Thursday, January 19, 2006

I will be back!!!

Today will be my last posing for a little while as my husband and I leave for a holiday tomorrow morning.

The last two days have been busy packing clothes and food for our time away. Thanks goodness we have family living on the farm with us so that we don’t have to worry about our animals during such a hot period.

If you are waiting for more postings from me and haven’t visited my web site, I have included some links here that you may find interesting.

Latest Pastels

Out & About
Hints

Quote:
"Every production of an artist should be the expression of an adventure of his soul."
W. Somerset Maugham

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Drawing a fisherman

Some take pleasure in fishing as my husband does but for others they may prefer to draw them as I do. This is the drawing as promised yesterday that is meant to be a representation of body movement. The folds in the clothing as well as the flexing of muscle show this. It was one of my exams that I finished last year. I was chuffed when I received an “A” for this drawing as well as the one of my son in yesterdays posting. I hope you enjoy them.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Drawing on the right side of the brain

Some time ago while studying Commercial Art I had a loan of a book called “ Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” by Betty Edwards. I was lucky enough to purchase one of these books on eBay. The book arrived at my home yesterday, which is timely as I want to take it away on holidays to carry out a refresher course.



I can honestly say that I had no idea how to draw figures though a couple of weeks working with this book I accomplished a portraiture drawing of my son as seen below and another of my husband fishing which I will post tomorrow. The best part about drawing this way is the way I feel so relaxed afterwards and yet to accomplish so much while in this “trance” just blows me away.



Quote:
"Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is no art”
Leonardo da Vinci

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Mt Remarkable

One of my favourite places that I enjoy painting is the Southern Flinders Ranges. The eucalyptus red gum trees are so old that the snarls and twist of the branches are a challenge to draw let alone paint.

This painting from the Melrose area in the Southern Flinders was completed late 2005 and sold at the Lombard Gallery in Adelaide. The mountain in the background is called Mt Remarkable. There are walking trails to climb the mount, not that I have attempted to do so myself. I am told the view is fantastic so maybe I should make that climb and paint from a different perspective. Now that would be a challenge of a different kind and sure my muscles would tell me all about it.

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Chin Wag

An artist who is also a friend came to visit today. It was great to be able to sit back and chin wag with a fellow artist that actually understands the language of art. I find a conversation with artist to be very motivating when it comes to my own work. I would suggest that this be true of most people?

Quote:
"The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance."

Friday, January 13, 2006

Browser Links

What is your preference when clicking on a webpage link; open a new page or perhaps the same page?

I use Firefox as my web browser and found it quite easy to open links in new tabs by clicking on addresses with the wheel of the mouse. I am on dial-up but it isn’t unusual for me to have four or more pages opening at once and this is without loosing sight of my original page. For this reason it doesn’t bother me how links work though do admit it bugs me when I can’t load up a page in a new tab because the action has been blocked by the owner’s web site.

As I have my own web site I would be interested in your own preference to help make my links to images from thumbnails more user friendly. To make this easy I have placed a simple poll on the right hand side of my blog. Please help me by voting.

Quote:

"When all is said and done, more is said than done."

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Holidays

I often wonder what artist all over the world do for their holidays, especially those that work in the art industry full time. Do you take a break from art itself or perhaps take the opportunity to try new creative ideas or perhaps dust off that painting that you haven‚'t had time to finish? Though not a full time artist, I myself have decided to pack my graphite pencils and paper and do what I should be doing more often, drawing! I am one of those people that tend to go into their own little world while drawing and should use it for relaxation. What better place than on a beach front caravan park which my husband and I are doing very soon.

Below is a pastel painting that I would like to share with you that I painted in 2005. I am happy to say it has been sold. I have been asked to paint this one again but when I painted the original it came from the heart. To paint a replica I knew I would be dissatisfied with the final results. It isn’t to say I will never paint this scene again but it will be done without the pressure of a commission attached and perhaps the client also disappointed because it isn’t what was expected.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Feed Readers

With some fine tuning and a good dose of learning I now have my Blog setup to make it more user friendly

Many sites now provide feeds of their content which you can subscribe to. This easy technology allows you to use software called a ‘feed reader’ which reads content from sites instead of visiting the site itself. Don’t be put off by XML or RSS - this is genuinely simple to do.

Why would I want to do it?
If you like to keep up to date with a number of sites, you can now do so more easily with a feed reader. You no longer have to go from site to site checking for new entries. This technology allows you to keep up to date with a large number of sites. Using a feed reader you can subscribe to a sites feed. You can now read the sites content in your feed reader and the site’s feed will automatically update. The feed reader will usually have a way to visually let you know when there is fresh content from a site you are subscribed to, so you can see at a glance which feeds you need to catch up on.

OK, so how do I do all this?

First, you’ll need a feed reader. You can install a feed reader on your computer so that you have access to it on your desktop, or if you prefer you can use an online feed reader

The following feed reader which is installed on my computer is what I use though there are many more to investigate.
http://www.feedreader.com/.

How do I recognise a site’s feed?

A lot of sites include a text link or button which leads to their feed. There are many different names and buttons in use to alert you to a site’s feed. You have probably seen these links or buttons but you may not have known what they were. A common button is a small orange button with white writing on it which might say one of the following:
RSS
XML
Webfeed
Feed
Site Feed
Subscribe
These buttons are usually links to a web address of the feed for that site or blog. That is the url you need to give to your ‘feed reader’ in order to subscribe.

It’s that easy?
Well, yes:
Choose a feed reader
Tell your feed reader where the feeds you like are
Read all your favourite sites without searching for links in your bookmarks.

Click on the thumbnail below to see a sample of mine. As you can see there is a right hand mouse click menu which offers more control over the feed reader.

Sunday, January 08, 2006

Christmas and New Year

Christmas and the New Year have passed with another month rapidly moving along. I do hope that your own festivities went off without a hitch.

For those that have never visited by website please do so at Arts & Stuff with Susan Borgas and let me know what you think. I am always open to new ideas.