365characters

Episode 1 of a now 50+ long series with many spin off adventures like ‘crazy project’  in which wild man Jamie lives the dream constructing all manner of amazing and dangerous machines.

I first encountered his videos a few months ago and have been intending to post about them for sometime.

He did an AMA (ask me anything) on Reddit not so long ago: Link

His website: Link

So I needed a break. I didn’t realise quite how badly until I stopped.  Consider me back at the helm.

I spent days fighting with flash gallery making software, days that turned into weeks, weeks into over a month.

The gallery software, it just will not work for me but I have made peace with this. Now I’m going back through replacing images with better, shot and scanned, uniformly sized .png’s.

In other news, I walked from the community development project. The goals were unrealistically large and other organisers were unwilling to negotiate on their width, temporal distance and financial backing.

I have applied for entry into the Graduate Diploma of Primary Education courses at QUT and Griffith for 2011. Not real sure how i’m going to handle student poverty yet again. But in the mean time, I just landed a little extra work in the field.

By personal request of the principal I start as a teachers aid working 1 on 1 with a few of the ADHD children at a local primary school 10-15 hours a week. I am also seeking replacement outside school hours care work with different services to my current employers.

I am still very keen on the Tinker School idea, I think being qualified in the education trade will help a great deal.

As for the rest of the projects mentioned in the last post, well it has been a pretty lazy month. I have of course been keeping up with the entertaining and loving.

Honestly tis about time I got my shit into gear.

I have a pressing desire to draw now, have some links for good measure:

A nice Norman Rockwell Gallery.

The ever awesome Travis Louie.

This, this I don’t even know what this is but I like it.

Although I had contemplated the ambitious nature of  the task I was undertaking, no amount of imagining could have prepared me for the reality of needing that piece finished, before I can rest, every day.

Perhaps with the benefit of hindsight, I could have waited until after the final semester of my science degree to undertake a challenge of this nature. It was tough, I made it through and I am proud of that.

Many times throughout the year I raised my fist in the air and cried

“Damn you past self, what were you thinking”

but I made a piece, everyday. I am still getting used to it being over.

As for the art itself, I do not like a lot of the pieces, many are merely exercises in abandonment, each requiring many many more hours than a single day provides to reach standards I would be satisfied with. In the early months the definition of what constituted a character was not explicit enough and a number of creatures snuck into the list, before I redefined my rules to the overall  benefit of the project.

I am happy with a great deal of the works, I intend to create a poll of some form to request your help dear readers in choosing the best 100 to exhibit.

I do believe I have learnt how to finish things which was one of,  if not the main point of the challenge.

What lies ahead? Well as the saying goes ask a busy person if you want something done and I, I am busy:

-I have a new job, involving community development, indigenous and immigrant community outreach, workshops and an exhibition to organise.

-I need to repair this site and create a functional gallery for the pieces.

-I am seriously considering another year of study to acquire a Diploma of Primary Education.

-I would very much like to start a Tinkering school in my local area and I may have opportunity too in about  3 months time.

-A zombie computer game to make with my son.

-A board game to finish and publish.

-Gates to design for my mother’s new business premises.

-A now well overdue Logo for a friend.

-Three pieces of papercraft to finish.

-Two involved sculpts to finish, four or five to paint.

-An Archibald entry depicting my father to finish.

-A scientific illustration portfolio to build upon.

-100 pictures to frame and many, many prints to make.

-2 Exhibitions to organise, one for me and one as part of my new job.

-An emergency refugee housing design to produce.

-a water and power producing system to prototype.

-A beautiful, patient and supportive woman to entertain and love.

I am no doubt forgetting a few things, but thank you for viewing.

Please keep checking in as I intend to provide a minimum of twice weekly updates.

Oh and I got Splendour tickets (yes mostly by luck given the hopeless fail that the moshtix server turned out to be on purchase day) anyway the line up is so big and so good I can’t hardly wait.

here is a little taste:

Homo empathicus:

Beautiful Trig

Lusine – “Two Dots” from Ghostly International on Vimeo.

My good friend Gabriel has finished his first Stykball documentary.

I hope he is as happy with it as I am.

I make brief appearances in it.

Watch Out

the little buggers bite.

Cut paper, 2 hours.

A few Links today:

First up it is Ada Lovelace day today, A day for bloggers to celebrate the achievements of women in science. Link.

I picked Marie Curie as my heroine as I was told it was she who invented an operation that saved my life as a child.

Next up, thanks to the Jane McGonigal TED talk I posted earlier today I encountered this fantastic clever thing: Link

I urge you to get involved. You can find me under the name ‘Liatach’

Finally as part of one of the initial EVOKE quests I had to pick a hero of social innovation and endeavour to learn from them. I have picked the photographer Chris Jordan as his work is powerful, infuriating and inspiring a selection of it can be viewed on his site here.

No wait, this is my new favourite TED Talk:

70 Million by Hold Your Horses ! from L’Ogre on Vimeo.

The clip is brilliant.

The song is growing on me.

Bravo.

She is shy, believe it or not .

Pen & Pencil on paper. <1 hour

Link love as promised something pretty but frequently NSFW (link)

and something fascinating but repulsive (link) for your viewing pleasure today

This little gem by David Shute is not to be missed.

Be sure to have the audio on.