Flatspace Review

For those with iPhones, the iPhone version of my game Flatspace has has a good thorough review: "The App Store is rife with space games, many making promises on which they do not deliver. Flatspace is the game to put the rest to shame. If you’re a fan of computer games like EV Nova or Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space, then you’re going to love Flatspace. It is the only game I’ve played on the iPhone that lives up to the promise of being a true open space role-playing game...".

Woohoo

My painting for the Sue Ryder Art Liberating Lives exhibition has made it through to the second round of judging!

Today I dropped off three paintings for judging for the Three Counties Open in Keele University. After Keele I had a lovely stroll through the Trentham garden estate, the nearest thing to a Florentine Renaissance garden I've been to. I'm beginning to feel quite better again but need another day or two of gentle rest I think to combat recent weakness.

Too Much

I've been under stress and listless today, feeling tired but under pressure too. After some thought I conclude that this is down to not having clear goals for the day. When I used to develop computer games I'd make a plan for the month, then a plan for each week, then for each day, and stick to the plans irrespective of how I felt. My "feelings" were to complete the plan. Doing anything not on the plan caused stress. It was that simple.

Recently I've been more loose regarding time management, and art is different to the computer work I knew so well in that the time and effort involved in a particular job is more difficult to predict. Today I wanted to plan a picture but stopped half way, deciding to start on another which I thought was more impressive. Then I decided to do something else, then a bit of something else. Nothing was finished adequately and I ended up feeling tired and frustrated.

As a result of today I'll re-examine my goals for November. Some good solid goals are needed.

Money

The sky parts are now complete on my painting. I'll pause for a few days now.

First an announcement. Some of my original paintings including unseen works will be on sale on November the 11th at the Down To A Fine Art Gallery. All paintings are priced at £111.

Today I've been working on music. Music and painting are both quite similar but I normally approach them in very different ways. Capturing the instant idea in a sketch is more easily done with a pen than in a sequencer. I can too easily get bogged down in one little bit near the start, losing track of what the next bit was going to be. I'm stuck between trying to do it "the visionary way" with a sketch beforehand that sums it up, or "the crafting way" of playing around until something pretty happens. I paint the visionary way.

I feel too Kubrickish. What is the difference between Stanley Kubrick and Steven Spielberg? Both fine artists of film, Stanley Kubrick would think and think and perfect and perfect, such that A.I. absorbed over 20 years of thinking. Steven Spielberg gave the impression of glancing at it and whisking it out in two weeks. There's definitely something to be said for just going for it and worrying about "perfection" levels after it is done.

Day Two

Day two of glazing. I worked on the butterfly and some of the green-yellow-blue sky. The work was unexciting and miniscule, lacking in flair. The yellow parts of the sky was glazed too brightly an I had to delicately brush it away and repaint.

Apocalypse Glazing Begins

Today I began glazing The Apocalypse of Finance, having been in the mood because of working on a smaller version yesterday in Art Support. I've decided to take my time and have at least one break of a few days during working on this layer. This is excusable when glazing but hard to justify when underpainting, because a good underpainting has edges that are smooth and blended so that glazes that adjoin areas can easily fade from one colour to another as smooth as glass even when one area is dry. Blending dry or semi-dry opaque paint is not possible and so underpaintings must ideally be completed quickly while the paint is wet.

I've painted the red sky today and the distant buildings. I used my trusty Prolene Plus 007 size 3/0 to draw some ultra-fine rays from the explosion of light in the sky. I've used that type of brush on just about every painting I've ever painted and it remains my standard choice for details, even when underpainting. A Winsor and Newton Series 7 000 is perhaps finer and better, but wears out more quickly and costs about ten times more. I reserve one of those for essential emergencies only.

The lines were too fine and anticrepuscular, so I smoothed them towards procrepuscular glory!

IndieSFX

More music work today. It's amazing how much filing, editing and general administration work is now associated with the music I do. It takes far longer than the actual composition and production even if I exclude any registration with the myriad music registration authorities.

I had hoped to write some new music this month but my computer problems probably cost more than ten days and now the busy schedule of art events mean I should really try and finish the paintings I've got in progress.

R.B.S.A.

I am now a friend of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, perhaps the most renowned art society outside London. Friendship costs £27 and bestows numerous benefits, including free submission into their open exhibitions, tutorials and art evenings, as well as reduced rates for just about every fee paying event. I look forward to participating in the events and exhibitions in their Brook Street gallery.

I've spent today working on music for my website IndieSFX. I will add more themes to the royalty free collection there in December. Computer game music tends to be catchy and always fun to write. Visualisation is the key to successful production, even in music!