The Parlor

This was a cover image to accompany Dan Mulhollen's story "The Man in the Front Parlor".

I had seen some interesting pictures in the Smithsonian Flickr gallery, (with no copyright) and thought that a crop from one of them might do.

After cropping to get the corner of the room I wanted, I added a layer in Photoshop for "painting" the black and white image.

Then, after merging the layers, I ran it through the Paint Daubs filter just to take the rough edges off.

That was yesterday. There has to be something cool to do today.

Variations on a Theme

Lillian did a painting, in tempera paints, and then promptly forgot about it, and left it lying somewhere.

I took it and cleaned up the edges with scissors,  not completely at ease with her choice of colors. Still, she is bold, and I am not, so I decided to use colors as close to her palette as I could and toss strokes onto a page, using her painting as a model.

It was fun to do, and while we had the really cold snap when I couldn't be out in the studio, I was pining for it.

When I was done, Lillian happened to come out to the garage studio to see what was going on, so I showed her my pastel, explaining that I was looking at her work while I did it.

She patiently explained to me that she had left white paper showing on hers, and that the color in the lower half had been mixed to make a kind of peach color. She wasn't exactly critical, but she knew it wasn't a replica.

 "It's called variations on a theme," I told her. "Similar, but not the same."

She was good with that, and so am I.

Sunset in Winter

That's what the sky looked like when I was leaving the parking lot of the church last night.

As I've said before, I love the gradient colors of sunrise and sunset. Last night the temperature was dropping rapidly in the chilling clear air. While I waited in line to get to the exit, I marvelled at the bright orange at the horizon.

The shadow of the orchard to the west of the parking lot was completely dark.  Such simple colors, but so beautiful.

Writing again

Yesterday I was working on an abstract pastel, but it was too cold to open the garage door for adequate lighting for a photograph. Maybe tomorrow.

Today my bit was a story in Word, who knows if it will actually go anywhere.

""Do we have common ground any more?" the troll said, in a rumbly low voice that was pitched not to wake Melody.

 

"Well, let's see. Beer?" I looked at Margot.

 

She nodded.

 

"Fine dining? Bathhouses? Okay, that's three. Travel afoot? Four. Getting into trouble and knocking the shit out of miscreants? Five. Oh, and let's see, involvements that happen to exclude the other members of the company, would that be six? Or do I have to mention that empath you ruffled when we passed through my clan lands the last time?"

Well, that's part of it, anyway.

Creative effort. 

Sick of Damn Stalin

The last few days I have been looking at pictures of Stalin.

I have no interest in Josef Stalin beyond learning enough about him that I don't want to grow up to be like him, but he was the central character in Barry Udoff's cover story "Why Stalin Slept" -- and so ... 

I started by Googling "Stalin" images. Nothing I found was in the public domain, and the Smithsonian's and Library of Congress's Flickr sites had yer basic nothing.

So I thought I would just draw him, from some photo.

Guess again. What I was seeing, I was not able to make come across on paper. Pictures of Stalin ooze suspicion and arrogance, and I was unable to capture it.

Not only was I not able to capture the "spirit" of the photographs, I also could not seem to make them silly enough.

 This one I started in pencil, switched to ballpoint pen, then to a flexible-tip marker for the boldness. No go, doesn't look like Stalin, and even had I greened in the face goo, it would not have looked particularly funny.

That it doesn't look like him is strange, because I blew up a photo of him in Photoshop, dragged my light table out of the closet and installed it in my new studio (which I have been meaning to do for months) and actually traced the dictator's face.

In aggravation, I turned again to a search for public domain photos, and found some on Wikipedia, a site I don't trust at all, but does come up with public domain pictures, damn them for being useful.

Once again I downloaded the photo, printed it out after re-sizing it in Photoshop, and set to with the light table.

I gave it up as soon as the pencil sketch was done, and came back inside (shedding fingerless mitts and heavy duty sweats) and frantically resumed my search for public domain pics that might serve.

I found one, finally, and after yet another learning experience with Photoshop, was able to cobble up Stalin in a turban and green facial.

Then I was ready to leave the too-hot kitchen and slink back out to my chilly studio, and finish inking the second sketch, just because I should. 

Doesn't look like Stalin. Lacks movement. Sucks. Still, I did it in ballpoint, and still like the way a ballpoint pen handles. 

Nevertheless, I'm weary of Stalin (for the moment) and think I'll draw some ... I dunno. Flamingos. Raccoons. Old nude women who still think they're hott.  Something. Just not Stalin.

Dink the Crude

This is my first attempt at doing a portrait of Dink in Photoshop.

I can see after the fact that I should have limited the palette of colors more, and where I made mistakes in how I sequenced layers, but it's not too bad for a first crack. I like the speckles, and the tail. And the mane. The mane worked out really well, using a "grass" brush on a separate layer, and then rotating it with "Transform" and using the "Move" tool to put it in place.

I wrote a little bit last night, some 200 words on a new fiction story, just trying an idea on for size. 

Tonight I still have ashes to clear from the woodstove firebox, and kindling to arrange -- tomorrow is an "Okay To Burn" day, and I can't wait for the steady, healing heat of the woodstove instead of the ineffective puffing of the gas furnace.

Another day, another little creative effort.

No Picture of the Pictures

Today's studio project was to complete Step Three of my archiving of the 1972 cartoon "The Biting Poltergeist."

I've forgotten to blog about Step One and Step Two, so I guess I should do that here, too.

"The Biting Poltergeist" was drawn on several large pages of newsprint paper, back in 1972. One of my favorite mediums was blue Bic ballpoint pen. They tended to leak a little with overuse; I liked the sometimes globby result. I would sketch in pencil, ink the sketch, and then erase out the pencil lines. The newsprint pad had a roughish surface that took the ink like a dream.

The history behind the cartoon can be found at my other blog, this is more for the work I'm doing currently.

Step One, which just about gave me the hives, was to cut each individual frame out of the sheet of paper (each sheet was 24" x 30", I believe) with a utility knife. The paper is so fragile that it's disintegrating in spots. Newsprint may have taken the ink, but there's nothing permanent about it. One wrong twitch and an old cartoon could bite the dust.

Step Two was to cut up the empty pages of the newsprint pad into 8 1/2" x 11" rectangles. The plan was to affix the frames to similar newsprint, and then scan them before putting them into archival plastic sleeves, never to be touched again. That took the better part of an afternoon, plying the utility knife again as well as my reasonably good quality paper cutter.

Step Three was today, carefully using rubber cement to anchor the cartoons onto their individual old newsprint sheets.  (I'd tested the rubber cement on some scraps a few days ago to make sure it wouldn't discolor the old paper. Looked fine!) 

The studio is covered with drying paper sheets, and it was COLD out there, as I had the front garage door open so that Lil and her friend could play while I worked. 45 degrees is not all that bad, oddly enough, but by the time I was done pasting and numbering the 33 frames, I was ready to call it a night and come inside to find some supper and let my kneecaps warm up.

Step Four will be to scan each page into my computer; Five will be long and arduous, Photoshopping out the flaws in the paper. Six will be a modernization of the dialogue bubbles, and Seven will be uploading them to the Press so that they all have a copyright on them.

"Nightfall"

There is an hour or so each week when I am nailed to a seat and forced to occupy my mind.

I take my granddaughter to her religion class every Wednesday after school; while she drives some volunteer teacher batty, I sit in the car and wait, with my laptop and/or drawing pads and/or notebook.

There are no dishes to jump up and wash, no Press work to be done without an internet connection; the church grounds are out in the country, so aside from the graveyard, there is no place to take a walk, and it's too dark at that time of day (and cold) anyway.

So in these dim days of December, the laptop is the toy of choice. I installed Photoshop on my laptop, but had never used it until today.

This simple composition was my laptop's maiden effort with Photoshop.

I've always been fond of sundown/sunrise pictures ... and dark-colored pictures.  This one was fun to play with -- and I think that the "play" part of it was the most valuable result. I know I don't "play" enough with my talents; maybe one day I'll rediscover how to do that ... and then find myself at the Pearly Gates, asking, "Do we get computers with Photoshop on them?"

A Graphic

I'm getting a little lazy about the "every day" thing, it seems. 

Sunday I watched football and that was about it; Monday I did this simple graphic for the cover image accompanying "Rat in the Attic."

Tuesday I seemed to have no time to spare before Staff Meeting, and after that, was too tired to do anything but read.

Bitty Things

Last night I finished "Rat in the Attic."

I've been working on it a little at a time, trying to take a more measured approach than my usual shotgun technique of just hammering words out and gleaning them later. I think I might want to add one more sentence to the first few paragraphs ... but maybe not. In spite of trying to keep it brief, I ended up with nearly 2500 words. I'm pretty sure, however, that I'll revisit the characters in the future.

So I've written a little every day, except for Sunday and Monday, when I made 6 pumpkin pies. I made the shells Sunday, and filled them Monday. I also did a quick rat sketch from a picture I found online, to try to get a sense of what a rat looks like, for the eventual re-depiction of Jimmy the Rat.

Also last night I did a quick sketch on a large sheet of paper of a tall jar. It was just for the limbering of fingers, not for any real work. Still, it was something new.

Tomorrow it goes into the recycle bag.