So…I haven’t posted in a long while. I’m 25 and bit weeks pregnant and have only in the last few weeks gotten over a period of super sensitivity to computers and television. It made it very difficult to work on projects, I can tell you. This was apart from a rotten bout of morning sickness (WHY is it called ‘morning’ sickness – it was seriously 24hr nausea) and crippling fatigue.

2nd trimester has been much better – just completed a 4 week stint back at Animal’s working on a TVC. It was encouraging to realise I can remember how to composite! Revving up the brain again was very satisfying. Some really difficult keys but thanks to KatSzu during Harry Potter 5 and her ass-kicking keying standards – I was prepared to fight for really good results. I have to say I really like working in Nuke now and find it hard to go back to Shake.

Having an on board mini-human is truly a bizarre experience. Feeling the baby move about is oft described as a wondrous experience – and it is – but it is weird and a little alien like. She is her own person already, coasting about from side to side and using my bladder as a waterbed. It’s all terribly…biological. There’s so many bits of you that have to stretch and shift to accommodate. You get filled to capacity each day…more baby, more blood, more water.

Enough biology for now…bbs.

Off to Adelaide on Tuesday to do some comp fill in for the guys. It’ll be a hard week, but great to catch up with my favourite chaps.
The husband and I got iPhones today. Well, I did lose the my other one (not an iPhone) in a taxi. Not. Losing. This. One. But having a lot of fun with it!

2 haiku I wrote while in Scotland in 2005. I just found them on the back of a post-it note I was about to recycle…

scottish heron hunts
silhouette, moonlit water
unlucky minnow, caught!

green instant captured
accidental deer surprised
from the shutter, flees!

Armageddon like weather today in Sydney. Woke just before 6am to a Mars-like red streaming through the blinds.

Back to Graphic Design work after a short stint at RSP. I was working on a few shots for the T4 DVD release and a crazy stereoscopic shot for the Michael Jackson film ‘This Is It’. I think we squished 2 months into 1. Oi.

More exhibitions at Gallery@28. I’m continuing to develop my digital illustration style, below are tiny pics of the images I had in the recent ‘Red’ exhibition – obviously there are deep grays and fine lines are not as visible.

‘angel’ (A2 digital print)

‘maw’ (A2 digital print)

I also have a print in the upcoming group exhibition ‘Favourite Things’. Inspired by the art of Georgia O’Keefe…sent to the Printers today (I was going to hand deliver – but the dust is still crazy outside.) This is the colour of the light at 7am this morning.

It’s been a little while. For the last 3 weeks (and for this week) I’ve been back working for Rising Sun Pictures (in the syd office). Those who know me will know that I’ ve been wrestling with robots, giblets and bloodspray. The late Saturday night which all to quickly turned to early Sunday morning inspired a couple of rough compositing haiku.

Battling grain.
Late night composites.
My brain is mushy.

and

Gravelly eyes twitch.
Is the grain too heavy now?
Die Robot die.

This was at 2.30am. Thank god we finished at 3am.

Nuke teaching at AFTRS went well. I think the first half of the course is always a bit of a brain strain for students, until they start to have a play and get the hang. I hope they keep in touch and let me know how they go…

Continuing to take a great many photos with the Topman lens. I think the bokeh characteristics would be a little disapointing to the japanese (nisen-bokeh) but hey, I’m having fun with it! Check out my flickr page.

Been a speedy and productive week. Spent today teaching/assisting at AFTRS for the VFX Supervior Course at Fox Studio. A mixed bag of young cinematographers and compositors. An interesting day—having to explain colourspace off the cuff is ALWAYS a brain melt. There is a reason I write copious notes on the subject—the students need them and I need them more to explain them properly. Oh well. Doing a bit more assisting tomorrow. Doing my bit to train the cinematographers what it’s like in the trenches!

Got my piece for Kate (Gallery@28—Landscape Exhibition that opens on the 22nd of July) at the printer. Cam Neville at Storm is a great guy who knows his stuff. I’m looking forward to seeing the print on monday.

Caught up with Angela De Christofaro yesterday—we spent 2 hours in the St Vincents on Oxford St. Oi. Great fun. She picked up a fab charcoal cowl necked designer dress and I got a nice wool tops and a freedom fighter scarf. Nice silk retro skirt too… All 50% off too. Sweet.

Taking more and more photos with the Topman Macro. Haven’t taken it off the camera. Love it. Was at the Fox Markets taking shots of flowers. Very happy with the pictures and having a good time with the RAW. Just tweaking a bit afterward.

	Giant Magnolias

C’mon now. We need to get back into the swing. The word was SLEEP.

Here’s the husbands’. Somewhat inspired by some nice drawings that Sooz did a few days ago…

It’s nice to have the time to totally unwind. Being able to unwind about vfx work allows me to enjoy the arts and design going on around me. I’m getting quite the arty network too. Kate Hopkinson-Pointer is having an exhibition opening tomorrow night at her gallery Gallery@28. That should be fun, I’ll be taking photos of the gathering (and testing the wine). Should be a good night! The website is up—well first page any way. http://www.galleryat28.com.au. Below is one of Kate’s paintings…

Met Angela De Christofaro last week. She’s an artist from LA (http://www.beznic.com/). Angela’s work is kinda 50’s retro, domestic, atomic, surrealist imho. I love the painting ‘DO YOU RECOGNIZE THIS NORWEGIAN GIRL FROM 1968?’ I hope we get to catch up more.

Saw (on the spur of the moment) Chris Landreth talk on his latest animation, The Spine. It was great to see him talk and he has really interesting aspects to what he’s doing with 3d animation. Chris’ animation Bingo, stoked my desire to become a vfx artist. However being in vfx for a while and being married to a character animator has honed my appreciation of motion on screen. While Landreth’s stories explore psychologically fascinating mindscapes and the tricky area of the ‘uncanny valley’ it is let down by the quality of the animation. Its suffers from a studenty level of finish which is a bit disappointing. Bingo, to me is still the better animation – and that’s 10 years old.

Caught up with great friend and ex-housy Steve Evans on the weekend. We had coffee, lounged in the lounge room and had pub meals. Always inspiring to natter to Steve about projects and doing fun things we want to do. He’s got a project he wants me to design for. Got some ideas already.

Catching up with all round gorgeous girl/sex-pot Emma Richards. She’s got a spare couple of hours before she gets back on a plane to Melbourne. A good chance to get girly.

Found a giclee printer on Foveaux St, (just after meeting Angela for coffee and just before seeing Chris Landreth). I’m trying to do a digital piece for Gallery@28 Landscape exhibition in late July. Lovely to see A1 sized macro photos of flowers. Stunning. Storm Imaging (http://www.giclee.com.au). I just need to finish the piece. Eeek.

So I have my mobile back…YES! But with my old phone list. I did get my awesome graffiti photos back too. Phew.

Continuing with the website for Sophie Howarth, it’s getting close now. A bit of text from Soph and the tricky choosing of photos (lucky I don’t have to do that! They’re all amazing). Here’s a look at the splash page. It’ll be up in a couple of weeks. All the sketches and paper cutouts are hers – I’m just ‘web-arranging’ for her. Doing this has inspired me to do more photography and sketches.

I dug through my ‘camera box’ and found a stack of manual lenses. All work with my new Nikon D90. I found in my collection a TopmanMC 28mm lens and am having a great time getting really close to stuff and with tiny depth of field, getting lovely bokeh. Squeak.

Starting on graphic/website design for a new contemporary gallery (convieniently around the corner from me) Gallery@28. Doing the invite for the owner Kate Hopkinson-Pointer’s exhibition. Her exhibition is inky, watery paintings all black and white. Again, getting me going to do my own stuff.

Still chipping away at the AFTRS Nuke course for beginners, slow going as I have to go through each process really carefully and explain every bit. But having refined the Shake courses I’ve done before (4 times) I’m trying to be super straight and logical with this one (partially so I don’t get me tied up in knots!) Nuke presumes a greater level of compositing knowledge and is harder to demonstrate the basics.

Alright, we’ve been busy, slack and not really dedicated to the cause. But tonight we return with late night, bake-off goodness…

Grass was the word and the result for me was the textbook complex route to simplicity. And frustration. Photoshop crashed, my brain melted under the pressure and I went for the cheesy, cliched solution until desperation made me abstract.

Here’s Tim’s. The top down game solution maybe?