Ooops....

I am completely rubbish at keeping blogs up to date!

Creativity has been occuring, just not at the scale I'd like. Photoshop/computer has been acting up recently which has been driving me crazy and to tears in equal measures. Despite this, small moments of activity have got some pleasing results.

Recent projects include oil painting. I got myself some water soluble oils a while ago, as well as some small 8cm squared canvases, perfect for starting out and getting a feel for the medium again. I must say I'm really enjoying painting again - must learn patience, I tend to try and "finish" a piece in one evening regardless of its size (some 8" square canvas board was also acquired). Square seems to be a nice shape too, not sure why but I find it easier to work on. To try and practise I've been asking friends to name some album covers they like. This tends to be a good start as it doesn't mean they're thinking there's an end product, it's just a random question. The resulting painting for Pink Floyd's "Atom Heart Mother" (Amazon.co.uk link here) was a bit of a surprise as I hadn't expected it to turn out as nicely as it did, even if I do say so myself.

Once I've let all the existing pieces dry a little I'll take photos and add them.

Website - no progress since last I'm afraid. It's in the pipeline, but it's harder to motivate the little free time available to redoing something that is effectively done (just not to the coding I'd like). It's on my list of things to do, so eventually there will be more to tell.

Another thing on my agenda is logo design! This started as a friend asking if I could do some ideas for a new logo for a band he knows. "Ok" I thought, why not, good practise! Did a few little designs quickly to give a bit of a suggested range of styles on only one font as I had little idea about the design they were after so easiest way to get feedback is see what they like of a suggested pallet. Got their feedback - and realised this is a slightly bigger project than anticipated. They're a signed band, not major - yet! A tour in America is due. "Hmm" was my next thought. Rather than a fun little logo for a few friends in a garage somewhere, this evolved into a proper band hoping to use it around the world! Legal minefield when I started reading up on copyright regarding the use of images and fonts. Royalty free images are generally ok for small work, but a big no-no for logos, and font work isn't much better! Have now set myself the task to read up on law & design, as well as now having to work on a logo using entirely my own creative endevours rather than just some images/fonts edited in photoshop. Eeep!

Lastly, I should mention the 365days project I've joined on Flickr. Basically, it's an idea where you take a self portrait (be it your shadow, a portrait, a photo of your hand, etc - just as long as it's YOUR composition and YOUR picture of YOU) every day for a year, edited if wanted, and uploaded. Having a general dislike for myself in photos, this was a challenge at first, but it's now become something fun. Even the bad photo days have Photoshop to rescue them, and I'm really liking the resulting portfolio of images - available here on Flickr. I highly recommend the project to anyone, even if you do your own take on it. It's a nice little way to ensure something creative is set for every day.

A cold week followed by Bacon

This week, I have mostly been suffering from a cold.   It's been exhausting, I've wanted to play on Photoshop as the next issue of PSC came in, plus I'd realised Freewebs were being idiots so needed to switch web hosts which meant I wanted to sit on the computer trying to iron out more things on the site.  None  of this happened, as by the time I got home I pretty much flopped into the couch with a blanket to rest.

Yesterday was a little different, and involved a trip to the Tate Britain with friends to see the Francis Bacon exhibition.  This did the job and inspired me to get myself in gear, and so lots of money was spent on a Bacon book and another Design book to pour over. 

Been spending the morning uploading photos, so no progress on PS or the web site yet, but I did manage to make a very messy mess with oil pastels on canvas, resulting in a self portrait that isn't really anything like me, but I like it anyway.

Life 1, Photoshop 0

Bah. I've not had the chance to really get down to some PS for a few days now.  Destractions have included creative endevours of a regular type (pen and paper... the shock!) as well as a large dose of life getting in the way, but it's not been forgotten.

The artwork 'offline' counts, I think.  I'm trying to do a taster diploma course in Graphic Design to get a feel for the whole thing, see if I'm comfortable following it further in life or if PS should remain as more of an enjoyable hobby.  I'm hoping the former, but we'll see. Long way to go yet.  My first "homework" is to practise quick drawing by making sketches from a TV programme.... at least 5-8 in an episode.  Am therefore trying to find something that lasts longer than 30mins and doesn't always show people on screen... my most awkward of sketching moments!  I've so far got it to about 3, I get distracted by the show and the realisation that my sketch looks absolutely awful and requires a heck of a lot of cross hatching to cover up the imperfections.  Still, I'm going to try and keep it all whether it's good or bad so hopefully I'll see progress soon.