Alice, originally uploaded by Sienar.

View it on Black
Painted in Photoshop. No reference. Used an old photo for background color samples.

Tinkerbell, originally uploaded by Sienar.

View on White

Painting in Photoshop from memory.

Vancouver2010, originally uploaded by Sienar.

Howdy! Just stopping by the old blog to keep it somewhat updated. I received an email recently which I have received before asking If I still painted and did artsy stuff outside Photography. Well the answer is yes indeed I do! I love all that artsy stuff!

Granted most of my free time has been dedicated to photography and that’s mainly due to the large amount of photos I have taken the past few months, but the rise in the amount of workload I have taken on has also had a significant effect on my drawing & painting time
Most of my digital paintings have been commissioned work that I don’t share online. Sorry! Only my clients get to see the artwork they request and it’s up to them to share the work with whomever they want.

Still, I do keep a sketchbook that I update on a regular basis. I can never go more than a couple of days without sketching or doodling something on a piece of paper. That is how I get ideas out of my head, even with photography I’ve been getting into the habit of sketching out a few ideas I’d like to execute with the camera.

Anyways the top image if you don’t follow my Flickr photostream is a quick Photoshop painting I created while watching the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

And on a random note:
I have come to realize why I tend to neglect actually posting new content here. This used to be where I shared links and other interesting stuff I find on the web and twitter/facebook took the place of that by offering a streamlined method of sharing content with the masses. Why would someone visit a webpage if all they need to do is log into facebook and get a condensed stream of everyones content? No real need if you think about it. For me I never have to log into my blog, all I have to do is post a link on twitter and everyone has access to it while Tumblr & Flickr offer easier methods of sharing my images.

However, I feel that this new method of experiencing the internet, which is being consumed by the masses, is resulting in literally, information overload.

- Too much (more updates than are really necessary)
- Too fast (real time updates make everyone who is away from a computer for a day or two feel outdated)
- Lack of quality (I don’t play Farmville, don’t care about getting updates on that)

So far we’ve been offered relatively limited tools to control what updates we see and information filtering considering the amount of information that is generated on a daily basis. I’m eager to see what is developed to solve this situation.

I’m keeping this site going because It’s mine. Plain & Simple. On this site I try to collect content that is worth archiving (at least for myself). It’s a great place to write long posts like this one. I still try to collect my content across the other sites I use and keep them linked here somehow. And even though the website & content has changed I’ve been keeping this site updated for a few years now. No reason to stop.

Sorry for the rant. I think and type fast without really thinking if that makes any sense.

Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi, originally uploaded by Sienar.

While I was editing this photo I couldn’t but be inspired by the masterpiece I had photographed. I know that actually knowing how these sculptures were made helps you appreciate it even more because you understand the time and effort dedicated to every aspect.

This is something that started as a solid block of marble that was chiseled down to created the forms and figures that exist today. And it’s not like the artist had the help of any machines to assist him or speed up production, this was something that was done manually with care so as to not crack the stone and ruin his work.

I’ll be honest, seeing all these things and knowing what they are and mean makes me want to pull out my old art history notes from school and go over the descriptions I wrote while studying. Something I didn’t think I would ever do after graduating… Studying.

It’s finally Inktober!  What is Inktober you ask?  It’s a month long appreciation of the art of drawing in ink and the practitioners that embrace that art. To celebrate I’m posting one ink drawing a day for the entire month.  No pencils, no water colors, no photoshop, just the unadulterated black and white beauty of thick black ink on crisp white paper.  Drawing with ink means commitment.  There’s no hemming and hawing as to which pencil line you’re going to use, no sitting on the fence of values, no pussy footing with color.  When you make your mark you better mean it.  It’s black and white.  True or false.  On or off.  And that’s what Inktober is all about.

Jake Parker seems to be the source of the original idea and many other artists are participating this month. Myself included.

Work is up. That also means time is down. I think it’s time for me to really sit down and think about this.

Taking pictures has never been funner. Whenever I find the time, I’m going to post my thoughts on the D300. Yes it’s not exactly a ‘new’ camera with the latest and greatest technology, but I researched it for over 2 months before actually buying it and now that I’ve had a good amount of time to shoot with it, I feel the need to write about something.

Feels like 2009 moved faster than any other year I’ve lived through.

Basically I was looking for a “teacher” without actually being taught anything. I like to figure things out for myself, especially when it comes to being creative. So I purchased the book and I’ve selected a few photo projects to start out on. This set of photos is the beginning.

I set out to create something interesting from something I see everyday. If you take the same route to work everyday, your brain becomes so accustomed to it that it pretty much drives itself and you stop noticing everything on the way. If you eat the same food everyday, you become so accustomed to it that it stops tasting like anything. So I took this wolverine doll that sits in my room and took it outside. These photos were taken using the street in front of my house as a backdrop. It is a street much like any other, nothing really special, and I positioned Logan on the mailbox & on the trunk of my car in an attempt to keep things simple and straight forward. I treated these photos as a way to “look” at things differently with the help of a camera and keep things interesting.

There was no real re-positioning here, I just moved myself around the figure and changed my angle.

I’ve been hosting some of my portfolio pieces on this website I found a little while ago called raveal. It’s a simple way to keep myself searchable and a great resource for anyone looking for an artist for freelance & commissioned work. They recently asked for my permission to showcase my work on the main site. I agreed and they threw me into the rotation. I’ve actually had 2 different individuals contact me by way of this site. I should probably update it with some new work too