The Extraordinary Tourist
Three tips for developing artwork ideas.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
If you're an artist struggling with 'artist's block' then here are three tips that may help you get an idea or two out of your sketch book.
Keep it simple.
Many artists fall into the trap of thinking that art needs to be complex and thought provoking. Don't get me wrong it's great when it is but don't try to be complex when you're struggling just to get one idea (save the complex work for when you're on a roll).
Don't over think it.
Just like my first point but even over thinking a simple idea can cause you to abandon it. An idea doesn't need to be perfect it just needs potential. If you look at my previous post, The Creativity of Imagining Dragons, the Blue Dragon artwork may not have happened if I'd spent hours refining my sketch. To complete that artwork I did one partially resolved sketch and worked out the rest as I painted it onto the canvas.
Choose a recurring theme.
If there is one theme that really interests you then keep revisiting and reinterpreting it in new ways. Sticking with a theme narrows your choices down from 'everything' to just the parameters of that theme. Since I started painting cats as a recurring theme (more than 50 paintings and still going) I've almost never been stuck for new paintings. Use your recurring theme when nothing else comes to mind.
These three simple tips are intended to remind you that curing artists block usually means going back to basics. Starting again and working towards the more complex themes and ideas that you can really flow your creativity into.Labels: art, ideas
The Creativity of Imagining Dragons
Sunday, November 11, 2007
 What does a dragon look like? Depending on where you live your description may vary. For example the European idea of a dragon is a fairly large, dinosaur like creature with a longish neck and huge wings that allow it to fly. Where as the oriental, Chinese style of dragon tends to be more serpent like in the body, retaining lizard like legs, but often does not include wings. The point being, you would still recognize both as being a dragon.
If you're ever stuck for something to get your creative juices flowing then imagining a dragon can be a useful exercise to pass the time. Think about everything you know about what a dragon looks like and then try to draw it. It's not as easy as you might think.
We all know the broad features that make a dragon recognizable to us but when it comes to filling in the details it can be quite a challenge. What does the mouth look like? Should a dragon have horns? What about the wings - could they be bat like or should they be more like pterodactyl wings? What type of dragon is it? Will it be land based or does it live in the water? Would a dragon that lives in the water need wings?
Whilst I haven't painted a lot of dragons through out my career I certainly have drawn many in numerous sketch pads. Dragons are interesting creatures and imagining one can really be a creative challenge.
Pictured artwork:
Blue Dragon, by TET
Acrylic on Canvas Stretcher
40 x 80cm (15" x 31"), November 2007Labels: art, ideas
Sucking the moisture out of the air...Island Sky.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
In my recent post A Tax on Rainwater I made the following statement:
"A tax on rainwater might be valid if we were literally sucking the moisture out of the air. Farming clouds."
 Watching my local evening news broadcast tonight I was interested in a story about Australian owned company Island Sky who manufacture machines capable of extracting the moisture from the air and turning it into drinking water.
Island Sky's technology can be scaled depending on intended usage. From a 'water cooler' style model for the home or office through to being able to adapt the technology for commercial and industrial uses.
As much as the concept of Island Sky's technology is fantastic it does make me wonder if this kind of machine could affect weather patterns if implemented on a large and concentrated scale? For example could we see coastal cities sucking a larger proportion of moisture from the air to the detriment of inland towns?
The reason why I wonder leads back to my original quote above. Sucking the moisture out of the air. That's a much different proposition to collecting water as it flies. It's no longer random, it's calculated. It may have repercussions for the natural movement of water vapor through the air. If that happens then we surely may see a tax on rainwater.
At this point its all a little unknown but the whole Island Sky concept is one that seems well worth backing. Especially if it can bring clean water to developing countries that really need it.Labels: ideas, issues, news
Mr. McGroovy's Box Creations like no other.
Monday, October 08, 2007
 I'm not one to write sponsored blog posts so let me assure you this post is simply because I was very impressed with Mr. McGroovy's Box Rivets™ web site and more specifically the cardboard creations within it.
Mr. McGroovy sells special kind of Box Rivets™ (pictured) that allow your imagination to run wild on large scale box creations such as the pictured space ship. That thing is big enough to send your child into orbit (well if it had an engine maybe).
What I thought was really cool is that Mr. McGroovy provides all the plans you need to make the creations appearing on his site including Pirate ships, castles, fire engines and more. Even a Santa's Sleigh! Check out the gallery of things people have built using the rivets here.
I have a big refrigerator box sitting in my studio. I'm almost tempted to buy some rivets to see what I can turn it into. Better put my creativity hat on!Labels: art, ideas, toys
Flat Light - I wish I'd thought of that!
Thursday, August 02, 2007
 Flat Light (pictured right), an artwork/design by Finn Magee, is one of those, oh so simple design ideas that you look at and think why didn't I think of that?
Essentially it's a picture of a desk lamp that is wired up so it lights up as if it was a real desk lamp. The designer also has a version of this concept featuring a digital clock with the possibility that both versions may become available as a consumer item. Currently Flat Light is in development with U.S. company Artemide.
I can't tell you much more about this but if you head over to my source We Make Money Not Art there is an interview with the designer and you can see the digital clock version.Labels: art, design, ideas
Google Songs - a game for our time.
Friday, June 29, 2007
One morning I had a song going around in my head. I only knew a few disjointed lines. I had no idea of the song title or lyrics. Frustrated, by not knowing how the lines I knew, linked together I found myself thinking what phrases or words would I need to type into Google in order to find the exact song lyrics?
At the time I was traveling around the country. I didn't have immediate access to the internet so my mind kept pondering further over this question. The question is fairly straight forward. There's not much more to add. Thus, my mind extended the idea to thinking about the search results and what combination of phrases and words might result in the lyrics being returned in the number one search result spot?
Then I thought that getting exactly what you're looking for in the number one search spot could be quite a challenge. You could make a game out of this. I may not be the first person to think of 'Google Songs' as a game, since it's such a simple concept but I did create it independently of knowing about Google Games using similar rules.
Google Songs: The Rules.
A game for 1 or more players.
Players think of a song title or phrase from a song (that does not include the songs title). They enter the title or phrase into Google's search box. In addition they can add up to five seperate words (known as word modifiers) to help narrow their search and increase the chances of a link to the songs lyrics appearing in the number one search result position.
e.g. For the song title "Sympathy for the Devil" you might enter the title plus the words 'lyrics', 'song', 'Rolling', 'Stones' and 'music'. Each word modifier must be one word only i.e. 'Rolling Stones' would be two words.
You can use any of Googles search modifiers e.g. +, - etc.
Each Player can try their chosen song title or phrase up to three times with different modifiers. As soon as a link to the song lyrics appears in the top five search results (or the player has tried three times) the turn is over.
Scores for each turn is out of five and runs in decending order of where the song lyrics appeared in the top five results. e.g. position 1: 5 points, position 2: 4 points etc.
The winner is the first person to reach 20 points or greater. In the case of single player games the goal is to achieve 20 points or greater in as few a turns as possible (the perfect game should take four turns).
Game Variations
- Make the game more strategic by having other players choose what song title or phrase you search for. Songs must be familiar to the person doing the search (no obscure songs).
- Have everyone search for the same title or phrase each turn. See who can get the best result for a particular song title or phrase.
Labels: ideas, music
Painting "Socks" the Cat
Sunday, May 20, 2007
 Behind every painting there is a story however, with my latest artwork "Socks" (the cat) there really is only something of a rant. In creating "Socks" I wanted to demonstrate that any half decent artist can stand in front of a blank canvas and paint 'something'.
In painting 'something' I mean painting an image with no pre-planning, deep thought or preliminary sketching what-so-ever. In simple terms, the artist just starts painting and sees what emerges from the marks made as the painting develops. So many artists seem to be creating work like this now.
I suspect this has come about with the pressure on professional artists to earn a living from what they do. Working in this format allows for a high turn out of art thus creating a larger inventory for sales. However in doing so, I feel that the artist compromises their talent by producing largely, forgettable art.
The most thinking I did for "Socks" was that I planned to paint something based on my existing style of cat characters. After that it was paint until I could see a finished cat. I didn't even plan that this cat would be sitting, looking like he's pulling up his socks. That's just what emerged, two hours later, from the brush strokes I began with.
"Socks" will never be remembered as a 'great' work of art (if, indeed, he is remembered at all).
Non artists may look at "Socks" and think that it is a pretty good painting. As an artist I look at this kind of work and think... "yeah, it's okay but it's not really the best I can do."
There's not much skill and very little craft involved. I'd like to know when these two elements of creating an artwork became so less important in comparison to the spontaneous emotion, experimental exploration and fleeting impressions that seems to dominate contemporary creative process.
I'd like to aspire to something greater. I'd like to view art that encourages me to do so. I want to be inspired by new ideas rather than past masters. Do artists really need to churn out art like a machine or would you pay a little more for art that is obviously more thought out and crafted?Labels: art, artist, cat, ideas, modern, opinion, painting
Competition with a day job.
Monday, April 30, 2007
User Generated Content changed everything. Suddenly, the corporations lost their control. No longer could they spoon feed us propaganda.
At one time filming your life for the world to see was considered voyeurism. Now it's entertainment. We all can be stars.
The loudest voice comes from those who understand the medium rather than those with the most money and resources.
Now we can talk to each other and that's dangerous.
The next person you meet could be your last.
You don't know them. You only think you do.
You meet them anyway.
Fortunately today isn't the end it's a beginning.
People getting together, collaborating. That's dangerous.
Corporations now have new competition.
Competition that isn't driven by profit.
Competition with a day job.
User generated content changed everything. We all can be stars.Labels: ideas, internet, observation, video
Brain Fart
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Today I thought I'd post something funny so I printed out a picture of a clown, put it in an envelope and mailed it to Albakerky. Not that I know anyone in Albakerky. I just addressed it 'To Whom it may concern' - let them work it out.
I was feeding some penguins from a park bench in the middle of a desert when it occurred to me that a park bench in the middle of a desert is quite a rare occurrence. When I mentioned this to the eyeball on a stick, sitting beside me, it gave me a blank stare, as if to say "I'm trying not to be seen with you, stop forcing me to acknowledge your existence." Eyeballs can be like that.
If you happen to be the owner of the small dog barking in the house next door to mine can you please come home. Your dog isn't cute. In fact I think it's just a little inadequate without some dopey person to keep it company. Get a dog sitter. The dog would be so much quieter with someone sitting on it.
Well if you've read this far you'll probably be wondering why this post makes little sense and seems some what random. Let's not get into psychoanalysis or try to search for deeper issues.
Just put it all down to a brain fart. Normal service will continue as soon as the wooden duck.Labels: animals, humor, ideas
If School were a Video Game.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
"If school was a video game, many of the low achievers would have no trouble getting the high scores." This is a thought that occurred to me this morning (I don't know why, it just kind of bubbled up to the surface in my head).
Reflecting on the idea further, it is my observation that many kids that don't do so well in school are often quite good at their favorite video games. If school was presented in such a format where participating was fun and you could earn points for various levels of achievement, I think some children would have no trouble learning and might even excel.
I also wondered about those that currently can achieve great school results in the present system. Would they under perform or would they also do well if school was a video game? I'm not so sure. Would they be the new 'under achievers'?Labels: ideas, observation, social
The Murky depths of my Woolly Head?
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
I'm not the kind of artist that can just churn out artwork after artwork. I'm not inspired to paint the landscape, still life or portraits. You know, the kind of things that you can just go out and find. External inspiration I guess you could call it. See it. Like it. Paint it. That's not what I'm about.
I do take inspiration from external sources. No doubt about that. The things I see, experience and participate in all influence my art. My brain soaks it all in like a sponge and then starts to make connections. Ideas begin to form. Concepts start to evolve. Possibilities for artworks begin to emerge.
Where once there was a blank page, visuals start to form. Visuals based on my thinking, not my external environment. Teasing out ideas onto the page from the inner recesses of my mind. The murky depths of my woolly head. (perhaps 'woolly head' is taking the adjectives too far?).
My point, if I have one, is that I'm not a constant stream of ideas. Often the water runs dry. Often I just get tired of trying to force yet another artwork from the barest of threads.
I think, sometimes it is good to take a break. Try a different creative pursuit, like writing. If only for a while.
I'm starting to feel more enthusiastic about painting again. Even though I don't yet have any ideas. However I've wanted to paint some larger works for a while and I've finally discovered how to do that without having to use a large canvas. This has helped to light the fire. To want to create art again.
I'm looking forward to painting. To creating some new art.Labels: art, ideas, inspiration, motivation, painting
Blank Canvas III: Art Genius - Art humor.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Being a professional artist isn't as easy as you might think. It's a constant struggle to find new ideas and inspiration. One can easily spend hours thinking over new concepts, allowing them to process and develop into new artworks.
Conceptual artists, especially those who prefer to express their ideas in the minimalist style, must surely struggle the most - as this video demonstrates.Labels: art, canvas, comedy, humor, ideas, minimalism, painting
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