I have just fixed about a dozen broken links to external websites. I found these by using a program called Xenu Link Sleuth. I got mine from a magazine cover CD, but you can download a copy from The Xenu Website .

A while back I mentioned a service that you can pay for to have them check your links at http://www.seventwentyfour.com/, however, if your site is a non profit one like mine, then you probably can't justify the outlay.

Xenu Link Sleuth is very simple to use and it checked my whole site in about 30 seconds. Oh yes, and the best feature of all - it's absolutely FREE.

So why not grab a copy, and try it out for yourself, click the button to visit the Xenu website.

Added another two images to the Expression Gallery. I seem to be spending more time with this software than any other. It is just so versatile and after using it for a while, it is very intuitive in use.

I have just downloaded the 30 day trial of version 3, which has even more features (I haven't even used all of the features in version 2 yet)

Happy New Year.

Well yes, I am still here, although I have had a long break from the computer. Using the computer night and day, at work and at home, gets a bit much toward the end of the year, although I do usually make it to the end of November.

This year, I just took a break and got the drawing stuff out earlier than usual. I find using real art materials a nice change from computing. I can work at any size without worrying about memory, real art materials only crash when the dog knocks over the easel, and I don't have to unplug my pencil and plug it back in again, as I quite often need to do with my graphics tablet.

The main advantage of using the computer is that it is much more forgiving. You can correct as many times as you need to, without the image becoming overworked. You can also mix materials and methods on the computer, which are just impossible with real materials and you can completely change direction in the middle of the drawing, without any adverse effects.

I had been working on a colour pencil drawing, which was becoming overworked and really only fit for the bin. However, I liked the concept, and rather than start from scratch, I scanned it into Painter and reworked it a lot more until it looked more like an oil painting than a pencil drawing.

Anyway I was quite please with the final result, and have placed it in the Painter Gallery. Of course this meant updating the web site a bit, so here I am.