Feb 22, 2010

The Artist as Stretcher of Truths












Hmmm. Well here she is "The Artist" herself, plucking truths from the air around her, be they birds or stars or strange words that make no sense to anyone but herself.....



Now let's see a few days ago Susan from Susan Beth Studios awarded myself and six others the above award. Thankyou Susan. I am deeply touched.

So it is my wonderful honour to pass on this award to those who I think can take it. There are a zillion grande artists on the net as you can see if you look to the list on the left, so  I'm going to choose my 'awardees' because of the diversity of styles ..... which basically means I'd like to apologise to those I left out (you, I believe, are the lucky ones.).

I'd also like to apologise to those that I chose!

Here goes. Tad-tadah!


(Sounds of clearing thoat)  "I'd like to award the amazingly fantastic "Blogger Award" (see image above) to the following amazingly fantastic 7 wonderful artists." (To see the rules go here.)



All these artists have something wonderful to offer and are well worth visiting and spending time with.
 






LDahl: Little FootPrints and The Labrat and this beautiful site Windy Nights

Of course if you take a cruise through the long list of artists on the left you'll find all the other people who also deserved to be on this list!













Seven Completely Amazing Things I Didn't Know About Myself Until Just Now

As for myself I believe I need to tell you six incredibly amazing untruths about myself, and one fantastic truth as well.





Hmm. Take a deep breath; here goes again!

1) I once stuck a four inch long, white enamelled, toy aluminium bullet up my right nostril when I was three years old and that bullet has never been seen again - not by Doctors, not by Nurses, nor my friend Alfred whose bullet it was.


2) In February 1978 my right sock became so tight after it had been shrunk in the wash by my Auntie Pat that, after wearing it for nine days non-stop, they (the ambulance people) had to take me to Belmont hospital and cut off the end of my small toe; (I suppose that now is a good time to add that it was myself wearing the sock, not the ambulance people.)

3) In July 1986 I rescued twelve people and a small dog (a black and white Kelpie cross, name Lucinda) off the beach at Nobbies by knotting together 134 clean handkerchiefs (borrowed from a visiting scout troop from Norway) and tying them (the handkerchiefs) to the nearest telephone pole, then wading out into the sea wearing nothing but a chamois lioncloth I had rented from the Frank's Fancy Dress Hire Company in North Lambton the night before.

4) Frank's wife Geralldine (nicknamed fat Gerry because she once was stuck in a dentist chair for two weeks and three days) charged me an extra laundry charge of $2.67  when I took the lion cloth back the following Tuesday.

5) The lion cloth had  shrunk five sizes in the salt water and was unwearable by anyone who was not an eviscarated dwarf.

7) After reading about my lion cloth escapades in the London Times (header: Crockadile Dundee Look Alike Uses Scouts Handkerchiefs To Advantage) the queen (Elizabeth) bought one of my paintings because Prince Charles thought it would go very nicely in the visitors' wing of Buckingham Palace.

8) Before the 'accident' with the aluminium bullet I was a perfect speller and thought that 'six' came between 'five' and 'seven'.

I'll let you know which is the least uncorrect untruth soon. Thanks for reading and being kind to me.











18 comments:

  1. Andrew! Wow! Thanks for the award, I am so pleased! Thank you. Now I can lie my weezley guts out with no apologies, doesn't get any better than that! :D
    The Artist as a Stretcher of Truths
    Both versions have their respective merits, ummm, you know, I think I'd be tempted to combine them, the depth and a bit of the cooler temp of the first one with some of the glitz and details of the second... Maybe change the light beam until it doesn't distract from the face and hands. The thing is, they are both awesome and I can't chose between them.
    You and your work have inspired me, you are thawing out my winter edges and making me remember what it was like to have a group of artist friends in studio. Miss that.

    Animation below:
    I just love it. Any chance you would let me do a post featuring your blog, using your animation?

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  2. Hya, no problem with the award, my pleasure in fact!

    Thanks for the critique on the work. You have a good eye and I appreciate that. I would have liked to get the contrast and crispness of the secong back into the first. I really need to look at lost and found edges and how to define them better. Also use colour in the right spots to get a bit of complementary contrast things happening to lead the eye.

    Thanks for the observation on the light beam. I'll revisit the picture with that in mind. I guess it's really a portrait so I should concentrate on the hands and face. The right hand needs a thumb suggested I think - it's kind of like the craw at the moment.

    As far as doing a feature on my blog, I would be honoured. ! The underwater animation is being used at canberre institute of technology in some of their "Otherworld" lectures for inspiration.

    Here is a slightly amusing Self Portrait as well... :)

    Not really me!!!

    http://www.vimeo.com/2286091

    Looking forward to your untruths!

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  3. You are the talented one!!!!!!!!!
    and you are now my FAVE talented black unicorn in my blog-forest!

    http://www.lakhsmitaindira.com/2010/02/to-some-beautiful-irish-faeries.html

    love-love-love this!
    and please-please-please im sorry if im too shy for im just no one.

    i appreciate this, i will treasure this.

    xx

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  4. Thanks Mita, you are very kind. Just remember, we are all 'no-one'.

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  5. and you are tooooo kind.
    yes i will remember.

    shall we fly now?

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  6. Another beautifully dark and mysterious piece Andrew - I love her intense look of concentration and the little birds! Wow, you really went all out with this award stuff! Hmmmm, I think your 'truth' is #8 - maybe....thanks for being such a great sport! BTW, my truth is revealed now.

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  8. Hey, thanks again for the kind nomination! I changed my mind and decided not to nominate specific blogs for the award because I want people to look at the whole list of blogs I follow, not just some randomly selected ones. I hope this isn't taking it too seriously, I just felt more comfortable doing that. Anyway, thanks again and it's really good to see your work, it inspires me to keep doing more!

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  9. Hya Susan and Joe and Bob,

    Thanks for the comments!

    Susan, good guess but if number eight were true that would mean number one was true, but there can be only one truth... :)

    Hi Joe, it will be good to see you doing more work. Did you check out Daniel's work? well worth the visit!

    cheerios!!!

    BTW I'm working on a cleaner version of this after Ldahl's coments (thankyou!). I learnt a lesson not to rush my work!!!

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  10. Hello Andrew,

    Thank you for thinking of me worthy of the award. I will post it on my blog and think of who to give this award.

    Okay, I did not understand 2.27, asking me where I was. Remember now, I am not one of those young ones. Is that a code for something? Will it land me in jail or forfeit my shopping allowance?

    Take care Andrew.

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  11. Hya Ces,

    2.27? Hmmm. Just me being a little whimsical and ridiculous.

    I'm glad to give you the award. Your art is very mind opening and rewarding.!!

    I look forward to seeing where you point your awards. There are so many good artists and so little time to enjoy all their work.

    cheers

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  12. Thanks for the award, Andrew. I really appreciate it! Honestly! Even though it claims I´m a liar :-)
    Talking about lies, I´m thinking your second option is so far out, it´s probably the truth!
    I like both your images too, but I find there is more magic in the warm hues in the first one. (and the sparkle always helps :-) The second one is more the harsh truth wit the cold light. So to me, the first one is the artist using her imagination, whereas the second one is the artist stretching the truth.
    I really enjoyed having a look at the other blogs you awarded, and think that´s kind of the fun part about it, to discover new and inspiring blogs.
    Thanks again, Andrew, I especially like your complimenting my brain :-) !!

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  13. Hi again, Andrew. Lord me, these lies are far, far out — massively fun to read! But now ... it's time for me to vote on your truth. Here goes:

    1. I actually think this one is it. It has all the details and mistakes that go with being a kid and playing with aluminum bullets!

    2. A gripping tale, but ... no.

    3. You're a hero in my mind, too, A. Not sure why the handkerchiefs needed to be clean, but cleanliness and shrinking and getting stuck is a recurring theme in your life, it seems! But no.

    4. See, "stuck" in a dentist's chair? You need to do an artpiece of these lies, Andrew — I'd love to see the wading out into the sea/rescue and Geralding stuck in the dentist's chair!

    5. Thank god dwarves could still enjoy the lion cloth. Because in the end, that's most important.

    6. Are the Queen and Charles still speaking?

    7. Oh dear. And after the accident? Where does "six" come now?

    I vote No. 1!

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  14. Hya Janne,

    Thanks so much for the comments/critique on the work. appreciated! I think as you do the scond one is too clean and cold, and lacks magic. I've spent a while dirtying it up again and will see what occurs.?? I even rendered a crowd of three dee crows for the new version but it is getting very busy!

    As far as number two, I'm afraid I must admit that, in truth, it didn't happen to myself personally.

    In all honest truth it really happened to my childhood friend Reginald Farquar (now "Sir" Reginald Farquar). But, my uncle Roger swears on his tomato patch (now fallow), that it was my auntie Pat who caused the sock shrinkage by her over zealous sock washing 'technique."

    BTW wonderful your seven (six) untruths:

    http://www.spindelmaker.com/blog-award/

    Your Harry Potter story is looking good.

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  15. Greetings Justin,

    Yes, I'm afraid to say you caught it in '1'!

    Congrats. I am very impressed. Ta dah!

    I really liked your in depth analysis of the other numbers. And a great idea about fat Gerry being at sea stuck in dentist chair. I think I will run (float?) with that soon.

    I was tempted to make the lion cloth pink, and I know that would have made your decision harder!!

    And here's to the happy (ancient mining) dwarves of the world!

    Of course I chuckled at your 'truths"

    http://justinsegal.blogspot.com/2010/02/blessing-and-curse.html

    I'm voting number five... I think!

    cheers for now.

    let you know what happens to Geraldine (FG) once she escapes the dentist's chair! My crystal ball tells me an ocean liner is in her future...

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  16. You amaze with each and every entry. Your illustrations are awesome. Thanks for the well wishes too he he he he!!

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  17. Not only a fine artist but spins a great yarn as well!! Love your work!!

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  18. Thanks Vanessa and Roberta :)

    You can tell I love to stretch the truth... well in my head at least!

    cheers and thanks again for the kind comments

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Hya! Thank you so much for leaving a comment. I appreciate your time and thoughts.