What happens in your life that causes you to be surprised? I have a friend who told me that no one is blind-sided. I also have a friend who tells me: 'The greatest lies we tell are the ones we tell ourselves'. It is easy to filter in a certain kind of lie that support these ideologies. I have a very valued friend who tells me that we live in an upside-down world. What is real? What is upside-down? Draw what you see. draw what you know. Be authentic. Peace.
Felt inspired by this week's drawing prompt. Went with a Star Trek scene. Earth Spacedock from the movies always leaves me in awe. Tried to show it with its doors opening so you could see there is an inside. The starship's scale and perspective are off, but that is meh.
Sleep well David Bowie, and thanks for all the inspiration! Saw this comment on one of Iggy Pop’s music videos via YouTube and had to create something based around it, spelling mistakes and all...
To be perfectly honest, the latest lockdown announcement here in Scotland was bound to influence my art in some form or another...
Needless to say this is going to be one looooong winter, one that’ll have me blasting “Here Comes The Sun” by The Beatles once it ends, or at the very least stabilises.
I had a rock tumbler as a child and really enjoyed it. When my youngest was a child we bought her one. She was eager to enjoy it too, but somewhere after starting on that path, we lost track and it everything inside turned into a solid mass. We tossed it and forgot about it. On a recent beach trip, I collected handfuls of rocks, as I am always likely to do, and, upon return, remembered how I loved my childhood rock tumbler. I immediately researched, ordered and eagerly anticipated its delivery. Of course, with Amazon Prime, that was only a couple day’s wait. As soon as I unboxed it I thought “what am I doing?” I have neither time, nor space for yet another hobby. I thought “what will I DO with a pile of polished, pretty rocks?” I would gather them in my hands and feel their silky smoothness. I would likely gather them in some beautiful glass bowl and…then what? I have toddler grand kids frequently at my home. They put small colorful things in their mouths and up their noses and feed them to the dogs regularly. And I don’t even have a single space to display a bog bowl of pretty rocks. So I quickly decided “I’m Returning the Rock Tumbler” and will, for NOW, stick to painting them when the mood strikes.
Lino cut print over pastel. The story goes: The bird fell in love with the whale the first time she saw him break through the ocean’s surface, sunlight dancing on his back. From high above, she sang to him, and deep below, he answered with a song as old as the tides.
She longed to dive, to join him in the rolling blue. He wished to rise, to fly beside her in the endless sky. But air and water would not trade places.
So each day, at dawn and dusk, they met at the edge of their worlds—she on the wind, he in the waves—singing a love song carried by the breeze and the tide, never together but never apart.
Color Pencil over Gesture. It was a contemplative day in the art classroom. Students were drawing self portraits and I had time to join them. Our discussion was on 'Reflection'. The image we see of ourselves in the mirror is not what people see when they look at us. They see the reverse. The mole on my cheek is on the other side of my face, if you were to look at me in person. This leads to discussions of perception and reality. It can be fun and humbling. We cannot live only by sight. We must have a faith of some sort. This reminds me of the Michael Feldman Public Radio Program called: "Whad'Ya Know?" It opens with the audience shouting: "Whad'd Ya Know?" and Michael replying: "Not Much! You?". We do not know much, I think, as much as we like to pretend that we think we do.
Being autistic and neurodivergent means I’m liable to mishear things quite a bit, especially when watching films where the sound mixing is utter shite (thanks sensory differences!). On that note, there’s a bit towards the end of Alien where Parker shouts “get out of the room” which I always interpreted as “get ready to roll” for years on end. Only recently did I realise how wrong I was!
Considering it was the final act of the film, I guess I can’t be blamed for assuming as such, right? If you know, you know as they say...
Sometimes, a good goodbye is also a fresh hello.
As we wrapped up our "Sacred Spaces" paintings, I asked our student teacher to design a one-day project—something playful, earthy, and engaging to ease the class into her care. She brought mud. Literally.
Using mud and simple stencils, students pressed images—flowers, insects, wings—onto the sidewalk behind our school. There's something timeless about making marks with the ground itself. It felt ancient and immediate at the same time.
These prints won’t last long, but maybe that’s the point. A fleeting image, a shared laugh, a new hand guiding the next phase of learning.
Art is about making marks. Not all of them need to be permanent.
A big fan of the Star Trek universe and was especially impressed with the final run of Picard. This is the new Enterprise in action, heavily damaged but winning a battle against a Klingon Bird of Prey. I wanted a unique angle and decided to flip the starship upside down. It's space; why not. Digitally painted in Rebelle 6 with watercolors, pen, and oil brushes, and meant to have a classic/watercolor feel. This is not AI nor is any part of this AI.
Was itching to play along with the “Draw Me A Robot” challenge for a while now!
Not much I can say about this, pretty spontaneous to say the least...
Definitely wanted to add some sort of low fidelity edge to things though.
I often have weird dreams that inspire my artwork, and that one I had last night where I took over a jungle (or was it a forest? I don’t know) sure got me inspired.
