That being said, I make websites because I enjoy it. I make them to support my interests. I make them to help other people. Please take a moment and visit my other sites. You may find something helpful or even find that it’s something you would like to contribute to and be a part of!

• http://theysaiditbetter.com – This is a website to showcase quotations. You can browse by author. You can even submit quotes that mean something to you with or without a brief story. I’ll post them with a link back to wherever you would like.
• http://prowebwriter.com — This site is for readers and writers! Check out the extensive list of categories. I cover a lot of topics. This site pulls in a lot of search engine traffic of people seeking answers to questions. I am pleased to be able to answer many of those questions.

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Art supplies, software included, are expensive! I mean, CRAZY expensive! However, you don’t have to be limited by finances because there are several free tools available. Artpad.Art.com is one of them. It’s a flash application hosted by Art.com that’s been around for quite a while. While the interface is painfully small, the unique thing is that it lets you play back your brush strokes from beginning to end, so you can watch the painting happen before your eyes.

If you use a screen capture program like CamStudio, also FREE, you can save the play back as a video and share it which is what I have done here.

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The cool things about Artist Trading Cards in addition to being able to trade them, is that they force you to work really small as an artist. Many of these small works can be translated into larger formats. Since I pulled out these pictures, I see a couple designs that I may revisit.

So, You’re Interested?

It sounds cool, and you want to give it a try? Check out this Wikihow article that lays it all out for you very nicely. You will find various communities for buying, selling, and trading all across the Internet. Nearly every social network has a page for Artist Trading Cards.  It’s a small way to get your name out there with minimal investment and it won’t burn through all your supplies!

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(c) 2008 3D Rendering in Google SketchUp of 4142 Arville St. in Las Vegas, Nevada

This was the office building where I worked in Las Vegas. This model was initially created to appear in Google Earth, but was found to be too imperfect to be included amongst it’s 3D buildings project. This was my first and only build in Sketchup. In order to qualify for Google Earth, models must have accurate scale measurements. I didn’t know this when I started and later found I didn’t have the patience for it. This was built entirely by looking at photographs and knowledge of the building in person.

I built these stairs from scratch since there wasn’t a suitable set of ready built ones in the 3D Warehouse.

Wireframe View

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(c) 2008 Ahern Rentals logo drawn on an Etch-A-Sketch

This was a company that I worked for during my 4.5 stint in Las Vegas, NV. I’m not sure what prompted me to do this, but it’s cool nonetheless. I haven’t done any more work in Etch-A-Sketch unfortunately. Perhaps it’s time to dust it off.

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(c)2000 Acrylic paint on Watercolor Paper

This was an assignment in college. I believe it was Painting II or III. The assignment was to use analogous colors in two paintings and then complimentary colors in the last one. A triptych is a painting consisting of 3 panels painted separately.

Analogous colors are colors that are beside one another on the color wheel. For example, Blue and Green. I painted the water fountain in the courtyard of the art building (a popular subject) using shades of blue, and then shades of green. If I recall correctly, there was also a time limit on the paintings as well of like 15 minutes hence the reason they aren’t very carefully executed.

The painting in the middle is using Blue and it’s complimentary color, Yellow. The true compliment to blue is orange, but oh well. I was in school! hehe I think the third one was supposed to be a contour drawing type image, but I don’t recall the complete details of the assignment. Needless to say, this was the result. I like them, and they are displayed in my office.

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September 1996 Graphite on 8×10 typing paper 

This is from a portion of the engraving by German artist Albrecht Durer entitled Melancholia. It depicts Melancholy surrounded by the elements of her disposition. I thought it was an angel when I drew it. No doubt it was probably something that I found a picture of and drew it from the image. When I was younger, I did that a lot. I can reproduce anything that I can see by drawing. I’m not always so great at drawing images directly from my mind. This is by far the most detailed drawing I had ever done then and since.

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I’m working on it, but it may take some time to get things headed toward “interesting”. The site was originally set up with pages for each medium. On each page, there was a slideshow of the various pieces on display. NOT interesting at all. Basically, the site has sat for two years in disarray without decent updates or really anything worth talking about.

It’s time for all that to change.

Random Backstory

For lack of a better term, I was basically a vagabond for 4.5 years. I lived in Vegas and moved about 8 times during that time. We don’t want to go *that* deep into the backstory, but let’s just say I’m back home (North Carolina) now, and after 3 years, I’m finally settled and have a place to work on art when the mood hits.

So What

Well, that means new artwork. This is good. This is very, very good. So what you can expect here at DabblingArtist is more updates, new content, and interesting details about the work that will be on display here. Feel free to look around, and if you see something you like, shoot me an email from the Contact Page.

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A Thousand Words Theme

A Thousand Words was developed with the photo blogger in mind. Photographs tend to look better against dark backgrounds. If you place them on anything too colorful or busy, you lose the integrity of the image. A Thousand Words is dark on darker with a few muted dark colors mixed in for a little contrast. Your images will look amazing against the simple background. A Thousand Words places the emphasis on your images rather then the theme supporting them.

Whether you’re a blogger or looking for a backdrop for your portfolio, A Thousand Words is your answer. This theme comes in a 2-column or 3-column version. Both are available right here for download. Take one or try them both…it’s up to you.

Two Column

Click here to view a DEMO.

-OR-  

A Thousand Words (141.8 KiB)

Three Column

Click here to view a DEMO.

-OR- 

A Thousand Words 3 Columns (139.0 KiB)

As always, the terms of use are as follows:

• The footer link must remain intact
• You may not redistribute the theme in any way
• Resale rights are NOT included with the theme
• Themes are free to use on your personal or business site

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Accendolux Theme

Accendolux is Latin meaning “to kindle light”. This light and airy theme does exactly that. It has a simple design that puts the emphasis on the content. With no sidebars to deter the focus from the writing, your readers will be drawn to what you’re about.

The theme uses top navigation with no header and is perfect for image heavy posting. The neutral colors are professional, but made less drab with the use of texture. Accendolux is a very clean theme.

Click here for a DEMO

-OR- 

Accendolux (484.4 KiB)

Please adhere to the following terms of use:

• The footer link must remain intact
• You may not redistribute the theme in any way
• Resale rights are NOT included with the theme
• Themes are free to use on your personal or business site

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