11:53:00.004+11:00

I only just noticed, the new people feature in flickr ... because a few people where identifying themselves within my photo stream. It is super easy to use. Just look for the add people under the people in this photo heading ... its down on the right hand side of the main photo display page ...then type in their flickr name or email address ... suddenly they are famous. You can add people to your photos or they can add themselves to yours

ok famous, is a slight exaggeration ... more precisely tagged in public, and this may have a down side ...a lot of folk including good friends of mine are paranoid at the moment about what the net knows about them ...so I'm probably leaning towards the etiquette that people can tag themselves, rather than me do it ...and on that note I normally ask those i sketch before I post them on the net

the alley cat

2009-11-16T16:41:00.006+11:00

I have no idea why I sketch the alley cat sitting on the fence ...i normally throw things at him (or her) ... i'm not a cat fan ...they are vicious killers and torturers of anything smaller than themselves ... they are definitely;y not affectionate pets, they treat their keepers with only contempt ... I can not see why anyone wouls like them ... in fact anyone with a cat as a buddy icon, or post photos of cats in their ablums gets the heave ho from my contacts. So just watch yourself alley cat, i'm bigger than you

something to watch

2009-11-14T22:10:00.003+11:00

I started to prepare a post today but my scanner breathed its last breath half way trough and kind of spoilt the flow. So I though i;d give you something from youtube to look as as a reward for stopping by.

what good is a sketch blog without sketches

2009-11-14T00:13:00.002+11:00

Some sketches of eyes & ears on normal copy paper using a new type of charcoal stick. Like a conte only oily. Quite like it.

PS It's been so long since I uploaded an pictures blogger asked me to reaccept the terms of service ... maybe I should have read them ... ok nobody every does ;)

some on-line sketches of friends

2009-10-04T13:58:00.004+11:00

Opps

sorry about the black box (seems I'm deemed un-safe on flickr again) andits been a while between post ...i'll be back sometime soonish ;)

more dancers

2009-09-03T23:20:00.002+10:00

too many web 2.0 places

2009-08-29T12:27:00.007+10:00

I have been a sucker for the new social networking place ...like a kid with a new toy ...i pick up and play with each new offere like blogger (here), flickr (i'm considered UNSAFE there so your need to be a member to see my work), last.fm, bebo, tumblr, & twitter ...now I have a small gallery in ipernity...

Ipernity is often refered to as a flickr clone, superficially it is ... but for me the big difference is you can upload video from a FREE account ...all my web 2.0 playing is very definitely based around not paying :)

AND for the record I still resist FaceBook ...not sure why, haven't tried it but those who where so initially enthused just put me off ...had the feeling it was second life without the fantasy avatars

See you on the interwebz, some time

watching paint dry

2009-08-27T13:32:00.006+10:00

I must admit I have had a lot of problems with my washes getting way to wet as I develop watercolours ...particularly of naked flesh .. the delicacy & transparencies of watercolour is beautiful ...and a little hard to control... but thin layers of colour ontop of each other give a luminancy to the original work (which is almost impossible to capture in a scan like this) ... the down side is the washes need to be thin and WET ... VERY WET .. which crinkles the paper and any further pigment added will bleed out into the already wet zones ...waiting for the paper to dry takes hours, and the creative urges soon dissipate ...the solution is painfully simple ...use a hair dryer to speed up drying ...and keep the creativity flowing.

dancers

2009-08-27T10:27:00.000+10:00

Siren is also the name of Tara Moss's new book

2009-08-26T14:20:00.004+10:00

Tara Moss is not only a great looking model, she is an exciting writter ... her latest book is out in australia today. Its called Siren not sirenS ... haven't read it yet but who could resist with a teaser like this -

ENTER A WORLD OF BEAUTY AND DANGER, OF FRENCH CABARET AND TERRIBLE REVENGE

girls drawing back

2009-08-26T01:46:00.002+10:00

I don't always get my way, sometimes my subjects get cheeky ...take my pencils and sketchbook and draw themselves or friends ... who am I to argue?

venus reclining

2009-08-20T17:39:00.002+10:00

venus reclining,
originally uploaded by sigh clone.

This is another sketching exercise ... my skills at taking the video haven't improved ...not up to YouTube quality just yet ... but hopefully ot lets you see what I do ...how i work the washes ... and my mistakes and errors ...and the feeble attempts to fix them ... but most of all i want you to see feel the image coming together ...it takes about 5 minutes but i have made sure the video is small enough to be low-bandwidth friendly ... sketched from the natural curves group on flickr ...its a private group but if you are nicely you can join

wow ...i'm worth something!

2009-08-19T00:30:00.004+10:00

Not sure why I even checked ... but you can even get a quote on the value of your web site ... is it the indepth content that brings the crowd? ... ok maybe its just the boobs :)

My site is worth$2,696.6Your website value?

Wet & Overcast & Sketching

2009-08-12T00:07:00.006+10:00

I did ask if anyone wanted to be illustrated on twitter... but only one reply and that was probably a bot ...so I returned to flickr for yet another torso challenge in watercolour.

sirens

2009-08-09T15:32:00.004+10:00

The painting "The Crucified Venus" cause a real stir back a long while ago in Australia. Some of the controversy is covered in the film Sirens

Sirens (1994) - The best free videos are right here

This is a good film ...much more to it than just the speculation of seeing elle naked ...have we really progressed very far? ...is good art recognized? ..must nudity be always confused with pornography? ...are religious images sacrosanct? ...or was Norman just a naughty boy?

ear ear (again)

2009-08-04T16:20:00.001+10:00

who could not help being a bit distressed at a gory item wrapped in newspaper ...not a gift of love that I think anyone would like to have to accept? poor rachel!

just had a massive argument with some fellow artists about the Kaufmann claim that gaugain cut off van gogh's ear ...it wasn't about the ear abd who did it, over who and why? so much as what was the deeper disturbance between the two artists. Van gogh insisting (quiet rightly) that art needs to be grounded in what we see ...landscapes need to be painted in plein air ...while gaugain insisted (maybe just to rattle van gogh) that it was the artist imagination that made the picture ... the artist just needed to be inspired ...and then his mind could do the rest ...it was me against everyone, the rest of the world maybe ...but i was adamant that your need to have the visual reference ...studies from life ...that what makes for a great nude ... then I was called a hypocrite and deluded ...you see I often sketch from photos or direct from the computer screen ...but isn't that also a visual reference ...ok I know I'm outnumbered, but i still think vincent was onto something.

not getting out of line

2009-08-03T14:12:00.004+10:00

I haven't been drawing as much as I'd like ...for a start I don't like the cold and I prefer to sketch & paint on the deck ...but the health fiascoes of the past few months have slowed me down ...but i know i need to get back in the saddle and keep the mark making, marking marks, making lines and making shades .. just making stuff ...keeping the eye hand coordination subliminal not labored ...art is as much about seeing as actually making the lines ...that is why I need to sketch

“People only see what they are prepared to see.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

not seeing eye to eye

2009-08-02T16:29:00.002+10:00

its not funny, its art

2009-07-27T23:12:00.001+10:00

poor bianca, she doesn't get art ... or is it us ;)

sketching from flickr (again)

2009-07-18T21:12:00.008+10:00

circumstance has conspired to restrict the amount of time i have spent sketching ... yet i yearn for the challenge of analyzing the tone and composition ... coordinating my hand and eye ...letting my arm feel the turns and gestures ...have my brain distill the colours and how to build the washes ...watercolour take practise ... and what better way to tune the skill than to paint a delicious tease from flickr ... merci elli

Shut up you are making me hungry

2009-07-16T23:21:00.007+10:00

Melbourne has always been a food obsessed place ... not in a bad way, just savy about food, fresh ingredients, rich cultural diversity and tastes, a decent restaurant culture from the simple (eg the age's cheap eats) to the ridiculously opulant (and they get no free advertising from me) but lately the conversations äre becoming very focused ... and its because of a TV show ... masterchef ...everyone is watching ...it eclipsed the michael jackson saga here, more popular than the current sporting draw cards the tour de france and the ashes (that's true cricket to the heathens and we have started poorly I'm afraid) ...something more important than sport is so un-melbourne! ... then tonight little george let the cat out of the bag with two four letter words FOOD PORN ... yes that's what we all need to stop thinking about the global financial crisis, tax and other bad stuff

Don't get me wrong this is not wanton GLUTTONY or depraved use of edible items in exploitative sexual acts, it is the thrill we get about imagining our next meal ...we need to be excited about eating, it is a survival instinct, and you don't just need TV to do that ....I belong to a food porn group on flickr and I have noticed a lot of tweeters post photos of what they eat, MegaNom has a particularly delicious tastes ... the only problem I have with all this is ...damn am I hungry

Beaux Gestes

2009-07-02T16:37:00.005+10:00

Most often I get questioned about what is my style and where did it come from. I don't paint like my cartoons and I don't paint like the artists I admire (eg Gauguin) ... so where does my style start ...my theory is it is is not a conscious thing, it is much more physical it comes from the interaction of my eye and hand ... and it very much related to how I hold the brush and flex and bend my arm ... i don't paint in a slow considered way ... it don't even use pencil construction lines any more ... i just pick up the brush .. mix the colour and dab it here and there, my hand just does it guided by my o copy, but I eye but not its slave ... my mind and ego are looking away distracted ...music helps ... ok i do work from photos or a computer screen a lot so that is already resolving the perspective and giving a two dimensional thing to copy, ... but to be honest I look more at the tone than the lines ...confusing isn't it ...I struglle to explain it just love to do it. Four or fire gesture sketches and I'm away in the creative place, time, logic and sensibility vanish, this is a place of colour and emotion and .... and... no one knows until the wash drips of the brush as it flicks this way and that.

Like ideas & words, gestures have a life of their own.
Laurence Wylie

Curves on Curves

2009-07-01T19:49:00.001+10:00

Pencil Sketch on normal bond paper

Iranians can longer see the twitterverse

2009-06-24T17:56:00.002+10:00

What you will see in Iran when You try to use twitter today!

The story of twitter(so far)

2009-06-23T10:39:00.003+10:00

This wonderful illustration is from monolith's article that begins

...Twitter, Twitter, Twitter. Seems every where you turn these days that little blue bird is staring you right in the face

Are you part of the Twitpocalypse?

remember neda

2009-06-22T23:10:00.002+10:00

remember neda, originally uploaded by sigh clone.

Remember Neda ...even with an offoicial ban on "public" mourning ...and even if the truth gets "officially" shredded!

Neda ...a needless murder

2009-06-22T14:32:00.003+10:00

neda ...a needless murder, originally uploaded by sigh clone.

The murder of a young teenage girls, out watching the crowd with her father (apparently not joining in the protest) is a horrible and callous act. The anguish of a doctor trying desperately to help her. The fact that it was caught on video and posted on YouTube does means now the whole world knows. But will the world remember? Have we forgotten east timor already?

I would like other artist to capture their feeling of this event, and like picasso did for guernica leave some powerful images, and other works so the world can not forget.

We need peace not more bloodshed.

about counting votes

2009-06-18T12:33:00.003+10:00

counting my vote, originally uploaded by sigh clone.

My view is that the depth and size of the responses to the elections in Iran, have caught politician on all side out ... well off guard ... with not the slightest idea of how to respond .. which is good. it may mean they listen to the people ... BUT I am worried that peace and truth will be the next casualties.

The movement may not last past friday prays, I worry that we will see east timor all over a gain ...my fear is the Basij & maybe security forces loyal to Ahmadinejad may run amok .. The slogan will change from "Where is my vote?" to "Who can we trust?"

From afar we need to keep public the message that people have a right to see their votes counted, we should not meddle in who the vote is for.

Support Iran Protests! #Iranelection

2009-06-17T23:45:00.002+10:00

Support Iran Protests! #Iranelection
Originally uploaded by harrystaab

There are now about 900 entries on flickr, but many duplicates, related to protest and demonstration in support of free elections in Iran

Congratulations to the many, mainly young folk, who are posting so the world can see.