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mkirkwood — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 11:28:43 CDT

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by mkirkwood

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by Gedda

How to Do In a Seal Pup

"If baseball bats are unacceptable, how could the slaughter be made more media-friendly? Points will be awarded for aesthetically pleasing entries. Extra points can be earned for environmental friendliness and cost-effectiveness.
With the boom in "experiential tourism", would you join a seal clubbing tour, and how much would you pay for yet another thrill of a lifetime?"

by JohnTheFinn

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About

Logo competition.

mkirkwood — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 03:51:11 CDT

It was brought to my attention that the Free Expression logo was rubbish. If you have any ideas for a new logo then please submit them below at the bottom of the page. If you can't submit your own entry, you can vote on your favourite logo using the "threads" on this page. The winner will receive a year's FREE membership to Free Expression.

Logo 1 by Martin

Logo 2 by Martin

Logo 3 by Martin

Logo 4 by Martin

Logo 5 by Gedda

Logo 6 by Martin

Logo 7 by Lesley

Logo 8 by Lesley

Logo 9 by Lesley

Logo 10 by Lesley

Logo 11 by Lesley and Martin

Logo 12 by Gedda's grandsons

Logo 13 by Gedda's grandsons

Logo 14 by Gedda's grandsons

Click the Easy/Edit button and add \your logo HERE!!!

Geddas stuff 4

Gedda — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 02:34:30 CDT

Here are a few little Logos for the competition as promised. They are done by my grandsons. I could not get them onto the proper page, sorry, Gedda Do you think someone could move them for me please ?. Thanks, Gedda African theme collage by Gedda Handmade lampshade by Gedda Embroidered Lady by Gedda.

Structure

mkirkwood — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 19:50:35 CDT

Natalia/Natasha/Natalya

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About Free Expression

mkirkwood — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 06:39:50 CDT

Hi and welcome,

Free Expression is a user created wiki site designed for creative members to express themselves freely in any way they choose. There are limits, Free Expression is hosted by Wetpaint and all users are bound by Wetpaint's Terms Of Use agreement. Please remember that although Free Expression is a members only site, it is still visible to anyone with an internet connection and even your parents or someone else's children may be reading whether logged in or not. See our Moderator's Guidelines.

Feel free to join in. It's open to everyone. If you want to make a page about painting you can. You can have your own painting forums. If you want a page about art, dance, opera, photography, music or anything then create one. You can have your own forums about anything too. Feel free to play around and have fun. The world is made up of very different people and you are all welcome here, be as creative as you like.

As a registered user you can add and edit pages that are not locked. Some administrative pages like this one are locked. If you create a page and would like it locked so that others can't edit the content then please ask me mkirkwood or one of our moderators or administrators.

If you want to practice creating and editing pages please use the FreeForAll Page or your own member profile page It really is quite easy when you get the hang of it.

Do not under any circumstances remove other members' content from unlocked pages except the FreeForAll Page.. Everything here is traceable by anyone else and deliberate vandalism will not be tolerated. Just remember, you have the right to express yourself freely here but so does everyone else.

Inviting new members. Free Expression is always looking for new members to contribute. Feel FREE to invite your friends but please don't repeatedly send SPAM invitations. Nobody likes an inbox full of repeat invitations.

Thanks to all contributors

Martin
(Site Creator and Administrator)

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My daughter's 'Creative Design' project.

Purpleshade — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:41:56 CDT

My daughter (Andromeda) and I have been discussing finding somewhere to share a Creative Design project. As she hasn’t got round to finding somewhere, and know she’s busy, I thought I’d get on with it.

Andromeda has now made a blog with all the details on it. It's set out much better than I could here. http://www.fashionyourfuture.blogspot.com/

Although she works in fashion and design, she doesn’t often get to do large project of her own.
Talking to her friends she realised that quite a few were interested and that it might be an idea to work together.
They then realised that there are a lot of creative people who want to do things, but are not sure how to go about coming up with an original idea and have not had the training of going through the process of a large amount of planning and research BEFORE such a project is started.

So she has written an introduction/guidelines of how to go about it has set up a group of friends and acquaintances (in Paris) who are at the moment working individually (spending as much time as they wish) on a project they have chosen.
They started with a Soiree to introduce it and everyone was given a small hard-backed notebook
The plan is that everybody will keep it with them all the time and constantly jot down things they notice in everyday life that may be even in some small way relevant.
(Of course you could use a pda and transfer it to your computer if that’s how you prefer to work.)
They will meet together in libraries or museums in small groups appropriate to their projects. Andromeda’s design will be a fashion collection, but it could be almost anything, house design, painting or craftwork, sculpture, jewellery etc. It needs to be something that may take a considerable amount of time, the project is planned to run for at least 6mths.
You could choose to plan AND complete your project, or it could be that you just wish to complete the planning and research process as a project in itself. In this case your design could be a fantasy thing which it would not be possible to make or something far beyond your financial capabilities.

As she has friends all over the world interested (me included), she has already e-mailed the introduction to us and is happy for it to be shared with as many as possible. You could work entirely on your own, or maybe we could use this page to discuss ideas etc.

The groups in France will meet to share their experiences, and hopefully some notes/partial designs will get scanned and sent round.

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Lesley's Project-I’m going to plan a Children’s Bedtime Story

2nd February, 2008
It took me a while to think of something I wanted to spend that much time on, I have done tons and tons of small projects in art and craft etc, but not anything really big except house and garden.

I followed the exercise given for those who were not accustomed to coming up with an idea from seemingly nowhere, and came up with an idea which incorporates lots of things I have worked on over the few years, so I am familiar with all the individual process to a large extent.
I have been doing a lot of drawing and painting in simple styles suitable for illustrating a children’s book. I have thought about it many times, but not been able to come up with an idea for a story.

Suddenly it came to me, I can elaborate on the stories I made up for my children when they were small. I told them stories about themselves, about the fun things we’d done the week before, and then it turned into a guided relaxation exercise at the end with an image of feeling tired after having a fun day at the beach and falling asleep very content.
An ideal bedtime story! The pictures would tell the story as well so that a child who couldn’t read could follow the story on his own.
So I started making notes:-
Egthe way the scenery/backgrounds are painted in ‘The Simpson’s’ would be suitable for a painting I have in mind
I think of another creature I could add to a particular scene.
Any artist’s or authors whose work I like.
Where I could get any extra ideas from.
All the coral reef characters I can think of as they will be in at least one drawing,
The different illustrations for each few pages of the story as I think of them.
Different names I may choose for the characters.
Bits if story line
First draught of opening page
Quick sketches done of things noted in films/TV/everydya life
motifs
Colour themes
styles of painting and drwaing
naturalistic?? probably, with some pretty fairy-tale type fantasy.

Thinking about it over a weekend or two, I came up with tons of ideas for the illustrations, and the storyline…there’s so much I can see why you need to spend a considerable amount of time planning, especially planing all the scenes and how they will be illustrated BEFORE starting to do them. To do that I have to write the story first…so do I… or do I…or dear, I have to do some more planning, how long will it be, will there be separate chapters with little stories or one long one…

That’s as far as I’ve got.
I have half a notebook full of ideas to chase up, and previous drawings and paintings to revise and develop.
Next step is to research them and sort out what I will keep.

22/03/08 I've done a fair bit on my project over the last month.

I've taken children's books from the libruary and looked to see which styles of illustration and writing appeal to me the most.

I've practised drawing backround scenery inspired by from children's program's on TV.

I've looked at books on illustrating.
I've decided on a simple naturalistic style for the illustraions.
Fantasy or dream like scenes may have glittery bits or more decoaration.

I've realised that I need to do a short initial story to see how it works out, It could be the first chapter of a book with the intent to do more if it works well.

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Martin's Artwork Pages

mkirkwood — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 19:22:42 CDT

Hi and welcome to my humble little pages, I'm new here too and I'm still playing around trying to figure out how all this works. As soon as I have I'll let you all know.

Feel free to have a go at creating your own pages, there are no restrictions you can add a page about anything you like.

If you write poetry, why not make a page about poetry. If you have a favourite hobby, create a page about that and share it with other members.
Why not write a freeform narrative about your travels? You can write or upload anything you like here on Free Expression. It's as much your website as anyone else's.

Anyway, here are a few of my digital creations using Photoshop and Paintshop Pro. I'll upload more when I get time.

This creation Card Sharp was done by scanning real objects then distorting them to creat a sense of perspective, then superimposing them over a background created by digital airbrushing. Adding a few drop shadows helped to create an extra sense of depth. To see more of my artwork then please do visit martinkirkwood.wetpaint.com. I hope you'll all have fun here, share whatever you like.

Best wishes Martin
(Site Creator and Administrator)

Help.

mkirkwood — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:23:35 CDT

If you are logged in as a registered member you will find on the left a "Navigation" list. This will take you to any pages on Free Expression where you can add or edit any content. (Some pages such as this one and the homepage are locked by administrators.)

If you aren't sure how to edit pages feel free to play around with the FreeForAll Page or you own member profile page before mucking up someone elses work.

There is a link to the left to "Add page". If you add a new page here, you will add a new sub-page to the help page. You can add sub-pages anywhere. Don't panic if you create a page in the wrong place, tell a moderator and they can move it for you. You can write what you like about anything you are interested in. If you would like a page locked so that others can't edit the content please ask a moderator.

Feel free to use the threads link to ask any questions about navigating Free Expression...

For help regarding Wetpaint, the people who host this site for free and do all the really technical stuff please visit Wetpaint Central.

Martin.
(Site Creator and Administrator)

Home

The Sand Pit.

mkirkwood — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:14:42 CDT

Go on, create your own Sand Pit page. Just click the "Add page" link to the left.

It doesn't have to be about yourself you can put that on your profile page if you wish. You can create a Sand Pit page here about anything you like. If you have a favourite hobby and want to share it with others just build your own Sand Pit page about it. After all, it's your website as much as anyone else's. Feel FREE to express yourself however you wish.

If you wan't to explore the creative possibililties here then feel FREE to play around with the Free For All pages to practice page building.

Not a member yet? Sign up. Everyone is welcome. It's easy and it's FREE.

Members' Sand Pit pages can be edited by any registered users. If you create a page and would like it locked so that it's content can't be edited by others please ask a moderator, administrator or myself and we can lock it for you.

Martin.
(Site Creator and Administrator)

	The Sand Pit
Martin's Artwork Pages	Lesley's Creative Crafts Pages	Gedda's Stuff

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Mr Flower - finished painting

mkirkwood — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 08:11:12 CDT

"Mr Flower"

Oil on Canvas

12x10 inches
2008

Return to Mr Flower

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Lesley's Creative Crafts Pages

mkirkwood — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 21:42:16 CDT

I like to see what others have made and show what I've made myself.

Here's some things I've made over the last few years, I'd love to see some of yours added to make a gallery.

Just add your pics at the bottom with name, subtitles, whatever.
Don't worry if you can't put them in neatly, I can arrange it later, just don't delete anything anyone else has put.
Tell me if anyone messes up your stuff.

	.
Fantasy Lizard.Coloured pencils. 2007 My pond 2003

My front Porch. 2007

Watercolour painting and card making. 2004

Fairy Castle. Painted and decorated clay. 2003

More claywork

Pen drawings inspired by Kandinsky. 2003

Playing with waves of colour. Oil pastels. 2004

Oil pastels 2004

Wave. Oil pastels. 2004

The Blue Mountains. Coloured pencils. 2002

Pink Dragon, watercolours. 2004

The Leaf. Watercolours. 2006

Walking on the beach. Mixed media mosaic. 2006
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From my Sketchbook

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"Lesley" by mkirkwood. oil on panel 16 x 24 inches. This is a different Lesley, not Purpleshade Lesley. :))

Waves of Patchworkby Gedda, acrylics.

Sunflower fairy Beach memories

Mosaics by Gedda.

Put your pics here

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Mr Flower

mkirkwood — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:42:59 CDT

Work in Progress by mkirkwood

Anatomy of an oil painting

Step 1...	To start a portrait I always begin with an accurate pencil drawing applied directly to the canvas, panel or paper that will support the finished artwork In this case I am using a stretched linen canvas that's 12"x10"

Step 2...	After completing the pencil drawing I then create an underpainting by roughly blocking in the shadow areas using a neutral colour. Here I am using Vandyke Brown diluted with white spirit applied in transparent washes. I avoid using any linseed oil at this stage as it prolongs the drying time.

Step 3...	I then continue with diluted washes to block in the basic colour scheme keeping the colours deliberately muted as they will be painted over later. The white spirit evaporates quite quickly so it should be dry enough to work over in a few hours. Sometimes for speed, I use quick drying acrylics paints diluted with water to get to this underpainting stage as they can be worked over almost immediately.

Step 4...	When the basic underpainting is dry I then add contrasts and begin to refine the hues and intensity of colour still using paint diluted only with white spirit. People have often asked which part of a portrait I work on first. I prefer to work on the whole canvas. I find it much easier to judge contrasts and colour balance this way rather than working on the eyes first then trying to paint the hair with the same intensity.

Step 5...	At this stage I start to thin the oll paints with a medium consisting of equal parts of white spirit and linseed oil. I apply them in semi opaque glazes, gradually blending the tones but still allowing the underpainting to show through. I use as limited a pallete as possible and avoid mixing colours, preferring to use the underpainting to alter the hue and tone of paint straight from the tube. So far I have used... Vandyke Brown Ultramarine Alizarin Crimson Titanium White.

Step 6...	Continuing with semi opaque glazes I begin to refine shadows/lights and start thinking about adding texture and detail. Still working on the whole canvas to keep a tonal balance. Things become very slow going at this point as each layer need to "dry" before overpainting it.

Step 7...	I then add more semi opaque glazes and continue to refine detail. Many of the original highlights have been lost but will be put back in the next stage.

Step 8...	I've put the highlights back in and feel I may have overdone it slightly in places. I'll tone it all down and alter the colour balance with transparent glazes when it is dry......

Step 9...	I've warmed up the flesh tones with glazes of burnt sienna and added some yellow ochre to the background to create a bit more depth.

Step 10...	I've softened the highlights in the hair, blended the flesh tones a little more and I think it's about done. I could mess around forever with the odd tweak here and there but it is a painting after all and not a photograph. I'm about 75% pleased with the final result which is quite good for me. Normally if I achieve 50% of what I set out to do I'm reasonably satisfied.

See the finished painting

Writings

Purpleshade — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 01:25:58 CDT

I wrote this for a friend many years ago, not long after I has seperated from my children's father.

To my friend.

Sometimes a cold, steel grey sadness envelopes me,
And empties me of love and laughter.
Then tears build up inside my head and threaten to turn the sadness into anger and destruction if they are not released.
But to cry alone is too awful.
The bitter tears need to be softened by the comforting touch of a friend who wants to help and tries to understand, so that at least a temporary tranquillity can return.

Such friends are rare and beautiful.

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Jan 05

I AM TOO HOT

I am too hot, so I will think cool thoughts.

I will think of the coolness of the early morning, of floating in the cool water of my swimming pool, and of the Fremantle Doctor bringing a cool breeze on a hot day.
I will think of sucking ice-cubes, pouring cool water over my head and eating ice cream.
If that’s not cold enough, I will think of my daughter in Paris where it is probably snowing, of my parents in their little cottage in mid Wales where they may well be snowed in. They will have all their heating on and many layers of clothing just not to be very cold.
I will drag up old memories of the snow from my childhood, knitted mittens getting soggy after making snowballs and freezing my little fingers; cats shaking the snow from their paws with every step; playing on a shallow frozen pond as a teenager and getting my wellies full of freezing water when the ice broke; peering out through ”Jack Frost’ patterns on the inside of the bedroom windows to the dazzling beauty of the snow filled landscape as the sun comes up.
Such coldness is probably out of the experience to people who have lived around here all their lives, just as high temperatures are to people in Britain

and on another hot day

Laying on water

I float in tranquillity

Contented at last

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(This one is by my daughter).

I like alliteration I like some rhyming words.
I like it when I'm on my toes, it keeps me from the herds.
Briefly being battered by all those francobums,
has kept me on my toes alright and also on my mum's.
I'd like to be a rich girl, without a worldy care,
but I'm truely working class so people stop and stare,
when I look like a princess all they can think to say
is, "How ya doin' twinkle toes? go on and make my day!"
But more than that I want to fly, up high above this world,
soaring like an eagle,covered in diamonds and in pearls

Members' Music Videos

mkirkwood — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:58:08 CDT

Why not upload your favourite music videos from YouTube. Click the Easy/Edit button and select "Widget". Feel FREE to practice on the FreeForAll Page if you aren't sure how to edit pages. That page is there to be played with and mucked up......

Please scroll down and add your videos at the bottom.

kamihi No I don't call this music I just put it on for the annoyance factor! But don't tell Keziah!

mkirkwood. "I love this song. Reminds me of some great friends I've met throughout the world."

MaBarker - No matter what is happening in my day, this video always makes me laff my arse off. I swear this is what I married! Enjoy.

Pickledonions - Cheer up you miserable buggers it could be worse. :))

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