Kitchenscape - pixellated

Ok heres the tentative final piece for Kitchenscape. Im quite happy with it but im also very tempted to take the plate on to another more technical etching sans the pixels. Not sure yet tho.

I quite like the fact you can see the etching through the images, i feel it lends an amorphous quality... like the characters arent quite in the same space. what do you think?

new proof sans pixels

this one has yet to be endowed with pixellated death commandoes but i really really like the result so far so i thought id share.

The gods have spoken! Duh duh Duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

I just received a politely worded respond to my application for that job in Calgary. It was a negative. I really havent had time to sit down (well I am sitting but you know) and mull this over yet. Things like this take a bit to clarify for me. Right now my thoughts are like a pond surface in a sharp rainstorm.

I think its a good thing. Well actually i think either result would have been a good thing. I was leaning towards this response anyways and now can actually start making a life here. Or die trying.

Not sure what else to write yet... but ill ponder and let you all know!

Im staying in the Fungus Archipelago.


cheers

p

Test print Preview

Alo all

Heres a preview of my WIP for the new project series... PAHLEEEASE critique it...

Click for bigger image

Cheers!

p

Teetering on the Edge

I think it was Oscar Levant who said 'Theres a fine line between madness and genius. I have erased this line.' Not sayin im a genius or nothing.. but in some ways the removal of a line of definition is more reassuring than knowing which side of the line you lie... The removal of the line removes the concern for ones mental state. This fuzzy land of grey shades is much more relaxing... sort of like staring at television static and finding figures in the chaos. TV static is modern mans/womans firegazing... sure we all can still firegaze, more-so if you like camping or happen to be an avid piromaniac... but in our everyday lives we dont get access to a truly 'free' fire. Yes i know loads of people with those gas fireplaces in their homes... ceramic lookalike logs and trendy modern fixings... those arent free fires... those are fabricated... they dont count.

BUT everyone i know... bar a few oddies and really poor people, has a tele... and all they have to do is disconnect it and you have static! YAY! try it sometime soon... disconnect the signal and stare at the static... like u used to as a kid.. get up real close... bathe in the cathode ray goodness... close enough to see the red green and blue things.. and just disconnect your brain... you see things and no-things. That fuzzy grey state lives in the static... nothing matters there.. its almost a tangent from reality for me. if you have one of those crap tv's that makes static a blue background... turn that option off :P

In ancient Sanskrit/Hinduism/Bhuddism, and also possibly the roots of zen, Shiva had a lover named Devi... they have these long winded conversations on enlightnenment... one of the passages they talk about breathing and that little space of no-thing between breaths; at the height of the breath, where you stop inhaling and start exhaling and the bottom of the breath where you stop exhaling and return to inhaling... those peaks and troughs... that instant split second of time... thats the greyness too... that tiny little place where time stops and mental state becomes null and void. That place... like losing yourself in static... is where the dividing line between and 'cookoo for cocopops' and ordinary man, once erased, becomes a reassuring state of stillness.

Ok dont bother rereading all that... i think its way too rambly and disjointed to make ANY sense... but it sorta just came to me... i think i need to start meditating again.

All that stuff i just wrote was inspired by the upcoming dividing line in my life. Monday i will (supposedly) know whether or not i got a job in Canada. Or so i have been told. Up untill now, I've been wavering and fluffing up my life. Once that line is crossed and a decision made... i will have direction for the first time in... well... years... at least. Thats scares the ever loving shit outta me. But its also exciting.

Obviously i can't erase this temporal line on monday... although if the Monster Raving Loony Party here in Britain got into power they WOULD abolish mondays... its in their charter... as well as February's as they are too cold. I think i should sign up... they rock. I digress... so this event horizon is looming. Deep down... part of me is still undecided... but i find myself leaning towards making a life here... in the fungus archipelago that I call Britain. Sure, my friends have moved on or are about to... and i have to disentangle myself from certain people i love/care so much about so that being with them hurts too much... but this is LIFE. like i said in a previous post... you can't run from it... it just comes back pissed off.

Today i measured out the dimensions of my flat and went to two local department stores looking at beds... this was exciting! I found these two;

Bed number 1
Bed number 2

Bed 1 is from Debenams... a large retail department store... sorta bog standard and not really much to wow about.. it is affordable tho and has a very very easy payment plan... bed, sidetable and mattress are on sale.

Bed 2 is from Habitat... sort of an upmarket Ikea... very shiek and cooool... much more my style but a bit more money.. the payments would be twice as much but i would also get a really cool underbed drawer thingy, and sidetable. I gotta spend £1k to get the good payment plan. I'm very tempted by this bed... very very. I'd pay it off in a year... and all that includes a very good mattress. It is also on sale.

Now, reason or desire? and of course is there even a point? I can only make a decision after the job thing pans out but this sorta stuff really takes my mind off of the poo and makes me think i can really make a go at making a life for myself. Sure its all material crap but it does represent me making a serious go of being a grownup, or at least it does to me.

Oh, and that leads me wonderfully into my new art project! Actually it doesnt but I dont care.
I started a new print (one of a few in this current line of reasoning) this week! I have to thank Duncan for this one as he gave me some really great advice, and paj as his work helped me move into this train of thought. chooo chooooo! Im not sure if i want to divulge too much at this early stage as i have only done one bite/proof and have yet to iron out kinks but this work is really quite the stretch for me and im quite excited about it! I just hope its as successful as i want it to be :) I will definately keep you posted and put the first final proof up for youre critique! eeeee! so excited!

Well I thought id let you all know whats what in Pravoland. And now I have. I always feel bad writing this much... especially when half of it is mumbo jumbo stupid shit... but there ya go... its my blog and i can say whatever i freakin want :P

loads of love n cuddles

p

Growing pains

Its funny, I always assumed, without really thinking about it, that people grow up year by year. You get more mature and wise as the years tick past. But the reality of it is that you just bumble along until something comes into your life and forces you to wake up and smell the Mortgage in a rather rough and rude sort of way. You grow up all at once.

I think i may have to do this. Ive always pretty much shied away from the whole 'adult thing'. You know, being serious about a job and thinking like older people and planning for retirement, considering RSP's or ISA's. Possibly ive avoided all that because im pretty crap at that sort of thing.

Im facing a decision. Next monday I will know whether or not a life changing job will be offered to me. Its a very big decision as it involves moving back to Canada, calgary to be precise.

Of course if i dont get the job the choice is nonexistent and i stay where i am. But if it is offered to me, then i have to really sit down and think very hard about pros and cons and future security and standards of living and blah blah blah! SEE!? old people stuff!!

My emotional chronology has been as rocky as ... a really rocky thing. back in may i was mostly convinced i should run with proverbial tail between legs and hide hide hide. course thats never a really good way to deal with life is it... it always finds you and is usually as pissed as a fatass cop whos had to chase you 3 blocks. After i got back from canada and saw all my friends and chilled i gained a little perspective. I also got rejected by a girl... in pretty much the nicest way ive ever been rejected... that makes it sound like thats happened alot... fair enough.

anyways as the drama unfolds, i reckon staying is better than going... i have the luxury in my position to make art alot. i wouldnt in canada. ive still got a few things to mull over and i think i might take a weekend off in cornwall, sit on the beach, watch the waves and really get down to serious thinking and decision making stuff. either that or ill hit on some surfer chick. or mebbe 2.

I really need to start a real life... ive been practically living out of my suitcase for 4 months... and its time i settle. As comfy as they are... inflatable mattresses dont instill a sense of security and solid character in a woman. nor does the lack of any furniture whatsoever... and i would actually like to have a woman whos keen on being with me for a change. how novel.

well, thats the lowdown in a gisty sort of way. if you have any further questions ill be happy to answer then in detail if you ask. :P

cheers

p