Red and the Black

I currently have two paintings at the Redlands gallery for the "Red and Black" exhibit which will be running for the next month. These are the paintings that I created only using three colors, but now that I've been down there I don't think that was completely necessary. In fact, I'm beginning to think that the 'theme' for the shows are less of a broad guide and more of a mild suggestion. I didn't see anything that was boldly red or black.
But I did see some fantastic glass work, which was a treat. I haven't seen amazing pieces outside of the Tacoma Glass Museum, at least not in CA. But whoever was exhibiting their glass at the Redlands gallery obviously knows the craft. Pretty amazing stuff.

Also, there is a guest artist on exhibit, and I'm planning a prank. Yeah, it's the Yucca Valley guy again, robots and all. I already have my canvas ready....

Forum Moderator

I've been asked to be a forum moderator for an online art site! OK, this was completely out of the blue and it's probably going to require much more time than I really can allow for a project, but talk about something that's hard to pass up. Why did they do away with the term "Webmaster"? Now that I finally get my chance, the vogue term is "Moderator" which sounds more like a person arbitrating deals on bulk goods.
Webmaster. I like the sound of that. Maybe I'll just have to make it my screen name.
But what is really exciting about this is the opportunity to check out what other artists are doing, and guide discussion on the site. That alone is worth the time spent in front of the monitor. The company is just rolling out the site right now, so I have no idea what to expect. But I'll be sure to place updates here.
Oh, I'm gonna have to get a new Avatar. Yeah... Something with shiny chrome mebbie.

Screwtape and Wormwood

I just got a part in a High Desert production of "Screwtape" which surprises me because until a few weeks ago I didn't realize that the book ever was made into a play. It was, and what is even more impressive, it was authorized for the stage by C.S. Lewis himself! So this isn't one person's obsession to bring the book to the stage, but an actual adoption by the author.

The down side is that all the minion roles were taken, so the chances of me wearing a tail and stroking my goatee in a Mephistophelian way is zero. But I do get to do a lot of yelling, so that makes up for it. I get to play Mr. Macadam, who is a wealthy tycoon and abrasive personality. I'll have to work on the role. I did the rehearsal while grinning from ear to ear!

Tripwire Logo

This is a down and dirty band logo for Tripwire. Considering that they are going to be an opening act at the House of Blues in Hollywood next month, they have got to have some sort of logo! I'm going to be there to enjoy the tunes, and catch the other acts. In the mean time, I'll pass this logo along. Creating something is easy, getting it put on t-shirts and banners will be someone else's headache!
The logo can be read normally or upside down. This is an optical illusion known as an ambigram, which is surprisingly easy to do. If you have drafting skills and the equipment handy, you can just go to town and mess around until you get something that works. Alternatively, you can use a program like FontCreator to bash together some letters which serve the purpose. I went with the program. I like the idea of being able to put the letters into a style which can be scaled through Photoshop without losing any detail.


Of course, the second that I mention that I notice there is some pixiliation on this image, but that was because I was using a small canvas for the test. A larger image, which would be better for graphic design, won't show any of the rough edges.



If there is such a thing as too many Photoshop effects, I haven't heard about it. Yes, these are stylistic chestnuts. But they still look cool.

Sample of Font

OK, I did this in about three seconds, but it's enough for you to get an idea about the possibilities that this font offers.

Elemental Font

I've put together a quick and dirty TTF file of the font from Elemental: War of Magic. I was unable to get the "Q" or the "Z", so I estimated what these icons would look like. Fortunately, the entire Elemental Font has a feel which makes it a unified whole as a typeset. So coming up with characters which kept the same feel wasn't a problem at all. This font has been made to be modified in Photoshop, etc for any mods or images you can imagine. So have a blast and let me know how it works out for you!

You can access the file here.