Art 39

Well, month(s) since I last posted anything here... I undoubtedly have excuses, but I can't seem to remember them at the moment. So, on with the important stuff.

Lately* I've begun collecting stamps. Or rather, I've finally figured out how to remove them from the envelopes without destroying them (soak them in water). Thank you, internet! But why collect stamps, I hear you cry?* They're small, portable, highly public pieces of art, of course. I like the incredible variety of images in them. Everything from the staid profiles of royalty to paintings of cats to mysterious art deco logos. All delightfully miniaturised. When I get brave I may put some pictures of my collection up...
*- More or less.

An example of a stamp, vaguely rendered by me, and featuring Micky.

In other news, I recently signed up for free weekly samples from Dover publishing. They publish a range of stuff including colouring-in books, and books featuring royalty-free clip-art, and things. Inspiration abounds, possibly. Here's their website: http://store.doverpublications.com/index.html

Lately I've come across a lot of old greeting cards. Not too old - they reach as far back as the seventies. I'm thinking of photographing and uploading a range of 'em... There's something interesting and strange (to me, anyway) about the pictures used to communicate well-wishes.

Meanwhile, still working on the quad type-1 koch snowflakes, and the cryptomnesia piece. I've also borrowed a few books from the library in regards to some designs I want to embroider/cross-stitch/whatever on the handbags I'll eventually be making from the shiel pack. Aside from that, I've been woefully non-productive on the art side of things. My energy levels have just plummeted this past couple months. I blame the doctor for telling me to cut back on caffeine. It's vital!

I've also been woefully (woe! woe!) negligent in keeping up to date with the webcomics I'm trying to follow. Several weeks (if not years) behind now on all of them.

Last Friday my sister and I went to the exhibition of the South West Survey (or South West Times Survey? South West Times Art Survey? Ah, whatever) art competition, held at the Bunbury Regional Art Gallery. There was some brilliant work that we both loved and were freaked out by. It was incredibly inspirational this time (there's so many things I need to start work on!), and in some ways the reason for this post, so I thought I'd better mention it.

Art 30

Third and final installment of the various covers of Martian Time-Slip, by Philip K Dick. Here is post 1, and here is post 2.
 


Another French edition. Found here.



Kind of interesting interpretation, this one. A Yugoslavian edition. Found on coverbrowser.com.



This is the version I own. It says 'designed by Sue Michniewicz' on the back. Found this pic here. 

There you have it. I've finished the book, too (it was amazing, of course).

I like cover artwork. It's often quite well done, and the different (and sometimes similar) interpretations of the same story are... interesting. But something about a plain cloth-bound cover with embossed lettering really appeals to me.

Well, something interesting about Mars: the sky on Mars at sunset is blue.

Art 29

Continuing with the covers of various editions of Martian Time-Slip, an excellent book by Philip K Dick (as started in this post).



A Dutch edition. From coverbrowser.com.



A sort of deceptive simplicity to this one. I like it. From the PKD site.



A Finnish edition, from the PKD site.



Fleshy, even bruisy... Asymmetrical mirror-image. I would love to see more of this artist's work, if only I knew who it was. A Hebrew edition, from coverbrowser.com.



Something small and hideous, right? Very apt! A German edition, from the PKD site.



This is the cover version the library had. The artist is Chris Moore, who has done a bunch - a series, possibly - of Philip K Dick illustrations (including the cover for the version of Ubik I have - take a look). Found this particular pic here.



Reminds me of the movie Metropolis, somehow. An Italian edition. Found at coverbrowser.com.



I like this one a lot. A landscape twisting as though viewed through glass. A Japanese edition, found at the PKD site.

More next post!

Art 28

Art, making art, thinking about art, writing about art, has been difficult for me lately, due to various Things. Ah well. The cryptomnesia piece is about all I've got going at the moment.

I have, however, been going to the library lately. I borrowed the book Martian Time-Slip, by Philip K Dick, then had to take it back when I realised I wanted to read it when I own it. Anyway, as books get republished, or published in different countries, they often have different cover-art - particularly books written quite awhile ago (Martian Time-Slip was first published in 1964). I find the different reinterpretations of the story inside kind of interesting. So, here's the different varieties of Martian Time-Slip I've found online. Unfortunately I don't know who most of the covers were illustrated by.




I like the ghostly buildings in this one. Taken from here.



I don't know if this has been used as an actual book cover, but it certainly should be. I really like it, the old-photo look of the landscape, with it's gold tints, the translucent red, the flares of light in the sky... excellent stuff. Taken from here - definitely well worth a look at the other stuff there, too.




A French edition. I like the way the guy's head looks like it's made out of a school of fish. Found on coverbrowser.com.

 

I like the colours in this one - sort of cold and dusty. Very appropriate for Mars. Taken from the Philip K Dick site.



Something about the layout, I think, really appeals to me in this one. The way one is sort of drawn into the picture as though along a path. Very nice. From coverbrowser.com.

Dooome! A Polish edition. Again from coverbrowser.com.



Wizard's tower. Well-drawn stalagmites. From the PKD site.



Sort of an interesting one, reminiscent of doorways. From here.


Well, there are obviously a lot of different editions about, so I'll break this into more than one post.