April 5, 2019 · 2:49 pm

HUGE TAX! NO SAVINGS!

Nathanguitars is pleased to announce that we caved in and paid to block those pesky ads that were despoiling the beauty of this blog.

Sometimes my brain rearranges words in a form of temporary dyslexia. This is not unlike the unintentional spelling mistakes my fingers create on the keyboard. Like form, instead of from. I type these all the time, and typewriters have no auto-correction. But my word processing catches it later, sometimes.

I saw a sign recently that was supposed to say HUGE SAVINGS! NO TAX! but of course I saw the opposite. It reminded me of when someone says “don’t worry,” which of course always makes me even more worried.

I typed my weekly letter to #1 son this morning on a 1940 Remington Model 5 Deluxe. Complete with alternate spellings, x outs, and skipped words even, but I think it’s better than an email that is perfect. I like imperfection. Perfection is an insult to the universe. I would never insult the Universe. God forbid. Speaking of which I have just completed my latest novel, which is a charming tale of a pair of intrepid gastropods who set off to explore the world, find a duck, and also the universe, none of which they comprehend or even recognize. It was typed, like all the stuff I write, except this stuff here, on a variety of old and older typewriters. I leave you with an excerpt from the first draft.

Sluggo is the slug. Aaron is the escargot.

 

 

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Filed under Animal psychology, Books and Short Stories, Sketching, Typewriters, Uncategorized, Writing

April 2, 2019 · 3:23 pm

Picking Up Where You Left Off

sketch May 2018

Last May, I went out with my portable paint set to do some plein air painting. I did a small painting from a cliff down at the ocean and took a photograph of the scene. Later I sketched it on a large board, planning to do a full size painting. It sat on my easel in the basement for a year, until today. I realized recently that I was avoiding painting large works because I didn’t like spending hours in the basement, where there is no daylight. So I thought about getting a strong but portable easel so I could paint upstairs and move around easily. I looked at one at my art shop but it was about $100. I then had a look at my heavy easel in the basement and realized that I could take it apart and get rid of the heavy bits, like the base on wheels, the heavy bottom tray, the counterweights and the sliding centre rail. So I ripped it all apart and was left with a much lighter easel. I set it up in the living room and spent all day painting. I should have figured this out long ago, but it took me a long time to come to the realization I didn’t like painting in a windowless room. Part of what finally got me moving was seeing the movie Mr. Turner, about JMW Turner. In Turner’s day of course, there was no artificial light. Seeing Turner portrayed at work in his studio with light from the large windows must have made something click, because ever since then I’ve had this idea in the back of my head that I should get going again with my easel painting. Whatever the reasons, I now have no excuse and hope to continue where I left off. Here are a few more sketches and paintings; one small, one medium and one large. It pays to work at various sizes, and especially at small scale, where you really can’t fuss with too much details.

the new old easel

today’s painting

small and medium size sketch paper

9×12 watercolour field sketch

pocket sketch book size (1/2 the above)

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March 31, 2019 · 9:01 pm

Art, Science or Magic?

At bedtime Olympia went to talk to Oliver about what Ned had told her.
You know what Dad said, she whispered?
What, said Oliver?
He said that there is no magic, because it’s all just advanced technology. Do you think that’s possible?
Anything’s possible, said Oliver, but how would you know the difference?
I wish I could ask the Magic Typer, said Olympia.
What would you ask it, said Oliver?
If it was magic or technology, said Olympia.
How would you know if it gave you the right answer, said Oliver?

from The Magic Typer (author me).

I am always wondering where the line is between art (magic) and science. What makes a photograph art, as opposed to just chemistry? Sometimes I am pretty sure photography is not art at all, and is merely a technical achievement that imitates art. Then again there are times when some photograph I see moves me in an artistic way. Is this magic or just advanced technology pushing my buttons? There is no definitive answer, of course. Most photography is not art, that is certain. And most art is crap too, for that matter. So how do we judge it all? I gave up long ago, back in architecture school when I came to the realization that even the so called experts can never agree on what is good or bad. So I just allow my senses to inform me about what I like and don’t like.

What got me going on this subject was taking photos today with my Fuji Instax camera. I think it was Cartier Bresson who said anyone could make a masterpiece with a Rolleiflex camera. He may have been right. Photos I get from the instant camera often have more art in them than the best I can take with my super pixel DSLR. Maybe because it’s all down to the subject and composition, as opposed to colour rendition, focus and sharpness of details. In any case, I enjoy the results, even if they are less than spectacular technically. That is what I enjoy about watercolour painting too, because it is imprecise and fuzzy – at least in my hands!

Here are three takes on a big old oak tree in the meadow nearby.

 

 

A tree at sunset, and two pieces from a local pub done today:

 

 

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March 20, 2019 · 5:02 pm

Wither the Weather?

A month ago it was snowing madly here. Today it hit 20C (70f) degrees. Perfect weather for sketching. I have found a new watercolour paintbox, and have been putting it to good use. For years these paintboxes were impossible to find here. I once had a similar one made by Winsor Newton, with 12 half pans, but it was lost long ago. The key advantage is the ability to assemble your own palette of paint blocks. My art shop now has these boxes for a reasonable cost, so I bought a 12 half pan box. It has a good range of colours, but I tossed out white and added Van Dyck brown. My collapsible brush fits nicely in the centre slot between the paint blocks. The colours are intense and you don’t need much to get lovely bright tones. Here is the box, made in Korea by Mungyo: click for full size pics.

 

A few sample sketches from my walks of yesterday and today:

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March 19, 2019 · 9:21 pm

OBE Typewriter

You may have heard of the USB typewriter, but what about the OBE? The OBE is in this case an honour bestowed by Elizabeth Regina, aka HM the Queen. It wasn’t bestowed on a typewriter, but on its owner. I discovered this today, due to a label that was affixed to the typewriter in question. How it ended up in Victoria, I’ll never know, but there it was. It’s a 1965 Olivetti Lettera 32, made in Ivrea, Italy. It has an unusually tiny typeface, too, about 12.5 characters/inch, like the Hermes elite. In any case, the label and address gave me all the information I required for a search, and it turned up the address, and some interesting things about the owner. I won’t divulge the name, as I think this would be inappropriate, but I will reveal the view from his one time residence, and the extract from the Belfast Gazette where it was noted he received honours from the Queen. The typewriter has French characters, as well as the German double S, and a QWERTZ keyboard. It is in perfect condition, and came with a thick typing pad. All it needed was a good wipe, as the ribbon is still in fine shape.

The owner once looked out at this scene. Liverpool is over there somewhere…..

 

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March 7, 2019 · 8:48 am

Recycled, Reused, Repurposed

TIME FOR ANOTHER QUIZ!

What do these have in common?

nintendo cube
olivetti L22

space for guessing here before I give the answer.

zzzz

zzzzz

zzzzz

zzzzzz

 

ANSWER:

 

 

 

grommets – 4 each, to be exact!

 

 

 

grommet from Nintendo cube CD player

This is where they go after you have removed them from the Nintendo Cube:

This fortuitous discovery came in handy  with one of my Italian made L22’s that had lost its grommets due to disintegration. I had these 4 nice soft rubber grommets left over from a project I was doing with my son – combining a Nintendo Cube with a modern Nintendo. I save things like this whenever I find them, because sooner or later they tend to come in handy. I thus saved these 4 dumbbell shaped hollow rubber grommets from the CD player suspension of the Nintendo. By squeezing, I was easily able to shove them into the 4 empty holes in the metal case of the L22, where they seated perfectly. They were made for the job, for all intents and purposes!

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March 3, 2019 · 9:02 pm

If Machines Could Talk

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March 3, 2019 · 9:23 am

Puzzled

Seeing as how there were no takers for the previous puzzle, I present the solution to the anagrams.  This is not the first time nobody knows what I’m talking about…my apologies!

(I also make a typo, here corrected)

KIM JUNG UN: junk mi gun, i’m gnuk’n ju

DONALD TRUMP: damp old runt, mad plot nurd, dump rot land

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February 28, 2019 · 4:21 pm

Scrambled Heads

Solve the riddle, and bring world peace!

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February 19, 2019 · 12:53 pm

Slip Stick Analog Converter

Discovered in a thrift shop last week. It’s not exactly a slide rule, although it resembles one. It’s a metric converter, and if the USA ever joins the metric world, these will be in high demand. Get one now while they’re cheap; only 8 Euros on Ebay! This handy tool does a great job and is accurate enough for most applications, unless you are in need of scientific accuracy. To underscore the historical significance of this gadget, the Smithsonian considers it worthy of a webpage. With one moving part, it should last several lifetimes. The sliding cursor is unnecessary, so I don’t count that.

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