The above drawing does not purport to be from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which is complex, human, and powerfully reflects its time and geography. How can the present be understood without clear views of the past?
Archive for the ‘elephants’ category
In Support of Mark Twain
January 7, 2011Florida Mid-Winter – Strange Mix of Warm and Cold
January 6, 2011
Effect of Global Warming? (Or iPhone "Brushes" App?)
I swam for some time in a very calm Atlantic this morning. Amazing. (Brrrr….)
Flight Downs and Ups
January 5, 2011It’s never a good idea, when traveling, to forget a Swiss Army Knife in your backpack.
Oops!
Either you have to give up the knife, or stay off the plane.
It only works for some.
Pack-y-derm (Not)
January 5, 2011
Pack-y-Derm?
A short trip tomorrow. Very early. Involves packing.
I hate packing. It feels like a test. The strange thing is that I don’t mind doing without, moderate discomfort, making do, but I hate to forget things, not to have thought of things, to have failed in my mission (in other words.)
Oh well.
“Brushes” Hybrids – Compensatory Unskill Levels – the Art of the iPhone
December 31, 2010Here are a couple of the “paintings”I tried so unsucessfully to post over the last few days–more examples of iPhone “art”.
What is particularly interesting to an unskilled artist (i.e. me) is the way that one can use the technology of the iPhone and the “Brushes” painting app to compensate for various gaps in training, talent and circumstances. Of course, becoming adept at the technology is itself a skill, but again, the application and equipment allow one latitude for circumvention.
One answer is a kind of “hybrid” art, which takes advantage of what you can do ( i.e. draw on paper or take a photograph) without pushing you too hard into what you can’t (i.e. make complicated figures on a 3.5 inch screen, or take out a full watercolor set in a crowded train car.)
My favorite hybrid method is to make a pencil drawing on paper, photograph it with the iPhone, transfer it to the “Brushes” app, and then embellish/paint in.
Here’s one I did on a train, from initial drawing to “final” Brushes version:
Bare Drawing
One (of a few) Brushes Versions
Another idea is to take an actual photograph, transfer it to the “brushes” app, and draw a little figure inside it. (Yes, I know this is not such a new idea, but it felt revolutionary to me.)
Here was my first elephant in real landscape, an iPhone photograph of ice.
Elephant on Ice
This is kind of a fun technique as you can transfer the “brushes” drawing onto different surfaces, or, for example, different ice:
Elephant on Different Ice
The possibilities are endless. (Now, if I could just draw something other than elephants….)
Along the Hudson with iPhone
December 28, 2010On a train by the Hudson today with ice and iPhone. And now without wireless in mountains. Who knows what will come out?
The King(?)’s Speech
December 26, 2010
The King(?)'s Speech
A lovely film. (Not a dog and elephant show, but if you’ve seen it, you’ll understand.)
Merry Lame Duck Christmas?
December 24, 2010
Merry (Lame Duck) Christmas
More iPhone art, new techniques. (You know, you can start with something called a “pencil”–works pretty well.)
I’m not sure the allegory is correct, as I started this just drawing elephant and donkey because I like drawing elephants and donkeys. The implications were then pointed out to me, so added the duck.
Merry enough!
Developing An Apptitude (“Brushes”/Blog/Christmas)
December 23, 2010I have to confess that this past couple of weeks I have had intermittent but very strong urges to halt this blog. At least temporarily. It’s not that I don’t enjoy both posting and the sense of community the blog sometimes gives. (I obviously do.)
But there is the proverbial problem of choices. Really, limits: minutes in the day, energy in the brain, will in the will.
The immediacy of a blog tends to crowd out longer-term projects; these (mainly old novels) had been languishing even before I began this blog. Now a year and a half later, they are calling for last rites.
Which leads me once again to….the iPhone!
The “Brushes” App.
Rather than simply stop the blog, I’ve been thinking that it might be nice to try going visual. Post pictures, save up words.
I started drawing on the iPhone yesterday with the “Brushes” App. After I learned how not to block out the entire drawing, I ran into problems with issues like big and little:
Big Tortoise, Little Dog
This morning, I learned how to get finer detail. This led to such small detail, the picture seemed all background:
All backdrop?
Finally got it right this evening, while in the waiting area for Chinese take-out.
Duplicate Santas? (Or Skating Imposter?)
I still don’t know what I’ll do with the blog, but going “visual” sure seems fun.
Have a very Merry Christmas Eve! (And thanks, as always, for stopping by.)
“Brushes” With iPhone – Feeling my Way into Apps
December 22, 2010The iPhone is not all things to all people.
While it is purportedly the toy of choice for many (presumably well-to-do) toddlers, it has a pretty steep learning curve for many adults.
That said (along with the disclosure that I hold Apple stock), once you get over some of the initial humps (no finger keys), it can be pretty terrific.
Especially if you are someone who spends a lot of time on computers, because, frankly, the more time you spend on computers, the more that non-computer life can seem obstacle-ridden. (As in, ‘what! I have to look for a stamp?!’)
This is where Apps can be handy. I’ve hardly used Apps, but I tried today a “drawing” App called “Brushes.”
Keeping track of physical art materials in a New York City apartment (without room for studio or even desk) can feel extremely trying. Especially if you are used to having the world at your fingertips (in bed.) This is what attracted me to the idea of computer art.
Sure, it would be better with an iPad. But I only have an iPhone. So, this morning, I made my first little extremely clumsy two inch drawing of an elephant kneeling in front of a fir tree in a Christmas tree stand. It may have worked out better had I read the directions.
(I did not understand "layering".)
The second try:
(I avoided background fill, but the mountains started as Christmas Tree.)
And third.
It’s amazing how intriguing it is to manipulate something that is nearly mechanically impossible (i.e. your fingers on a teeny-tiny screen.) It somehow reminds me of Gloucester in King Lear describing how he sees the world – “feelingly.”
But there we are! Or me anyway! Feeling, in limps and bounds, my way.
ManicDDaily 
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