Mergatroid's Muse

East Sooke park

2011-07-19T19:55:00.003-07:00

nice day for a walk in the woods...

it actually felt like summer for a minute there...

playing

2011-07-18T13:25:00.002-07:00

the Painter app is so much fun. I like how the eyeball turned out so i reworked the whole thing a bit using my tablet. I still can't get the iridescent quality in the iris like the original, but what-ever, its fun to play.

you can tell...

2011-07-17T20:00:00.003-07:00

first a smoke... and then the eyeball.

mmm... it's so way less pink in real life.

finishing touches

2011-07-17T07:43:00.002-07:00

the trim is painted, the mailbox installed, now I'm just waiting for the humidity to go down enough so I can varnish - exterior complete. hah, except now I have to scrape and paint the porch and stairs...

bliss...

2011-07-16T21:15:00.000-07:00

The Mighty Quinn

2011-07-09T11:02:00.007-07:00

I have a new little buddy. I have been utterly pet-less for nearly a year now, and after quite some research I made my decision. She is by far the most unusual pet I've ever had, and I've had some strange ones. I have never made friends with an insectivore previously, and I am finding it very interesting.

Quinn is an African Pygmy hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris). She is not a rodent, so does not have the characteristic odour that rodents permeate your house with. In fact, I'm finding Quinn quite odour-less, besides the odd time she's pooped in my hand as a joke or a gift, I'm not quite sure which, but that is slightly stinky, but nothing like dog or cat poop.

African Pygmy hedgehogs are insectivores and have been raised in captivity as pets since the 1980's, and although they are illegal pets in a few states, they are widely recognized as easily adaptable, disease resistant, litter trainable pets that tend to bond with their owners. They live between 5-9 years, have an extremely high tolerance to toxins, are virtually odourless, mostly non-allergenic (there's always someone allergic to everything) and pretty darn cuddly despite their epic defence system. I purchased Quinn from a local breeder, so I know she was hand raised and well socialized. I'm not really a person who buys pets at pet stores...

Insectivores eat a wide variety of foods including, of course insects. It is not wise to feed them wild caught insects, because despite the internal defences of a hedgehog, they are susceptible to pesticides and parasites carried by many wild insects. But a few crickets and mealworms bought at a pet store are tasty and healthy. I also feed Quinn a combination of high quality wheat free cat food, high quality hedgehog food, chicken, apple, banana, cooked potato, and occasional cat treats (for training). I am still slowly introducing new foods to her diet.

Quinn is mainly nocturnal, and I am working on resetting her internal clock a little so that she'll wake up a bit and hang out with me for a while after work. I'm also still working on the bonding process, it is hard to be patient, but I am trying my best.

Quinn is very timid, cannot see very well at all, and relies mostly on sound and smell. Hedgehogs are easily startled by moving too quickly near them or sudden noises, or even a shadow passing over them. So I can see it will be a long process to gain her trust. I'm sort of clumsy and noisy, so it is good for me to learn how to be different. So far we are doing very well, she lets me carry her all over the house, cuddles up on my lap as I sit at the computer or snuggles over my heart as I watch a movie (she seems to respond favourably to my heartbeat), and entertains me by running around with an empty toilet roll on her face, and I am so intrigued watching that little nose of hers sniffing and snuffling everything around her.

She now lets me massage her little body, even her quills... a word of caution here, until you have a completely relaxed and trusting hedgie sitting with you, don't ever try to pet a hedgehog like a cat, you will likely be startled by their huffing and puffing, and could receive a few holes in your hand from their effective quills. I love watching her mood and emotions change by watching the reaction of her quills, how they move and flow over her body, and to think she is one of the oldest living mammals, with estimates dating back around 15 million years ago...

Quinn is a really different kind of pet, and very fascinating, and I look forward to the day she can go hiking with me, tucked away in a pocket with her nose sticking out, ever twitching, ever sniffing...

ooooo colour...

2011-07-03T10:12:00.004-07:00

Big Improvement

2011-06-27T17:17:00.003-07:00

It's huge!

2011-06-06T19:02:00.004-07:00

mmm... that's what she said...

I've take down all the paneling and ceiling, and found some creative DIY wiring, and overzealous nailing. there were no less than 40 really large nails in some of the strips of strapping they used to nail the paneling onto >.<

I removed a structure that used to be a kind of closet, and the space opened up so much, it's hard to recognize the dark little hole it used to be. I have big plans for this space, hopefully without spending too much money. I want to make it look like it might have in 1908, putting back some of the craftsman charm.

stay tuned for an update when I get a bit further...

Gotta start somewhere...

2011-05-29T13:03:00.003-07:00

Soon, this freaky front door will be replaced by a new really cool door. This door has seen better days, and although I appreciate the small amount of light it lets in, let's face it people, its really ugly. I'm replacing it with a larger fibreglass door made to look like a period craftsman door, with a leaded glass window. I'll post pics of the new door after its installed in a few weeks.

I've been trying to spruce up my postage stamp sized front yard with a bit of colour and texture...

I have a nice view out of my front door...

Coffee!

2011-05-28T06:20:00.004-07:00

oh yeah... the largest stretch of counter in my kitchen is dedicated to all things coffee...

... note the non-granite countertop, non-tiled backsplash, non-designer cupboards, and the non-stainless steel fridge :P - I dare to be different!

Hiking

2011-05-19T16:20:00.004-07:00

After seeing Anonova's blog post, I decided to take myself down to Witty's Lagoon...

May apocalypse

2011-05-02T05:42:00.004-07:00

Dreaming of summer...

2010-01-16T02:00:00.004-08:00

Spent the day at Pattio's playing with paint - t'was tons of fun, but no art to post...

dreaming of sunshine and sandy toes...

although there is really nothing wrong with a misty winter lake...

Sunday tidying

2009-11-29T13:43:00.005-08:00

I started doing my sunday clean up - I got a bit side-tracked and ended up in my studio... I did do a couple loads of laundry inbetween...

the coffee page is pretty rough textured, I mixed instant coffee with acrylic medium, the page even smells like coffee!

this page is weird, but I like it

I reworked this page a bit, still needs something, but getting better...

I'm not sure what this guy will say yet

Journal - Friday

2009-11-20T17:17:00.002-08:00

Too big to scan, so they're kinda crappy images...

Zentangle Mandala

2009-09-13T22:10:00.003-07:00

I've been really unwell for what seems like forever. I've finally made it out of bed after 9 long days. I opened up my laptop and came across this doodling thing I never heard of called Zentangle. I felt like it was my speed so I gave it a shot. I came up with this Zentangle Mandala, or Zendala... kinda fun to play with, and a calming thing to do, I guess that's why they call it Zen.

2009-08-15T19:55:00.001-07:00

whoa, I just spent nearly 4 hours painting this tiny thing!

ATC explosion

2009-08-15T13:34:00.013-07:00

This atc has doors that open...

Tiny Fables

2009-08-11T18:57:00.017-07:00

These were pretty fun to make, and I think they turned out kinda cool. I used finger paint (yes, Crayola finger paints) and smeared them around on an ATC, then took another ATC and plopped it on top and squished. Then pulled them apart and they had some neat textures and designs. Then I stared at them for a while until I saw an image, and started drawing with pen. then a little pencil crayon to distinguish the characters, and as I coloured, a little story came in to my head...

on the back of the top one I wrote;
And Tug chose his words very carefully as he explained his plight to the great King.

and the bottom one;
And the longneck warrior rescues the strangest bird from certain peril and thus is granted one wish.

inspiration...

2009-07-19T08:48:00.001-07:00

I was checking out my art friend Pattio's cool image of Oriental Poppy Seeds, and was inspired to 'borrow' a couple pods to alter... Thanks for the inspiration Pattio!!!

Here's Pattio's lovely post:

And here is what I saw when I looked at the two largest pods...

long time - no blog!

2009-07-18T15:38:00.005-07:00

I find myself with some time on my hands, an annoying little cold seeping into my system prevents me from my whirlwind existence for the moment...

So on a whim I pick up my journal, and then Samar appeared. He's like a monster from world of warcraft, however I don't play much these days, so I'm not sure why he manifested himself on my page. I'd like to give him some atmosphere, but the appropriate one alludes me for now. So he will have to be satisfied with banana watercolour paper to be his world for the time being.

watch out for bad bunnies

2009-01-31T15:56:00.003-08:00

Next time you're out strolling in the woods keep an eye out for these crafty little devils. They hide out in convenient spots along the trail waiting for an unsuspecting hiker. They won't do too much damage with their small demeanor and tiny teeth, but they can give you quite a scare. This one was none too happy I took a picture of him, he lunged seconds after the shutter clicked... good thing I was ready for him - this time.

dancing zebra

2009-01-30T17:43:00.004-08:00

When snails wish they had legs...

Art Gift

2009-01-25T09:49:00.003-08:00

For my art gift, I decided to make bookmarks. Some out of canvas, some card. All using acrylics, stamps, and some embellishments. I'm giving one to my Mum today, she is going in for surgery tuesday, so I got her a book, and maybe having this bookmark with her in the hospital, she will feel a little better?
The rest I'm giving away to my bookworm co-workers, I think they'll like them.

create in the style of a favourite artist

2009-01-23T21:01:00.004-08:00

I chose Maxfield Parrish. I love his paintings, I really wanted to attempt some of his style of clouds and trees, but I was way too intimidated, so I chose to try and imitate a simpler painting. I couldn't really come up with anything on my own, so I tried to mimic his painting of stars.

Egypt

2009-01-20T20:17:00.000-08:00

My word is Egypt. I like anything Egyptian, so I felt like doing a collage with this theme...

Beware

2009-01-19T14:56:00.001-08:00

I actually did a bit of work in my physical journal this morning, then following a good clean up of my studio, I was back creating cyber-journal pages. In this one, I tried to create a collage, similar to how I would work in my paper journal. Interesting, but another thing that will require a lot of practise...

Pink!

2009-01-18T18:32:00.001-08:00

That's right! Pink Koi! I am practising bubbles, and trying to make things look like they are underwater... I am finding both tricky, but I know I'll get it.

4 hours later...

2009-01-18T01:03:00.001-08:00

I finally finished my little bird... Wow, the ability to zoom way in and get details done is awesome, when you zoom back out it looks so real. This little guy has a lot of feathers, that took a long time!
He's all done in acrylic, mostly a dry brush to give the feathers detail.

Sunset in Sooke

2009-01-17T23:10:00.001-08:00

Obsession

2009-01-16T23:52:00.000-08:00

I'm sure this will pass, but I am so obsessed right now with this tablet. I'm totally out of my realm with this piece, I'm usually not into creepy, but as I was airbrushing, it just kept getting cooler and creepier, so I kept at it. He's quite deliciously creepy now...

Happy little koi

2009-01-16T21:50:00.000-08:00

This piece reminds me of the little app I have on my iPod Touch that has lovely little koi swimming around, and you can splash in the water. it's quite calming really, and actually, so are these koi. I am experimenting with my logo, I thought an oriental look was kinda neat in this case...

Watercolour afternoon...

2009-01-16T21:06:00.000-08:00

Today I spent a long time trying to figure out animation on Painter... I made some cute little things, but I can totally see how much work it must be to produce anything decent... phew!
So, I gave up and went back to painting, and recreated an old sketch I did of an avocet. I realized today I can bring new life into some of my old fave drawings, I can take them to the world of colour.
I'm not comfortable with painting water yet, and especially with some limitations that Painter seems to have, where you can't do certain things on watercolour layers? So for now, plain water, maybe I'll fix it up later...

Red...

2009-01-16T12:15:00.000-08:00

Here's a red rooster, I guess I am really liking oil pastels...
I really need to stop having fun for a bit and do some chores!

I really should take a break...

2009-01-15T21:14:00.001-08:00

This was another oil pastel, many layers, learning a lot about layers...

Then I found a way to change the whole look of a painting... This is called Impressionist Scheme. I like the colour change, but I like the original too.

uh oh, mad bear!

2009-01-15T19:15:00.000-08:00

Looks like Bear is not happy...

hug a baobab

2009-01-15T14:48:00.000-08:00

acrylics are fun too, this is me hugging a baobab in a botanical garden in Hawaii.

White

2009-01-15T13:50:00.000-08:00

interestingly I got yesterdays colour 'green' without knowing it was 'green' day.

Today I did an oil painting in Painter. It's pretty addicting creating in Painter, although I have found many bugs in the application:-(

I should sleep...

2009-01-15T01:56:00.001-08:00

mmm... 2 am - better go to bed...

I finally got my Wacom Cintiq tablet!

2009-01-14T20:05:00.000-08:00

It's pretty Cool! It's not easy learning to adapt to a tablet, but I'm trying hard. Here's an altered photo of the jungle in Hawaii

Here's a pear I did from a lesson. The first is just sketched with pencil crayon, and the second one I blended. It works so much like the real thing, only you don't get your fingers messy :-(

Neato! Oil Pastels!

Hey, more oil pastel... this is a hand painted pastel of a bird photo I took (below)

Aura

2009-01-12T17:02:00.000-08:00

I can't seem to do anything more with this page... after finishing the paint, I thought it looked quite cool just like it is, it feels like it is my head when I'm in a good space...
obviously rules are being broken here, no monochromacity. (probably not a word) but that's me - I'm a rule-breaker!

Hopefully not me...

2009-01-10T13:05:00.000-08:00

As I hope you can tell, I'm not really following the self portrait theme... *.* Here is the dragon I drew earlier, painted him up in Painter and here he is! I'm still waiting for my tablet, but in the meantime, I am learning Painter a bit, so hopefully I can have fun and not frustrated when the tablet arrives...

Serene

2009-01-08T18:05:00.001-08:00

Today I tried something new. I downloaded a trial copy of Painter X and was playing with one of my pics of a lotus I took in Hawaii. I am actually eagerly awaiting the arrival of a new toy, a wacom cintiq 12" tablet and a full copy of Painter! So while I wait, I play with mouse and application to try and get a sense of the brushes, cloning, and effects. Now I can print this out and add it to my journal (likely with embellishments)

You can SO go back...

2009-01-07T18:29:00.001-08:00

I had a lot of fun with this one today. It's a fold out journal page and it's all about... well here's what it says ' People say you can never go back ever but I did and I do and I love it I know where I am but isn't it nice to go back and feel the wet squishyness of delicious finger paint swirly and twirly fun then tracing your hand and drawing big eyes and playing with crayons and loving every minute of it
Sometimes you can feel inspired to new heights by going back and indulging in childhood delights when you began creating works of art that were proudly displayed on the family fridge if you can recapture some of that childlike wonder of colours and textures and the imagination that created the world you lived in...'

Wow, it was fun! I used finger paint, and I went through some odd but delightful emotions while painting, and I am really impressed with the finish, it is nice transparent paint that mixes well, and drys a little shiny (kind of like my eyes were while painting with it)
For the background journal page I used crayon ( I splurged and bought the 64 colour box!) covered with black pastel, and scratched out kind of paisley things...
I highly recommend fingerpaints and crayons to all!

it's me, but different...

2009-01-07T17:23:00.000-08:00

I drew this not long ago, using 2 mirrors. I really don't have any people drawing skills, and I'm not sure why my eyes are all googly, but it's probably one of the best I've done of people.
I need more practise.

Playing with layers

2009-01-02T13:07:00.000-08:00

Todays evil experiment is layering different mediums and then scratching and scraping to reveal different layers.

I started by creating weird pop art with crayons...

Then I covered it all with coffee paint (mix instant coffee with a tad of water = coffee paint)

Then I painted over with black acrylic, let it dry, then scraped and peeled... Strange, but interesting.

For this one I covered the paper with crayon in swirls of rainbow colours, then covered with black oil pastel, and scraped and scratched out a seahorse...

Thar Be Dragons...

2008-12-30T00:36:00.000-08:00

I was browsing through Comic Book Tattoo, it's a huge graphic novel with many different artists work. I came upon a cool dragon as part of a larger image, so I drew him. I can't find the artist's name anywhere, or else I would add it...

Now that I have him inked and scanned, let the colouring begin!

He's about 9x12, so I'll be making many different sizes to play with...

ooh, how many different coloured dragons will I make?

Journal Project: take 2

2008-12-16T17:07:00.000-08:00

I've been playing in my new book! They have a really good sale on at Opus, so Anonova, Pattio and I went on an Art Field Trip to collect more supplies for our evil experiments, mwa ha ha...
and so play I did, and here are a few experimentations...

this is what a really muddy puddle looks like with rain splashing in it. regular gel medium mixed with raw umber ink, with more raw umber ink swirled on after...

snow needs love too... swirly ink background with white ink and fountain pen flakes

mushrooms are marvelous...acrylic, bubble wrap, pencil crayon

mossy love envelops you...

Mermaid dances with Ray

Jellyfish Farm... regular gel medium, ink, acrylic

mmm... crackle fun - acrylic, bone folder scoring, coffee dyed

The Art Journal Project

2008-12-10T16:55:00.000-08:00

I got together with my friend Patti and my new friend Anonova, and together we created our own Art Journals. Patti patiently showed us the art of coptic binding which after much determination and a little swearing, we made our very own hand-bound art journals to create in.