Artists Blog

I’m preparing once again to take up the quill. That is, I’m going back to studying the art of beautiful writing, Calligraphy. Throughout my uni year I have used it for many of my folios and assignments. When queried by my lecturers, they were surprised to learn that I was once a calligrapher. “Why did you stop?” was the most frequent question. I suppose lots of other stuff came up, life’s like that.

You’ve seen from a previous calligraphic post that I like to combine images with my letterforms. This is something that I am really keen to explore further. I have been invited by a fellow student/artist if I would like to apply for an exhibition opportunity. Calligraphic Painting sprang instantly to mind. So, as a result I have become OCD with resurrecting my calligraphic past. I’ve rejoined my Guild back in Perth, arranged for long distance lessons from my brilliant teacher of ten years ago, and dug out the box with all my assorted accroutrements. Alas all my nibs are rusted and some inks evaporated. Nothing like a bit of online shopping to sort that out. If you get a chance, www.willsquills.com.au will make your mouth water. I’ve ordered the most eclectic (but essential you understand) of items: Vellum, Papyrus, Gum Sandarac, Scroll and Oblique nibs, Resevoirs, Bleedproof White, the list goes on. I think this will have to count as my Chrissy Pressie for at least 3 years!

I’m also now examining books on medieval Illuminated Manuscripts, eg The Book of Kells, The Book of Hours etc. It’s hard not to get caught up in the mindset of those cultures from so long ago. Then I remembered my visit to the Medieval Fayre last year just before me moved. It was amazing!

There was a lunch time parade – the rain had just passed over. Here are the King & Queen with Courtiers in tow.

The Knights were quite spectacular.

Although the horse appeared to be hobbled by the disappearance of two of it’s legs.

There were fierce battles waged in the arena, which was fast becoming a mud bog pit.

The Romans, under the guidance of Caesar (purple socks), dispatched the Barbarians post haste.

Costumes everywhere were fabulous. This Maiden had the most gorgeous ensemble, dragging in the mud.

Totally not in keeping with the era, she reaches for her…

Digital camera!

There were stalls that sold everything medieval – you need never go anywhere without your leather gauntlets or steel breastplate. I was given many business cards “just in case” I had a chain mail emergency. (I only just took them out of my wallet the other day!)

There was a fully operational forge, hammering out all manner of lethal weaponry.

Burly Boys make for good photo ops!

There was another photo of myself with a red bearded viking in a pub, but it was getting messy by that stage….tippling too many tankards of warm mead and mulled wine.

If you ever get the chance to spend the day at one of these Carnivals, jump at it – they’re a glimpse into another time and place. Just go easy on the mead!

I recently completed my final assignment in Photoshop. Manipulating pixels can be fun, frustrating and damn hard work! Here’s a small sample from that final folio.

Back in first semester I composed a still life for photography. Using this image I played with lots of brushes to give it the look of  a still life painting.

Also back in Semester One (Gawd but that seems like years ago), I did a lino cut of a barra. Having no press, it turned out dismally. (see  original post & linocut here)

Using the brain draining wizardy of Photoshop I tiled the original linocut to produce a print like piece, still showing the tile edges as a real print would.

A composite image that gave me a HUGE headache for days was this image:

You do not know how glad I am that Uni is over……

This was an entry originally posted 2 weeks ago. I had to delay it’s publication until now due to media committments.

If you’ve been following this blog, you may remember my recent painting, the very first I’ve sold - of the birds eating the snake.

Even the journalist said it was an amazing karmic coincidence.

In this internet age, it is simply astounding how this news has travelled the globe, proving it’s just not Far North Tropical Queensland that holds a fascination for such things. According to London newspapers, I live “in the jungle”. That’s inside the house I reckon!

On a sadder note, the departed cocky has left behind a lonely mate, who sits in the same spot in the bouganvillea all day, looking a little lost. Thankfully the python won’t be hungry for quite some time…

17 November 2008

Unfortunately my last sentence above proved horribly incorrect. Or maybe it was another python. But he was taken also. This one we tried to save. (I had only hours earlier removed a paralysis tick from above it’s eye). I hosed that python with a full strength hose, but he wasn’t giving up his catch.

There are a lot of images, and I think everyone’s seen most of them around the internet sites and newspapers, so I’m not sure if you would want to see them again on this blog?

Let me know what you think.

A new evening job is to make sure there are no guests sleeping over in the The Tree of Death….

There was a gigantic spotlight blazing into my bedroom at 5 this morning. Of course I had to go outside and watch her sail across the sky. Naturally the camera came too.

Each month the full moon shows a different face, a different colour even. New craters, new mares (the flat “seas”), new mountains to look at. If you’d like to know the names and details of these features, click here. It’s amazing to think that all those bumps and craters have been named.

I feel so light.  Free at last from uni pressures.

Thank you all for your words of encouragement during my last few  s t r e s s f u l  weeks. They meant a lot to me.

Expect me to be back to full posting strength by Monday.

If you get a chance, go outside and catch a glimpse of the gorgeous girl herself – she’s out there right now doing her thing.

I mentioned last week that I was going out at night to “Paint with Light”. This is essentially photography in the dark using only a flash/torch and loooooong exposures, to bathe large areas in even light.

I went out with a couple of gurus in this genre, one the head of police forensics photography and the other a professor with a penchant for slide film captures. (His Nikon from yesteryear weighed the same as a bowling ball!)

Setting up in the dark (Lit from my camera flash).

How the Police record an crime/accident scene at night is the technique we employed here. Firstly, you mark out the area you wish to photograph. In our case it was around 100m deep, and about 40m across. You need to have your camera on a sturdy tripod and set on “BULB”, with a remote shutter release attached. A small sheet of black cardboard is also required.

Two or more people are needed for this exercise, and even then, a large accident scene may take well over 2 hours to record thoroughly, I was told.

When ready, release the shutter and lock in the open position. As the setting is BULB it will stay open indefinately. The person operating the hand held flash will let off the first burst of light. Quickly place the black card in front of the lens to prevent further image burn. The Flash person will then walk down the left or right hand side of the area you wish to photograph for about 20m. They’ll yell out “Ready?” You yell “Yup!”, take away the black card, wait for the Flash and then pop the card back over the lens again. Repeat this 5 times down either side, being careful not to be in the field of view if you are the Flash person.

The pitch black pathway was transformed into the scene below with an exposure time of about 6 mins.

That blue light on the right is the Flash person being caught in the field of view.

The Full Moon was rising over the lake now, so we used plain old long expsures (around 30 secs) to capture the following images:

With the Moon’s reflection…

…and without.

And the gorgeous Golden Girl herself. With this one you need a really fast shutter speed (this was around 1/1600 if I remember), as the the moon is such a bright light source.

So go out and play with your camera at night – great fun!

6.50am, my phone rings, waking me from a restless few hours of tossing and turning (finally got to bed at 2.30am after thinking, thinking and more thinking…)

“Get here quick if you want to see a huge python with a big belly” Jeff told me.

Now if I’m going to jump outa bed, into the car, with my hair only getting a look from a brush, a big python is going to do it.

Only about a km away, I arrived at Jeff’s work, where one big slithery friend was making it’s way across the road.

See where it’s headed?

Spot the problem yet?

It tried for a while, but breakfast was just too big.

Once it reversed a bit, the gate was swung back to let it go on it’s way.

Can you see the next problem about to happen?

I think a lot of us suffer from the same issue…

We just don’t think we’re that fat….

even though we can’t seem to fit into anything ‘cos it’s such a tight squeeze…

It seemed a bit stumped, so curled up for a think.

All the while flickering that forked tongue.

We left him on his own to work out where he was headed, and not long afterwards, he was gone.

No one has seen Reg, the resident rooster. But I think we have a pretty good idea where he is.

So long Reg.

Reg and Scrub Turkey friend in happier days…

At last! My folio of images has been safely deposited into the University electronic “Drop Box”. Time to catch my breath.

This subject has been one of slooooow absorption. Anyone that has tasted Photoshop will understand.

Our task was to build 3 composite images, either on Decay or Scale. Each one made up of 3 source images. As I’d tackled Decay previously, I thought Scale would provide some levity. It did, along with buckets of frustration. And that was without the 20 page accompanying written report, complete with screen grabs to prove we actually did the work ourselves.

Jez was the (un)willing model for some of the source images. Tying them all together was the tricky bit. Anyway, this is where I’ve been for most of the week…

COMPOSITE IMAGE ONE – “Indy’s Footsteps”

Source Images

COMPOSITE IMAGE TWO “I Believe”

That’s a book on Dragons Jez is reading. Make the connection?

Source Images

COMPOSITE IMAGE THREE – ” Ready for Takeoff”

Source images

I’m looking forward to getting some real sleep tonight. Another exciting day tomorrow as one of my uni lecturers has invited me to share her Studio, which is shared by 3 other prominent artists. Bugger, I bet the excitment keeps me awake!

Nothing like a Lace Monitor on the BBQ to get your heart rate up first thing in the morning.

Nothing like a sunny BBQ to get your heart rate up in the morning if you’re a Lace Monitor.

He got a bit huffy  when I ventured close, puffing his neck up and “Haruumffing” me. Two metres of grumpy lizard is not pleasant.

Had my Great Debate at Uni today, not as bad as I thought. Thanks for all your hints and tips everybody. Next week is the 6 minute speech. Can’t wait.

I’ve dug up another moonset photo from May. Back then the moon set in the early evening, behind the same mountain in my previous post.

This afternoon I had quite an inspiring (and looong) phone conversation with gorgeous Rosa Fedele, a friend since school days. She’s a full time artist and has a really no nonsense approach which I need to take heed of. I don’t think proscrasination is even in her vocabulary. Damn she’s good! – Her website link is on the right hand side of my blog as well as here.

Day off tomorrow so I’ll try my hardest to really make some headway with all these paintings I have in my head.

Wasn’t it bright last night? (For those of you lucky to have cloudless skies).

Too impossibly bright to sleep deeply, I thought I’d go into the garden to take some shots. The moon was about to set, and I positioned myself in a spot that wouldn’t arouse too much suspicion. A camera shutter going off outside your bedroom window is an unusual wake up alarm. Luckily our neighbour is in Machu Picchu at the moment.

It’s surprising how quick the moon dipped behind the mountain. Not quick enough to avoid the mozzies however. Shutter and slapping sounds echoing in the street.

Then the battery pack died. The moon was really hauling it’s behind, so I thought I’d never get into the house, fumble for the new battery pack, and get back outside before it set. With my sarong falling down, cursing as I ran over the pebbles in bare feet, I hightailed it in and out in less than a minute.

Just in time to see it dip down into the darkness. The golden glow it left behind was just so beautiful. Not enough light to show up in an image though, you’ll have to picture it’s gorgeousness in your mind.

There was a happy trade off,

Following another early riser travelling in the sky.