Simon&#039;s Blog

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Turning the virtual into actual – Animal Tryptych

Posted on September 18, 2010 by Guthlac

I know I have bee in my bonnet about this but I do feel that an awful lot of digital content will, in time, be lost for numerous reasons. This is why I am trying to keep a real record/copy of some of the things I am producing. This is taking the form of books and prints. Now the things may be of no value to anyone other than me but they still need to be saved in a form that is not at the whim of changes in format/compatibility etc. I am of the generation that remembers laser disk, Betamax or more recently HD DVD. Now I am not saying that TIFF, JPEG or RAW files will go that way in the near future but one day?

I am now starting to print my digital art and keep that in a scrap book. No doubt in the near future I will produce a book for the same reason. It is wonderful to view such things on a screen but it doesn’t replace the joy of seeing something in the real world.

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged animals, Brushes, drawing, squrrels | Leave a comment

Real and Digital Art – just where does iPhoneography end?

Posted on September 17, 2010 by Guthlac

Well where does one end and the other begin? I have no answer to this but at the moment I love the effect I can get from combining the two. This drawing of Lady Gaga was created in the real world and then brought into the digital world by my iPhone. I know I have said this before but the iPhone camera is really powerful – not because of its spec. but rather because of its lack of anything resembling a modern. This adds inaccuracies that to my eye really enhances the drawing.

So once captured by the iPhone the resultant photograph is then enhanced/edited/modified? in photoshop. So out of this process something new is created. Now I know this is nothing new but I feel it is a really makes an interesting drawing or is it painting or photograph? If you start to think about these things then you realise that we are reaching a point, perhaps have long past the point, where it is meaningless to debate where one ends and the other starts. Whatever the answer I like the result.

One final thing. I have made Gaga look at lot more of a dominatrix than she ever is or appears to be. However, if it is unclear what is and what is not a photograph this is nothing when trying to pin down the ‘real’ Gaga. Again a pointless task.

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged drawing, iphone, iphoneography, ladygaga | Leave a comment

Dr Who

Posted on September 16, 2010 by Guthlac

What a challenge. Matt Smith has one of those faces that may well help him to become a great actor but I find it very difficult to draw. Karen Gillan, in contrast, was a lot easier to draw. Now I am not claiming that either is good but they do show significant improvement over the work I was producing a few weeks ago. As I have only been seriously trying to draw for three months I am pleased with the progress. However, I am very aware that I have a long way to go.

One final thing. I found it really interesting to post produce both digital images taken with my iPhone. So it is an interesting question as to whether these are iPhoneographs or drawings or both or neither. In the end I don’t care as I like the result.

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged amypond, drawing, drwho, iphoneography, karengillan, mattsmith | Leave a comment

Hard day’s work with the pencil

Posted on September 15, 2010 by Guthlac

I’ve had a busy day with the pencil and I have to say it has been worth it as my portraits are getting much better. It isn’t the same with the watercolour though. I really am struggling to make any head way with this. At one stage I was very disappointed with this. Then I reflected on this and few facts made me feel a whole lot better. The first is that I have only made half a dozen water colour paintings in my life. Now if I was a prodigy this might be all I needed but I am not so it is hardly surprising about the limited progress.

The second fact is connected with the first. It has taken me 3 months of almost daily practice to make my drawings to start to look half decent. If I were to commit this amount of time to water colour then hopefully I would be a whole lot better.

The third fact is that drawing and water colour is a different discipline. This makes me sound like an expert, which I am not, but there is a different skill set between the two as well as different material. It takes time to master this and as I have said before I just haven’t devoted enough time to water colour.

Have reflected on all this one over riding fact is clear. The more you practice the better you get. Nothing like stating the obvious! Because of this I have decided to put the water colour work on the back burner until I attend my drawing and painting course in a couple of weeks. This should provide me with a firm foundation upon which to build my water colour career. Conversely it may well prove that I may have no talent in this field at all. I doubt that.

Now if only I felt a lot better in myself then things would be really humming along. I hope over the next few days this will change – lets hope.

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

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Laughter

Posted on September 15, 2010 by Guthlac

I have been working over the last week or so in the real world – sketching and water colours (boy have a lot to learn about water colours!). So I thought it would be change to try and put some of the lessons I have learnt into the digital domain. So here is a stab at laughter.

Sent from my iPad

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Brushes, drawing, iPad, sketch | Leave a comment

Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Posted on September 10, 2010 by Guthlac

Well I appear to have caught a cold as a result of my day at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Nothing too serious I am glad to say but I do feel under the weather a little at the moment. I’ll recover in the next day or so. However, it doe give me time to catch up with the back log of work I have created in the past few days.

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged iphone, iphoneography, yorkshiresculpturepark | Leave a comment

Drawing Days

Posted on September 10, 2010 by Guthlac

Not feeling 100% today so I decided to take it easy and just do some drawing with real materials. As usual mixed bunch – frustrating but very satisfying. I hope tomorrow I’ll be firing on all cylinders again.

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

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Linda 4a

Posted on September 9, 2010 by Guthlac

Lessons learnt I have abandoned Linda 3. The day away has helped me to sort out some of the problems with 3 and so have embarked on Linda 4. She is another step forward and she is starting to look like a real human being.

By keeping this record it is really helping to develop and hone what skills I might have. I am finding this really challenging and yet deeply rewarding. Long may this be the case.

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

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What a strange reaction – No ARPS

Posted on September 9, 2010 by Guthlac

Well I had a wonderful day at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park – great art mixed with a good cardiovascular work out – and then a good lunch – what more could you wish for. Then this morning I found out that my submission for an ARPS had been rejected. Now I have been working on this on and off for three years and at one time it was a big part of my life. Now, however, it is not and I am surprised and I have to say relieved that my reaction is one of supreme indifference. I am not sure why this but I have a number of suspicions , all to do with the fact that I have moved on.

I no longer hanker for recognition by means of letters after my name. I am enjoying myself doing what I do and frankly if that isn’t good enough for this award or that competition then so be it – life is too short to worry about such small matters. You move on. If this is the reason then I am really proud of my self as it would mean that I have got a lot more balance into my life. However, it could be over the next few days I become really angry, somehow I don’t thing this is going to happen.

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk