The Lemming's Been Thinking
You may have seen this picture before. I used a copy, in "
Lemming Tracks: The Lemming Has Been Thinking, Again" (October 30, 2008)) This graphic's been reduced to 48% actual size, to accommodate the blog's format. If your browser allows you to, you'll get more detail by viewing the image by itself. Or, try viewing it in this
gallery page at
Renderosity.
The only sort of art I've been able to work with for the last several years has been digital stuff like this. The thumb and first two digits on both hands were numb, an effect of carpal tunnel troubles. That was actually an improvement: for quite a while before that, they'd been quite distinctly painful.
Thankfully, I had learned touch typing in my youth, and so could type adequately well without (paradoxically) being able to feel the keys. Happily, keyboards generally are of a standard size and configuration. Using a mouse was no problem. The tactile sense in my palms worked fine.
Drawing or painting, though, were out of the question. I hadn't realized how much I relied on tactile feedback from those digits. Without it, I had barely enough control over where a pencil tip went to write legibly.
Getting laid off in the spring of 2006 freed up time to take my body in for a long-overdue overhaul. By the end of the year they'd swapped out both hips and fixed problems with my hands - including the carpal tunnel thing.
About that picture: The figure sitting on the box is this blog's mascot, the Apathetic Lemming. I'd been working with light and shadow, and this is how the exercise came out. If it seems a bit - somber? - that should be no surprise. I've felt like that, quite a bit, since I turned 13.
A few years ago I was diagnosed as having major depression: a treatable chemical glitch in the central nervous system. Now, instead of drinking a dozen cups of strong coffee each day to keep me going, I take a set of (prescribed) drugs that works better - without the jittery side-effects.
Enough about me. Next, here's the sort of thing I'd imagine when my immediate surroundings seemed about as dusty as that attic.
Refuge / Shangri-La
I've displayed this image in a few places, under both names. It's another impression piece, in a way: and something I worked on to get the hang of another 3D modeling program.
I'm not sure where it is, but my guess is that Refuge isn't on Earth. Or anywhere else in the Solar system. There's enough atmosphere for cirrus-like clouds, but the sky's mostly clear. And those stars are awfully bright.
Maybe someday I'll discover where it is.
Back to "
Lemming Tracks: Digital Artwork Dredged from My Computer" (August 27, 2009)
