This is a section of my site where I want to share everything that I do to improve myself as artist, to develop better process and vision.
Every my new finding that helps to move forward is reflected here in chronological order. It also helps me to keep a track of things that are done and some facts that not always easy to keep in a head so it is better to keep them here if I want to refresh them in my mind. Maybe it can help other person who wants to be an artist to learn from my success and failures.
Meantime if you have any comments, tips or suggestions you want to share, please do it. I appreciate any feedback.
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Feb 26th How to Protect Your Gear from Theft:
- Insurance: Simply put – if you don’t already have it, get it. The cost is minimal in relation to the protection you will gain, especially if you find yourself without your trusted gear with an assignment around the corner.“With most policies you not only get theft and loss coverage, but also damage insurance and even coverage of gear you’ve rented or borrowed.”
- You almost always get an opportunity to register your purchase. It won’t hurt. It may help, especially if what your registering is an expensive piece of gear from a smaller company. Nikon and Canon – not so much. But still, just do it.There are also resources for finding stolen property (or to find out if a purchase on Craiglist or eBay is really to good to be true).Stolenproperty.com and http://www.stolenlostfound.org are simple serial number databases that allow you to report your stolen gear, for potential buyers to check against
- Prevent Theft: Alarms & GPS – Motion Alarms such as a basic tilt or motion-detection alarm. Tool Guard (made for tool boxes) is an example of this type of alarm. You can also attach motion alarms made for bikes to anything with a tube-like arm, such as a tri-pod or C-Stand.
- Proximity Smart Alarms utilize smartphone and proximity tech to take the movement alarm a little further. Smart phone and proximity alarms go a step further. hipKey for iPhone is an app and device that you can program to notify you in different events. You can set it to alarm if it the bag is moved or if the device in your bag and your iPhone become separated more than a specified distance, like 10 feet.
- GPS Alarm / Locators may make you feel a little like James Bond, and there are a number of different GPS locating devices available. PocketFinder and the Garmin GTU 10 are two suggestions. They do what they say – track your stuff. Which is helpful if you need to tell the cops to go pick up your gear at the corner of Main and ThankGod.
- Tags:There are several tags that you can place on your gear that acts as a secondary to your serial number if your gear is lost or stolen.
STOP is an excellent brand. Once applied they are very difficult to remove. If a thief does manage to chisel them off, they leave an indelible tattoo that says “Stolen Property” in bright red.
- You can also purchase bar codes that may be missed by a thief scrapping off serial numbers.
“Immobilize makes a line of microdot-sized bar codes in kits that include large, removable “all items in here are traceable” stickers (for the outside of gear bags), along with a web based registration system.”
RFID Tags are like small microchips that can be scanned from several feet away. “If you buy an expensive guitar or even surfboard, there’s a good chance it has an implanted security RFID chip (they simply drill a small hole, put the chip in, and glue the hole shut before they paint and finish the item). These are truly tiny devices and much less likely to be found by a thief than a barcode.” Some companies, like Snagg sell these chips to consumers.
If Its Stolen:
Report it. As painful as it may be, having a record on file will help. If there is surveillance, let the owner of the video know (maybe they will review for you) and also let the police. Their job is to catch the criminal, and video may spark interest.
Locate it. Troll eBay and Craiglist, as well as check the websites we listed under registration section. This is what they are for, after all.
“The best tip when trying to locate your stolen gear is: Be patient.”
Recovery. If it has been located, you may feel like James Bond, but remember that you are not. You’ll need to contact the police and tell them the situation. Notify eBay or Craiglist if the gear is yours, if it is a pawnshop, check your state laws.
All of this may be time consuming and cost a little money, but if it protects or recovers your gear, it may be worth it.
To read the full article, click here.
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February 25th 2016
HOW TO KEEP YOUR LENSES PROTECTED:
Learning about my photo equipment it is very important for me to extend life of hardware as long as possible, so there is an info on www.slrlounge.com how to keep your lenses protected:
1. Cap on
2, New Ceramic Composite Filter
3. Turn Off Stabilization: The more complex a lens is, the more likely something will break. You can minimize this risk by putting as little stress on the VR/IS system as possible. The obvious way to do so is by only using it when you need it – if you’re shooting at a high shutter speed, turn off the stabilization.
4.Make sure: that you turn off the camera before removing the lens – removing a lens while the camera is on interrupts the communication between them, which can mess with the electronics.
5. Finally, you may also want to turn the stabilization off before removing a lens. Apparently this locks the floating lens elements in place and prevents them from bouncing around in transit, which would potentially wear down internal components. This seems to primarily be for Canon lenses, but it may apply to others as well.
6. Clean the Contact Pins
7. Keep Things Compact: When packing your lenses, try to keep everything as compact as possible to avoid having them shrink and shake around during transit.
8.Keep the Climate Right: Lenses are like family. Rreduce any damage to electrical components from moisture, and keep the internal lubricants from becoming clumped up. Lenses should also be stored away from sunlight, as over time, the sun will cause rubber grips to fall off, discolour the body, damage the lubricants, and possibly cause calibration issues from the repeated heat expansion
9. Let the Lens Adjust: Whenever you take a lens from one temperature zone into another, give it time to slowly adjust to the new temperature in your camera bag, or in a sealed plastic bag. Or, ideally, both (plastic bag inside the camera bag). This helps to prevent condensation from forming on the lens, both inside and out. In the short term, condensation would cause blurring images, and in the long term, it can lead to damage from electrical failures and mold. Leaving a home or car at night or in the winter often results in this scenario, as does then going back inside. Be patient and wait those extra few minutes, and your lens will thank you for it.
January 21st 2016
Photography is pretty expansive hobby. Found a good web site selling photo equipment for relatively good price. Shipping to Canada is free by the way if you order over $99.
November 12th 2015
Media:
Mostly I use pastel and charcoal. I found that the most common paper for pastel in local art stores is Mi-Teintes® Pastel Paper which comes in a verity of colours and cost about $2 per sheet. Personally I don’t like this paper at all. I always struggle with it. Of course it is better than normal glossy paper or carton, because it allows to build more layers and smudge the pastel powder. At the same time the texture on the paper is too pronounced and shows up through multiple layers of pastel. That always make face look grainy. If to attempt to add more pastel body on the paper it start to fail to build the volume and scratches what is already there.
I made a research and found the product that is highly praised by experts. It is called Mi-Teintes® Tex Pastel Paper that is produced in Australia and is distributed all over the world. I guess Canada is not part of it because whenever I ask about this paper, nobody heard of it. The word TEX makes the sale people puzzled and they just shrug their shoulders. It supposed to have enough texture to hold the media and at the same time allow pastels and pastel pencils to add volume and creates really outstanding quality. Unfortunately I didn’t find one.
As alternative I found this one: Canson Mi-Teintes Touch in Curry’s and it was on liquidation. The sale price is $10 per sheet when original was $22. I was really surprised that nobody is selling it, but the reason is lack of interest in pastel media. Not many people use it these days. Well, I am excited to try.
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November 11th 2015
Books to read:
1.Found out the category of topic I want to study: Networking for Introverts.
There are many books on amazon and I am going to make my own research.
2. Another interesting exploration area which is RICHES IN NICHES. I didn’t decide if I need to learn about self publishing “Get Rich in a Niche: The Insider’s Guide to Self-Publishing in a Niche Market” as I have an idea to finish my novel FLUKE or to learn about A Complete Beginners Guide to Information Marketing if I want to create my own products and learn to sell it. It could be important to find my own niche and to be good to provide unique art works.
3. Guerrilla Marketing for Artists [Kindle Edition] for artists to build a bulletprof careers.
Guerrillas never fight wars. Instead, they focus on winning one small tactical victory after another. Your career will flourish as you become stronger, more capable, agile and powerful as you string victories together.
Your ultimate success is when the enthusiasm and support of your growing base of fans and friends elevates your art career to a point where it will thrive in any economy.
They say there are Five Reasons to Buy This Book:
1. You know you could sell more art if enough people would only see it.
2. You’ve seen the future and you understand the time to take control of your career is now.
3. You realize the only way to achieve the success you desire is if you make your own luck.
4. You believe you could manage your own success if you could just get a handle on how to market your art affordably, efficiently and effectively.
5. You are tired of wasting your time chasing pipe dreams and your marketing money on smoke screens.
Five Things You Get from Reading This Book:
1. Learn how to set realistic goals.
2. Accurately assess your marketing skills and resources.
3. Discover which marketing tools are best for your art business.
4. Build a loyal collector base using local marketing and networking techniques.
5. Harness your marketing efforts to make every dollar and every action count.
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November 10th 2015
10-15 min sketches
Yesterday I went to the park to make a sketch of an old house. I used my scarf to sit on cold metal bench. 15 min later I left.. And forgot my scarf. Today I returned, but my scarf was gone. It was drizzling, but I decided to make another quick 7 min sketch. Drops were covering paper turning charcoal into water color.
I love draw in rain.
Rainy paint.
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November 9th 2015
10-15 min sketches
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November 8th 2015
Photo creativity.
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November 3rd 2015
STYLE:
one of my favourite type of work is FIGURATIVE WORK.
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October 30th 2015
MEDIA:
Discovered Fast Media fixer that you can add to drawings for fast drying but also for fixing some parts of work that are not going to be changed.
It could be used over the pencil sketch on canvas so if to apply a fixer of the area of drawings with very soft brush it will dry very fast and seal it to make it safe.
Then I will not lose my drawing if I need to wash some paints.
Here is youtube video with some techniques how to use it.
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October 30th 2015
MEDIA:
I didn’t know there is a media that helps to clean brushes the next day if to forget to clean them after work.
It is called Incredible Brush Cleaner. See some description here. You just need to put a brush in it for some period of time and then it cleans up.
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October 29th 2015
MEDIA:
There is large range of media for acrylics:
October 27th 2015
MEDIA:
I discovered that there are high quality interactive acrylics, they are and they aren’t because traditionally acrylics are very fast drying paints and with interactive it is possible to control drawing time. It could be mixed with blending media or water.
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October 23rd 2015
New painting “The First Date” upload.
This is my first artwork that is for sale. I order prints on canvas and it could be purchased in different sizes. I have to learn how to create my store online. To view work in bigger size and read a story behind click here.
I posted a photo composition on how this work was done on my face book page.
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October 5th 2015
Got a New Easel.
My old easel that had three legs, couldn’t be adjusted and it drove me crazy but I found a very good deal on very good easel. The usual price for large very stable easel is about 2.5 thousands and I bought mine for only 600 CAD! That is still super big expense for novice artist but it is extremely important to have proper easel. I need to set the art work as vertical as possible, because with pastel being vertical doesn’t allow to get pastel powder to dirty the surface. For oil it helps to eliminate glare.
I learned my lesson to make art work on vertical surface, because when I did it on table, the proportions were wrong when I lifted the portrait. It would require a special eye to be able to make face features shorter if work lays horizontally, so much more easier to learn to use vertical position of canvas. So the more vertical the better, but not all easels allow it. Mine does and it makes me happy.
Creative Mind Stretch 