Variations on the theme of re-birth

Clive Gerada is a Malta-based artist who has just published an exhibition called “Unrealized” on FaceBook

I want to share one of Clive’s pictures from the show here, as it rings a bell for us.  Strikes a familiar note.

Incoming...

Clive Gerada shows in “Unrealized” a series of selectively masked portraits.  His credits hint that he knows all of the characters he has portrayed. His notes say “The bare thought of “Unemployment” has given me the idea of creating a series of 13 “Unfinished” portraits, which resemble the human being when s/he feels unrealized or incompleted, or unable to fulfill his wishes to fulfill himself as a human being.”

My take on this is that Gerada refuses to give in to a spirit of malaise. Rather, he examines the feelings of in-completion by a reckoning based on “I am what I do” or identification of one’s worth being inextricably tied to one’s occupation, job description, etc.

By taking a closer look at the ‘condition’, the artist affirms his own ‘employment’, is the working artist plying his trade in a very public way.

Photo by Natalia

The concept of a figure struggling to free itself from the confines of the medium (the ‘condition’) has been around for a long time. Michaelangelo expressed it vividly in his ‘Slave” sculptures where he shows us the figure struggling to free itself from the inert sculptor’s stone.

The images here struck me personally as a metaphor for starting a new era in one’s life, with blind spots and information gaps that can seem daunting at first.  You have to gather your wits about you and tackle the challenges as they come up.

As with any creative, passionate act, all the effort and energy that goes into the construction of a new web-site can be seen as pushing of the envelope, stretching in all directions to finally arrive at a certain place where you feel fully employed, fully engaged and on fire with enthusiasm!

Making some progress w skyaak.com

Happy to say that we’re making  progress with the all new www.skyaak .com.

There’s still a ways to go yet…and confidentially… we are having so much fun experimenting with all our new toys that we will probably just keep on mashing it up, dialing it in, tweaking and the like.

It could take a little bit to massage it into shape.

So stay posted, it will be rapidly morphing in the coming days.

Royal Flush of Domain Names

Got the exciting news this morning that the domain names for our new skyaak.com site are in the bag. Now we have a Royal Flush to work with. Should be a sweep.

Check the website-in-waiting.

Still shy and blushing in its hatchling status, the ALL NEW skyaak.com will be striking out bold as brass in the coming days, so hang on tight!

Looking at the skyaak logo

A recognizable logo is fundamental in the graphic continuity of brand development.

Skyaak logo is here

Look at an early animated logo  here.

Just visited a cool site that showcases some famous logos (evolving!)

Name that skyaak skyline for free DIY deuce

Brendan w his skyaak model 3 overlooking the distant metropolis of Melbourne skyline.

Name that skyaak sky-line.

Leave a comment w locale id to grab a DIY deuce comp.

Stumped? Enjoy our instant delivery crash-free product disbursement system anytime.

First Artwork of 2009

Oscar Wilde famously quipped “Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life.”

When an artist allows the creative process to trump the ho-hum banalities of everyday life, there can be some interesting results.

What if the act of making art could cast the mold for a year in the making?

What if the choice of a specific idea or image could influence the outcome of a brand new year?

What if the very act of creativity (at the outset of a New Year) could be a harbinger for a a creative, milestone year?

Or, to put it simply, what if the conscious choice to spend the first hours and days of a New Year engaged, really focused, on being creative casts a certain attitude on the remaining 364 days ahead?

That would be a good reason to step up to creativity!

Leaving nothing to chance, I decided to do whatever…exactly…I wanted to for the past couple of days.  Turns out I planted myself in front of my easel to produce a New Painting to match the New Year.

But not just any painting, not a random subject!

I decided to paint a picture of a dragon-fly resting on a leaf.

For me, this is symbolic of latent energy…the dragon-fly can spring off it’s temporary resting spot at any time and fly away into the sky!

Thought I would show you a few of the steps that I took in the painting process to ‘breathe life’ into my fist work of art this year:

The next (and last I think) step will be to tweak the high-lights on the rear gossamer wings…just a light touch of light…

It would not be too much of a stretch to equate this idea with the steady progress we have been making with the Skyaak project, especially since the invention of the innovative Skyaak DIY deuce, the down-loadable ring wing glider that you can grab, print, laminate, custom-decorate, cut out, build and FLY.

Working it out w GoDaddy @ WordPress

Check the Skyaak R&D sister site. This is strictly an experiment, in a total state of flux.

We are going to use the WordPress platform as a launch pad for the brand new skyaak.com.

WordPress has all the support, plug-ins, CSS, et al to juice up a world-class site.

For example, GoDaddy talks to WordPress. WordPress is a plug-in feature of our spanky new GoDaddy host and by proxy server. So hang on for the ride, folks. This will be fun.

A Scary and Exciting day at Skyaak Ent.

Scary and Exciting!?!

Yesterday (November 13th, 2008) will go down in the books as a banner day here at Skyaak Enterprises. The day started off really great as we were picked up by CoolestGadgets.com. That was quite a rush!

About 150 visitors later, we saw orders for the Skyaak DIY deuce start to appear.

That sounds great, right? Not so fast! Our online vendor, Payloadz, which had worked magnificently up to this point, happened to fizzle out on us to crash and burn. So all of our customers were unable to download the pdf file they had purchased. Not so good, eh?

Well, the upside of this is that everyone who purchased the DIY deuce was presented with our contact info and they all checked in to let us know what was happening. Or NOT happening I should say!

Thankfully, I check my inbox a million times a day so I was on top of the situation. I fired the DIY deuce off to everybody with apologies and best wishes for happy Skyaak-ing! So that was good.

This went on right into the evening. Orders kept coming in and I fielded each and every one of them with a manual response. Phew!

Sooo…I’ve contacted Payloadz and now have a docket in the works. Here’s hoping that we can get to the bottom of this glitch today. I guess their servers were a little backed up. In the meantime, I’ve fulfilled all of the orders and have in the process created good will with all our new customers.

All in all it was a rewarding experience. I got to demonstrate that I am serious about “delivering the goods”, literally!

Skyaak DIY deuce tips

DIY deuce frieze rotates model CCW.

I think that is the coolest thing about the DIY deuce is that no matter how fast it flies, it seems to behave itself. This is due to the stabilizing effect of the ring-wings that is enhanced by the corkscrew motion.

Convert your PC to a Skyaak vending machine! Try out the Skyaak DIY deuce for just a couple of dollars. A fun project that shows off the cool aerodynamic properties of the Skyaak ring-wing! Try it out for only two dollars and a bit of your own time at home.

BTW, we’re in the process of organizing a CONTEST that will reward you in a couple of categories. First, we’re on the prowl for good video of the DIY deuce in action! That is a no-brainer. Creativity and clarity will figure hugely into our decision re: winners. Second, we want to see what you come up with in terms of your customizing ideas. There are lots of different ways you can add personality to your DIY deuce…coloring with various mediums, stickers, decals, you get the idea. (Just remember to keep it basically weightless because you will still want your model to fly.)

So watch this space for more details on this in the coming days. YOU could very easily qualify to win a professional Skyaak Model 3, valued at $29.99, shipped *FREE* right to your door anywhere on the planet. But you have to start off by working it out with the DIY deuce.

Make sure you photo-copy the original before you dope it with clear tape, customize, cut-out, build and launch it on its maiden voyage. Keep a ‘master’ on file so you can make more copies to build a whole fleet if you want! The object of the DIY deuce is to get the design into your hands for one low cost of $2.00 so you can experiment with the design endlessly after that. CREATIVITY and FUN are the fuels that will propel your Skyaak experience.

Looking forward to working out the details of the DIY deuce Design and Documentation Contest…and to hearing from you!

So, just to sum up, Skyaak DIY deuce stats are as follows:

1) Size: shaft about 11″ length, ring-wings flare from 2″ to 3″, 3″ deep.

2) Delivery time: instant.

3) Shipping cost: free.

4) Price: $2.00.

5) Value: Only you can decide!

Video stills of Skyaak DIY deuce being launched.