02.27.08 Something interesting and fun to see. About a week ago, I recieved a letter. This is the bulk of it.
………….I am the editor of a smallish regional newspaper on the outskirts of Sydney, Australia and we’ve discovered that footprints of a Paracyclotosaurus davidi were discovered in our area. I wanted to do a follow up story and I typed the name of the dinosaur into google and found your illustration. I have absolutely no budget to pay with, but would love to feature the illustration in our paper, credited to you, of course. The best I could offer is to give your website a free plug next to the picture……………
Polite requests for public needs regardless of remuneration generally get my cooperation. I think a part of being an artist is the education of others either through the use of art or about art itself. So there I am, well my work anyway, down under and just above the local classifieds : ) My Zen currency pouch is getting fatter. Wonder what I oughta buy in the next life. Wonder if I can get a catalog now?
02.26.08 Bit of an interesting thing occurred as I was washing my brushes at my studio sink yesterday.I noticed a dull orangish sphere out of the corner of my eye. It was nestled in amongst the bottles and sponges and various containers against the wall. Not really remembering putting anything there of that description I picked it up. It turned out to be the green gourd I had been painting a few weeks earlier. It had been a dark green with an orange spot then. Now, it was a dull orange with a bit of green. A reversal in color. Cool. It also felt a bit squishy. Actually, really squishy and a little liquidy when tilted. A day or three more and I would have had a real ugliness sloughing over my work area. Just missed a vegetable ambush. Woof! So instead, it will become my subject for tomorrow and then off to a timely long rest in the compost heap.
02.25.08 Todays daily turned into a lunatic race. Yesterday, I saw a bottle of tea resting on a windowsill facing west in the late afternoon. Great lighting and a terrific hotspot as the light was refracted through the plastic with the liquid leaving a burnout area. That was going to be my study for the next day. So the next day, I get all setup with a transportable french easel when I realized I had just set myself up to paint a backlit scene in a darkened hallway. Ok, what idiot approved this? And there was the nice bright hotspots I was eyeing the day before, lol. I dove in anyway as the setup was done and the light was fading fast. So it it boiled down to me blocking in and then painting what I thought the values were and then rushing with the painting into the studio onto the main easel to check the values…back and forth…back and forth………back and forth. Not having buckets of time as it is was, I called it at 39 minutes done. In retrospect, it all seems rather silly and I would like to say a smarter me would known better and moved on but then I ain’t that person……such is life : ). So I have learned not only about what I see lacking in the finished study but hopefully, a real nice lesson about thinking and exploring more about a setup in advance. I hope.
02.20.08 If you are not aware as yet, there will be a total eclipse of the moon tonight. It will start around 8:43 and should be done about 10 pm. If you have never seen one, it is worth the time to bundle up and catch it. Colors you might see include shades of orange, red, gold, blue and green. Color is dependent on atmospheric pollution density so heavier areas will see the blues and greens. If the sky is clear, get on out there because your next chance is not till December 2010. The last one was in 2004.
Later: Well, the eclipse was quite lovely. The night was chilled, the moon quite high and covered with a beautiful rust overlay. Another visual feast come and gone.
02.18.08 Well here is a new addition to the pack….Mojo is a rescue critter from the South. His point of origin allows one day between being picked up and extermination, so he has got some luck going for him. He is about 6 months, a real cuddle bug and has acquired a damned mellow disposition for an animal that has been scrounging out of ditches to survive. He is pretty thin but we shall pack some pounds on those bones.
Dailies. This is the fourth incarnation of this practice over the ensuing years. each for different reasons thus learning different lessons. Initially they were to used to learn a forced method of deciding proper color and value. It worked with the added benefit of being a relatively quick painter. This time around, it is due to the large amount of time that I am spending doing digial artwork. I fear for my skills and so have once again started these 30-40 minute studies.
Hello World!
My name is Rick Sardinha. I am an artist living in Rhode Island and I am going to be utilizing this blog somewhat as a brain dump as I explore various artforms and creative urges. These can range from oil paint to catapult building to designing burlesque and belly dancing costumes and whatever else I can get my mitts on.
So what to expect: Lunacy. Puppets in control. Demented puppets in control of the controlling puppets. Art. Art. Art. The creative process in regards to multiple disciplines that I am trying to get a handle on. Topics will range widely as I get excited about blackpowder weapons, catapults, stop motion, archery and projects I am working on. My current lust fad is for steam launches. Do not expect too well of a structured thought continuum over a couple of paragraphs. Do expect tangents and a degree of weirdness. I am an artist not a writer.
What you won’t get is religion, politics or which bimbo forgot her underwear today. Let’s leave that fascinating part of the world behind. Now go and kill your television and recapture your life!
cheers
Rick
