Finally, back in the saddle again...

After a couple of years off, I decided to take another art class.  Yeah, I know, the perpetual student.  But, honestly, I love the energy of the classroom.  It's challenging, and I find I push myself a lot more.  I love the different perspectives of all the different teachers, and learn so much from each.

I'm taking Figure Drawing... and will be posting my work soon.

One thing I've noticed over the past few years is the obvious lack of focus or drive from the 'kids' today.  They come to class unprepared, most haven't purchased the basic supplies and 'expect' to borrow from classmates.  Amazing.

And disrespect for the professors.  Talking while she's giving instruction, arriving late (up to an hour late!!!) and disrupting class with their smart phones.

I promise not to get on my soap-box.  Much.  Were the 'kids' of my generation raised so much differently?  Ok, enough, don't get me started......  ;)

Even given all that, I'm enjoying the class a great deal, and each week brings something totally new.  Thank you, professor Heike Schmid!!

 

Listening to the 70's station...

...and heard Queen singing Bohemian Rhapsody.  Which, of course, reminded me of another take on this great song...




ya gotta love it!! :D

New web site

Hi there,
I've FINALLY put together a website for my painting and bookbinding.  Art has always been a passion, and this way, I have a way to show other folks.

I'll be offering basic bookbinding classes/workshops locally, now that we've moved.  They are a lot of work for me to prepare, but always great fun.

Art and creativity are such a worthwhile pursuit, so enriching and stimulating.  And if nothing else, a terrific way to spend some time just to yourself.

Anyway, here's a link to my new site:  http://www.crestviewcreative.com.

Cheers!

10000 hours

I read a good book, that pointed out CLEARLY to me why my painting isn't as good as I'd like.

I don't paint often enough.

Duh.

Malcolm Gladwell's book "Outliers" highlights several successful people in various fields and one thing the all had in common.  They spent at least 10,000 hours working on their craft.  Crud, I'm nowhere NEAR that.

Another thing I read today on Kevin Meizner's blog (here) was that we (artists) have a tendency to study our little fannies off.  But it all comes down to finding our OWN voice.  And that takes time, really dedicated time.

The weird thing for me is that I don't lack the desire to paint/draw/create, seems I have a crisis of confidence.  As if I'm waiting for something...

Better do something, even if it's wrong.  :D

And a happy belated...

Geez, I can't believe I missed it....

Wednesday was National Star Wars Day!!!

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You know.... 

"May the 4th be with you"

Painting as tribute...

Of all the newsletters I get, one of my favorites is the twice-weekly letter from Robert Genn. Now, those who recognize his name are probably artists. Even if you don't paint, Robert has a wonderfully refreshing outlook on life and the human condition in general.

The newsletter I received on April 28 was titled "Painting as tribute".   An interesting read, as usual, but the one thing that touched me was the video he and Peter Segnitz made, which is below.

Robert writes "No matter how seemingly banal your painting motivation might be, something else can be implicit in virtually every project. You just need to think of art-making as a form of tribute.

A tribute, according to the Oxford Dictionary, is "a thing said, done or given as a mark of respect." When you think of it, all of nature and a great deal of what mankind has done are worthy of tribute. Further, when you consider appreciation of beauty or history or even the possibility of life enhancement, our art takes on greater meaning and more power.

There's a simple way to put this idea into action. When you approach a subject or a motif, pause and contemplate. Ask yourself what a possible back-story might be."

Delightful and refreshing. For more on Robert Genn, check out his site at: Painter's Keys

so when's it gonna happen!?!!?

Hi all,
I'm pretty excited. We made an offer on a house, and it was accepted. Now, comes the hard part...waiting for all the paperwork to clear, the appraisals, agreements, and agreements to the agreements. So, if we're lucky (and When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars) we might just close on March 18th. Here are some images.

So, what that now means, is we have a ton of stuff to sort through, and get rid of. OMG. I've always known I have a tendency to accumulate stuff (hey, ya never know when you might need all that stuff!!) but between Sean, DH and myself, Oy VEY!! It's exhausting!! Physically, emotionally, and every other way. For me, the hardest tasks will be memorabilia (ooh, ooh, I picked up that rock in '77 on the Oregon Coast!!) the art supplies (Now, why would I want to get rid of that dried up old watercolor paint??) and of course, the books.

I love to read, and up until this past Christmas, bought a ton of books. DH bought me a Kindle for Christmas, and bless his heart, I still buy a ton of books, but they all fit on one little device!! Talk about your green solutions!! Some of the books are cheap (free) and some aren't. But it also meets another of my needs, instant gratification. If I want a book, I instantly download it, it's charged to my account, and off I go to snuggle down on the couch for the rest of the afternoon. Ah well, it IS just that easy. Almost too easy......

Here's another video on YouTube that's cute and fast. If you're interested in making a pop-up card.....



hmmm... I have a newly-downloaded book calling my name........

:D

The President visits Intel

Folks who know me know I worked @ Intel for 17 years. And, my DH works there now. Well, big news, President Obama visited Intel Oregon, and here's his presentation...... Enjoy!

Something that makes me giggle....

Can you watch this without giggling somewhere along the way?? Or singing along?? Enjoy...

Pixels, Pencils, Paint and Photoshop

Since in my "other" life I'm a web designer, I'm always looking for cool techniques for web pages.  In the past, finding a relatively easy way to make gold text was, well, difficult.

Until now.

Check out this online tutorial from Deke McClelland.  He's a master Photoshop guru.  :)

Writing Thank-yous

Hi!
We're finally getting to our Christmas thank-yous....  Mom gave Mike one of my Dad's rings, one he wore all the time and my favorite.  We just got it back from being re-sized, and it looks pretty good!!

I may just have to draw this...  :D

Anyway, I did some Photoshopping to it, and got it to the right size so it would fit in the little "thank-you" card envelope, and it's all ready to go!!

Finally...

After using Dreamweaver for, well, years I am taking some classes.  I won a 1-month subscription to the online Lynda.com site in December and was I impressed!!  I've known about that site, again for years, but always thought it was a tad bit pricey.  Of coures, I was looking at the per year price, and didn't consider the month-by-month rate.  


So, in January I decided to shell out the $37.50 for a one-month subscription (I know, not going to break the bank here) which includes unlimited classes for one month PLUS all the Exercise files.  Yee HA!!


When I started in December, I took the Dreamweaver and Wordpress class.  Awesome!!  I also got the "Build your Own Wicked Wordpress Themes" from Sitepoint.  So the combination are terrific.


But, I realized that there was so much to Dreamweaver I didn't know!  So now I'm taking the Dreamweaver Basics class.  One of my all-time pet-peeves is folks thinking they can do web pages without learning basic HTML and CSS.  So, in support of this......

Learning web design

Dreamweaver CS5 Essential Training | by James Williamson

View this entire Dreamweaver course and more in the lynda.com Online Training Library®.

No, I'm not affiliated in any way with Lynda.com.  :)

Hope you have a terrific day...
Cheers!

Current project

I've decided I need to get back into journaling.  But I haven't been doing a lot of art lately, and am a bit rusty.  So, to get the juices flowing, I've joined a Journaling workshop, the Strathmore Online Artist Journal Workshop 

And, here's my flickr site with the first week uploaded.   More to come!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sddonlon/