damn... it looks like my blog template is playing up again... are there any young nerdy types... preferrable female & tolerant of older blokes... that can help me diagnose what is wrong...

a change of venue

Kimmie showing her charm

The pace of all the groups (& egos) in flickr is gettuing tome a little and as usual i've done a bit of a wander and settle down in another place... Yahoo 360... lets see if it is a good place to do sketching

red & yellow.. & (purple?)

cleo03
Originally uploaded by sigh clone.

Cleo, or Cleopatra to her flickr friends, was keen for me to sketch her... i loved this pose... and now I hope I have gotten the delicate angelic quality... i must admit i copied the colour scheme for my favourite cincy watercolour and i do think it suits... for those that are interested the yellow in an underpainting gives any light scarlet wash over it a very rich glowing skin tone... the red does the same for shadows and especially the darks in hair... i just think this sketch doesn't need any of that extra overpainting ...

but cleo has reminded me the angelic quality... might not be her preferred status... and her nose is smaller ('blush' yes she is right, betteer do better next time)

Musing (2),
originally uploaded by miss cleopatra.

fun with a few colours

Silky angela having a bit of dress up fun... does anyone else fondling remember daisy duke?



Watercolour can be a get fun media when you keep it light and simple... (reminding myself to keep away from the heavy dark muddy colours)

least interesting

wcl02
Originally uploaded by sigh clone.

flickr have a great new feature called interesting'ness. Being a lover of the contrarian, this is my 200th least interesting photo... flickr stops count at the 200th... from what i can judge it is a magic measure something like the "favourite to view ratios" but with a sprinkle of comment thrown in...

AND buggar that reminds me... where the heck did i leave that webcam anyway?

ok... no-online play till the scannings finished

damn... how boring... maybe i should play with an idea for the cleavage group...




sorry... i'll do the scanning

a bit of fun with mosaics and flickr tools

more cinderellas

Does anyone recognize n&k (thats what i wrote on the back) or maybe her name was suzi?



i guess i can't put off catching up on my backlog of scanning any longer...

unfortunately i'm so far behind i've forgotten more than one of two faces... who thwy were and how to contact them... so i'll just run a couple of "missing person" / Cinderella posts... if you recognize them, please send them this blog address or my email addy... i do prefer to ask before i post peoples sketches in here...

how ideas happen

original idea
Originally uploaded by sigh clone.

The developement of an idea into an artwork...

this post is meant to show you graphically how an idea happens for me on paper... I wasn't asked but after sketching a coule of the lovely girls from there I got the idea of developing a buddy icon for the FlickrWhores group (they don't have one at the moment)... my original idea was just a few strokes of my brush with my favourite purple for shadow wash... it gives a nice shodow to skin tones... i then quickly sketched in some outlines with a fibre pen... and stood back... yes it has promise



next I redrew it in pencil... tidying & simplifying a few lines... then "ïnked" it with a fibre pen... I then scan this into coreltrace and do a trace outlines... which is loaded into coreldraw... a few more tidy ups on line work.... and coloured

hmmm pity this lacks something....




yes a little better... more vampy... more fun... maybe a fraction to complex



ok i like this one... simple yet a litle flirty & a hint of wicked

anyone for that on a t-shirt

missing friends

watercolour of a pensive carrie (Carebear)



the closure of yahoo's private chat rooms... it happend a while ago... was supposedly designed to stop pedophiles contacting childern (certainly an admirable objective... but the reality was it was due pressure on the advertisers



the unfortunate consequence is that a lot of perfectly normal friendships has been disrupted... i miss regular chats with my friends from the Big Bellies^& Admirers room... i miss my favourite models

krissie's pout

krissie01
Originally uploaded by sigh clone.

I loved krissie's expression... especially the intensity of her lipstick & painted eyes... very inspiring

I think this watercolour turned out well and it is a definite for my modern girl's series... in fact she is a very special modern girl... what Flicktionary (a glossary of Flickr terminology, on Flickr central) calls a FlickrWhore... a term for a person posting links, tags and "tease" photos that most certainly brings other members to their photostream... krissie is both glamurous and has a fine photostream

to be honest i'm an old bloke and i have no idea what makes a modern girl... I just think krissie is a perfect example of one :)

original photo
uploaded by krissie p.

Raven in red (again)

Raven05_prelim
Originally uploaded by sigh clone.

my way got lost in the creation of this... as many dark watercolours tend to do... they quickly become muddy in colour... i abandoned it... impatient, i added some red...(am i getting a bit obsessive with colour?)... abandoned it again... but now it is dry I think it has a certain charm (& strength)... raven is convinced I just like her in red... it sadness be to see she has also had a visit from the NIPSa police and her lovely photo is nolonger public, so I can't post you a thumbnail here...

Is it just me that thinks "nudity doesn't equal pornography" or am I being reckless?

I've added some links to Simple Nude & DoMai over to the righ hand side... i think they show nudes but they are far from tastless... but I'd rathre you made up your own mind... on the otherhand I think porno sites are so predictable & UNORIGINAL (seen two or three and you have seen them all) and becarefull they can be so expensive... (so i'm told) still i'm sure if that's what you prefer, you'll know to find them... and while you are about it you may as well take me off your favurite bookmarks

I've now made a "no tasteless posts in here" resolution... ok, ok maybe one or two wickedly artistic ones to test the wosers are awake ;) rant over

getting free'r...(another secret learnt)

aq01
Originally uploaded by sigh clone.

this ia a friend qUiMeRa... who posts a fair bit on the webcam self-portrait group... I loved her posts and this was one that had both a lovely feel and great composition... (not a boring straight facing the camera shot) and great... colours... well I might have gotten carried away with the colours... (as usual)... what i discovered here is... i worked very quickly and just focused on the right tne depth in the colours and where to put them... the beautiful quimera just appeared when she was ready...

procura solitaria,
originally uploaded by qUiMeRa.

compare it with the original image... i'm certain gaugain would have approved

Art & Peace .vs. War

the importance of art...



I've beenfancinated with BlogPulse... and did this search today... that compares Art, Peace & War as topics in blogs... I was shocked at the dramatic peak in the topic war (even if it is "war on terror" it still means killing people)... do 3% of blog post contain the word war..? (seems thay have been... the good news is the rise of art



if you clik on the graph it will take you through to my blogPulse research results and you can "drill down" to see the actual blogs

returning to the pencils

work in progress, originally uploaded by _rebekka.

This photo & illustration are not by me they are by Rebekka... (see also post below)... i think it is a very powerful image... and it has inspired me to returned to graphite pencils... and go learn a bit more... well there is a surprising lot of good advice and shared learning on the web... surprise surprise... in blogs!

Jennis rule "NEVER outline anything" at Drawing Portraits is a gem


Wilkinson's Celebrity Portraits has great art and also good advice and demos

painting rebekka

I have a massive backlog of art work to scan and post... but i thought i would start with these... a couple of watercolours painted from photos... (something i have shy'd away from in the past, because I find it easy to loose the more personality... by trying too hard to copy "unnessary" detail... if that makes sense?)... well I waa happy with these







If you click on the sketch you will get through to flickr... then you can follow the link in the comments to see the her original photo

ICE... rumours, virus or good idea

like me you have probably recieved a lot of email about ICE... telling you to do it... maybe that it's a hoax... & now some say don't open any email with ICE in the title... it's a virus



well at least for me it makes a change from all that hate and flame mail i have been getting..



BUT what is the truth... well it is a good idea but a lot of the emails are a little off the mark (see the truthorfiction posting)... if you not have done it already add an ICE entry to you mobile(cell) phone now with the number of the person you would like contacted In Case of Emergency



AND while on the email subject a few of you will get an invite to join me on Yahoo 360, its a new place I'm trying out.... that sort of combines lots of stuff i do.... what it might do very well is let me build a fairly complete ablums of my art... and at the same control who sees my sketches & letting my friends get higher resolution versions

My little helper

My little helper, originally uploaded by sigh clone.

this is my first post from my new mobile phone ... not bad for an old bloke .. who has not read the instructions yet!

this little guy is a blue wren... at first I thought he was attarcted by the colours of my pastels... he was actuall after the little crusteanes in the sand i was disturbing as i sketched

Seven Deadly Sins (an update)

Well I have been surviving fine out in the real world... having lots of fun infact... but I have noticed a theme that has cropped up a few times... is what is bad behaviour?



What is the modern version of the seven deadly sins?... well the blokes seem to agree that they like a girl who drinks to much... it seems this is a sin that guys recognise... straight after the boobs (or bums, or legs) & before eye contact... girls on the other hand notice if a girl talks to much... especially if she is "faking it" on her mobile... blokes appear deaf to this "too muck talky talky" sin
... BTW: this character "the listner" was created with a bit of help from paula... a long time ago... before I sketched her... it seemed like a bit of deja vu... proving yet again in this interent journey insearch of creativity and originality I keep crossing my own path...



Are the seven deadly sins still relevant to the modern world? if you click on the link you will see the percentage of blogs that mention them... seems they are... especially pride & anger.... thanks to blogpulse for the research


PS: I'm quiet that the "pride" query in the above research had include *NOT* gay... is that because it is not a sin? ... or it would bias the results?

suspicious or coincidence

est-ce que soupçonneux ou coïncident ou je suis paranoïde?



over the weekend i was switched to "NIPSA (not in public site areas) status" on flickr and switched to PENDING on cafe press as my "contains material which may not be in compliance with our policies"... either way I'm going to take some time off the net to contemplate and investigate it, the reasons given, who is behind it... stuff like that.... sorry folks there will be no new posts for a while.


watch the comments here for the resulst of my investigations

reflection

I drew this based on a little german girl in a peace protest I had seen on TV... just as america, under bush, began bombing iraq... sadly it is just as relevant today (i'm pretty pissed off at all the belligerent ignorance and hatred being posted in flickr & to me)... grow up folks... there is NO EXCUSE to murder and mame innocents



doesn't matter which side you believe you are on...



end of sermon

White Hands for Peace

White Hands for Peace, originally uploaded by Lynn Morag.

... whilst there is still hate being expressed amidst the confussion... I see than there are still plenty of intelligent people that realise that you can say no to terrorism without a call for war... this delightful photo was post on is flickr post by Lynn Morag as a contribution to the Peaceful Protest Against All Kind of Terrorism / Protesto Pacíf group.

... find out about the white hand protess and then tell all your friends

peaceful protest against terrorism

white hand,
originally uploaded by sigh clone.

Let's paint our hands in white (as the people from Spain did it last year, just after the Madrid bombs in Madrid) and post on blogs and flickr on saturday.
If you like the idea, please, feel free to copy it and spread the word to your friends and contacts...
Thanks.

Vamos pintar nossas mãos de branco (como os espanhóis fizeram ano passado, logo depois das bombas em Madri) e colocar em nossas páginas amanhã, sábado.
Se você gostou da idéia, por favor copie esta mensagem e espalhe entre seus amigos e conhecidos.
Obrigado.

peignons nos mains dans le blanc (pendant que les personnes d'Espagne la faisaient l'année dernière, juste aprés que les bombes de Madrid à Madrid) et poteau sur les blogs et le flickr samedi. Si vous aimez l'idée, svp, sentez-vous libre pour la copier et pour écarter le mot à vos amis et contacts... Merci.

understanding the shameful truth in the Underground Bombings

Photo from Underground
Originally uploaded by Frankie Roberto.

"It was an indiscriminate attempt to slaughter, irrespective of any considerations for age, class, religion whatever"

London mayor Ken Livingstone



Whilst I quickly joined the flickrains for peace group...I am ashamed to see it's text posting are filled with ignorant and empty ranting against (islamic) terrorists... this is no more justified than the cowardly acts in london...

The flickr peace movement group, at least for the moment, seems more enlightened and grownup

See the BBC coverage, dees'broacasting weblog's "peace for all" tribute flag & my friends appaloosa's blog for more informed opinions and truth

The image above was sent into BBC by Alexander Chadwick

deepest condolences

soft_target
Originally uploaded by sigh clone.

the senseless and cowardly atrocity.... bombing the London underground & bus... can not be excused... it is a cowardly act against innocents

there are a number of groups in Flickr, showing photostreams of the london bombings, where you can witness the event through everyday peoples eye's... may those involved grieve today but recover soon

buggar

cyclone mad,
originally uploaded by sigh clone.

I just finished my elaborate... "Please play while I'm away" post (see it immediately below this) and I notice the formatting strating to fall apart in this new template... a BIG BUGGAR... pardon the french ladies... i'll just have to assume its due to the psych test (scroll down into last month) and trust it fixes itself... I'm not going to tinker with this template... I like it too much

something to entertain you

I might be away from this blog for a little while... so here is something I trust will keep you entertained... "slide night" was something that as a kid these words bought terror to my world... but now you can have a slide show on your desktop...



another nifty feature of flickt is its view as slideshow feature... which you should be able to find in anyone's photostream sets (the're the little boxes that people can set up on the righthand side of their photostreams)... well this link will take you to my elegantly unclothed set...


try clicking on either the view as slideshow (or new window) and you should see something like this below


if you want to change the slide advamcement times, or repeat the shoe move you mouse up to the top of the window, and you should see extra controls appear

the Yahoo chatroom lockout

chatroom_preception
Originally uploaded by sigh clone.

to the best of my knowledge the great Yahoo private adult chatroom room lock-out continues... i'm not to worried i still have a decent friend list... but the lack of information suprises me... its starting to look like the percieved actions of the few have destroyed a fun place for the many... and typical doublespeak... it is just enough to mention terrorist or pedofiles and thats it... no one can play

sure the adult side of yahoo has weirdos... but it does have some normal well adjusted folk as well... most of them can in fact tell the difference

hanging out on webcam

I don't think any words are required...

growing up...

Almost missed this... actually I did... this blog is over a year old now and nudging 10,000 visitors... it has been quite a journey of learning and discovery and fun.., when i look back at the first couple of posts I notice that I had already posted the unfinished sketch of cincy (the dame one that is a couple of posts below) as my first sketch and I was complaining about Yahoo! What is it they say about full circle?