out of my depth

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

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

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

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

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

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

i feel like dancing

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

“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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 ;)