It’s happened again.

Computers – or, in this case, their associates - have conspired to stop me doing what I’d planned on doing – i.e. playing around with paper and paint. [Handing in my sketchbook(s) just meant I had to make another one – or three.]

We have had three printers – 2 his-&-hers cheap-as-chips HP all-in-ones of different ages, and, because the HPs throw up their hands and judder to a halt if fed anything thicker than paper, a cheap-as-more-expensive chips, Durabrite ink using, A3 eating Epson, which has so far digested everything I’ve given it apart from black paper – which the HPs eat ate happily. [Not completely black, of course, that would be silly – black painted with Inkaid.]

However, the older HP started whining and chuntering and refusing to eat anything – or rather it would swallow part of it and then gag. [I think this metaphor may be straying into dangerous waters.]

So, when it refused to print Wensleydale's bank statement, we decided that it should be taken to the dump after Christmas, he could use the younger HP, and I’d surrender my claim to it and  cleave only unto the Epson. [The younger HP has decided it doesn’t want to be turned off, but we can work round that.]

Which would give us more room on the desks, after a little reorganisation. I'll spare you the details, but it involved cleaning the desks [shudder] and took half the afternoon. And I discovered as I lugged it about that the Epson is a lot heavier than the HPs.

There was a good result to all this labour. Wensleydale’s laptop needed to meet the CD that came with the newer HP – which I managed to find, by a minor miracle. In the process of searching through the CD cache, apart from the usual collection of CDs and manuals for technology we no longer own, I came across a long forgotten present from Cheese Major. Some years ago – possibly last century - he went to China quite a lot, and on one occasion he came back with some CDs of Chinese art - sort of high class clip art. [They probably cost him about 5p, but it’s the thought that counts…]

Unfortunately the desktop I had then refused to have anything to do with them, so they got stuck in a drawer and forgotten about for years.

This afternoon, in my usual spirit of experimentation, I fed one to my laptop – it gobbled it up and after some time and a bit of chuntering downloaded a few images – well, around 80.

Did I mention there were 8 of these CDs?

I now have 100s [literally] of high res images of Chinese art, and the lap top is creaking a bit under the strain – bit like me after a Chinese meal.

The images are a mixed bunch, and not all  are to my taste – but still plenty to play with. I think I may be sending home printed Chinese birthday cards from now on…

 

 

 

They are mostly landscapes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

but this cheerful little fellow reminds me of the VHC – not that the VHC has plaits, you understand.

Isn’t this cute? This one could almost be a Van Gogh -

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

and this one could be Indian.

 

 

So far [I haven’t yet looked at them all] this is my favourite – and would be Babybel’s too, I suspect.So once I’d sorted the technology and the cleaning [shudder], I got my reward.

I can’t tell you anything about the CDs as the only things I can read on the packaging are the numbers 1 – 8, the Windows symbol and ‘PC’ and ‘Mac’. I believe the Chinese are quite relaxed about copyright, so feel happy to post a small sample here – hope you like them.

it was a good present even if it was several years before I got round to opening it!