Mainland Escape and Prelude Panic

Whoa there! How fortunate it is to stumble upon thee, I bid you stall for a moment and read on. Some adventures mark my words are not for the faint of heart, lest an attack prey upon thee. I've been been stranded by the MacBrayne skuttle boat for the last two weeks with little more company than sheep! Here I took a picture for you..



Of course I couldn't understand the locals that well. So then, I've spent the duration of 3rd July to 16th July in an offshore region of my own country of Scotland, taking in the sights, enjoying the motorhome routine of moving out of everyone's way just to get anywhere, and being witness to 3 generations of my other halves' Clan just 'getting along'. Frightful. Let me chart for you the course of my journeys...

Anyways with my Panasonic Lumix in hand, I tried to document the way there from waiting out in the Train Station in Perth for an hour for our connecting booked train up to Inverness, documenting our stops along the way.

Inverness was another play-a-wander-round, visiting places like the Victorian Market, which I didn't happen to photograph -_-. Very cool, quaint and had little shops in streets under a taller ceiling skylight. This otherworld was a neccessary detour for our search was driven by the hunger in our bellies. I found myself a bacon san'wich which lacked vital qualities like a taste... and nutrition. It happened to taste exactly like the butties from Aberdeen on Three Kirk street, and they weren't very good either. Unlike those to appear in my life later on! Skadoosh!

Skipping to the interesting moments now:

From the wake our ferry left in the scottish waters, we could spot the grellow smog rising from the mainland, and take lungfuls of fresh sea air. Spotting porpoises off the port side!

Windfarms on Lewis, is this the beginning?

I hope it is the end. No more, leave not the taint of modernity on the soils of our fathers. These leeching endeavours ruin the place which I've come to respect. Visitors remember and beware, the place is as it is for a reason, and wandering there you must remember that it will be, without our influence. Take only pictures, and leave nothing but footprints in the sand of the wondrous ever changing beaches.

The skies to welcome us in Lewis were magnificent, magical and mysterious.



Cliff saw fit to deliver unto us a sunset unique, and we stopped upon the Valtos Viewpoint which I remember well from my first visit.



Motorhoming Missile - Skaplow!



I spent After much pestering I finally managed to get a cycle run organised and it was - Amazing. I don't think Violet really understood why I wanted to. To me cycling presented a thrill, of exploring Lewis in a greater, more free sense away from the suggestion and insistence of parent control. It was quicker than walking, again more of a thrill, an exhiliration, it was a true joy ride. Picking up pace on the downhills, channeling focus into the uphill struggles, ever wary that a car might appear from around the next bend, the scenery, the sky above and all the pedalling one could muster. I have to say I didn't quite manage it all the way up the Cliff hill, but next year I will. Alone if I have to... it will be done. I want to cycle more, take just a day and a bike and go to places I've never been driven to, to see things I'll never see otherwise. I want to place more thought on what to do while there, with specific weather for them, so that when that weather comes, we can match up the activity... get it done, experience Lewis fully.

I have to say, over 2 weeks there were some points where I felt lethargic, and I did just want the comfort of sitting down and doodling, or jotting down some thoughts. All the activity was a bit overwhelming, and the indecision and choice there was staggering... that often I could not decide.

Calanais - standing stones. These were inspirational for the Dougie Maclean Project I've put on the back burner for way too long. I seen him by the by at the Uig Gala Day, but felt too intimidated to actually go up and say hi properly. Blah... here's a photo. I think my lens got splashed! Oh noes!

I'd like to invest in a tripod, I nice one that'll strap to my back so I can be kitted out and look impressive. It's a vain, naive little wish stirring at the back of my if-only list. Just to get a better focus on these images... sigh.

During the Gala day I'm reminded was a spectucular aerial display from a helicopter pilots' nerve. He held out, and was able to guide this daredevil to the hilltop summit.






On our walk to a rocky beach to go tresaure hunting for washed up wonders I spotted this lagoon of sorts, snapping it up while I could, and hurrying to catch up again.

And what were we searching for? Firewood, for a grand fire upon the beach, with help from a little lighter fluid of course. Extra toasty. We even managed to set the sand on fire for moments. Then someone had the bright idea to channel sea water down into the blaze to put it out... not an action I'd like to see repeated, the stench which rose up was amazing.

Dig, Dug, Dang!

I've been staying with Violet's parents over this weekend, so I've been forced to work in pencil only for the time being. Speaking of which I should mention my appreciation for a couple I met on the train to Haymarket. One Colin and Elizabeth, who bought from me a couple of quick portraits I done of them as a souvenir of their trip. I hope the castle wasn't too draughty!

I feel more like an archeologist than a pencil artist at the moment. I've unearthed a number of sketchbooks which have remained dormant on the discarded level of my bookcase in the corner. They hold dates like '2005-06' on them. This is history. Not only history, but my history. The evolution of my ideas and the lines my hands crafted once.

A great many of them are unfinished. And this is where my work begins, and the point of this entry finds itself. I must learn to finish what I begin. This is the lesson I have seeking to learn. I lack the patience to see a task through to its' completion. I came up with a character who is the personification of such a trait. He is the antithesis of all that I am.

If you have ever reached that point in an endeavour, where the interest wanes and your attention begins to split under the pressure, then you know where I'm coming. If you want to deal with this, then you're going where I want to be. So I've been going through these sketchbooks, and adding the lines which need to be there to achieve things like clarity, and lose the ambiguity of diminished focus. To some part of my mind this has become blasphemous. 'What are you doing!? These are snapshots of how you were at that time! Why the hell are you ruining them!' I feel like some heretic in the halls of my own making, scrawling on the walls, 'WRONG!'

I'm not doing it to all the drawings, that would be counter effective. Only those which deserve that something, that drive. This has led me to the creation of a To Do Folder. So much more than a list, it contains the items in question. They're not prioritised yet, they have no order, I jump between them. I'm wondering if this is a way of working which suits me. Project hopping, like a frog on electrified skittles.

So far I have finished 0/16.... getting there!

Something to share with you

Enjoy.

Flying the flags, invisible banners

I thought I would mention as an update that I was working on the header of this blog, the frogboy image that I crafted for my 3rd year end of year presentation. Hopes you all like it. Working on the trasnparency of it so it blends in nicely.. getting there I feel, see how it works out with more tinkering.

More updating to come I feel.

Which day suits?

I've been thinking. Should I pick a day in the week in which I sit down and write a blog post, perhaps twice weekly at most. That way I'll have an appointed date in which I -know- I'm supposed to update this. Then updated outwith that, with important information I feel is neccessary?

So which days do you reckon it should be? Cast your votes now?

Monday / Friday?
Tuesday / Saturday?
Wednesday / Sunday?

Who will keep the dreams?

~

Not many of you read this, this I understand. The world would not make sense if you did. I'm writing this from atop an art paint box slash pop up easel conversion, riddled from lidl for who knows how much. I got it at christmas I think, and I've hardly even used it. Now I have to worry about overheating the paint inside as my laptop struggles through almost tangible perspiration, to continue working.

So in the time between posting before and posting now, I've moved from one room to another, one city to another, one bed to another, and into better company. But since then, I've still been trying to look for paying work.

To keep me otherwise busy I've been modelling possible assets for this coming
4th year. Utilising my maya skills to conjure new and untested works, shown here.



This is Cadeaux, a metaphorical musician and one of the cast of the tragically epic inner workings of my mind. Now when I say, she is a musician, I mean she plays,



A cello.

Both of these models are still in the rough stages, but it is nice to feel like I'm motivating myself into using Maya for personal use. Once you get over the thought processes for creating what you see in your mind, it really can become quite enjoyable. The only thing I could compare this to is driving, even though I can't and never really have.

It would be a novelty to be able to animate Cadeaux playing the Cello, sometime during this summer, all going well.

I've been reading and following a book called the Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. It has an interesting creative endeavour and as I delve farther into, I would probably recommend it to any creator of any kind. I bought the book for Violet for her christmas, and it's taken until now for us both to seriously consider following it. I borrowed a copy from my university library for the moment, so any abertayers can find it there, once I return it!

The morning pages is a great way of kick starting the old kanoodle, and I end up writing down creatively in the latter matters of writing. Morning pages, for reference, are longhand thought streams you just write. Simply just write what comes into your head. Whatever is bothering you, or ailing you. Even just simple matters can be written out. It's a great way for clearing the mind, try it out. 3 pages, each morning.

Also today I watched the latter part of an inspiring film called Dreamkeeper incorporating a number of folklore, along with a moral tale of re-inventing the self. Walking the red road. Taking the journey. Self sacrifice. Telling stories, and the purpose thereof. It's about life. It's worth watching.

I keep getting the itch to paint again...

Value of Time, Worth and Money

It's already going on 2am, and it has certainly been a long day, but I thought I could punch in some blog time all the same. I was already in the car and traversing town before I'd properly woken up. By the moment of me rising from bed, I was already descending the stairs and into the seven seated courier to my latest 'job'. I've in honesty been putting it off, for one because of the weather and two to recover from something. Hands felt stiff and sore for a bit, but that's eased off now.

In the interim period however, I fired up maya and I've been modelled a test mesh for a character Cadeaux, whom will be one of the protagonists in future DoaM animations. One of the few female characters to feature so far! Modelling takes on a different nature when things run smoothly and things seem to work out, but I know I'm soon going to leave my comfort zone of familiar polygonal topology and I'll have to experiment with Maya's hair system. Feeling it'll be worthwhile though.

I'll post up test renders soon.

I've been thinking more on the point of earning money. Time as we know is said to equate metaphorically to money. This as Lakoff states is relected in our culture's system of paying employees by the hour. By this very pattern we can emerge at the comclusion that time is inherently valuable. However, everyone has time, not everyone has money. So the two 'matters' aren't an automatic translation, sadly. However if we invest our time, it may prove beneficial in finding a job...

I'm feeling these odd jobs are a method of building character and I'm learning alot about the way I think and how it applies to more areas than just my art. I have a tendency to reach the end of something, a task, a creation or a period of time and I'm reluctant always to finish whatever that might be in context. It always leaves me less than 'what could have been.' I'm yet to figure out, why this is, and why it remains ever prevalent in all that I do.

I could feel my drive depleting as I got into the latter stages of weeding today. I kept purposefully missing spotted weeds thinking, ah well she's not going to mind one or two remaining. It got to the point where I reached a plateau of expectation. What I thought was expected of me, and what I expected the reactions of my efforts to be. As it were, I was paid before I had finished and this I felt became double edged. I knew I could walk away at any point thereafter (within reason) but I felt then obligated to earn the money given. I tried to guage how much that amount of money would cover in what actions I then undertook.

More later I guess, I want to go read the Artist's Way.~

Working by Day, 'Real' Work by Night

So my life is as thus. Waking to the sound of my father arranging and seemingly re-arranging things around 'my' room, all the while huffing and sighing in a regular pattern regardless of what it is he is doing. Summoned over the phone by my mother to agree to paid work she's managed to organise for me, outwith my knowledge. So far it's been painting her fence, with a rather nifty power spray thing, and a whole lot of gardening re-discovering beneath a jungle of weeds and grass. Today is the back garden of the same allotted owner, and I'm timidly looking forward to this job ending. And then it's on to washing cars!

These fill my daylight hours. By night, I'm designing band logos and putting in some solid hours into playing the Xbox 360 while I have the chance. So far my playlist includes Spiderman 3, GTA IV and Lost Oddyssey. Which are fun, intriguing and highly beautiful yet lacking in real engagement yet, respectfully.

This is really making me consider the nature of the career I'm wandering into. Where my true interests at the moment are being reserved for later hours, and where my usual skillset isn't finding me the money I require. I suppose finding a job is easier if you're not specifically offering a particular service and are willing to work under the title of Lackey. I guess it's not half bad to be inexperienced and be learning new skills -while- you're being paid to do so. I know how to more effectively use a garden fork to better effect on soil and weeds, much to the protest of my palms. I really should have considering bringing old clothes, but who could have foreseen my mother's dexterity in finding work like that?

What is my time really worth either way? What is the value of time itself? It's rather dependant upon the one seeking your time, in context time is variable.

So it is on to battle dogs and rabbits in a bid to free a garden path from the onslaught of rabid dandelion spores! Yarrghh! Armed with a spade, and curved knife, gardening gauntlets and a fortitude to outlast weed kind. Suffer the slings and stench of the uprooted tyranny and reclaim the peace of a well kept garden, all to appease the neighbouring citizens disgust, from over yonder fences.



Oh and here is the logo I'm currently attempting to make legible, if any of you can read this lemme know what you think it is meant to say... I'm cautious about the ambigram-ality of it, and whether effective clarity is suffering. While the design itself looks quite cool, I can't tell if it is delivering the right message at the moment. However this is design 1 of hopefully many.

Also Tidan, got any more work on your minotaur yet!? Love to see it. :P