more good feedback

  • May. 15th, 2008 at 2:54 PM
A quick check of email after getting some Real (Paying)(Web) work done (and before scurrying off to BTV to be support at a MIL's meeting with a lawyer) reveals some unsuspected and heartening art feedback:
a delightful talent you have. do nurture and love it. From a developing perspective, we all love colour, especially children, so rich reds, blues and greens, violets come singing to mind. Also contrast is very important, giving substance and depth to the work. This is where tonal range comes in and is very important in giving conviction and belief to the image. Not that your work does not have these elements mentioned but I just sense from an expanding talent point of view they need to be full exploited. Thank you for sharing your delightful art.
This is from John Graham Inkson, who has recently posted some intense bird paintings over on ArtWanted.

OK, gotta run, just wanted to share.

conversations about bullying

  • May. 15th, 2008 at 11:41 AM
There is an interesting series of comments on two of [info]ozarque's posts "Linguistics; verbal self-defense; kids... " and "Linguistics; verbal self-defense; kids; part two (final)..."

For those of you involved with kids at all, I recommend a read-through. Long, thought-provoking. It's not a cohesive "Here's what works/doesn't" (as some handouts from various programs might be), but conversational and somewhat rambly. Very approachable, fascinating.

1. http://ozarque.livejournal.com/523870.html
2. http://ozarque.livejournal.com/524328.html

If they weren't so long, I'd print them for my son's daycare (as FYI; I haven't seen anything that concerns me, and I tend to hang out a bit at both drop-off and pick-up), so now I'm off to see if I can track down their email).

(Now if only my son can survive me. He's got a scar that's my fault, and yesterday nearly got a concussion that is indirectly my fault also. Sigh...)
from [info]ellenmillion and like her, more than 10...

A Boy
A Hose
A Mud Puddle

Sunlight

Orca (the dog)

Brand-new (mother's day) boxes for raised bed garden! (Made of old lumber and nails we had leftover around. No money spent for the exactly-what-I-wanted present!)

Chickadees
Titmice
Dark-Eyed Juncos
Rose-breasted Grosbeaks (a pair)
Nuthatch
Goldfinches (a pair)
Chipping sparrows
White-throated sparrows

Eastern Chipmunks (at least 4)
Red Squirrel
Bumblebee
White Butterfly
Dark brown teeny butterfly with white stripes

Blooming, or nearly:
Bluebells
Lilacs (white and purple buds)
Tulips (from [info]lepi's drive-by crocussing)
little purple-and-white ground cover
White Violets
Ruby and Yellow Pansies (from last year!)
Red and Yellow Primroses
Dandelions

Recently Planted:
Bee Balm (to compete with the Snow-on-the-Mountain)

A Slide and Large Rocks to climb on

Heard recently:
Black-throated Green Warbler
Oven Bird
Robin
Hairy Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe ("SqueeKee Phoe-Bee!")
Wood Thrush

*snicker* really fast too

  • May. 13th, 2008 at 12:31 PM
Thanks to [info]politzania:
The Caffeine Click Test - How Caffeinated Are You?
OnePlusYou Quizzes & Widgets

Coffee is my friend. My dear, dear, dear friend.

Here's the scale:

grateful

  • May. 8th, 2008 at 6:46 AM
Thanks to BT in California, FC in France, JD in Vermont, KS in Vermont, LH in California, LIA in Wisconsin, Plattekill Library in NY, and ST in California, for buying various things (mostly Dragon Reader things) from Whimsical Dreams!

Because of Cafepress's interface, I can't sent them a personal thank you (their email and payment info doesn't come to me), so I'm posting this because it's my best method at the moment...

Lectured again

  • May. 2nd, 2008 at 1:31 PM
Somehow, although this article."Men Who Explain Things" ( http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-solnit13apr13,0,526991.story ) (and it's longer version: http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174918 ) highlight for me an experience I have often, I'm still not sure what I can do to change the experience.

I know the behavior of the Explainers is not my responsibility. That aside, I have a lot to learn about communication. And to practice.

bookmeme

  • May. 1st, 2008 at 12:29 PM
via [info]ruthling[info]ruthling :
These are the top 106 books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing’s users. As in, they sit on the shelf to make you look smart or well-rounded. Bold the ones you've read, italicize the ones you own but have not read.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell  (I've never even heard of this one)
Anna Karenina (She irritated the hell out of me. Actually, I think I listened to the unabridged on tape, and didn't actually read it. I forget. I'm pretty sure we have a copy as well.)
Crime and Punishment (thank goodness I didn't have to read it in Russian)
Catch-22
One Hundred Years of Solitude (actually I might not own either of these but I think I have both in the basement. The first one might moved  come in when R did )
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi : a novel
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Ulysses
Madame Bovary (Again, I think I have a copy -- between high school English classes and inheriting a lot of books from my grandparents and my hubby having been an English major we're pretty well stocked... Actually, I might have read this. But I can't always recall whether I did or not!)
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
A Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov (I might have a copy, but I think Mom does, not me. I think I've read a couple chapters. In Russian. A logn time ago.)
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies
War and Peace
Vanity Fair (I'm pretty sure I read this, not Madame Bovary, but I could be wrong. )
The Time Traveler’s Wife
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner (I keep meaning to borrow this from Dad)
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran : a memoir in books
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver (i haven't finished it either, Ruthling, but it got me to read some history. It's also not my book; I borrowed it off the shelf at a restaurant and promised I'd bring it back...)
Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West
The Canterbury Tales (I've read part of this, if not all -- my sister had to read it for a class in high school and I have this bad habit or reading anything she's reading while she's reading it, which is, of course, a very irritating thing to do to one's younger sister which is probably why I developed the habit in the first place *chuckle*)
The Historian : a novel
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New World (and listened to most of it on CD -- fascinating, and I "get" it much more now than I did at 14 or 16)
The Fountainhead
Foucault’s Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King (I love this version or Arthurian Legend )
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible : a novel
1984
Angels & Demons
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver’s Travels
Les Misérables
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Dune
The Prince (and the Little Prince, too *chuckle*)
The Sound and the Fury
Angela’s Ashes : a memoir
The God of Small Things
A People’s History of the United States : 1492-present (Like Guns, Germs and Steel, I haven't finished  -- in this case, I should if only to drive my husband crazy *chuckle*)
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere (I agree with Ruth: better as a minseries on TV than as a book )
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves (I read only part of this; didn't feel like I had to read the whole think to get it)
The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake : a novel
Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita (Books by Normal Kelin were uch more useful to ema as a teenage, which is when I read Lolita too)
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey (This was hysterical - -I read this in my 30s, and my appreciation of Jane Austen went from "ehh" to "hah! Cool")
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road (We might have this)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics : a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : an inquiry into values
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit
In Cold Blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences
White Teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield (annoying little prat )
The Three Musketeers

not yet fantastic...

  • Apr. 25th, 2008 at 4:06 PM
Another batch of images to Fantastic Portfolios, and 5 of 5 rejected...

What I've learned in this round of work:
I like watercolors better than colored pencils.

I should work larger, because since I've been doing such smaller (and portable) things -- ACEOs, 4x4, that kind of thing, when they get scanned, although I don't have to stitch scans, I also get to show off (enlarge) any issues (inexperience, errors, overcautious use...) with media handling or whathaveyou.

Really good advice I got:
work a little more slowly and carefully, with better attention to detail. Push your values; try incorporating darker darks and lighter lights. Really study pictures of trees and grass and such when painting the flora; the human brain cannot image all the nuances of nature all on its own. The base colors seem to be spot on, but I want to smile when I see the larger image, instead of distracted by the unadventurous paint handling.
and
What is really lacking in my opinion is contrast and dynamic color. If you take these pieces and make them grayscale you will see very little color range. What you SHOULD see is the greatest contrast in your focal point. ... But please, concentrate on working up your dynamic shading and contrast!

I'm not excited about a lot of the actual images up there, but I can see -- and not quite reach, dammit!! -- the skill.

My favorite today is this one: http://www.fantasticportfolios.com/image.php?imageid=345

Cthulu is ... branded? Hm

  • Apr. 25th, 2008 at 3:42 PM
So I got this item in the mail -- it was paper spam, you know, marketing.

Only it was paper with a nice feel and had Cthulu or a near-cousin on the cover.

http://www.veer.com/ideas/verysecret/

Hmh.

Despite Good Advice? Clover, WIP 2

  • Apr. 20th, 2008 at 3:03 PM

Clover WIP 2: I know y'all said light, keep it light. I have made no changes on the original yet; these are just some test runs (photoshop to print several on one sheet on Avery watercolor texture photopaper). Click it to see it a tad larger, and again when you get there to see it usefully larger.

I was pleased with the orange one, until my friend suggested I had better not have orange if I wanted this 4-leaf clover dragon be at all a St. Patrick's Day illustration. So I added the Guinness and gave up that idea. (OK, so there's a certain ironic humor, and I'm not above that, but still.)

The blue was just too weak. Even in dark blue I'm not sure I'd like it. Not for this anyway (I'm very fond of dark blue. With sparkles. ... hmmm ...) And there's not enough room for a flag on the card anyway. (I forgot to mention this is an ACEO ATC, or will be when I'm done.)

The one on the right used to be pink. Right out. But a stout-colored layer over pink -- that has potential! Now if I only knew jack all about shading using paints, I might be getting somewhere.

Help WELCOME!

Diploma Dragon up at EMG *delight*

  • Apr. 18th, 2008 at 12:30 PM

Diploma Dragon is accepted at Ellen Million's Art Shop! This design is offered on totes, cards, magnets, bookmarks, stickers, keychains, buttons, mousepads, and white shirts of all sorts of styles and sizes. Know anyone graduating?

*grin* The tags say it all, doesn't it?

p.s. Thanks, [info]lepi!

Dragon Gardener on Stuff

  • Apr. 15th, 2008 at 10:36 PM
Here's something I told [info]lepiI would do: put the black and white dragon gardener On Stuff. (I still want to color it... I still haven't' colored it ... it's quite definitely spring... )

Dragon's Picnic

  • Apr. 1st, 2008 at 10:07 AM

A Dragon's Picnic: I've been working on a illo to submit to BookCrossing. I just don't work large enough. This was a ... challenge to get the scan even close to the original colors. Something about a heavily green image when the scanner (like many scanners) is not delighted by blues.

This one is a crop of the orginial -- these proportions works well enough, I suppose.

Watercolor underpainting (mostly Winsor&Newton), colored pencils (mostly Prismacolor), Staedler black ink, on 60 lb sketch paper (augh! What was I thinking?).

I so totally should've used that new projector to transfer this darn image to a heavy paper.

Still, I learned something about paints again, and about clouds. Not enough about the pencils.

I'm pretty happy about the dragon colors in the original (more rose and gold).

I think I desperately need to take me and paints OUTSIDE to work on shadows. I like this well enough but there's too flippin' much I don't know.

Compact Flourescents and other links

  • Mar. 26th, 2008 at 12:13 AM
From [info]ruthling's suggestion about the Compact Flourescent/Incandescent comparison paper (it's a PDF listed at the link), I wound up thinking about Wal-mart and Phillips, which reminded me I am reading (slowly) The Ecology of Commerce, so of course I googled it, and found more about Paul Hawken on wikipedia as well as a useful summary and application of the book at a Masonry heater trade journal site, and then the organization Wiser Earth, which is a community directory and networking forum that maps and connects non-governmental organizations and individuals addressing the central issues of our day: climate change, poverty, the environment, peace, water, hunger, social justice, conservation, human rights and more.

OK, good stuff to go to bed on. Why am I up so late again? Sheesh.

I should've been taking my bath and sleeping, or at least working on books and taxes.

But now, now I'm poking around my utilities site, seeing how maybe I can pay them less money...

Oh look, here's what I should've done when I broke the two CFLs I broke (in the decade-plus of using them, I've broken two, one was still in the package). Hm. Me and Monkeyboy are probably doomed now. Or not, given the limited exposure and that I did some of the clean up correctly and we show none of the symptoms associated. But you knew that.

Going to bed dammit! Sheesh!

Luna Fae

  • Mar. 23rd, 2008 at 11:32 PM

Luna Fae: I did a series of three illustrations for a faerie tale (we'll do more if we get an interested publisher). This is a segment of one on the illustrations.


It's fairly zoomed in. I really like the colors here, although even since I did this (last summer), I can see how I've improved. Not much (but then, I haven't' been able to practice as much as I want), but some. Interesting to see what I'd do differently here next time.


The character is copyright © Angelica Adams. This is posted with her permission as well.

"business" decisions by what used to be LJ

  • Mar. 20th, 2008 at 11:45 AM
For those of you interested in the recent (an not entirely appreciated) decisions by LJ/SUP, you might also find [info]beckyzoole's journal interesting. She summarizes and links to some off site reactions. There's also a content strike scheduled, starting today.

We have a winna!

  • Mar. 18th, 2008 at 10:55 PM
The Easter Beastie sold on eBay! **bounce bounce bounce**

Lepi, I'll be making you your very own. What color beastie? What color(s) eggs? Any particular egg pattern? ACEO/ATC size OK or bigger? Might not stick to colored pencil *grin*

Channeling a Beaver Spirit?

  • Mar. 15th, 2008 at 12:13 PM
Tried intalling some extension jambs this morning into our office/library casement window. Perhaps because ours have been sitting around for Far Too Long™, I couldn't (by myself) get the top one in. It's a bit bowed and I'm having trouble. Hopefully R and I together can finish it when he comes home ... but that would require not reassembling the office library from it's current interestingly disheveled state. And I want to finish cleaning it up. Hm.

I think I was inspired by Bruno the Carpenter -- MonkeyBoy and I read it at daycare the other day...

I did kinda go crazy in here. I put together an old oak table that (without the leaves) is 4' x 4' -- which is really darn large for a space only 8' (maybe) wide. Except it would just look wrong in the corner, and finally I have a surface deep enough to be a useful (and beautiful! Though old) desk. (Plus I have a sentimental attachment to it, mostly 'cause I like it better than any other desk or table in the house). Now if I can just figure out where to put the telescope, and swap the metal (skinny) table for the (silly prefab) computer desk, and put the table in the big basement (and more not-useful-right-now computer and telephony equipment on it in case we every really finish the hardwire networking), and get the old blond veneer bookshelves from the other basement (not so sentimental, despite having been were my grandmother's), then I could put these other papers and crates and boxes away, or sort of...

In other news, thank you [info]turbocat for a serendipitous and delightful evening yesterday! I did wind up going to Best Buy, where I successfully resisted replacing my 2004 Dell Inspiron 1100 (reliable, slowing down, 20GB drive with perhaps 2 GB left open, a bunch of apps I don't know whether I could delete and more stuff that just is bigger than the comp was meant for) with money I don't have anyway. It was hard, though. Good thing they didn't have an opened/returned/floor model available. And REALLY good they didn't have such with Creative Suite any-version on it (I have CS1, and it just makes me wonder with the software I want to use costs more than the hardware to run it on).

I digress (from what?). Back to work!
Possibly not (at least he says so).

My friend and sometime-colleague Deb sent me here:
Geek Love (by A. Rogers) -- about Gary Gygax -- or rather, the consequences. Sweet, and with an amusing flow chart too. Enjoy!

Tags:

Easter Beastie ACEO/ATC on eBay

  • Mar. 11th, 2008 at 4:50 PM

I'm auctioning this off on eBay, hopefully just in time for the holiday!

If anyone has better suggestions than eBay for next time, I'm all ears... er ... eyes. Thanks.