Impromptu Art

Mums Deserve A Treat. Win A £50 Voucher From Experience Days.

2012-01-24T12:51:00.001Z

Have you got the January blues? Fancy a treat but finances are tight? Have I got very good news for you?

The lovely people at Experience Days have kindly given us a £50 gift voucher as a competition prize for one lucky reader.

The lucky winner will be able to redeem it against any of the gift experiences on the Experience Days website which we encourage you to visit right now. http://www.experiencedays.co.uk/

There are countless options on the Experience Days website from pampering days to theatre trips and so very much more. Do go and see what you fancy as there is something for the foodie, the sporty type and the risk-taker. With Valentines Day round the corner, there are special days for couples too.

Prices vary but there are lovely ones that come in under £50 so you really could have a free experience of a lifetime.

Mums Deserve A Treat. Win A £50 Voucher From Experience Days. | Kate on Thin Ice And Groovy Mums

So the challenge from Kate on here was to mention ways in which you are changing your life. Well that is quite appropriate for me at the moment.

I’ve just started plotting and accounting for the things I enjoy and those I avoid. It’s only been a few days but strangely I find some small buzz in attending to the tasks and ticking or counting them off. So my app of choice for this has been TraxItall.

Been creating in an up cycling type way.

2012-01-14T14:45:00.001Z

Today has seen the first stage of my new box project completed. This will be easier when my glue gun arrives. I'd also like some bronze paints and black and antique gold. Blurt has been trying to make the paper tubes like I have been doing at quiet points in the evenings but she is getting frustrated as it must be a lot harder than I have been making it look! I don't suppose trying to watch James Bond at the same time helps her. Any way here is a glimpse of my first test creation.

Homemade Christmas Tree This year

2011-12-20T20:04:00.001Z

Blurt was out of school an hour early as it was the last day in. So we got straight down to work on making the tree this year. This one uses a washing basket a printer tube, a roll of wallpaper, a bucket, some daubs of paint and a splatter of glitter. Quite impressed that we managed to get it all done in one evening but now we need to work out what to eat as we kind of forgot about that. Well now we have somewhere to put some pressies. I guess I'll have to go lightly on the laundry as my tree has been made out of it! But it hasn't been harmed in anyway and on the twelfth day I can get it back again.

Have any of you got creative this Christmas? I'd love to hear about it!

A Creative New Task–Hub4Trades

2011-11-26T13:56:00.001Z

I’m currently working with Funicula Ltd and they have a new project on the go that has kept me busy image making – so I thought I’d lash together some of the hundreds of images that are required for the development of the Hub4Trades website. I’m quite sure there will be stacks more too!

Yummy graphics. I’ll be sharing some more on this and some of the other things I’m up to at Funicula Ltd

Taking Control of Time

2011-09-08T19:52:00.001+01:00

I was mulling over yesterday that things had started to spiral out of control in regards to time and tasks. This involves not only work related tasks but also family matters, housework and just sort of everything really. I think it hit its true full potential last night when I ended up exhausted in bed but with a severe inability to sleep. This in itself wasn’t unusual – hey it happens especially when you think you have had an awesome idea.

I did fear that at some point today I may just find the time to curl up and rest but fortunately I did not succumb to a nap or downtime and ploughed on. The good thing about this is that it will start to correct a body clock that went a bit amiss on a holiday before Bank Holiday and a change in work patterns etc.

So anyway, I’m tired, rambling and a bit groggy but pleased that I can feel the end of the weird time shifts may be approaching.

You may be thinking that it is distinctly odd that someone who claims they are losing time is sat down now writing a blog and not actually attending to the things that need doing! Potentially this is a good point but I am not claiming my Time Management in itself is dire but that there is a mental wobble going on where time itself is concerned! So in fact just sitting down addressing the matter and acknowledging and hoping to set real actions and targets to attempt to improve the matter in itself is extremely beneficial.

I will be leaving it until the morning to take action on my Eureka moment that occurred last night which had me quite giddy. It will involve a little expenditure and it is always wise to wait until a good nights sleep and a little calmness before acting on these things.

So until morning I am going to get some sensible food and simple tasks achieved including some huddling on settee in good company! Ahhh! Until then.

Time appears to pass in disordered junks!

2011-09-07T16:10:00.001+01:00

Having realised I have not managed to maintain a solid grasp of blogging I have put five minutes thought into that today. Well! I say 5 minutes but who the hell knows how long really as time seems to flop and flimsy past not only at an alarming rate but for me also on a wobbly path! I put something down to pick up again because I’m not an octopus and then I blink, turn round and nearly a week or more has gone past!

I’m not enjoying this erratic passage of time at all! In myself I am happy and content overweight but generally healthy, I believe. However I find that my perception of time and my way of organising it is to say the least sorrowful.

I thought things would get better after the summer holidays and Blurt back at school etc. but the time disrupter is certainly myself and not those around me who are all fairly functional.

So I will need to do a bit of research into managing time and by this I don’t mean squeezing things effectively into time slots as we normally think of time management but more giving myself the skill to feel time as it really is.

I am also hoping that if I get a grip on this and don’t feel quite so punch drunk then my creativity may find a boost. As things are at the moment I can feel the ideas and inspiration but I can’t focus long enough to even make a healthy start on things never mind make completion.

So a little bit of research and grab the situation and take control of it rather than just be bashed up by it all may be what has to take place.

It’s been exciting so far. And very creative.

2010-05-19T09:45:00.001+01:00

I quit my job to work for myself. My last day in my old job was 2 weeks ago today. So tomorrow will mark the start of my third week (eek time flies!) working for myself.

In that short space of time I have had creative opportunities that have staggered and inspired so I am delighted with that.

I have also been applying conscious effort to work more productively and efficiently in order to maximise the time I have available. I am sure it is something we all need to dedicate conscious effort to repeatedly.

For me one of my biggest failings is my emotional response to hurdles or hindrances and putting time aside to practice calm and positive responses instead of adopting a scared rabbit or hedgehog approach will be helpful not only for me but for my family, business success and clients.

I haven’t had any time to paint and draw in the last week – or should I say I haven’t put aside time to paint and draw – however as I said I think my creative side is skipping with joy with many of my work related tasks. Indeed there is a LOT of 3D work scheduled as one of my clients projects and I am thrilled.

So to share my hope I’d like to share a sunrise. I’d like to make each new day a new start with fresh hopes and enthusiasm. xx

A little bit of brain training to boost creativity

2010-04-17T13:24:00.000+01:00

Scientific Brain Training: Improve Attention, Memory and Processing Speed with Lumosity. Free Trial.

My brain had been a little but frazzled lately which has meant I’ve struggled sleeping and maintaining concentration. That is why I am spending time studying and practising method to improve my cognitive whirring.

Lumosity is proving to be fun and there is plenty to do.

I need to send some old work to deviantART

2010-03-13T16:39:00.000Z

New Super Group created at deviantART – dedicated to works of art using Filter Forge

2010-03-13T11:18:00.001Z

I have the pleasure today of announcing that last night saw the full opening of a new super group in deviantART #Filter_Forge-Frenzy.

Work is being submitted to the group as I type and it will be sorted. Why not pay a visit or if you use deviantART then pop in and say hello and join the group as a member.

This site will collaborate with the feeds and work collections of art will be posted on a regular basis.

New Art Group created at ArtZone dedicated to Filter Forge

2010-03-13T11:10:00.002Z

It was my pleasure today to begin a new blog, discussion forum and art submission at Artzone.

I’ll be looking forward in the next week in finding members to frequent it.

Take a look now

Devilishly good having Vue back

2010-03-11T13:05:00.001Z

I had forgotten how much joy there was using Vue – and it has been really good to have it reinstalled after computer mayhem. It has been put to good use at http://filterforgefrenzy.com where I have being working a lot with Filter Forge and Vue to get some content together and to generally enjoy and recreate.

In the next week I will be having a good play with smileys – setting them free – and I also set some critters free last week – you can catch up with some of that on the Youtube Channel – search for blurtsmum and subscribe.

A 3D day dawning. Reunited with Vue.

2010-02-28T20:23:00.003Z

I have had a few glitches with my PC over the last few weeks which has meant an Operating System rebuild which was sort of therapeutic. But it did involve losing a lot of my installs until I could track down the right backups. Vue was one of those bit of kit them but last night it was reinstalled and we were reunited.(I haven't had chance to play yet but that is something I hope to do soon. I am also hoping to combine that with a bit of creative flux in Filter Forge which I could include over at http://filterforgefrenzy.com

The snow sculptures are back in Yorkshire

2010-02-21T20:11:00.005Z

The last time Blurt and Blue did a non traditional type snow figurine was in Easter 2008 when it snowed on Easter Sunday. I blogged about it being the Easter Bunny.

Today they scampered off with fresh snow on the ground and the digital camera. They came back wet and cold but with this great picture on the camera.

New website blog on Filter Forge launched

2010-02-19T22:13:00.004Z

Well I said I'd do it and you can get it here. http://filterforgefrenzy.com

Filter Forge Frenzy

2010-02-18T21:40:00.009Z

Blue Chicago Skyline

I made a decision this week to start a new blog dedicated to one of my passions. That being Filter Forge. A year ago (not that long ago in my blog timeline but significant in the normal passage of time), I started a rather lengthy post that started like this.

"I’m taking time out today from creating and giving free stencils for Artrage to talk about Filter Forge. I have mentioned it a lot while creating the filters and when I have made up example work.
I was introduced to Filter Forge in a very round about way. I am a fan of Geekatplay.com and I put in request for some training to use Mapzone which is a free filter making tool which is very powerful but has a steep learning curve – so steep in fact that I never really got off the ground with – I may yet push on with that – I don’t like to be beat!"

And that post went on for a significant period (a verbose post because I was excited) with some follow ups. I still use Filter Forge consistently and still with mad enthusiasm. So from now on Filter Forge ramblings will have a special place and I will introduce that tomorrow.

Blue Chicago Skyline was created from a photo using Filter Forge

Well I hope you are enjoying those you love today

2010-02-14T14:47:00.006Z

It was funny yesterday morning. Blurt and I were just returning in the car from the swimming pool with the radio on. Jonathan Ross was playing tunes and chatting with who ever it is - the producer or whatever.

Anyway grumpy colleague pipes up in regards to Valentines Day. "Commercial Rubbish!", he says. Blurt was very indignant at this and came back with the "The Commercial is not rubbish!"

The commercial is one of the public houses here and I am quite sure this 4 going on 5 year old should not really have opinions on what public house is good or not.

Anyway Happy Valentines Day!

The ebb and flow of time

2010-02-06T08:44:00.007Z

Image via Wikipedia

I am again left quite perplexed regarding the ebb and flow of time because ebb and flow it does -- well more surge and slow really. I have had probably a year of surge in other area and I have accomplished thing artistic wise very little. I try not to get despondent when this occurs but accept that there is a time for things. Perhaps scripture helps remind us of just that.

Clearly I haven't sat doing nothing all that time and what I have accomplished in my other brain is not to be sniffed at. It is just that I miss the creativity that can be accomplished when actually working on an art project.

Anyway today I am clearing my desk which may be a sign that I'm ready to get back to work on my projects. I'll truly celebrate if it happens. Ok then -- on with desk clearing and finding some breakfast.

I am sorry to say

2009-10-24T21:59:00.002+01:00

Well it has happened again. I'm hopeless I am messy. I have a lot to say. Now is not the time. Back soon - nearly ready. x

Happy Valentines Day

2009-02-14T08:38:00.001Z

A picture present.

This is how I became involved in 3D Art

2009-02-12T17:33:00.001Z

Is there something you do regularly, at the heart of you that you would feel a lesser being without? It may be music, sport, work, art tools or software?

I’ll be asking that question at the end of this post.

I looked back the other day in my blog to discuss how I came to use filter forge – one of the programs I use most on my PC, both as a tool and recreationally. If you read the other post on how I used it in my own self prescribed art therapy then you will have realised that I have an emotional and well-being links to my artwork and the programs I use. As a result of that I discovered I wanted to disclose the path I took to use the 3D programs I use regularly.

So it all started with me having a sort of story in my head with quite distinct pictures, I have developed this a bit more over at TheRailwaychild.com, but not as much as I should have due to time constraints. I really could do with a 55 hour day and only need 2 hours sleep, and a 3 day weekend away from work (or not work at all!).

The story idea and main thread came about after a short burst of mentor/counselling I had. So I had pictures in my head. I have a natural ability to draw, and a good degree of training but the pictures in my head this time I knew were not going to be satisfied with what I can produce with my own hands so I waited and they were in my head developing and growing, the ideas pushing on with no outlet that was satisfying.

A few weeks into this I opened my PC Pro magazine and there was a give-away of Bryce 5 – I always have installed such packages and never seem undeterred that my experience is often poor and that if I don’t “get it” in the first half hour then I stop and give up. My computer gaming is the same. I won’t persevere unless I can completely foresee that I could with some effort make it work and fun for me.

Bryce somehow clicked and I was excited I could immediately make something and it looked stunning. So I read the manual (yeah I bet loads of people ditch software without even reading the manual) and I went to the website of the company who had just taken it on and were now giving it away. Daz3d .

From that website Daz3D.com I instantly realised that they not only had a cheap upgrade to Bryce 6 from 5 but they had a whole stash of wonderful things (people, trees, vehicles) that were precisely what I needed to get the pictures out of my head and in a format I could share with others.

It was like walking into a little software paradise.

If I put my business head on here and look at what happened to my experience I can only congratulate Daz on their business sense in their ability to realise that giving something away (loss to them) would lead me to spend loads of money with them (leader). Bryce 5 was a loss leader for Daz. So glad I took it.

In my next post I want to develop my stages through various software packages and how I use them. I’d love to know how you came to be connected with the tools you use. Is it pure business or is there an emotionally affinity. This does not have to be about art or software either. Is there something you do regularly that is at the heart of you that you would feel a lesser being without. It may be music, sport, work, art tools or software?

How I treated the Blues with Filter Forge

2009-02-10T06:15:00.001Z

From previous posts you will know that I have found Filter Forge a fantastic tool that I use regularly for art both 2D Digital Art and for developing materials for 3D art. In this post I wanted to mention one other way it has helped me.

In the summer of last year my chaotic life took some even more catastrophic turns. I lost my job, the dog died and I lost my home – any one of those events was enough to put me in poor spirits but all 3 together in one season left me in a precarious emotional state. I blogged a little about it at the time, but not a lot as clearly I was too busy being in a mess and for some time had no internet connection!

Creatively I was burned out and I was having strange visions and quite dark thoughts. Part of me wanted to draw or digitally create the dark pictures in my head to exorcise them but then I rethought that approach and realised that it may not be helpful to my emotional well being to actively focus on the darkness.

So I turned to Filter Forge and chose 2 colours – Yellow because it represents light which can signify goodness and hope. Green because it is the colour of growth and life. I focused on making patterns with these 2 colours – the tasks had to be simple as my mood was making it very hard to concentrate. I limited my palette to focus my thoughts. I already knew how to use Filter Forge and in these sessions I was not creating filters I was simply messing with the basics of the package, tweaking and clicking

At the time I did not feel hopeful or joyful but continued to make patterns with these things in mind. I stored them all in a folder and the ones I liked best I submitted to RedBubble. Some of them are now my favourite work.

The rhythm and patterns and colour I found very helpful and I know there is such a thing as Art Therapy and I wonder if I accidentally self prescribed some Art Therapy for myself in these hard times. Looking back I doubt anyone else could have prescribed better.

If your creativity dries up due to stress, tiredness or depression I personally would recommend downloading the trial version of Filter Forge if you don’t already own it, grabbing some of the nearly 6000 free filters – and then click through and make yourself something beautiful even if you don’t feel it.

Filter Forge is marketed as an Adobe Photshop plugin but it can be run on Corel Paintshop Pro or as a standalone program.

I will over the next few weeks be returning to Filter Forge and have a look at how it is used.

I am quite aware that this may all sound a schmolzy or some such word – but the truth is often stranger or more icky than fiction.

I have actually shot past my 10 day free artrage stencils

2009-02-06T17:17:00.001Z

But I have so much more I want to give!

So I'll do these today and I'll occasionally drop some more in BUT what I will do is bundle all the free ones I do make into a zip file which I will keep updating and I'll put that in my website at blurtsmum.com which I have now committed myself to updating properly and that will launch properly on the 1st of March -- I'm going to be looking for articles from my arty network too so do get in touch if you have anything. I have enjoyed making the artrage stencils so much that I am also going to make more and create a paid for version too - with a lot more things in! Of course it will be ridiculously cheap and I'll be running some tutorials on how I made them so you can just get on and make some yourself too!

Anyway the day before yesterday I hinted at the 8 legged folks and some more interesting lights beams so I'll pop these up now.

oooh AND spider webs!

Why I use Filter Forge nearly every day.

2009-02-05T20:03:00.005Z

I’m taking time out today from creating and giving free stencils for Artrage to talk about Filter Forge. I have mentioned it a lot while creating the filters and when I have made up example work.

I was introduced to Filter Forge in a very round about way. I am a fan of Geekatplay.com and I put in request for some training to use Mapzone which is a free filter making tool which is very powerful but has a steep learning curve – so steep in fact that I never really got off the ground with – I may yet push on with that – I don’t like to be beat.

Geekatplay.com responded that at that time they weren’t considering mapzone training but they would be putting in some sessions on Filter Forge. I must say I was actually a bit disappointed because Filter Forge wasn’t free and was a Photoshop plug – which at that time I didn’t use. I watched the training anyway which was fascinating and learned that Filter Forge would also plug into Coral Paint Shop Pro AND would run stand alone. Now that I could handle! So I set to and downloaded the trial version.

The trial version is a full version unlimited for a month – which is fabulous as you can get stuck in using the repository of nearly 6000 filters made by the Filter Forge users and Administrators and you can start making your own, use them and submit them to Filter Forge Library for others to use.

When you submit a Filter to the Filter Forge Library it’s use is monitored and if it is used to a High degree (High User – HU) you get a point – and yes POINTS DO MAKE PRIZES! In fact you can win copies of Filter Forge – brilliant!

To quote from the site

To get a reward, you must earn a sufficient number of Reward Points. In our current reward program, 1 Reward Point equals 1 High Usage Rank filter. Once a filter attains the rank, it will count towards your future rewards, even if it loses its Usage Rank later.

Here are the rewards you can receive:

1 Reward Point = 20% discount coupon for any edition of Filter Forge
2 Reward Points = 50% discount coupon for any edition of Filter Forge
3 Reward Points = a free copy of Filter Forge Professional Edition
4 Reward Points = 5 coupons for a 30% discount each for any edition of Filter Forge
5 Reward Points = free lifetime upgrades to all future versions

Filters fall into categories in 2 main camps – 1 camp is where the filter messes about with a submitted image and the other is where patterns and textures etc are created with no image to start on.

These 2 camps are broken down into these categories

Texture Filters

Building – Textures found in architecture and building, such as bricks, pavements, tiles etc.
Frames – Picture frame textures.
Misc – Abstract textures or textures that do not fit into any other category
Organic – Organic textures such as meat, skin, flesh, leaves, etc.
Patterns – Textures with regularly repeated shapes, colors, motifs, etc.
Snippets – Filters that illustrate ideas or techniques of interest to the filter development community
Stone – Stone and rock textures, natural and processed.
Techno – Any textures related to industry and technology, such as circuits, rusty metal, diamond plates etc.

Effect Filters - the ones that mess with an image

Creative – Effects that modify images in various creative ways.
Distortions – Effects that distort, deform or reshape the original image.
Frame – Effects that create a frame around the original image.
Misc – Effects that do not fit into any other category.
Patterns – Effects that produce patterns based on the original image.
Photo – Photo enhancement operations and effects.
Snippets – Filters that illustrate ideas or techniques of interest to the filter development community.

Having played furiously with the downloaded trial I then purchased the standard version (Financial reasons) which was delightful! BUT for me with the programming brain (dying to edit and create my own filters which you can’t in standard version) and wishing to submit images to Redbubble at around the 7000px mark (limited to 300px) it was a bit limiting so I had to save up again and buy the professional version.

I honestly now use Filter Forge nearly everyday – sometimes to do something useful and task driven and sometimes just to play.

Speaking of playing! -- My 12 year old God son came to stay for a weekend the other month. I gather he was a bit reluctant and would rather have stayed at home and hung about with his best mate (as you would!). On this occasion the adults ruled and his stuff was packed up and he came on over to stay. I can’t say I really went out of my way to entertain him in fact on Saturday I had a bit of a bad head from indulging at a party the previous evening and I skulked off back to bed for a bit. What I did do was set him loose with Filter Forge – I have never seen the lad so engrossed! And his Mum when she picked him up was overwhelmed by how much he prattled on about the fun he had had and that he should come round more often!

It was nice to share and that’s what I’m trying to do here.

So ……

If you need patterns

If you need to design materials for characters

If you need funky alien skin

If you want to make stencils

If you want to brighten up your art work and photos

If you want to entertain a teenager

If you want materials for any 3d project

If you want to self medicate pattern making to get over the blues (I’ll explain that one another time - probably next week)

If you want some fun and excitement

Then download Filter Forge – try out the trial version and see what you can come up with.

Look out for Blurtsmum – I’m in there and I have a few filters.

Hope to see you submitting filters.

You light up my life - with free artrage stencils

2009-02-04T22:20:00.000Z

I'm going to post this set of free stencils today and then tomorrow I'm going to take a break and have a chat about the product I used most in developing the stencils and one I use everyday. Filter Forge

This set of stencils is about adding light or the illusion of light at least - I worked with flares of light the other day and on this post I'd like to share beams of light.

I'll continue the following day with some more intricate beams and a set of organic patterns by some eight legged friends.

Sunsets and birds free stencils for artrage

2009-02-03T17:00:00.001Z

I posted last week a few simple sky stencils for artrage. This week I'd like to advance on that with some more intricate sky stencils which can be used as sunsets. Experiment with these to develop interesting texture and don't forget you can invert them to enhance highlights AND you do know you do not have to set out with a simple white piece of paper. Use your layers well and experiment a lot.

Also last week I started off a picture using the stylised trees and a sky and the hills - it became clear to me that we needed some birds so as a special sunset treat I have here 3 stencils of birds winging their way home for the evening.

These last stencils with the birds on were made using Ron's Brushes

Which is a great product and if you need a lot of birds to compliment your outdoor scenes then you will get them here at a very reasonable price.

Solar Flares and such stencils for artrage

2009-02-03T01:30:00.003Z

Here are some flares so you can add lights stars and solar flares to your artrage images. You can use these with the heavenly bodies that I put up earlier or any other images you are creating in artrage. If you put them to good use I would love to see your work. Happy Creating.

Heavenly Bodies Artrage Stencils for Free

2009-02-02T18:05:00.005Z

Last week I produced a bunch of stencils that could be used for developing landscapes.
After I had done the sky I thought some more and realised that we needed some heavenly bodies -- you know planets, moons etc. So that is what this post is for. I doubt I'll have spare time this week to play with artrage myself but if you do and you use any of these then let me know and we could share them here if you liked.

OK then heavenly bodies

There are only 3 here but I'll make it up by adding some solar flare stencils before I get to bed.

Playing with arty stencils.

2009-02-01T12:07:00.007Z

Took a few minutes this morning while waiting for my breakfast to settle to have a go with the arty free stencils for artrage posted yesterday. This example here is one of thousands of ways you can use them.

In this one I squeezed some (lots actually - I have been taking tips form blurt) white and pale yellow all over and then used the palette knife to spread it but not smooth it over too much.

After that I took one of the stencils sized it up to cover my paper and I chose to rotate it too because I fancied the flower at the top right and the stripes at the bottom. I added a layer on artrage so it would be like my bottom layer is dry paint and not wet squishy stuff that would blend with anything new I added -- on this picture I was trying to capture the texture as much as the patterns of the stencils. On the stencil and new layer I squeezed purple paint and spread it with the palette knife.

Then I added a new layer and a different stencil - without removing the first. On these heaped stencils and new layer I painted on black with a roller.

Then I hid the second stencil so I could return to it later in active stencils if I thought I needed to. (I didn't but I didn't know that then!)

Adding another layer I inverted the first stencil I used and using a paint brush with white - I used it again to power up the highlights.

Then I stopped and took a look -- I swapped the black and purple layers and changed their blends - I wasn't working scientifically I just tweaked them until I felt happy.

This is what I had when I finished in Artrage it's OK but I wanted to add a bit more bumpiness so I took it into filter forge and added in bit of simple bump and then I decided I liked it and left it as the first picture in this blog entry.

Now I wasn't making this picture for any purpose so now I need to decide what I can use it in. I may use submit it as a card to redbubble, I may add it as a picture on a wall in some 3d Art. I may use it as a posing backdrop for one of my characters - who know I'll let it rest and come back to it in a couple of days and see how react to it then.

A little bit arty with artrage stencil give away

2009-01-31T22:20:00.005Z

In this session of free artrage stencils I'm moving for one night away from the landscaping and the organics to a more arty feel. Don't forget that you can resize, tilt and flip these stencils and sometimes it is interesting to place them on top of one another for further designs.

Have fun with colour and use your layers well.

Let me know if you produce anything with them I'd love to see some of your works.

Tomorrow I'm going to take a look at some heavenly bodies!

A quick play with new free artrage stencils

2009-01-30T21:17:00.005Z

Just had a play with the new stencils and filter forge and it has become quite clear that some flocks of birds in stencils would be handy! Here is my very quick doodle. Go on have a go.

stylish winter trees - artrage stencils free

2009-01-30T20:13:00.004Z

So here is the third part of stenciled landscapes I guess. We have had some smooth rolling hills that you can build up in layers - a variety of skies to use and now for some winter trees -- I do have some more realistic trees I set up as Artrage stencils and an example of those was put out a week or so back (scroll down or flick through the categories or archives and you should unearth those) -- but today I quite like these. These I made today using a snippet filter on filter forge which is on it's last day of sale today

- but if you miss it and you are reading this tomorrow or later than you should give the fully functional trial version a go. It is really useful and a LOT of fun.

Filter forge is marketed as a Photoshop plugin but it works in Paint Shop Pro too and it also runs stand alone so if you don't have either then still try it. I use mine most of the time as a stand alone program and I use if joyfully everyday.

I gave away some shapes the other day as stencils - some of those may make flowers. I think tomorrow we may move on to a whole new look entirely.

I hope you have something fun planned for the weekend. Let me know if you try any of the stencils or you wnat any tips with filter forge if you give that a go.

The Sky is the Limit - artrage filters for free

2009-01-29T23:10:00.005Z

Just had a bit of a nightmare changing my blogger template but nearly knocked it into shape now. I have lost some of my gadgets but it is good to have a clear out and have the fun of adding them in again!

In the meantime I have some sky stencils that you can use in artrage these are easy to use to get them off the blog simply right click and either put them straight into your artrage stencil area or enter the stencil area and add them from th folder you left them in. These are .png files. Feel free to use them for art privately or commercially but please do not give them away or sell them -- I did make then and I made them so people come and get to know me and some of the things I do and so they can share that - if you want to generous then send them here - or make something of your own and give it away.

I'd love to know if anyone has used these - Blurt regularly ises and tests my filters -- she is 3 - nearly 4 and can use most features of artrage un assisted -- she is very fond of stencils -- and likes to make the glitter multi coloured.

If this is the first time you have read this blog -- it isn't always about srtrage or about free things - I am having fun at the moment though with it -- do join in.

Don't forget that you can flip, rotate, resize and invert artrage stencils and put them on top of each other - very flexible.

Hills for making curvy landscape - free stencils for artrage.

2009-01-28T21:01:00.009Z

OK! It's hill night tonight - and I'll sort the skys to go on tomorrow. I have a few basic hills which Blurt really loves using - they are quite not at all realistic but they do creates good effects. Don't forget that each one can be flipped horizontally or turned upside down and inverted to multiply their use. Try layering them and sizing them up or down to get different looks..

Blurt used them as a sea scape once and as a snow scene - they actually looked really good on a snowy scene, the smoothness really helped.

Please forgive my rather garbled English tonight I am amazingly tired and the exhaustion appears to be attacking my language and typing centre first.

Here are the hills. I'll knock out some more realistic ones at the weekend -- you know craggy and all that but for now here are good round comfortable smooth hills. Like pillows and duvets -- zzz

Oops.

Free stencils for Artrage

2009-01-27T21:19:00.004Z

I have a set of free stencils starting tonight and 10 more lots too. I uploaded some free stencils the other week if you scroll down you should find them.
I made this batch with filterforge this is a filter I have made and haven't submitted to join the nearly six thousand that are on there yet. I'll be doing that later this week. So if you are user you can access that directly.
This one filter alone can now create hundreds of thousand thousands of unique files. (Not kidding) Imagine what 6000 premade filters with that power could do to your creativity and then add in that you can start to develop your own like I do! There is a sale on at Filterforge at the moment but it was the Christmas or Holiday sale and will end in 4 days time - (maybe 3 not sure about time zones). I'd be lost without my Filter Forger, it it is fun and an amazingly useful tool.
Anyway -- what about those free stencils for Artrage! Well here they are. if you get stuck using them I'll knock up a training session for you -- just put a request in on the comments.

And Yeah that can be a training session on filterforge or Artrage or both I guess. By the way these are just .png files right click on them and download them -- you have my blessing - go and create.

I'm making hills and skys tonight to upload tomorrow. Blurt loves using them to make landscapes. I'm a fan too.!

My Hair just never grows long

2009-01-26T21:41:00.004Z

Blurt's hair is already longer than mine has ever been and she is only nearly 4! Hardly fair! I may make up for it by giving my characters some outstanding locks of their own -- and it the price this is today and tomorrow then you can hardly blame me.

Go take a look at this Evangelique

Sister of Sin -- pretty hard to resist - so hard indeed I doubt I will be!

2009-01-05T12:00:00.005Z

Look at these - I think they are yummy! I will be using these and there is an add on pack too. Nice product actually because it comes with a lighting pack and poses that is a rather tasty offer.

If i make something with these I'll keep you posted.

Artrage Stencils Free - 70s Wiggle Patterns

2009-01-04T17:03:00.004Z

Pattern making can be awesome therapy in fact if you check out my yellow and green collection at http://redbubble/people/blurtsmum I self prescribed some intense pattern making. I've incuded a preview up above of Joy Burst

So with patterns on my mind I thought I'd set up a few free pattern stencils for you to download.

That's them below - I call them my 70s wiggle patterns

The above pictures are PNGS which I have created for you to use in Artrage as stencils - put these in the resource stencil area or pull in from a blank stencil. Have fun.

This filter was made using Filter Forge

View all blog

Today I am going to be giving away Free artrage stencils.

2009-01-04T14:57:00.007Z

And shall probably carry on doing so for quite some time.

For those of you who don't know artrage is a lovely focused painting software that is deliciously affordable. You can download a free version which has enough to use and enough not available without paying to entice you to part with some hard earned money and upgrade.

I love artrage and Blurt adores it we often sit side by side at our PCs merrily digital painting. Blue does real painting with her so she gets the best of both.

Stencils are fab and it does come with a great selection but it is always good to have more.

So here we start with some free trees right click on the trees and download - put them in the resource stencil area of your Ambient Design Program install and away you go.

Here is a tree I painted using this stencil. Don't forget you can flip the tree to add a bit more variety. I might do some more of these.

Wax crayons - sweet and so simple.

Please leave a comment if you download and use. Have Fun!

See whole blog!

I particularly resent being rather poor right now

2009-01-03T12:43:00.005Z

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.daz3d.com/i/0/0?refid=30420226&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;_m=d"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;img src="http://www.daz3d.com/images/banners/default_468x60.jpg" border="0"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Yes it's that time when your favourite software gets better - actually in very cheap way but you have no money at all! Agggghh!

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.daz3d.com/i/0/0?refid=30420226&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;_m=d"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;img src="http://www.daz3d.com/images/banners/default_120x90.jpg" border="0"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Sincerely bad blogger I never did say how I did the knitting

2009-01-03T12:03:00.006Z

The knitting was done using Filter Forge

Blurt and I love playing with it. Of course it's not all really for fun even if it feels that way and it is one of my most valuable tools for creating textures and patterns or for adding effects to pictures and photos.

The great thing is you can try the full version for free for a month and I think their holiday discount started early and hasn't finished yet.

You can find all the filters I have submitted in the blurtsmum account.

Knit knit knit.

2008-11-20T20:03:00.003Z

I'll update where I am at but for now I just want to do some knitting. I need to upload 2 pics.

Look I have been knitting!

Here is a render of it.

Mybloglog and Senator Kay Patterson

2008-07-29T22:40:00.003+01:00

Just sorting out mybloglog stuff been at it in little dribs and drabs for some time -- not really sure if it's all worth it - but hey ho!

By the way I am Kay Patterson an English Artist aka Blurtsmum and Document Controller - (musn't let your document be unruly - no no no) - I'm not senator Kay Patterson - my hair is bigger and badder than hers!

Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification

Seem to have fought all the disaster monkeys that were headed my way

2008-07-23T19:33:00.001+01:00

Time has flown with it all being so hectic and so horrid. When you actually don't know whther you can feed and house your family for another month it becomes wildly stressful. It can also be mindnumbingly tedious when applying for jobs almost enough to strike you mad!

Anyway, for now I have some respite at least - I went into hospital on Monday and was operated on sucessfully and came out with a few holes on Tuesday with instructions to rest severely for 2 weeks - That of course under present circumstances actually meant strapping down the stitches braising myself and starting the new job today.

Today I started my new job - It was great actually I enjoyed it a lot, the offices are very pleasant and the commute not as harsh as the previous 47 miles. More importantly though the work is great and I am really excited about the post they are putting together for me.

Really pleasant bunch of Designers and Project Managers to look after who all seem intelligent and dedicated -- it's been a happy first day. I am also pleased to have stayed in the Construction for Rail sector with a company who appear to take their standards and porcedures seriously - I may even knock up a picture of celebration this evening to counterbalance the grief of losing Ford earlier in the month.

Hope none of us eat too much before pay day.

Blurt seems to have really picked up on the stress and pressure and I don't think the last month has done her much good - hopefully we can start putting things back together and help her too.

I doubt employers think of the damage they do when they jot out a three line letter that collapses your family and their hopes of having a normal financial existence. It's going to take over a year to put back together the mess caused by my dismissal last month - what a farce! But I guess we will push on and get by eventually but sometimes it's hard and I mean real hard to keep on going and going.

I'll find it hard to forget that when I had to let Ford go I couldn't pay for the way we would had chosen to deal with his death -- I still find that difficult to cope with but and thats on top of missing him - I guess I'll have to get over that though or else become a bitter twisted crone - I have no shoes to go with the bitter twisted crone look so I will stick the way I am for now.

Well that is a little more verbose entry than I have had for some time and I am going to take a drink to a brighter year coming!

Eye management for 3D Work

2008-07-11T14:30:00.000+01:00

3D Graphics Can Geometrically Guide Your Attention from PhysOrg.com

(PhysOrg.com) -- When you gaze at a painting, the first thing that catches your eye is usually not an accident. Since the beginning of art, painters have used strategic techniques to guide a viewer’s attention through a scene. Still to this day, researchers are investigating ways to persuade attention with the latest technology.

[...]

It's been a tough tough week

2008-07-11T11:55:00.003+01:00

It really has been -- I have had everyone I distributed my CV to go silent which is sort of soul destroying worrying and annoying all at the same time -- I thought of rebranding it as a method to cease communication - could have been handy - but then the responses started happening and now I have a further inteview for a place I had a look around on Wednesday so that is good -- and apparently they looked at the CV too - so I don't have to worry about them finding that and then going silent on me!

However yesterday was probably the worst day I have had for at least a decade - Hound -- my Ford dog had to be put down and I miss him so much. He was pretty well and active all the way up until Wednesday night - even though he was getting old and quite slow.

We took him for his photos in a dog photo competition last Sunday and we have to go back and choose the photos to go through to the competition this Sunday and buy any we want -- I'll put a pic up soon of him because he was truly a fabulous friend and dog and I have many happy memories of him.

Sadly though today I still feel a bit shook up and empty but I must press on so I will go and iron my clothes and put some makeup on so I can face an interview properly.

I have a picture I have been working on called sadness - at this stage it looks like the one I put in up there.

Nice and useful

2008-06-15T14:13:00.002+01:00

Simple tool very useful!

http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/colors.php

Have a guess? Do I like Jazz or hate it?

2008-06-13T22:31:00.001+01:00

Although to be fair - whether I like Jazz or not is not the subject of this work - instead this one is supposed to be one that represents jazz on an evening - cool tangled and somewhat jumbly!

But do take a guess - love it or hate it?

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Featured work Digital Abstracts and Patterns

2008-06-09T15:11:00.004+01:00

Oh look Blurt and I are featured work in the Digital Abstracts and patterns group at redbubble.

So pleased - Sliky Milk!

Blurt (my 3 year old daughter) and I did some messing around with colours dropped in milk.

A photo was taken quite early on before we dabbled it about too much and then we found a bit of distortion we liked to compliment the milky texture.

The colours mix up a bit more later and you can see some later effects in another picture taken a few minutes later called "Milk Rainbows Eighteen Fifty"

We had some fun collaborating that evening, my Blurt and I.

No need for the construction blues anymore

2008-06-08T15:29:00.001+01:00

I have started using flickr more to display my work and enjoy other peoples. So good so far of eve so far so good.

Construction Blues is one of the pieces out there.

Of course these are nor relevant emotions anymore as I lost my job on Friday - but that is another blog entirely and one I won't be writing. But I must say this is one of the most content Sundays I have had in a long time.

It is a lovely day here and Blurt has had a her little paddling pool out which is actually more like a puddle for an individual. It delighted her - and that was nice.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

TheBloggess inspired some analysis and I am swell

2008-05-29T20:01:00.005+01:00

Having watched the TheBloggess twitter on Summize labs analysis on twitter I found it impossible to resist the urge.

Result = swell

Nice happy with that.

My boot pics were chosen to represent the shoe group!

2008-05-22T15:36:00.005+01:00

Now this is an honour.

There is a classy group on Redbubble dedicated to artwork and phtotographs depicting shoes.

I submitted my boots like thus

and hey look there they are!

Quite quite proud .. by the way there are some fab pics of shoes in the group and all the art can be purchased at reasonable prices.

If you are an artist redbubble is a great way to begin selling and promoting your work

Added some more works to redbubble

2008-05-21T05:55:00.004+01:00

Actually I have quite a bit of good news regarding my redbubble account. Well maybe I have a bit of bragging to do! I'll try and do that later today. It's a bit early in the day for boasting. (Not a theoretical too early in the day - I mean its not much after dawn and besides I could do with going to sleep before i get up again.

I started some modeling yesterday

2008-05-18T13:07:00.005+01:00

I haven't pushed this side of the 3d art experience yet!

Last night however I modeled a glass and a spiral and then made a pic. Not especially challenging -- bit It was done and it is a start.

The pic came my way at 4.30am looking like this. Pleased with that but I decided while walking the dog that I needed to actually add to that as an artistic picture and today I'm going to be looking at 2 eyeballs on a cocktail stick and some fingerprints with blood!

Why not!

The twee is not on me today - I must have lost it whole out shopping in Middlesbrough with Blurt yesterday.

I have been playing with twitpic to enhance my tweets

2008-05-16T22:37:00.001+01:00

Yeah!

Twit pic for my tweets at twitter -- I'll see if I can get a badge added on the blog.

We had a spring Fling over at Vue 6 Group

2008-05-07T23:57:00.006+01:00

In the Vue 6 a new Dawn group at Artzone we were required to illustrate some Spring quotes.

I chose
Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!" ~Robin Williams

and you can view the completed work here -

And

In the spring,at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt. ~Margaret Atwood...

you can view that one here

When put these together we had no real spring feeling here in Northern England - however it's really kicking in now and spring has sprung.

I won some contests

2008-05-06T20:50:00.007+01:00

A few weeks ago I posted that I was waiting for results to come in for some competitions I had entered - but I never posted the results.

There was 3 I was waiting on

1. Carrara Dynamic Hair competiton - well I didn't manage to get anywhere on that bit I did learn lota nad now I use Carrara lots and lots -- so it was a bit like winning a new software package.

2 shots of the entry I posted are here

and here
These did not get into the final 8 which I think should be getting the results now (ish) the results keep getting delayed its all a bit dazsoon to quote a clever comic writer.

Speaking of comics

I did win the Sunday Funnies

These can be read here

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

And the other result I was waiting for was for the april fool promotion problem contest.

My entry was like this

I posted it in the blog like this.

Maybe it was the fact that I added a touch of underarm hair!

So -- yeah pleased to be winning it felt good.

Just completed 2 entries for a Spring Frolic with the Vue 6 a new Dawn at Artzone -- I'll put them up later and explain a bit more about that.

But the judges have been called in.

And I am also working on some Dragonworld pics for another contest at Artzone.

It would seem that I am a bad friend and a bad blogger

2008-05-06T15:12:00.004+01:00

I'll beat myself up about this for five minutes and then get on and do something about it.

I need an extra 8 hours in every day or I need to quit my job -- but as watching my family go hungry is not in the list of things I want to get done then I guess I need to stick it out and show up and get paid.

Anyway I have been neglecting my blog so I best get on and update.

I have been neglecting my online friends - facebook, artzone, ecademy etc etc.

But Hey -- I have made some pretty pics and have even got some done up super big and can now be purchased from redbubble.

I need to get some more up there.

But it is developing so at least that is something to be proud of.

http://www.redbubble.com/people/blurtsmum

Save Now

Wednesday Home Day was colourful

2008-04-18T15:11:00.005+01:00

I don't go to work on Wednesdays -- normally Blurt and I trot off for a swimming lesson. This week we met Blue after swimming and had some lunch with him.

When Blurt and I got home we attended to a little creativity and messiness -- she used poster colours -- pretty much everywhere and I messed up my own materials and applied them - then I got busy on clothes and hair for two new characters I have called the Chromatic Twins.

I really enjoyed this!

Can you tell?

Gosh I love those shoes - click on the image to get a close view.

neat numbers are great!

2008-04-15T14:11:00.002+01:00

hit a thousand on my artzone hits -- its a great site for artists

read more | digg story

Remembering Ollie Johnston (1912 - 2008)

2008-04-15T09:19:00.001+01:00

Jim Hill asks you to remember this remarkable individual. Who passed away in Washington State earlier today

read more | digg story

Waiting for the results from 3 art competitions.

2008-04-14T16:10:00.000+01:00

I am at the moment wiating for the results of 3 art competitions.

The results of 2 will be announced today - I really enjoyed them and
learned so much by taking part so I am already a complete winner.

BUT - sometimes it is nice to win something.

AND I will find out what is available to take part in next -- which is
always fun.

Oh dear how many penultimates

2008-04-12T08:14:00.001+01:00

I had thought it was going to be four but I elongated the last two for better pics and more drama so there is now five pages in total.

Penultimate page of competition comic

2008-04-12T08:07:00.003+01:00

This is the one before last!

It could of course go on for ever but for the purpose of the competition I must bring this series to an end so i can go and get on with the Vue Competition.

Third page of the Daz comic completed

2008-04-11T08:37:00.002+01:00

This is the third and penultimate page of the Daz Comic.

My Daz Comic Strip - for the Artzone Competition.

2008-04-10T16:37:00.005+01:00

Another competition I have been enjoying with Artzone.

Here are the first 2 pages

Click the images to view

If you need an insight into some of the comments then do ask and all will be revealed.

More to come tonight and tomorrow.

Competition closes Friday night I think.

Introducing Spikey of the Spikey Project

2008-04-07T20:25:00.004+01:00

This is The Spikey Object of the Spikey Project. Please do click it for a closer look.

I am intending to take this object on all sort of adventures through all the software that I use to create my art. There will be some lateral thinking and some fun and a lot of learning for me I hope.

It will be good if I create some interesting pictures on the way too.

This should be the last time I put a man in a dress.

2008-04-07T07:37:00.004+01:00

Felt poorly on Sunday -- and in my weakness I couldn't resist the urge to create another entry for the latest competition at Artzone.

This should be my last as I need to focus on my cartoon entry and my Vue Picture for the competititon in the Vue 6 a New Dawn Group

Another chap in a dress

2008-04-04T23:05:00.004+01:00

In the spirit of competition at Artzone of Daz3d I rendered another image for the dress challenge.

Dress was retextured and fluff was added using Carrara.

I seem to be getting to grips with the software now.

The illustrate a story competition results.

2008-04-04T19:39:00.001+01:00

I can't believe I didn't announce this earlier.

This was the picture

I chose to illustrate the opening scene of My Bunny True Love beautifully written by bridgeport8

One bright morning, a merry bluebird asked Saffron, "Why are you so sad?"

Saffron slowly looked up at the bluebird and rolled onto his back with paws in the air as if he were dying and answered, "I am sick. So sick, that soon I fear I will be dead"

The pic got an honourable mention in the competition - which I was really pleased about. The winning pics were stunners and the other honorable mentions were ones I was very proud to be included with. I enjoyed myself and learned a lot.

Speaking of men dressed in ladies clothes!

2008-04-03T13:14:00.002+01:00

Yes - indeed! Speaking of men in ladies clothes (see last post) I have this week contacted some amateur dramatic groups in order to begin expanding my portfolio of work.

I am really excited to see what will become of that.

Men in frocks. A new challenge at Daz Artzone

2008-04-03T12:56:00.003+01:00

Daz pulled an April Fool stunt that tied in with a dress for the male Morphed Victoria.

I dismissed the idea for the first 10 minutes after viewing it and then couldn't resist downloading the free morphs for popular new V4.2 dress - one of which I do own.

So then it was play time -- a simple task yet srangely compelling and such good fun.

I have entered 2 men with their new frocks -- you can enter a multiple of times and I do have a couple more in mind where I will be doing my fur/hair thing to the garment to add a bit of pizzazz.

I'd also like to get him out and about and into a Vue scene - because I think as I said in a previous post I am missing using it.

Hair dressing challenge.

2008-03-28T11:53:00.008Z

Here is one I'm not entering into the Carrara Hair competition - it ends today by the way.

I'm not sure if I have explained why I'm not sharing my competition entries for the hair competition - its mainly because I'm not allowed to - it's part of the rules. The prize is quite major on this one so I'm not going to mess with them there rules.

I may have time this evening to correct a black eye problem on one of my final renders for my second hair and then I appear to already be considering the next challenge.

Which goes like this.

I want to see a comic strip showing what a day at DAZ3D is like! It is meant to be funny so feel free to interpret that however you want :O) For inspiration I would look up an artist named Flak (I believe his art is only at Rendo ATM) but he has done some hysterical scenes on this theme and I thought I comic on it by you all would be too too funny and give the people at DAZ3D a good giggle after a long days work :O) You can illustrate anything from comedic things that happen while developing DAZ Studio to Launching the new ArtZone...pretty much anything you would like to poke fun at.

Rules:

1. The Comic Strip has to be atleast 4 Panels but can be longer if you like.
2. It Must stick with the general theme
3. Be sure it is something you could actually see in a newspaper so no profanity or nudity. Inferred is ok and you can use characters for profanity like $#*& etc LOL
4. Entires can be in either Black & White or in Full Color...your choice.
5. Can be done in any medium...2D or 3D
6. Because these could get to be larger files, if your image is larger then the forum can take please PM me and I'll put them on my server and give you a link you can post for your entry so you guys can have more freedom
7. All Entires must be in no later then Saturday, April 12th at 5p.m. MST (GMT -7 DST)

However I do seem to be getting bogged down in this one -- making it a lot bigger than perhaps it need to be and it will take a lot of time. Mind you if I start working with Vue again I might get a bit more done as it doesn't make my machine drag as much so I can multi task.

I have in the last week become a moderator on a group at artzone - a Vue 6 group

This is at http://artzone.daz3d.com/groups/vue6

Membership for the group is steadily growing and we have some great members who are good artists and who are helpful. I feel privileged and warm just being part of it.

Mind you those gushy feelings could be just left over exhaustion from pushing myself to work all night on my hair entry for Carrara.

I probably need more sleep - but mangaged to find a pic of me in the office.

Ha - oh I fought a moment like that yesterday.

Easter Snow Bunny

2008-03-25T16:15:00.003Z

It snowed on Easter Sunday

Blurt and Blue made the most of it and tried their hand at some modelling.

This reminds me I need to go and download the latest version of hexagon and start using it. Blue said he wanted to try it - it may stop me totally slipping off into another world without him!

I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

My easter slightly messed up by trip to casualty

2008-03-22T12:05:00.004Z

I had intended to set off super early for work on Good Friday - so I could get in and get out home again as early as possible. This was going to consist of a drive in at 4am after walking the dog.

However my gall bladder was against the idea and I had a terrible night of quite irksome pain so I had to get friends up to take molly in and I had to get Blue up to take me to hospital - the doctors after poking me said they needed to admit me.

So I stayed the rest of the morning at the hospital but when I realised that no treatment other than not eating was on the absent menu due to the Easter holidays I discharged myself Friday nigh to play computer games and be spoilt at home.

Anyway I survived that and now I will need to get to my doctors this week and sort out some scans and things for gall stones.

So today I am again messing with hair in Carrara - I am playing with gravity at the moment. The way I have done it seems particularly slow - probably doing it wrong - but it did give me this chance to write a little here.

I have submitted my first competition entry for hair but I may go back and improve on it.
See how gravity and so on takes me.

Illustration for a short story - Competition at Artzone

2008-03-20T12:02:00.003Z

Click on the image for a close look.

The Easter Bunny is outside the office - chatting up school girls.

2008-03-20T10:03:00.000Z

The Easter Bunny was up early in the North East of England. In fact he
was stood outside of his car on his mobile for sometime and then had
some animated chat and giggles with 2 schoolgirls - of the more senior
variety.

I may have an Easter pic coming on!

I entered the Bunny Tale Competition for the second satge - illustration
on Tuesday Night - well dawn - Well just before dawn on Wednesday
evening to be precise - I'll put the picture in later. It turned out fluffy!

The meeting with ooh Betty and mind owner went well.

2008-03-17T14:57:00.000Z

Betty was introduced to the person she was created for over dinner.

That actually sounds quite romantic - however it was more like Betty was
laminated in the office and passed on to the birthday boy over a burger
at TGI Fridays in Stockton on Tees.

I heard over the weekend that they got on OK and Birthday Boy's friends
liked Betty too. So that was successful I think. I do need to get some
more prints done of her and get them distributed. I would like to
develop the Ooh Betty Collection a bit more I think and that could be fun.

This weekend has been exhausting as we ditched the TV and two large
sofas out of the lounge and turned it into a doing room. My daughter
appears to be taking it all very well and even helped. She and my
boyfriend were both delighted to have masses of space to put down train
tracks - and the dog got in the middle he seemimgly also recovering
rapidly from the loss of his own sofa.

I made a bit of headway with the digital hairdressing last night and I
think I am grasping some of the concepts.

However I am not exactly following what some of the tutorials suggest
but at this stage I believe that may be to my advantage because I can
actually mix and match parts of my hair dos which could make quite an
interesting product and follow up add ons both in textures and styles.

Anyway I have just slugged down some caffeine in a green tea mix which
hopefully will stop me slumping over my desk and snoring while at work.
Never good - especially if you hit the keyboard because when the buffer
fills up it squeaks! Very alarming.

Ooh Betty Day

2008-03-14T05:42:00.003Z

I'm up early today! It's the day that Ooh Betty meets her real owner. Sort of nervous that they won't get on.

I'll let you know how that goes on when I get home - I should hopefully be getting home early too which means I may get the opportunity to do some hairdressing.

I had a look at some hairdressing sites quite helpful but I think I will end up making something up.

Vince The Luuurve Hamster

2008-03-10T23:10:00.002Z

I don't get out much to shop so I have opened my own store online and evryday have a good rummage through it.

Todays favourite item is Vince - I am in the mind of all thing hamsteresque at the moment with Robbie our own hamster moving in.

Take a look at Vince

If a colleague had one of those at your office would you love it and squeeze it - or would you kick it and squish it?

I have submitted my story to the competition.

2008-03-10T22:20:00.004Z

I completed my short story for the Artzone competition group on the way home from work. i typed it up and have entered it which gets that out of the way now. I now need to get back on with playing with hair dos and I also must not neglect Betty as she is due to be delivered to her mind creator on Saturday - gosh time flies!

My hair for heads is not doing spectalularly well although I am kind of getting the hang of it. I aim to be a Carrara hairstyling queen and no doubt my stubborness will render me at least adequate in the skill. However whether that is going to be soon enough for competition entry at the end of this month then I am unable to tell.

But just so we can establish that I am still week then take a look at the picture here - poor old Vicky is far too polite to say it stinks!

I started a renderosity gallery last night.

2008-03-10T10:44:00.002Z

I do actually spend a considerable amount of time over at the Renderosity site and I have a profile set up so I thought I should get started in putting together a gallery on that site. I started off with this one late last night. Views of work appear to be high on this site so far. Comments not so forth coming so far.

Ooh Betty! I like the fur!

it can be viewed at My Gallery started at Renderosity

Feel free to leave comments here or at any of the galleries I enter pictures to.

I am writing a story for a competition

2008-03-10T10:26:00.000Z

I used the commuting time this morning to make a start on a small story
that I am putting together for the Easter Competition at Artzone
<http://www.artzone.com>. It's a rabbit theme in the competition and it
is in 2 parts - a story and an illustration. 3 stories I believe are to
be picked from the first part and will then be used for the illustration
part of the competition.

It didn't take long to come up with the concept and the story telling
seemd to be flowing OK this morning - infact I enjoyed myself a lot. I
should finish the first draft this evening on the commute home ( I don't
do the driving) and then all that is required is to fill in the blanks
where the names of the characters need to go - I thought I'd leave that
until I got to know them and then choose the right names.

Ooh Betty Portrait

2008-03-09T09:29:00.003Z

I waited quite impatiently yesterday for Betty to have her portrait render done.

Here she is.

Ooh Betty went to Carrara

2008-03-08T11:35:00.009Z

Betty ended up having an outfit made for her in Carrara last night

Ooh Betty you are furtastic!

I have added this to my gallery at Artzone. http://artzone.daz3d.com/index.php?mode=photo_album&act=view&pho_id=133907&p_id=20308

Please feel free to leave a comment here or at the gallery.

I am becoming more comfortable using Carrara now after working with betty and the little doggy and I am hoping this will help when I try and put a hair do together.

Just waiting for a portrait of Betty to render - also in Carrara.

Vicky in the hairdressers chair

2008-03-07T16:10:00.002Z

I managed to get Vicky into the Carrara hairdressing chair last night. In fact I walked in from work approached the PC and then realised at 8.30pm 3 hours later that I hadn't even taken my coat off.

Well it is really bugging me that I can't really share what I'm doing as I am not supposed to publish the things that are going to go to competition. Mid you I am sure the poor girl won't be wanting to go anywhere the way she looks now.

In fact she already looks like she has had a good night already -- if you get my drift.

Anyway I have set up the basics and saved a lot and now I need to have a look for some hairdos on line to see what I could pull off. I need to work towards a look I doubt just attacking the poor grl with a brush and a pair of digital scissors is going to work - god forbid she could end up looking like me!

Carrara Hair practice - continues

2008-03-06T00:13:00.006Z

It is getting late and I have had a jumpy leg for the last 3 hours but I did push on in order to complete the task at hand.
This first image is a Toon Dog rendered in Carrara
Cute and a perfectly acceptable wee fella.

I put a bit of work in and he now look like this.

and this

and last but not least

Right that's it now - I best go feed the hamster and get some sleep.

good night.

need to retire - but not taking this big teddy thing with me.

2008-03-05T00:05:00.001Z

Wow - Fluffy troll! - he would be just mint for warming my feet on - and they are going to get worse as I need to head out with the dog and its all frosty and it has just gone midnight.

Troll features here needs a trim on his face - perhaps that is why he looks so cross! I'll see if I can do that for him tomorrow. Good night.

A bit of a do and it has to be done in Carrara

2008-03-04T20:10:00.001Z

OK - Guess what this is! - This is the evidence that I am on another push to develop my skills. late autumn I did buy Carrara 6 but never really got round to using it because of the combination of a broken PC and then I had Vue delived which at the time suited the way I worked. Vue has not stopped suiting my needs however that should not mean that I do not learn how to use a tool that I own - so that is what the monstrous thing above is.

I noticed today in the competition group on artzone that there is a new competition called hair today and gone tomorrow and it is all about making a lovely 'do! And doing the do in Carrara. Now above is what I made in my first 20 minutes - this is not just my first 20 minutes using the hair room but pretty much my first dedicated 20 minutes in Carrara - so all inall I am pleased with this.

Yes its a shocking messy mop of curly mousy brown hair - but guess what if I had added a few bits of grey I could find anyone who knowe me to testify that it is not far of my own hair!

Of course my facial features are not quite so plain!

Hey look at this -- this is the year I cut it myself and I am a bit cock eyed!

Rabbits Too!

2008-03-04T12:24:00.000Z

I had a conversation at work yesterday about rabbits (all about fur and meat) and then went home and did some rather bizarre things to one in my runtime! I'll hopefully be able to reveal a bit more about that tonight!

Ooh Betty! Moonbathing?

2008-03-03T00:26:00.000Z

I have been a bit poorly ill this weekend so haven't got much done - did manage to get this done though. I have been expierimenting with some small cute furry friends too - I'll upload those whne I have them in any workable state. Hope you have had a good weekend.

Betty has been posted to the artzone.com gallery at theis address http://artzone.daz3d.com/index.php?mode=photo_album&act=view&pho_id=131597&p_id=20308

Ooh Betty in oil Pastels

2008-02-28T21:20:00.001Z

I cut loose with the graphics tablet tonight. Betty has been cast in Oil Pastels.

Squiffy eyes and the floor is too clean.

2008-02-28T18:35:00.000Z

The larger render of Ooh Betty what have you stood in was finally completed while I was out at work. You can take a look at that in the gallery at artzone

I have also commented there on how her eyes aren't looking in the right place and the floor is too clean. So I will have to work some more on that one.

Going to give my graphics pad a rub off now and get to work on a painterly portrait. An Ooh Betty portrait.

Oooh Betty - the next installment.

2008-02-28T00:02:00.000Z

Ooh Betty! What have you stood in?

Here is a small version of the image - I'll load a larger one to a gallery soon - it is still rendering - it has only gone 4% in 2 hours so I shall go sleep now - I may not have altered the posting clock but here it is just past midnight..

Updated Tarsus The Duddled one at The Railway Child

2008-02-26T22:44:00.000Z

I have updated my Railway Child Project Blog todaywith news about Tarsus
You can read that here

Ooh Betty - What are you doing out here?

2008-02-26T17:45:00.000Z

I was realy quite excited on the drive home, as I knew I had left the PC running with render of Betty in the jungle. the previews had looked OK but then it was planning to take several hours to render so that can sometimes be nerve racking. Well anyway to cut the chase here is how it went.
No post work here.

Pretty pleased with how that one has gone. Click on it if you want to see a bigger picture.

Feel free to leave comments.

You can also view this work at the Gallery at Artzone.com

Ooh Betty Project

2008-02-26T16:35:00.000Z

I commute with a colleague and he has this strange thing that when something alarms him he thinks - and often spontaneously says "Oooh Betty!"

He tried to give it up and stop doing it - but then entered a stage of acceptance.

It was my idea that I should create for him a Betty - so he had a picture of her.

Quite honestly at the moment I am learning my craft and I grab any opportunity to produce a piece that has a mission and so his Birthday is coming up mid March and I thought I'd produce my Ooh Betty Collection.

This is the first image.

As this blog is starting with this project then I figured I'd borrow her for my profile pic too!

I went to work today with another pic rendering - hope that turns out OK. I'll keep that posted.

You can alos follow this pic submitted to artzone here

https://artzone.daz3d.com/index.php?mode=photo_album&act=view&pho_id=128306&p_id=20308

New Blog Started by Kay Patterson

2008-02-25T13:16:00.001Z

Opened a Blogger Blog - to document some of the art that goes on with me.