Stouffville, Ontario Canada (647) 962-1997 gwstudios@rogers.com M-F 8:30am - 2:30pm & 8:00pm - 11:00pm

Tag: anger

Beaten by the elusive Skin Tones…

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Started the Ogre Rogue paint up today. It was supposed to look mostly human, with a hint of a blue wash over top. But I washed out all of the skin tone variation flecking of Mahogany, Red, Green & Blue by spraying too heavy on the high lights. And then the very thin blue paint washed away much of what was beneath it, into one flat drab monotone. So there is 2.5 hours wasted. Now I need to have a think on whether to prime it all black again, and try once more from the start. Or. Here’s a big, ‘or’, add more flecks of colour over top ever so slightly, and just continue on. As I do have a ticking clock counting down with more reports coming on my heels. You know what. I think I can salvage it with some slight flecking of different colours. I won’t have the highlights I was hoping for, but it will at least look less flat.

See if you can spot where I bungled the whole thing.

Rose red brown base coat.
50/50 Red and the next colour
100% second colour. Then, flecks of mahogany, red, blue and green.
1st high light. A tad bold.
Second high light – can still see flecks- kind of.
Too far. Got heavy handed with the paint.
Blue washed out all details.
Pooling starts to get really noticeable.
Pulled colour off the face – tried “something”, it did not work.

Yeah – so… not impressed with myself right now. I was a bit heavy handed on applying the high lights, and I washed away all of the depth. And my thinned down blue ran, and puddled, and looks pretty bad. Oh well. Still lots to learn. I should have used a clear coat at some point, most likely just before the heavily thinned blues. Live and learn.

Experience is gained through stupid mistakes. So I’m pulling in XP like nobody’s business right now. I really should have stopped once my high lights had totally covered the flecks. I’m always rushing. Rush, rush, rush. For some reason a sense of urgency permeates through nearly everything I do as a hobby. I managed to quell it in my wood working, namely because table saws, and blades are waiting for a moment of inattention to take my fingers. And I know how to be calm when I work my day job. But man, do I ever get impatient when painting. Chill out my man. It’s not a paid commission. Take your time my dude.

Somehow it’s only Tuesday. American Thanksgiving is coming up on Thursday, so there must be football, and parades and such coming up soon. I need to eat some breakfast, and think about this painting mistake. Airbrush compressor is now making a different sound than usual. Not sure what to do about this. Excuse to buy a better one should it crap out entirely? Or is it finally breaking itself in. I have no idea whatsoever.

When the kids are spoiling for a fight…

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Oh my god, these kids are driving me nuts! All they want to do is follow each other around and start shit – constantly. Shouting & fighting for what appears to be no reason. Ugh! I’m sick of this, so very, very sick of this. The name calling, the breaking stuff, the little puppy dog following routine just to start throwing punches, scratches, or a bite. No wonder people way back when used to beat the shit out of their kids. Time outs, and being sent to their rooms has only worked for so long. In the words of the Simpsons, I have a “hanker’in for a spanker’in“. But that doesn’t really work either. Just makes everyone hate each other. Can’t lock’em in a closet to keep them apart either. Truly very frustrating.

I have high hopes still, that the two will like each other as they grow up into their teen years and beyond. A man can dream can’t he? Maybe it’s just a multi year long phase? Are they just bored? Upset by all of the impending cold weather? Out of sorts because Christmas looms so ominously large on the horizon. I wonder if the youngest is upset due to all of the birthday talk for the eldest’s birthday party that is coming up before Christmas. Could be a multitude of things given how complicated children are. Sometimes I have to just shake my head and walk away. Take a minute to decompress while they work in tandem to press all of my buttons at once like only your family can.

Now look, we’re all cuddled up on the couch watching Mike the Knight as they share a snack. So who knows what the hell is going on. Doesn’t make those tense moments any better. But I far prefer the quiet times over the tumultuous ones.

Gah! Kids. So much hard work. A real labour of love to keep all of our heads on straight. Kudos to all of you out there raising little ones. It’s a daily struggle.

Springless Trampolines: The Episode that doesn’t ever end.

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If I never build another springless trampoline in my lifetime it’ll have been one too many to begin with. What a horrendous pain in the ass this monstrosity is. Counter intuitive. Washed out colour coded stickers. Oblong netting that only fits if it’s exactingly precise. A nightmare all around. Plus it’s second hand, and has seen some wear and tear, Nay! Neglect, I would venture to say. Bent frame pieces, legs that are 5° out of wack, and the sockets for the fiberglass pins all splayed out willy-nilly. My god. I hate it. I hate with a passion. I detest it with the fire of a thousand suns. We’ve gotten within 5% of complete, only to realize the instructions put us off by mere inches. Had to strip it back down and start again, three fucking times. I hate it, I hate it, I hate myself. Bah gawd lowrd in heavon! Fuck. Taking photos of it to take to the main office in Markham to see if we in fact have a lemon, or if these contraptions are among some of the worst things designed ever. My palms are bruised, my knuckles scraped, my arms are tired, and we still have fifty to sixty of these springless pins left to attach to the canvas mat at some point in the near future to look forward to. To say I am frustrated, angered, livid or disagreeable right now, is to put things mildly. I care not, for you or your ilk, springless trampoline. I would take a saws-all too you if I could. Pitch your parts into a burn barrel and watch your essence boil and bubble away into an equally ineffectual goo. You bother me, and I hate you. Fin.

What a Gods be damned day.

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Just shy of six hours spent with tech support to fix an Adobe issue that spanned Apple Support, Norton Antivirus and the titular character Adobe Creative Cloud desktop app. One wouldn’t let the other communicate, tech’s deleted stuff, got pushed from one serviceman to another, dropped by Apple Support, and then my lone east indian saviour from Adobe Tech support got me going again, five hours and fifty some odd minutes later. My back aches, my insides hurt, my nerves are frazzled and I’m annoyed as fuck. But First World Problems right!? Couldn’t do any work for six hours, and I feel like trash.

Technology, gotta love it, and hate the shit out of it. Glad I had given myself a grace day, so I didn’t feel like puking my guts out over the lost productivity. That folks is why I push to do more than I can on any given day, because you just don’t know if things are going to get fucky.

I had plans for doing something fun today. On the plus side two clients paid me today, so that was fantastic, and positive aspect to my day.

Seeing my business grind to a halt over a single, yet compounding issue really gave me pause today. I’m not looking forward to having to update my machines in the coming years. Fingers crossed!