YOU CAN TEACH OLD DOGS NEW TRICKS

I have been wanting to share this news for some time.
Over the past 6 months I have been working on creating my own App.
It has been a HUGE learning curve to say the least. But I think I can safely say that

 Old Dogs Can Learn New Tricks......

The App icon 

The App will teach people to draw....I do believe that EVERYONE CAN DRAW. With this in mind I will show people how they can draw ANYTHING.

Like I said in my past couple of posts...I'm now into telling the story...so let me tell the

 STORY OF THE APP

Last year I was commissioned to do a drawing, I was having some trouble 'getting it right' it was a rather unusual view point for this particular subject. My husband was being used as a critic. I would do a bit of the drawing then show it to him and ask if it looked right...sometimes an artist needs someone to look at things with fresh eyes. Each time I showed him he would say it wasn't quite right. It was actually a drawing of a horse and having been round horses all my life, I know that the horse has to be right because people know their horses like they know their children.

But for the life of me I couldn't master it. I eventually decided to use the old try ed and true method of the grid pattern. For those that don't know this method it is where the artist draws up a grid on to the paper and the same sized grid on to the image they are trying to draw. Then they just copy each square of the image on to drawing their paper.

When I showed this to the husband he had never seen this method used by me before and was a little intrigued.

Some time later he said to me ..You should do an App that shows people how to draw using the grid method. My first reaction was

 ...A What??

I only had a vague idea what an App was...well that's probably not quite true ...I actually had no idea what an app was.

I wondered how the husband knew what an App was ...considering he is almost unable to turn on a computer let alone operate one!!
But he listens to the radio a lot when he is working and he had heard someone talking about Apps and I suppose the idea came to him. Of course because of this, if the App is a success he will take ALL the credit!! :)

After some convincing I thought well it can't be that hard.

Lets just say ....it has been hard.....maybe if I had any idea what an app was before I started......

For anyone out there thinking about doing this.....the first requirement is to EDUCATE yourself ....don't just drive in at the deep end like I did.

I spent weeks trying to work out how to actually teach people how to do this....at the same time I didn't have a huge budget so it all had to be very simple for the developers.... meaning the internal workings of the app had to not have too many bells and whistles ....I think I went through a couple of sketch books drawing up ideas. In hind site I should have trawled the App store and found a prototype app that I could use to base the operation of my app on.

SIMPLE

...then I could have said to the App developers...here's what I want my app to look like .....just make me the same type as this.

Instead I eventually worked out how to do the 'lessons' and then Goggled App Developers. Told them what I wanted to do...or should I say Tryed to explain what I wanted......

Right here was where the real problems started......It was like speaking to a person from another country who has never even heard ENGLISH before.....don't get me wrong it was the same for them as it was for me...

We eventually came to an agreement on both design and budget and they started building the 'frame work' and I went back to drawing up my 'lessons'

I might add at this point that I am NOT very good with computers....in fact I think the Developers couldn't quite believe just how useless I was. After a while they started to talk to me in a very slow way ...like you would a child. I wasn't offended by this ...it actually helped me to take in what they were trying to explain.

An example from one of the pages of a lesson on drawing this Giraffe.

Now because of my computer skills or lack of... I did the lessons in a very basic way...
I would start a lesson and each stage of the lesson...or progression of the drawing I would explain what I had just done by writing on a strip of paper then placing the paper on to the drawing, I would then take a photo with my ipad.

Very labour intensive indeed.

When this was all finished I realised that the concept was good but I needed the overall App to look professional. I know that this was quite beyond me. At this point I came to a stand still, the producers offered to do some 'graphic desigh' but after seeing their efforts I realised I needed more...I needed a person who understood what I was doing ...a person who believed in it and who was really creative...after all this was an Artists App so it needed to look ARTY.

By sheer luck or just being in the right place at the right time...I found my man!!

I had gone to the Mac Choice shop for some training, the tutor and I got to talking and she mentioned her husband was into graphic design and was also a photographer amongst other things. He sounded perfect....so we got together, he loved what I was doing and in no time saw what was need and got to work. Grateful doesn't even start to explain how I felt. Looking back I probably would have given the whole thing away if he hadn't shown up.


He has also become the go-between man with the App producers, which has been a tremendous weight lifted off my shoulders.

So as I write all is coming together just as it should. Hopefully with all the little bits and pieces that Aaron has suggested to make the whole thing sing, we will end up with a very beneficial and pleasure giving App that will help lots and lots of people get back in touch with their creative side!!

Until next time

THE PROCESS

                                    Just thought I would share with you my latest drawing.

This shows the back end of the horse ...his belly and on the left the spur.

 Note the information I have written for my self on the right hand margin.

 If any of you are wondering what that strange thing is beside the pencils...that is what is called a kneadable rubber. It is an amazing piece of equipment.

 It is actually kneadable and it sort of takes the pencil into itself . This one in this picture is very 'used' so therefore is rather dirty. Every now and again you must 'knead' it so that when you rub something out it is clean. They are also very good for rubbing out small areas as you can make them into a point.

Another view of working on the 'darks' All drawing is basically varying degrees of dark and light.....and a lot of practise.

 I have just finished the girth and under the front leg. It was important that I get the right 'dark' there which gives the look of shadow rather than a dense black area.

 Another use for the kneadable rubber is it will pick up pencil and that is how I have got that effect in the 'not too dark' places of this drawing.

Here I have continued to work under the belly of the horse and also the 'off-side' foot of the rider.

  

This is about the end I think. As you can see the last thing to go in is the shadow under the horse and the beast. Also the addition of some dirt. This 'grounds' the whole thing. 

Shadows are very important in my drawings as they go towards telling the story.

 I always look at the shadows to tell what time of day the action is taking place. 

 As 'viewers' we sub-conscientiously look at the shadows to make that work of art just that much more 'real'

Hope you enjoyed this PROCESS

Until next time

HOW I DID IT

Just going to share quickly my painting of the Odd Galah



This a large canvas measuring 122 cm x 90cm.

I was in a hurry so just quickly drew in a very rough out line with a large marking pen

I then started to paint I was just trying to paint in the bird as quickly as possible

Just working on the darks

Here I have finished painting the bird. It is very rough but now I can start to stand back and fine tune it.

You'll notice that I have painted a dark grey where the shadow part of it's head is.

Here it is completed.

I had some trouble getting the birds position right so that it looks like he is perched on a branch and looking down. 

In the end I think it came off

The background colour is a very rich purpley pink blue. Took longer to settle on that colour than to do the rest of the painting.....but that's not unusual...for me

That's it for now

Not Again

Yesterday morning I woke up to the birds chattering away out side, I heard them before I opened my eyes, probably because I hadn't heard them for a week of so.

This is because every morning it has been raining and birds just don't sing on a miserable wet dawn.
Once I opened my eyes I saw that there was actually sunlight outside

...YIPEEE...!!!

Anyone would think I lived in the north of the northern hemisphere where they have whole winters where they don't see the sun at all.

Yes I do complain but I love the sun and I find it hard to paint when it is gloomy outside and the birds have withdrawn. And as I said in my last post it is too dark a lot of the time when it's raining.

Anyway it's not suppose to rain in this part of the world in the winter...we are a summer rain part of the world.
So getting back to the topic at hand.

 YESTERDAY

Was a beautiful day bright and sunny day and I hit my art room with gusto.

Beautiful light was flooding the space and I went to work on the last of the commission painting. I would love to show you this painting but being  a commission I don't think it is the right thing to do as the person who commissioned it would probably want to see it first...I know I would...but if she consents once she has viewed it then I will share it with you.

I was going hammer for tong when the phone rang,  relatives ( of Tony's) travelling up the Big Bruce and could they call in. So that was the end of painting for the day, but that's fine as I pretty much had finished the picture, and it was nice to sit and relax with nice people. They are over the rain also and think if it doesn't stop they will turn round and head home.

This morning ...guess what ..it's raining again!!

Having been on the land for 32 years I have learnt that you should never complain about the rain as it can stop and not start again for as long as it feels like it, and as my husband says Mother Nature can be at bitch at times...so all the country people reading this please forgive me but...FAIRS FAIR!

Wet Willy

Until next time

BOYOHBOYHOBOYHOBOY

How about this rain?

I don't think we have seen the sun here since Monday.

I'm not complaining.....well that's probably a lie. But fairs fair. This afternoon it has turned...hot!....well warm....and that's not a good sign if it starts to cool off then it usually means that the rain is over especially in winter but that's not going to happen.

The thing about today which wasn't so good was that it was too dark in my art room to paint and I hate painting under lights or at night.... you just don't get the same natural light
.
I know a lot of artist paint at night but I'm not one on them .

Even drawing I find hard at night, I just can't see as well.

So the commission that I have been working on for the past 2 days, that is almost finished I couldn't do any more on and that is disappointing to say the least.

I just want to get this picture behind me as I have all these other ones ready to go in my head..
The weather channel says that it will rain here until Tuesday.

Maybe I will have to learn to work under lights.

Mustering to Wean (part 1)

My horse Menthol

Art took a back step this week with helping Clint who has his cattle here on agistment. For thoes who don't know what agistment is, it means that cattle belonging to someone else are grazed on our property and we charge the owner money per head per week.
Clint then pays us to help him muster and work his cattle. This week he weaned is calves, which consisted of mustering all the cows and calves into the yards, drafting the calves off their mothers.

....see any cows?

When mustering we have to make sure that we get every cow and calve in the paddock this is referred to as getting a paddock clean. Lucky that St Clair is very hilly as this is handy to get a bit of a birds eye view of the paddock and see where the cattle are. As you can see in the above photo Menthol and I are using this to our advantage.

Found the stragglers 

We mustered and then counted them and found that we were about 20 odd short so had to go back around and find the stragglers. I haven't been on a horse for a few months and the first day in the saddle after a long spell is always hard as I get a hell of a sore bum and a second trip is a for want of a better expression , a pain in the a..se.... but at least this time I am being payed, a very rare thing when you work for your self on the land.

Closing the gate

It was quite late in the day by the time we found the last of the cattle as they were nicely planted at the very back of the paddock and they took a bit of finding. Then it was a walk of about 5k's back to the yards. The photo below shows the cattle crossing the creek on their way to the yards and sun has gone down.
It was just light enough to yard then. But the high light of the day was walking the cattle into the yards with the most perfect full moon rising out of the gap between two hills right in front of the cattle. What a site!! (sorry no photo as camera not good enough.)

Going towards the yards at dusk

To be continued....

As Promised

Peck on the cheek

As promised the next bird painting as I was saying this one has been hanging round for a while and so I tackled it yesterday and now it is finished so there it is.

Remember if any of these new ones take your fancy please get in contact.

Bridging the Gap

Last week we had a visit from a friend of a friend who was in between jobs and wanted to spend some time in the bush to do some thinking and get his hands dirty. He arrived on the biggest motor bike I'd ever seen ...a Goldwing for thoes in the know. His name is Graham and he was very brave to come out here with out any introductions or even know if he would like us, he had told us that he would like to stay for about 7 to 10 days which is a long time if you don't like the people or the place.

Tony and Graham working in the shed

We and he had nothing to worry about as he is a very nice man and fitted in very well and he seemed to like us in return. He and Tony mucked around doing some fencing and cleaning out stock troughs. This wasn't the easiest of job as it turned out because while Graham was here it started to rain and turned very cold, for the coast that is. So mucking round with water and troughs in the rain wasn't your ideal job in thoes conditions. Tony was so impressed with the way Graham just got in and did things with out any complains. He would come home at the end of the day wet and cold with he biggest smile on his face!!

This is what the weather was like for most of Graham's visit

When Tony went back to work Graham started to work for me in the garden. He really go stuck in and the garden looks great now. He hacked back all that was overgrown and did all the hedging, he did this in the rain as well.

The title to this post is bridging the gap. I am a firm believer that the time as come for us, the people on the land to extend a hand to thoes in the cities. We need the likes of Graham to come out and see what we do on the land, how we run our businesses, how extremely hard and expensive it is to constantly change our ways to keep from offending some one in the city who says we need to do things differently, most of these people have never been near a beef producer, farmer or had any experience of what goes on in a day to day agricultural business. 

Graham leaving. Came as a stranger left as a friend!

We need to encourage people form the non rural areas to come see how we do things. Only then can we change people ideas. Plus you make new friends and that's a wonderful thing.