Monday, December 27, 2010

Christmas in 3 D



This is my last post of this year 2010. New Year is around the corner.

I plan to post next year interesting links that I find for writers since I am writing my novel and I am researching marketing possibilities. How should a writer promote her or his book. What makes a good author's site, book trailer (as seen on youtube), and many more activities that a future author-preneur may need to include on their do list. I also want to include more art in my Raven's Art Shack.

I made animated photos ( .GIF) but later found out that some websites "flatten" the pictures and thus prevent the animation. I enjoyed making my wiggle grams so I took two wiggle grams and made a video. I had fun making the 28 second video. Making a wiggle gram is simple when you download free software from Stereo Photo Maker

With Stereo Photo Maker software you can make 3 D photos as well as animated photos. Some artists recommend that you shift the camera 2 inches when taking a set of photos. I found this excessive. I think what makes a successful wiggle gram/ 3D picture is the short distance between two photos. You can preview this effect in Windows Gallery by watching one photo and clicking the next button. You will want a slight change in the photos. The sliver of focal shift causes a believable movement that you just turned a corner.

I hope you brought your 3 D glasses. Enjoy mon amies! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!


Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Writing Tips from Ragnarok Fantasy


Ragnarok Fantasy

I found this author's site truly fascinating. I felt as if I stepped in a Viking world and met a live dragon who tells his story. This site is a work of art. I found 10 tips for writers very interesting.

Happy Writing!


Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Writer Barbara Knobova'a link


Hey folks! I found a cool link. Chiquenist writer Barbora Knobova has a cool blog and she writes in her blog entry "Are You a Nomad?" ( December 6, 2010) I found this entry delightful. In our life's journey we search for beauty. I am also doing research regarding how authors promote their work. She made youtube videos that promote her books! That is clever! :D

If you find a clever way to promote your book let me know! Cheers and Happy writing! :)

Monday, December 6, 2010

Quest for Beauty


Quest for Beauty

I think we are always looking for beauty in our daily lives. I find it when the sun shimmers on glistening snow. I even find it in virtual plug ins, algorithms. I don't pretend to understand them, but they are beautiful. Algorithms live and dance in software. It makes the arp in a virtual synthesizer purr, grumble or roar. It is in your image software that transforms pixels into brush strokes. Amazing wonders.

Right now I am writing my novel and I keep a watchful eye for visual and audio stimulation. I want to define the purpose of my blog. Art enriches lives by expressing thoughts and emotions. Yesterday I discovered GIMP software. I took a picture of my favorite cyclamen flower and tried cloning for the first time! I Ctrl+ click the area that I want to transport on another area of the picture. The clone function allows me to conceal parts of the photo, make spheres, brushstrokes or add extra flowers. When I Ctrl+click I find that when I move my brush the control area moves so I can trace the shape of the cyclamen and create as many as I want where I want them! Wow!

I hope you discover new things in your own personal journey too! :)

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Happy Halloween!


Happy Halloween mon amies! I made this video just in time for All Hallowed's Eve.

Info: photos taken with Nintendo DSi and digitally painted.
Music composition: with LMMS software, DSK Overture and Audacity.

I find deep inspiration with artists and I think people who make virtual instruments and virtual studios are uniquely talented people who share their inspiration and help artists create. Thank you.

Friday, October 29, 2010

My First song with LMMS software!

If you follow this link ravenking5 it will take you to my first music video I composed with LMMS software titled "I Can Rave On with LMMS". My youtube channel is ravenking5. I had so much fun making this video by shooting 20 second clips in the dark and painting over digital photos taken with my Nintendo DSi. This is my first song composed with LMMS so I only used the song beat editor and the presets that came from this software. The genre is trance, industrial at 140 BPM.
I would say that making that first song with a powerful software is start of a wonderful sonorous journey. :)



Fascination




Fascination (4 DAW and VSTi)


I see it
in my dreams
my new obsession
a new arp odyssey
of sine waves
and oscillators,
my motif
of the day
browse by
the day
or by the hour
screenshots
of GUI
my new window
opens up to a new world
of reverb
raising my BPM
dynamics propell
my desire.
Plug in a virtual
instrument,
increases desire
searching
for that elusive sound
so much to learn
so little time
so much to
express with my CPU.

In the middle of writing my novel I found a new obsession: making digital music. There is a lot of software to try, learn and enjoy. If you are new to virtual instruments I recommend that you start with a DAW/ VST host. Once you have a vst host or DAW you can insert your VST i (virtual instrument/ vst plug in) in the VST host.

I tried LMMS which is a VST host and it is a wonderful software that can load in plug ins (virtual instruments), contains a sound font 2 player, song editor with piano roll, beat editor, mixer with many effects and prests. You can export your music file to .wav file.

Here are cool websites to browse for vst host and instruments.

Check out the excitement, tutorials, downloads, forums. :)
LMMS
http://lmms.sourceforge.net/

Check out freeware, free vst hosts and virtual instruments
http://www.vst4free.com/

freeware, vst hosts and vst plugins
http://www.vstplanet.com/

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

POEM

Poem

You recently left
emerald acres
of tethered vinyards
on rolling hills
awash in gold
that's where
I long to be
a place I put
on a pedestal
still I met you
copper stills
hidden treasure
pink gleams.
In silence I hear
you whisper.



I dedicate this poem to my dear aunt who recently passed away.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010



Lull a Blue Bye

Lull roams
brushes past
in quiet lace
dream scapes.

Undulating
sand dunes
in hues
of blue and gold.

Is it a calm
before the storm?
Will the rosy cheeked
lasses and lads
come frolicking
again
bringing their
poems and lore
of slain dragons
and treasures
from a distant land?
Will the cabrito
be tender roasted?

Carrying a solar lamp
a lone flicker
in this quiet realm
thick reams of
isolation
a drill of a dune...
This flicka dances
to an immortal tune
a distant but steady beat.
Blue and gold
shimmering drones
echo my soul.


Monday, August 16, 2010

Harmonious Friend




My friend is a self tuning instrument,

playing unfamiliar melodies. Don't B flat.



Misunderstood tune synthesizes to a mystery.

Te quiero.



We speak only in pirate tongue.

Acquiesce squire to veritas.

Are your pants on fire?



Truth revolves but not becoming a pistol,

or does it coagulate to the blossom pistil?

Doubts flower by the hour.

His words are the sweet incubus rolling in my mind.



Veritas. Where it is.

What is hidden can be found.



The court jester is amusing muse.

Shameless hoodoo that you do.

Amorphous riddles about amour.

Why is your song so unfamiliar?

Can't you see the skin walker that I am,

the lone she wolf in human skin.

Are my eyes glowing?

I'm just happy to see you.



Run and get knackered.

I'll huff, puff, and blow

through your symphonic defenses.



So hombre, get knackered and prolly

I will place you in my trolley.



Look deep into my eyes.

You are mine.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

The Excitment Behind This Video



There was some excitment and controversy involved in the making of this video. The music was highly controversial due to its aleatorial nature and virtual chairs were thrown across the cyber room, but not by me. I am an absolute angel. Can't you see my wings? (winks). Just kidding. When I submitted my innocent little song for a critique I was surprised by the firece battle that took place among the critics. So in the video you see a private joke when the word music rests under the cottony soft batton.

I had so much fun making this video about an exciting group of people called Universal Salon which you can find on Facebook. I hope people see this video come and join us. We are artists, poets and deep thinkers.

Changing the subject, I am excited that my personal UFO account got published today in Pamela Grundy's "The Paranromal Detective" which you can read at Eye on Life magazine. Yeah!

http://www.eyeonlifemag.com/the-paranormal-detective/is-there-a-link-between-receiving-paranormal-art-and-seeing.html

Monday, July 26, 2010

Devouring Sea


Devouring Sea
Flesh rolls before my very eye.
Salt licks her sunny side eggs and his sausage bump.
Drizzling enigmatic sauce prepares to devour.
My irritating gift grows your pearl to thump.
Pouring squid ink over flesh I devour you.
Cracked you like an oyster I shuck your sea.
Crawling inside your soul I resonate your sea.
Waves of intention flood my eye.
Writhing in squid ink with flesh to devour
I find your joy stick to bump
to spank to a pulsating thump.
No peace for neurons for I crawl inside you.
Irritating sandy thoughts are my gift to you.
Welling, percolating beneath your sea,
pressing friction to fiction jolts to a thump.
Inconvenient fiction a plump figment of the eye.
Pluck, fig, tickle, bump.
Guilty thoughts on a platter: ready, aim, devour!
Warm fruits of the sea aim to devour
the soul, but an invisible umbrella shields you.
Carefully, you guard your ears from a bump
from the oscillating whispers of the sea.
Your ears like Shitake mushrooms sprout before my eye.
Stubborn edible ears don't hear my heart thump.
Dancing on your eyelashes I hear your thump.
The hours savor to devour
the briny soul before the sticky eye.
Oh, to reach the kelp tangled you.
Naked is the sea
that grinds to a bump.
Impatients bloom on a road hit a bump.
Bump and grind you to a thump.
Fruits of the sea
wait for hours to devour
the bare briny soul in you.
Sea fruits undulate a feast for the eye.
Galaxy hidden beyond my eye,
siphoning for vibrations I devour
your crunchy outer shell and you.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Invitational Interview



  • Tell me about you, your blog and send me a link. I would like to post the interview here at Raven's Art Shack.
  • Please, no politics.
  • If you curse I may transform the word into a more colorful one such as frack, fig or peach!

For Artists, Writers and Art Fans

  1. If you are an artist tell me about your medium.
  2. What art means in your life?
  3. Why do we seek beauty in our lives?
  4. What do you want your artwork to say?

Writer's link

The writer in you has spawned ideas for a story. The main character has been bitten by a butterfly carrying a rare virus. Splenda, a voluptuous redhead transforms into a carnivorous butterfly human hybrid. We need to get to know Splenda and the best way is to make a short biography in order to plot her future reactions to her condition. Our goal is to better understand, motivate and love our characters even if they turn into monsters.

Here's a helpful link for writers.
http://character-development.suite101.com/article.cfm/developing_memorable_characters

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Dog House

Welcome in
this ain't no
Bauhaus
doghouse.
Hudibrastic
(brew ha-ha)
mastic,
nuts, bolts
you're screwed!
Shunned
shuttered expressions
warped boards
buckle my mind.
Thoughts disintegrate
in crumbling
roof shingles.
Sancho Panza
got the flue
hubris
rain
crumble
this crock
of a shack.
Stupid, stupid
thoughts dip
in acid rain
hubris
pain
crumble
this crock
of a shack.
Welcome in
dog house.

P.S.

My "Picnic" poem was previously posted on Eye on Life Magazine.
http://www.eyeonlifemag.com/poetry-unlocked/the-picnic.html

Monday, July 19, 2010

The Picnic
Root beer floats.
Children play
under the
arms of trees.
Hey, check out
that old dandy
in pressed jeans
brings his own
folding picnic tables.
Honey decks
the tables in fine
acrylic ware.
A third fires
the mesquite grill.
Sweet smoke curls
dance in the breeze
drifting by family
and friends.
Whispering wind
tickles toasted ears
with auburn tresses.
Wind whispers,"
I am here."
Find a peace
of the jigsaw puzzle.
Time to eat.
A spot remains empty,
waiting.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

About Me






I am a simple person who views nature with complete awe. Living in the high desert fuels my imagination with long winters that dip into -20 F for many nights and short hot summers that rise to 100 F. My ranch is a treeless wonderland of cactus and sagebrush filled with solitude, sun and peace.




Question: What is your goal for Raven's Art Shack?




Answer: Interview artists from all mediums such as writers, composers, songwriters, culinary artists and people who think about art and what it means to them. I also will post some of my poems and music here.




Question: Where did you come up with name Raven's Art Shack?




Answer: Some people call me Raven. I plan to focus on topics to art although my interests include paranormal, nature, and herbs. Shack is for the once in a life time experience I had in Maine. I once ate at the beautiful Lobster Shack in Cape Elizabeth. The place was so beautiful with ocean view, sitting on huge logs of petrified wood with my luggage. Flowers grew on the cliff and the clams were super tender.




The photo above is the farm fresh eggs that my neighbors brought me. What a rare gourmet treat! The large green eggs are duck and the brown ones are from chicken. The eggs are so beautiful that they deserve their own poem!




GREEN EGG BROWN


Bathing in green

deep sky dips

in the shallow pool

of hammered copper

adonized in shock wave

green liquid mirror

rising from the

depths of the pool

the soul enveloped

skin unfolding

changing

baking in the

sun

freckled

brown egg

holds an

eternal treasure

of creamy gold

sizzling protein

yum.