Experimental Soldier

This is not some futuristic film but rather me just trying things out. Not sure whether it works but at is stage in my development I don't think that matters. It is all about making neurones connect and the more you do it the more they connect until hopefully one day something new and interesting is born. Well at least I am try something new, for me at least, so that it good. One final thing, I started this whilst watching the Disney film Band5lam - now I have no idea if this had any effect on me but it did make me want to create this. Pick any meaning out of that if you can.

Sent from my iPad

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Soldier

This was inspired by a photo of a traumatised veteran from the Afghan war. I hope it shows the silent power of the man trying to come to terms with some unknown circumstance.

Sent from my iPad

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Bleak House women

I'm watching the Bleak House DVD. I am not sure which character inspired this but here she is - my Bleak House woman.

Sent from my iPad

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Going a little off the rails

I have just come back from a great day in Nottingham consuming art - metaphorically rather than literally - and have felt the creative juices start to flow again,  So I have returned to one of my favourite subjects - Lady Gaga.  I have just been playing around again with quick sketching and come up with this.  I suspect there are a whole series of influences in their but whatever!  I find it interesting - I think??
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Sierra Nevarda

It is always very strange how things come together. I have just bought a new book entitled - 'The hidden art of designers, illustrators and creatives'. This is a book based on the sketch books of the afore mentioned people. It is a fascinating insight to the strange and wonderful world within their respective minds. One of the sketch books was full of quick landscape drawings done with pen and ink. It inspired me to create this based on an Ansal Adams photograph. I find it really refreshing to just to quickly sketch out something like this.

Sent from my iPad

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Ed Milliband - what a start

Well I know honeymoons are getting shorter but you have to have a lot of sympathy for Ed Milliband.  I have no idea how he will turn out as the new party leader and the reality is that no one else does either.  This has not stopped whole sections of the press rubbishing him from the moment he was elected.

If this were not enough he has a disgruntled elder brother David Milliband to consider.   It is immaterial whether David would have been the better leader, this also has a lot of question marks hanging over it too, he should do the decent thing and resign from politics and find something else to do.  As long as he is there he is going to be a figurehead around which all the disgruntled MPs can gather.  I also suspect that this might be the best course of action as far as his  personal relations with his brother are concerned.  Nothing good will come of his staying put, let alone getting into the shadow cabinet.

As for the policies that Ed Milliband will put forward who knows how they will work out.   He doesn't have to rush things over the next year either as the government will become very unpopular by itself.   The best thing for Labour is to play a long game and assume that this parliament will last a full five years.   They should reject any short term love in with disaffected Lib Dems and try and work out how they will govern post 2015.  There are going to be a whole series of pit falls that Labour is going to have to negotiates themselves, not least if the public sector unions try and flex their muscle.  This might seem sensible for the unions concerned but for Labour it will be a death knell as it will only amplify the fact that Ed Milliband was elected by the union's votes.

So it is going to be hugely difficult for Labour over the next 5 years but it vital to the country that we have a viable opposition.   Should this not be the case then maybe Ed Milliband is Gordon Brown mark 2 or worse Michael Foot and Labour will have to start thinking about governing in the mid to late 2020s.  Now that is a freighting thought.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Perhaps I should let the water colour dry??

Perhaps I might have been just a little hasty when castigating my ability to create something worthwhile with water colour.  Perhaps.   One of the problems I have with all this art stuff is that I have no terms of reference against which to judge things.   The water colour is a case in point.   I have no idea how long it will take the painting to dry and then what will be the result.  This will only come with experience, time and perhaps professional help (this will not be the first time that I have needed professional help!)   I suppose in the mean time I will just have to continue banging my head against a brick wall until I manage to beat something into it - not sure how many metaphors I mixed there.   Anyway, I just have to keep going. 
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Another disaster session with water colours

I really am not very skilled at using watt colours at the moment. I just don't seem to be able control the flow of paints - I'm afraid to say it is all a bit alien to me. I have got so frustrated that I have gone back to the iPad for some solace and punched out this quick water colouresque drawing. Now I can draw hares well enough but I just can't paint them using water colours. The good news is that my art class starts at the end of this week and so I would hope that by the end of that course I will have a much better understanding and control of the water colour process.

Sent from my iPad

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Hares and Rabbits

I had a great day today at my good friend David's coffee morning for Macmillan Cancer Relief.   It also gave me a chance just to see how artists work.  I am fascinated by other people's work spaces and this morning allowed me to explore this mild passion of mine.  It really is amazing to see how different people arrange there lives.   It was also inspiring to see so much creativity on display and also rather humbling.  All in all a great day out.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Hare

Sent from my iPad

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Hares

Sent from my iPad

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Man in snow

Sent from my iPad

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Not sure whether I am happy with this or not.

This is based on the famous Dorotheia Lange image from the Great Depression and I am not sure I did it justice at all.  Still it is a measure of how far I have come that I am not satisfied with quite a good drawing.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Why? Why? Why?

I am sure there are many reasons why you would want a 200 mega pixel camera but at the moment I can't think of any.  So my jaw dropped when I read that Hasselblad are developing such a camera. In truth, of course, this isn't a 200 mega pixel camera but cleaver use of software that combines four 50 mega pixel image together.  I just don't understand why you would want to do such a thing - this makes me think of digital zoom which is fatuous I know but the whole concept makes no sense to me.   However, as I am never likely to but such a camera I guess Hasselblad won't be too worried.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Developing a style

Another faulting step forward.  I have started to draw more than just the face.  I still have a long way to go before I am happy with what I am producing but I have to say I am making progress.  

I now date the sketches that I make, not for any vain glory but rather as a means of judging the progress or lack of it I am making.  I only started this in September so it far too early to say how successful this is in helping me develop.  However, the skills I have started to develop over the past month are;  first - start to make the drawing a true likeness ( this is a prerequisite for a portrait and is a difficult skill to master!);  second - to add some depth to the drawing - to give the illusion that drawing is more than a selection of graphite marks on a piece of paper.

One final thing.  To my great surprise I have discovered that I really enjoy the creation of a real object - something you can touch and smell rather than a virtual object.  Now this may seem somewhat strange given that I also like the use of digital post production.  But this is not the end of the production as I then make a print which is what I feel is the final object.  God I am series of contradictions - much the same as every other person on the planet - long may it be so.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

I have a problem with Brushes

I do seem to have a problem with brushes - well more than one but I think the others may well be addressed if I could overcome the main problem. So what is this problem? I just can't concentrate the way I appear to be able to do so when using paper and pencil etc. However, with brushes I find the maximum time I can give a drawing is 20 minutes. After that I loose interest. I can't say that I am overly bothered by this but it's does mean that anything I produce is, at best, a sketch. However, this being said I love sketching wi brushes and so I don't feel too bad by this - just a little frustrated at times. I'll live with that.

Sent from my iPad

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Kingfisher

Sent from my iPad

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Fallow deer

I am trying out my iPad as a sketch pad. When I am outside I normally sketch standing up. I have no great artistic reason for this - it is just the way I like to things. So the last couple of sketches were just that - quick snap shots standing up.

Sent from my iPad

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Hare

Sent from my iPad

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Final drawing of Pete Rose

For tonight but certainly not the last one ever

Sent from my iPad

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Pete Rose diving into third base

Sent from my iPad

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Pete Rose

This is the first of series of sketches I am making of a photograph of one of the most infamous baseball stars Pete Rose. Now Rose was some one who was about long before I became interested in the game but from everything I have read he played the game to the full and but for his gambling problems would by now be hailed by Major League Baseball as one of the greats. Sadly this is never likely to happen and so may well join some of the greatest players never to go to Copperstown. I suspect that Barry Bonds will join him. This is just so sad.

Sent from my iPad

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

I'm Henry the eigtph I am

One of the advantages of working with a digital image is that you can correct mistakes you may have made.  I know I have already written about this but it does allow for more experimentation as well as the afore mentioned correction fluid.
 

Henry is a case in point.  The original drawing was far too long in the face.  Now I could have redrawn - something I may well do anyway - but before I did that I scrubbed it through Photoshop.  Suddenly I was very quickly able to correct the error in my proportions.  However, I was also able to learn about the fault, to see just how far out I was and how I might correct it in the future.  An interesting learning aside as well as covering my embarrassments.

As for Henry himself I suspect he is one of the most recognisable faces in the world which isn't bad considering he has been dead for nearly 500 years.  Of course, for this, he has Hans Holbein  to thank.  My attempt at copying Holbein's genius is a very pale imitation.  Of course it does make you wonder what such artists would have made of the latest digital technologies?  This is a question we will never know the answer to.

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Variations on the Long Goodbye

As a new artist (well I can't think of better noun) one of the frustration I have felt is that when produce some work in the real world there is no Undue button.  Of course the more you draw the more you realise that this has its advantages as well but I still find myself looking for the undue button.  Clearly I have spent far too much time working with computers!

An off shot of this is that it can be very difficult to try new ideas without recreating the drawing.   However, moving a drawing from the real to the virtual world means that you can experiment to your hearts content.  The attached illustrates this.   Having moved the drawing into the digital realm it is filtered by the software it passes through - each adds its own flavour until you reach Photoshop.  Here I find the options are almost limitless and at times I really don't know which I like best.  No problem.  A few right clicks and you can keep copies of the variations as here.  I really don't know which I like best.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Unknown visions

Once you start to let your imagination go it does take you in some very strange directions.  I have spent most of the day drawing, and failing, Lady Gaga from the magzine shoot in I-D.  I really do not think I have succeed in producing a drawing that I am satisfied with.  However, once it has been through my iPhone and Photoshop something much more interesting has been produced.

Now if other people find these interested or not would be nice but to be quite honest I am not that concerned.  They are so different to what I was producing just a few days ago and you have to wonder at how serendipity works or is it something more complicated?  I has no idea but I am amazed that I have forgotten about the ARPS disappointment.  In fact the ARPS submission seems so last year or perhaps another life?  I don't know why this is but I suspect it might have something to do with restrictions being placed on me - my god I have lived 30 years with restrictions and now I am trying to forget those dark days behind.  The future is bright and I don't think it is orange.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Bloody IPAD!!!!

After taking 5 hours to back up - a new record!  Now I went to install the update for the iPad software and the whole thing crashed.  So now I have to restore from the back up - goodness only knows how long this will take.   All I can say is that I hope the battery lasts.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

It makes me scream

Yesterday was a good day today seems to be a little different.  I just couldn't get the drawing right.  Fortunately I have been able to recover it somewhat by post production in Photoshop.  Still it just makes scream.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Turning the virtual into actual - Animal Tryptych

I know I have bee in my bonnet about this but I do feel that an awful lot of digital content will, in time, be lost for numerous reasons.  This is why I am trying to keep a real record/copy of some of the things I am producing.  This is taking the form of books and prints.  Now the things may be of no value to anyone other than me but they still need to be saved in a form that is not at the whim of changes in format/compatibility etc.  I am of the generation that remembers laser disk, Betamax or more recently HD DVD.  Now I am not saying that TIFF, JPEG or RAW files will go that way in the near future but one day?   

I am now starting to print my digital art and keep that in a scrap book.  No doubt in the near future I will produce a book for the same reason.   It is wonderful to view such things on a screen but it doesn't replace the joy of seeing something in the real world.

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Real and Digital Art - just where does iPhoneography end?

Well where does one end and the other begin?   I have no answer to this but at the moment I love the effect I can get from combining the two.  This drawing of Lady Gaga was created in the real world and then brought into the digital world by my iPhone.  I know I have said this before but the iPhone camera is really powerful - not because of its spec. but rather because of its lack of anything resembling a modern.  This adds inaccuracies that to my eye really enhances the drawing.

So once captured by the iPhone the resultant photograph is then enhanced/edited/modified?  in photoshop.  So out of this process something new is created.   Now I know this is nothing new but I feel it is a really makes an interesting drawing or is it painting or photograph?   If you start to think about these things then you realise that we are reaching a point, perhaps have long past the point, where it is meaningless to debate where one ends and the other starts.  Whatever the answer I like the result.

One final thing.  I have made Gaga look at lot more of a dominatrix than she ever is or appears to be.  However, if it is unclear what is and what is not a photograph this is nothing when trying to pin down the 'real' Gaga.  Again a pointless task.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Dr Who

What a challenge.  Matt Smith has one of those faces that may well help him to become a great actor but I find it very difficult to draw.  Karen Gillan, in contrast, was a lot easier to draw.   Now I am not claiming that either is good but they do show significant improvement over the work I was producing a few weeks ago.  As I have only been seriously trying to draw for three months I am pleased with the progress.  However, I am very aware that I have a long way to go.

One final thing.  I found it really interesting to post produce both digital images taken with my iPhone.   So it is an interesting question as to whether these are iPhoneographs or drawings or both or neither.  In the end I don't care as I like the result.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Hard day's work with the pencil

I've had a busy day with the pencil and I have to say it has been worth it as my portraits are getting much better.  It isn't the same with the watercolour though.   I really am struggling to make any head way with this.   At one stage I was very disappointed with this.  Then I reflected on this and few facts made me feel a whole lot better.  The first is that I have only made half a dozen water colour paintings in my life.  Now if I was a prodigy this might be all I needed but I am not so it is hardly surprising about the limited progress.

The second fact is connected with the first.   It has taken me 3 months of  almost daily practice to make my drawings to start to look half decent.   If I were to commit this amount of time to water colour then hopefully I would be a whole lot better.

The third fact is that drawing and water colour is a different discipline.  This makes me sound like an expert, which I am not, but there is a different skill set between the two as well as different material.   It takes time to master this and as I have said before I just haven't devoted enough time to water colour.

Have reflected on all this one over riding fact is clear.  The more you practice the better you get.  Nothing like stating the obvious!  Because of this I have decided to put the water colour work on the back burner until I attend my drawing and painting course in a couple of weeks.   This should provide me with a firm foundation upon which to build my water colour career.  Conversely it may well prove that I may have no talent in this field at all.  I doubt that.

Now if only I felt a lot better in myself then things would be really humming along.   I hope over the next few days this will change - lets hope. 
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Laughter

I have been working over the last week or so in the real world - sketching and water colours (boy have a lot to learn about water colours!). So I thought it would be change to try and put some of the lessons I have learnt into the digital domain. So here is a stab at laughter.

Sent from my iPad

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Well I appear to have caught a cold as a result of my day at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.  Nothing too serious I am glad to say but I do feel under the weather a little at the moment.  I'll recover in the next day or so.  However, it doe give me time to catch up with the back log of work I have created in the past few days. 
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Drawing Days

Not feeling 100% today so I decided to take it easy and just do some drawing with real materials.  As usual mixed bunch - frustrating but very satisfying.  I hope tomorrow I'll be firing on all cylinders again.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Drawing Days

Not feeling 100% today so I decided to take it easy and just do some drawing with real materials.  As usual mixed bunch - frustrating but very satisfying.  I hope tomorrow I'll be firing on all cylinders again.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Linda 4a

Lessons learnt I have abandoned Linda 3.  The day away has helped me to sort out some of the problems with 3 and so have embarked on Linda 4.  She is another step forward and she is starting to look like a real human being.   

By keeping this record it is really helping to develop and hone what skills I might have.  I am finding this really challenging and yet deeply rewarding.  Long may this be the case. 
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

What a strange reaction - No ARPS

Well I had a wonderful day at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park - great art mixed with a good cardiovascular work out - and then a good lunch - what more could you wish for.   Then this morning I found out that my submission for an ARPS had been rejected.  Now I have been working on this on and off for three years and at one time it was a big part of my life.  Now, however, it is not and I am surprised and I have to say relieved that my reaction is one of supreme indifference.  I am not sure why this but I have a number of suspicions , all to do with the fact that I have moved on.

I no longer hanker for recognition by means of letters after my name.  I am enjoying myself doing what I do and frankly if that isn't good enough for this award or that competition then so be it - life is too short to worry about such small matters.  You move on.   If this is the reason then I am really proud of my self as it would mean that I have got a lot more balance into my life.  However, it could be over the next few days I become really angry, somehow I don't thing this is going to happen. 
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

One final session today

Well I'm out tomorrow so I won't be able to do anything on Linda.  This is not a bad thing as I feel a little distance will help matters.  So this is the last Linda for a day or so.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Another hour or so - things are shaping up a little more

It really is useful to take your time with these things.  I've now worked on Linda for another or so and things are starting to come together.  This doesn't mean I am happy with what I have done but I have yet to develop the cold blooded skill of junking whole sections of a painting - there is far too much work and emotional attachment with these things.  However, it will come - after all I am ruthless with my photographs.  But not just yet.

It really is a useful learning process to complete another section and then look back on what you have done.   This encourages an iterative approach and allows plenty of time to reflect on how things are going and change things, hopefully for the better.  This really is the best way to learn, do, reflect, identify improvements and do again.  I seem to remember talking about such matters when I was a trainer - may that was a long time ago!

Anyway she is coming along - not sure where to but that is part of the fun.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Learning another lesson.

I have a had a morning to reflect on the painting I produced.  Perhaps a morning is not enough but there we are.  Anyway, as a result of the period of reflection I have come to one obvious and yet hidden truth.  There is no rush, take your time and really look at what you are painting.  So with this in mind I am embarking on Linda no 3.  It has taken over an hour to get this far, and the truth all I have done is laid down the foundations.  I intend to take my time with Linda No 3.

On top of the revelation that there is no time limit I have also looked at the composition of Linda 2 and tried to identify where I have gone wrong.   I have picked up up points that I need to work on and hopefully they have been improved in Linda no 3.   I have every confidence that this will not be the last Linda.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

A second go - something better something's not so

So I have tried a second stab at Linda.  Some of the things are better, it certainly looks more like Linda, however something is still not right.   This gives me something more to work at.  This painting is progress, the application of lessons learnt from the previous attempt and new skills acquired.   There are many mistakes to correct and learn from.

Progress is good but it is darn hard work - which brings its own rewards.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

So now the election begins

It is decision time for the Labour party - just who do they want for their new leader. It probably will be major or minor Milliband and I haven't got a clue, or a vote, as to who it will be. However, I do find it rather rich of newspapers to criticise the Labour party for not working out why they lost the last election. It is only 3 months and most of the party are still in denial, thinking that the coalition will collapse and they will be quickly ushered back into power. This doesn't seem likely and so it will take Labour time to work out what they stand for. Perhaps it is for a more socialist future, perhaps more social democratic - I don't think anyone knows. The only thing is certain is that it will take time and fortunately that is what Labour has.

So let labour elect their new leader. Don't expect anything new from the party over the next 18 months and only then judge them. This will probably be the real low point for the coalition when despair will have truly taken over the Lib Dems. The we will see how many real Lib Dem supporters will defect to Labour. However, the coalition could be the making of the Lib Dems and if this is the case then all of the previous 18 months will be for nothing because Labour could facing another generation out of power. If this is the case then we will see real blood - SDP anyone?

Sent from my iPad

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

And I have not forgotten I am a photographer as well.

With all this messing about with drawing and painting it is hard, sometimes, to remember that I am photographer at heart.  With this in mind I have produced the first of series of images that tries to address the concept of Deep Time.  The plan is simple - spend the next 6 months trying capture the essence of the Charnwood forest geology, almost 600 millions old.   The rocks are volcanic formed in some ancient volcanic chain and then weathered by the passage of time.  Yet they endure all that is thrown at them.  You could almost describe the experience of standing next to them as organic if that wasn't such a contradiction in terms. 
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Another step forward

It is amazing how the mind works.  Just how does it rewire itself so that new visions and possibilities start to become clear?  I have no idea but I do know where these thoughts are coming from - I have been listening to Dune and it's subsequent books and they are full of such thoughts.  Again another  crashing of ideas melted in the mind.

The reason why I mention this is because I was listening to this whilst I was producing this, well I still haven't come up with name that satisfies so I will call it, for now, a painting.   Her name is Linda and I think it is a huge leap forward to the last such painting I made using photoshop, just over two weeks ago.   This painting business can be really exciting and frustrating at the same time but for me it is something new and vital.  Lets hope it keeps this excitement.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

When less is more

Another lesson learnt. I was looking through a book on sketching this morning and picked up another tip or is that technique? I don't think it matters. Anyway, the tip was that an eraser is more than remover of errors. When used correctly it can be a really constructive tool. This is something I have been looking for in brushes. To date I have been having difficulty with applying shades. They always looked too harsh. It was the same with drawn lines - I just couldn't make them smooth enough. Now I have started to understand that this can be over come by the use of the eraser function. This is the first attempt at applying this knowledge. I guess this another step forward.

Sent from my iPad

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

That's it all my creative juices have been rung out for today

Well I've been at this creative thing since just after 5am this morning and I have now run out of steam for today.   All in all not a bad days work.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.posterous.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Working hard at getting better

It has been hard work day today. I know this depends on your definition of 'hard work' but I have worked hard. I was up at the crack of dawn slaving over the iPad trying to improve my technique. I think I have shown signs of improvement but there is a long way to go. Then it was out into Charnwood forest working on a photographic project I have in the back of my minds called Deep Time. I selected a really interesting are to capture and then, well I made some drawings or sketches which ever you want to call them. I have had an idea of trying to combine a photograph with a preparatory sketch - hardly original I know - but it seemed to be a good idea at the time. We'll see whether time agrees with this. So now to go and work on the photographs I captured this morning - it really is interesting combining drawing with photography - the combination slows me down and gives me time to really look at a shot and consider exactly what I want to do with it.

Sent from my iPad

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Female Athlete no 3

Sent from my iPad

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Female Athlete No 2

Sent from my iPad

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Female Athlete

Sent from my iPad

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous

Man

Sent from my iPad

Posted via email from SIMON's posterous