UPM postcard paintings – a video

I’m keen to get a better grip on my video editing software and to begin incorporating better sound tracks and so I used a selection of paintings from one of the earlier exercises to play around with transitions between images and to experiment with adding sound files. I’ve been a little bit rushed (self imposed) with previous films and as a result not really trying out anything new, so the idea was to really rummage around and see what could be achieved with this piece of kit. There’s an upgrade on the horizon, will it be worth the extra outlay? … Continue reading UPM postcard paintings – a video

Painting media

This module is about exploring the use of different media in the making of paintings. One of the pieces that, for me, came off best from what was a difficult series was a small almost abstract painting of the pair of osprey I’d been watching for much of lockdown on the Loch Arkaig webcam. I saw the eggs; I was watching when one of them hatched; I saw all three grow up and leave the nest on their migration to Africa. This tiny painting, and some of the less satisfactory challenges that followed, drove me back into my comfort zone … Continue reading Painting media

Made by Wildlife – full circle

I made a painting based on a piece of cartridge left outside for wildlife to make their own marks on. After recording it for this module, I pinned it to the door of the garden shed and took photographs of it once a month to document any changes. It was remarkably robust for the whole summer but then suffered ignominy during an October storm. After a night of wind, rain, and wild goings on outdoors, it ended up back on the ground again. Continue reading Made by Wildlife – full circle

Brian Eno on art, value, and culture

This is from my other blog and comprises a critique of Eno’s lecture to the AA School of Architecture while acknowledging the initial questions Eno asks and his stated premise. Brian Eno’s lecture to the AA School of Architecture takes on the problem of how to talk about, to write about, to classify and describe art. Or that was the plan. The lecture starts well with the idea that the arts – all of them – are everything you don’t have to do as illustrated by screwdrivers. The business end is a fixed design, functional and with no room for … Continue reading Brian Eno on art, value, and culture

“Art is everything you don’t have to do” – Brian Eno

Brian Eno’s lecture to the AA School of Architecture takes on the problem of how to talk about, to write about, to classify and describe art. Or that was the plan. The lecture starts well with the idea that the arts – all of them – are everything you don’t have to do as illustrated by screwdrivers. The business end is a fixed design, functional and with no room for manoeuvre, but the handle – that can be plain, striped, blue, red, yellow, pink, fat, thin, shaped, pared down. The business end is what you have to do, the handle … Continue reading “Art is everything you don’t have to do” – Brian Eno

Assignment 2 with AR via QR – blue butterflies anyone?

This very primitive demonstration shows how augmentation can be applied to paintings wherever they are and accessed using QR scanning. A second way of making the AR visible is to upload the target image, in this case the painting, and the video file – this one made in Thyng – to the Thyng website. Once live, scanning the image with the Thyng app will bring up the AR embedded video. QR scanners are ubiquitous for smart devices. Thyng may be a new um, thing but is also a smart device app. This is an experiment; I’m paddling in the shallows … Continue reading Assignment 2 with AR via QR – blue butterflies anyone?

Seas of Mars

In July, NASA’s Mars rover, Perseverance, left Earth. In February 2021, it is due to land in Jezero crater which was formed billions of years ago and where there is evidence that water once flowed from the hills nearby, dropping mud and sand on its way, forming a delta. It’s a hot spot for the likelihood of finding signs of ancient life. This painting and video were made using NASA images of the surface of Mars at Jezero crater, and the subtitled commentary of NASA’s video of the landing site. Continue reading Seas of Mars