learning

Lost in Translation

/ Storyteller / Leave a comment

English not your first language? You must be so patient! Especially when you are not just translating the words. Not just the words but the order of the words. Learning another language is ‘not as easy as it’s cracked up to be’.

Love short sentences

Do you like short sentences? I do. I cringe when someone tells me of a 17 page submission they will write. Snoring yet? Poor bugger that has to read it! I’d be mentally restructuring as I go.

The long sentence

Then there’s the long sentence. It goes on and on. It might have very descriptive language. It might have lots of commas. Yes, I can see your eyes rolling already. Get to the point. I haven’t got all day!

Phrases Slang & Accents

There’s another thing. All those phrases and slang that just don’t make sense. Now I know I let you know what a phrase means but ‘fair crack of the whip’!

The Australian accent can be very difficult to decipher too. Shortened words. Words that sound different from the spelling. I have a Sydney accent but daughter still sounds like dorta? Bet my audio clips can still ‘have you scratching your head’ if the gist of it wasn’t on the screen.

Well if you read all this I am impressed. If I reviewed all my posts I wonder if they would ‘fit the bill’.

Phrase/Saying

  • Not as easy as it’s cracked up to be – People say it’s easy but it’s not
  • Fair crack of the whip – really?
  • Have you scratching your head – have you confused
  • Fit the bill – live up to expectations

#Art -Watching Pencil Muddy the Paint

/ Storyteller / Leave a comment

(with audio) “Every artwork is a potential masterpiece” but you don’t always know what will look good, especially when you are starting out. I never want to set up people for failure so today I am sharing some tips on life drawing when your starting out.

Difficulty spells disinterest

My students one year were given a 12 inch square canvas to paint a picture of themselves and something that identifies them. One student showed me her detailed pencil drawing drawn directly onto the canvas.

In my mind all I could see was the frustration she would be setting herself up for. Having to paint such detailed information onto that small canvas. Watching the pencil muddy the paint or the paint beading over the graphite. Watching the paint go in spaces not intended. Alarm bells as difficulty spells disinterest at the early stages of artmaking in my books.

You live and learn as a art teacher. I bet the next lot of students were bored to tears when I advised on keeping it simple and not too detailed.

Continue reading →

Ep 4: Job hunt – Urgency of Time

/ Storyteller / Leave a comment

I felt the urgency of time ‘breathing down my back’, ‘knocking at my door’, shouting at me to ‘get my affairs in order’. The voice of my mother “don’t leave it too long”.

You can really love your job and then one day you just ‘wake up and smell the roses’. My arts degree wasn’t a ‘money spinner’ and where I was at financially wouldn’t see ‘bricks and mortar’ appearing any time soon.

It was time to revisit my initial plan and take stock. 

Continue reading →

#Art – Salvaging Disasters

/ Storyteller / Leave a comment

How do you turn something that you think doesn’t look OK into something that you can use?

As an artist there are times that you just aren’t inspired. I sometimes have a spare canvas to muck around with in the meantime. Let that other painting dry. Don’t make it worse.

Document as you go 

I always bang on about making sure you document your work as you go. There are times where you won’t be inspired. You will just want to throw the work away. You think it’s no good. You might even want to slap some gesso over it and start again. If you document as you go there is always some design element that will fly. Some great designs and abstractions come out of the ashes.

Salvaging your disasters

We live in an age of technology. You can make all kinds of changes to your work digitally. You might have Photoshop, you might not. It doesn’t matter. There is still a creative element that can be salvaged.

Take this one for example. Lost in the Forest. It’s nothing to write home about. I was mucking around.

Salvaging Lost in the Forest – Acrylic on Canvas – 2017 – Dee Grant

Now cropped and enhanced I am already seeing with different eyes. The gold is more pronounced in the flowers. It almost looks like something you could put in a children’s book. Sure it still needs reworking but now I can see something worthwhile. What else can be salvaged?

1. I am now going to seriously crop out a section (image 1).

2 I will then put it into Photoshop for a basic crackle pattern (image 2).

I have also seen some Word programs that you can play around with images like this.