Tuesday, May 22, 2007 B

"Bob Brier"
8:25pm


The thing pinned on his blue oxford cloth shirt is a microphone...

He always wears blue oxford cloth shirts. He must have an entire wardrobe of nothing but blue oxford cloth shirts and khaki pants. Even in his Wikipedia photo, he has the familiar outfit.

I created the original of this image by freezing a frame of a DVD from a course he gives on Ancient Egyptian History. The course is on sale right now, so we splurged. He is a very animated and enthusiastic teacher, which I hope comes through in the drawing. He has a way of explaining everything clearly and vividly, which enables me to remember what he teaches. I don't agree with his view of Set, but he is extremely knowledgeable on everything else, especially concerning everything to do with mummies. Studying from many different scholars, each with their own strengths, enables us to layer one approach on top of the others for a gradually deepening understanding.

As I was drawing him, I couldn't help but notice the similarities between Brier's lean face and my mother's lean face.

It took some doing to get this drawing all scanned. As the original is 14 x 17 inches, and the scanner plate is only 8.58 x 12.32 inches, I had to carefully copy and paste scanned sections together:


Not so easy, for the scanned sections are darker at the edges...

I first copy n paste the general layout, then do more specific sections at a time in order to remove the darker bits. And, oh yes, I use Picture Publisher for the pasting, as I've never been able to figure out how it's done in Photoshop.

(Note of October 28, 2007:)
I've figured out how. First create blank size of full size, say 11x14 inches at 200dpi. Take your individual scanned sections, 'select all', copy, and paste. Go to 'move tool' to place each piece. Flatten image after each placement. Then do polygonal lasso tool to pick smaller pieces to be pasted in afterwards. Flatten, rinse, repeat, however many times. What had confused me was the 'move tool'. I was puzzled when the pasted piece just plopped itself in the center and didn't know what to do after that.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

"Eager"
11:05pm


Friday, May 25, 2007

"But Beneath the Memorized Mannerisms..."
8:53pm


I have a mask:
CONSTRUCTION OF PERSONALITY
tie one on, try one on...
but beneath the memorized mannerisms...
WHO ARE YOU?
who?

I did this while listening to A Darker Shade of Pagan. The intense, powerful music is good artistic inspiration. Earlier, I found this website when I was exploring various web radio stations. I found it from the Pagan radio station, and learned of this program's website, and now can play these tunes any time I wish. While I was lettering the words "WHO ARE YOU?", a song came on the May 13, 2007 program that asked "Who are you?" several times. On that program is another song I particularily like, Inkubus Sukkubus' "Wytches Chant". If the rest of that group's music is that good, I want MORE!

Saturday, May 26, 2007

"Becoming Shiva..."
1:20pm


Whose Mystery?
My Own Mystery...

Shiva has hir eyes shut, emphasizing the 'inward looking eye', and also the third eye, which is open and aware, emphasizing intuitive, noetic process. I made the sword shaped like a question mark, signifying seeking the mysteries.

I was inspired to do this based on a photo of one of my Shiva statues.

And it's available in a high quality photo lustre print, 11x14 best size.

Sunday, May 27, 2007

"Pirates at World's End"
2:51pm

I listened to the soundtrack from the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie this movie. Its thrilling swells delight me. On the rising crest of that enthusiasm, I was moved to go see the third 'Pirates' movie. I'd heard two reviews of it, both not impressed, even though they'd liked the first movie.

So I didn't go into the movie with great expectations. Which was good, because it wasn't very satisfying. Crappy conclusions and a confusing plot all the way through. I couldn't tell to whom each character's loyalties were.

You know it's bad when I have to visit the imdb website to make sense of the plot. After that read, it makes a little more sense, and the ending is not as dreadful as I thought it was. Hopefully. Apparently, there's some debate even among the cognoscenti about the meaning of the ending, which you do have to sit through the credits to get.

If they do a fourth episode, they'll have to do a lot better than this!

An odd observation, time line parallels:
April 26 - Lords of the Dance... (two twins dancing...)
April 27 - Fragmented Understanding (a lady peers through a hole-y wall)
May 26 - Becoming Shiva (Shiva is called 'Lord of the Dance')...
May 27 - Pirates at World's End (of which I have only 'fragmented enderstanding', thanks to its plot holes!)

Okay, maybe that wasn't such a big thing, just slightly parallel...

Monday, May 28, 2007

"Bits and Pieces"
3:41pm

chocolate covered almonds
Tasty yummies...
...chocolate covered almonds reflect the light from the computer monitor and a light off to the side

A friend sent us a powerpoint display of the beautiful earth seen from satellite cameras. In the night scenes, Julia and I could see the areas of highest population. Japan has an amazing amount of people crammed onto its island. Nowhere was the brilliance of the night lights like those in Japan. Not only that, in the day scenes we could see the Nile and the delta lotus shaped 'flowering' at Egypt. Awesome photos! Here is a small crop of a screen capture:

     
I wondered if I could see the pyramids in the satellite pic, so I checked Google Earth. No, they are a bit too small to see that far away. Sketch gives general placement, size not to scale!

I also used Google Earth to explore future travel plans. I'm getting a map inside my head of the general placement of things. No, we're not going to Egypt, though I wish we were! There's a tour that Bob Brier is leading come next March through the Oasis regions that makes me drool. No, we're staying stateside. But I suspect Julia and I will have a rewarding time, just the same. You know that I will be taking lots of pictures.

Oh, and if you would like me to e-mail that pps presentation to you, just let me know...

9:07pm
Another 'Piece' - A Nuit Sighting!

Interior of a 21st Dyn. coffin lid from Deir el Medina,
with a painted image of the sky goddess Nuit holding aloft the sun;
on loan to "Nefer" from the Egyptian Museum, Turin, KMT, Summer 2007 issue

This is on the INSIDE, where the deceased person's soul could see it. Brier, who is an expert on mummies, explained that in the 21st Dynasty, the process of mummification underwent a great change. They no longer put the organs into the four canopic jars, but back inside the body after they had been processed, presumeably to keep the body safer from tomb robbers. To insure the four sons of Horus would continue to keep watch, they still made the jars, but they were empty 'dummies', as the lids did not come off.


It would be nice if this exhibit originating in Italy would come to the United States...

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