Lots of Links & Love for Software
by Kimliatach

Discovered the joy of face dancer Luciano Rosso care of Blue Art Xinja.

See also Viva La Papa Co-starring his, I assume, daughter.

A rather cool 360º Dali video

Be sure to full screen and let it buffer so you can pan around in style.

Striking portraits of murdered Soviet civilians from the Stalinist era. The ‘Rehabilitated’ beneath some images indicates that they were posthumously pardoned in that year.

The extraordinary game “Thomas Was Alone” Starring Danny Wallace’s voice talent, which I mentioned just the other day, is only 20 cents on the Play store at the moment. I bought it again because why not own it on another platform for twenty cents!

Thomas Was Alone- screenshot

 

I am seriously in love with Manga Studio best drawing software I’ve used in a long time. I’ve been making Photoshop work and it is incredibly powerful but it is not designed from the ground up for drawing. I’ve been playing all day working on pages for a children’s book, planning on trying to port some card progress over from Ps to MS tonight.

Some wiring on the chook tractor, a swimming lesson for L and cooking experiments took up the rest of the day.

A few beasties from the last day or two:

 

Large dead and 15mm. #insect #ant #hymenoptera #macro

A photo posted by @liatach on

Giant mud dauber close to 50mm dead at the pool. #insect #wasp #macro #hymenoptera

A photo posted by @liatach on

 

 

Broken skillet
by Kimliatach

A new tutoring client on the radar, a tidy house, more mud mixed and spread to pack in the paths, art to make.

Broke the handle of N’s magic frypan making Osso Bucco tonight. :’-(
It claimed to be oven safe. It was N’s birthday present from me this year and is our primary skillet. It is Neoflam Mable stone the first genuinely nonstick pan I have ever used. We had a lovely Scanpan skillet we destroyed with honey garlic prawns years ago, I honestly believe this pan could cook them and wipe clean.

IMG_20160205_211038

 

Just slammed down Cardboard by Doug TenNapel. One of the few graphic novels at the local library.

Entertaining if a bit cliched. A nice play on some classic tales al’la Gremlins & the Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Clearly for a younger audience than me.

It has put me onto this software which I’ve never yet tried.

Drawing time!

 

Cool links:

A neat collection of images of Hong Kong in the 50’s

and an amazing alphabet ambigram from an unknown artist:

A Perfectly Mirrored Alphabet

 

NeoFlam Reciept

On Barefoot Shoes
by Kimliatach

For the past month or so, with the exception of work boots I have been pretty much exclusively wearing two pairs of barefoot shoes from Vevo. I have these running thongs:

and these day wear:

Ra II Hopewell

I never pay full price for shoes.

Both of which have a flexible uncushioned sole not exceeding say 7mm in width.

I first read about the barefoot running movement in a long form article I think was written by Christopher McDougall some years ago. But…

I am not a runner. I keep trying to convince myself that it is worthwhile, with little success so far. That said, I do have cause to run occasionally and since reading that all those years ago I have modified the way I run to avoid heel striking ever since. I have worn what I thought were thin soled shoes in the past, but even the thinest was more padded than these. Actually wearing a pair of barefoot shoes takes some serious adjustment.

N called them my ‘Ministry of Silly Walks Shoes’ in the first weeks. In padded shoes I was putting my foot down hard. Really hard and when I put on these shoes that feel for the most part the same and tried to walk normally I would hurt my feet slamming them into the pavement. I certainly did at times look pretty silly as I figured out how to stride around with no cushioning.

My stride has adjusted and become comfortable if not yet innate. My feet don’t hurt and best of all my back doesn’t either. I am pretty convinced based on my own anecdotal evidence alone that the way I was walking in padded shoes was one of the leading causes of my lower back pain.

I wholeheartedly recommend giving barefoot shoes, which are available from a few different brands, a try.

Vevo shoes tout their patent pending puncture resistant sole, I have had a cat head go through the thongs but I’ve had that happen in boots too so make of that what you will.

Drawing, drawing and more drawing today.

 

 

 

Tangerine, Danny Wallace and First Aid
by Kimliatach

Dubbo, a microcosm of an Australian city. With many concentrated collections of poor life choices on display.

On the way to Dubbo we completed the second Danny Wallace book we have listened to together in recent months and just as with the first it had us repeatedly in stitches. He first came to my attention on this gem (It’s really, really good), Also this splendid thing. The first book we listened to was  ‘What not to do and how to do it’ (Yes, we are aware that we have skipped one). On Monday we finished ‘Yes Man’ Both audiobooks are made indescribably better by Danny’s reading of them.

I’ve seen a physio and I now have excruciating exercises to perform every hour indefinitely or at least until my next appointment in March.

Physio finger stretches

A video posted by @liatach on


N and I had good intentions of spending the evening out but in truth by the time we had my appointment and the first rounds of shopping done and checked into our hotel we decided to stay in and canoodle.

We watched “Tangerine” on SBS2. A curious film in which despite the breakneck pace little happens. It feels like a reasonably accurate portrayal of the lifestyle and relationships of the people represented. It is not a pleasant existence and despite billing itself as a comedy it is, with a few dark exceptions, not very funny. I enjoyed the film as the experience of a life that I would otherwise never see. I am still in vaguely disquieted by the shallow rudeness and careless disregard for each other the characters display.

I recognised but couldn’t place this actor James Ransone turns out I’ve seen him in quite a few things, perhaps most interestingly as a character in ‘The Wire’ in which he bears the same name and has a very similar personality.

Kiss Me! I have recertification for first aid, CPR, anaphylaxis and asthma.

A photo posted by @liatach on

Yesterday I sat through and actively participated in a very long 7 hours of first aid refresher training. It was not the worst such course I have done, it was far from the most interesting and memorable though. One of those spend all day practising to do a 40 question multiple choice on which I got 100% in a fraction of the allotted time kind of activities.

We slept at the farm when we eventually arrived there at nearly nine last night.

Today I’ve begun putting many of the little purchases to work around the property, latches and hooks, blinds and hose fittings. Wiring begun on the chook tractor and this afternoon a sitdown interview with the local Catholic principal. Work guaranteed but possibly some time away thanks to processing.

Signing off to doodle.

 

Packing, paperwork and pointless pre-assessments.
by Kimliatach

Spent the day preparing for the Dubbo trip tomorrow. Preparing paperwork for local teaching registrations and fiddling with card templates. Got around to completing the online pre assessment for my first aid. Supposedly four hour online course… Nope 85% on first attempt 100% on second. I got three wrong on the first attempt due to ambiguous wording. In fairness I have done a LOT of first aid courses the five + hour refreshers are usually entertaining provided the trainer is interesting.

Accomplished many things on the list for today but far from all. Trying to get some digital painting in this evening while my stamina lasts.

And because I shared it with somebody else already today, I give you…

Adam Savage’s Ultimate Duck Army!

 

Painting and Shmoozing
by Kimliatach

Painted the hen house a lovely dark chocolate brown today, as that was the colour of exterior primerless acrylic we have in abundance. Chicken wire and a few fittings remain. Present wheels are as I suspected too old and are buckling under the weight and will need replaced. Close enough to finished that we have begun contacting hatcheries.

Attended the local primary schools pre term staff drinks by invitation to say hello this evening.

Doodling a couple of evolution cards and going to try my hand at a fully digital work flow post preliminary sketch for the next batch. Also planning to knock out a colour sketch mockup of one of the board books over coming days.

Tomorrow will be spent preparing for the trip to Dubbo on Monday morning. We are leaving the infants with their grandparents for the night so that we will have room in the car for a very big shop and also so we can have a date night. I’ll spend Tuesday in a First Aid course and then we will drive back to the farm and probably stay there to come home early Wednesday morning. Posts maybe intermittent Mon-Wed nest week.

Playing a game with N this evening. The Humble Sale has been taunting me and SpaceBase looks such a perfect match for N’s and my own recent reading material that I couldn’t pass it up.

 

Three interesting links.

From my daily politics newsletter care of The Monthly and of particular relevance to Mister Rabbits comments over the weekend: What will future generations condemn us for?

Based on actual events. See the authors comments below. Scenes From The Emu War

American Politics. “If you’re a Democrat, and “it’s easy to imagine” neoconservatives advising your choice for president, then you’re not truly a Democrat. You’re a Republican on foreign policy, but enjoy spreading disparaging memes on Facebook representing your viewpoint of socially backwards conservatives.” 

 

 

New Printer
by Kimliatach

Splashed out and bought a new printer today. It is going to pay for itself many times over I hope. My old one, a Brother laserjet is still working fine though in need of a new drum sometime. The new one is very similar mono laserjet with one key functional difference; it has a document scanner. An urgent and key requirement for the lodgement of important docs and for my sanity in the creation of artwork.

On the chicken tractor I completed the roof, attached wheels, sanded and ground down sharp and prickly edges. It is looking very nearly complete. We will paint it over the weekend and I’ll wire the cage over coming days.

Planning to watch a film tonight so keeping this very brief. Just knocked up an updated draft evolution card template based on discussion. Thinking I may doodle a bit during the film.

single-template-test

 

Pounding the Pavement for more Paperwork
by Kimliatach

 

Today I visited all three schools in the Cobar district and met with the principals at each. The outlook is positive I have 2 weeks for the end of the term locked in at the catholic school for the end of the term in addition to days and short contract prior. The State School and High School have both assured me there will be work available in the interim. I have a nineteen page Cath Ed application pack to fill out and I have discovered that I am short one aspect of NSW registration. I have the Working with children check, I have BOSTES registration I do not have NSW Department registration which requires the others and involves an interview. Paperwork will consume my evening from here on out.

N’s Path remains very close to finished, less than 2m left. I’ve been waiting on the paths completion to do a bit of concreting before I start yet another patch of paving myself.

Progress made on the chicken tractor, I was hoping to have the roof done today but it like every other part so far has proven more involved than anticipated. I’ve been inconsistent on my photography but I think I have enough to show a pretty thorough development process photoblog of the build once complete.

Tasks remaining in the build:
Attach the tin the roof frame (Frame and insulation completed today, tin cut).
Attach wheels.
Attach the roof to the tractor with hinges.
Put a door on the roost.
Add clasps and locking mechanisms to a number of hatches and openings.
Add a ramp to the roost.
Paint the roost inside and out.
Affix chicken wire and shade cloth around the frame.

 

Found some seriously amazing drone + photoshop photography work in my feed:

Istanbul Inception: Warped Turkish Cityscapes by Aydin Büyüktas

 

 

Gardening and card work
by Kimliatach

Spent the day as primary carer, N went to work.

A huge shipment of live plants arrived from Green Harvest, all a bit the worse for wear, having no doubt sat on a shelf somewhere for the public holiday in addition to the weekend. They couldn’t have arrived to better planting weather though as we had an amazing storm this afternoon. This evening I planted all but the mint and lemongrass which I still need to prepare places for.

I managed to start some sculpting while the boys were occupied with playdoh this morning. I had to put it aside in short order though.

Finished three very rough evolution card mockups. Nothing, fonts, textures, proportions or decorations is final, just trying out some different looks.

Some florid and pretty calligraphy would be required in the first. The second is going for a more manilla folder like look and the third is grungy and torn all over. Texture is carrying through the image in two of the three.

3-up-template-test-small

 

I also did a side by side test of textures for all cards, prior to adjusting the green. Its a subtle but important addition to the images. I know which I like best.

3-up-texture-test

Revisited the first downs card, adjusted the greens and removed the pond.

Downs 1 In template fix

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Altered the green in the first lake card to match.

Lake 1 in template fix

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Computer is struggling, system setting show only half of the ram is online. Installed Sketchup last night, planning on using it for a bit of perspective help in creation of village and castle cards.

Finished listening to the third, well really 2.5 book in the Old Man’s War series today. Still hooked diving straight into the next, I’ll report on the lot when complete.

 

 

A little fun to finish

 

 

 

Australia Day
by Kimliatach

Very profane vid follows.

I spent Invasion/Survival day at home working in the garden and listening to the Hottest 100.  N took the children to the farm and did some work there.

A friend has recommended I check out HitRecord which although I had heard of I had not really paid attention to before, joined it to explore today.

Made some progress on children’s board books at lunch time. Found a digital rhyming dictionary which is helping with the Giraffe’s Shoes. Dictionary is produced by this interesting character.

Trying to get more card work done tonight so leaving it at that for now.