New bits n bobs

I've been taking it easy for the past few weeks because this arm/hand/elbow has really been playing up and I find the painting action tires it out really quickly so I've mainly been out and about while we had some sun taking photos of bugs. I have a lot more respect for those critters now than I did before, having spent a lot of time staring down a macro lens at them! haha

My friend has been an absolute darling and installed photoshop CS4 for me so I'm trying to figure out how to use it... it's a lot like Corel PSP but everything is in a slightly different place and with different keyboard shortcuts too, which I'm having to learn...I'm also learning about filters and whatnot too! it's a whooole new world! I'm totally geeking out over the wonders of complicated technology! I watched a half hour long video on 'tutvid' about vectors this morning... and I know about as much about them now as I did then. Slight information overkill there, I think.

I know photographywise there are a lot of purists out there who are totally anti-manipulation/editing, and I'm in two minds about it - I confess I'm not overly keen on all these fancypants weirdy beardy colour effects that people seem to be going nuts for lately, but I find that the camera doesn't see the world the same way I do, and I generally edit my pictures to look the way I saw the original.. and also - what's the harm in taking a good picture and turning it into a better one - and turning a snap into art? I don't know why some photographers are so uppity and closed-minded about it. Yes it's slightly cheating, but you can push the boundaries further and that's what art is about in part, is it not?


However, here are the two latest paintings first (and as soon as I figure out how to put a slideshow on this thing, bugs etc shall appear!)


Acrylic - to be paired with that 'looming' piece of Times square

And I'm beginning to conquer my fear of buildings... OK not fear, but I've always been absolutely useless at painting buildings so have avoided them like the plague because I'm really anal and perfectionist when it comes to things looking like things.... forcing myself to loosen up and be expressionist is really hard - seeing a crooked line or slightly wrong perspective absolutely does my head in, but I'm learning (slowly) to leave it and that it doesn't really matter - it adds character and as long as it vaguely looks like what it's supposed to be the viewer won't complain too much (I hope)


mixed media

There's also a vaguely funny story to go with this one. After doing a few of the Mrs O'Reilly paintings and outlining things - I've discovered that I cannot stand outlining with a paintbrush - I am hopeless - everything comes out wibbly and blotchy and looks retarded and... well, basically - I hate doing it and I don't have the patience. So. I remembered seeing a kind of pen in my art shop - a paint pen - the kind of thing people use to write on those black menu boards, right? So I thought to myself 'self.. get yourself one of those and quit whinging'. So I went in. 'I'll have one of those in black please - one of the thinner ones'.

'Have you got any ID?' he says. The guy behind the counter. Who is floppy haired and about 17 and blatantly in some emo school band playing keyboard.

'excuse me?' (blinking)

'Have you got any ID?'

'for WHAT?!'

'you need to be over 18 to buy those'

firstly - wtf? it's a PEN??? secondly 'Are you kidding? Darling, I'm 23.. give me a couple of years and I could almost be your mother'

'Sorry... I need to see some ID'


Well it's a good job I keep my old uni library card... I mean.. ID for a PEN?!? I don't drive... I don't carry my passport around with me.. I hate ID.. I know I'm on the short side, but always having people think I'm under 18 isn't so much a novelty as an inconvenience. What am I gonna do with a pen that needs proof of age identification?

Stick em up!! - I have a pen and I'm not afraid to use it... don't test me man, or I WILL draw on you!

... jeesh.


A side note - some of Dad's friends came round to dinner the other day and got dragged down to the studio by the parentals, but they think that I have the elusive 'it'. How much of this is truth and how much of this is them being nice because they're Dad's friends, I don't know - but I'm hoping there is some vague truth in there that others agree with.