Monday, December 6, 2010

birch heart


among all the things i had showed here, there was probably not a single one that you can do yourself. so, seeing this useful piece of art, i have decided to present it to you as a possible idea for the upcoming holidays.

my mother-in-law went to a workshop organized by a renown english artist of slovenian origin, nada pedley, and the resulting object was presented to my wife. we both loved it. although simple, it is nice, useful and - natural, of course. now you can make yourself one, or as a gift for the seasonal exchanges.

as i am informed, this can be done using birch twigs. reasoning on my own, willows have also pliable shoots, but yes, colour and volume speak in favour of birch.

the birch heart is decorational on its own, but you can use it as a base for a flower arrangement in whatever way you wish. have fun.

nada pedley designes special old-fashioned porcelain dolls and objects, and as i heard only last week, her artwork atracted the attention of the british royal family, so some of those went through their hands.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

permanent day care english teaching tool

SLOVENSKO


during the break i had had i was almost tormented by the thought that what i planed to show you fresh will become older. this is the trace of an activity that, combined with some other circumstances, forced edita to replace me in one of my congregations, having sermon instead of me. it was during vacation time and as my wife and our youngest son had several days of fun at my in-laws', i worked at home. i'm fine the sacrifice, but i fear that my esteemed friend would find this an unworthy reason to miss the summer leisure.

to add to the smaller day-care room another playspace, edita had a hole opened in one of the walls. not to the street, though, but to my former office. she en-visioned a rainbow above it, and i was to draw it. because rain-bows consist of several colours, i remembered one of my old ideas marrying illustration with learning english. so i planned names of the rainbow colours and as many objects from the nature, or so.

i wanted special font, so i painted big letters myself, scanned them, converted the pictures into polygons and next to contour. i unified the repeated letters to some degree, which means i reduced their diversity to basically two variants. of  course, i coloured them as well. before i actually positioned them according to my plan, they looked as seen above. i left the original size for you to see it immediately. (not at all.)

in addition to being on my own, i had quite a trouble making a big grid and printing parts of it on A4 format. to be able to copy them on the wall, i cut and glued parts of the enlaged picture (the poster would consist of 32 pages in A4) in a collage. the traces of the pencil left by the carbon paper can show you that the work was not very easy.

all the preparations done, the moment came to mix the colours to match the ideal i got on screen. i am rather satisfied with the outcome, i must say, except in the case of violet which is the most difficult to get. of course i wanted a darker and more red hue, but did not succeed. so i went to a shop and bought the most approximate nuance. i managed somehow to persuade myself that it was the best possible solution.

the finalized painting is shown below. i had imagined different - straight lines of the rainbow proper, but in the process, this is what seemed better. i will leave to your judgement most of the details, but i must comment on the fact that i could not find seven different objects to represent every colour of the rainbow, so i sight with relief when the saving idea flashed in my mind. i'll make an inversion - leaving the colour out in a appropriate shape, i'll make blue the sky and indigo the sea. i am still not sure whether the idea fits in the concept and whether you will find it disturbing.

anyhow, looking the picture now, i saw i'll need to go downstairs with a paintbrush and white paint. no, i'll not whitewash the wall. i'll only finish the painting. you'll never now what i did, unless you come to see it.     

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

responsible parenting

well, i know. everyone missed me. and two of you actually pronounced a question about my absence. one can get stuck anytime, of course. i had three baptisms in a row and i was awfully busy. besides, i did not want to keep on talking about baptism. and so on...

this is what i needed to finish in a glance. a friend of my acquaintance, supposedly the top artist in our region, claims that the trend nowadays is just fontwork. as i understood, no illustration, nothing except text to make you think. as you see, i am not quite that modern, but maybe i helped establish the trend. :)

of course, i can not introduce this as a never-seen-before thing. i only say that i wanted the main font (starševstvo means parenting) needed to suggest a fun thing to do, and i really did not have time to search for anything fresh. this one was at hand and to me amusing enough. the same font is used to emphasize key educational words such as relationship, love, and education itself, as well as success that every person who will come is up to, plus a play on word with (for)giving (in). all other expressions made prominent will be translated in labels.

the (old fashioned) illustration is here... well... to demand viewer's activity, so you tell me why!

Friday, September 10, 2010

the baptismal card

SLOVENSKO

we have just had a very special baptism. whenever anyone sincerely makes this step, it is a special occasion, but this one was different. there are several reasons for that.

for one, the wether forecast was rain and storms throughout the country. having in mind that wether is one of the most unpredictable things on earth, and that God is above it, we prayed that in the time slot needed for the baptism to take place, we would have bearable wether. it could be cloudy, but dry. when my friend, the candidate, called a day earlier with the news that it is still raining, i said that we will have sunshine. well, i do not control the elements, but i do believe, and this just popped into my mind. so i said it and prayed for this to happen.

on our way to the beautiful bohinj lake through the heavy rain i called vesna to ask her what wether she is being in now. rainy. but she was not yet at the destination. twenty minutes before the due time, an elder called and told me that there is sunshine on site. talk about happiness! and gratitude!

well, i was still quite an embarrassing distance away at the moment. no justification, although there was a traffic jam on the highway. my time calculation was wrong. and when i arrived and lead the way to the beach, i believe we started with the programme probably 40 minutes late. very soon, the rain commenced. it was my first baptism in the rain. i now (very biblically) take these raindrops as a representation of the Holy Spirit needed for spiritual growth and service. and, yes, the grace has its limits, mind you! at the time prayed for, there was sunshine, and by the time we started, we could have finished.

another reason to make this occasion so special is that i baptized a person who has become a very good friend of mine. very creative friend at that, whose superb giftedness i want to show you here.

this is the card she made as a memento for the attendees. the art is not just in the form, but also in the ideas expressed:

everybody would recognize the bird as a symbol of the Holy Spirit. but with it vesna also illustrated herself. the bird has obviously passed from an image on the paper to 3D form. in a way, it is liberated. it is in the shape of the cross and has bible words about unfailing love of God printed on it. so, by what Jesus accomplished on the cross, and by His word transmitted to her, she is freed. the shadow under her wings is left behind. she is flying to so splendidly drawn symbol of life and peace, which will fully become reality at Jesus' coming. wow!

may God bless you, vesna, on you way. may you experience genuine and rich walk through whatever awaits you. may He grant you joy and victory!

i love your card. and i love - you!

Thursday, September 2, 2010

creation

SLOVENSKO

let's not forget the growing de-
sign, colour, texture and taste of so many projects of the Supreme Creator coming into existence every season. i am busy with a few of them these days together with the helping hands of both of my parents. of course,  they are put into bottles for winter use as highly regarded homemade healthy delicacies.

these two are so different, but put together in proper amounts they beautifully complement each other. ajvar is probably best when served with another unbelievable God's invention - garlic - and sourkraut whether seasoned with good olive or pumpkin oils. and, by the way, what you can buy in shops only distantly resembles the homemade ajvar. mainly by colour. :) 

Monday, August 23, 2010

embroidery

SLOVENSKO

no, it is not my newest tie, although i am certainly planning to design one. it is what the title says - the art of decorating cloth sewing patterns on it with thread.

edita is very skillful with yarn and finds it relaxing to knit and do all sorts of handiwork. well, recently, she had enough of producing cloths for baby-born dolls belonging to everybody she knows of, and she switched to embroidery. now i know about richelieu stitch which is the most popular of the cutwork embroidery techniques and i am interested, but will let her do this.

anyway, edita brought a piece of cloth and wanted me to draw something so she could practise who would remember what stitch. the only thing that popped into my mind was what you see in this picture. now, that she is half way through, i like it so much, that i can not wait for her to finish it and starch it and prepare it for the public as  she will actually. i only can promise you that when everything is ready, i will show it to you again.

i hope you like the pattern and you will like the final product.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

memories

SLOVENSKO

most of the articles published here fall in this category. it is interesting how a simple something can, be it proust's madeleine - taste - or an old document - information - or a shape or sound - a piece of art, furniture or what you had made yourself - long forgotten, bring a flood of cherished memories, and sometimes a tear or two.

i concluded that what we remember and the way of our recalling could spring from selfishness. for instance, most of what people experience during their military service is not very nice. you are forced to be where you don't want to be, doing what other people say, learning skills you may not want to master or use etc. of course, you can take it as it is and avoid suffering too much.

when and where i served, there was no warm water in the barracks. not even showers. (no it was not in the 19th century!) there was only a trough where we could wash ourselves with cold, during the winter time icy, water. there i washed my olive green stockings as well. i did not let anything influence my mood, but i certainly did not enjoy my stay in the army or any of the activities. that is why i was startled when several years later i thought of what i experienced there, and discovered that my memories were pleasant. well, i know that our mind is inclined to remove what it did not like, and there linger positive items. but i thought of my washing stockings and experienced warmth! my only explanation is that this was my past, and my mind loved it anyway. i am ashamed.


much in the same way, memories surfaced by this sight, are only nice. it was, though, the last moment urge to do something adam would give to his friends to invite them to his birthday party. a year earlier i had taken more time, and now i could not afford not doing anything for my son. i like simplicity, as you already know, so i managed to draw this basic, but very informative illustration. it was adam's 9th birthday, you realize, don't you?

the only effect i did was dislocating the letters a bit and imitating a moving information as if on display. the remaining one was effectuated moments ago. the brighter center is a consequence of the taking of the picture by my mobile phone and the lighting. 

i hope my secret friend will appreciate the idea. we can not help now. the bar is raised! always upwards, ye valiant combatants!

Monday, August 2, 2010

health programmes

SLOVENŠČINA

now i would like to show you a different technique i find very attractive. actually it is a digital alteration of an analogue image. the one you can see here was used for a health programme in nova gorica and a doors open day in koper. the poster and the flier for the former and the poster for the latter.

the starting point is a plain brown marker drawing. i discovered that the best results are achieved if the trace is left several times. of course, where the marker trace is atop of another, it becomes darker, and this is exactly what i wanted. because, when scanned, i could changed several parameters in order to obtain the desired effect. this is what it looked like at the end:

HEALTH is not to be TAKEN FOR GRANTED! it is a GIFT OF GOD, but it is in YOUR OWN CARE.


and this is what i did. the obvious change was in the field of colour, so i will show you the step by step procedure, first one being the drawing as it was: to the picture below 10% of red was added in the openoffice drawing sheet.  as this was the second poster (koper is bilingual by law and all public announcement are to be conveyed in italian also) i aimed it in the opposite direction. as the final result of the slovenian poster was in red, i added here 30% of green. it is interesting what it takes for brown to be changed into green, for it is nearer to red. first i took away half of the existing contrast (the one defined as zero, which you can add to, or take from, ranging from 100% to -100%) to the value of -51%, and aded 5% of blue. in the next step the brightness was also taken away to the point of -60%. and finally gamma value (whatever it represents), being 1 in the neutral position, was changed to 10. what i got is vibrant green line in the middle (“morefold“ trace) and lighter, olive green surrounding, making the drawing richer and more likely to please the eye.

why did i chose these four symbols to represent health? well, out of eight natural remedies i could have depicted, i took those that seemed to be the most suggestive. for instance,  everybody knows that our eating habits have the most immediate consequences on our welfare, and it is there that most abuses are suffered. thus the fork and the glass. the footstep represents physical exercise, but can also speak of trampling on the health principles. the heart is in danger if we do not give our bodies and souls the proper nourishment, but it is as well the sign of our willpower, that is in the center of our struggles and decisions. most commonly the heart symbolizes our passions and love. and without love for our creator God, we cannot adequately love ourselves or muster enough motivation to take good care of our lives for the best results.

Monday, July 19, 2010

adam's booklet II

SLOVENSKO

let me go on and present you those among the illustrations that involve pencil. as a matter of fact, there is not a common thread in techniques used. (i would love to hear from a very good friend of mine and an artistic soul mate concerning that, but not only there is no hope of living long enough to really experience her public comment, i am not allowed to name her either.) the design of every page is what make the book a whole, but i decided to use a variety of approaches in the field of illustration.

some of the illustrations are pieces of coloured paper cut out and glued together (i. e. watermelon). in some, the pencil drawing is scissored out like the above detail, a part of decoration of the page dedicated to the biblical accountof Jesus' triumphal entry, when palm tree branches we used in his honour. for other illustrations coloured pencils were used to add a touch of light or shade.

for the week that dealt with protection of angels, adam wrote about an ex- perience, when two of my siblings, when we were kids saw figures of heav- enly beings. it was a scary encounter with both su- pernatural attackers and protetcors, after which the whole family knelt down to offer a prayer of gratitude, and everybody heard a bang of our iron gate though it was locked. the shining faces of an- gels are depicted feature- less just because of this glow.

this is another type of glow. a combination of coloured paper and pencils. it is presented with the blue circle. yet another pos- sibility - a faint luster attained with a golden colour pencil - is used with the lamp you can see on the whole page.

learning about kindness and charity, we used several items to symbolize them: a coat for giving away good cloths, a guitar to represent using one's gifts to make somebody happy, a glass of juice as a reminder of the Lord's words about cold water and a spade to help adam thing of deeds of kindnes, working for others.

“the king will reply: 'i tell you the truth. whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'“ matthew 25:40.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

at last

wow! we have come there at last.

thank you for your patience so far. you will need some more.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

adam's booklet

SLOVENŠČINA

tempus volat, as says the latin phrase. it is already unbelievable four years from the time adam and i made a booklet as an additional activity accompanying his sabbath school lessons. (for those of you, who want to know, it was just the quarter it's all i've got concert was given. we both liked the idea of binding a sheet of paper for each week with the memory verse written by his hand and illustrated into a book to be remembered. he was eight and only starting writing, so this was a challenge for him, together with leaving the margin free, and it can be seen by the traces of the pencil left after erasing letters and whole words.

















above: adam's signature at the time


below: the cover with watermelon collage for illustration

the booklet was preserved in a proper way for years. recently it was handled or stored inappropriately - to the point that the photo needed to be retouched. (click on it for a closer look.)


you cannot see it here as i would wish, but the red marker trace was given a contour by pencil, a technique that not only embellish letters, but makes them stand out in an artistic way. i learned it from samuel years ago, and used for cards especially. the graphite line also produces a special effect in combination with a fade marker trace, as you know it may be black or silver, depending on the angle you look at it from.

(to be continued)

Thursday, July 8, 2010

the art of ta.st.e

SLOVENSKO

it well may come to you as a surprise to put such an item among those you are now accustomed to. i admit this outgrowth was not expected at the beginning. (and don't, not even for a moment, entertain a strange thought that i'm out of materials to write about or show you.) anyhow, i am aware of the fact, that the art is normally comprehended as something stimulating our sight or hearing. i will not contend here that you should change your position, but will simply state that by definition the art comprises activities and products thereof aimed to please the senses. and i've found gastronomy to be a subtitle of the entry “aesthetic“ and explained as a transformation of  something so indispensable and common as food into an art, using not only colours, form and composition, but also stimulating our senses of taste, smell and touch and even utilizing anticipation and seduction.

as you know, the food is highly addictive. and my aim is not to make you indulge in what is question-able. instead, i would like to present you a healthy alternative to chocolate. this utterly enticing treat is able to shut your otherwise down-to-earth logic although it is packed with bad stuff. that is why i will introduce you to an artistic twist of mine in a healthy chocolate recipe.

it is mine because of an important twist in a recipe paul volk brought when he first came to slovenia. as cashew was a rather precious nut, i inverted the quantity of cashews and peanuts. the latter have stronger taste, and we liked it so much, we never even tried the original recipe. but you may, of course. keep in mind, though, that in using delicacies such as chocolate we need to exercise self-constraint and be happy we can set limits.


the winning healthy chocolate


ingredients:
2 measure of dry-roasted peanuts
1 measure of cashew
1 measure of honey
1 measure of carob powder
1/2 a measure of  roughly ground dry-roasted hazelnuts


how-to:
in a blender or similar kitchen gadget make a fine paste out of peanuts and cashew. hand-mix in honey and carob powder. finally, adding hazelnuts you will get a delicious healthy chocolate spread.





Sunday, June 27, 2010

font business

SLOVENŠČINA


once, a congregation of mine talked about an event they would or needed to participate in. somebody had an idea to wear a kind of uniform, a t-shirt. we would print the name of their town on this t-shirt. well, we never printed more then model shirts as the technique used did not yield satisfactory results, and somehow our interest died off.

during the development of ideas that came to mind, one comprised letters only. because they happened to be quite rich. in fact, each letter was composed of several of them on top of one another. i decided to use a unique font - courier. all types - currier new, which is light, currier, a more substantial one. and courier bolded. i squeezed and pulled them however i judged it proper. for higher purposes, you do understand, don't you? there are four colours used randomly, one of them being white, the colour of the background, which makes a special effect.


another effect is got by positioning the new font tight. in this manner, the co sometimes the letters of the same colour overlap and please a eye in a special way. it is seen in the case of “or“ in black as shown above.

you can see yet another interestingly composed letter clicking here. you will find it as last in tomaž's name. with what is presented here, i don't think i will impress you as if inventing a revolutionary type, but i certainly find it able to catch your attention.

audacious thought? i'll never know, if you will not tell me. so, it's up to you.

Monday, June 21, 2010

advent concert poster

SLOVENSKO

looking for something on friday, i came across quite an old item for usual human lifespan even for an adventist. (i would be surprised if i would have not treated the topic of the adventist longevity in some of the future posts).

in this instance, advent is a given name to a singing group of a dozen people who tried to do their best to praise God singing about his love at church services and in public halls. advent was put together by renata bauer, whose leadership was surprisingly democratic.

i don't know how come that i helped with the illustration for our zagreb concert in 1989, the year gregor was born. (i don't think i did anything for those in skopje, macedonia and stuttgart, germany. anyhow, it was ibro who design the poster - this clearly being a detail - using my drawing.)

we never wore gowns, as you probably might conclude looking at the picture. our outfit simply symbolizes the kind of music we performed, and this enabled me to be as minimalistic as possible. nevertheless i kept some features of the choir members just for fun. i am dipicted in the left, vlado is next to me, the fifth is jolanda in her characteristic posture. sorry, renata, you happened to be out of picture, as you are sitting at the piano, of course.

are we going to have a reunion and perform together in full membership before it is too late?

anyhow, pleasant memories of the times, music, fellowship. youth?

it's all i've got


several years ago i was honoured with with something special my church family had given me. they consented to help me organize an author event. several friends of mine played an important role in this project. first of all, the concert would never have taken place were it not for my philosopher-theologian-musician friend. during a short time gorazd spent with me in my district for his work experience, he needed to suffer, on several occasions, my piano playing. then he shocked me with a statement: “you should arrange for an author event. but you definitely should not play yourself.” (the latter part is an offence, obviously, so i use this moment to cordially invite him to the concert i will give after i will have been retired. :) the first item of the programme is almost completely mastered. and it is a nice j. s. bach prelude.) 

anyway, i must honestly admit that whatever i had written in 30 years (don't think it is very much, though. my pace is around a piece a year), would have still been in handwriting and quite disensembled at that. and now i have a 78 page book with nicely printed music. gorazd even gave a talk that evening, although he had just got the firstborn son. so thank you, buddy.

it never crossed my mind even remotely to organize an evening like that, much less to try to play there myself. (this retirement concert is a very new idea.) yes, i aim always for the highest quality. so it was lidija, my kindhearted christian sister, who played all the piano stuff except into my heart and the corresponding jingle, that was played by renata. i am certainly privileged with their gracious willingness and friendship.


zvjezdana and the maran-atha choir prepared vocal half of the numbers in a superb way. i am very grateful to everybody who contributed his or her talent and time and made the evening so nice. for instance, alenka, another specialist, the flute teacher, did not know me, an anonymous composer, and nevertheless she travelled from koper to maribor and back, which, the rehearsal and performance time included, took her half a day. and katarina and zvonko showed their giftedness as presenters. the idea with the whole project was that all we have, we got from God, from our parents, teachers and other people. so it is to everybody's enjoyment that we need to use these talents.

i would not talk about this if i would have not recalled the above index. i do not remember how this idea occurred to me, but the guitar was one of the instruments used during the concert. this design comprises more elements than just a border and a hole, but you must pay closer attention. the left rim of the instrument you must imagine. it would take too much time (i have already started today in two different ways, but it doesn't pay). besides, stretching your imagination is a good excercise, you know.




Monday, June 14, 2010

simplicity rules

SLOVENSKO

although i announced i would share my work, i do not want that st.ju.art is only what i do, but what i appreciate as well. so let me present you this time something i find most fascinating. i believe this plain drawing will occupy a very prominent position in my all-time-favourite list. its simplicity, the so natural flow of lines, the number of those representing the hairdo, the fact that there's no line on top and that the nose and the upper lip are not connected... it is, in my opinion, perfect. full stop.

it also carries memories, and somehow serves as a link. around 10 years ago it was penned by my firstborn son - tomaž - then 15 years old. one friday evening, when we had just begun the sabbath, tomaž drew a series of caricatures of the members of his family. i don't know what he thought of it then, or thinks of it today, but i clearly was attracted to this one instantly. and i asked it from him. that's why i can show it to you now.
the original drawing (some 1.5 x 3.5 cm) was created by a common blue ink pen and depicts his mum, of course. i have never claimed that what you see here is what i see every day in reality, though. :) i have used it as a desktop picture, a letter heading, and once printed it as a big welcome-home poster when mum was about to return from a trip.

anyway, i feared that the drawing could be lost and i scanned it in maruševec while pursuing my theology studies. it was a bitmap picture at the time, so my only intervention (apart from the obvious colouring) was that i made it a vector picture here.
  
it is splendid! i just love it! i'm proud of you, tomaž!


Wednesday, June 9, 2010

our loving father II

SLOVENSKO

have not yet figured out how to add music. sorry. any suggestion?

the next question the song puts is: who suspended the sky above? note, however, that this is the slovenian multisyllable translation, rendered back for you. the poet-pastor, who translated it for my wife reduced the lyrics into two stanzas, and had to chose from the images to use, picking those he could rhyme. so he took the earth, the sky and the stars.

the dynamic observed in the sky are, of course, ever changing clouds, sailing across the vast blue expanse. so it is self-evident that i used them. as you have probably noticed, i augmented the space for them a little bit. here i give you only a sample. the movement in the presentation is smooth, made up of 20 slides. but i have discovered now that the first four must go out, seeing that the number of beats to work with is 16.)

the other thing occurring in the sky is the light changing during the dawn and dusk. since the next act is the starry heavens, i prepared the way with the nightfall.

the clouds were scanned separately coloured in the same way and simply driven by. the black dots are impurities on the sheet of paper. the paint covers only the clean areas. and it never touches the line made by a marker, because, scratching the paper sprinkles small quantities of ink and the precise electronic readers detect them and leave them uncoloured. anyway, i find it artistic.

what about you? and, do you consider the representation of the changes in the colours of the twilight persuasive?

Saturday, June 5, 2010

our loving father

SLOVENSKO

two and a half years ago an old laptop got retired from my use. the life goes on, but i still have valuable documents and fruits of my artistic endeavour. 

last night i copied some of these to my new computer. and i found an interesting unfinished presentation. it was conceived as a device to teach children a very nice song, but the old toshiba was not as able as laptops are today, and packed with 1010101 and the like. and you can not teach a song in soooo slooooow tempo. this is the principal reason the presentation was left undone. now, i got an urge to illustrate those two more lines. whatever happens, i will show you here some of the slides, and tell you how they were made.

i first drew a scene using a blue marker. i scanned it and inverted it in the openoffice.com draw. it can be, that i imported it into paintbrush directly. anyhow, this is where i added colours with the dropper tool. but before preceding to the coloured slides, let me note that the initial movement is an illusion of zooming out the scene to rivet the viewer to the screen. ambitious, ha? :) it is attained by stretching the drawing beyond the dimensions of the screen frame, and diminishing it in the next two steps to the right size.

although the song in the original very appropriately enumerates all the environments the life is found - who made ocean, earth and sky? - the slovenian song writer skipped the first element. (well, to translate the above verse into slovenian, one needs almost double number of syllables: 13 instead of 7) but if not starting with the water, as the biblical account begins, our illustration parallels the void and formless state of the planet before the creation by presenting the scene as if taken by night, which gives it the possibility of 'climbing' towards the last word in the first line - earth. (in slovenian the opening verse reads: who created [this grand] earth, with the parenthesis added here for metrical purposes)

the scene is than gradually illuminated, while the lyrics gives the answer to the question formerly put: God, our loving father. this answer is repeated in every even verse. and this is  how we conclude the first third of the stanza.

each of both slovenian stanzas comprises three questions and the same answer which is repeted even in the musical sense. if the song would be sung by two person alternately, with one asking and the other answering, the latter would sing the same thing three times. (next week, when you visit this blog, search for the music i plan to add as well; i recorded it on the electronic chimes (this is why i wished the children learn the song), a sound very similar to celesta, an instrument tchaikovsky (funny, is not ch enough? obviously the english spelling of his name came from french, the language of the russian nobility of old times) got from paris for his ballet nutcracker. it is heard in the dance of the sugar plum fairy. gorgeous indeed! the register, i mean. you will judge the music yourself.

well, i see that i ought to present you the the rest of the story in two other posts.

so long then.







Thursday, May 27, 2010

go 4 change!

SLOVENŠČINA


in the high school curriculum of my generation and my surrounding there was even marxism. at that time, i did not think much of it. politics and social struggle were far out of my interest range. in my recent study, however, i came across the name of karl marx again. surprise of surprises, it was in the subject of biblical hermeneutics - science of interpreting the bible, finding its true meaning).

well, i am not going to write here about marx's views comprehensively :), but let me mention his belief that philosophy, religion and art are merely ideological superstructures of economic realities. so, what you think of my art is, according to marx, true only if you can connect it to the socio-economic situation i live in? now, will you tell me what your conclusions are, and why?

in his theses on feuerbach, marx stated that philosophy only interpreted the world. the interpretation brings about understanding, and understanding, in turn, must produce change. although marxism is said to be an opposition to hegel's idealism, (and indeed his course is philosophical materialism; please note that i do not intend to enter into deep philosophical debate i am not competent for, but just use the same terminology to point to rather superficial meanings) this part about the inevitable change where there is understanding is, in a sense, a naive stance. of course, it took much incitations and even manipulation to bring about the social revolution, and then, after decomposition of the communist and socialist regimes due to the poor economic environment it produced, one could ask, why were the revolutionary forces able to survive only by using repression and terror. what kind of “understanding“ and  “truths“ the proletariat was fed with to maintain the status quo? marx's contention about bourgeoisie producing its own grave-diggers proved a reality for the socialist moguls and societies as well.

no true change in society is possible without personal change. communists have the same corrupt heart and selfishness as everybody else. somebody recently said in essence: “if the ideology and socio-economic well-being in former socialist countries were ideal, why people fled out and nobody escaped the 'inferior' capitalistic and imperialistic societies to find a haven in romania or german democratic republic? so in every type of society there is the same danger lurking in ourselves.

it takes much more than information or intellectual agreement to be willing to change. it takes courage and determination, moral integrity and the ability of critical thinking which implies action, not just understanding. and it takes the power from above. jesus said: “if you stay joined to me, and i stay joined to you, then you will produce lots of fruit. but you cannot do anything without me.“ (john 15:5, contemporary english version; the fruit here referred to is every kind of noble and decorous deeds)


so, what do you think of changing yourself? no motivation? no hope? how about joining to the source of power you can do nothing without?


this is what developed while i was contemplating the new set of letters needed to compose a sign to be printed on some t-shirts. the metameaning of what you can see above is: why not this summer? and why not whatever change (x) you need the most? go for it! even if you are in maribor, slovenia!


but ok, i will explain the first meaning of what you see. there will be some activities of medical students from eu (if i am not mistaken) in maribor. one of them who called me 'daddy' for this purpose (although he never calls me that, but simply 'dad'; and this ought to be sth in our family for just about the same time his brother called me the same, and asked me to translate his baccalaureate certificate) and got me to think of the t-shirt he would wear.


it started with basically two lines. the figure was vaguely planned to be put somewhere between, or even on -  as a transparent element). but, obviously, one e was in excess, so the first one was erased. now, the x needed to be highlighted in some way. i chose to do it using a different font, size (augmentation) and position (rotation).


it was too big then, and i tried four rows. after adjusting the kerning, i gave thought to the number. somehow now that i had worked with the x, zeros completed the association - the tic-tac-toe game. the idea was that the decision to participate is a winner. (the number is readable, all right! proven. i asked my youngest son to tell me what he saw, and he did see it. if you do not, i must have asked a wrong person for help.) /sorry, vesna! i ended with your smiley. can you see now that it must be a bit more elaborate, anyway?/ 

Thursday, May 20, 2010

lettering


to convey messages to a viewer and possible consumer, commercial signs, advertisements, and other visual communications all use letters besides illustrations, photographs and symbols. in our day-care centre we chose to personalize hooks with a drawing and a tag. in order to make the tags original but systematized and as nearly unified as possible (similar to what it would be with typing them, as opposed to handwriting), i designed the letters myself. (see below the matrix used)

last year, which was the initial year of operation, when the number of children was limited, i had used a different colour for each child's name, which was fun to do, but proved to be impractical. first of all, the number of children augmented and it takes time to hand-mix attractive shades that are different enough from those already in place. then the paint used was normal wall paint, which is nowadays durable, all right, but believe me, not every parent is art oriented. so hanging sturdy backpacks and heavier stuff with metal parts take away some of the paint. that is why we need to do it again from time to time. and that is why i decided to write the names in only three colours - white, gentle blue and equally gentle pink.

the design of the letters is an imitation of the way children start writing. but each letter was written only once on the cardboard strip i used as a model, which means that it was positioned in every instance in the same way. should i, therefore, call it a font? of course, the kerning in a more or less unified way was the most difficult thing to achieve, as is seen in the photo in the left.


last autumn i made a new set of letters to refresh the cloakroom a little. this time it is uppercase. last year's lettering is found now only on the door of the bathroom. 

seen in the left is a combination of what is written/glued on three doors. the letters are painted with the use of a similar matrix as those on the bigger photograph above - on the main door, and the hats are actually cut out from an adhesive plastic foil and put without any inscriptions on the men's and ladies room respectively.

feel free to like them. i do.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

what is a worth of a sparrow?

SLOVENSKO

i had already depicted the dog, the squirrel, the mole, and the storks. complete with the fir trees edging, raspberries and dandelion flowers as details, and the big elements (the hills, the tree, the bushes, and the clouds) my landscape was just about finished. but not quite. the foreground tree was empty as well as a big peace of the sky. so i decided to add more - birds.

until now i drew a hen, a sea gull, a penguin, a parrot, and a duck, but none of them could be used in this idyllic european setting without violating the childish logic it would deal with. sure enough, hens are seldom seen flying or in tree crowns. so i needed something new. and little. that is how i decided to draw a common sparrow.

i admit, it took me a day and a half, and much effort to finish these three. perhaps it was due to the chosen perspective or not easily attainable goal under the motto: simple is beautiful, or something else, but it was hard. nevertheless, the final result gave me much satisfaction. aesthetically and otherwise. frankly, i do realize that the cute birdies obviously lean towards caricature - more then other drawings on the wall. but, what can i do now?

simple sparrows can teach us a lesson: “29 aren't two sparrows sold for only a penny? but your Father knows when any one of them falls to the ground. 30 even the hairs on your head are counted. 31 so don't be afraid! you are worth much more than many sparrows.“ (matthew 10)

P. S. i am sorry i can not show you the blueprint with the clear-cut outlines, and without background, for it is gone since my HD stopped working - i am still waiting for the data to be recovered.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

wall paintings

SLOVENŠČINA

in edita's day-care centre there are two playrooms. in the big one there is quite a big sun shining from the wall. since i drew it using the computer and the painting is, as it is expected for the sun, rather high, i chosed to print a dozen of  sheets of paper with a section of the drawing and then copy them on the wall. it was not an easy task, but in this way i was able to avoid putting the projector in an unsafe position high on a ladder.

(RIGHT: this is probably the most colourful spot in the painting, and the only one without the outline - if you can wink at the graphite line left visible. it is a detail of the nest.) well, later i spotted the dog too.

in the smaller room, my wife wanted a story-time corner. installing a rail from which drapes would hang, and adding a green clothed sponge (for grass) on the floor with cushions, she planned to imitate a spot outdoors, but she needed some sky and a scene from the nature with several animals in it. this was the moment she thought of me. :)

in the foreground of the painting, there is a little hill with bushes, flowers, a tree and a pole with a couple of storks, and in the background another hill grown with a line of fir trees around the edge. the idea was that each element on both hills would be positioned on an imaginary spoke radiating from the the hub somewhere below the floor.  just for an effect. (in another post, i will show you the whole scene. for lack of space for pictures - they are surely too big for the web use, anyway, but i always check a higher quality square hoping for better results -  i attached here only a few details.

the challenge was that the painting needed to be in the corner. how do you do this? the image projected in the middle would be badly distorted. project one half of it on each wall, and the outcome would be a broken image. but i did project it that way, and then corrected the lines, where folded, to make them appear as they should, when looked upon from the opposite corner and from the perspective of a toddler at that. it was not sooo very difficult, for i put only one hill, a tree an a cloud on both walls, if you know what i mean.


as this was a painting for children, it seemed a contour would be appropriate. i believe a special impact is obtained with the light colour of the line. i decided to use a peach pink. you judge for yourself, but i liked it very much.

choosing the right animals to depict gave me a bit of trouble. i wanted to represent those found in the nature and those the children can easily identify with. but as i had started drawing before i fully understood edita, i already had a tall building with many windows, tulips in a flower bed and a doggie sitting nearby, when she explained what exactly she wanted. i did not even think to waste the doggie, so out in the nature there is a puppy as well. you guessed right. it is a look from the flower bed with the tall building with many windows behind your back. :)