the pirate look is back, I've managed to get another eye infection
this time it has gone ulcerous straight away. so its back to bloody
hospital. yet again... luckily I know someone to organize the
evacuation, the pity is he can't see
Sunday, July 18, 2004
Friday, July 16, 2004
If you can't beat 'em join 'em
A visit to china town in Honiara, a street of traditional trade stores, no decent chinese restaurants though, lead me to what I was seeking. Sticks of traditional chinese ink. The solid sticks are hardended ink. you rub it on a suitable stone and add a little water. suddenly you have ink. they are used for traditional chinese calligraphy. using more or less water you can get delicate shades of grey... through to a solid black.. as black as a good soft graphite pencil!
my theory was to use water colour technique and washes to overcome the problems of blotchy smudging of graphite on damp paper..
chinese ink sketch of the weather coast police compound
and it works a treat... have been having lots of fun building pictures around the strong shadows you get in the tropics... now a new problem has presented itself... How do you stop the paper wrinkling as it dries out... ?
my theory was to use water colour technique and washes to overcome the problems of blotchy smudging of graphite on damp paper..
chinese ink sketch of the weather coast police compound
and it works a treat... have been having lots of fun building pictures around the strong shadows you get in the tropics... now a new problem has presented itself... How do you stop the paper wrinkling as it dries out... ?
Thursday, July 15, 2004
-- so far away & such serious deja vu
The wet weather gave me a great chance to finish reading the da vinci code. It's a good read.
I still own a little cottage in the UK, in a village called coombe, just south of bath (ah what I would give for a good warm bath right now!) and not so far away is a town called glastonbury. Just out of town on the low road around the tor, is a well. The well of joseph of arimathea, and beside it there is a sign on the public road telling the story of mary magdalene and her "family" escape under the care of jospeh (who is in the family was not mentioned on the sign).
dan brown has done wonders to expand these few paragraphs on an obscure road side sign into a substantial part of the plot for 592 page book even more astounding is that that sign is half a world away and I haven't seen it for nearly 15 years, I'm not even sure that the sign is still there but I can see it clearly in my mind¦ how strange is that? is the remoteness getting to me?
(starts whistling) always look on the bright side of life.. dah da.. dah da da dah
I still own a little cottage in the UK, in a village called coombe, just south of bath (ah what I would give for a good warm bath right now!) and not so far away is a town called glastonbury. Just out of town on the low road around the tor, is a well. The well of joseph of arimathea, and beside it there is a sign on the public road telling the story of mary magdalene and her "family" escape under the care of jospeh (who is in the family was not mentioned on the sign).
dan brown has done wonders to expand these few paragraphs on an obscure road side sign into a substantial part of the plot for 592 page book even more astounding is that that sign is half a world away and I haven't seen it for nearly 15 years, I'm not even sure that the sign is still there but I can see it clearly in my mind¦ how strange is that? is the remoteness getting to me?
(starts whistling) always look on the bright side of life.. dah da.. dah da da dah
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Water water everywhere & nor any a drop to drink
So said the poet samuel colleridge in his epic Rime of the Ancient Mariner ... now I don't feel ancient… yet! … but I do understand what he was talking about.
It has been raining heavily for about 4 days now, leaden skies have taken to sparkle out of everything and the rain just keeps coming, at least 650ml so far (that's about 2 feet), and it was probably more, the rain gauge at the airstrip has full to capacity twice between readings.
Honiara is a town struggling with the provision of the most basic services, the power goes off three of four times a day, good phone lines are a very rare event and since the rain started there is no water to speak off and what water is dark brown, smelly and undoubtedly unfit for human consumption…. I gather that soon after the
rains started the weir where they town water supply is collected flooded and the pumped where submerged… just before they failed they pumped a thick slurry of mud into the towns water supply… that was 3 days ago
there might be quiet a lot of grumbling and, ok someone has to go and collect fresh water and fresh clean fresh water is more precious than beer. … but life goes on
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner in Seven Parts">
It has been raining heavily for about 4 days now, leaden skies have taken to sparkle out of everything and the rain just keeps coming, at least 650ml so far (that's about 2 feet), and it was probably more, the rain gauge at the airstrip has full to capacity twice between readings.
Honiara is a town struggling with the provision of the most basic services, the power goes off three of four times a day, good phone lines are a very rare event and since the rain started there is no water to speak off and what water is dark brown, smelly and undoubtedly unfit for human consumption…. I gather that soon after the
rains started the weir where they town water supply is collected flooded and the pumped where submerged… just before they failed they pumped a thick slurry of mud into the towns water supply… that was 3 days ago
there might be quiet a lot of grumbling and, ok someone has to go and collect fresh water and fresh clean fresh water is more precious than beer. … but life goes on
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner in Seven Parts">
korsim dispela hap? … a long time arriving blog
this post was floating around on the net for a week after I tried uploading from my hotmail account… lets try gmail
on my way up here I didn't need to be concerned about missing my new addiction blogging, I missed about everything else!
I had planned to travel from cairns to honiara over two days and check out the suitability of a number of airfields on smaller islands along the way. Flights where delayed and connections missed… when you get to remote places and book on a charter flight to get somewhere else of the beaten track, well some curious economics take over… the charter doesn't go till everyone is ready… the local village chief or politician knows this so there is no hurry the plane won't leave
without them… then the operator will probably try to squeeze in a few more…. Do you reckon you'd mind if grandma tubbi tun comes as far as hoskins… just a little longer so we can take a load of chickens for the gamala village….the airfield on buka island was closed because the locals sat on the airstrip and refused to get off… no mate not till the weather clears enough to see the wind sock from here…
so a two day trip turned into 5 days. Everywhere we went the phones where out and I only got an occasional message in and out on the radio which only worked when it wasn't raining heavily or stormy… which wasn't to often
So what do you do without blog access… you can read.. sketch, well you could, if your sketch book wasn't in your luggage back at rabaul... sit under a suitable tree and watch the rain.. like most of the local expats.. search out the local bar and drink beer and chat with the larger than life characters.. going with the flow lets you find life can be interesting even when it isn't close to plan… getting up tight
was pointless. it would only have lead to even more worry…. I wrote on my only ticket stub, no suitable commercial services and my job was done, and time for another beer… that was on day 3...
Back in civilization, on guadalcanal and into day 6, I transfer the simple phrase onto a hotel fax sheet … much later I was informed the fax was broken… after a quick investigation I suggested to the operator he necessary to type in phone number before he pushes the send button… well I should have realized! I'd soon discover it
wouldn't make any difference. the phones are out here too.
day 13 and I get this email blog post back…korsim dispela hap (curse this place)… patience mate…. nothing happens quickly in the solomons
on my way up here I didn't need to be concerned about missing my new addiction blogging, I missed about everything else!
I had planned to travel from cairns to honiara over two days and check out the suitability of a number of airfields on smaller islands along the way. Flights where delayed and connections missed… when you get to remote places and book on a charter flight to get somewhere else of the beaten track, well some curious economics take over… the charter doesn't go till everyone is ready… the local village chief or politician knows this so there is no hurry the plane won't leave
without them… then the operator will probably try to squeeze in a few more…. Do you reckon you'd mind if grandma tubbi tun comes as far as hoskins… just a little longer so we can take a load of chickens for the gamala village….the airfield on buka island was closed because the locals sat on the airstrip and refused to get off… no mate not till the weather clears enough to see the wind sock from here…
so a two day trip turned into 5 days. Everywhere we went the phones where out and I only got an occasional message in and out on the radio which only worked when it wasn't raining heavily or stormy… which wasn't to often
So what do you do without blog access… you can read.. sketch, well you could, if your sketch book wasn't in your luggage back at rabaul... sit under a suitable tree and watch the rain.. like most of the local expats.. search out the local bar and drink beer and chat with the larger than life characters.. going with the flow lets you find life can be interesting even when it isn't close to plan… getting up tight
was pointless. it would only have lead to even more worry…. I wrote on my only ticket stub, no suitable commercial services and my job was done, and time for another beer… that was on day 3...
Back in civilization, on guadalcanal and into day 6, I transfer the simple phrase onto a hotel fax sheet … much later I was informed the fax was broken… after a quick investigation I suggested to the operator he necessary to type in phone number before he pushes the send button… well I should have realized! I'd soon discover it
wouldn't make any difference. the phones are out here too.
day 13 and I get this email blog post back…korsim dispela hap (curse this place)… patience mate…. nothing happens quickly in the solomons
Monday, July 12, 2004
wet ugly awkward finger prints…
it is wet and overcast… not exactly paradise anymore… none of that wonderful fragrant light and those clean deep shadows… the explosion of colour, that gaugain saw and was able to capture, is in hiding
there is also another disadvantage of the weather it is to with the humidity. It is now impossible to sketch with a soft graphite pencil of charcoal… delicate smudges turn it hideous blotches and wet ugly awkward finger prints… I'm guessing it is the paper it is heavier and swollen with the moisture, no doubt…. bloated so there is not longer any tooth… instead it is soft and pudgy...
how I wish I'd bough a few pad of watercolour paper instead of sketch pads on this trip.
there is also another disadvantage of the weather it is to with the humidity. It is now impossible to sketch with a soft graphite pencil of charcoal… delicate smudges turn it hideous blotches and wet ugly awkward finger prints… I'm guessing it is the paper it is heavier and swollen with the moisture, no doubt…. bloated so there is not longer any tooth… instead it is soft and pudgy...
how I wish I'd bough a few pad of watercolour paper instead of sketch pads on this trip.
Saturday, July 10, 2004
lik lik balus bilong bikpela mekanis
that's the local tok tok pidgin for a helicopter, literally it means a small pidgeon (small plane) that makes a big mechanical noise
helicopter safety is something dear to my heart, well a bit of a lump on my ribs at least (I have to admit I have fallen out of them once or twice)… but I have never seen anything like technique of getting in and out of the choppers here… the basic method applied by all the locals is to run and jump, before the chopper touches down.
Getting in and out of a small chopper, like a jet ranger, is a lot like jumping into a small boat that is not anchored or tethered on a choppy sea… its easy to rock the boat… unless the pilot is very good and alert, the sudden change of weight is likely to tip the chopper over and being close to the ground you might find two different sets of long metal blades slashing at the ground and anything close by… its all very dangerous… even the military have figured out not to do it… they drop you out the side to slide down a rope with the chopper safely higher off the ground.
but here! in an instant everyone here just moves to exactly the right spot to help maintain balance… they seems to have perfect anticipation when the chopper is just about a meter of the ground, then its all away again… its uncanny for a population who's other collective skill is slow walking…
helicopter safety is something dear to my heart, well a bit of a lump on my ribs at least (I have to admit I have fallen out of them once or twice)… but I have never seen anything like technique of getting in and out of the choppers here… the basic method applied by all the locals is to run and jump, before the chopper touches down.
Getting in and out of a small chopper, like a jet ranger, is a lot like jumping into a small boat that is not anchored or tethered on a choppy sea… its easy to rock the boat… unless the pilot is very good and alert, the sudden change of weight is likely to tip the chopper over and being close to the ground you might find two different sets of long metal blades slashing at the ground and anything close by… its all very dangerous… even the military have figured out not to do it… they drop you out the side to slide down a rope with the chopper safely higher off the ground.
but here! in an instant everyone here just moves to exactly the right spot to help maintain balance… they seems to have perfect anticipation when the chopper is just about a meter of the ground, then its all away again… its uncanny for a population who's other collective skill is slow walking…
Friday, July 09, 2004
c'est la vie
Remote access to the net can be a good lesson in patience... a lesson i seem to learn over and over..
all the recent fancies added into yahoo mail and hotmail now guarantee that my dial-up remote satellite patched into internet connection will time out before I even get through all the fancy stuff on the first page just what I always want not that my notebook is dead and I'm on borrowed computers!
I'm normally an optimist and there is usually a golden lining if you look... luckily I had accepted an invitation to get a google email account, Gmail to the net savvy..
well it does have adds etcs on the first page but it also does have your mail and the graphics are limited so it lets me do stuff before the automatic line idle kicks me off the satellite in fact thats how I'm posting this blog. the best bit is i can finish my mailing early and get some more time drinking beer and watching the sun go down
such is life
all the recent fancies added into yahoo mail and hotmail now guarantee that my dial-up remote satellite patched into internet connection will time out before I even get through all the fancy stuff on the first page just what I always want not that my notebook is dead and I'm on borrowed computers!
I'm normally an optimist and there is usually a golden lining if you look... luckily I had accepted an invitation to get a google email account, Gmail to the net savvy..
well it does have adds etcs on the first page but it also does have your mail and the graphics are limited so it lets me do stuff before the automatic line idle kicks me off the satellite in fact thats how I'm posting this blog. the best bit is i can finish my mailing early and get some more time drinking beer and watching the sun go down
such is life
all the time in the world.
My computer has crashed,and everything is lost... well I can't get past the your system file is corrupted insert your recovery disk and press R... Grrrrr... more likely
I don't have a recovery disk and there are no real shops, especially computer shops on this island!
What I do have is my trusty sketch pad and plenty of time... now how to keep blogging... (thinks) i can write down my thoughts each day,... wow how smart is that... hang on! I think I'm just doing something people have been doing for years... keeping a diary, writing a journal!
well let the paper part of cyclone's sketchbook journal begin...
Well its sunny and the lagoon is glistening blue, the village women are out scavanging across the exposed reef... really I should be sketching this not describing it... (writing stops & turn the page)
(One day, when I return to civilisation, I will indead scan that sketch, but for now I'm just using a bit of borrowed time on a hotel computer to type and send this so the blog can go one, maybe delayed a day or so)
In the solomn island the story goes... god was kind and gave the white men wonderful watches, so they could spend all day watching time pass, but god gave the locals time,... all the time in the world.
I don't have a recovery disk and there are no real shops, especially computer shops on this island!
What I do have is my trusty sketch pad and plenty of time... now how to keep blogging... (thinks) i can write down my thoughts each day,... wow how smart is that... hang on! I think I'm just doing something people have been doing for years... keeping a diary, writing a journal!
well let the paper part of cyclone's sketchbook journal begin...
Well its sunny and the lagoon is glistening blue, the village women are out scavanging across the exposed reef... really I should be sketching this not describing it... (writing stops & turn the page)
(One day, when I return to civilisation, I will indead scan that sketch, but for now I'm just using a bit of borrowed time on a hotel computer to type and send this so the blog can go one, maybe delayed a day or so)
In the solomn island the story goes... god was kind and gave the white men wonderful watches, so they could spend all day watching time pass, but god gave the locals time,... all the time in the world.
Thursday, July 01, 2004
last post for a while
From the very back of my sketch book I’ve discovered another colourful sketch… possibly ahead of its time…
second pencil sketch of bifem
bifem, is/was quiet a regular but I forget which chat room… she “posed” a couple of times
the colours get wild over bifem
if you are an aussie and want a bit of laugh… read johns howard’s blog… ok it might not really be him...
I didn’t know that you had to go shopping before you went away… so I got very bored this afternoon, while the girls all seem to be enjoying it… but I did buy one thing a copy of the da vinci code, should have plenty of time to read it coming up
see you all in few weeks
second pencil sketch of bifem
bifem, is/was quiet a regular but I forget which chat room… she “posed” a couple of times
the colours get wild over bifem
if you are an aussie and want a bit of laugh… read johns howard’s blog… ok it might not really be him...
I didn’t know that you had to go shopping before you went away… so I got very bored this afternoon, while the girls all seem to be enjoying it… but I did buy one thing a copy of the da vinci code, should have plenty of time to read it coming up
see you all in few weeks
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
heading north & an hiatus likely
I’m off to cairns tomorrow early 4:30am… then onto the solomons and new calendonia for another 4-6 weeks posting… don’t expect many places to get on the net.. so there might be a gap in my postings to this blog…
not sure how i’ll handle my addiction to blogging… by at least i’ll be warm
not sure how i’ll handle my addiction to blogging… by at least i’ll be warm
sketching glasses & an amazing coincidence
looking back into my older sketches I really found it hard to find any of glasses.. is it proof o the old saying ?… “ men don’t make passes at ladies who wear glasses”… I think not..
thinka with her glasses in outrageous colour
is it that glasses are hard to draw ?... are the models self concious ?.. other than wishy, this is the only other one of thnker belle… the amazing coincidence is the strong colour… like in the watercolour of blue, a little bit further down, this is vibrant and full of life… like the net itself… am i navel gazing yet again?
thinka with her glasses in outrageous colour
is it that glasses are hard to draw ?... are the models self concious ?.. other than wishy, this is the only other one of thnker belle… the amazing coincidence is the strong colour… like in the watercolour of blue, a little bit further down, this is vibrant and full of life… like the net itself… am i navel gazing yet again?
an etheral challenge
When I was uploading yesterdays blog I was also chatting with some friends in fat chicks, where else,… but how many times must I tolerate the boot… what is the record..??
As a mere male I gave up… but this morning as I sorted through the aborted sketches one incomplete one struck me as having exactly that delicate quality. It is also a good example of how I’m starting portraits these days… all smudges of a very soft graphite stick to define the shadows of the face… and a slow search for the right places to put a little detail with a conventional pencil but again a soft one, 6B in this case
As a mere male I gave up… but this morning as I sorted through the aborted sketches one incomplete one struck me as having exactly that delicate quality. It is also a good example of how I’m starting portraits these days… all smudges of a very soft graphite stick to define the shadows of the face… and a slow search for the right places to put a little detail with a conventional pencil but again a soft one, 6B in this case
Tuesday, June 29, 2004
the very vivacious blue
it was another busy evening at freaky fat chicks and I was keen to sketch, but there was a distinct lack of webcams on… on well… time to chat and laugh… and laugh some more..
a lady named blue, aka halo ween girl, took an interest and was soon a very patient model… I started with a graphite pencil sketch but ended up having to overwork it… I think most of my viewers got bored and logged out... being on-line is a good way to get instant feedback….
halo ween in her overworked pencil sketch
I had all the usual problems with my cam and getting booted… it seemed for a while that I might have discovered the why? … it seemed every time I was just sketching away and got the “ï’m naked .. or I’m randy …” message from a bot, my cam would frieeze or I’d get booted.. so I tried disabling IMs.. worked for a while then I got totally disconnected from the net… I just have dial up still…
after a few more boots and other frustrations I decided to stop overworking the black and white sketch and go to watercolour… the plan was to reproduce the same technique I’d used on care bear last week… but me being me… I got out the sap green, the vermillion and the scarlet… mixed a dilute wash and started…. buggar if i wasn’t booted and totally disconnected from anything net, again… patience…
halo ween girl in full colour
well I didn’t have any patience left.. the wash turned to solid colour and the picture started to look magic but wishy washy... so in a gaugainesce gesture I got our my deepest purple for the darkest shadows. the blue green hair, with yellow and blue highlights sort of assembled themselves... I like this one it is true art
a lady named blue, aka halo ween girl, took an interest and was soon a very patient model… I started with a graphite pencil sketch but ended up having to overwork it… I think most of my viewers got bored and logged out... being on-line is a good way to get instant feedback….
halo ween in her overworked pencil sketch
I had all the usual problems with my cam and getting booted… it seemed for a while that I might have discovered the why? … it seemed every time I was just sketching away and got the “ï’m naked .. or I’m randy …” message from a bot, my cam would frieeze or I’d get booted.. so I tried disabling IMs.. worked for a while then I got totally disconnected from the net… I just have dial up still…
after a few more boots and other frustrations I decided to stop overworking the black and white sketch and go to watercolour… the plan was to reproduce the same technique I’d used on care bear last week… but me being me… I got out the sap green, the vermillion and the scarlet… mixed a dilute wash and started…. buggar if i wasn’t booted and totally disconnected from anything net, again… patience…
halo ween girl in full colour
well I didn’t have any patience left.. the wash turned to solid colour and the picture started to look magic but wishy washy... so in a gaugainesce gesture I got our my deepest purple for the darkest shadows. the blue green hair, with yellow and blue highlights sort of assembled themselves... I like this one it is true art
Don’t Smoke …. just don’t smoke
one thing i have noticed a lot while sketching, is how many of my models smoke…
i just attended the funeral of a friend, we had been conscripted at the same time, did national service together and both ended up in vietnam. in fact there were 9 of us all mates… now there are 2… my mate that died last week was the last of seven to die the same agonizingly horrible death… hospitalized with lung cancer and heart problems… out of my 9 best mates then only two did not smoke, we are the only ones alive now…
so my strong advice is just don’t smoke
i just attended the funeral of a friend, we had been conscripted at the same time, did national service together and both ended up in vietnam. in fact there were 9 of us all mates… now there are 2… my mate that died last week was the last of seven to die the same agonizingly horrible death… hospitalized with lung cancer and heart problems… out of my 9 best mates then only two did not smoke, we are the only ones alive now…
so my strong advice is just don’t smoke
wishy ... & a challenging reflection
Wishy....in graphite pencil
back at freaky fat chicks aagain last night... and I think I've set the being booted record.... but I was trying to sketch a fantasic refelection in wishy's glasses you could see her computer screen flashing and lighting up her cheery personality... don't thick I really captured it....
back at freaky fat chicks aagain last night... and I think I've set the being booted record.... but I was trying to sketch a fantasic refelection in wishy's glasses you could see her computer screen flashing and lighting up her cheery personality... don't thick I really captured it....
Monday, June 28, 2004
opps about the comments
whilst i had enabled commenting on both my posts and images... i'd neglect to give anyone authourity to post comments... well you now have
i'd like some feedback, even if it just to help me work out how to use this technology right.
i'd like some feedback, even if it just to help me work out how to use this technology right.
another angel, on eyes… & past performance
I was delighted to rediscovered another yahoo angel, late on Saturday, or was it early sunday…. and I did not recognize her at first… just her lovely style…I had sketched her very early on and have unfortunately misplaced those sketches, but I still feel guilty I ended up ruining an otherwise beautiful sketch at the time, by overworking the eyes…
Eyes are to me the most important parts of a portrait… I subscribe to the view that they are the true windows to the soul… but they aren’t easy to get right.
this sketch of big girl, immediately below, shows how I saw eyes, back then, and tried to draw the almond shape, iris and pupil… these are symbolic eyes… not reflective pools of the spirit within…
quick pencil sketch of a big girl showing ...
Eyes are to me the most important parts of a portrait… I subscribe to the view that they are the true windows to the soul… but they aren’t easy to get right.
this sketch of big girl, immediately below, shows how I saw eyes, back then, and tried to draw the almond shape, iris and pupil… these are symbolic eyes… not reflective pools of the spirit within…
quick pencil sketch of a big girl showing ...
... more eyes and some progress into colours
the final two sketches from the past are of a hottie u cant see nakkie, pity… but whilst this was a time when I was still suffered from trying to draw perfect eyes…. not what I saw… I was starting to see the shadows, the modeling of light, and most importantly translating this into colour (solid colour of aquila watercolour pencils rather than traditional watercolour wash, which I prefer now)
aquila watercolour pencils
pencil sketch
aquila watercolour pencils
pencil sketch
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
