A Memorial

 I did post an "Island Times Story 005" this past Saturday. Not your usual video log about the island. But a memorial to my wife in the form a slide show of my soulmate who shared her life and introduced me to the island that she loved so much.

Island Times 004 is Up

 

The past video log was a difficult video to create. I received the return box from Apple for my old computer and sent my iMac back expecting that I would have to create this video on my MacBook pro which only has a 13" screen. A challenging thing to do on such a small screen. But, while backing up the iMac, I transferred all of the files I would need to the MacBook and started the editing process. Lo and behold the new computer arrived unexpectedly a day early. So I hurriedly set it up, transferred the files back to the new computer and then remembered that I had to reinstall all of the software I would need in order to edit the clips. Also, the new iMac came with a two generation old operating system on it....Thanks Apple. So I had to wait seemingly forever to bring the OS current. Whew. But in the end things got back to something more normal and I was apple to cut something together. While waiting for the OS to upgrade, I did some digital sketching and was able to to create a new little intro animation. Hope you enjoy.

Island Times 003

I am finding that it is taking forever to produce a weekly video log. I can’t imagine having to produce a daily YouTube. The learning curve is spectacularly huge. I have watched literally hundreds of YouTube videos on how to post a YouTube video, and I still don’t think I am doing it correctly.

Then there are the learning curves for each of the cameras (Canon 77D, GoPro Hero 4 Black, and dji Pocket 2), the learning curves for each of the apps associated with those cameras, and finally learning the software to post-process and produce cogent final content to upload.

Two of the most problems I have had are with:

• Creating a workflow for aggregating all the clips and stills from the week into  a useful file structure

• Post processing the individual clips. Lately I have taken the approach to work on the clips individually ie. color grading and stabilizing and trying to make each clip stand on its own prior to producing final content. Have been doing the former in DaVinci Resolve 17 and the latter in iMovie. iMovie is totally inadequate and unforgivable for in-depth post processing but very easy to put out the final product. DaVinci Resolve has been fun to learn on a clip by clip basis. Bottom line, I need to get better at filming the clips to start with.

I didn’t get into the studio this week to paint. Totally infatuated with having all this fun learning!

Enjoy this week’s “Island Times 003”

A New Start

Have been spending much of my time during COVID learning about the camera gear that I have acquired since my last post. That has also necessitated learning how to use many new software applications. So I got this idea to do a weekly video log of sorts creating content to post on YouTube. Not for caring about the whole social aspect of the platform I have tried to focus just on using my gear and using the software to generate content. Hope, in the process that I am creating something others enjoy. 

I have entitled these posts Island Times Stories. Developed weekly and about living on an island off the coast of Maine, I have managed to produce two so far. Keeping my expectations low, but it has provided something creative to do during the pandemic. Here are the first to links for viewing.Also by way of studio news, I have started a new acrylic portrait. Progress is visible in Story 002.

Story 001

Story 002

Progress

The weather on the island continues to be unsettled and not very summery. Until yesterday early afternoon we had been in the midst of a week long showery and foggy time. The fourth of July was pretty quiet what with all the canceled fireworks and parades because of the pandemic social distancing. Then yesterday the clouds blew out, the sun appeared and the air became noticeably cooler and drier. I was up at about 4:30 and the moon was out, still pretty dark but the birds were all abuzz (kind of weird). So I went out to get a few snaps of the early morning moon. The morning started with clear skied and lovely sunshine. I thought it was going to be a continuation of yesterday afternoon, but at the time of this posting it has disappeared again behind overcast skies.

While waiting for my seascape to dry for detailing,  I used the last couple of days to paint the requisite yearly self portrait. I thought it turned out pretty well, and this morning it was dry enough to varnish. Hope to spend the day back painting the seascape I started a number of days ago.

"2020 Self Portrait," 9x12inches, acrylic on canvas panel

This morning's moon

Osmo Pocket

The open box DJI Osmo Pocket that I purchased on Ebay arrived in yesterday's mail, a day earlier than expected. Cool little (and I mean little) video camera, gimbal and action camera all in one. It looks like the camera DJI  uses on some of their drones, only made to fit in your hand. This Osmo can shoot in 4k, 60fps and will basically allow you to all the things that their gimbal for your cell phone would let you do. It comes with an iPhone and Android adapter that works with their app that you can download. I found some great YouTube videos on how to get the most out of using it. It will fun to use in preparing Instagram stories. The pocket is also expandable with a whole host of accessories. The app is quite good and have found the camera to very compatible with my Samsung Note 10+. Hope to take it for a test drive later this afternoon on a walk.

I have also been fooling around with my Samsung Gear 360 Immersive and wide angle photography has always interested me. I have been looking to use photos taken with the 360 as references for paintings. It takes beautiful stills. Here is a couple of snaps taken in my garden.

Progress

Have spent some time over the last few days switching gears from painting with acrylic paints to painting with oils. The biggest thing to get used to, for me, is the dry times. The acrylics dry so fast which enables you to move from one area of a painting to another while different parts of the canvas dry. Now that I have blocked in all the color for this oil painting, its all wet, so I am going to wait a couple of days for it to skin over before working on the details. Otherwise, I will in all likelihood produce a muddy mess. In the mean time I think that I will start a new painting and get that going. I can keep painting and then switch between the two. A few progress pictures follow: