A look inside my real and virtual sketchbook. Based in Catalonia, Spain.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Don't Look Behind You
Well the cinco was a cuatro yesterday and Jordi the teacher is showing signs of cracking. He's like that at the end of every term but I suppose it doesn't help when he asks the others if they actually have taken their guitars out of their cases since last week and be met with nervous giggles. Pia the post lady picks me up now which is great because it is getting seriously hot to lug the guitar ten minutes down the road.
. And now begins the planning of a trip to Britain again as the last time I woke up with a lunatic tooth that now is out with the rubbish somewhere.
Trying to record some guitar playing but the usb ports don't work on this computer and the ancient laptop doesn't want to play. Booger. I posted once on youtube but that must have been when I could plug in the ..oh no...wait. I did it on the camera!
Anyway, I might move to a different webpage on blogger and if I do it will be called "Spotty Dog". The newer blogs have more bells and whistles and I can never have too many of those.
Thunder, lightning, torrential rain, lights out, shivering, small dog. Mind you it's snowing everywhere else. Not bothered...it's Vongole night! This frog has been following me for a week.
I got red shoes, red shoes. To dance, to dance, the blues away.
Do you want to dance with me? Choose your shoes, sure and free.
What am I doing dancing at eleven thirty in the morning? It's raining. It's freezing. I haven't even seen a human for a while...
The above done in Corel Painter Essentials 2. What I really want is Creative Suite 4.0 but it costs like a sqiddley million pounds. It's still raining.
Guess who didn't know there was a reflection tool in the text maker in Photoshop? I promise to be smarter this year.
I was served raw prawns the other night. Mental note to wear my reading glasses when not dining at home (which is not often). "Oh," says the hostess, "I thought you just defrosted them and served them with a wedge of lime?" "Er, you cook them first though," I say. "You do? We always serve them like this."
Having done a little research on the web I discover that I have narrowly avoided death yet again (toxic poisoning)...the closest possibly being landing upside down in a hot air balloon on a Belgian motorway ...or the time an arabian sheik offered my brother a pile of cash in exchange...for me. That was quite scary, actually.
I have to thank "Timbobig" for completely unknowingly giving me this idea after reading his blog. That's the beauty of the web for me...such unexpected things happen.
Artrage 2.5. You can use the glitter tool to make fancy dresses or stencils to put the waves in Maureen's hair and Bryony's frock. Melanie wears a dazzling number bought from the local charity shop. Smart lady. All three are looking for suitors.
There's a television advert that was on over Christmas that I cannot get out of my head and it's driving me nuts. A room full of shiny clothing and these huge women going "D'ja wanta bargee doo ya, doo ya, sixty fer a fivaaah, doo ya doo ya, wanna bargee?" Arrrrrrgggggggg!
Ultrafractal 4.0 up and running again. Make a fractal...cut out shapes...paste them onto a background...think, that looks a bit like an animal...and crikey, that could be a human following him... http://www.ultrafractal.com/
Or I could say...I've designed this especially for you to herald the zodiac sign of whatever it is that has cloven feet and to welcome you into 2009...but that would be me just making it up.
Here's a really fine example of a gentleman with a peach of a spirit. This fellow hauls rocks and paving stones from wherever he can in order to partake in his hobby called "Let's block the path and hopefully the old lady with two walking sticks, the man with Parkinsons, the tentative joggers recovering from heart attacks, the runners and the cyclists, and anyone just possibly not looking at their feet because the sea is so beautiful...falls over and breaks something." He actually does this on a daily basis. The first passerby of the day clears it up. Today it was my turn.
He must have a very sad life...or maybe he is just a jili pollas?
Hooray! It's pouring with freezing rain. The village feels like an abandoned film set. The winter transitory folk sit smoking in steamed up BMW's and ancient Mercedes. Broken glass all along the port where the late-nighters forget what bar they are in. I gave Patrick a collection of spices which I put in a big box along with a curry bible. Alice who used to be Frank gave him the same book. Anyway, here's the company. They do mail order and their spices smell like the souk in Bahrain. Fantastic. www.spice-master.com What's your new year resolution?
Alice who used to be Frank arrived back from America via Heathrow and Barcelona. A quivering wreck of her former self...it took three of us to get her dog into a car to go back to her home. Paco and Mari turned up as well and Mari patted me on the head...why? Why have people all my life patted me on the head or stroke my hair, like I'm a dog, or something?
The Christmas tree is up...well...sort of... leaning to one side really. Cycled along the shore for the first time in ages because of the dreadful weather. I spoke to the old man who used to run a restaurant and the old man with the zimmer frame who sits by the Port gave me a butterscotch sweet. The campsite is full of Dutch and British all sunbathing. Christmas spirit in the air.
Yoohoooo......Download a demo of Artrage 2.5...then buy it!! Honestly, this software is a terrific way to feel four years old again. Remember the first box of coloured crayons? I had lost my version in the computer clean-up but I emailed the company and they sent my registration key straight away. Just buy it. It's great value. So, there's one more thing up and running again. I'm dying to put up the tree but it appears to have grown roots through the bottom of the flower pot.
The computer situation is dire. I am balanced on the heel of my right foot, surrounded by cables, headphones, wacom tablet, pen, brazilian jungle, parrot feathers... and in desperation an "ocean breeze" candle burning to get rid of the smell of dog which is invading everything. We are going to try and wash the nine stone culprit today and I pray she doesn't get pnuemonia before her owner returns from her foreign forays.
This is a rough sketch of an idea from a comic book that I'm making. My hands are dropping off with the cold...
Played dreadfully in class yesterday. My teacher actually asked if I had not had any time to practise last week! He liked the Christmas bottle of wine though, ha, ha. Nothing like a rioja to soothe the savage brow.
This is what it's supposed to look like. Guitar class this afternoon. I love this time of year. The Polivalente is full of very excited little people in ballet tutus and cowboy boots. The theater doors are flung open and the stage alight with prancing and clumping dancers. The mothers hang around outside smirking with pride.
This is an old cartoon which I've posted before (click on the image to enlarge it...if you want) but crikey my computer and files, CD's everything in a big mess. I'm reinstalling all sorts of software but can't find half my stuff. I'm also getting really cross so will shut up and direct you to a piece of baroque guitar. Even if you don't like the music it's worth a look to see absolutely beautiful craftsmanship in the making of the instrument. Makes me drool looking at it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfVZRevRKv8&feature=related
The above are scans done with Pilot pen and watercolour. I don't know why the bottom one is greyscale. The sky is the colour of cobalt blue stained glass.
The poor people who are staying in the house of Alice who used to be Frank have given up and are heading back to Britain today. During their brief stay they have endured...getting lost on the motorway and flagged down by police, freezing rain and wind, a massive tooth infection, three visits to the doctor and virtually everything is closed here because Spain shuts down in December.
The above is on nice, handmade paper by http://www.khadi.com/ I haven't actually finished making cards yet. Getting a bit late.
I'm having to revert to some quite old software until I get the computer situation sorted out but Essentials Painter 2 is actually very nice. It is bucketing with rain. Arthur and Holly snore on. The house is beginning to smell like kennels....eeerrggg.
(written by my father about when he lived at Oakley Court)
Replying to my wife, you told us that you were intrigued by the story of the Venus of Milo. We have kept some relevant notes, but above all the memory of Mr.Olivier telling us this bit of history is still fresh in our minds.
In 1948 we found a flat to let which was not easy at that time and went to see the landlord, Mr.Olivier. He was pleased to find that I spoke French since he was of course French himself and he let us have the flat for 5 Guineas/week, half my income.
From time to time he invited us to join him for a game of canasta or just for a chat and one evening he told us his story.
"When I was a young man I was called to my uncle's house, as he was on the point of dying and wished to speak to me. He had a last request which I was to fulfill.
My uncle was the son of Louis Brest, who in 1820 was French Consul on the island of Milo, an Ottoman protectorate. He called me to his bedside and asked me whether I had seen the Venus of Milo in the Louvre. Of course I had and I wondered how that could be important to his last wish. He then told me that the pedestal bore an inscription stating that this famous statue was offered to the nation (France) by the Marquis de Riviere, ambassador in Constantinople and by Dumont d'Urville, commander of a French man-of-war. My uncle commanded me to go to the Louvre, have this inscription blotted out and have his father's name, Louis Brest, inscribed instead. Needless to say I thought he was a bit ga-ga but I was willing to promise anything. However I asked him to tell me why.
His story sounded rather like a typical Marseilles invention. Apparently whilst Louis Brest was consul in Milo, his gardener used to dig up bits of archeological remains from time to time. One day he came to the consul and said he had found something that was perhaps worth seeing and indeed careful excavation revealed the magnificent statue. The consul had it cleaned and set up the the entrance hall of the consulate for everyone to admire. Well all kinds of people went in and out of the consulate and it soon got round that this statue was exceptional. One person who visited the consulate was a Greek archeologist and he was quite agitated when he eventually left. The next day the Greek ambassador arrived and admired the statue, then he said that this was of course a Greek statue and should in due course be sent to Athens where it would have a place of honour in the museum. My grand-uncle prevaricated, he thought this would not be possible, he would have to consult the French government to whom "the request should properly be forwarded. As soon as the Greek had left he sent a courier to the Foreign Office in Paris, explaining his dilemma. By return he was told that on no account should he allow the Greeks to take possession, a ship of the French fleet happened to be cruising in the Mediterranean and would be instructed to call at Milo to take the statue back to France.
A few days later or rather a few nights later, burglars, hired by the Greeks, broke into the consulate and despite a struggle in which the arms broke off, the consular servants could not stop the thieves carrying away the statue. It was loaded onto a Greek merchant ship in the harbour and this was due to sail the following day. However early in the morning of the following day, the French battleship sailed into the harbour, blocking the entrance. It trained it's guns onto the Greek merchantman and told them, surrender the statue intact or sink to the bottom. Dumont d'Urville, the French commander, did not mince his words. The consul's problem was how to resolve this stalemate.
Now, the Greeks wanted the statue, a Greek relic, the French wanted the statue, a French find, but in fact the island of Milo was under Turkish rule. Louis Brest was a good friend of the Sultan in Constantinople and got in touch with him for help and for a ruling on what should happen. With true eastern diplomacy the Sultan pointed out that the statue had been discovered in the grounds of the French consulate, that in international law these grounds were French. He had a firman (document) drawn up, dated 8th October 1820, in Turkish and Greek stating that under the circumstances the statue quite evidently belonged to France and that if the Greek did not surrender it immediately they would incur his great displeasure and so it was that the statue was transferred to the man-of-war named 'ESTAFETTE' and transported to France.
Now, my dear nephew, you will understand why my father's name should be inscribed on the pedestal and not that of d'Urville. He did nothing except sail his ship as ordered whilst my father was the discoverer and avoided its loss to the nation by his diplomacy. With that my uncle sank back and looked at me. What he evidently saw was a look of disbelief and he hit a small gong to summon his servant :"Jules, go to my desk and at the back of the bottom drawer you will find a rolled up document, bring it here and show it to my nephew". There indeed was the original document drawn up by the Sultan in Constantinople. I was to take this with me to the Louvre and arrange for my uncle's will to be fulfilled.
Eventually I did go to the Louvre and told them my uncle's story. They were of course most interested, particularly when they saw the original document. They wanted to buy this since it proved the real history of the discovery, but I refused to let them have it. It was mine and I intended to keep it. As a compromise the Louvre agreed to make an addition to the inscription on the pedestal, mentioning Louis Brest's part, but they would not erradicate the name of Dumont d'Urville...............". And thatis the truth of what happened way back in 1820. "
This time it was our eyes which registered mild disbelief and Mr.Olivier soon dispelled this. We were sitting in his library and he drew back a small curtain to reveal a stout steel door to his strong-room. He went in (without us!) and brought out the original document in Greek and Turkish, giving the Sultan's edict, together with a translation in French. The translation dated back to 1919, authenticated by Heron de Villefosse, curator of antiquities at the Louvre.
This was an exciting story and it is a pity I cannot reproduce Mr.Olivier's delightful mixture of English and French with a nasal Marseilles twang.
Latermy father in Switzerland, having read my letters about the affair, found several articles in the local papers giving different accounts of the discovery. He contacted Mr.Olivier and later Mr.E.Miolesco in Istanbul to try and get more information, but without much success. Finally he wrote to the Journal de Geneve giving them our story and stating that, on a visit to England he himself had also seen Mr.Olivier's document.
I enclose the original newspapers of 1951 giving different versions, the last one, dated 26th August containing my father's comments. You will note with pleasure that he refers to Oakley Court 'chateau' as Little Windsor. We would of course like you to return these papers to us in due course for our own archives. I have also made a copy for you of a letter written by Olivier to Miolesco who had requested sight of the firman. I would suppose that the document is now finally lodged with the Louvre.
If you have a good raconteur on your staff,I am sure this would make a pleasant bed-time story in the bar. I personally believe Mr. Olivier's account as the only true one, the embellishments may be his but the basis is indisputable.
Oh,oh......computer reformatted...the software for my favourite drawing programme remains stubbornly hidden somewhere. I have toothache which mysteriously always happens around this time of year even though I had a checkup a couple of months ago. Alice who used to be Frank has gone on holiday and left her very, very large dog here. She has a lovely personality but sort of smells of stale Chanel No5 and have you ever tried shifting a nine stone dog from the middle of the road when she decides it's time to sit down?
Here is a perfectly beautiful piece of playing, musical instrument, piece of music.
Looks like the computer will possibly be running properly by next Tuesday in which case I can plug the tablet back in. Meanwhile I'm supposed to make back up copies of everything which is impossible because the USB ports are not recognising memory sticks, camera, wacom tablet and every time I put a CD into the drive the computer restarts....eeerrrggggg.
I've got to start making the Christmas cards. I have borrowed a guillotine, I have the paper, I bought what the lady assured me was gold glitter (to add the tacky bits) but it turns out to be for cosmetic use. It sticks to the skin beautifully but not paper. I now have nice, glittering gold hands.
Cycling around the corner in a zennish state of mind to be confronted with the horrible guy in the next street with his equally disgusting, fat, boxer dog careering towards me like an enraged bull. Everybody on the street loathes this guy and his dog. They must have been away a few months because I had almost manged to wipe the ugly couple from my brain. When the French family on the other side of the street are here they carry a big stick with them because of this guy.
I bought some really nice Viking fibulas last year (turns out they were Finnish) from a very nice fellow from Germany. So this year I thought I would get some more...they were super reasonable prices. So I sent an email asking if he still sells because I couldn't remember his seller name and I got an email back today saying he's in rehab. Don't know what to make of it. Hope he gets better is all I can think of.
Timbobig, the only blogger I follow, has pointed me in the direction of Glen Hansard who I never knew about. A great discovery for me.
Here's a link. He's buzzing from the other side of the universe. Apparently he offered some very good advice. If you ever face an insurmountable wall, turn to the opposite direction and start walking and eventually you'll go right round the world and come out the other side. This makes sense to me and I wonder if my usual approach of trying to dig under it may be completely up the wrong street. enjoy... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqSB51x8Wh4
This I did in CS3 Illustrator and with the Wacom tablet but the main reason I posted is so you can see this levitating orchestra. (If you need cheering up or anything).
I downloaded Adobe Illustrator 4 today. It's wonderful but this old machine doesn't recognise the Wacom tablet at the moment so I hope I can get it fixed before the trial runs out.
I may have posted a bit of this image before? It's from when I had the demo version of Adobe Illustrator CS3. Honestly, it was great...for sixteen days. Now they have a new version out CS4 but crikey, it costs about sixty squillion quid. I know the software can do a million things but what about us who are not students or companies? I would even do artwork for free for Adobe if they gave me a version at a reasonable price. Hello? Hello, Adobe? IIlustrator CS4 are you listening............?
If I were a bird I would take a running jump off a mountaintop today. The clouds are scudding across a brilliant, blue sky. Leaves are yellow-flashing through the air. There's shadows dancing on the glass door...my guitar case just fell over..... the police closed the main road yesterday because there were tiles blowing off the apartments and smashing onto the cars.
Well, Adobe Photoshop 2 has perfectly nice brushes. Arthur is howling which means the massage lady next door has a client. Henry, the neighbour on the other side has taken off in the dead of night as he always does at this time of year. His new wife hides in the house all day and absolutely everybody in town thinks she is wanted across Europe. For what? Nobody knows. Something to do with boats. And everybody knows she was married before she snaffled Henry and she never divorced and the reason she married Henry is because he's already had two heart attacks and he owns lots of apartments in Germany. See, it's all happening here. The wind is still roaring.
Must be full moon or something...the wind continues to howl...I have a lot of things I am supposed to be doing right now and am in major diversion activity. So, here's some magic playing by guitarist Gaelle Solal. I will never reach such technique but it's good to have dreams and anyway, I'll just plod on and maybe in twenty years time....ha, ha...OMG I'll be 75. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rbVCgFT5JQ&feature=related
I think the whole world is on ebay today. Thought I would buy something medieval like a coin perhaps for a possible Christmas present but it keeps redirecting me to Tibetan gem encrusted daggers which I am not interested in. Blowing a gale again.
Here's a link to a brilliant animation called "The little girl who was forgotten by absolutely everyone...even the postman." By Katytowell on Youtube. I wish she lived around the corner! The person who invented the little girl, that is.
Playing with the motion button in the above drawing.
I often pass a jogging lady when I'm on the bike by the seafront and we always exchange "holas" and today I bumped into her on a street and we said "hola" and she asked if it was too windy on the beach and I said yes (this is in Spanish) and I ask if she is French and she says no she's English and German. And then there's that pause when two english speaking people realise why are they speaking to each other in Spanish. Anyway, it was funny and I'll certainly meet her again.
A 20 euro note flew out my pocket as I was cycling down a steep hill but I actually saw it on the way back! I had to climb down a ditch and over a metal fence to retreive it from a pile of rubbish. Watched the whole time by a man with a bucket skulking in a doorway. I wonder what he thought I was doing?
And, I just finished a ten hour render of an animated fractal using the demo version which is a new version of the one I have and it's just finished.....so now I have a very nice yellow , unanimated square with "evaluation copy" all over it. I'm going to upgrade anyway. Ultrafractal 5.0.
One and a half hours queuing in the police station in Reus this morning to collect a piece of paper. Panic attack crawling across the floor trying to get its hands on me. It seems strip lighting plays a big part in my panic attacks . Anyway, now I'm wrecked but I did go to a wonderful shop that is so crammed with fancy dress costumes and bolts of material that it is difficult to walk down the aisles which are about 40 cms wide. Bought six handmade buttons.
But you have to listen to this version of Recuerdos de la Alhambra by Francisco Tarrega and played by cyrloud o Youtube. He makes his tremelo look as effortless as patting a dog.
The "B" is Times New Roman font and filled in from an old drawing of faces.
If I were a cartoon I would have smoke coming out my ears today. I saw, for the first time, the paperwork needed in Britain, for a Home Information Pack, which is a delightful scam the government there has invented for getting money out of people when they sell a house. I cannot believe the stupidity of some of the many hundreds of questions. How about this... Bathroom fitments...please mark Included, Excluded, None. Taps, Plugs, Soap and toothbrush holders, Toilet Roll holders
and in External areas... Water butts Clothes line Dustbin
Television and telephone... Television aerial (in another part of the questionnaire it asks where is the television aerial) Radio aerial.
Apart from the fact that I am mad at the idiocy of a person who would quibble over a toilet roll holder etc, it's a huge scam, an utter waste of printing and paper, an appalling waste of the seller's time, the buyer's time, the estate agents, the solicitors. And what a SAD, SAD reflection of what Britain has turned into. AND; AND:::::A British estate agent here in Spain actually stabbed a guy to death two days ago over a house deal. What is wrong with the world?
This morning a fellow came to collect twenty year's worth of rubbish which I had piled up for him. It is oddly exhilarating to be freed of ten meters of binbags full of broken things. Now the house is virtually empty and I much prefer it this way.
Now I carry two keys and one is for the padlock on the bike.
Here's a link to Paulo Sereno who everybody should hear. I've linked to this clip before but it really makes me happy.
Woo Hoo. Put the colour illustration in negative mode and all sorts of mysterious colours come out. Now I see it like this I think it could make an oil painting.
Anyway, I don't like it being dark at seven in the evening so here's a link to an astonishing oud player that I came across on Youtube. He's the kind of musician that makes you think he has a direct connection with the universe and via his playing you can see it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZXRnCIxN7c
I had to play a rabbit in the production of Peter Rabbit when I was seven. I was the smallest rabbit in the class so they dressed me in the only white costume which made it acutely uncomfortable to stand out in the crowd. When I was twenty six I played Snow White, only because I was painting the set and used to stand in for rehearsals until they found a real Snow White. But they didn't find one so I had to do it. I was smaller than the teenage dwarves. Ha, ha.
I dropped into the optician's on a whim this morning and it turns out the spectacles I wear for drawing and playing the guitar are designed for somebody else's eyesight. This probably explains why I haven't been able to see for the last two years. The optician here thinks my persciption must have got muddles with another person.
Come to think of it the reason I gave up lacemaking was because I couldn't see the intricate side of it. Hey...this may open new doors. Maybe guitar playing will improve if I can see again? It sort of creeps up on you this not seeing stuff and then you get used to things being fuzzy. So it came as quite a pleasant shock when he turned a dial in front of my eyes and everything swam into focus.
You know, I have no idea how I made such perfect boxes but I think it must have been in the demo version of CS3 Illustrator. I have just realised that most of my artwork is not big enough pixelwise to print. Oh well at least I'm still breathing. An internet friend in Chicago has sent me some of his music today which is perfect to set drawings too so I'm all excited about that.
I met a very interesting Dutch dog with its owner on the beach this morning. It looked like Tintin's dog Snowy. The owner was pretty interesting too.
I shall draw "Indie" when the computer situation is all sorted. Brilliant sunshine today and I'm supposed to play Leo Brouwer's "Estudios Sencillos No. 6" all the way through by memory this afternoon. I can do it at home but in class.....?
So...I took the old laptop to the new compùter shop and they set it up to get the internet after I had installed the good old Telefonica CD. Now it works in their shop but not in my house. "The router is probably faulty," says the computer shop lady. "But it's brand new, " I say. "It's never been used." "Well...(light shrug)...that's Telefonica for you. Nobody uses their routers."
The sea is cobalt blue and two lone figures swimming today.
The fifth call to Telefonica ascertained the fact that thy never actually listen. "You're waiting for a new modem? You ordered it nearly a month ago? No, sorry, no record of that...well, of course we are still charging you 80 euros a month for not having the internet. The computer shop returned the computer having replaced the graphics card which fried in the storm but now it doesn't recognise the wacom tablet or the printer or any of the USB ports.
Raging rain again and I'm back in the real estate office using a friend's computer. Sirens wailing. There's lots of car crashes here when it rains. I think I might actually be fed up.
Went to guitar trio yesterday and a pianist joined us. I just plopped sweat everywhere because it was hot and my guitar is heavy after twelve minutes slugging it down the road in 26 degrees and 80% humidity. The air conditioning wasn't on in the Polivalente. Guitar teacher had a headache. Maybe everybody is actually fed up?
I'm sitting in a Real Estate office which is empty because it's Sunday. Not that anyone is buying anything nowadays. George the neighbour must have been out partying last night. He's left his car parked in the middle of the road. There was a weird couple looking for his wife yesterday. There's always people looking for George and his wife. Maybe they sell imaginary boats or something?
I'm sitting in a cybercafe...why? Because my computer blew up in a thunderstorm, and the modem, and the telephone......................... I am hoping I have not lost a year's worth of artwork.
The "wave" option in "Distort" in Paintshop Pro....makes....waves.
The town is full of Germans today. The French are packing their bags and heading back to their cities.
Guitar class starts tomorrow. Hooray. Everyone who teaches at the Polivalente is always in a terrible flap when the new terms start. Lots of people flying around clutching sheets of paper.
There that solved that. You have to make sure it's in RGB mode for showing the right colours on the web. CYMK must just be for printing. 55 minutes until the haircut......
Hmmm... I guess I shouldn't have saved in CYMK format...or I am possessed? Demons are dancing in the West End Park.
The school run has started in which I play no part. The mothers this year are unbelievably aggresive. Their monster trucks come barreling along the road leading to the school. One driver, one passenger in each enormous block of metal and plastic on wheels. I know for a fact that it takes no longer than ten minutes to walk from where all the blocks of flats and most of the houses are. But the problem is in the stupidity of the school for having no lockers. The kids can't leave their books or sport stuff there and because it is a school for kids aged three until twelve they can't physically carry their gigantic backpacks.
I am having my bi-annual haircut today. I do not like hairdresser salons although I like a new hair style but the whole experience is akin to the dentist. I just want to run out screaming. But when I get home I make excuses to walk by the mirror for a day.
New breed of tourist in town. The women are the colour of chestnuts, have impossibly spindly legs and are wearing designer shorts and shirts. They all walk around with their hands casually placed in their pockets and some have very, little, furry dogs which are a big relief after a summer of the usual rottweillers, dobermans and alsatians that the city dwellers bring with them.
I am making a steak pie with puff pastry but I have no flour or mushrooms or any clue as to why it's writing in italics and now it just switched back........
Here in Spain I always know when the owner of a T-shirt with an English slogan...doesn't speak English.
This morning I saw an old, little, white-haired lady ambling along the seashore. She rocked from side to side as she placed one leg in front of the other. But her shirt proclaimed otherwise. She is, in fact, TOXIC CANDY. I've got to put Maureen Chlorine in such a shirt.
Aaah! Maybe it's changing colour because I didn't save in the RGB mode? This is actually the inverse colours of the original.
The beaches are virtually empty now but I did see a person doing yoga in the most amazing way. When I passed him yesterday he was breathing like a fish out of water but today he was pulling a foot over his head while standing on one leg.
Alice who used to be Frank came for a steak last night. Arthur went into a royal snit because Alice brought her very large dog which makes Arthur feel...well...small.
Whether there are any rude words in this because I uploaded just using a miniature version of the drawing. My number one fan this year is very pleased I sent him a drawing so that makes me very pleased so today is better than yesterday!
Here are two guitarists I came across. Wonderful music (although a bit echoey) wonderful playing. It must be great to be so in tune with another player. http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=DlqsUSZyL6I
3. Why were there little bugs in the pearl barley when I got home?
4. Why is the car battery flat? I don´t care. I don´t drive.
5. Why is there an underground water leak somewhere under the concrete by the gate outside?
6. Why can´t I upload a picture right now?
7. Why am I still wallowing in self pity?
8. Why are the two French families on the other side of the street sweeping their spotless drives all morning? Why do they come here to their summer homes and then never do anything except sweep and wash cars? Except for boules which they play every day at six in the evening.
9. Why can´t I even draw today?
10. But I did narrowly avoid decapitating myself with a mandolin string yesterday.
To be sung to the tune of "She''ll be coming round the mountain when she comes."
I wish I was an orange on a shelf. I wish I was an orange on a shelf. If I was an orange on a shelf... for breakfast I would squeeze myself. I wish I was an orange on a shelf.
It seems to me that once you export from illustrator to Photoshop it really compresses the image a lot. I've got to get the hang of keeping it to the original size. Fine for the web but not for printing.
Alice who used to be Frank made a paella yesterday.
Presenting....well, I'm not telling you because it's going to be a surprise. Illustrator has got me flummoxed but I'll get the hang of it eventually. Anyway, presenting Jinjar and his dog Arthur. I say no more.
They put out the fire but I was shaking there for a bit.
Scareyyyyyyyyyy. Helicopters flying overhead, sirens wailing. It's so hot it prickles the skin. There's a big fire up the road. I hope it doesn't come here. These fires happen every summer and are so scary. I'm just in diversion activity here because I am terrified of fire.
I see things when I hear this music. I was thinking yesterday about that line in the spooky film when the kid says..."I see dead people." Well..."I see people that were never alive in the first place." Ha, ha. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSsFoR0j0cg&NR=1
Och, I'm just mental....I'm not saving right in Illustrator. This is an angry orange really. It's too hot and I do not want to go to England. We are going to see Paco and Albert play tonight. Alice who used to be Frank is coming too.
I am puzzled by Adobe Illustrator CS3. It changes the colours after I have saved. I know it's something I am doing! Oh well, there's only sixteen days left of the trial anyway.
I tried to get some cash out of the hole in the wall in the bank entrance yesterday but my card was rejected. "Excuse me," I said to witty and wonderful lady behind the desk. "I think there may be a problem with the machine?"
"No, there isn't. It's your card."
So I watched while one of the local policemen tried his card.
"Fock," he says. "Fock, fock." At least the Spanish equivelent which is joder and he stomps off.
Then today Patrick takes my card and the same happens. The bank lady said it was the fault of my bank in Scotland. So I ring my bank who say there's nothing wrong with my card and give me the number of the fraud squad. I ring them and explain and they instantly have access to my account and say..."No, nobody has been accessing your account. Everything is fine. Oh I just hate dipping my feet into the real world.
Airplane tickets booked. Arrgggg. Now I'm getting mad..........
I was actually drawing a ballet dancer when one of the twins emerged. She and her sister are called Gentlydead and Darklydead. Apparently one of them has also had twins. These people have been hounding me . The time has come BWAHAHA. I'm going to do a comic strip.....honest!
Your recent design of the unique yet pleasingly "Bold Frog and Cat Bra" has come to our attention and we would like to place an exclusive order to be included with our new Autumn collection at Harrods, England.'
This disgusting child has many possibilities. He positively yelled to get out of the wacom tablet and into the real world. I think he's here to stay.
Big fiesta on town last night. The beach looks like a major football match took place in the night. Empty bottles absolutely everywhere. Two dazed looking security guards listening to a radio at the beach bar.
These people came out the wacom tablet completely unexpectedly. Who is that guy on the bottom left? And a devil?
I see Britain is preparing to go on strike as it always does just before I am due there. I feel genuinely sorry for the ones that want to leave but can't but I am delighted Glasgow voted SNP.
Here's a link to pleasanter thoughts. Karin Zhou is six years old in this video of her playing the piano. She's lived before!
The local Spaniards are now getting fed up of the tourists because now you have to queue everywhere for everything. In fact the bolder of the spanish ladies plodding around Intermarche say things like.."When are the fockers going to naff off?" Well, that's how it translates into english.
When I cycled back from the beach I discovered they had closed off the entrance to the main road and there was fresh, steaming hot tarmac blocking any possibility of crossing. A Peruvian roadmaker lifted my bike onto the main road as I almost got squashed by a huge machine and I had to climb over a pile of rocks to retrieve it. They dug up this same road at this time last year.
Still playing around in Adobe Illustrator CS3 and not doing great so far. This should have a fetching blue border around it. I'm not sure how to flatten the image. I've tried flatten, group, merge but while I've been doing this I've had a great idea for a children's book! The postman chucked my latest batch of books from Amazon over the gate. I am lucky they were not stolen.
Paco and Albert are doing a gig in Zaragoza this evening.
Sometimes it's just easier with a pencil and piece of paper.
These are schoolgirls in England that I saw in Lancaster station on my last visit there. There were no trains going further North that day and we were all herded onto various buses. I will be back there in a few weeks so even though thinking about the lack of transport that awaits I will at least maybe get some new sketches....I could do one of kids on rollerskates charging adults for doing their shopping...what with rising prices and all.
Aha! I've done it again. I must be saving it the wrong way. Not only can I not make speech balloons properly, except by drawing them by hand, but this was also a red drawing. I'll get there if it kills me...
This is absolutely insane. The drawing is actually bright red not blue and half the detail is missing.. It's inverted itself somehow.
Got to go back to England in August. I should host a little competition as to whether there will be no trains or buses or baggage handlers or air traffic controllers. Will there, in fact, be wheelie bin police measuring the distance the lid is open? Will I be stabbed? I hear the children are attacking policemen. I will be glad to come back home.
Adobe Illustrator CS3. I should not have downloaded the demo...it's wonderful. It does absolutely everything possible in the universe. This is on an equal par with that magic box of coloured pencils my mum gave me when I had my tonsils out...and that was fifty one years ago. Ha, ha.
I watched two teeny French kids with their dad by the sea yesterday. They were beside themselves with excitement. I might try my hand at a beach scene on a large scale. That could be fun. I've always liked pictures that have lots in them.
I am trying out Per Kindgren's "Before Silence". I wish I could write music down.
The beach is lined with people and colourful umbrellas and a lot of gold and silver sandals this season.
Here's a Russian animation that reminds me of what it was like living on top of a mountain and now it reminds me of living on a coast, which it is, about a coast that is. Anyway, it's about six minutes and forty nine seconds. I think it's great. I wish I had thought of a rabbit with wings. I've done a grandpa with wings but not a rabbit.
I had a very strange encounter in the bank this morning. It went something like this... I am standing at the glass door that is the entrance of the bank. There is a lady employee sitting directly opposite me, some three meters away and behind her desk. I gesture that I would like to come in. She looks puzzled. I point to the door handle because it is locked. She nods to affirm that she has understood my request. She makes angry stabbing motions in my direction with her index finger. She wants me to ring the doorbell? She stabs again. I ring the bell like a Pavlov dog. She presses a button on her desk and the door opens. I walk in, say good morning then politely ask why she had wanted me to ring the doorbell?
"Well, that's how we know you are there," she said.
They were not kidding about the storm warning yesterday. It's the first time I have been scared during a thunder and lightening storm. The sky was almost black, the rain so intense that I discovered my cycle helmet was leaking water from between the plastic coating and the foam polystyrene lining inside! It was deafening, the rain white as it mixed with hailstones, bending palm trees and me up to my knees in swirling water as I unblocked the drain by the gate. It was either that or a flooded house. Here's a link to the same storm but over the town down the road. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVW9kfQWZaU&NR=1
I love this. I've just bought their latest CD. They are called Arpeggio and they make me wish I had chosen music as a career. Their band is my idea of paradise.
Taking a wee, mental break here. The blooming eraser end of the pen has decided to spray on yellow instead of rubbing out. The reason it's yellow is because it thinks the paper colour is set to yellow. The reason it's set to yellow is because that is how I set it for yesterday's drawing down below. But if I go to "set paper colour" it doesn't change and then the eraser sprays black.
Anyway, this is Maureen on the left and Melanie, best friend, on the right. The finished strip has to be eight inches wide and at 300dpi. I haven't thought in inches for years. I have a lot of rulers in real life but they are all in centimeters.
New bed arrived. It is vast, a sea of sheets. I hope I hope I don't sleepwalk before I am used to it. I know I am sleepwalking again because there was an opened packet of crackers on the table this morning.
Well, this will give you good cause to laugh. I seemed to have, without my knowing, turned into a gargoyle. I was so horrified when I saw this small video of myself that I immediately blurred it all up so as not to scare you too much. When exactly did my face slide down my neck that much? When did my chin get lost in my neck....?
New bed arriving tomorrow. This will cause a few problems for Arthur because he will not be able to hide under it during storms because it's one of those swingy ones that you can store stuff inside. I actually bought it a couple of months ago but they suddenly decided to deliver it within two days of a phone call and an email asking where was it?
Here's an old photo of a castle wall in France, combined with fractals and Corelpainter. Not quite what I am after but almost... Carcassonne. Love the music "Before Silence".
Ah, the good old days....this one appeared just as I am closing the computer because it's thundering. Anything that is plugged in during a storm tends to blow up.
Arthur is trying to get in the bath. I have to go...
This about sums up artwork for today. I spent hours...hours....trying out a new method of masking, pasting and creating characters out of fractals and finally created a scene of these really weird peoplebirds across a sea of fractals and now I can't save it because Corelpainter says it's busy and I supposed to close the task it's performing except I don't know what task it thinks it is performing. It's not making me a cup of tea. that's for sure. Anyway this dragon poppy is growing in the garden. Hold on, I'll get the photie from when it was in bloom.
It's very different here this summer. Everybody now has an air conditioner and instead of the usual deafening chorus of paella parties it is unearthly silent outside.
Personally, I find it easier to draw speech bubbles by hand but I don't actually use speech bubbles a lot. Drawing at 5oo pixels is what I am comfortable with so I guess I'll make each Maureen panel 500 square and make it a six panel strip.
Aha, summer onslaught well under way. The beach is packed with gleaming, shiny limbs in all sorts of shades of burnt sienna. The air smells strongly of coconut sunscreen lotions. The local over seventies have discarded their usual daywear and are sporting large bikinis under large transparent kafans. The German ladies shop topless which makes the Spanish go tsk, tsk, tsk, but they still fall over their shopping carts whilst they tsk.
The lifeguards lounge over their Nintendo games and they have a new dinghy this year.
Oh, that's odd. I hadn't noticed his body went over the edge. The radishes are virtually ready. Far too many for us and surprisingly Alice who used to be Frank doesn't want any.
"Reminds me of childhood salads in Sheffield," she says.
What am I going to do with the beetroot? Endless borscht?
The above image was originally a photo of a jester. I did a million things but didn't like any of it so made it a background and drew the little fellow on top.
Blimey, 30 degrees. The town is strangely deserted for this time of year. Eight people on the beach apparently. Alberto and Paco have their first "gig" on Friday so we will go to that. I'm still searching for that perfect line.
Here's Karita Mattila singing from Canteloube's Chants d'Auvergne. I don't normally like opera but crikey I like this. 29 degrees outside. Been under a relentless barrage of fireworks for a week but they have mostly stopped now. Arthur has come out from under the bed.
I cannot believe I have forgotten what I used to make the lines. I am always in search of the perfect line and here I found one which was getting close but what was it? Chalk? Felt Pen? 2B pencil. When I get the tool that provides exactly the line I want I go into a sort of visual channeling and all sorts of people and scenes run out the end of the wacom electronic pen. Also, I love gadgets, any kind will do. So the pen is not only a gateway it is a really great gadget. One day I would like to have a Cintiq which is the biggest digital, graphic gadget of all. Let's see if I can find a link...
Corel Painter Essentials 2. You can use their watercolour brush as a pen. The outline is done in Chaoscope 0.3.1. which is free software and another one of those addictive pieces of software.
I am receiving requests for Maureen's return completely out of the blue. It's quite weird. It's me that made her up but what if it's her that made me up? Someone sent me an email the other day asking me if they were real or, in fact, there was more than one of them. I've got a feeling Maureen is going to push her way into this world. I'll have to give her a hand. Ha, ha...ready when you are....
I don't see why the last couple of links are not working. Anyway, here is a link to a really beautiful piece of guitar playing by Per Kindgren, but watch out it will put a lump in your throat. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGJmkqtRmPw
30 degrees in the shade. The English are leaping out of their cars and pasting the Spanish who like to honk horns loudly at traffic lights. I call a honk a "Spanish Doorbell" because when they visit someone they sit outside the house in the street and honk their horn to see if anybody is at home. Saves getting out the car and walking up to the door. Ha, ha they will be using their mobiles next..."Hello? Hello? I'm outside your house." "I'm sorry you're breaking up."
Here is Paco removing the champagne cork. He, of course, hadn't told his girlfriend they were coming for a meal. She thought she was coming for snails. Patrick said they were not staying for a meal but bought a million kilos of churrasco which he didn't cook because he changed his mind and produced steak. But I had already made tandoori chicken. I guess that's why we don't do dinner parties often. Isn't it easier to have a picnic on top of a mountain? http://www.livevideo.com/video/0E24DB3A5EFF4EC1B46D1652B0799B0E/did-you-forget-the-corkscrew.aspx
Madness descends as we approach the fiestas of San Juan. Catalans are very fond of fireworks and let them off all day...in full sunlight...every ten minutes...for the next week. I once went out at two in the morning to ask a guy who lives up the road why he was letting off fireworks, all by himself, in the middle of the road. "I don't know," he says. "Because everyone lets off fireworks." "But there's no one else here, " I say. "And it's two in the morning." "Oh right...but it's San Juan." "But there's no one here except you...even your wife and kids are asleep." "Yeah, right but it's San Juan."
The sun is now boiling. Thirty degrees but I am really amazed now that the campsite is still virtually deserted. The few people that are there are in tents! Not a giant camper van is sight. Maybe with all the prices rising people may actually start talking to each other again?
Paco is coming round this evening to lob the top of a bottle of champagne with a sabre. He did it last year. I'll try and get a photo.
Well, it didn't look like it linked below so here it is again. I have thousands of things I want to do this summer. There's millions of tourists now but the campsite is strangely empty of enormous camper vans. I guess it's too expensive to drive through Europe this summer.
I came across a very interesting Dutch artist Edgar Jensen who draws musicians and dancers among many other things and then from his blog came across this singer Madelaine Peroux. She has an extrordinary voice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FktNzLg_te4
Aha! The sleazoid summer real estate agents have arrived, with their shiny blazers, and shiny keyrings dangling from their hands. The joggers are out jogging, the bathers are up to their waists in the cold sea. The gentlemen from across the sea are laying out rows of sunglasses. The German ladies are all blonde with chin length bobs and orange and white striped T-shirts. The "Pope" is back into white shorts and shirt (to match his hair) plus red baseball cap (Last year's model). He is still running along the beach with arms wildly flapping.
And here I'll mention "Richard Madeley" for no reason at all and "boobs" and "Football" and "Britney Spears", so you'll get here by accident if you google any of that. Mind you I do actually read Richard Madeley's blog.
Maureen is calling me...I really have to start her up again.
Truck drivers are casually delivering bits and pieces again. It's not too bad here because there are still locals who grow produce to sell in the local shops but I wouldn't like to live in a city right now.
Experimenting with paste and symmetry...is that how you spell that?
Chaos descends on the roads of Spain but I do actually feel sorry for the tourists. Soon there will be no food in the restaurants and no cars on the road. The world seems to be going down a drain.
Here's a reason to have an enjoyable few moments. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Si97f4RHxLA&feature=related
Oh, it looks like you'll have to copy and paste. Cough, cough, still coughing.
Well, the truck drivers here in Spain are on strike because they are protesting about the rising oil prices. Today, the local gas station ran out of fuel. There's no vegetables in the veggie shop and the shelves are rapidly emptying in Intermarche, the supermarket. I have two friends presently living in isolation on a nearby mountain top and I just know when they come down off the mountain they will immediatly think Spain has declared war with France and go into a panic.
Alice who used to be Frank has everything under control and is currently on her sixth wash (linen 90 degrees) with her new washing machine.
I continue to cough and cough but am beginning to surface at last.
And, if you can't see what the above are holding...it's supposed to be mobile phones.. My mobile has not rung, buzzed or cheeped since I bought it but I haven't given anyone the number and I've forgotten it anyway.
Twiddley Squillion people on the beach and in the market so I didn't cycle far but I have discovered this amazing group called "Arpeggiata". I would love to dance like this lady... and play all the instruments. If you're feeling a bit bleeugh this will put things right! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ5JF-RfecI
I didn't hear a word of Spanish while I was out this morning. There's a lot of very tall Dutch and very large Germans stalking the streets. The fashion this season appears to be stripes, especially effective on the larger frame.
I have seen three sunny days since March 29th. The only thing that can be done is to listen to lots of different types of music. I ordered some Irish sheet music ages ago and the company keeps sending me emails saying..."We haven't posted it yet. It has actually arrived here either."
Who cares. I am still in mental mode.
Here's a link to someone that's probably famous already and I've just made myself look like a twit by commenting on Youtube that I was surprised he had not had more viewers. I shouldn't comment on these things.
Sometimes I think I lived in Medieval times. There's a spot by the walls of Carcasonne in France that I can only walk by with tremendous difficulty because it has such bad vibes. My legs stop moving and I have to walk backwards.
Still raining in Spain so Alice who used to be Frank invited me round to her house and we played keep fit on this thing called a W11. I have 22 Body Mass Index which is ideal!! It says I am 60 which I am certainly not! I am great at ski jumps and balance (big surprise) and "no stranger to exercise" which means that maybe cycling actually does something.
I am still not smoking although I am tempted sometimes by the sheer horribleness of the last few months. Onward and upward as they say. Don't you just want to clobber the person that invented that expression?
Guitar trio this afternoon which I really enjoy but when am I going to get over the fear of playing in public? The guitarist below probably never even knows there is an audience there until the end of the piece. Sunny in Spain- Beetroots and radishes planted.
This is possibly the most beautiful piece of music I have ever heard. Gonssienne No. 1 by Erik Satie and played by Antonio Lopez. It makes me want to go out and paint an impossibly huge painting, mostly in shades of white. A huge, vast abtract. Honestly this makes me want to weep.
The video below is a little collection of fractals and digital drawings. Music by Ken Graves who you can find on Acidplanet. I am in serious diversion activity.
The face on the right is possibly my great, great, great grandmother and definately painted by my great, great, great grandfather (William Crawford). Hold on...I'll get the original...oh , I see it's posted itself above. It's a very weird feeling having made this montage. Like voices from the past. When I was at Edinburgh College of Art I lived a thirty second walk from my great, great, great grandfather's front door and I didn't even know until years later.
Not my usual style but crikey there's a lot of possibilities with Photoshop. I bought a copy of Advanced Photoshop while in Britain. It's a terrific magazine stuffed with tutorials that I skip through and then forget instructions. Some of these artists have thousands of layers to an image and I'm typing faster and faster because I have some Galician Pipers playing on the CD................ But here's a link to an incredible guitar player. I liked this so much I have ordered the music. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY2hiJPPppQ
I cycled down to the beach and there was a very crashed Mercedes in the ditch at the side of the road they have just dug up again. The ditch is about three feet deep so it's easy to drive into because they have just left a very narrow strip of tarmac in the center of the road. There are no street lights there adding to the ease of falling off the road. I was going to take a photie on the way back but there was a policeman hovering around with the disgruntled owner of the recently stolen car. He was an extremely nervous policeman who shielded his face with his hands so I couldn't see him, except that I could see him perfectly well. Maybe he thought he was an undercover policeman? His uniform was a dead giveaway though.
"Dear Rozanne,Just noticing your email among the usual offers to buy Viagra and import African contraband, I have now reproached myself that I did not reply earlier than now. Can I blame a lazy assistant who is meant to bring these things to my attention? Rest assured, they have been returned to the dole queue with a flea in their ear..To tell you the truth, I never expected my blog to influence real artists but should I be the spark that ignites your 'brown' or 'fetid' period, a new artistic movement to outdo postmodernism, then I will continue to feel suitably justified in recording my life in such glorious detail.I remain, your most humble servant,Dick."
If you need to know more visit:
http://www.mybloglog.com/buzz/community/therichardmadeleyappreciationsociety/ He posted a description of having to give a specimen and I had just managed to erase the visual image when lo and behold he sent me the above...that's another day with this image burned into my brain. I hope he doesn't describe a trip to the dentist or anything.
I'm back in the guitar trio. I actually enjoyed it. I was fifteen minutes late because my brain has left temporarily but there's a possibility it may return.
It's raining and raining here in sunny spain but it quite often does at the approach of a weekend. It's something to do with cars...or something...clouds perhaps.
The above done in a mixture of Corel Paint and photoshop and Ultra fractal 4.0. It's sort of a self portrait except it doesn't look like me. I don't have red hair or a big nose but there is some of me in there somewhere.
Tropical storms forecast from midnight on. Alice who used to be Frank is expecting family from England. I thank the Gods I don't have to go to an airport for a couple of months. They have closed the main road to the beach again which means dragging my bike over the railway lines very fast in order to get to the other beach road. I'm amazed more people don't get killed as everyone walks across the lines at regular intervals because there aren't any barriers anywhere. They are also planning on bringing in natural gas for a mere five thousand euros per household. Not only a rip off but the town will be dug up ALL OVER for at least three years. Time to put my thinking cap on. Anyway, here's a great cartoon guaranteed to make you laugh and the music is brilliant. You can find Elie on www.livevideo.com under the name of cartoonage.de http://www.livevideo.com/video/cartoonage.de/A8CCE660C42A4AD393F0F3A37042AD8D/nordic-walking.aspx
Demons in the computer again. I cannot see what key I keep pressing that turns the script into Malayan or Taglitullallah or whatever it is. Nor why it's double spacing. Anyway, I'm back in Spain and immediately got a flat tyre on the bike. I wish people would stop dropping old nails around. Tourists are arriving. What do I care? Zero. A nice person sent me a piece of sheet music and here's the link. I've seen Frederic Mesnier on Youtube before and I really like his composing. He's the poor fellow that got royally dumped by a lady but it made him compose a great piece of music, which is not the music I am putting the link here to. Confused? Yes, me too. Take it away, Frederic... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cW82NEivjo&feature=related
You can do all sorts of visual stuff with computers but there's not the soul that you get in pencil or paint.
Now the question is...how on earth did the text below turn into what looks like Sanskrit? I was typing in English and as I moved onto the next word the previous word converted before my very eyes. Is this some sort of mystic message? Which if it is ....is not very useful because I can't read it.
I cannot believe the transport chaos in Britain. Easter holidays and there are no trains. Other countries provide extra trains and buses during holidays so everybody has a wonderful time. Why do people live there anymore? When did the Great fall off Britain? Here's a link to one of my favourite songs. It's one of those ones that you sing along with in a very loud voice when there is nobody around. Sandy Denny. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xag3vLtsO-k
This a really old, little watercolour that a viewer reminded me about. I based this figure on a woman I used to know in central Spain and she was called Isabel. Her husband worked for a Spanish ambassador, tidying up after dinner parties, taking care of his weekend house and generally living a very grand life during the week, a really nice guy, the husband that is. Anyway, his wife kept sheep and also dressed in an odd array of clothes that had once belonged to the ambassador's girlfriend. But she had a strong fashion sense and on an average day out with the sheep she wore astonishing chinese, silk jackets, polyester trousers, fluffy slippers and a teacosy on her head. So the above drawing is based on her, but in this she is carrying a dog which was for a children's story that I never wrote.
The actual size here is only about eight inches across.
Nothing is working. I can't adjust the thickness of the nib. The quick doodler remains in a solid line. I can only close the paint programme by going to exit because the top bit of the toolbar has vanished. None of the drawing or paint programmes are working properly. I usually turn the electronic pen upside down to use it as an eraser but not today, Clarice! The drawing isn't finished by the way.
And...I have to go back to Britain in the next few days.
Here's a link to an oldie favourite of mine. Victor Manuel.
Which of course it's not because this is Spain at easter. It is lethal outside in the streets because most of the streets don't have names unless you look very hard. In some streets people have painted on "Calle Madrid" or Calle Segovia" but most of the time visitors gape out of car windows and crash into each other at the junctions.T he locals have a foolproof method for arranging to meet each other, for example..."I'll meet you at the bottom of the gas station road."
"Fine. Seaside or mountainside?"
"Mountainside."
"Fine."
And, since the bars regularly change owners, this method can be used again.
"I'll meet you at the gay bar."
"The bay bar?"
"No, the gay bar."
"I didn't know there was a gay bar here?"
"There isn't."
"Why is it called the gay bar?"
"I don't know."
You can actually waste quite a lot of time with this way of finding your way around town especially as the potholes are now up to twelve inches deep, so motorists are always swerving to avoid them and hitting each other.
Anyway, the illustration is done in Photoshop and Ultra Fractal 4.0.
I accidentally came across a blog by a very funny person who also has agoraphobia. I couldn't believe her description of going to a reastaurant, ha, ha, been there, done that. It's always worse when you try to explain to people that you think you may actually die that they look at you like you're mad which I probably am. I would have left a comment on her site but it doesn't believe my password. Anyway, here's a link to her site.
Well, I was actually going to write something before it published itself....This isn't the type of music I wanted to set it too. I want something racey and thumpy but can't find anything that isn't wrapped up in copyright. I'll probably redo it.
The beach bars are polishing up the plastic chairs ready for the easter invasion. The Swiss are already in their micro-swimwear and lounging at the campsite. Out on the bike, I got a wave from the man that has a dog on a piece of string, the man with the zimmer frame and Albert the Dutch guitarist who was just emerging from his van and blinking into the sunlight. The groups of walking ladies never wave so I've given up saying "Good morning" to them.
And I'm still getting a roly poly stomach now that I'm approaching a year smoke free. You know why I have phases when I put on weight? Because I eat while sleepwalking. I head straight for the fridge and make sandwiches and then in the morning there's breadcrumbs all over the breadboard. So, if I'm fast asleep how do I stop it?
The drawing is nothing to do with the link and that's a real tree on his face. There's so many possibilities with Photoshop and Corel Painter that you can never run out of ideas. I would have gone mental if this software had been around when I was five! Probably just as well it wasn't.
Anyway, I adore Paul O' Grady so here's a clip of him. It also includes a pile of British Newsreaders and television people. I just watched it again and it still makes me cry with laughter.
This is my dog Arthur who I am not pleased with at the moment because he peed right inside my shoulder bag, on my sketchbook, wallet, sunglasses and generally everything inside it. But you can't be cross for more than five seconds because he is a super sensitive soul and sleeps on my feet at night.
Here's a link to a Scottish musician that I like. Yes, really...he's playing it all!
I have this friend who I sometimes don't see for years but she has the ability to make me laugh until I cry. We used to write short stories about the same people which we had invented. My favourite invention was Mrs Floyd Ackworth who popped out of my head quite out of the blue. She had extraordinary adventures with tractor drivers, Mrs Floyd Ackworth I mean.
But the best was one evening there was a bunch of us eating in my small, mountain- top house and the door to the street opened. A man shuffled in with a crate of peaches and gave them to my friend Victoria.
"Here's the peaches you ordered," he said.
"I'm sorry...," said Victoria," but without my glasses I really am a lost case."
We never did find out why he delivered the peaches because he then went bright red and backed out of the house as if in the presence of Queen Elizabeth.
Anyway, that's only funny to us I imagine.
But in real life she always has great big dogs so here's a pic of her. And, in real life she still writes so here's a link to her work.
I seemed to have joined a trio for guitarists. I should point out that this is for beginners. I have never played with anybody else and today was the second class. My guitar teacher is doing this completely free just for fun. I suspect I am going to enjoy it. We all seem to be equally nervous and I am old enough to be the granny of one and the mother of the other student but they don't seem to mind too much. Anyway, just browsing on Youtube and came across this which I would really like to play one day! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebkRv09Qw2A
I think I did the above in Corelpainter. The wind howls here in Spain. Nothing new there then.
Getting quite a strong urge to get out the oil paints. Not that I do cartoons in oil but having trained in stained glass I have a love of Cobalt blue! The original glassmakers guarded the recipe for cobalt blue glass from generation to generation. I would love to make a window again but glass and lead costs a fortune now, and to be honest, I haven't made one in twenty five years but then I keep starting different things....
Guitar class tomorrow. I don't like the study by Sor I am doing.
The campsite by the beach is filling up again. Massive vans with balconies and bikes and electric cars attatched. The owners are fiercely protective of their space which they carefully mark out with flowerpots filled with plants. I don't know when these people actually sit on the sand or stick their feet in the sea? They are always sitting on chairs outside their vans or wheeling around large, blue, plastic water-containers. One of them was even washing his car this morning...isn't that what you are not supposed to be doing on a camping trip? Do I even belong on this planet?
Today it's a mixture of Dutch, Swiss, German and British and several wooly dogs the size of small, armoured tanks.
My hands are stubbornly refusing to practice guitar and here's a link to an astonishing lute player called David Tayler. It's an astonishing piece of music too.
The world is driving me bonkers today.
