....good food, good company, perfect weather!
One of my favorite places with my favorite people! Fins @ Venice Beach with my 'boys'!
Paradise! :D
Tuesday, July 30, 2019
Monday, July 29, 2019
Wednesday, July 24, 2019
Monday, July 22, 2019
Thursday, July 18, 2019
Oh Brother....
I mean that in more than one way......
Our printer(s) finally gave up the ghost. BOTH! At the same time. Well, not exactly at the same time. Mine was dying a slow, painful death but I kept it limping along for a while. Then Husband's died a sudden death.
So we did a little research and decided to go cheap this time. I only need a printer for scanning my art and Husband just prints receipts. So CHEAP it is!
We bought a Brother. Mostly because the ink cartridges are CHEAP! I mean cheapy cheap cheap!
Not a bad little machine. The biggest complaints online were that it was noisy. I don't know what brand of printer that commenter had before this one but it must have been silent because I don't find this one loud at all!
We plugged it in, set it up and I sat down prepared for the usual learning curve. Considering it's a cheap printer it doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles so I wasn't expecting much of a learning curve.
Au contraire!
Well, let me amend that statement. It wasn't so much of a learning curve as a day of disappointment trying to figure out how to get the scanner to scan my art in the colors I used to create it!
I went online to try and troubleshoot and/or calibrate the scanner. After HOURS of pulling out my hair in frustration I have come to the conclusion it can't be calibrated and I just need to learn more about Photoshop to adjust the things I scan......I'm admitting defeat (for now) and will be satisfied with this compilation after a discouraging day of fighting with technology!
Our printer(s) finally gave up the ghost. BOTH! At the same time. Well, not exactly at the same time. Mine was dying a slow, painful death but I kept it limping along for a while. Then Husband's died a sudden death.
So we did a little research and decided to go cheap this time. I only need a printer for scanning my art and Husband just prints receipts. So CHEAP it is!
We bought a Brother. Mostly because the ink cartridges are CHEAP! I mean cheapy cheap cheap!
Not a bad little machine. The biggest complaints online were that it was noisy. I don't know what brand of printer that commenter had before this one but it must have been silent because I don't find this one loud at all!
We plugged it in, set it up and I sat down prepared for the usual learning curve. Considering it's a cheap printer it doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles so I wasn't expecting much of a learning curve.
Au contraire!
Well, let me amend that statement. It wasn't so much of a learning curve as a day of disappointment trying to figure out how to get the scanner to scan my art in the colors I used to create it!
I went online to try and troubleshoot and/or calibrate the scanner. After HOURS of pulling out my hair in frustration I have come to the conclusion it can't be calibrated and I just need to learn more about Photoshop to adjust the things I scan......I'm admitting defeat (for now) and will be satisfied with this compilation after a discouraging day of fighting with technology!
PS I have a few leftover (never been opened) ink cartridges from the old printers. If anyone uses
Epson 69 or HP 920 inks let me know. Free to a good home! ;)
Monday, July 15, 2019
Wednesday, July 10, 2019
♪♫♪♫♪♫ Memories ♪♫♪♫♪♫
I was mindlessly playing with the multi colored colored pencils. Just laying down swatches of color to see what they'd look like. Seeing how they blended. Wondering how I could use them. As the page began to fill up it reminded me of a story my mother used to tell......
When I was two years old I was in the hospital. Family lore has it my lungs collapsed. Although I doubt that, I do know it was some sort of breathing problem. They put me in a crib with an oxygen tent over it. My mother told me how lucky I was, I was the only little girl with my own 'house' in the whole hospital! Yeah, right.....snort. I did like the bucket of ice chips at the foot of the crib though. I liked to eat them.
I have very shady memories of what happened. But I do remember Dr. Newhart giving me a coloring book and a brand new box of crayons. I was disappointed it wasn't the 64 sized box, but it was still a brand new box of fresh, pointy Crayolas.
And I remember thinking how babyish the coloring book was.
So instead, I decided to color the crib sheet. It was a pristine white sheet just perfect for my masterpiece!
My mother says by the time she got back from the cafeteria with her cup of coffee I had scribbled over the entire crib sheet. Not one single speck of white was left showing. And I had quite a bit of crayon all over me too.
I remember feeling very proud of myself and of my masterpiece. I couldn't understand why no one else was impressed. Or why the nurse came in and changed the sheet on my crib.
Or why, after that, my mother never left my side........day or night..........
I wonder if it looked anything like this.....
When I was two years old I was in the hospital. Family lore has it my lungs collapsed. Although I doubt that, I do know it was some sort of breathing problem. They put me in a crib with an oxygen tent over it. My mother told me how lucky I was, I was the only little girl with my own 'house' in the whole hospital! Yeah, right.....snort. I did like the bucket of ice chips at the foot of the crib though. I liked to eat them.
I have very shady memories of what happened. But I do remember Dr. Newhart giving me a coloring book and a brand new box of crayons. I was disappointed it wasn't the 64 sized box, but it was still a brand new box of fresh, pointy Crayolas.
And I remember thinking how babyish the coloring book was.
So instead, I decided to color the crib sheet. It was a pristine white sheet just perfect for my masterpiece!
My mother says by the time she got back from the cafeteria with her cup of coffee I had scribbled over the entire crib sheet. Not one single speck of white was left showing. And I had quite a bit of crayon all over me too.
I remember feeling very proud of myself and of my masterpiece. I couldn't understand why no one else was impressed. Or why the nurse came in and changed the sheet on my crib.
Or why, after that, my mother never left my side........day or night..........
I wonder if it looked anything like this.....
Monday, July 8, 2019
Friday, July 5, 2019
Enough is Enough
I have a hard time with this....knowing when enough is enough. I either don't go far enough or I go too far and ruin a piece.
I've been working on this one for a while. It started out as a test piece in The Painting Techniques of Anne Marie Grgich (Portraits) class and when it became apparent I wasn't going to be able to replicate her techniques I just went with it. Jumping in here and there between other things.
Then I started to hear Kenny Rogers in my head....."You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, and know when to run......" and I knew it was done.
I had to look up the lyrics to make sure I got it right and the next few lines struck me as pertinent too.
I've been working on this one for a while. It started out as a test piece in The Painting Techniques of Anne Marie Grgich (Portraits) class and when it became apparent I wasn't going to be able to replicate her techniques I just went with it. Jumping in here and there between other things.
Then I started to hear Kenny Rogers in my head....."You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, and know when to run......" and I knew it was done.
Every gambler (ie: artist) knows
That the secret to survivin'
That the secret to survivin'
Is knowin' what to throw away
And knowin' what to keep
'Cause every hand's a winner
And every hand's a loser
I'm not sure if she's a winner or loser (and I'm not fishing for compliments, just sayin', lol) but she's done.
Wednesday, July 3, 2019
Playing With Colored Pencils
I signed up for another class........quelle surprise.........
Sketchbook Skool's 'Colored Pencils---Sharpen Your Skills.
I'm about halfway through. And, of course, I had to buy new supplies.....lol. Some I already had, like these multi-colored ones.
Sketchbook Skool's 'Colored Pencils---Sharpen Your Skills.
I'm about halfway through. And, of course, I had to buy new supplies.....lol. Some I already had, like these multi-colored ones.
I hadn't really played with them. As it turns out, they're pretty good for making fur on critters.
The new set I'm still not sure about.
They're Derwent's Coloursoft.
They certainly are soft, but I'll withhold my opinion until I try them on different papers. So far I've only used them in one sketchbook and the pages are computer paper and slightly 'mushy' lying on top of one another. I'm assuming they will be different on smoother paper or watercolor paper.
So far my favorite thing I've learned from the course is a quote from one of the instructors, "At least I'm drawing!" LOL I like that! Good, bad, or indifferent....at least I'm drawing!
Monday, July 1, 2019
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