I’m whole hog into console gaming now.

Okay – more accurately – all three consoles are now in the house. I treated myself to the Playstation 3 bundle wisely priced by Sony to sell for Christmas, and a few weeks prior to that traded a bass for an Xbox 360.

It doesn’t change the fact I’m not very good at hardcore games, but I’m improving.

I feel strongly that to both a) assimilate with gamers at work, and b) become conversant with the next-gen art techniques and 3D advancements, I have to at least own them.

Atonement (the film) – even Keira Knightley couldn’t make that adaptation interesting. Long, tracking camera shots purely for technical bravura. I was starting to roll my eyes when subtitles like “Three Weeks Earlier” and “Six Months Ago” started appearing. No! Move forward – put an end to this thing.

I promise to read the book, even if I now know the twist. Therese raves about what a better read it was vs. the film adaption.

The media has always fixated too much on the suicidal murderer. In memory of the victims of the Von Maur attack in Omaha, NE: Dianne Trent John McDonald Gary Joy Janet Jorgenson Gary Scharf Maggie Webb Angie Schuster Beverly Flynn My deepest condolences to your family and friends. Rest in peace.

Pendola Portrait

I took on a portrait commision in late September for a Dec. 2 deadline; a surprise birthday gift for a good friend.

I ordinarily wouldn’t work from client-supplied photos, but this is one of the cases where I had to; the other being posthumous images.

A week before the deadline I sent a photo of the nearly completed work-in-progress and the clients response is copied here verbatim:

Oh My God!
Tim I have tears in my eyes.

Harrison and I checked out Gameboy Music Club at the Rockland Center for the Arts. This was a preview of performers who would be appearing at the International Blip Festival.

We only stayed for the first artist – Bubblyfish – after making our donation and sitting on a wooden floor for two reasons: I’m in the final, crunch phase of a commisioned portrait and my son was drifting off. How he could nod off with louder than necessary 8-bit Gameboy music blaring I’ll never know!

We also had a good time playing some co-op Super Mario Galaxy, despite a migraine and a head cold.

Besides the latest, limited release Episode IV of my Flash game “Peek ‘N Point” on Slingo.com (a twist – “Spot the Differences” version which I designed and ActionScripted)?

There is some hustle and bustle going on in the office clearing out a storage space/supply closet to configure a working area for people who need quiet. Can you guess who the inspiration for this is? Moi…

I don’t care who I share an office with – anything would be better than the way I have been forced to work for the last year. Tomorrow is my one year anniversary and this is a pretty good gift.

On a sadder note, we’re driving to Michigan for a long weekend to essentially say good-bye to my father-in-law. He has a ticket to the Philippines, where he figures the environment coupled with his asthma will help bring the end to his life that the devastating strokes have hastened.

This won’ t be fun. I’m reading Advance Digital Photography by Tom Ang to divert myself.

The ancient game of Mahjong Solitaire meets a bunch of other games in this fun mash-up from Slingo.

read more | digg story

I was recently perusing 3-D artist opportunities, and I came upon an interesting post in the NY region. It struck me that the first bullet was “Must be at the top of your game.”

Let’s assume the firm is trying to weed out unqualified candidates by intimidation. This begs the question: why would any artist consider themselves at the “top of their game”?

Pursuing art is a life-long path – a kind of colorful “life “sentence”. I was taught that painting a masterpiece would be the death knell for an artist’s creativity. Where do you go from there?

I am not at the top of my game, but I am doing all I can every day to gain the experience to be the best I can be – even at this relatively late middle age.

Other news:

• I have joined NYSC and become obsessed with getting in shape and losing 10 lbs.
• My earlier post about a “Painting a Week” proved to be overly ambitious. Guess I overlooked my parental responsibilities; this may likely be tweaked into: “When I start a new painting, I must wrap it up in a week”. I don’t care for my first outing. My self-editor may not allow it’s publication.
• Slingo has released Episode 3 of my “Peek-N-Point” game for a limited, exclusive one-week run. Check it out here! You’ll have to register, but you were meaning to do that anyway, weren’t you?
• My beloved father-in-law has had a series of possible heart “events”, and is refusing medical attention. He’s a retired doctor, and feels this “is it”. Let’s pray he is mistaken.

Enough already! After griping about not having enough time on a daily basis to create art, it’s time to hunker down and make the time!

I’ve seen some impressive blogs such as edwardbgordon and I’m motived to create a painting a week. A painting a day is just not feasible; I’ll need to re-visit my style up to now and keep things loose and fresh.

I’ve commenced the first piece, a portrait of our family’s favorite musician. I have preliminary sketches dated 2004!

With the kids going back to school this week, it should be a little easier to carve the time out for myself from here on out.

Here’s to making up for lost time!

Our newest family member left us ubruptly and tragically on Aug. 15.

Darting out into our cul-de-sac to “guard” us from the USPS truck, he made a final fatal wrong move as the babysitter frantically called him in.

It was only upon seeing his lifeless body did I realize how beautiful he was.

I always professed not to be “a dog person”, but this may have been a defense mechanism against the heartache and tragedy of losing a family pet.

The kids are taking it remarkably well (Izzy asked if we could get one of those “rip things”, i.e. tombstone to a 6 year-old), but Therese is not faring that well.
In a short time he endeared himself to us thoroughly.

The Clarkstown Police and USPS were profoundly compassionate and professional, as well as the Banfield vets at Petsmart who began the cremation process.

I too, am surprised at how I miss him and our nightly, private walks in the neighborhood.

Rest in peace, buddy. Gone but not forgotten.

Well, I took the plunge and spent five days with the family in sunny Bermuda with no phone or net access. Mind you, if you saw the insipid kind of correspondence lately, you’d opt-out, too.

Here we are waiting for a glass-bottom boat. Since my Amazon books didn’t ship in time, there was plenty of time to think: about life, work, my art, music and just about everything.

I was nearly distraught when I realized how far out of my control my free time has become; only fifteen years ago I would have been sketching landscapes madly plein air, and closing every bar. Was I better off then? No. Was I more prolific – yes!

On an unrelated note I just landed a Line6 Guitar PODxt Live on eBay, and also quit the cover band I have been in for a few years in a “last straw” type of dispute about being short-changed. Trey Gunn once said “Don’t play music you don’t like – it poisons your relationship with music”.

Now I’ll have the free time to concentrate more on my artwork and home recording pursuits.