23:52 
I reckon the inside of my head looks like this sometimes:
There are some really cool effects with this thing, but I think there is a problem with my machine because it is complaining of insufficient memory and hanging to the point of havingto be shut down all of a sudden. It could be that the processor fan is having real problems, I suppose, but it seems to be working ok. It's spinning round quite quickly and everything. Hurm.
21:28
The more I play with this Painter Classic thing the more useful it is. It's not a graphic design package like PSP or Fireworks, and you can't do the sorts of things with it that you can do with something like Photoshop, but it's such good fun if you have any interest in art at all.
The different styles you can use give you so many options. I can definitely imagine being able to do really good stuff by taking photos and painting from things in the photos.
It's odd. I used to do a lot of art. I used to do enough art that I was paid for it occasionally. I've always fancied using watercolours but have been an oil pastel and chalk kind of person, with an occasional foray into the world of paint pencils. This software is great because you can play with the various media without actually having to spend money on the materials, which is brilliant.
My issue at the moment is that I've almost forgotten how to take what's inside my head and put it onto a piece of paper, and I'm still learning the myriad ins and outs of this package. The graphics tablet has to be my best acquisition in a long time, though, it's great.
Bought a Lowe Alpine balaclava today as well, and an MSR insulated mug. The itchy feet are getting itchier, and I can see myself getting to the stage where I have to go out for a day's walking no matter the weather or if I have to do it alone. I might see if I can persuade Frood to come somewhere with me on Boxing Day, assuming we're not too hungover to drive. I really want to go walking in snow, for some reason. I have this hankering to be sat in a little hollow in the snow, boiling up some water on the trangia and making hot chocolate.
It's that Kim Stanley Robinson book I read in Scotland. I'm a sucker for KSR. I've read two of his books only, because they have such a profound effect on me I have to space them out. One of the most gloriously pagan and ecologically minded books I have ever read is Pacific Edge, which almost altered the way I think and feel about a lot of things. I wish I had my own copy of that, but the one I read belonged to an old, dear friend of mine (Frannie, if you ever read this, some of the peculiar things I think are your fault for lending me that book - thank you). I know that, right now, if I were to come into a pile of money (but not a huge pile) it would go on winter outdoor gear for Frood and myself, so that we could get out sensibly.
Speaking of books, Frood bought me Three Books of Occult Philosophy by Henry Cornelius Agrippa. It is edited and annotated by Donald Tyson, who claims to have corrected the vast majority, if not all of the errors included in every edition, including the Latin, for the last 500 years. I find myself feeling rather dubious about this, especially as he claims that some of the figures he has had to redraw with no guide, using only the internal logic of the figures themselves. So, it's corrected as far as he is concerned, although I wonder what Agrippa would make of it. Still, the notes are very comprehensive,and it is very well referenced, and I don't have any material like that at all. Even if he is nutty enough to claim that any magician using the material before his corrections are actually doing it incorrectly, I expect I'll get some use out of it. If only to be able to find out what other people are talking about (or think they are talking about - which is an entirely different matter) sometimes.
Oh crumbs. There's Frood. Best get some tidying up done.
Thursday, December 21, 2000
