Once upon a time I used to write book reviews for a magazine. I always enjoyed this—although it was a challenge trying to reduce 200 pages or so to 350 words. But one of the nice things about having a blog is that I can mention a book before I’ve even read it, so I thought I’d mention three I got for my birthday you might like.
Atlas by Gerhard Richter. This is an 800-page survey of Richter’s photographs, collages and sketches. Just looking at a few pages tonight gave me several ideas I’m going to make a note of in my journal. This book won’t appeal to a lot of people, but if you’re a Richter fan and a Photoshop addict like me, you’ll love it.
Foolsgold: Making Something from Nothing and Freeing Your Creative Process by Susan G. Wooldridge. Poemcrazy, the book Wooldridge wrote in the mid 90s, has always been a favorite of mine. Her second book looks as good as the first. It’s about her continuing journey as a poet—she’s doing collage now too—so there is plenty of inspiration here, plus some cool exercises. It’s all text though, and I found myself wishing I could see some of her art.
Kaleidoscope Projects and Ideas to Spark Your Creativity by Suzanne Simanaitis. This is a compilation of inspiring essays and projects by Simanaitis and other artists like Juliana Coles. Marissa brought it to our last club meeting and offered to loan it to me because she could see I was interested. But I decided to ask for it as a birthday present instead. This looks like a great book—lots of visuals—but the type is too small to read comfortably. If I’d been the editor and/or art director on this book, I would have split the information up and given Simanaitis a two-book contract because she deserves it.
I’m ready to start my next journal, but I was going to do this when I’d finished my book. I spent three days reading through it and making changes I want to incorporate. So much for my July 31st deadline—I’m not finished yet again. However, I’ve decided to shut up about my book until I’m ready to send it to my editors-at-large.
In the meantime, I need the comfort of my journal. My last two had a lot of stamping, but no color mainly because I was too busy to go that route. I think I will use some markers and colored pencils this time though, and I’m going to put this over trimmed ATC inside the front cover. I usually make a policy of avoiding images that aren’t copyright-free, but I doubt Marvel is going to come after me for incorporating one of their characters into this collage.
I’m really feeling pleased with myself tonight. My mother is going to Britain on Tuesday with my brother Keith and she wanted me to make copies of this family picture to give to her cousins, one of whom is 96 and still living on her own.
I had serious doubts when I saw the original. Actually it wasn’t the original, but a copy someone had made of it. There was obviously water damage down the left-hand side, and all of the faces were badly exposed. But I never say no when it comes to Photoshop. After a couple of hours of hard but absorbing work, I managed to improve on the quality of the copy according to John—and I think so too.
My tiny perfect Nana (Joanna) is the figure on the right. When we were staying with her in Wales back in the 50s, she taught me how to knit, and I liked to watch her take her teeth out every night and put them in a glass!
Judging by the information on the back, this photograph was probably taken sometime in the 1890s. The family was originally from Cornwall (where my grandmother was born) and then they moved to the Lake District.
Nana trained as a nurse and had a career until she married in her mid thirties. She had my mother at the age of forty and being an “older” mother didn’t phase her one bit. Nana went on to live until the age of 91, and her mother (my great-grandmother) lived until 89. No wonder my own mother is still going strong.
I was looking at my notebook from last year this morning, and I realized that I was doing a lot more socializing then than I am now. This week I’ve limited myself to one night out, and I’ll admit it’s driving me a little crazy. But I really don’t have a choice. If I want to finish my book and website in a timely manner, that’s what I have to do.
Years ago I remember reading an interview with the novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford. When asked how she managed to write novels when she was working full time, she replied: “Well, I don’t go to parties.”
But it’s hard having to make decisions like not seeing your friends or doing other things you know you’d enjoy. When you’ve set yourself certain goals though, there’s really no way around it, but to choose to focus on them.Tonight we’re having dinner with my parents, and Robin, Wendy and Wakelin. Here’s a digital ATC I did of my nephew Wakelin that I’m going to give to him later.
Filters are a fun way to change an image almost instantaneously. Some are very dramatic, but I prefer a more subtle approach—particularly for portraits.
There are three things you should know about Filters before you begin to play with them:
First, go to the Layers palette and duplicate the image you want to alter. Then use this layer to work with. That way your original remains intact if you decide you don’t like the result.
Second, resolution is important. The lower the resolution, the more exaggerated the effect—not usually my preference—so I work at 300 ppi, and then reduce the image to 72 ppi if I plan to post it on the web.
Third, take time to play with the controls most filters offer you. Just using one filter can produce a wide range of different effects.
Now I’ll explain what how I experimented with this photo of David:
(1) I cropped the original to make it more graphic. You can see that David looks a little flat, so I went to Image>Adjustments>Auto Levels, and Hue/Saturation to give him more contrast and stronger color. I used this as the starting point for my three versions.
(2) To turn David into a rock star look, I headed (digitally speaking) to Filter>Artistic>Fresco and chose the least extreme effects: 1-1-1. It doesn’t get much easier than that.
(3) This version of David was achieved by choosing Filter>Stylize>Find Edges. You don’t have to make any decisions here—just click and you get what looks like a sketch. But because this looked too washed out to me, I went to the Layers palette and chose Overlay. This allowed the color on the original layer to show through.
(4) This is my favorite because it looks the most painterly. I went to Filter>Artistic>Palette Knife and chose 13-3-4 to get the effect I wanted. But it’s not a formula. Your own photos will likely require different numerical values from mine.
See you next week!
Over the years I’ve been addicted to a number of TV shows including Star Trek, Mork and Mindy, Soap, Dr. Who, CSI Miami and The Pretender. In fact, I loved The Pretender so much that even though I’d thrown my back out one Saturday night and couldn’t get up from the carpet, I insisted on watching the show straight through. Only then would I let John call the ambulance. Nuts, huh?
Apparently there are over 1,600 fan fiction stories about The Pretender posted on the Internet right now — mainly to do with Jared and Miss Parker. No surprise there, but I was amazed that people would bother to do this. Because I’m a writer myself, I know how much work goes into any kind of story, whether it’s written for love, money, or both.
Apparently Fan Fiction got started in the 70s with Star Trek aficionados anxious to entertain themselves between episodes. Naturally it’s snowballed since then because of the Internet, and that burning desire people have to share their work with others.
If you’re into Harry Potter and tired of waiting for the latest book, check out this recent article in the Telegraph for links to fan fiction sites. (Supposedly there are over 200,000 Harry Potter stories you can read).
Anne Rice won’t let fans use her characters, but J.K. Rowling doesn’t seem to have a problem with this. And why should she? I think she’s worth well over a billion by now, and I’m sure she has better things to do than harass the people she knows have helped to get her to where she is today.
Somehow I thought by the time I reached the age I am now, I would not only feel like an adult but I’d act like one too. At this point though, it’s probably hopeless. I’m certain I’m always going to be a child. It’s not that I have tantrums or anything like that, but I’d much be playing than working. I’m distracted easily and I dream a lot.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a hundred years or so of childhood? (Without the restrictions obviously). If we had more time to ripen, maybe more of us would engage in the serious business of really growing up.
There are times when I’ll read an entry on someone else’s blog and I keep thinking about it afterwards. This happened on Friday when Carmi wrote about lowering the price of her poufs on Etsy and also buying a piece of Christina Lazar-Schuler’s art. The theme of Carmi’s post was really a question: why do we undervalue our art? Well, I don’t think we undervalue it necessarily, but we do need to sell things in order to make more. So we compromise.
Also, I couldn’t help wondering why we keep on buying supplies we’ll never use when there’s so much great art out there looking for a home and a place in our hearts.
To be honest, I don’t have much extra money to spend on anything really, but I’ve bought a couple of Carmi’s adorable poufs and they’ve brought me way more pleasure than the pasta machine (still in its box) that I got with a Michael’s 40 per cent off coupon three years ago.
Ditto for this fabric collage I recently bought from Colette that brings a smile to my face and lifts my spirits every time I look at it—which is more than I can say for the huge stash of paper I’ve amassed over the years. It just makes me feel guilty when I think about how I’m not using it.
John and I agreed that if we ever win the lottery, the first thing we would do (after paying our debts) is to go out and buy lots of art. But there’s no reason why any one of us can’t be a collector on a more modest scale. Like David for example. Last week he went to the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition and bought several prints. He’s been doing this since the age of nineteen, and there’s something serene about his environment because of the art he’s chosen and framed. Much nicer than a few generic pictures slapped on the walls, and more personal.So I put it to you: why not buy some art?
I’ve toyed with the idea of starting another blog focused totally on Photoshop. But since I don’t have the time right now to keep it up, I decided to do a mini Photoshop tutorial every Friday instead.
People often ask me how I achieve certain effects with the program, or how I put everything together. Sometimes a finished image will have up to twenty layers, so it’s hard to remember what I’ve actually done most of the time. Basically I just keep experimenting until I achieve something I’m happy with. This doesn’t always work though. I have an image of five pieces of toast that I’ve done nine different versions of, and they all look terrible.
Anyway, for this digital ATC called Agnes Rising Up, I used scans of a necklace I like and an old photo (see above). I like the necklace bezel because it’s pearly and crackly, and I knew it would scan well. The photo of Agnes is not a good one, but she fascinates me. Because of the clothing she’s wearing, I’m pretty sure she must have been a servant, and one eye is smaller than the other.
In order to use Agnes just on her own, I would have been forced to do some heavy-duty rescue work in Photoshop, but I decided not to. The only thing I touched up were the whites of her eyes. I used the Eraser tool at 25 per cent opacity on the brush setting so her eyes would stand out more, yet not be too startling.
I dragged the scan of the necklace bezel into the Agnes file and then chose Darken in the Layers palette so Agnes could show through. I went back and forth between the two layers playing with Saturation, Contrast and Levels (under Images> Adjustments) in order to intensify the color.
It wasn’t hard to do, and took me about fifteen minutes. I’m not completely happy with Agnes because she looks a little muddy, but I did take her as far as she could go—given my level of skill and understanding. When it comes to Photoshop, my motto is always: “Go forth and experiment.”
I finished writing my book tonight. Not that I’m kidding myself I’ve actually finished. I still have to read everything through and reorganize, but thankfully the dreaded rewriting is through. I’ve decided not to do anymore revising before I send it off to my trusty editors. I know John will go nuts copyediting my introduction because I had so much trouble writing it, and I just can’t handle that right now.
Frankly I’d be happy not to do any writing ever again. It’s just too hard. (This blog doesn’t count, because I just do it without worrying about grammar or style).
David sent me a picture of his new girlfriend tonight and she has the same name as the one I’d give the heroine of my next book. I took this as a sign that if I do any more writing, it will have to be fiction.P.S. June, this ATC is for you, but I never did get around to the greens.
I don’t seem to be very inspired at the moment. I’m finding it hard to get much done (like finishing my book) and I haven’t had much to blog about lately. Or have I? It’s not that my life is dull. I’m just too lazy to write about it. Part of me is permanently stuck at age ten. Isn’t summer the time when you should be swimming, reading, collecting shells and toasting marshmallows? What’s the deal with work anyway?In an attempt to put some pressure on myself tonight, I decided to Photoshop an ATC in five minutes. I guess there’s still some fuel left in my tank after all because I managed to do it. But I know if I’d given myself more time, I would never have done something like this.
I’ve only been to a spa once, and I didn’t enjoy it mainly because the person who gave me a facial was scary. She reminded me of Frau Farbissina in the Austin Powers movies, and recommended further treatments for my “incipient case of rosacea.” “Isn’t that what Bill Clinton has on his nose?” I asked. “Exactly,” she replied severely. (Note: I had to look up the meaning of incipient when I got home).
I’m one of the few women I know who isn’t into the girly thing. I’ve never had a manicure. I get my hair cut once a year, and I don’t own any moisturizing products. If I’m reincarnated as a woman, I plan to check these things out because I could probably use them. It’s not that I have anything against beauty products, but since John seems to like me the way I am, I just don’t bother.
Today I realized that Lily would probably enjoy the whole spa thing if she were a human being. When I give Lily a bath, I usually do it on my own and she’s not too happy with me. But Emma is here for the weekend so we did it together. The trick (I’ve discovered) is to get into the bathtub with Lily. She just put her head against my thigh, presented her stomach and allowed herself to be massaged and washed. I swear she almost fell asleep at one point.
Another thing Lily enjoys is being vacuumed. She’s never been afraid of the vacuum cleaner, and loves being nozzled. I know this is peculiar, but I guess everyone has their eccentricities, including my little doggie.
It surprises me when an online quiz is accurate because I’m leery of people being pigeonholed in forty or so questions. Years ago I worked in a bookstore, and I almost didn’t get the job because I flunked the psychological test.
One of the questions I got wrong was “Do you want to be the best real estate salesperson in Canada?” Duh? What does that have to do with books, or my psychological suitability for that matter?
Anyway, I tried this online quiz about work style at monster.com, and I thought it was pretty accurate. Apparently there are nine different types in order of commonality: Thinker, Achiever, Organizer, Visionary, Mentor, Advocate, Dynamo, Motivator and Individualist. According to the quiz, I’m a visionary. While I associate that word with someone like a Mahatma Gandhi or a Martin Luther King, the description certainly seemed to suit me.
And I was pleased that I was closer to the top than to the bottom. Even though I get on well with other people, the population on Planet Artopia has always been sparse, so I never feel like I really fit in. Maybe I’m not as peripheral as I think I am.
I spent three wonderful days doing absolutely nothing but writing in my journal, socializing, sitting by the water and reading romance novels. Pam has a huge stash, and as soon as I finished one my mother would start on it next. Mum usually reads literary novels, so this was a change of pace for her. Instead of talking about Margaret Atwood and Alice Munro, we were trading insights about the finer points of regency romance…Pam’s favorite genre.
On Saturday Dad took us out to eat at a restaurant in a Victorian house, and David helped the owner catch a bat that had flown into the dining room. Last night Pam made a fantastic salmon dinner, so I didn’t have to do any cooking all weekend which was just fine with me.David spent Saturday watching the first season of Lost on his laptop. Then yesterday he wandered around the property taking pictures of his latest glass bricks in various locations. He photographed bricks in water, buried in sand, on rocks and in the woods. I really like this particular shot he took on the beach because you can see the reflection of a dead tree and Georgian Bay in the green glass.
I’m just getting ready to leave for Pam and Brian’s cottage up in Meaford. David and I are going for the long weekend, so it will be fun to spend time with some of my favorite people. I’m also looking forward to writing in my journal, taking pictures, reading and sitting by the water. I also hope there’s at least one clear night because I love looking up at the stars.
John is staying behind because he’s trying to finish a big project he’s been working on. He’s also going to baby sit Lily. I usually take her with me when I can, but Pam couldn’t find my cat niece Ubu when they came back to Toronto on Tuesday. (She is hiding somewhere in their cottage and Brian’s brother Ted has been going in to feed her...Ubu, not Pam!) Lily loves Meaford, but she also has a thing about cats so she would be after Ubu 24/7. Not that it would really bother the kitty. Serene and resourceful, Ubu has her own secret cubbyholes to retire to, but Lily’s vigilance would definitely drive the rest of us crazy.
Have you ever noticed that the things you have trouble with continue to be troublesome? (Does this make sense, or is it an oxymoron?)
What I’m trying to say is that unless things come together quickly for me visually, I usually end up spending a lot of time trying to get them right. Take this clip art image of a mirror, for example. For the last couple of weeks I’ve been playing around with it and come up with a number of different versions, none of which have satisfied me. I don’t have to be totally satisfied though, just reasonably so.
Because the actual mirror was missing from the frame, and the word “reflection” conjures up both an action and an image, I thought I’d put the two together to see what happened. Somehow it didn’t really gel. I think it’s the lettering. The question is: do I start all over again, or just chalk it up to experience? (It would be nice to feel experienced for a change).
I’ve been thinking a lot about the quality of persistence lately because I’m closing in on the end of my book. I should be finished writing it sometime this weekend. Then I’ll have to read everything through and change the order. I just hope I don’t find anything major that needs reworking yet again. I also have to design the cover, and I don’t have a clue what to do with it.
If there’s one lesson I’ve learned from this whole experience though, it’s that you have to stick at things or you will never finish. We know this intellectually of course, but when we actually have to put it into practice we discover persistence is complicated, messy and boring (at times).
The hardest part for me has been regrouping psychologically when I couldn’t meet my weekly quota of pages. It’s also been sobering to face the fact that while I’m a decent writer, I’m not a great one—and never will be. Fortunately Photoshop seems to have taken over where my writing skills leave off, so I’m now on a mission to learn as much as I can in that area.
We drove up to Bruce and Diane’s place in Orillia for our biannual family reunion today. Some adults, and four of the kids were missing this time, but Bridget, Claire, David, Emma and Brian carried on like a bunch of ten year olds in the swimming pool. There was a ton of food, lots of talking and laughing, and of course the weather was perfect.
I took plenty of pictures in my self-appointed role as the family photographer. As you can see, David has cut his hair. It’s hot in the glass studio, so he’s a lot more comfortable with the mini carpet he’s got going on now. (I like this picture because it looks as if I Photoshoped his head onto the water in the swimming pool). Just as I was getting used to David’s hair-free ways, Emma decided to change her look too. Naturally a dark blonde, she went brown/auburn on Thursday, and as soon as I saw her I thought she looked like a little Highland lassie. Because she loves dogs so much, I took this picture of her with Tumbles, one of Bruce and Diane’s two dogs.Now I'm off to organize my week and have yet another piece of Diane's incredible carrot cake.
We had a ball at Carmi’s Commandos tonight. The project was making an ATC from fabric and fusible webbing—something I’ve never done before, and it’s so much fun. Carmi walked us through each step…well, mainly me since everyone else seemed to know what they were doing.
Then Carmi showed me how to use the sewing machine. Me! A person who went to a school where I studied Latin and Religious Knowledge instead of Home Economics. (Good for the roots of words and my spirit…bad for things like cooking and sewing). Anyway, now I’m hooked on the whole fabric thing and I swore I would never be when I’ve got so many talented friends doing it like Carmi, Colette and Martha.
Then each of us showed our challenge for this meeting: altering letters of the alphabet. I was lucky this time because I got the letter X, which had to be the easiest letter to do something with. I did my usual minimalist shtick, and fortunately I was first, because it just got better after that. Carolyn covered hers with metal work, Aracely mounted her letter on two elephants, and Karen covered hers with polymer clay. Wow, what a talented bunch of friends I have. It was a great evening. Thanks so much Carmi!P.S. Mary, we missed you, and I have the next challenge for you. (And it is a challenge).
I wrote an article on blogging for the July/August issue of RubberStampMadness and there are three blogs you should definitely check out if you’re a stamper.
First, there’s Debbie Olson of Norway, Michigan who has all sorts of cool samples on her site, particularly cards. She is an excellent writer so it’s always interesting to read about her creative process.
Then there’s Godelieve Tijskens of of Neerpelt, Belgium who has a great bilingual blog crammed with all sorts of neat samples, and she’s generous with instructions too.
And finally, Steven Vander Meer who is the owner and designer of Meer Images Rubber Stamps in Arcata, California. I love how he shares the process from initial sketch to finished stamp.I reread the article tonight for the first time since writing it, and now I’m thinking I’d like to give my own blog a whole new look when I’m finished writing my book.
I had to go on a mad tear trying to find a client’s files today. I looked everywhere methodically, while trying not to freak. Had I tossed them out six weeks ago when I went on a huge clean and purge?
After a couple of hours of heavy duty looking, I found them underneath my Xyron. What possessed me to put them there I’ll never know. John told me I always have a good reason for putting things where I do. The only problem is that I usually forget it in the meantime.While I was looking for the files, I came across all sorts of nifty stuff like books, rubber stamps, stickers, paper, paint etc. that I’d forgotten I had. I think I’m going to treat myself to a day of sifting through all my art supplies in the near future, There’s something so satisfying about grazing through all the possibilities without actually feeling that you have to do anything with them.
I took a break from my book tonight to learn something new in Photoshop and to work on our club assignment for Friday night.
One of the books I got for Christmas was Photoshop CS2 Killer Tips, but I didn’t take a good look at it until this weekend. Some of the stuff I already know (courtesy of the Planet Photoshop tip of the day), but what interested me in particular was finding out how to put an image inside type. You have to choose a chunky font like Futura Extra Bold, which I used here, but it was pretty easy to do. I’ve always had this fantasy of doing paintings of words like Cy Twombly and Ed Ruscha, it’s just that the pigment is digital for me now.Another thing I’d like to try doing is designing my own font. I have Font Creator 5.5, but so far I haven’t been able to figure it out. It would probably help if I read the manual. It used to really bug me when John would jump straight into a program without an in-depth study of the major commands, and now I find I’m doing the same thing too.
I got a great package from Jeanne today crammed full of all sorts of nifty bits and pieces like this Vaudeville postcard which I just had to scan and alter into an ATC. I haven’t had a chance to fully appreciate everything Jeanne sent, but I did read through the Artfest journal she kept for me, and honestly, it was just like being there. As I was reading it, I felt like I was sharing it with her because I was experiencing it all through her eyes and heart.
I don’t think I’ve ever let anyone read my journals except for one I kept a couple of years ago, which was more like a notebook than a record of my thoughts. But I know Pam read one of mine when I was in ninth grade and she must have been around ten at the time.
I still have this journal; it’s mainly about a guy I had a crush on who looked like Pat Boone. (Yeah, I know I’m dating myself, but I actually ended up dating him for a while and he turned out to be gorgeous but dull…so much for those high school crushes).
The thing I like best about this journal, though, is the note from Pam inside that reads: “Dear Sue, I read your journal and I found it splendid.”I remember I was so surprised that my baby sister used a word like “splendid, I couldn’t be mad at her. Pam still has a great vocabulary. She’s the only person I know who can use a word like segue, and make you want to try it out yourself instead of saying: “Huh?”
Some people are born with an innate sense of funkiness like my brother Robin and my sister-in-law Wendy. The photo on the left shows a corner of Robin’s writing room, formerly their living room, and the one on the right, a section of one of Wendy’s collection of pictures and memorabilia that she has put up in her space at the back of the house.
Wendy also uses a kitchen on the second floor as her art room and has hundreds of costumes stored in the basement. Nifty bits and pieces are displayed everywhere like necklaces, driftwood and Buddha heads. Instead of having vegetation in the flower box on their front porch, Wendy planted a whole row of giant peacock feathers…wish I’d taken a picture of that. Robin has a signed picture of Elvis and a colored pencil drawing of a parrot I did at least two decades ago displayed over his desk.
When I got home I took a look around my studio space and I could see that I have the family pack rat thing going on too: glass bricks, angels, rust, a bird’s nest, shells and so on. But somehow it’s always more fun looking at someone else’s stuff.
I’m actually going to bed before twelve tonight because I’m so bushed. Last night was the Stampers of Southern Ontario’s tenth anniversary party—a Victorian Tea—and I saw all sorts of people I haven’t seen for a while, which was great. Afterwards I stayed overnight at David and Emma’s. Waking up this morning and seeing all the buildings in the early morning sunlight reminded me of being in New York.
I dropped into the World’s Biggest Bookstore to look at art books before going home, but didn’t see anything I absolutely had to have. I don’t know whether or not it’s just me, but bookstores don’t have the selection they used to. Because there aren’t as many surprises or remainders to tempt me, I don’t spend as much on books anymore. Sad really.
I love this picture of Emma and her boyfriend Brian that either John or David took today. I was surprised to see that all the graduating law students received a pink stole trimmed with white fur…very Legally Blonde in my opinion. It was fun to see the male graduates wearing it too. (I wonder what the deal is with the Paris Hilton Pink though).
As graduation ceremonies go, it was just about perfect. We sat near Emma, the speeches were short, there was air conditioning and it only lasted an hour and fifteen minutes! When Emma graduated from Queens, the ceremony was held in a hockey arena and there were hundreds of people graduating. It reminded me of a religious revival without the religion. (I met a woman afterwards who told me she didn’t like to waste time so she’d read most of a novel while she was waiting for her daughter’s name to be called. That seemed a little cold to me).
David didn’t go to the Queens graduation, but he got the morning off work to come today, and Brian and my parents came too. Mum and Dad brought some beautiful pink roses which coordinated with Emma’s stole…or is it a hood? Before we went over to the law school for a luncheon, John and I took Emma’s diploma (she’s now a Juris Doctor) to be framed in a tent that was set up on the lawn. When my dad saw her framed diploma, he said he was looking forward to receiving some free legal advice, but apparently Emma can’t give any of that until she’s called to the bar a year from now.
Both John and I made pictures and framed them as part of our gift to Emma. She’s graduating from law school tomorrow, so we had to do something special. (I’m even going to wear a dress to the ceremony!)
I’ve always liked this self-portrait of the painter Angelica Kaufman who was one of the few successful woman painters in the eighteenth century. She was a friend of Goethe and also painted Sir Joshua Reynolds. Like Sofonisba Anguissola, Angelica’s father was very supportive of her talent and made sure she trained with the very best painters available. The moral here is: Dads, support your daughters!
It’s been a while since I’ve worked on a larger piece. This one is 8 x 10” but then I reduced it and turned it into an ATC for today’s blog. You would think size isn’t important when you’re working in Photoshop. Well, today I discovered that it does matter…not technically, but visually. This digital collage of Angelica has more impact in a larger size. It almost looks like a different picture when it’s reduced. Something to keep in mind because I don’t usually change the size of things that I’m working on.
I’m still thinking about that documentary on Howard Hodgkin we watched on Saturday. Because I’ve interviewed a lot of artists, I’m fascinated by their creative process and how they express their individuality.
Howard, for example, doesn’t like to be filmed while he’s working or to show his paintings in progress, so all the canvases in his white studio were facing the wall. It was more interesting than seeing them because of the mystery of it all. He will spend years working on one painting until he gets it just right. It didn’t appear that he makes sketches or takes notes. In India, he just sat like a Buddha taking everything in.
At one point Howard says painting is a compulsion, and that he finds it too difficult to be liberated by it. This may be because he has so much going on in his mind he never feels that he’s finished, which of course he isn’t.
If you google Howard Hodgkin, you can find some examples of his paintings. To me, they’re Biblical in tone because I feel like I’m looking into some essential truth. But that’s hard to explain when you’re dealing with an abstract painting.On a non-Howard note, John took some pictures of the shells on our dining room table that were reflected by the TV set., so naturally I had to play with them in Photoshop and give them my own spin…hence this ATC.
I missed the last two ATC meetings at Bizzy B’s, so I really enjoyed seeing everyone last night. The theme was Italy and as usual no two cards were remotely alike. It was Colette who came up with the new name for our group, ATC Hive, which I thought was really clever because of the bee theme going on at the store, and all the activity. Our next theme is Hot Women (or is it Hot Babes?), and I already have an idea that I want to work on for this. One of my art students from ten years ago dropped by yesterday before I left, and what a surprise. The last time I saw Steven he was nine years old. Now he’s now a big, burly good-looking guy who has just finished his first year of university and is still drawing. Today John and I watched a really cool show on the painter Howard Hodgkin whose work I just love. At one point, the man who was interviewing him said: “Howard is happy to give clues about his paintings, but he does not give explanations.” Way to go Howard! Why should you have to explain what you do? People either get it or they don’t. And getting it doesn’t mean being able to explain it either. (At least that’s my excuse). Howard (I’m calling him by his first name because otherwise I feel like I’m talking about a butler) has been to India over thirty times and part of the documentary takes place there. I was amazed to see elephants walking along the street in New Delhi, and the colors of buildings and clothing were so inspiring. Going to India is definitely on my to do list now.
I’ve had one of those weeks where I accomplished very little even though I’ve been working really hard. It makes me wonder why we have to focus so much on production because doesn’t always tell the whole story. I know if I didn’t have to produce I’d probably be a much different person, and maybe even a better one. It would be nice to get out of my own head and be someone else for a while.
Take this little goldfinch outside my studio window, for example. I’m sure he’s not stressed out about page quotas and income. Just give him a nice Bachelor Button plant and he’s good to go. I love watching the birds come and go in our garden. We see (and hear) cardinals, robins, mourning doves, sparrows, starlings, redwing blackbirds and woodpeckers around here. One day there was even a family of ducks in the backyard. Not for long though. Lily has her territory and she polices it as faithfully as any cat.
It’s been a while since I’ve been able to get together with Mary, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know what’s going on with her. In fact, earlier today we sent each other emails at almost exactly the same time. (Not that I knew in advance what was in Mary’s email, but it’s always cool to be on the same wavelength).
If you’re looking for a nice jaunt this weekend, Mary will be in the annual craft show at Kew Gardens in the Beaches this Saturday and Sunday (June 9/10). Kew Gardens is/are right around Lee Ave and Queen Street. The sale runs from 10 to 6 p.m., and Mary’s booth is number 101.
She also has her Mizz Mary Etsy shop up and running—about 17 items for sale right now, which include both jewelry and charms (love the roller skates)..
Carmi is selling her adorable miniature cushions or “poufs” on Etsy too, while Colette offers everything from fabric to assemblage at her popular site. Somehow this seems like a friendlier way to sell art than on Ebay.
My computer crashed yesterday, and naturally you always lose something important. Fortunately I back up religiously, so there wasn’t much harm done. But I’ve decided I need to prune my Photoshop files because I just have so many of them.
While I was grazing some of my experiments, I found this picture of Pam’s cat Rex that I’d superimposed on the Mona Lisa for Pam’s birthday card a few years ago. If I’d known then what I know now, I could have put a patina on Rex so he would have blended into Mona with more panache. But what I realized when I opened up the file was that I’d merged the layers in Photoshop. If I want to rework this picture, I’ll have to start again from scratch…and that won’t be happening because I have too many other things on the go.
The one thing I did do right was to save my original photo of Rex. He’s one wild and crazy guy, so it would be fun to put his head on another body at some point in the future.
I think I understand now why people act so self absorbed when they’re working on a big project because I’m doing it myself. John and I were joking around yesterday and I told him that I thought my best feature was my nose. When I asked him was his was, he said: “My children.” Oh, oh. I could have come up with my friends/family, but no, I was thinking about my nose…yes, it was all about moi.
Self-absorption may be a survival mechanism though. When you have to stay focused, you almost feel that if you give something else any real attention, you’ll get off track.On Monday night I was so deeply absorbed in working on my book that I had this weird out of body experience. I was watching myself working and it actually seemed as if someone else was doing the writing, not me. Obviously there will be life after the book, but right now it’s hard to picture it.
Ronna Mogelon’s Artist Trading Card Quarterly arrived today, but I disciplined myself to finish everything I’d assigned myself to do before looking at it, which meant it was 11:30 p.m. before I could indulge in some guilt-free reading. Then I made myself an English muffin with apricot jam and a cup of tea, and settled down on the living room couch with Lily to read ATC Quarterly straight through
This issue Ronna ran a piece I’d written called "Fun with Photoshop." It’s always cool to be part of a publication you’re partial to, but since I could basically remember what I’d said, I didn’t read it until I’d looked at everything else. Frankly, it was a lot more interesting reading about the Danish woman who has been keeping a daily ATC journal since 1998, grazing through the profiles and admiring all the fab bird art that appears in the centerfold.
I couldn’t help coming away from this experience wanting to play more. I love the colored pencil work Ronna often shares on her blog, and I’d like to break out my Prismacolors and make some new ATCs. Can I get it together to do this for our next ATC meeting? I sure hope so. Other than grocery shopping and a quick run to Staples, I haven’t been anywhere for the last ten days. But this enforced solitude is paying off because I’m making good progress on my book. I wonder if my friends will still be talking to me when I finally manage to surface? I know I’ve been ignoring everyone (including John), but it seems to be the only way I can get this book done.
Is your medium your message? Hummm. Don’t know whether or not I really understand the concept. But I did meet Marshall McLuhan once (sort of).
I was taking a Religion and Film course while I was at university, and this particular day, Winter’s Light—yet another depressing Bergman film—was on the agenda. My boyfriend at the time and I showed up late as usual and squeezed in beside an elderly man at the back. I say “elderly” but I have to laugh because he was probably the age I am now.
It didn’t take long before I was snuffling into my Kleenex. I cried through most of the movies on the course because they were full of despair and provided me with the perfect opportunity to vent about everything real or imagined that was bothering me at the time…mainly the boyfriend. (We saw Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow Up fourteen times, so that should give you some idea of what kind of relationship we had).
Anyhow, about halfway through the movie, my boyfriend leaned over and nudged me. “You’re sitting beside Marshall McLuhan,” he whispered loudly. Wow! Really? I didn’t want to be rude and rubberneck, so I rolled my eyes around as far as I could to the left without turning my head. And there was Marshall McLuhan…eyes rolled around as far as they would go to his right looking back at me. Then he winked and we both burst out laughing.
I was too intimated to speak to him, but if this happened now I’d ask him a few questions, such as, “How does despair relate to spirituality?” or “What does your book really mean anyway?” One good thing about getting older (at least in my case) is that I’m more interested in finding out answers to my questions than worrying about whether or not I sound like an idiot when I’m asking them.
I’ve been doing more thinking about my obsession with Photoshop, and wondering if I should just give up using traditional art materials and concentrate on the digital instead. It’s a natural fit for me in a way because I’ve always been more interested in ideas than techniques and materials. And I even like the flatness of the printed image. It’s like producing your own page in an art book.
Still, I can’t do everything I’d like to with pixels. If I could create something tactile and dimensional though, I’d do it in a New York minute.Will someone will ever invent a program to do this? I sure hope so, and soon too.
Here I am sitting in a room crammed with art supplies—most of which I know how to use and have some facility with—and I’m just not using them. Why is this?
Aside from drawing in my journal, I haven’t been doing any hands-on artwork for several weeks now. True, I have a lot of other things on the go right now, but when I do have some free time, I head straight to the digital? Why is this?
I’ve been thinking about it today, and decided that when it comes to expressing my creativity, I’m more of a mental person than a physical one. I don’t mean I’m crazed or demented…okay, maybe a little, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. No, by mental I mean it’s the thinking/experimental part of creativity, which engages me most. That’s why I enjoy Photoshop so much. It helps me to take my vision of what could be as far as it can go. To be honest, I don’t usually know where that is. I do recognize the right place when I get there though.
Working in Photoshop isn’t any faster than using traditional methods…not for me anyway. What I do like is being able to do multiple versions of an idea, working away until I get what I’m after. Obviously there’s a lot more flexibility with the digital because starting again from scratch is easier. I’ve been playing with mandalas lately, and when I finished this one just before dinner, I didn’t like it. But no matter, I learned a couple of new things during the process, and I can always go back and work on it again.
John interrupted me while I was working on an article this morning to ask a question about Photoshop, and I got all surly on him. When I’m writing, I hate losing my train of thought. John, on the other hand, thrives on the immediate…most of the time anyway. I can easily waste half an hour debating about whether or not to use the word “call” or “invite,” while John has a snack, checks the soccer scores, does some printing, makes a few notes and then pulls up a few weeds. Likewise, Robin gets a lot done in a short period of time. I think most of his plays were written in fifteen-minute increments.
But even prolific writers hate being interrupted: Enid Blyton, for example. (Remember her awful Noddy books? I used to hate getting one of them for a gift when I was a child.) Anyway, Blyton could write 10,000 words in a day. I believe she compared the process to unrolling a ball of wool. But if anyone interrupted her while she was working, she had to start all over again from the beginning.
According to Wikipedia, Blyton is the fifth most popular writer in the world (Shakespeare is sixth!) and she wrote over 3,000 books. Yowza! And I’m having trouble finishing one.
I wish I could think of something witty and exciting to say. I’d even settle for vaguely interesting, but there’s precious little left in my brain tonight. Not only do I have the blahs, but I honestly think I’m Photoshoped out.
Am I boring everyone by going on about my book? No? Yes? Well it really doesn’t matter because that’s all I have to talk about. I’m stretching myself to the absolute limits of my mental capacity, and I’m fed up with thinking.
I wish I’d brought a piece of David’s birthday cake home with me on Saturday. A mega dose of chocolate would go down really well right now. Guess I’m going to have to settle for a plate of cheese and garlic stuffed olives.
Remember that scene in The Shining where Jack Nicholson keeps typing, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” over and over again? That’s basically where I am at the moment…quoting lines from movies (and considering a trip to the dollar store tomorrow to even things out).
It’s a good job I don’t mention everyone I know who has a birthday at this time of year on my blog because April, May and June seem to be jam-packed with them. For example, Carmi’s was on Friday and David’s yesterday.
We celebrated David’s with Thai food, chocolate cake and presents. Oh, and we watched Earth Girls are Easy for the gazillionth time. There’s one part that makes me go nuts laughing. It’s when Julie Brown is about to groom the aliens at her beauty salon, and Geena Davis tells her to be careful. Julie says not to worry because she got her start shaving poodles. You can tell I lead an exciting life, can’t you?
I remembered to take my camera this time and took this shot, knees knocking, from David and Emma’s balcony. The Gardiner expressway seems closer in the photo than it actually appears when you’re there. Mary says she has to check the condo out because even though they're not her kids, she wants to make sure their place meets her approval. So what do you think Mary? Should the door to the balcony be welded shut permanently?
When I was working as a layout artist at Sears, we had to take a time management seminar. I remember one of the questions was: What would you do first if (simultaneously) your phone was ringing, your baby was screaming, and someone was knocking at your door? I’m never good at answering questions like that, so I was the only one who chose the baby—and I didn’t even have children at the time.
Because this was the wrong answer, the seminar leader turned me into the example of what not to do. I didn’t understand his reasoning, and I can’t recall what I should have done. This was back in the days before answering machines and cell phones, so obviously something had to be done first…I think it was answer the phone, ask the person calling to hold on, and then answer the door. (Presumably the baby was just being a pest). I do remember him saying that I was obviously a person who had trouble doing two things at once. Right you are buddy, but it works for me.The only time I can multitask is if I’m talking on the phone to someone I know well. (Sorry Pam, Beverly, Mum etc.) Then I usually play around in Photoshop at the same time, or I might tidy up. If the person is right in the room with me though, I have to drop everything. How can you talk to someone without looking them in the eye?
I’ve been annoyed with myself because I’d set a deadline for the end of May to finish my book, and that obviously won’t be happening. This is usually a busy time of year for me when it comes to work, so perhaps I was deluded into thinking this was a good time to wrap things up. But is there ever a good time? I think you just have to go ahead anyway and persevere.
Yesterday morning I sat down to take a close look at everything, and I soon realized there’s a big gap between then and now. Since I started reworking my material, I’ve made a lot of changes. The biggest difference from my original draft is that I’ve added at least fourteen new pages—and there may be more.
If I’d just zipped through and left it basically as is, I think I would have been able to finish on schedule. But when you change the parameters of a project, you shouldn’t keep working to the previous ones, should you? (Duh!)
Understanding this has, well, made me understand this…not that I’m any happier about the delay. I was looking forward to having more fun and being able to play around with some new things sooner rather than later. Fortunately I’m long past the point of questioning whether or not I should have undertaken this project in the first place. Now I just want to be done.
David took us out for lunch on Mother’s Day, and Emma bought me a book called The Mission of Art. It’s right up my ally because it’s all about metaphysics and art.
We went back to their place for tea, and then my parents dropped by to see the condo. I can’t believe my father actually leaned over the edge of their balcony. Honestly, I almost passed out. I still can’t get that picture of him out of my mind.
Pam told me today that she’s also afraid of heights, and we both agreed a view 32 stories up is best viewed from inside. Frankly I’m thinking we need some kind of harness too.Emma hasn’t finished her bedroom yet, but David’s is looking very cool with all his glass bricks grouped in front of the window. It reminds me of a Zen rock garden, and I’m tempted to cover his floor with smooth black pebbles and give him a rake to groom them properly...David being a very Zen kind of guy.
I love listening to opera, but I’ve never actually been to one I liked.
I remember going to see Boris Godunov back in the 70s with my uncle, and he fell asleep (snoring loudly) before the first intermission. This happened immediately after he complained (loudly and in detail) about the singing. People all around us were trying to shush him up. Gosh I miss him.
Anyway, last year John and I went to Wozzeck, another lugubrious opera that I napped through myself, and our most recent foray involved Elektra, which if you remember your mythology was unrelenting gloom and doom…oh, and endlessly atonal in this case too. At one point I looked at John and it was all we could do not to burst out laughing.
Am I a Philistine? I really think I must be. I know I had way more fun watching Celine Dion singing with holographic Elvis on American Idol, and that darling Apolo Anton Ohno—a skater and ballroom dancer? Yes, just bring him on.
I put my need for melody and happy endings down to reading every depressing novel written before 1975. It probably scarred me for life and I'll never recover.
It’s been a challenge trying to get everything done lately. Not that I’m complaining. I’m working on three different freelance writing projects at the moment, and they’re all interesting ones. Still, I had to stay up until 2 a.m. on Sunday night to meet my book page quota, and so far this week I haven’t been able to get back to it. Guess it will be another busy weekend for me.
Anyone who writes for a living knows how intense the process really is. You have the idea (or the assignment). You research. You brainstorm. You interview. You do at least one outline. You start writing and gradually whittle the material down reshaping it into something that pleases you. (At least that’s the way I do it).
Once I’ve got my lead and a possible conclusion I breathe a sigh of relief. But the hard part for me is smoothing out the rough edges so my writing flows. To be honest, I think I’m more of a thinker than a writer and I really have to work to lasso those all-at-once thoughts when I put them down on paper. Anything that involves story telling or word play is easier for me, but that’s not what magazine writing is all about.
The thing I miss most when I’m working like this is doing hands on artwork and writing in my journal. To stay on track with my book I’ve been limiting myself to two social occasions per week. My parents gave John and me two tickets to the opera tomorrow night so once again I’ll be missing the monthly ATC get-together…not that I’ve had time to do anything anyway. Emma came for a visit today so I took time off to cook her dinner, and then we watched Lost and American Idol. My fave, Lakisha, was voted off tonight (sob)…am I ridiculous or what?
I’m not sure why anatomical drawings fascinate me so much. It’s certainly not the utility of it all—in other words: how the body actually works. What I like is the symbolism of the body as an intricate, completely realized idea. The externals are peeled back and you see what’s really holding everything together.
The anatomy ATCs I’ve posted recently are scans from a nineteenth century book my cousin Ann gave me a few years ago. Recently I got about ten original pages from another old book that I’m looking forward to playing with. They’re all black and white woodcuts except for a color plate of the torso that has two layers attached by a flap. You lift them up so you can see what’s going on underneath. It reminds me of a low-tech version of those plastic body kits you can buy in a science store.
My mother turned 88 yesterday, and it was also my parents’ 62nd wedding anniversary(!) These days it’s hard to get everyone together at once, but all nineteen of us were able to make the celebration at Keith and Sherri’s, so that made it an extra-special occasion.
We all brought food, and Pam ordered a couple of scrumptious desserts from Dufflet’s. I thought of Ronna as I forced myself to eat a hefty piece of chocolate layer cake—why do I always eat too much at parties?
Keith and Sherri have renovated their basement and added a couple of amazing bathrooms. Is it weird to get so excited over bathroom fixtures? Probably, but because I lack the decorating gene myself, I love playing the voyeur. If I ever win the lottery, I’ll hire Sherri (good taste personified) and Bridget (innately funky) to make all my decorating fantasies come true.
P.S. Here’s a picture David took yesterday of my parents with their four children.
It’s been a long time since I had a scary dream, but the one I had last night was a doozy. It started out innocently enough. I was on the periphery of a down-and-out group meeting in the ballroom of an abandoned hotel. I wandered into another room and there was my dad sitting in an armchair. He waved at me, and I waved back.
It was night and we were really high up. (Now that I think about it, it was more like being in a space ship). There was a sudden flash of light and floating cities appeared outside the window. I went back into the ballroom and everyone looked considerably better. I started flying around above the crowd and felt great. But as soon as I started thinking about how wonderful it was to be flying, I plummeted right down to the floor.
Next thing I knew, I was tied to a bed and a man was eating my brain out with a spoon. Sounds funny, I know, but I can’t put in words just how terrifying it was. I actually started yelling and scared the daylights out of John. Because I was afraid to go back to sleep, I was a wreck this morning.
Years ago I used to teach a dream workshop at Sheridan, but I’ve never been any good at analyzing my own. I wonder what this one meant? Then again, maybe it didn’t mean anything. Maybe it was just feedback from that olive and cream cheese sandwich I ate right before I went to bed.
I love watching TV but I feel guilty about it so I limit how much I watch. Right now it’s 24, Dancing With the Stars, Lost and American Idol. Normally I wouldn’t be drawn to a show like Dancing with the Stars, but when Daniza mentioned it, I knew I had to check it out mainly because we always seem to like (really like) the same things. It’s your fault Daniza. Now I’m hooked.
But I always feel I should be doing something constructive when the TV is on. While I was watching Lost and American Idol tonight, I sorted through a big box of stuff that needs filing and found this business card size collage I made back in 1998 when I first started stamping. It’s one of a series, but I have no clue where the others are—probably somewhere in the giant throw room that used to be our basement.
I also found our marriage certificate. Now that was sobering. Why didn’t I put it back in its own special file after John applied for his passport last year? Again, no clue. But I was grateful I found it anyway. I’m going to see Jeanne in Texas this summer and I need a new passport myself.
I wish I’d had my camera with me on Sunday so I could show you how fantastic the view is from David and Emma’s condo. You can see the CN Tower from their kitchen window and planes landing at Centre Island Airport. The condo is brand new and everything is so fresh and airy. It’s exciting to think of them in such a fabulous place…a little freaky though standing on their tiny balcony 32 stories up. My hands are sweating now just thinking about it.
John and I have spent the last couple of days reorganizing and tidying up. The house definitely feels more spacious, and of course it’s quieter now. So far we’re not feeling lonely—we’re enjoying ourselves actually—but I have to admit I’m going to miss knowing all those little details you’re only a party to when you live with people who are important to you.
Once upon a time I used to write book reviews for a magazine. I always enjoyed this—although it was a challenge trying to reduce 200 pages or so to 350 words. But one of the nice things about having a blog is that I can mention a book before I’ve even read it, so I thought I’d mention three I got for my birthday you might like.
