More Digital Art

Art projects are a little thin on the ground with me right now. But I'm playing a lot with the whole digital thing. Here's what I was playing with today, which actually I'm not at all pleased with. It's just too busy and bleh. Plus I want to try something without flowers next time. I never thought that doing art in a digital way would feel like art, but it does. It takes as much thinking, more actually, more planning and working out than usual pencils does. It's kind of a cross between art and doing something a bit mechanical I guess LOL :D

Inspiration

Last night, one of my blog readers wrote to me about my post yesterday. He has recently lost his father and has been writing poetry as part of the grieving process. My post and our subsequent email conversation inspired him to write a poem. I think it's just lovely, and I also think that as an artist, a person or as a writer, to inspire someone else is an amazing compliment. So with his permission, I'm posting Nick's poem here. Thankyou Nick :)

The Dolphins - by Nick Rigazzi-Tarling

So full of life,

So full of love,

A life seems so secure

But when a loved one passes on,

We seem a bit unsure

We try to grab a little light

On the life that we have lost,

Like thinking of the dolphins

With the little boy, I lost.

But be assured that little life

Will come to us, again,

When on his anniversary

A tear we’ll shed again.

We’ll think of all the happy times

That we alone did share,

And keep it in our little heart,

For another time to bear.

For Wendy Prior

© Nick Rigazzi-Tarling

Happy Birthday Mattie

Mathew James Walker. 17th July 1993 - 2nd February 2009

Today would have been my nephew Mathew's sixteenth birthday. We lost him earlier this year, a few hours after the photo above was taken, after a fall at the Level's raceway near Timaru.

Matt was a wonderful kid. He knew what he wanted from his life and he embraced it for all he was worth. He fit an awful lot of living into those fifteen years. He was a keen writer and part of the reason I started to pursue writing seriously again. Life is too short and you never know how long you'll have it. You can't afford to delay your dreams. Matt didn't, the photo above was taken when he got to live one of those dreams, getting to ride along in a race car doing a hot lap ... whatever that is. He sure looks pleased about it anyway.

Matt was an organ donor and I'd like to encourage anyone reading this to think about that for yourself too. I'm sure when Matt told his Mum that he wanted his organs to be donated if it ever came to that, he never thought that it really would. But it did, and because his family had discussed it after watching a movie together, it spared them the pain of trying to guess what he would have wanted. I'm so proud of him and I miss him very much.

I don't drop to my knee's in the middle of the supermarket anymore, because the song they're playing was the one we played at his funeral. But I think of him every single day, many times every day and I cry. I'm crying today. Alot.

I wrote Matty a poem. It's not as beautiful as the one his Mum wrote for him just after he died. And it probably won't make sense to anyone but me, but here it is, none the less. Happy Birthday Mattie.

Mathew.

We watched the Dolphins he and I
As the sun rose and brightened his hair
Against the pillow.
I held his hand and said goodbye since
We would never be alone again after
This moment.
He was already gone but I hope he was
Somewhere, watching God's fingers
Caress the ocean as the Dolphins
Took flight
And danced just for him
And me, who loved him too.

Hedgehogs

I didn't get a lot of sleep last night and so I have nothing particularly useful to add, artwise. HERE is the reason why if you're bored and want to laugh at my misfortune.

I'm off to take a nap.

I have something useful to post tomorrow, but I can't think straight enough to tackle it today. Meanwhile, enjoy little demotivator hedgehog above. Those wee guys are lucky they're cute, that's all I can say.

Connie, complete

So here she is, all finished. Those curls on her neck took about as long as the whole rest of the portrait combined. I was seeing curly dogs in my sleep by the time I'd finished.

I haven't seen the framed version yet, but as I understand it, she's been framed in a beautiful brushed silver frame. I think that will look very classy indeed!

Connie - step three

Almost there.

As you can see, I was on my third attempt at those curly ears. This time I had the drafting film on a black background again, you can see how much the backing surface affects the end product when it comes to drafting film.

For those of you who don't know the Curly Coat Retriever breed, they have smooth faces and the rest of their body is covered in tight, water resistant curls. They're just gorgeous and Connie is a beautiful example of the breed.

Connie, step two.

Here's the next step for Connie. Those ears were tricky, this was my second attempt at them. I really enjoy these monochrome pieces, especially if you have a really high contrast photo to work with.

I was working on this piece using a piece of MDF board for the backing, which is why you can see a pinky/brown colour behind the drafting film in this scan. I'm not particularly fussy about what I use for a backing while I work with drafting film, so long as it's firm and has some colour. I can't stand working on a white backing.