AlistairScribbles 16

03 Nov AlistairScribbles 16

3rd November 2026

Welcome to another collection of’ ‘scribbles’. As always, I hope you find some enjoyment in viewing these.

I’m feeling a little more vulnerable than usual, as I realise more than ever the need to improve my skills to fulfil my desire to make a contribution through creative output. For this reason I hope you will be motivated to provide some constructive criticism.

********

Learning to Be a Daisy

As simple as this image is, I have learnt from the process of producing it and from the use of one of the new tools available in Apple’s Freeform App. for MacBook.

********

Merging Colours

It is common knowledge that mixing colours produces new colours and that colours appear to change depending on the surrounding palate of colours. In this image the background (which is constant across the frame) appears to change colour and shade behind each set of coloured lines; for example the bottom left corner background, compared to the bottom right side.

********

The Traffic Jam at the Main Street Railway Crossing

During our September caravan trip we visited Blayney NSW. We set up camp at the caravan park just before lunch. Then after lunch we decided to drive into the town centre to look around. Unfortunately we were stopped before we reached the town centre by a very long traffic queue.

There were many large laden trucks, busses and cars in the queue, all waiting for something to move. We couldn’t see the cause of the hold up and noticed we were only moving forward when someone in front of us made a U-turn and drove back in the other direction. After observing this for a while we decided to exit the queue in the same way. For almost an hour, no-one could leave the town driving south west and no-one could enter the town coming the opposite way.

Later we discovered that the railway level crossing boom gates were locked in the down position and the red stop lights fixed on, due to a technical fault with the railway signal system. This was the cause of the whole town centre being gridlocked. And the reason it took so long to fix … there were no qualified technicians in Blayney, so technicians had to be sent from Bathurst to Blayney, about 40 kms away.

I wanted to tell this story in as simple an image as I could conceive. I hope I’ve achieved this goal.

********

Weathering The Storm

Included in the latest MAC Freeform software update are many new tools, which were previously only available for iPad. However, the most important graphics hardware tool, the Apple Pencil, can’t be used on Macs, because it requires a touch screen and Macs do not support touch screens.

In this image I’ve used two of the new software tools; the Paint Brush for wind, mist and sea effects and the freehand drawing Pen for lines and dots.

Does this image work? I’m not certain that it does. All feedback is welcome.

********

This is My Best Side

I started this image with the desire to draw human eyes and ended with this portrait (a fictitious lady).

I am aware that there are faults with this image; the hair is too flat, the skin colour is totally unreal, the features are mere suggestions and there are some perspective anomalies (some of which I have tried to correct unsuccessfully). Still I think it is worth showing to you. What do you think?

********

The Voices in Your Head

Like many people, I have ‘critics’ in my head telling me I’m hopeless. Many years ago I learnt to tame those critics, but they still try to be heard at times.

********

Light Rail

********

Shattered Dreams

I’m certain we have all experienced this in our lives, but it is how we handle it that makes us who we truly are.

********

Line, Colours and Spaces 3

This is a match for version 1 of the same name, which I published in AlistairScribbles 15. Versions 1 & 3 could be displayed beside each other, where as version 2 is not suitable to display with the other two.

********

Thanks for staying with me until this point. I hope you have benefitted in some way from what you’ve seen and read. I also hope you will leave some constructive feedback for me below.

During the next twelve months, I hope to make substantial improvements to my work; by using an iPad with an Apple Pencil, more suitable digital drawing/painting software, and doing an on-line art course(s). Of course the proof will have to wait until the next episode. I hope you will ‘tune in’ then.

Until next time, stay safe and well.