Australian Birds: Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo

The trees in our backyard are very popular with the local birdlife - for which I'm very grateful, although I didn't expect to see these big fellows just outside my backdoor.

And I guess they didn't expect to see me, either.

But this one didn't let the camera clicking interrupt his dinner.

Although, he did keep a good eye on me.

Probably, thinking bad cocky thoughts about paparazzi spoiling lunch.

Australian Birds: Adult Crimson Rosellas (Platycercus elegans)

You've seen the juvenile. Now, take a look at these, and you'll understand why I had so much trouble trying to work out if it was the same bird or not. This is the adult. Apparently, it takes around two years for the juveniles to lose their greenish tinge and wear this red-and-blue coat.

The ones around my house are shy and pretty uncooperative.

If the tree hadn't had so much fruit on it, I doubt he would have stuck around,

but he took a good look at the camera,

and decided the search for food was more important.

Some of those berries can be downright hard to reach,

but well worth the effort.

Australian Butterflies: Unidentified – Possibly Cabbage?

So, I'm not so sure how uniquely 'Australian' this one is. I do know it was deucedly difficult to photograph. Apparently, butterflies have pretty good eyesight.

In the first shot, I'm trying to gain a little focus and get a little closer.

So far, so good.

And than I adjusted focus in. Amazingly, the butterfly is still there.

I adjusted the focus out. Now, I'm starting to think it's too scared to move.

So, I try a different angle.

And then another, thinking this must be either a very brave or very tolerant butterfly.

I spoke too soon. apparently that last lot of shots was all it was willing to take and it flew away.

Australian Spiders: The Huntsman on the Window

Huntsman spiders are nocturnal... I think I forgot to mention that. Heaven knows where they go during the day, but they certainly come out at night. This one was hunting the insects drawn to the light escaping from our foyer.

Of course, I was startled at first.,

but then I worked up the courage to wind the focus in.

The spider was quite relaxed, which is more than I can say for myself. Still, one of the most interesting and beautiful creatures around.

Non-venomous, generally non-aggressive, the huntsman has distinctive banding on its legs and is insectivorous. It is quite a common sight around Australian households, and doesn't always stay outside, but it can be caught using a clear plastic container and lid or thick cardboard, provided you don't put your hand on the base of the container when doing so. Its eyesight is very good, and it can jump over a metre. Huntsman spiders will usually try to escape from humans, rather than attack.

Art Journal: Rosebuds - Applying Green (Day 2)

I don't get to play with my art as often as I'd like, but I was able to add more green on Friday, March 7. I am still working in Gimp, and I'm still using a mouse and computer, rather than the bamboo tablet sitting on my shelf. Here's what came out.

It's not quite right, but that's what this journal is for - to record the journey. As time goes by, I will get better. In the meantime, here's where I'm at - and I think I need to do more with the pink.

Art Journal: Rosebuds—Applying Green (Day 1)

Applied green using the same techniques described yesterday.  Here's the result.

Art Development: Rosebuds and Adding Colour with Gimp

So, the grey-lead pictures on different backdrops were kind-of okay, but what if I wanted to have colours? I’d read somewhere that some artists used a grey-scale drawing to give them an idea of shade, so I decided to use my Rosebuds on Colorized Backdrop – Saturation 6 as a base.

Here’s what I did:

1.      Imported the image I wanted to use.

2.      Saved it as Pink Rosebuds on Colorized Backdrop-Saturation 6.

3.      I selected the brush icon (9th symbol down in the left column of the Toolbox dock)

4.      I didn’t want a heavy mark, so I chose something that looked a bit fuzzy—the first blotchy symbol in the 9th row of the ‘Brushes’ dock.

5.      I also wanted to be able to see the grey-scale through the painting I did, so I went to the Tool Options box and changed the Opacity slide bar to 43.9

6.      I didn’t want the brush to be too big, so I changed the size to 20.00.

7.      I left the other options as they were. There will be time to discover what they do, later.

8.      I then clicked on the colour box at the very bottom of the Toolbox, and chose a nice shade of pink (HTML: ce83c7)

At first I couldn’t see what I was doing, so I changed the Opacity up to 62.2. Still nothing seemed to happen. I happened to glance over at the Layers-Gradients dock and noticed that the Background layer was highlighted. Since I was trying to work on the Dropped Buffer layer, this seemed wrong, so I clicked on the Dropped Buffer layer and, hey Presto, I could now see the marks I was making.

TIP: Make sure the layer you want to paint is highlighted! (You more experienced Gimp artists can pick yourselves up from the floor and stop laughing, now, ‘kay?)

Once I had the ability to make marks on my drawing, I started out by tracing the darkest lines (still using the 62.2 Opacity and the fuzzy brush). This took awhile.

TIP: Make sure you stop and start, so that your line length does not get too long. If you make a mistake, you can hit Ctrl Z, but you lose the whole line and not just the bit you messed up. If you do shorter lines, you don’t lose as much when you make mistakes.

TIP: It’s also important to keep in mind which part of the drawing you need to be in the colour you are using, otherwise it’s hard to make suddenly pink leaves, green. It’s also heartbreaking to have to undo all the bits you’ve so carefully made the wrong colour.

After a bit, I realised that the outlining, while helpful wasn’t really enough, so I stopped and took another look at the picture. I’m a bit slow, so it was only then that I realized I should be changing the shades of pink I was using to correspond with the shades of grey I was seeing, and that this wasn’t done by colouring over the grey-scale with the same shade. Well, duh! At this point, I’m kind of thinking how much easier this is with coloured pencil or paint on paper, but I like the idea of not having to start over every time I screw up and can’t erase or paint over the picture effectively, so I decide to make the darker shades of grey a slightly darker shade of pink (HTML: c970c0). And then I work the darker bits in c669Bc. It’s not dark enough for the outlines and deepest shadow, so I use a bit of a25d9b, increase the opacity to 69.5. For the outlines, I decrease the brush size to 15.00. When it comes to the lightest part of the flower, I switch to a lighter shade of pink (HTML: e8a8e1) and start work with a slightly bigger brush (36.43).

TIP: The brush size can be changed using the slide bar as a slide bar, or by highlighting the numbers and typing in the brush size you want.

TIP: You should also check out if the brush size looks right for what you want to use if for. You can do this by moving the pointer over your picture and seeing where the brush outline sits. If it’s too large or small, you should adjust it until you’re happy with the area it covers.

In the meantime, I’ve spent about an hour on the pink, and I need to move onto another task for the day. Here’s what the picture looks like so far.

I’d say it needs a lot more refinement. Next week, we’ll move onto the green leaves and stems.

C.M. Simpson: An Introduction

Most of you know me as the C.M. Simpson that writes - well, some of you know me as the C.M. Simpson that writes - and some of you have never heard of me at all. I have been posting my art and cover work on my writing blog, but I thought it needed a space of its own, just to make it easier to find. And for those of you who don't care about my writing, but do like seeing what I'm doing with pictures. So, this is my new blog focused on my art and photography - two fields I find myself increasingly passionate about.

I will start by reposting a number of entries from my C.M. Simpson: Writer blog, including the Australian Birds and Spiders posts and the more recent posts I've completed documenting my exploration of how to use Gimp in creating digital art. Those last are more a journal, as I discover how to improve my art, and learn how to use a new tool.

This blog will feature photographs of birds, insects, arachnids, flowers, as well as locations I find myself visiting and book covers I design. Here is a sample of what you'll find here: