Peace - Christmas 2009

Solstice

Inspired by Terri Windling. The stone circle is at Scorhill, in Devon
http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/aburnham/eng/scorh.htm
Update: Terri Windling and Ellen Datlow were just honored by the SFWA with the Solstice Award.
http://www.sfwa.org/2010/04/sfwa-announces-2010-solstice-award-honorees/

White Poppies

Read about White Poppies for Peace
here.

Donate to help the women and girls of Afghanistan

http://www.futuregen.ca/

http://www.rawa.org/index.php

Print on Demand

Coming soon:
http://bit.ly/Tiganaprint

Here's a sample.

Detail:

The Ugly Duckling

"The Ugly Duckling” (Danish: Den grimme ælling) is a literary fairy tale by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen (1805 – 1875). The story tells of a homely little bird born in a barnyard who suffers abuse from his neighbors until, much to his delight (and to the surprise of others), he matures into a graceful swan, the most beautiful bird of all.
Link
Green duckling/swan available from Cafepress.

Sea Dreams (The Dawn Treader)

The Dawntreader
by Joni Mitchell
Listen

Peridots and periwinkle blue medallions
Gilded galleons spilled across the ocean floor
Treasure somewhere in the sea and he will find where
Never mind their questions there's no answer for
The roll of the harbor wake
The songs that the rigging makes
The taste of the spray he takes
And he learns to give
He aches and he learns to live
He stakes all his silver
On a promise to be free
Mermaids live in colonies
All his seadreams come to me

City satins left at home I will not need them
I believe him when he tells of loving me
Something truthful in the sea your lies will find you
Leave behind your streets he said and come to me
Come down from the neon nights
Come down from the tourist sights
Run down till the rain delights you
You do not hide
Sunlight will renew your pride
Skin white by skin golden
Like a promise to be free
Dolphins playing in the sea
All his seadreams come to me

Seabird I have seen you fly above the pilings
I am smiling at your circles in the air
I will come and sit by you while he lies sleeping
Fold your fleet wings I have brought some dreams to share
A dream that you love someone
A dream that the wars are done
A dream that you tell no one but the grey sea
They'll say that you're crazy
And a dream of a baby
Like a promise to be free
Children laughing out to sea
All his seadreams come to me

© 1968; Siquomb Publishing Company

Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?

Four years after the worst civil engineering disaster in the world since Chernobyl, one of the greatest cities in the world is still a mess.
Here is a summary of the situation in NOLA from the Huffington Post.

Please support Common Ground Relief in NOLA and Levees.org in their work.

Buy a Marie Laveau Voodoo Queen shirt, a mug, a button, a bag.... All profits from sales go to Common Ground Relief in New Orleans. Click on the image to get a better view of these wicked good products. And the t-shirts also come in BLACK!


Common Ground’s mission is to provide short term relief for victims of hurricane disasters in the Gulf Coast region, and long term support in rebuilding the communities affected in the New Orleans area. Common Ground is a community-initiated volunteer organization offering assistance, mutual aid and support. The work gives hope to communities by working with them, providing for their immediate needs and emphasizes people working together to rebuild their lives in sustainable ways.

Dancing at the Revolution

Art Nouveau treatment of two of my favourite characters.



Image on gear available from eBay and Cafepress.

Katrina's Toys at Drawger

Drawger is displaying one of my images - "Katrina's Toys", two porcelain dolls in water - in a show that is a tribute to New Orleans.

Link

Nights in White Satin

At actual size this image would fill your screen more than three times.



Image available on T shirt and other gear at eBay and soon at Cafepress.

All Your Base Are Belong to SU

Image - spoof from this.


I am enthusiastic user of Creative Commons licences and have donated work to individuals and causes that I believed were important. I love StumbleUpon (SU); it is a great utility for learning and exchanging ideas, and the community has wonderful people.

But when SU was sold to eBay, things began to go downhill. Its functionality declined with every "improvement", and recently Stumblers (as they are known) discovered that new Terms of Service (TOS) might take over creator's rights - something that I and others there feel strongly about. Messages began to fly between members; some Stumblers wondered if it were possible to buy SU back from eBay, and I posted Creator's Rights info below and the "All your base" spoof image above.

UPDATE - April 14th 2009: StumbleUpon's original owners responded to the groundswell of activism. The founders have declared it is a startup again, and say they are going to take it back and rework/improve it.
Link
While there was no mention of the copyright issues in press releases, we hope this means more respect for the rights of SU subscribers and bloggers.

Here is what I posted on my SU blog and here on April 11th 2009:
It is time for bloggers and subscribers at Stumbleupon/SU to take a stand against new Terms of Service.

Stumbleupon Terms of Service
http://www.stumbleupon.com/terms/
3.3 Your Content
"By posting any Content on the Services, you hereby grant to us an unrestricted, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, fully-paid and royalty-free, license (with the right to sublicense through unlimited levels of sublicensees) to use, copy, perform, display, create derivative works of, and distribute such Content in any and all media or distribution method (now known or later developed) throughout the world."

NO.

Your work is copyright to you, and if anyone wishes to use it, they must get a written release with all parties involved. Usage without permission constitutes copyright infringement, and is punishable by law.




Sample contracts from about.com
Sample agreement - Graphic Artists Guild
Sample agreement - AIGA
Sample agreement - Rooster
Sample letter - request for permission

Harlan Ellison fights for creators' rights
http://harlanellison.com/KICK/

On Intellectual Property and copyright law:
Copyright.gov
ARSNY
Graphic Artists Guild
about.com
Intellectual property
Copyright in Visual arts
Artslaw.org
University of Albany
Copyrights and Wrongs (by kids)
Statute of Queen Anne - copyright law in UK from 18th Century
Illustrator's Partnership



From Massive Black and Concept Art, a video on creators' rights and nondisclosure agreements



Update, April 2010: The fight continues... see Chris Buzell's blog at Drawger The Tyee - Digital Rights - Creative Commons http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/technology/07google.html Artists to sue Google for rights

February and March 2009 - Cartoons at Rabble.ca

http://www.rabble.ca/multimedia/show-rabble-some-love

http://www.rabble.ca/multimedia/equality-vs-harper-week-women-canada

http://rabble.ca/multimedia/blessed-are-peacemakers

http://www.rabble.ca/multimedia/canadian-government-hurts-free-speech-vendetta-against-galloway

A busy week at Rabble.ca

Rabble.ca , a progressive Canadian publication, featured three of my images on its front page this week. Here they are:


A Shakespearean Tragedy in Ottawa by Tigana
http://www.rabble.ca/multimedia/shakespearean-tragedy-ottawa
Rabble columnist James Laxer writes, "Jack Layton is now the real leader of the opposition; Ignatieff plays Hamlet"
http://www.rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/james-laxer/jack-layton-now-real-leader-opposition-ignatieff-plays-hamlet
Vancouver SUN story here: http://preview.tinyurl.com/c92g2r


Four Sheets to the Wind - Image by Tigana
It's budget day in Ottawa and Canada is seeing red. Prime Minister Harper offers a four-page document to stimulate the economy - but is he more likely to get opposition from Canadians?
http://www.rabble.ca/multimedia/four-sheets-wind
Will Canada's Conservative government fall today?
http://www.rabble.ca/babble/canadian-politics/confidence-vote-wednesday-january-28-2009-will-government-fall



Canada: Ignatieff Maple/fig leaf
here http://www.rabble.ca/multimedia/maplefig-leaf

A Farewell to Bush

These images were accepted at Drawger before the inauguration of Obama.