self portrait work in progress

heres another little painting i have started,
i've never completed a self portrait so i've decided to give one a go. I have 3 paintings on the go now, i should probably finish them before i start another one.. but anyways...

abit more work

Smportfolio Version 4

I have recently revamped my website, i really love how it has turned out. Its simple but effective and more professional looking. Take a look and let me know what you think.
www.smportfolio.com

batman quickie

Recently watched The Dark Knight for the second time, decided to do a little painting depicting the guy. Watching it second time round, was just as good as the first time. great movie..



Did this in under 2hrs, fairly impressed with how it turned out..

Revamp of butterfly girl

I wanted to go back to this painting and add some details and colours as i wasnt really happy with it the first time round. I like this one, i should probably do this with all my paintings that is go back to them and fix them up with a fresh look.

stage 4

still trying to think of a background

new one im working on

paintings

Im starting to get a little bit back into painting, this one i started a while back, i'll probably leave this one for now, meanwhile im starting another one which i hope will be my glorious come back to painting.

Onitsuka Tiger

I've been looking at shoes online for my next shoe purchase, and me thinking that im in Canada i'd have a great variety to choose from but not so. Anyways, im a big fan of the Onitsuka Tiger range, and some day i wish to possess a whole cupboard full of these shoes, at the moment, I have only just order this pair.


I thought i was getting a sweet deal at 100dollars until I realised that the conversion rate screwed me over, making it 170 in total, but i dont care, i just want them.

Yo

Sup,

well i guess im back, i need to start writing again, gotta get some motivation etc.. I recently went to the Bahamas, it was a good week vacation. We unfortunately only had 2 days of good sun which sucked ballz, but I guess we made the most of it. It's much like Cuba in which its a poorer sort of country, but peoples attitudes is the complete opposite of Cuba, they were all happy and upbeat. We did some snorkelling on some reefs around the island which was pretty cool, the boat guys would throw fish food out into the reef and hundreds of fish would just swarm it, it was classic.

All in all it was a good trip, i imagine most Caribbean places are like this now. The Bahamas was much more westernised, while Cuba had more culture, all in all good times, i wonder what my next trip will be....hopefully Australia.

I'm Back!

Not back in Australia, just back from working at the resort. It went by pretty fast and trying to catch up on internet stuff isnt easy, and just as quickly as I came back, im leaving again tommorow to the Bahamas! One week of awesome relaxation times. After I get back i'll start getting back into a regular routine of updating this thing. Till then, Peaceout!

Return to the Resort

Well this will probably be my last post for quite a while,(not that i posted much anyway)as I will be returning to the canadian resort I worked in last year. 5 months tucked away in a forest, getting in touch with nature and all that crap. I will try and post a few little updates here and there, along with some crazy photos. I feel better about working there this time round, as I know what to expect, plus i'll have a better job (as resort jobs go) so it should be a better experience.

Little side story, I went to a drive in movie theatre last night for the first time. It was actually a pretty cool experience, the screen was huge and the audio was fed right through your car's radio on a special frequency. Sitting in the comfort of your own car was great. The movies werent the best, but 3 movies for 10bucks is certainly a good deal.. Anyways..it was cool.

So until my next post, keep it real peeps!
Peaceout
Mr.S

Disturbed.. Indestructible

Incredible.....

Harold Kumar and Joe

Joe who you ask? Joe Satriani thats who. Released a new album and it almost slipped by me, but I'm listening to it now. Its a good album, he somehow manages to keep topping himself in the albums he releases. The name of this one is "Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock" : hilarious! but great all the same. Favourite Tracks so far are "out of sunrise" "revelation" "Aski Vaysel", But fast loving each and every song.

Also watched the new Harold and Kumar movie, it wasn't too bad, I still like the first one though cos it had a better story to me, a much more realistic adventure. It was funny though, high times and good times..

Post New York Post

New York, what a place.. After 2 short flights we finally landed at JFK airport. I thought it was going to be alot busier then it was but I was more suprised by the uncleanliness of it all. It was know time to get the shuttle and holy crap the driving was insane! She was all over the road, driving in and out of lanes, cutting people off, driving in the emergency lane. Once we got to the heart of the city the driving didnt change. But it wasn't just our driver the whole place was teeming with this technique of driving around the city. People would cross the street and the drivers would just barely stop to let them pass. Finally we got to our hotel, checked in and then it was time to hit the streets.

Times Square was a mere 8 blocks up and you learn to move with the crowd. The pollution was not as bad as I thought it would be. There was alot of traffic though, not just cars, but people. Loads of people, from all walks of life. Times Square was interesting, lots of billboards and adverstising and alot of those hotdog vendors on the streets, the smells from these were pretty
bad.



We got onto our double decker bus tour which is the best way to see the city. It took us all around the lower and mid part of New York. Went around the Empire State Building which was pretty cool, its such a huge building. The tour continued all around the downtown area and took us back to times square. It was time to look for some inexpensive food just to tide us over for the night. I got some big slices of pizza while my girlfriend(Megan) decided to get some good ol' Maccas....Huge Mistake. She took one bite of a bigmac swallowed it and then realised the meat was pink inside.. oh man.. I didnt have too much luck with my food either, the pizza was so oily and greasy it was like it was just deep fried and then served. Another mission was trying to get to sleep, it really is the city that never sleeps, u could hear the traffic all through out the night.



The next morning Megan was not feeling good at all. We managed to get outside for our second day of sightseeing, we got back on the bus tour and got off at the World Trade Center site. It's now this huge construction site. We couldnt get any clear photos of it cos they have it all closed off. It was good to be there though. Then we walked down to Battery Park and then walked a huge path to get to the Statue of Liberty ferry. We got there and the lineup was insane! It was a good thing we got our tickets in advance, but still the lineup to get on the actual ferry was over 2hrs long. Megan was just about to throw up when we finally got on the ferry at that point she did go to the bathroom.



Then we went to the Statue of Liberty Island. Drawing closer and closer to the monument was pretty inspiring. I took as many pictures as I could of it and then we headed back. We went back to the hotel and from that point Megan was throwing up till the time we had to head back to the airport. I was seriously scared and no-one in the hotel would help me out, mainly cos none of them hardly spoke any english. Megan decided to tough it out and we finally made it to Laguardia airport. Lineups again through the security checkpoint was incredible but we finally made it through. I bought a souvenir NYC snowglobe, but the security guards threw it away as they percieve it as a threat, and then I find the exact same snow globes inside the airport, I was pretty mad at that fact. 2 short flights and alot of running later, we finally land back in Canada. All in all New York is a pretty cool place, but you need at least 4-5 days to see it all, the only things we didnt get to do was walk through Central Park and go on top of the Empire State Building. I think in the near future though we will be returning to finish what we started and hopefully it will go alot smoother. The one thing I loved about it was how the old fashioned architecture blended together with the modern architecture.

Big Macca

This was mine and my girlfriend's attempt at making some big macs.. We got the special sauce recipe from topsecrets.com, and then went from there. These burgers were friggin HUGE. I could not get my mouth around it. But man was it tassssssssssssteeeeeeey!

GFX 2008 Poster

Hey y'all the poster collaboration thing is done and here is the link

http://www.pamzylove.com/GFX_2008.html

I was very glad to be apart of this, the image on a whole looks great, and showcases a whole range of talents..

Random Art Piece 2 Finished

It was finally my turn to add my part to the poster, i really like how it turned out, i will take this and make it my own picture though, and also make it a printable poster. I wont give the link to the contest poster yet as there are 3 more people to go.. But here is my submission>>

New York, New York

Finally something to post about!, And finally a chance to visit the one city, I've always wanted to visit. I'm flying out on april 14th, staying in a hotel right in the center of all the main attractions. Times Square, Central Park, Empire State building, all within walking distance of the hotel. I'm only staying a couple of nights, at a hotel thats 200dollars a nite, so yeah its an expensive city, but so excited about going.. I cant wait to get there and take hundreds of photos of everything, and also visit the statue of liberty, Oh yeah!..

Top 5 Movies....

Might aswell complete a Top 5 Movie list, reply to Tony's top 5 and still waiting to hear Mac's also.

5)Contact
4)Lost In Translation
3)Donnie Darko
2)Pulp Fiction
1)Collateral

Good Movies, Good Times..

Wipeout Pulse

I own a psp, and have recently bought the new Wipeout game Pulse. It is awesome, I love it. That is all.








I love the visuals in this game, they are so crisp and clean.

Attention Everybody

Testicles... That is all.

Random Art Piece 2

This is my new one im working on, its actually for an artist collaboration poster thing im in. Im actually not supposed to start this until its my turn, but I dont care, I wanna start now! haha, i wont finish it till its my turn though, cos part of the competition is that its supposed to fit into a story sort of thing.. hard to explain.... ANYWAYS here it is, I used a reference for the basic pose which can be found here I really like how its coming along, with this one im mostly focusing on proportions and not so much on facial features etc.. Once the competition is done, I'll take this and make it something else.. im thinking on the lines of clouds, lightning etc

meh...

Top 5 Songs...

Well how do you come up with a top 5 song list? its insanely impossible. So I basically thought up a scenario; if You were stuck on a desert island and only had a choice of 5 songs to take with you, what would they be?.. Its still isnt easy to choose, but i'd imagine you'd be able to choose atleast 5 that you would want to listen to over and over and over.. so here it goes...

5)Phil Collins - Mama
4)Toto - No End In Sight
3)Metallica - Orion
2)The Doors - The End
1)Journey - Dont stop Believin'

I think I could handle listening to those songs over and over again, there a hundreds more I could have chosen and to ask a person to choose 5 top songs to listen to forever is ridiculous and I hope that never happens to me cos I love music way too much..

Top 5 Albums...

So here it is my Top 5 Albums, this one was based on replayability, orginiality and overall musical awesomness.. There were a lot more I wanted to add, but needed to narrow it down obviously, so here goes..

5)Korn -Take A Look in the Mirror
Korn have a number of albums out and out of all the ones I own, this one has to be my favourite. Everything up until this one were good albums but they werent as heavy as I would have liked. This album came out and I was blown away. They managed to get real fuckin heavy and still sustain a song format.

4)Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory
I liked this album for many reasons, but mainly for the lyrics. Each song had its own charm and way back when this first came out, these songs got me through some tough teen angst times. I dont really like the albums that followed.

3)Red Hot Chilli Peppers - By The Way
This is probably the best Chilli album in my opinion. Every song is a joy to listen to and they have come along way since their first albums. The song arrangments are something I wasnt really used to hearing from them, but each and every one was awesome. This album was also abit more mellow, much like Californication but with better songs and not so much filler.

2)Oasis - Whats the Story Morning Glory
I would listen to this album over and over and over again. I hadn't heard of Oasis at all until this album came out. I'm not ashamed to admit that I sung to this album (and still do) in my bedroom for hours. Who hasnt atleast sung along to 'wonderwall' once in their lives, cmon admit it! My favourite song on the album is Champagne Supernova, the lyrics win me over everytime I hear them. I hear people say that their first album "definitely maybe" was they're best album but for me Morning Glory really is the better of the two.

1)Daft Punk - Discovery
I first fell in love with Daft Punk when their single 'Around the World' came out, it was a funky new song and I dug it. The rest of the album however was hit and miss with me and then came Discovery. Wow, what an awesome album. I first saw the clip to "One More Time" very late on rage, and my mind blew up from the awesomeness. Immediately I sought out the album and it was awesome to the absolulte MAX. Every song was great, (exception no.6) to me it felt like hearing something from the future. Then I realised that all the clips made an actual musical animated movie which just made it even more awesome.. So to sum up, this album was "Awesome".

Albums I want to mention that were also close:
Rob Zombie - Hellbilly Deluxe
Eminem - Marshall Mathers LP
Prodigy - Fat of the Land
Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
System Of A down - Toxicity
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
I wanted to put Metallica - Master of Puppets in the top 5 but realised that I love each and every album and that each one of them have their own same replayability so therefore couldn't exclude the other albums either, but if I had to choose, Master of Puppets would win.

Going over my top 5's at the moment it seems I dont have alot of 80's stuff, its more 90's stuff. But I realise that 80's albums usually had one or two good songs on there and the rest of the album wasnt as good. There are definitely gonna be some 80's tunes in my Top 5 Songs which is coming up next..

Top 5 Bands...

So here is the first of my top fives.. Top 5 bands, or I should say musical arrangements, cos not all musicians are in 'bands'. This was definitely a tough one.. but here it goes. Ultimately I narrowed it down to what I listen to the most, what gives me the most pleasure by listening to them. Most of it is metal. Metal is my forte when it comes to music.

5)Queen >>
Queen were and pretty much still are a great old skool rock band. Their songs are timeless, from Bohemian Rhapsody to Radio GaGa all their songs have managed to create a huge fan base of old and young alike. After watching a live DVD of them it was clear that Freddie Mercury's talent as a singer and performer is what made Queen....well Queen.


4)Joe Satriani and his Band >>
This guy is awesome, his much more than just an instrumental music maker. The songs that he makes just with his guitar, rival that of any other band. His songs dont need lyrics, he evokes alot of emotion just from the strings he plays. I was very fortunate to see him live and loved every minute of it.

3)Billy Talent >>
This band I only heard of when I arrived in Canada. Naturally they are a Canadian band. At first look you could pass these guys off as an emo band. Something which I despise. However after hearing their music it was clear that they are so much more. They are like hard rock and punk combined. They have 2 albums out, and each and every song is good, which is a rare thing.

2)Disturbed >>
Good metal band this one, I wasnt so into them when they first came out, I have definitely grown to love them though. I love listening to these guys when I need to blast something loud from my stereo, the heavy beats and the vocals really make them something unique. Also saw them live and it was great..


1)Metallica >>
Ahh Metallica, anyone who knows me, will know this to be no big surprise as to be my number one. I've been listening to these guys since I was 14 and I havent looked back. They are the number one band that I consistently fall back on, no matter what musical phase I go through. There are no favourite albums they have made that I can choose from, I love each album. The one thing I love about them is their refusal to give up the biz. They keep doing what they do no matter what anyone says of them because they love making music and rocking out. And on a side note, Lars Ulrich has always been the most influential person in my drumming "career", he is the reason I picked up the sticks.

There a few bands that were close to making the top 5, that I want to mention here also, Korn, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Slipknot, Daft Punk, 30 seconds to mars, U2, Toto, Pink Floyd.

Stayed tuned for My Top 5 Albums.

Musically Relevant Title

I watched 'High Fedility' last night, I havent watched it before, but I was quite taken with it. Its basically about a guy (John Cusack) who owns a record store, and his thoughts on life, music, and relationships. Its an amusing tale, Jack Blacks comedic antics are infallible.

Owning a record store would be a sweet job, especially for a person who loves all sorts of music. For me I'd love to own my a record store. It would be cool. Listen to music all day, converse about music all day, most of the time I'd be arguing points with people why one band is good and the other isnt. It would be fun.. haha.

In the movie he talks alot about his top 'fives'. Top 5 records, top 5 songs, top 5 relationships etc... Which makes me think out of all the albums, out of all the music I have heard, what would my top 5 bands, albums or songs would be... oh man that is tough, there is quite alot I like and wouldnt want to leave anything out.. But I think it just comes down to what you listen to the most.. So in the coming days, I'll be narrowing down my collection for my top fives.. First up Top 5 bands..

Lunar Eclipse

The lunar eclipse was on last night, We braved the cold (minus 15) and I took the best photos I could with my simple digital camera and then put the pictures together.. I like how it turned out...

Husky...

The Siberian Husky, I want one, and I want one now.

On a side note, Im gonna start posting more Random stuff, Why u ask? well because i'm bored...

Valentine Round up

Well valentines day...hmm what to say other than it was an eventful day. It was good to finally spend that day with someone instead of no-one. Having said that it didnt go out with its fair share of problems.. The day started like this...

We were on our way to another Ice skating adventure. On the drive to the rink something happened with my girlfriends car and the brakes weren't working and it resulted in a small front on collision, and by small I mean tiny, a bit of paint chipped off the other guys car, he was pretty nice about it all in retrospect. We checked the brake fluid and concluded that was the problem, there was hardly anything in there. So we went to a service station and filled it up.. So back on our originial plan: Ice Skating. It was my third attempt at this leisure activity. We were skating on the largest skating rink in the world, its basically a huge lake thats been frozen over in these below zero tempertatures. It was fun, I was getting the hang of it, feeling more comfortable with it. Then all of a sudden I got too over confident and went for speed, and then thats when my first major fall came.. Oh boy, as I fell I tried to use my arm to break the fall, but it ended up sliding on the ice, my shoulder popped out of place for a second, and then the pain came....oh boy the pain... I could hardly move my arm, it's even hurting while typing this.. I wasn't done though. I picked myself up and continued skating for another hour or so.. All in all good times..:P

Next little item was, we decided to go see some pretty ice sculptures all the way in a place called Quebec, the french part of Canada.. We got there alright, but found out that were indeed no ice sculptures there and that we were in the wrong place.. So when we got back there was just too much traffic and we decided not to go through all the hassle just to see some ice blocks.

So by this time it was early in the night, went to a pub had dinner and a guiness (which i've taking a liking to) and then went to see "Jumper". Not a bad movie, I like how it didnt go into deep with the science of it all, I knew it would have been something to do with ripping the fabric of space time, (they used wormholes) but yeah not a bad idea. So by then it was time to go home and sleep the pain of my shoulder off, till the next day when the pain was much worse....ohwell such is valentines day....

Death and Beyond

I was watching 'White Noise' the other day, and was thinking about death... naturally thats what the movie is about. It got me thinking of what I think happens when you die.. I came up with this theory that in the moment upon which you die there is a small instance where just before you drift off into oblivion your mind goes to a place where or what you think heaven is. At that point when you die that is where your mind or your spirit remains. This could be anything you think of, your own 'happy place'. In essence your mind creates the place where you want to be. For most this could be a place with your loved ones who have or haven't passed on. Its been recorded that most people that have near-death experiences often see a white light. But I think that is because thats what most people believe happens when you die.. You see a bright light and then are transported to a place in the clouds. So naturally thats what your mind comes to at that short instance between your life and your death.

It got me thinking to what I believe my heaven would be, even though it would be impossible to tell what I'd be thinking at that exact point before I die, I'd imagine a place of celestial beauty. A surreal place on a faraway planet in some corner of the universe where galaxys,nebulae and stars are so clear and crisp to the senses. I've often had dreams of such places and they always fill me with a sense of wonder and amazement. I could think of no such place I'd rather be when I do infact pass on. In my mind I'm sure i'd have other people there that I'd like to have. Artists, Musicians, and the like, to keep me going. It's like in that Russell Crowe movie "Gladiator" just before he dies he imagines himself in the midst of his wheatfarm with his family in the distance.. Its kinda like that.

It would be interesting to hear other peoples idea of eternal bliss..

Some stuff

Yo, I've updated this blog a little bit putting links to various other sites, but I also want to make this another serious outlet for me art and designs..

Here is one little speedpaint, I dont know what its supposed to be but I had it in my head and wanted to get it out. Im really happy with how the eye turned out. I could've gone into more detail with this piece, but was done with it. haha



Nothing much else is going on, went ice skating the other day for the first time. I was expecting to break atleast something, but fortunately I didnt fall over once. i still haven't got the hang of it yet though, will return again next week for another try..
STiX

Things and such

Hi there, not much going on at the moment, but for the sake of keeping this updated i'm just gonna write some random thoughts.. Where to start? hmmm...

Im currently listening to some 80's music, something I havent done in a looong time. On the recommendation of Zac i got ahold of some "The Outfield" music.. Classic 80's stylings.. The song "Your Love" is great, it reminds me of those movies where two lovers meet at the end and everything is fine and they live happily ever after.. They got some other good ones too "Taking my chances" , "Talk to me" , "All the Love", all good tunes.. Others I've been listening to is Asia, Europe, Ratt, Starship, Scorpions. Love this music, it's so nostalgic, even though I wasnt really 'with it' in the 80's considering I was a toddler at the time. I wish I could go back in time at this age and start an awesome 80's band. I dont know whether I would stick to the 80's hair metal scene or go more the way of Toto. Ahhh Toto, another great band.. One thing is for sure I would go to as many concerts as I could.. The music is timeless, it did have its fair share of bad stuff, but all in all it was a golden age for music.

hmm wat else? oh yeah I guess I should say I have decided to stay in Canada for another year. Pending my visa renewal... I will stay here another year, see more of Canada and more importantly remain together with my girlfriend until we have both have a good amount of money to make the journey back to the merry old land of Aus. At first I didnt like the idea because another year away from home is not exactly my cup of tea.. It got me thinking of the things I miss the most.. A good home, mum,cooked meal for one.. I took that for granted when I was there.. the food she cooked was awesome in retrospect. Other things like my warm, comfortable, familiar, bed. My drums... oh boy my drums... It was more than just an instrument, it was my release from the world and all its bullshite. I might invest in a second hand one here just to keep up the skillz. On the upside staying another year isnt so bad, I can spend my time travelling the world which is what I really wanna do at this point in my life. The next couple years, will see me go to Europe and other places.. This October I will probably be going to see Hawaii for a week which will be sweet. Time will tell on the rest..

At this point I dont ever see me having a full time job somewhere, I guess if I'm not in a profession I love everyday, I dont think i'll ever be happy with just one job. I've been looking at some game companies here in Canada, there are a few, but again I have to build up alot of experience to even come close to it. Being close to America has it's perks too I guess... With the plethora of Production Studios and all. But yeah, travelling from place to place, making a good deal of money in a short amount of time is a pretty good way to see the world.

Hmm wat else? Saw "Untraceable" wasnt a bad movie, the idea was pretty cool. It had some pretty cool tech moments, and the kill scenes were well thought out.

Nothing much else is going on. I wish there was but theres nothing.. haha..
Till next time
Peaceout
STiX

Submarine Concept

Latest painting, I incoporated some new techniques with this one. It took me about 10 hrs to complete and am happy with how it turned out. I really wanted to push the lighting in this and play around with a darkness concept.

The artist within...

I usually don’t like to complain to someone about the feelings I’m having about stuff I’m going through.. I usually keep all this shit within me and try to work out my problems from there. So I thought I’d try writing some stuff on here and see what happens. It won’t actually change anything but I think it will only benefit me to get things off my chest.

My number one problem at this moment in time is the art stuff. I love to do digital paintings, its one hobby that gives me pleasure as I do it…. No not sexual pleasure… Just a deep feeling of satisfaction that I can do something like this. I’m at no means a great artist, I still have a lot to learn and do continue to learn new things as time goes by. However I hate the fact that I don’t advance as quickly as I want, it brings me down that I’m not ‘there’ yet. I’ve been at it for about 3-4 years now and I am slowly improving, but not that much. It’s a line of business that I desperately want to be in, that is, creating conceptual art for a movie and/or game company. But I know for me to be in that business I have to have degrees and/or a good deal of work experience to even come close to it.

Most of this bitterness though comes from being apart of this website called http://www.gfxartist.com. It’s basically a site where people from around the world submit their art to each other and everyone has their say on it. This can range from complete scrutiny to absolute praise of a persons art. I’ve been using the site for a while now and every time I submit a new piece of art it sometimes(well most of the time) doesn’t get any comments or positive reviews. Now I KNOW I’m not good but it doesn’t help your self esteem about something when some jerk comes along and gives you shit about your work. Even though there are other artworks 10 times worse than yours they will get good reviews.. I don’t get it. And it angers me.. But it also bothers me that I need this kind of approval from people I will never meet and don’t care about. I’ve been at this now far too long to just give up on it. But it brings me down to the point where my creativity gets blocked because I am under the mindset that I’ll never release a piece of art that gets appraised. Which brings me back to the whole career I’m trying to get into thing. If a bunch of internet nerds don’t have anything good to say about my art, how can I expect a company will??

Art has always been a matter of opinion, what one person likes another person might not. I get that… But its just so frustrating!!! Aaaargggh!..…. Having said that I’m not going to give up on this, as I said I love doing it, and I will continue to do it whether some jerk likes it or not.

Peaceout.
STiX

First Art Piece For 2008

Yep finally, after 7 months of holidaying I've put it on myself to get back into painting no matter what country I'm in or how crappy doing art on the laptop is.

I used my girlfriend as a reference for this piece, im happy with how it turned out. I could've pushed this one further, but a week has gone by and I want to start new things..