I didn’t mean to disappear…

but BT had other plans for me. No internet connection. I had two different explanations from 2 different gentlemen in India, and finally got it back after 48 hours. For now – so I’m making the most of it.

Mind you, not a lot has been happening at Cheese Acres. Apart from the big thing, of course – although at 7lb something he’s a bit smaller than his sister was. 

Here he is at about 18 hours old

 

 

 

and this afternoon [counts on fingers] at 5 days.

The considered opinion is that he looks like Wensleydale, but with slightly more hair.

 

 

 

1. In the intervals between admiring babies and their big sisters, I’ve been:
3. 1. photographing sunsets [followed by pouring rain which knocks one old adage on the head],

 

 

2. playing with PostWorkshop [glad not all the photo-editing software I use is on line],

3. drawing squiggles to make Photoshop brushes – although I haven’t yet made the brushes,

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. doing some old fashioned embroidery on one of the pieces of needlepoint canvas I bubblejetsetted and printed,

 

And - of course -

 

 

 

5. watching the repeat of ‘The Killing’* on BBC4 at 10pm on most nights of the week. Just as gripping, just as brilliantly acted, but with the benefit of knowing whodunnit you notice nuances of his performance you didn’t spot first time round.

Speaking of which -  a belated anniversary present to W. 

 

* NB – the original, not the US remake, which we couldn’t bring ourselves to watch. How do you follow perfection?

Perhaps it’s the start…

of the beginning of getting back to work – despite another attack of insomnia last night. At least this time I managed to do something productive, instead of playing computer games or fossicking about in my new time waster research tool, Pinterest.

I didn’t have the energy to battle with Photoshop – instead I played with PostWorkShop, where all I have to do is upload a photo and click on the ‘apply random style’ button a few times. [You can do much more than that, but at 2 a.m. it was all I was capable of.]

And then I added a frame with Picnik [don’t know of you can add frames in PWS, have to find out].

The photo was taken at Manor Farm [where else?] on Monday when we did a spot of Babybel sitting. This is her new best friend.

 

 

I also printed off 12 copies of this,

 

 

 

 

 

 

so that today, inspired by the work of Karin Wach, I could do this.

Fiddly, but fun.

I always said a knowledge of geometry would come in useful – and a pair of compasses and a protractor.

 

 

 

Yes, I could do something similar on the computer – and in fact I have [this is Sumopaint] – but playing around with bits of paper was peaceful and satisfying.

 

 

 

Tomorrow – who know? It is the one day this week I have no other commitments – yet.

And so we reach the final…

photo challenge. Yet another self portrait. With spots. As it’s a Babybel day, for this one I took the easy way out – no Photoshop, just one of the photos I took for the last self-portrait, and the abstract geometric filter from PostworkShop.

It’s been fun, and I’ve learned a lot about PSE which I am now attempting to transfer to Photoshop, but I’m glad of a break.

Now for some mark making!

I’ve come to the conclusion…

that scanning is boring. [Like this post, which goes on a bit.]

Scanning is especially dull if, like me, you have to scan everything 4 times.

I was feeling idle last night  so I played with PostworkShop – quite the easiest way I know  to produce interesting manipulated photos – on these two images.

 

Yes, litter photos again. I bet readers who’ve been with me a while are missing the flowers.

 

I applied ‘white sketch’ to the images,

 

 

 

 

 

then printed them on calico, previously painted with Inkaid, and collaged with the backs of envelopes. As you do.

Today I scanned them

Once as a colour image.

 

 

 

Once in grey scale.

 

 

 

 

 

Once in black and white.

 

 

 

 

 

And once in inverted colours. 

Boring process, interesting results.

 

 

 

 

Then I did the same for the other four pairs of images I printed off last night.

Don’t worry, I'm not going to show you all of them. Just the first scans – to prove that I do eventually  use the fabrics and papers I prepare for printing.

‘Sketchy marker’ on emulsion painted junk mail – for the flower lovers out there, the left image is of daffodils. The right one isn’t.

 

 

 

My own combination of filters [known as ‘plasmaxor’] on a bit of old curtain painted with clear Inkaid. The daffodils are a bit more obvious here.

 

 

 

‘Abstract 1’ on the left, and ‘antique drawing’ on the right, on calico painted with Printability and collaged with brown paper.

 

 

And my favourites – the ‘kitchen garden’ filter [I kid you not] on heavy but not pelmet weight Vilene, painted with moulding paste and Inkaid, a recipe from ‘Digital Art Studio’. It has a wonderful crunchy texture, which the scan doesn’t show, but which works really well with the images.

And if you decide to try it and put the result though your printer – on your own head be it.

The I did some more scanning.

When my mum died, I inherited a lot of transfers. Anyone with an ounce of sense would have binned the lot – but when did I have an ounce of sense? I am not really a transfer person – all the designs seem to involve satin stitch, probably my least favourite stitch after cross stitch [one because it’s boring, the other because I’m useless at it]. In any case, the transfers don’t work very well, probably because many of them are even older than I am.

But I have a vague idea of adding floral transfer images to some of the litter photos – and perhaps even embroidering them – so I decided to scan them.

I’d only need to scan each one once, wouldn’t I?

Wrong. I couldn’t decide whether I liked the colour image or the black and white image best.

I managed a few before terminal boredom got to me.

This post is going on a bit , so I won’t write about our afternoon out at the Hillier Gardens.

I’ll just show you.

I found them!

The lost prints of my manipulated photos, that is. They were in the drawer where I keep the collaged paper ready to be printed on. [I also found my new bus pass, the absence of which meant I had to pay for the bus yesterday. Not in the drawer this time, but in a safe place…] But I digress.

 

This 

 

 

 

 

 

got ‘Pink Powdered’ in PostworkShop, then printed on Lutradur, and ended up like this.

Not very exciting. I'm tempted to take my soldering iron to it.

 

 

 

This is the same image ‘Collaged’ in PWP. Printing it on collaged paper did nothing for it, as the colours are so strong you can’t see the paper. Drawing on it with a black marker didn’t improve things much

 

 

 

– but the negative scan is more interesting. The white marks are the black marker – if you see what I mean.

 

 

 

This

 

 

 

 

 

 

met the ‘In the Dark’ filter in PWP and went all moody.

 

 

 

 

 

Printing it on newspaper made it even moodier – colour scan at the top, greyscale in the middle, inverted colours at the bottom. Who would think a photo of litter would turn out so well?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And Wensleydale like this one so much, after I’d printed it on newspaper, he took it away and put it in a frame.  This is the Sketchy Marker filter in PWP,

 

 

applied to this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately for a newly created litter-photographing fanatic, when we went to the seaside yesterday to celebrate Babybel's mummy’s birthday late [Happy Birthday L!] and Mother’s Day early [Happy Mother’s Day all mothers] – there was no litter to be seen. [Well done, whoever clears up the litter in Barton-on-Sea.]

There were other things to photograph though. 

Someone who had an inadvertent swim and had to be changed and wrapped in her daddy’s sweater to get warm.

PMS

No, not what you think. I’ve been skirting round that acronym since Wednesday, but I’ve decided I can’t go on typing ‘personally managed sketchbook’ all the time.

After my litter photography, I spent last night playing around with PostworkShop and my litter images. I was going to include some flower photos I took too, but I found the litter ones much more fun.

As you can see. 

I did print various images off on collaged paper and Lutradur, which I was going to scan to show you – but – er – I’m not quite sure where I’ve put them. [CRS, you know – Can’t Remember S**t.]

Today, armed with a pot of white emulsion. I attacked some of my ‘artwork’.

Before and after.  I’m not sure what to do with it next, but smearing, rubbing, tearing and possibly sanding may come into it. [Can you tell I hate it, even now?]

 

 

 

 

But these, I like – inspired by the instructions here. I love those pinky bits which appeared in the black one, and the fact that  the fronts and backs are so different – good if you want to make books.

And finally – I made a book, from the instructions here. After all, if [and it’s a big if] I am researching artists’ books for my RP, it’s OK to make book samples for the PMS, isn’t it?

It is an interesting structure – like a flutter book with attitude. I used a failed screen print, and realised too late the crucial importance of folding it very very accurately. But, hey, it’s only a sample! I like the flappy bits, which, I think, don’t have to be precisely that shape – and I like the way the flaps in the example on Jane’s blog contrast with the background. Definitely something to return to.

I thought when I started typing this I hadn’t done much today [usual post-insomnia lethargy - PIL?] – but that’s not too bad a list.

Tonight, of course, is Danish Detective Drama [DDD] night – but the last one! Tonight we find out who done it! What we won’t find out is how we will survive Saturday nights until the BBC [enough with the acronyms!] runs the next series next autumn – though rumour has it we are getting another series of the almost equally good Spiral to keep us going.

Will I have any fingernails left?

What a dreadful assignment!

First day back at college and what are we asked to do? Work with a partner to take photos of each other, manipulate them in Photoshop, print them off and make a book of the best, and then produce a paper based triptych on the theme of ‘Past, Present and Future’ inspired, more or less, by our images.

I’m sure you realise how devastated I was by this.

There were two drawbacks – first, that the college network was working at the speed of a paralytic tortoise, and the other that this implied that I should limit myself to Photoshop - which of course I ignored.

Fortunately I’d treated my self to PS Elements as an early birthday prezzie, so I came home and played with it.

This is the ‘Cut-out’ filter.

 

 

 

 

And PostworkShop – this is ‘Outlines with Scanned Brush’.

Hope the pictures aren’t meant to be recognizable.

 

 

 

 

And Befunky – ‘Holgaart’ . I'm in there somewhere.

The book is called ‘How to Survive Modern Art’.

 

 

 

 

 

And Sumopaint – the ‘Kaleidoscope’ filter, which does a good job of showing off my Frida Kahlo eyebrows.

I don’t have purple hair, I was wearing a hat with purple flowers on it.

 

 

 

I may get round to GIMP,  and some of the other programs I tried out in the great flower extravaganza, [just search for passion flower’ or ‘dahlia’ on my blog], if I decide the current 190 or so images aren’t enough.

Yes, I have spoken to Wensleydale in the interim, and looked after Babybel, been to the gym and done a few chores – although progress was helped by another bout of insomnia last night.

Then there are the other important decisions, like what sort of binding to use – currently thinking of a simple codex, but with flaps and holes and fold outs – and how I can wangle a triptych into a book format. 

This was all supposed to be doable in the college time left over from thinking about topics for our research project and having tutorials on it.

Fat chance.

Suppose I ught to write a research proposal too. My preferred topic? Artists’ books …

What would you do …

if you had to rest your big toe?  As in RICE – Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation?

Don’t laugh, it is very painful. I don’t know what I've done to it – Mrs Cheddar suggested it was gout, but when I Googled it the symptoms aren’t quite the same. It started on Tuesday night, but was not too bad on Wednesday – or I wouldn’t have gone out, but on Wednesday night it was agony, and I could barely walk on Thursday, hence the RICE. It has been a bit better today, but I am still trying to keep off my feet.

Using the sewing machine is out, unless I change the habit of a life time, and operate the pedal with my left foot, so I made a couple of books – what else would I do? Most of it done sitting down at my desk with an ice pack under my foot – there’s one there now, and it’s bliss.

This book mailer got a little damaged when Babybel helped her Granddad open it, so it is patched with tape. I was trying to make it look like a bar code, but ran out of tape, and ended up with a mess. The pages are an eclectic mess mixture of paper, including some of those I painted on Wednesday – whatever was easily to hand, really. The stitching is Keith Smith’s ‘Triple Dash’ – but there are four signatures, so i suppose it is ‘Quadruple Dash’.

This is, as you can see, a Sainsbury’s cheese box from Christmas – I kept it because I liked the hole in the top [now front].

I Bondawebbed the box to a bit of experimental dyeing, cutting the Bondaweb away from the hole. These pages were anything I could find in the paper drawer which seemed to go.  The binding is Ailsa Golden’s ‘Bunched Stitches’ – although my bunches are beads. Although I find beads on the spine are a bit of a nuisance because they stop the book lying flat, it seemed a good use for these spotty orange ones.

Of course the other thing I can do in my enforced rest is play with the computer – although BT is doing its best to restrict me, by b****ring around with broadband. We hope this is part of their promise to provide us soon [for a fee] with their whizzy new faster version – but this seems to involve cutting us off altogether for long periods of time, or delivering a v-e-r-y  s-l-o-w version when we’ve got one at all. Of course, as soon as I pick up the phone to ring BT – it comes back on again. That has happened three times now, which seems too much of a coincidence. [Paranoid? Me?]

Good job I’ve got some downloaded programs to play with, like PostworkShop.

This is a collage so boring I didn’t bother showing it to you when I made it – I was experimenting with a cruciform design as suggested in several design books. A good test for the program, I thought.

 

These were all made by applying a single ‘style’ to the original – apart from the blue and yellow one, which like this lot -

 

 

 

had a style applied to a style. Or in some cases a style to a style to a style  - you get the picture.

The one with letters came from using a brush called ‘Letters’ at its largest setting, in one of the Sketch styles – the sketch was very sketchy so the letters are sparsely scattered. You can choose the letters the program uses so you could make it say something, although I think you’d end up with anagrams...

Definite improvements, some of them. I think PWS passed the test.

Mind the gap …

between two semesters, that is. Although it is hard to believe, the first semester of my degree course has finished. This means that for the first time for nearly 18 months, I’ve got nothing to do, until after the university exam board meets next week. Then, assuming I haven’t been thrown out for insubordination or [perhaps more likely] being useless, we start a new theme – ‘past, present and future’.

I can’t settle on anything to do in the mean time. I start one thing – dryads, books, bit of purple embroidery – drop it, and start another – knitting, playing with computer programs. Today I was all set to make a basket, until Wensleydale declared it was a day for going to Hobbycraft. [A man who likes to go to Hobbycraft!!! Or maybe it’s the coffee and cake at Haskins afterwards…]

Of course, it is half term, and the place was full of half term offers – so in addition to some boring things for me [PVA, black dye to restore some faded T shirts] – I ended up with several rather more interesting arty things for Babybel.

Part of my not settling to anything was due to a crisis of confidence – I’m half way through but I’m not convinced I’m any further on than I was when I started this degree. Yes, I’ve learnt stuff – but am I actually doing anything constructive with it?

Why can’t I decide on an approach or a style changing my mind all the time? [Did you see the programme about the sculptor David Nash last week? I want to attack wood with a chain saw! I want to set fire to things!]

I know I need to draw more, so why can’t I make myself do it?

But after a conversation with the ever-supportive Wensleydale, I came to the conclusion that all this fiddling around with computer programs is sort-of-drawing, and that, as I feel more willing to do that than pick up a pencil – I should stick with it. And do more with the graphics pad which Cheese Major and his partner so kindly gave me for Christmas.

So here are my first efforts – with a little help from Sumopaint. Don’t laugh.

Snowy trees

 

 

 

- circles [OK, I didn’t draw the circles free hand, just the lines and dots!]

 

 

 

 

- and the ravening bugblatter beast of Traal.

I’ve been reading about automatic drawing, so that’s what this is – although the sources I’ve read are a bit vague about how you actually do it.

 

I liked the circles best, so I played around with them in PostworkShop.

As you can see, some of the filters change the original image beyond all recognition.

Cheating? Maybe, but I do like some of the results.

Now i need to decide what to do with all these ‘drawings’.