Game Life

Today I've had nothing but abusive emails from a Flatspace customer, B.J., who was apparently frustrated at his lack of success when he tried to bribe me with £50. Dealing with nasty individuals comes with the territory of the having to deal with the general public, as the attacked N.H.S. staff on today's Radio 2 programme prove. It's sad that even indie developers are not immune to the e-abuse of the occasional lunatic, but perhaps the long-range nature of the internet makes this more not less likely.

I Love You For Your Money and Frost

Last week I finished the production on I Love You For Your Money and Frost and completed some more IndieSFX sound work. I also painted an arctic landscape, an experiment in a new technique idea that sort of worked, some useful results but different to those I expected. More plans for future pictures were done on the rest of the week, a new advert made and submitted for a local magazine too and two new picture frames cut and glued. On Friday, a new poem for the newly completed Genesis of Terror, a painting that has been in progress since July 7th 2006, many of my paintings will have associated poems from now on. Flatspace II has been updated a version this week too and will be launched as v1.04 beta in case any bugs are still in there. My 2005 CD Animalia was released on iTunes earlier in the week too.

More Sound Effects Work

More sound effects work for IndieSFX done today. Two songs were mostly produced yesterday, I Love You For Your Money was my first ever song and now has a new production, and Frost is one for The Journey. Art again tomorrow as I visit Art Support. I have sketched some rough preliminary plans for a new picture about the Birth of Aphrodite.

An Artist Needs Pupae

Dali said that an artist needs pupils, but I add that an artist also needs pupae too, a place from which to emerge different than before. If I am to succeed then new stops must be produced to be pulled out and I need to start to consider my public image, even before I have a public. Thus my cocoon arrives. Today, it seems that my ten planned paintings for 2007 will be too few, a good sign, and my drawing of today was beautifully easy too. Drawing is normally a thankless and unenjoyable task, an exercise in disappointment and error for what hand drawing is a perfect copy? Even Raphael drew badly sometimes, the evidence is in the flaws in some of his paintings (errors detectable only by logic because the results remain beautiful, there is a magic there that makes flaws look normal). Every error in drawing is a tiny crystal needle stabbing in the skin, but every so often good results flow from the hand and cause pleasant sensations, marred only by the fear of losing this skill, this fleeting perfection. Next week I'm back to music and with luck Steven can manage enough recording sessions to complete the two albums of songs that I've been hoping to make for a long time. Too long have my songs been heard by only me, and even then in my mind.

The Journey and a Cornfield

The painting tasks for this week are done now, some good results and some less good but lessons have been learned. Today's portrait (which is a summer cornfield too) was supposed to take two days and actually took three hours which boosted my confidence as a painter. I'm about to continue with music. The Journey has 7 completed tracks, the seasons one has 8, the misc songs one has 2, and Stupid Computer Music has 6 (well if you include the extended Gunstorm song which I've not extended yet). Hopefully I can manage a Flatspace II Music Pack 2 made from some of the computer music edits.

Repainting Liza Minnelli

Painting this week, the repainting of my Liza Minnelli picture is done. The green is very bright and may benefit from a top layer to dull it a bit (this should generally be avoided, subsequent layers should be brighter not duller). I'm not sure about this so I'll wait a few days. I've got three other pictures that I might be able to fit in this week. Two for glazing and one for underpainting although I'm a bit crotchety, perhaps due to a new psychological disease caused by viscous painting media which I'll call syrupitis. Dali said that the secret of painting was in the viscosity of the media. I wouldn't say that's all there is too it but even when it's a tiny bit too thick it can really affect the results and my mood. There's nothing so sublime as glazing with perfect media, and nothing worse (or more ill advised) than trying to paint delicate things with neat stand oil. I haven't wrote any songs in ages so there's one new years resolution gone.

China Syndrome and Summersong Complete

Ta da! I have an announcement. Today I've finished two tunes, a new production of a tune dating back to the days of Martian Rover Patrol, China Syndrome, and a second tune that has been in progress since 2003, yes almost four years on my hard drive half-finished. Summersong is for the new album about the four seasons, and China Syndrome is for a future remix album of my computer game music called Stupid Computer Music, which will also include new productions of other catchy tunes I've written over the past ten or more years but never released.

Free

Busy week this week. Here's the lyrics to my latest song from the end of last week.

Free

No more stress.
No more cares.
I am closing the door
and descending the stairs,
and you
could never see me
walking away
so soon.

No more nights.
No more drinks.
No more flashing the lights
to your father in winks.
No me,
and no more tales to
tell to the fool
to be.

Free (for one day)
he thinks he's
free (from today)
but he can't
see he can't be free.

Hello sun.
Morning sky.
I am tasting the day
and it tastes like a pie
of joy.
It's Christmas Eve and
I am a little
boy.

No more wars.
No more schemes.
I've abandoned the chains
that were binding my dreams.
I'm out
and I just want to
run through a field
and shout.

Free (for one day)
he thinks he's
free (from today)
but he can't
see he can't be free.