Mitigating Monotony

Something silly for my love.

2012-02-14T13:36:00.000+01:00

I made this very simple and naïve heart today to have waiting on the husband's desk for when he got home from work. Kali cat, being a massive attention whore, wanted in on the picture taking action and then got completely distracted by some birds outside.

The heart itself was a very easy 2-flat-pieces-sewn-together job (based on the hearts in this post at Craft Blog) because I still haven't started in on learning amigurumi properly yet. But I will....yes, I will.

Just after I had finished making it, there was a buzz at the door and these babies arrived:

Yeah, I've pretty much got the greatest man in the universe.

Unwanted Advances

2012-02-04T16:13:00.000+01:00

Something that bothers me.....

2012-02-02T11:25:00.000+01:00

As a huge Doctor Who fan, there has been something that has been bothering me when it comes to other fans and their fan art. The problem is this: Those fans who sell their fan art on t-shirts, posters etc.

Of course it is not all creators of fan art who do this, and of course not only Doctor Who fans do it - it's just that as a Doctor Who fan, I often come across t-shirts or posters on sale online in my mad fangirl search for anything Whovian. I do understand that these people have put a lot of love and effort into the fan works they create, and a lot of them are unbelievably talented, witty, moving fun etc.

But the thing is, the idea, the characters, the story - those things are not theirs to sell. In the case of Doctor Who of course, the intellectual property of the characters and the story belong to the BBC. The same is true for almost all modern stories, movies, tv shows, podcasts, websites etc. Someone at some stage, worked very hard to create those characters, that story, that script, that universe, that site. So why do people feel that they have the right to take that persons hard work and make money from it?

Now, I am sure that there are some wonderful people out there who go about these things in the right way. They do their research and contact the original creator, or the legal copyright/intellectual property rights holder, and ask for permission to use their ideas in a commercial way. But I'm also sure that unfortunately, the majority of these artists don't do that.

I wonder how those artists would feel then, if an original idea of theirs was stolen, pasted on a website for sale, and they got absolutely nothing from it? If the hours they had put into that work were essentially taken from them, and some other random person got all the monetary benefit of those creative moments of their artistic life. As an artist myself, the very thought of that happening to me makes my blood boil. So I really dont understand how others can find it within themselves to do it to the creator/s of their favourite tv show, movie or story. If they love the original work so much? Why do they basically disrespect it by stealing it to line their own pockets?

I am of course in no way adverse to people using their skills to express the joy they have towards their favorite things. Sure, display them online, show off your skills, enjoy the adulation of other fans for a job well done. But just don't sell it.

After thinking long and hard about this, and as an artist who sells online as well, I'm now making a conscious effort to go through my own works to make sure that the pieces I have on sale are not based on someone else's ideas. If that means I lose money, then so be it. I'm happy to take that hit. And I truly hope that other artists who read this, seriously consider doing the same.

Sunday dish scrubbie

2012-01-29T15:48:00.000+01:00

A quick project for this snowy cosy Sunday - A square dish scrubbie. One side is a basket-weave stitch (shown above) and the other just simple single crochet. I worked a pretty shell stitch edging on as well.

It was fun and fast, and I love making little dish scrubbies, especially when I want to learn a new stitch.

This is me on pinterest lately

2012-01-25T18:41:00.002+01:00

(image via the awesome and wonderful Hyperbole and a half)

Going viral

2012-01-24T17:24:00.001+01:00

Well, this is what I would hope a 'viral' work would consist of.

But it's more likely to be guys getting hit in the plums and cats with captions.

Satisfaction

2012-01-23T16:59:00.001+01:00

Imaginary Friends

2012-01-20T19:19:00.001+01:00

International Rivalry in the Home: Big Rocks Edition.

2012-01-17T11:17:00.000+01:00

My husband just emailed me from work telling me that, tomorrow when he drives across the country to deliver some important archaeology thing-a-me-bobs, he will be passing by Denmark's largest rock: Hvissingestenen.

He then proceded to big it up a bit, and boldly claimed that it would, and I quote, "make Uluru it's bitch".

'Ooh' I thought, 'that sounds impressive. Why haven't we visited that before?'

I then scrolled down to see that he had linked me to the Danish wiki page for Hvissingestenen.

Big mistake.

Lets see Hvissingestenen shall we?

And now Uluru:

Now lets have a look at some of the differences here.

First, you can take a picture of ALL of Hvissingestenen from a few meters away on the ground. The picture of Uluru above was taken from a helicopter from several kilometres away and it still doesn't quite capture it all.

Next, tree size comparison. See those tall green things towering OVER Hvissingestenen? Those are trees. Now see the masses of tiny green dots around the base of Uluru? Those are trees. Things are becoming clearer, yes?

And finally, I think one of the main things that needs to be noted here is the fact that Uluru DOES NOT NEED FENCE PALINGS TO HOLD IT UP.

I rest my case.

Suits

2012-01-15T15:28:00.001+01:00

Image from 'English Society' by George Du Maurier via: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38111/38111-h/38111-h.htm

Text by me because, again, this is what went through my head when I saw it.

Pinning like a mofo

2012-01-12T15:51:00.001+01:00

I heart Pinterest. Heart it lots. If you haven't been on there yet you should probably check it out.

No. Wait. Don't. You'll just get addicted and spend all your spare time there browsing the pretties and the funnies and the awesome Doctor Who geekiness.

Anyway, they have a little bookmarklet tool that I find pretty useful for pinning stuff I find around the web, and today I inadvertently stumbled upon an awesome trick. It made me stupidly happy to figure it out, but I'm sure other people knew it already.

You want to know what it is?

Well check this out...

Yeah, I know...simple but awesome right.

I'll shut up now and get back to looking at the crochet boards :P

Old illustration silliness

2012-01-10T17:17:00.003+01:00

I've become obsessed with browsing old books on Project Gutenberg. Some of the stuff one finds is bizarre, some is wonderful, and some is just a hoot.

I particularly love seeing old illustrations, and my brain, being my brain, tends to add captions to some of said images.

Case in point :- This image comes from "L'Illustration, No. 0409, 27 Décembre 1850" . This is what I imagined was playing out when I saw it:

It still makes me giggle.

Remembering what this day is.

2011-11-11T06:42:00.001+01:00

So over on Facebook and a few other social networking sites I was starting to notice something a little disconcerting. People posting or reposting status updates that were basically along the lines of 'Soldiers fought for this country, if you don't like this country, get out' or 'If my poppy offends you, get the F#@k out of the country'.

This kind of sickens me. That people would use Remembrance Day as a way of furthering intolerance for anyone whose views differ from theirs. Intolerance for people who dislike injustices in political policy or in cultural 'norms' that are just thinly veiled excuses for racism.

Seriously people? Seriously? That's what you are taking from Remembrance Day? I think the thing that really disgusts me the most about people spouting this shit is that the people doing it are the people least likely to stand up and make the kind of sacrifices that war veterans made for their country. Or even have the kind of courage it takes to be one of those people that go against the norms to speak out against injustice - the people that they 'want out of the country'.

That's not what our forefathers fought for. In fact, they fought against intolerance and racism. So people who use Remembrance Day as a means of being overly 'nationalistic' (read: rascist), not only make themselves look like narrow-minded bigots, but they are basically spitting in the face of those who actually did fight in wars for their freedoms.

Anyway. I made a status update about this yesterday, and made this image below as a kind of catharsis.

Lest we forget.....

New Obsessions Are Old School

2011-10-01T13:49:00.001+02:00

So I've always had a crafty bent, as folks would probably know by now, but the last few months this has taken a new turn with the discovery that I love crocheting.

I FREAKING LOVE IT!

When I started my obsession with yarn crafts a few years back, I was determined to teach myself to knit. I was able to manage the basics - cast on, knit, purl, bind off - which meant I became adept at making flat square or rectangular pieces. This is all well and good, but it gets a bit dull. I made a couple of lovely scarves, and then realised, that was all I could make. Trying to attempt to shape a piece, or add colours etc, usually left me with a big ball of tangled discombobulation. Obviously, this made me feel a bit let down with myself and led to me putting away the needles for a while.

Then I remembered that a friend of mine (The lovely and talented Boogybunny, whose work you can check out here) had sent me a wedding present that included - along with some knitting needles and a great book on knitting - a crochet hook. So I fished it out and consulted youtube for some tutorial videos.

Within a few days I had grasped the first few stitches, and the simple logic of the whole process meant that it was quite easy for me to pick up other, more advanced techniques quite quickly. I started to find myself picking up yarn and hook whenever I found a free moment and soon had a nice little collection of pretty dish-cloths and other assorted items. I was even able to whet my 'Doctor Who' fan-girl whistle with a cute little mini Tardis

L-R: Skippy in her Norwegian House Slippers; Blanket Bag/Bolster Cushion Cover; Mini TARDIS; Black and Purple Handbag.
Most of my designs so far have been freehand works that I made up as I went along, which for me has been an awesome way to learn new techniques without the fear of ruining a pattern, or ending up far from where I should have been. The Norwegian House Slippers, on the other hands, are an old scandinavian design that are super easy and quick to make, and require nothing more than the very simplest single crochet stitch. (Word of advice though, just be sure you measure the intended feet before-hand or you end up with giant floppy things that don't even fit your husbands enormous hooves, and that you later have to stitch up in weird and wonderful ways so that they stop flying off every time he walks through the house. Although admittedly, they now look like they have go-faster racing stripes on them which is pretty cool and shit.)

Now my mind seems to be constantly thinking about what I can crochet next. I'm a bit of a practicalist in that, for me, a piece has to have some other function about the place other than just being pretty. (Except for TARDISes of course. TARDISes always have a use. They are useful at being awesome.) I'm also finding myself enjoying the process of intarsia colour work, and coming up with new and fun little designs. My second attempt at intarsia was actually a little skull that I planned out on some graph paper first. He turned out nice an evil looking, I think you'll agree.

Click here for a simple pattern of this charming fella.
I really want to make a whole bunch of similar squares and stitch them together into a red and black skull bed-spread for our double bed. But then I got distracted with the idea of a TARDIS scarf for winter...

But that's another post for another time.

Dear Grumpy Man

2011-06-22T15:59:00.000+02:00

Dear Grumpy-Man-At-The-Supermarket-Who-Ran-Into-Me-Then-Told-Me-Off-For-'Not-Looking-Where-I-Was-Going':

I get that you're grumpy, I really do. Hell I am most of the time too. Especially when I have to be around other people who are grumpy and rude. But when you blame me for something I didn't do, I am going to get revenge.

My revenge was not the moment when I laughed at your little outburst, instead of getting all frightened by you, like you obviously wanted me to do.

My revenge was not even when I went out of my way to make sure I beat you to the checkout line with my basket of 'many things', while you stood and huffed and sighed loudly behind me with your simple 'two things'.

It wasn't even when I ever so slowly unpacked my things onto the conveyor belt, all under your grumpy watchful eye.

No, my revenge was when I turned to you, smiled politely and asked if you would like to go through the checkout ahead of me.

The look of shame and utter self-loathing you had on your face at that moment was bliss. Your mumbled thanks and abashed apology as you shuffled past me like a chastised schoolboy made the whole experience worthwhile.

Now, fuck off and be a grump somewhere else, or I'll be nice to you again and I'm not sure your tiny, grumpy little pea-brain would be able to deal with that. Arsehat.

Your new pal

Lee Lee

You know you've been in Denmark too long when......

2011-02-05T09:28:00.000+01:00

Found this here, and just had to share cause it made me smile a bit.

YOU KNOW YOU'VE BEEN IN DENMARK TOO LONG, WHEN:

1 You think there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.

2 You don't think it strange that no one ever comes by to visit without being invited and you never show up at any one's place unannounced either.

3 You understand why not every type of meat can be put together on top of bread.

4 You wouldn't dream of coming even 10 minutes early to a party. (Once around the block is always an alternative)

5 The word "yes" is an intake of breath.

6 You find yourself lighting candles when you have guests - even if it is brightly sunny outside and 20 degrees.

7 Can't remember when to say "please" and "excuse me".

8 The first thing you do on entering a bank/post office/pharmacy etc. is to look for the queue number machine.

9 You accept that you will have to queue to take a queue number.

10 You can tell the difference between a Grøn Tuborg and a Carlsberg beer

11 When a stranger on the street smiles at you, you assume that:
        a. he is drunk;
        b. he is insane;
        c. he is American;
        d. he is all of the above.

12 Silence is fun.

13 It no longer seems excessive to spend 800 kr. on alcohol in a single night.

14 You know that "religious holiday" means "let's get pissed".

15 You use "Mmmm" as conversation filler.

16 You go to the supermarket and buy three good beers and 10 not too good ones.

17 You have only two facial expressions, smiling or blank

18 Traditional dinners may not necessarily mean a cooked meal.

19 You forget how to open canned beer.

20 You honestly believe that the distance between Copenhagen and Aalborg is long.

21 You will leave a pub if you can't find a seat.

22 Your wardrobe no longer has suits but blue shirts and mustard colored sports jackets and lots of denim.

23 You don't mind paying the same for a 200-metre bus ride as you do for going 10 kms.

24 You don't look twice at businessmen in dark suits wearing white sport socks.

25 You can open a beer bottle with almost anything.

26 You are very surprised when you receive compliments about ANYTHING - including your appearance/clothing! In fact when you do, you find it suspicious and start thinking they might have ulterior motives.

27 You've completely forgotten what a "date" is - no one ever comes to pick you up and unexpected gifts are VERY unexpected.

28 You think its normal to pick up a girl in a pub, walk her to her bike and ride with her back home.

29 You think its impolite to sit next to someone in a bus if there is a bench where you can sit on your own.

30 You know the meaning of life has something to do with the word "hyggelig".

A strange conversation revisited....ANIMATION STYLE!

2010-08-28T10:31:00.000+02:00

This is very daft, but I just discovered xtranormal.com and just had to give it a go.

Basically, you write a little script, choose the kind of scene and animation that you want and the site then generates a little movie that you can then share with your friends.

My first attempt is a silly little thing inspired by an actual conversation between my bestie, Beth, some random stranger we met and I.

It was very late (or very early morn...I cant really remember), I'm pretty sure Beth and I were about 16 or 17, were either very drunk, or at least tipsy, and were waiting for the night bus to take us home from the city to the suburbs of sydney. At times like those, we'd generally strike up conversations with strangers, just for something to do.

So yeah, the vid is a step away from what the real scene was like - for instance in the vid, it's daytime, there is only one girl in it, and the guessing of the 'occupation' actually went on for a little longer in real life - but I only had the basic tools at xtranormal to work with. I think it turned out fun though.

I'm still waiting to see what Beth thinks.

A Moleskine Update

2010-07-01T08:15:00.003+02:00

Just a quick update:

See more progress on: Fill my 1st moleskine with original drawings.

A Lifelong Self-Suffiency Dream.

2010-07-01T07:43:00.003+02:00

The husband and I have both been wanting to do this since either of us can remember. When we met it was just another of the things that told us that we had found the right person.

Our plan is, and always has been, to move out of this cosy little apartment and into a house in the countryside around Vejle here in Denmark. My husband works for a museum down that way, so while he works, I will be at home tending the gardens and animals.

We’re looking for a place that has at least 10000 square meters of land, and one that preferably has a piece of forest on it. That way, we can have the all the space for the animals that we want (chickens, geese, possibly also goats and pigs) and be able to forrage in the forest (fingers crossed) for nuts, wild fruits, wild herbs etc.

Currently the only thing standing in our way is money. And then, only really because we want to save a lot of the deposit ourselves, so we can be a little less dependent on a loan from banks to get the whole process started. So we’re doing our best now to save, and in the process are learning to live a more simple life already by not constantly clogging it up with ‘stuff’ that we dont really need.
The outlook for the near future, is to hopefully start the process for real by this comming winter. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that some of the houses that we have our eye on now are still available by then :)

In the meantime, I am doing my best to learn as much about organic gardening, homesteading and self suffiency as I can. Using the internet, the library and any other resource I can get my hands on, I have so far collected a 2Gb+ file on my computer of files and articles found on the web about all the topics I could think we might need to know about, and now that I’m not going to danish classes any more, I have time to get reading. I’ve even tried to start growing some edibles here in the apartment…an experiment more than a neccessity, but a fun one none the less.

See more progress on: have my own land and be self-sufficient

An Ongoing Education

2010-06-30T20:07:00.003+02:00

Ok, so after 2 years at danish school, and finally walking away with a certificate that says I have passed, I still feel like I have a lot to learn about this language. It’s tricky, and hard to pronounce at times, but I am getting the hang of everyday conversations, and can hold my own in most cases.

Luckily, I have the rest of my life living here to get better. But I know now that I will never be fluent. I will always be a little bit aussie when I speak, and people will always ask where I’m from. Just something that one gets used to being an immigrant.

So here’s to learning more danish every single day….

See more progress on: speak fluent danish

Grumpy Travelling - Paris edition

2010-03-29T22:03:00.001+02:00

My husband and I went to Paris last weekend for our extremely belated honeymoon. It was 2 years coming and entirely worth it. In many way paris lives up to it's name as one of the most beautiful and romantic cities in the world.

The only thing that ruined it were all of the other millions of people that were there.

I'm such a grumpy bum when it comes to having to deal with other people. I guess it comes from growing up in the countryside of Australia, where there usually weren't that many people trying to sell you nasty fake knock offs of every major building in your local neighbourhood, or almost pushing you off sidewalks because they are busy, busy, self-indulged and priviledged to be the most important person on the planet. (Ok, so there are people like that in every city and town in the world...not just Paris).

The people that were the most annoying were not the locals, as some sterotypes would have you believe. No, the french folk, albeit lacking the drive to grasp the english language , were utterly lovely for the most part. (Note: I'm not saying they should definately all learn to speak english fluently, just saying it might help with business sometimes considering the vast numbers of english speaking people who are willing to throw money at them)

The most annoying were all of the other tourists. Yes, we all have a limited amout of time in the city. Yes, we would all like to see as much of it as we can. But your pushing in lines, allowing you loud obnoxous children to do the same, constant flouting of clearly posted guidlines and volume of your incredibly objectionable voice is the epitome of all that is wrong with the human race. Please hand in your passport when you return to you home country and never bother the rest of the world again.

Anyway, we did actually have a wonderful time despite all that. And here are the pictues to prove it:

That is the damn Louvre

That is some damn painting of some damn bint

This is more damn art

This is the damn Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel

This is Notre damn Dame

That over there is Joan of damn Arc

This is a damn fountain

This is a damn obelisk in the middle of the damn Place de la Concorde

This is the damn Arc de Triomphe

The Arc de Triomphe is damn big

This is the damn Eiffel Tower

That down there is damn Paris

This is the damn Pont Alexadre III

This is the damn crocodile on the damn Australian Bar

And so that was damn Paris.

; P

Another Fun Creativity Generator!

2010-02-04T16:18:00.000+01:00

Following on from the earlier "dice + rules = art" games I have posted about ('The Monster Drawing Game' and 'The Artists Scene Generator'), I figured I should post this one as well.

After messing about with making 'The Artist Scene Generator', I also toyed with the concept of getting 100 randomly chosen idioms or phrases and using them as the inspiration or main influencing factor when creating an artwork.

Again, all one needs to do is use a D100 dice, or an online equivalent like the one here:

Online Dice Roller

(simply click 'roll' on the line with the two purple dice)

After you have your number between 1 and 100, find the corressponding idiom below and use that as the inspiration for an artwork. The piece in no way has to be a literal translation of the phrase, and your final work might appear to have no relation to the idiom you 'rolled' at all. The point is to use it as a stepping stone into your creativity.

The Idioms:

1. The plot thickens
2. Catch some Z's
3. Baker's dozen
4. Highway robbery
5. Bright as a button
6. Etched in stone
7. Out of nowhere
8. Jump the shark
9. A vicious circle
10. Pandora's Box
11. A little bird told me
12. There's no telling
13. Cheesed off
14. A house divided
15. As sick as a dog
16. The last straw
17. Sneak out
18. Use your loaf
19. Push comes to shove
20. Fit to be tied
21. Freak out
22. In the same boat
23. Keep ones nose clean
24. All ears
25. Stem the tide
26. Things are looking up
27. A world of difference
28. An axe to grind
29. A stalking horse
30. Take it slow
31. Outstay your welcome
32. No love lost
33. Under the weather
34. Wild and woolly
35. Punch-drunk
36. Bend over backwards
37. Cry wolf
38. Pass the hat around
39. Wall flower
40. Time flies
41. Foot in both camps
42. Open old wounds
43. Wrong foot
44. Go bananas
45. When pigs fly
46. Steal someone's thunder
47. Take it as a sign
48. See stars
49. Feather your own nest
50. Sixth Sense
51. Saved by the bell
52. A marked man
53. Split hairs
54. Smell a rat
55. Take a raincheck
56. Dressed to kill
57. In a nutshell
58. Pull the plug
59. Out on a limb
60. Listen up
61. Up the creek
62. The nuts and bolts
63. Brass monkey
64. Size up
65. Spin a yarn
66. Under a cloud
67. Take my word for it
68. The other side of the tracks
69. No bones about it
70. Quiet as a mouse
71. Every cloud has a silver lining
72. Long in the tooth
73. Keep your chin up
74. Have your head screwed on right
75. High on the hog
76. Twiddle ones thumbs
77. Push the envelope
78. A gut feeling
79. Go down like a lead balloon
80. In the doghouse
81. Rise and shine
82. Against all odds
83. Something fishy
84. A thirst for knowledge
85. Riding Shotgun
86. Easier said than done
87. Zero Tolerance
88. You can't take it with you
89. The whole nine yards
90. Rule of thumb
91. Pulling ones leg
92. Pass the buck
93. Out of the blue
94. Burning ones bridges
95. An elephant in the room
96. Method to ones madness
97. Loose cannon
98. Knock on wood
99. From rags to riches
100. No spring chicken

For example, my first roll was a 19 - 'When push comes to shove' - and the image I created from that was 'Push back':

Give it a try! If you do, I would love to see what you come up with. Leave a comment below with a link!

Reuse! Recycle! Repurpose!

2010-01-20T10:45:00.005+01:00

My 'stumbleupon' button gets quite a workout. Lately I have been coming across a lot of sites that have some wonderful ideas for reusing everyday items that would normally get thrown on the scrapheap or out with the kitchen trash. We all know about sorting our trash and that we should recycle as much as we can to help the environment. But many wonderfully creative people like to take it a step further by repurposing old items into new, practical and inventive creations in their own homes.

Want to give it a go and do your bit to 'save the world'? Here is a list of sites with some great ideas to get you started.

Recycleart.org

I only just stumbled this one this morning and am absolutely loving it! This site gives some fantastic recycling ideas and has some really creative artworks to browse through. And it's all made from everyday, recycled materials

For instance, check these out:

(What to do when the candle burns out)

(Canoe O Plants)

Instructables.com

This is a huge database of user submitted DIY tutorials from across all walks of life. From the uber geeky, to the everyday pratical, this site has ideas out the wahzoo! Here are just a few great instructables projects:

(Verticle Vegetables)

(Fastest Recycled T-Shirt Tote Bag)

(Ted Baer's Bicycle Wheel Windmill)

Craftser.org

I love the craftser community for sewing, home decorating, cooking and just general ideas for making life more filled with creativity. When it comes to repurposing, the people at craftser are in the masters league. Just take a look at the forums on reconstructed clothing, or at the creativity of the reconstructed crafty housewares section. Here are just a few of my favourite ideas from over on craftser:

(Jesse Pheonix's huge shirt to mini dress)

(Spoon of Love Pendant)

(Vintage towel into towel organiser)

(Photo negatives lampshade)

Lifehacker.com

Lifehacker has an amazing array of post about how to make life a little more streamlined, stress free and more productive. This of course includes ways that you can cut down on waste by reusing the objects around you. a quick search of the #diy tag will bring up a multitude of great ideas using recycled and repurposed materials to create some awesome time/space/sanity saving devices. Just a few of my favourites include:

(Recycle old LPs into a room divider)

(Repurpose a Squeeze Bottle for Perfect Pancakes)

(Make a swanky bookcase from old drawers)

Craftzine.com Blog

As the name might suggest, craftzine is a haven for all things crafty and because the modern craft movement has thrown open it's arms to the idea of refashioning, reusing and recycling, it is also a great source of inspiration when it comes to what to do with everyday household items you may normally just throw away.

A couple of great examples:

(Plaid cushions from mens shirts)

(Rain skirt from old raincoats)

(Reuseable swiffer covers from old towels)

There are of course many many more great websites dedicated to the eco-friendly pursuits of reusing and recycling household items, but the above are just a few of my favourites. Feel free to add a link in the comments to your favourite DIY/recycling websites or posts across the web!

Redback Memories

2009-12-14T10:34:00.003+01:00

When I was very young, up untill I was about maybe 3 or 4 years old, we lived in a beautiful old house on the central coast of New South Wales, Australia. It was a lovely place to live (as you can see below) with beautiful bushland behind and only a short walk through that bushland to a very private and secluded beach on the shores of the waters of Lakes Entrance. The house is still there (as I have just discovered via google maps) and still looks the same as it did 30 or so years ago.

I was an adventurous child, and one day I climbed up on the railing of the front verandah so that I could sit on it, swing my legs over the edge and watch the world go by. Unfortunately, my balance was not as great as my sense of adventure and it was only a few moments before I fell to the ground below with a thud.

With the wind knocked out of me, I lay there for a moment, before putting my hands down beside me to raise myself up from the ground. It was then that I felt the bite. I pulled my hand up quickly and looked down to see a Redback spider slowly crawling away from the scene of the crime.

Now even though I was very young, I lived in the Australian bush and therefore our parents had taught us from a very early age about what creatures around us might hurt us and what we should do if they did. With that in mind, I squished the spider quickly with my thumb, picked it up and, still hurting a bit from the fall, walked into the house to my mother who was standing in the kitchen and told her what happened.

When she saw the dead spider in my hand she sprung into action, whisking me off to a neighbours house in order to get a lift to the local hospital.

I don't really remember much more of the story, although I have been told that on the way to the hospital I became quite ill and the area around the bite started to swell a lot.

After all this, anyone would think that I would have a major hatred of Redback spiders and their ilk, but no. Instead, since then, I have felt somewhat of an affinity with them. I found myself being more greatful that at one of the only times time in my life when such a bite could have been potentially fatal, the little creature did nothing more than make me feel a bit poorly and leave me with a bit of a yarn to tell.

Generating ideas.

2009-09-21T09:25:00.006+02:00

To anyone who actually reads this blog, it would be glaringly obvious that I am finding the monster drawing game to be a fantastic way to boost my creativity when it comes to generating ideas for drawings. It's a bit sad really that I would need something like that, and that I couldn't use my own imagination to think up a theme or character, but it is a good springboard tool into learning to think outside the box when it comes to my art.

I'm finding myself wanting to deviate from the 'rules' of the game now. Especially when I have sketched the basic outline of the character, or created a scene in the background. Sometimes the background will change my whole perception of the character, and make me want to change physical aspects of it to suit this perception. Or the shape of the character will force me to place it in a certain type of scene so that the image as a whole makes more sense to me.

I feel that, at the core, idea generators like this are really just basic guides. I'm trying to stop myself from the negative self talk of "this wasn't your idea" when I have finished creating one of these pieces, because in the end, given exactly the same criteria to stick to, every artist would produce something different.

As I was thinking about all of this, I started to wonder what other uses an artist could set some dice to, and came up with some rules for generating an entire scene, not just a singular character. I haven't yet actually used these rules (am still working on another piece) and I might end up changing them a bit here and there based on input from others, but I will post them here anyway.

Of course, I am completely open to feedback about these rules and would love to see the results should anyone put them into practice.

Artists Scene Generator.

Use a 100 sided dice (d100) or the d100 option on an online dice roller like this one.

Sky
1- 9 Sunrise
10-19 Strange cloud formations
20-29 Smoky from a fire or a battle
30-39 Contains something floating or flying.
40-49 Night-time
50-59 Sunset
60-69 Normal daylight/midday
70-79 A space type scene, with visible planets, stars etc
80-89 Stormy and/or filled with lightning.
90-100 An odd colour, based on your roll:
90 Green
91 Yellow
92 Orange
93 Purple
94 Pink
95 Red
96 Brown
97 Black
98 Aqua
99 Slate Grey
100 Salmon

Background
1-9 Plains.
10-19 Mountains.
20-29 An Ocean.
30-39 A forest.
40-49 Ruins.
50-59 A City.
60-69 Obscured by fog, rain etc.
70-79 A desert.
80-89 A small village.
90-100 Scene is set indoors. Only sky can be seen through windows.

Foreground
1-9 A road, path or corridor of some sort.
10-19 A forest or plants of some kind.
20-29 A marketplace or shop. A place where one buys items.
30-39 Indoors scene. Sky and background can be seen through windows.
40-49 Ruins.
50-59 Rocks of all shapes and sizes.
60-69 A city scene.
70-79 Water. A stream, pond, lake, ocean etc.
80-89 A graveyard.
90-100 A village scene.

Flora
1-9 Weeds.
10-19 Bonsai.
20-29 One or more sentient plants.
30-39 Flowers.
40-49 No plants at all (This roll negates any forest rolls in background and foreground. Roll these again to generate other rules.)
50-59 One or more carnivorous plants.
60-69 Something overgrown, or growing completely wild.
70-79 One or more gnarled, old trees.
80-89 One or more giant plants of some sort.
90-100 One or more very alien looking plants.

Fauna
1-9 One or more cute creatures, like bunnies or kittens etc.
10-19 A ghostly creature, or one made of smoke or shadow.
20-29 One or more mythical beasts.
30-39 One or more vicious animals. Maybe attacking or about to attack.
40-49 Insects.
50-59 Birds.
60-69 A beast of burden.
70-79 A giant creature of some sort.
80-89 No animals visible.
90-100 One or more completely normal animals.

Characters/Activities
1-9 Someone or thing not completely natural.
10-19 A visible magical occurrence.
20-29 Single lone figure.
30-39 One or many figures in an unnatural pose.
40-49 A god or goddess.
50-59 A fight or battle.
60-69 An everyday activity, something mundane.
70-79 Someone or thing out of place
80-89 A historical occurrence.
90-100 A portal.

Other (optional)
1-9 Depict love, friendship or some level of deep care.
10-19 Draw the scene as if the viewer is very, very tiny.
20-29 Make the scene look like it would be noisy.
30-39 Make the image look very, very old. As if in an old book, painted on a wall or old canvas.
40-49 Make the scene look evil.
50-59 Draw the scene as if the viewer is looking down on it.
60-69 Depict joy.
70-79 Bring grief or sadness to the image somehow.
80-89 Make it look like there would be a terrible smell.
90-100 Make the scene look religious or righteous.