We go for lots of long walks, especially at weekends.  On one such trek we found ourselves under the piercing gaze of one of the local hawks.

If we had been small and lightweight, we wouldn’t have stood a chance.

Instead we had a great time watching him fly slowly over.

It almost seemed like he was showing off for us.

He swooped down, stayed low, and then, when he figured he’d best be getting on, he was gone.

These great photos were taken by Tony (to see his blog click here on: Song For Jasmine.

I’ve been working hard to learn Adobe Photoshop, color management, the printing process, and how to photograph art originals to produce fine art prints.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, I subscribed to Safari Books Online in order to read the books I needed on these subjects.

I did read all the books I mentioned in that post, and then I also worked through another book, which I recommend very highly to anyone who wants a thorough foundation in using Adobe Photoshop and how to build an efficient workflow:  “Real World Adobe Photoshop CS3: Industrial-Strength Production Techniques” by David Blatner, Conrad Chavez, and Bruce Fraser.

I continued to take notes, as I described before, so that in the future I can go back to my notebook to see how to do specific tasks.  I set myself a tight schedule and was very relieved when I finally finished this area of study, and I’m very pleased with the information I learned.  It has enabled me to find out what equipment is necessary, and how to use it, in order to be able to produce reproductions of the artwork as prints.

At Safari Books Online, I also discovered and watched all of Ron Lemen’s video lessons on how to draw and paint, using both traditional mediums and Photoshop.  I thought the videos were fantastic.  I learned loads from them.  This YouTube video below, shows excerpts from the videos:

So I studied a large number of books, watched videos, gained access to books that were not yet published, for timely information, and was able to look into a much larger number of books to see if I was interested in reading them in more detail: all for a $42 month subscription.  Safari Books Online allows you to deactivate your account, so that it will not continue to be billed into the next month.  Later, you can reactivate your account at any time.  There are no penalties or fees for activating/deactivating the account.

I had the subscription for one month, and was able to fully complete my research and studies in that time.  It was a very pleasant experience, though it was hard work. I was almost sad to deactivate the account; it felt like I was saying goodbye to an old friend.  In the future, when I have another research project I won’t bother going to bookstores in search of books, I’ll go straight to their site.

I’m enthusiastic about the Safari Books Online service, and have mentioned it again on DweezelJazz Art blog, just because I found it so useful and thought you might too.  I’m very cautious with subscribing to services on the web, and it’s great to find something that has been well thought out and is a pleasure to use and, very importantly, easy and hassle-free to stop when you want to.

Gradually I’m bringing together all the facets of creating art that I need in order to go forward with my aspirations.  Now, enough of the studying!  It’s fun, but I much prefer to draw and paint.  And that’s what’s next on the agenda.  My goal is to produce art and beautiful pictures that make me, and hopefully others, feel good, adding a little bit more fun and joy into the world, maybe just a tiny spark of that thrill that comes with watching a hawk effortlessly glide on the air currents.

In January Irene Gallo posted an article on Tor.com about Justin Gerard’s The Hobbit paintings project.  Justin is the Illustration & Story Director at Portland Studios.  Also working there is Illustrator and Author, Corey Godbey.  I’ve been reading Justin’s blog,  Quick Hide Here, and Corey’s blog, light night rains, ever since.  And I’ve found both Justin’s and Corey’s art a real inspiration.

On April 1st, Portland Studios released a short animation and set up a contest, asking why the bull in the animation was mad.

Portland Studios moving picture

You can see the really neat animation,  “The Mad Bull”, at the Portland Studio web site.

The fellows at Portland Studios asked contestants to submit a 500-word narrative to answer the question “Why is the bull so mad?” I didn’t win the competition, but I had a great time writing my version of why the bull was so mad.  I’ve included it below, just for fun:

Having little land for crops, the people of Stonteen make their livelihoods as metalworkers and stonemasons. Pastures in the foothills sustain sizeable herds of cattle.  The townspeople have a close, respectful working relationship with their animals.

A boy, Hans, was born to the owner of the town quarry.  His father used oxen to pull stone from the hillsides.  Hans loved to build things and to train a bull, whom he called Tiku, to do many tasks. When Hans was twenty, he constructed a large metal, steam-driven machine, made to fit Tiku. He called it a Minotank.  He swore he’d develop a more efficient method to extract rock from the mountain than the traditional oxcart.

Hans’ father reluctantly agreed to let Hans train Tiku to drive the Minotank. At first Tiku was afraid of it, but Hans persisted. Seeing that the project was meeting with success, Hans’ father allowed him to include Tiku’s sons in the training.

Years became decades and eventually the entire quarry functioned with bulls driving Minotanks.  Increased output benefited everyone.  Stonteen became renowned for its artistry, masonry, weaponry, and wealth. The cattle were prized and treated extremely well.

Hans built the Minotanks in a huge barn on the outskirts of town.  He married and his son, Eric, became a gifted engineer. Eric worked with his father, now commonly known as “the Professor”.  Eric often brought his daughter, Ara, along.

Ara loved animals, and especially loved a bull called Kanu.  He was exceptionally intelligent, aware, and strong.  The other bulls deferred to him.  Kanu had known Ara since she was a toddler and carried her on his back frequently.

On Ara’s seventh birthday, everything changed.  Stonteen was isolated on all sides by high mountains, only accessible by one narrow mountain pass.  The villagers had forgotten their mastery of the weapons they forged, being accustomed to peaceful times.  They were defenseless when Valerian foot soldiers marched up the pass.

Situated in open land, Valerians had long been forced to defend themselves.  Hearing of Stonteen’s success, their army filed into the valley at night.  By noon next day they had conquered the entire village of Stonteen.

That morning Eric worked with his father. Ara and Kanu were there. The leader of the Valerian army, Commander Claudio, knew of the Professor, his son, and their work.  Kanu witnessed soldiers forcing Ara, Eric, and the Professor to leave the barn.  On reaching the Town Hall, the Commander’s headquarters, Claudio demanded they continue to maintain the Minotanks in exchange for Ara’s safety.

Most of the village inhabitants fled into the mountains; the small number remaining were coerced into serving Valerians. The bulls were forced to toil long hours, and were no longer allowed to roam free. Soldiers took Kanu’s girlfriend, Tessie, to the village center in readiness to be killed for a celebration feast.

Kanu was enraged. He lead the bulls to save Ara, Tessie, and reclaim Stonteen. He charged into town in his Minotank, the first of a legion of Minotanks.