The Sunday Set no. 2

Can you guess what this Sunday Set's theme is? I love the color grey (much more so than gray!) and I've been drawn to pieces featuring the color very strongly lately. All I want to do is draw in graphite pencils and play with the chalkboard at home. In this set I wanted to find great grey to white or black pieces. The pencil case is killing me! Severe want!

1.) Diamond Slice Bracelet - LexLuxe
2.) Chalkboard Thank You Card - LilyandVal
3.) Leather & Wool Felt iPad sleeve - Charbonize
4.) Wool Felt Pouch - ArtsWool
5.) White Earrings Chavillon - asmeparis

Orlando Flora and Fauna

Aka photos to play with. I experimented with some filters and focus with these. I'm trying to make nice photos, I suppose? I'm terrible at photography but I did my best to salvage these images. I feel so amazingly unqualified to make any kind of judgement on them. I like them, so here we go.

You can't really tell from the photo but everything from the base of the neck down is submerged under water. I had no idea these guys could swim like that. S/he'd disappear under water for a respectable length of time and resubmerge. Absolutely fascination to watch. I photographed him or her working its way around the bank.

Same bird a bit later drying out.

I just loved the texture and colors these plants were giving. Gorgeous. I want to draw them later.

And a huge blue heron stalking around the front pond. I squealed when I saw he was out of the water and near the car as we drove out of the parking lot for dinner.

I Made an Ugly Blog

I know this blog looks like a hot mess right now. I'm still sorting out exactly how I want this thing to look as well as how best to present the ideas and information I'm trying to get across. What will be reoccurring posts? Do I want to have specific features or try to leave it all open to allow for more pieces to be covered.

I know the most important thing to me is process. What do I use and how do I use what I do to get my end result. How do others achieve their end result? To me this means a lot of inspiration posts, work in progress posts, tutorials and finished product features.

So not only do I need to work on how I'm presenting my information, I need to tighten up exactly what it is that I'm presenting.

And though this blog right now is a hot mess, I love it. The main reason is that it gives me an excuse to make. I quit my job in August '12 after what was probably something like a panic attack mixed with some sort of break down. It makes me really question my decisions to be a graphic designer. I finally feel like with this blog I don't have to impress anyone. I can make it (what ever 'it' is) and put it out there. There's this monsterous weight off my shoulders to impress anyone else. I don't have to bend over backwards for someone who wants a logo in papyrus. Or someone who doesn't know what they want- but knows they will 'know it when they see it'. Yet they get progressively more hostile when each revision is not exactly what they want.

I would say I've spent the past three years not making anything for myself or that I love. And I don't want to do that anymore. At least, not here in a personal space.

Now that I've got that little thought out of the way, here's some upcoming posts:

1. Cute Drawings
2. Photos from my Orlando Trip
3. Some of the Process for my Photo Editing
4. Photos I've taken in attempts to get out of my comfort zone.

What have you Drawn for me lately?

So I did promise to share some drawings from my sketchbook. I've been posting a little sporatically lately as I've been getting ready to come to Orlando with my boyfriend for the ICFA 34. I grabbed a few sketchbooks and flung them into my bag and didn't check to make sure I'd actually drawn in them! To fix this I grab a late lunch at sit in the little cafe to bang out a few sketches.

Breakfast / Lunch

Left: Lady anxiously looking over papers at the car rental desk.

Right: Woman with the most intense set of dreadlocks and cutest shirt combo.
Also I really liked both her bags. She darted off before I could draw her a bit more.

Now for some random animal doodles.

This one is a wee bit old, but apparently I have drawn something in this sketchbook!

I didn't realize at first that while I was drawing these, Neil Gaiman was ordering from the cafe. He caught me doing a double take.. oops! I do have a book for him to sign, I think he is doing that Friday and Saturday though. How exciting, eh?

Off Topic - Book Club!

So the fine ladies of Grits and Moxie and Grimmricksen are hosting a monthly book club. A monthly feminist book club! Who is excited, please raise your hand?! (Please note I have both hands raised). I've been reading a few books lately that deal with the topic of feminism and I'm super excited to have found a little online book club rather accidentally. I think it will be a lot of fun.

The book of the Month:

The Awakening by Kate Chopin (wikipedia article)

I've found a free copy that can be read online or downloaded to your e-reader here. The site, http://www.gutenberg.org/ aka Project Gutenberg offers literally thousands of free ebooks. Always worth checking out if you're looking for a new book to read!

I know this is off topic for my blog, but it was something I found really neat and thought some others might as well. Either way, happy reading!

Mail Time!

So I received a FANTASTIC mail package the other day from a good friend of mine. It was sort of a Christmas + Birthday + Emerald City Comicon gift party mish mash. If you love comics or finding new artists you'll love these guys and gals.

Sunday Set

For me March reminds me of the fall. Or maybe I try to pretend it is fall so I can stave off the heat (at least mentally). Here are some of my favorite things this week on Etsy that give me that cool fall feeling with a twing of freshness. Makes me want to make some quasi-spring watercolor paintings! It's just something changes in the air that just feels cold and open, fresh I suppose. Which is weird because we're already seeing pollen on the cars. And I'm incredibly allergic. Hope you're having a good sunday!

1. Ursa Major Constellation Necklace - asweetreverie
2. Hand Painted Vintage Cup - RoomforEmptiness
3. Forest Wrist Warmers - ameskeria
4. Pollywogs Pillow Cover - witandwhistle
5. Organic Soap - mirasolfarm

Credits:
Paint Texture - Spoon Graphics

Dog Time!

I've been trying various forms of editing photos lately. My guinea pigs have been the dogs at my parents' house or my grandmother's or aunt's. They have no idea they're my test subjects and they love the attention so it is a win / win I guess? I hope to eventually have a few pieces to put in my updated portfolio.

Click "Continue Reading" to see the photos with their Before and Afters. I'm pretty pleased for the most part!

Fish Skeleton Studs Tutorial

I don't know about you, but I love making my own earrings. Especially cute little studs. Today I whipped up a tutorial about how to make your very own Fishy Skeleton studs.

Upcoming Update

To avoid not posting anything today (hey! there's twenty one minutes left) I thought I'd offer what I'll be posting in the next few days. Fun stuff:

Polymer Clay Stud Earring Tutorial - Ultra easy. This project has three ingredients and if you love making lots of nicknacks, you probably have at least one ingredient already!

Choosing the Right Font - Man! I have been touring a lot of blogs lately and while most everyone is sensible in their font selection- some people make some peculiar choices. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but I think most are just uninformed about why some choices work over others. Readability is a really important factor.

Striking at my 25 before 26 List - Photos tackling some of the items on my list.

25 by 26

 So it is almost the end of the day and this post has been sitting around waiting to be posted! I've seen several bloggers with their own lists of things to do by their next birthday and I wanted in on the action. Well, really I just have a lot of things I want to do but sometimes have trouble remembering to!

I plan to come back to this post and strike out each as it is completed and note it with a date. For some of the more interesting projects, I'll make more in depth posts with photos.

Also, don't laugh about me needing to clean my car out!

25 by 26

1- Work on my coding skills
2- Calibrate my monitor
3- Clean my car out
4- Sort my wardrobe
5- Modify one pair of shoes
6- Spend more time on a sewing machine
7- Complete one small comic
8- Sell pieces to a consignment shop
9- Make one line of jewelry
10- Portrait of all the family pets
11- Move Out!
12- Read 10 books
13- Make the cat a fancy collar tie
14- Attempt to set a bezel ring
15- Learn to solder better
16- Attempt to knit
17- 100 textures: 50 photo, 50 digitally made
18- Sort MP3 player out
19- Organize my craft supplies
20- Minimize my belongings
21- Work on online portfolio
22- Work on my nail painting skills
23- Drop 25lbs
24- Make more graphite pieces of work
25- Stick to blogging

Artisan Videos

Still battling out this busted computer. I wish GIMP made more sense to me, I've been spoiled by photoshop.

In the mean time, here's something I've been wanting to post about anyways: Artisan Videos. Hello new obsession! I love watching these either before or while making something. Watching something being created so skillfully is exciting and beautiful. Here are some of my favorites, I hope you enjoy!

The Making of "Hero" from Miguel Endara on Vimeo.



How amazing is the music in this video?

Dusty Signs from Hunter Johnson on Vimeo.




Wooden Specs Studio from Cog Productions on Vimeo.

If you know of any videos of a similar nature, I'd love to see them!

Wet, Wet Monday.

Today is incredibly wet. I love cold rainy days most of all. The way everything is darkened by taking on the rain. Since my personal computer is out of commission at the moment, I figured today would be a good time to post some thing I'm in love with from around the internet. Specifically, Etsy.

These pieces have the look and feel of today (well, in my opinion!)

Birds in the Woods - Glicee Print - Louise van Terheijden

How gorgeous are those colors? I find the trees that make their way out of the frame of the print especially interesting. The reds and golds against some of the navys in the trees just make this piece for me.

Braille Embroidery Necklace by Skrynka

I can't even pretend I don't love embroidered jewelry. I love embroidery and now that some people have made pieces to wear? Smitten. Skrynka beads Braille words into her pieces. Lovely.

Vintage Woven Area Rug - bonnbonn

Now this is something I severely covet. I want this area rug! The color palette of this rug is so appealing to me, especially on rainy days like this. How disappointing is it that it sold? I hope the new owner loves it!

Distressed Olive Repurposed Leather Clutch - foundbynicki

I have so many olive colored pieces saved in my favorites list, but this one takes the cake. A piece of scrap recycled into a gorgeous clutch. The beaten, worn texture of the purse does it for me. The fact it was made from bits that would have otherwise been trashed is even better. Saving scraps (of paper, typically) was beaten into my head as a child by art teachers. Love to see when others do the same and can find a use for them.

Earth Tones West German Vase - ArqueologiaDomestica

This vase belongs with my small but growing ceramic vase collection! It reminds me of layers of rock and sediment stacked on top of each other. I just love the color bands. Alas, everything I love is sold. C'est la vie.

Woe is me.

Well it appears that there is a high probability the motherboard has crashed on my desktop computer! Oh No! Now I can't work on any of my personal or portfolio projects not to mention I can't make the changes or posts I wanted to for this blog.

A friend may be coming over to check and make sure but I'm already looking at TigerDirect for a new motherboard. How sad.

I'm curious if this laptop could handle photoshop. I guess today's the day to try and see?

Hot & Dirty Tutorial: Masks

In the previous tutorial I used a feature in photoshop called "Masking" and realized that it isn't something everyone knows about. It took me a million years to come around to using masks but I must say it is much more efficient than my previous methods. Like a lot of people, I can be hard headed sometimes.

The mantra of masks is "Black Reveals, White Conceals".

(I like to say hide instead of conceal because I mix up rhyming words very easily)

I hope this helps! The alternative is actually erase parts of the top image. You have to hide a copy of the image in case you erase too much and essentially start all over. A rule of thumb for your images is to cause as little damage as possible. Damage would be erasing chunks of the image.

With masking, you can delete the mask or even just deactive it (left click on the mask for an option menu). You never actually damage the image itself, just the mask.

Hot & Dirty Tutorial: Textures

Ah! So as I mentioned I've been photographing textures to expand my own personal library. 'What in the heck are textures,' you ask?

"In the visual arts, texture is the perceived surface quality of a work of art."

Here is a hot and dirty tutorial:

Boring ol' image.

Slap on a texture with a mask!

(and a little text..and a gradient)

Zing Pow!

Now, imagine the applications! Paper textures, wood grain textures, soft velvety textures. You can use them to add dimension to any project you're working on. Here is a FANTASTIC texture tutorial by a favorite artist of mine, Noelle Stevenson (aka Ginger Haze).

In her tutorial, she uses a pre-painted water color piece to texture her digital work. Making her digital pieces have that cozy hand-painted feel (well, technically it is hand painted.. err I mean traditionally paint and paper hand painted?)

Of course, this tutorial uses photos for texture. You can also make your own textures from scratch in photoshop! That's another lesson, a little more in depth I'll post up later on.

Family Time

I had two other blog posts intended to work on today- namely the texture tutorial. My grandmother however had other plans. She called insisting I go to lunch in the area she grew up in and then we sort of tour around the area. Since you can't tell your grandmother no, I packed my camera along figuring I'd at least get a photo of the interior of the restaurant we were eating at.

*Also, just a fore warning, I am in no way shape form or fashion a great photographer. I am in my element photographing macro images of jewelry but I figure any practice is good practice!

Bucks or Does Restrooms! The floor to ceiling wood

absolutely kills me every time we eat there.

Chicken, bacon and pepper jack sandwich with cheesy

bacon potatoes on the side. I'm not a big french fry fan

unless I'm really in the mood and 'special potatoes' was

a very intriguing option on the menu.

My adorable grandmother shown. In between these trees,

my grandfather's grandparents had a house that has now

long since rotted down into the ground. But the trees remain.

(Except for the ol' blown over chap in the middle!)

We took a few random roads around coming up to this

old grain mill. Across the street was a dairy barn but for

some reason I didn't take any photos of it. I regret that now.

I also figured since I'd be spending time with the grandmother that knows a sewing machine inside and out I would have her teach me a little more about using it (I just know the basics). But, like earlier in the morning my plans fizzled out. I wound up making a dinky cat toy for Bookshelf (yes that's his name) to chase around the floor. I wish I had catnip to put in it.

The back before I decided to turn it into a cat.

Cat toy!

Bookshelf batted it around for a bit. He shot it under the entertainment center before I could think to get any pictures. I'll have to fish it out. I'm thinking later if I can stick it in a bag of cat nip for a few days he'll really get a kick out of it. I have to say for as dinky as it is, I really love that he played with a toy I made for him. I don't know why I'm so impressed, he'll chase milk caps and bread twist ties.. basically any bit of trash that will slide across the floor.. cats, man.

Meandering Photos

I've been in the process of making a texture library for myself with this new camera. I want to work up a tutorial for making and using textures, but in the mean time several animal photos have been meandering through my SD card.

Here are a few that I liked:

Her eyes matched the moss.

She was a little camera shy.

You would think a dog missing his front legs would

be more still, but nope. He loved tossing that leaf.

This photo is just hilariously goofy to me.

I really need to have my monitor calibrated though.