Magnolias - Canopy

 

This Magnolia painting was the original Canopy type painting. Unfortunately framed in budget framing but  beautiful none the less.

Another Finished Image - Canopy

I have just created another of the canopy images. These started titled Bali but to be true to what they represent I am calling them Canopy 1, 2, 3 etc. The others are not yet completely finished so this is now Canopy1.

Weekend Play On Words

Maybe A Self Publish

I am also concidering a self publish as a first trial.

Open publication - Free publishing - More ruskin gallery

Researching Book Mechanics

So today I thought I would look at how a children's book would get put together. I don't want to get suckered in to buying software to create one so I downloaded the open source software called Scribus. you can get it here. Its a page layout software and I'm told it does all the right stuff layout wise. The other software you could use would be OpenOffice.org which I always install on new computers, as its handy as bro'. The next thing is to look at how book mechanics works. A book is not just illustrations and words. There is a pace to how a book operates and it is detailed in various pages across the internet. Tara Lazar has got some good technical details on her blog. I suggest if you want to write a kids book you have a good look at what she has to say. The main thing of interest for me was the number of pages an average kids book has and how many illustrations you have to do to fill them.

I also am looking at stories of other illustrators. This documentary on You Tube was most interesting as it unveiled a lot of techniques like using a sketchbook the same size as the finished book.

Tilting At Windmills

Poor Donald Trump has been very upset about Wind Farms lately. He has a point about their effect on birds but maybe he needs to concider his hotels and golf courses displace lots of animals as well. I did this little cartoon to propose a sollution to his stress.

Megaupload Cat

I have been following the trials and tribulations of the Megaupload case and decided to do this.

From Weed To Wonder

These Bluebells were all over the yard and got treated like a weed instead of a lovely flowering plant. So I gathered them all up and put them in this pot last year. Now they are in full bloom greeting people at our front door. Visitors ask where did you buy them.

Possible Zodiac Bookmarks

It's August and I have been doing more digital illustrations. Here is a Zodiac bookmark design. Sorry about the poetry, it's my first attempt.

An Image From Country Cat

Unfinished And Kicking Myself

4 years ago I set about creating illustrations for free, for a book Lynda Nash had asked me to collaborate on. The files are here and there in different hard drives but...I don't think I am going to get around to finishing it. Too many projects that are paying are getting in the way. If things get quieter I will need to kick myself into action to finish this. I like what I have done so far.

The Chickens Demise

Speaks for itself really. Just a doodle I cleaned up.

Some Paintings Never Make It.

 

This one was very over worked by the time I finished with it. I am keeping it to one side. Maybe I will get around to reusing parts of it in another painting but unfortunately for now it gets shelved. Pity I was using several new types of plastic in this one. I have been collecting coffee bags from work and I used some shopping bag plastic in layers to get different surfaces.

Mixed Flowers

I have been inspired by Gustav Klimt and his use of colour as well as his depiction of flowers in his art. Like those seen in the portrait of Adele-Bloch Bauer. A number of the drawings and smaller pieces I have worked on reflect that. My plan is to create much larger versions of this plastic painting.

Another Plastic Painting Ready For Framing

This is the latest painting now finished. I based this one on a small drawing of poppies I blew up in Gimp. I selected smaller areas to use as inspiration for this larger piece. I have some other areas of the same drawing that I will also be turning into these larger Plastic artworks.