Merry XXX-mas

In today's highly commercialized festivities it is easy to forget about the true meaning of Christmas: pretty girls in kinky red outfits. :) There's a XXX-mas that even an atheist like me can warmly relate to. :)

Sunshine at IMF

http://fistfulofeuros.net/afoe/economics-and-demography/sunshine-at-the-imf-of-all-places/

Empty (Space!) Suits

To take your mind of the depressing news, here is an article on a wonderful coming exhibition of lovingly crafted space suits, some of which have been to the moon. I wish I could go and visit this. When I was a kid I dreamt of being an astronaut for a while...original it certainly was not, but that is a dream no longer common among kids, it's sad that nobody seems to have grand dreams of that sort anymore, they all want to be pop stars, and everyone yawns about a shuttle launch while drooling about a stupid Ipad. Hey, why should we go to mars while there is hunger in the world? - they say - but what they mean is "why should we go to mars if we can build some new sports stadiums instead?"

Charcoal and Chalk on blue paper

What really bugs me?

They took all that tedious left-wing pinko nonsense about class warfare...

....and made it real.

Someone stole my favorite punching bag. Now heads must roll.

Tragedy at the Waldorf-Astoria

Tragedy! Rich people get mistreated by rich(er) people.

The Red Queen is all hot and ready to go

Right on queue with my previous post, "off with their heads" is chanted on the streets of London. For the record, when I mentioned the guillotine I wasn't thinking of the fossilized remnants of the old feudal lords (good for tourism and tabloids), I had in mind the new ones, who truly are begging for it.

Though it is a thing of beauty to see how the charming prince initially had his window half open, perhaps to show how confident he was of the love of the proles? Did he expect them to erupt in applause? Yes, great show of judgement, in older days the Royal family showed support for the people by staying in London during the bombings, now it does so by driving by in a Rolls Royce on the way to the Palladium to get their asses kissed and entertained by giddy "artists", escorted by state funded police, right in the face of protesters who just got their futures ruined by the supposed need to save money at all costs. Yeah, that had to work. No need to guillotine these idiots, they have no heads on their shoulders anyway.

Someone will have to make the guillotines

It is very sad to see capitalism die. It is even sadder to see it replaced by something odious that walks and talks in its name.

There is no capitalism if some actors are not allowed to fail. There is no capitalism if gains are private and losses are public.

There is no Democracy if elected officials of all colors reverse their pledges once in power. There is no Democracy if irreversible measures are passed shamelessly against the clear will of the people.

There is nothing worse than taking the same position whatever the state of reality. The current situation should not be fought by communists who think -wrongly- that what they are fighting is capitalism. It should be fought by capitalists and democrats of all sorts who realize that capitalism and democracy have been murdered and replaced by a cleptocracy, run by feudal lords, where all but the few at the top are to be medieval serfs.

As things are, there is no shame in fighting alongside the communists, socialists, anarchists (or for that matter their equivalents in the right) even if they are fighting for the wrong reasons - there will be time to reform our lines later on. It is far more shameful to fight, by mere habit, by the side of those who happen to carry the flags we once stood by. A political party is not a football club. There is no lifetime allegiance to a flag or a denomination, but to a principle. People in all these camps can certainly agree that we do not deem acceptable to spend the rest of our lifes in medieval serfdom for the benefit of a few rich criminals - those of us with libertarian inclinations should agree with that most of all.

It is not capitalism if winners are fixed; it is not capitalism without social mobility; it is not capitalism without meritocracy; it is not capitalism if the tough rules of the market are not obeyed by all equally.

It is not capitalism at all. It is just a few rich people who got to the top, who then failed miserably, and rather than accept the market's verdict, bought the politicians and got the state to bear their losses. Not content with that, they get even richer, ruin the rest of us, and dare to call for cuts in the very social programs that are more than ever needed to help the people they have ruined. That these very same criminals should dare speak of "fiscal responsibility", while again indulging in their bonuses, is a cruel joke. That politicians should claim that they cannot interfere with the free market - when they interfered beyond all reason to preserve these people, and in doing so ruined their nations! - is all the proof that is needed that they are in their pockets. It is not capitalism, and it is not democracy. It is a bunch of rich people who took over the system for themselves. It is nothing less than a coup.

I predict that if this isn't stopped soon, at least some new manufacturing jobs will arise. Someone will have to make the guillotines.

going down

In these most interesting days we now live in, we find ourselves questioning the very basis for our way of life. Oh, not whether our present life and our future plans were really ever worthwile, but simply whether or not they are tenable. Some find their great master plans unravelling, some others find that even the simple plans, the mere enjoyment of an ordinary human life - or what in the West we came to call normal, in our once privileged cocoon - become suddenly tenuous at best. A friend tells me that the future will be a time for re-embracing mysticism - I shudder at the thought. I agree however that the future may be a time to retreat within - but not to Religion, to astrology, to witch doctors, to "belief", that most primitive human pharmacology, but to those things that we can really rely on and don't require too much of a financial burden: rational thought, philosophy, the pleasures of the flesh, and, last but never least, the box of crayons.

Silly dancers

Process

1- mechanical pencil 0.5mm 2B on 15x19cm paper.

2-Sakura brush + sakura 0.05 + white gel pen

3-Watercolor+lousy scan+photoshop

Watercolor portrait 16/10/10

Lately I've been taking my watercolors with me everywhere. With a pentel brushpen for black ink and another one filled with water I can get a quick impression that looks much better than my usual graphite studies. I find, however, that a graphite study teaches me more; it is a colder, more disciplined approach. But it looks poorer, and now that the world is getting poorer all around, I guess I need to contribute some richesses to the pages of my notebook. Of such careful balance is a good mood made. On that note, it is ironic perhaps that this sketch was made on a page that I was beggining to fill with calculations on Bayesian probability.

Rua Augusta

Uma vista da Rua Augusta, feita neste Sábado durante o X encontro dos urban sketchers.

Even more Bouncies up to their tricks

More Bouncies frolicking around

Bouncies

I've been drawing these bouncy guys for some time now. They just pop up on the borders of my notebooks, usually doing Aikido or gymnastics of some sort. I find the forms really appealing; sometimes they are rounder, sometimes they spread those sleeves and hover around like bats. For some reason I find it relaxing to draw their antics.

Colored Pencil - copy of Carl Brenders

Making copies is a great way to learn. This is a very small copy (about 10x10 cm) done in colored pencil of a Carl Brenders (gouache?) original. It was pretty fast, maybe around three or four very relaxed hours over two sessions. Most of the trouble it gave me was self-inflicted. I wanted to do the whole thing just with four pencils (caran-d'ache orange, yellow, light blue (though I forgot and used a bit of darker blue on the nose, I think, quite without need), and red, and black for darkening and gray for desaturating. I wanted to prove to a couple of friends that you don't need the convenience colors, as the name implies, you can mix them as long as you have saturated colors, it's the opposite you cannot do - those glowing "neon" colors just can't be made from your payne's gray, burnt umber, sienna, or sap greens, I'm afraid, but the opposite is quite doable, though it will tax your patience (and therefore teach you a lot about your colors).

Oh, and the hairs were done with a blade.

...and yet another (watercolor) frog

Done a while ago, but lately I've been too busy to post, much less paint any new stuff.

Another watercolor frog

Another small watercolor frog, painted from photo reference.

watercolor

Watercolor under construction, maybe about half way there. Just an exercise, working from photographic reference.

Urban Sketchers V - Santa Justa (3)

The view from above. No topo do elevador, olhando para a praça do Comércio. Devia ter puxado das aguarelas, mas gostei deste desenho. O meu favorito da sessão.

Urban Sketchers V - Santa Justa (2)

Em frente ao elevador, outras artes plásticas (ou silicónicas)...

Urban Sketchers V - Santa Justa (1)

No Sábado passado, debaixo de uma chuvinha desagradável, juntei-me aos Urban Sketchers e fui desenhar nas imediações do elevador de Santa Justa. Aqui estão os resultados. My first official sketchcrawl, even though in point of fact I sketchcrawl all the time. Perdi-me um bocado do resto do pessoal, mas deu para conhecer o Rui (tão perdido como eu), e esbarrar com a Sara quase no final.

Urban Sketchers V - Santa Justa (0)

Random people in the subway, on the way to Santa Justa.