Just anather day in paradise

Look Ma, no pictures!

I feel that I am overextended or as we southern folk say:"I got more bubble gum than I can chew!"

along the way I did something constructive

Recently, I was given the opportunity to work on logo design. It had been quite some time since a logo design. I did some of this when I had a commercial sign shop. There are many factors that go into a good design. First and foremost it has to promote the proper image for the product or organisation they are representing. Then the image as reproduced. How is it to be reproduced effects the design as well. This logo is for a church fund raising campaign. It is to be kind of loose. the font or typeface has to fit the image. I tried about 7 or 8 typefaces before settling on this one and it may change.

another video

Just another video. This one is of my monoprints. These monoprints are made using an inkjet printer. Since there is only one print it is a monoprint. These are not the usual monoprints which are usually created by painting on one surface then transferring the image to paper vea pressure. This process is moreakin to screen printing because of the use of stencils. The printer prints a color field and stencils and resist are used to create the image. I've used certain video effects to add interest. A music sound track also adds entertainment value.

*&^%$#@@!!~

As promised, the video of how the collage was made. Actually, making the art work was easier than making the video. A couple of notes about the video. The equipment and software used:

• Olympus Camedia for the video clips and stills
• Lexmark 2400 for scans
• Epson Stylus PHOTO R1800 printer
• Dell computer
• Windows MovieMaker to put it all together
• Audasity to edit the sound
• Adobe Photo DeLux for image processing
• Replay Converter to convert video formats
• Musicmatch Jukebox to rip tracks

I could have cleaned the sound up much better and better light would have given me better images. Next time I will write may script before doing my voice over. The music is from Double Bass Portraits Musical Exhibition

Collage face

At the left is the combination of picture making techniques. The image was initially sketched on the cardstock. I knew that I wanted to do a face of a pretty girl. I also wanted it to be a combination of manual and mechanical methods. The sales supplements of the newspaper provide the color for the piece and these small pieces of paper are glued to the sketch. Special attention is paid to color and value. More emphasis is on value than color. A magazine illustration is scanned in and cropped, converted to black and white, and cleaned up. It is then printed with an inkjet printer over the collaged paper. I'll post the video of the process next.

New stuff

The latest off the easel or rather the table or floor. It is acrylic on paper, rather a lot of acrylic! I like to rub it into the paper and exercise my tactile senses. I was recently in the western desert, the land of the nomad tribes and cliff dwellers. Initially I built up layers of paint to give it the color (kicked up a notch!) and texture of the desert. In the center is a mesa as seen from above. The green of the trees at the base of the mesa. The geometric shapes were added to give some structure and order to the somewhat chaotic work. The profile at the bottom relieves some of the topographic nature of the painting. To add a human(?) element I added the drawing of the dancers/spirits/hunters. The drawing was actually a thumbnail drawing done in church. I scanned it in to the computer then manipulated it and cloned it before applying it to the painting as a heat transfer. Nuff said!

@#$%(no title)

When everything you try to do turns to crap, grab a sketchbook. The salvation of one's sanity. Open to a blank page. Put some color on it. Use something different to apply color. And pile it on. does an image appear within the mass of color? Maybe a high-res satellite photo of perhaps an infra-red nature? Maybe not. I can work on my brush skills while the mass of color dries.

is this visual BABBLE?

Pages

I think i am about to decide that my greatest joy (a.k.a. thrill) from art comes from my sketch books. There is something about the challenge of the blank page. no matter what I do to it I have changed it. it is no longer blank, or without. Null. Void. Empty. Whatever I put there is a creation of mine own hand. Is it a power trip? nine It is a place for ideas to appear as visual manifestations of some cerebral activity. My books are not drawn images only although that is the bulk there off. I also have rubbings such as the rubbing of a Frank Lloyd Wright signature tile. or perhaps a sticker fro a piece of fruit I had for lunch. Sometimes there is verse. or recipes or lyrics. There are the sketches of places and people and things I have seen. And things not seen by any eyes except my mind's eye. Sketches are sometimes developed into well thought out designs or studies for paintings. Sometimes they may illustrate the workings of a grist mill. indeed, my sketchbooks are an extension of me and a chronicle of my life.