Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Wow, Annie, you hit that psychedelic era right on the nose! LOL I, unfortunately, remember those times all too well. LOL Fun piece … !!
Lovely posts from everyone and great ideas, too. I agree, Annie, patterned papers have their place, but not everywhere. It’s great though to use them to practice what we are learning here. I made a few template “transfusions” as well, and I am glad to have learned it – especially some of the pitfalls you folks all ironed out for us. Your textures are lovely … as they always are! You are very very good at that! I hear you, too, Sue … outside is calling in a big way. I hope it isn’t going to limit your sends too much! As it gets hotter and hotter in Florida I find myself out doing more and more watering! I feel sorry for the bees when it gets really hot out. I saw an article where you could help them along by placing a bowl of water out and have the bowl FULL of marbles -even the dollar store floral ones, so they can land and not drown. Cool idea. Just thought I would mention, too, one of the things I found in template transitioning … that’s what I am calling it … be aware of the colors used. If you are going to resize the project at the end, which I did, it totally changed the look of the small lines in the transitioned bg. It went from a bright and bold yellow to looking more coral/pink after resizing, which was not the look I was after and did not match my accents. I think it might be a prudent to see what your resized paper might look like resized before putting a great deal of time into it. Yes, I know, you can always change it left in the right format, but just as a time saver, might be quicker to just take a peek at it first. Thanks for sharing your experiences as it helps US as well, but isn’t it awesome when Carole can chime in and solve it in a snap. LOL I love that.
Xerus ~ a small squirrel type animal that lives in burrows in Africa. No idea if there are zoo’s in Africa .. but there COULD BE! Cute little thing, sort of a cross between a squirrel and chipmunk. ??
Well already I have a beef with myself. That should be piccolo on there. 🙂 I’ll go back and change it, but YOU will have to pretend. Won’t subject you to looking at it twice. 🙂
I wish we could see elephants in their natural habitat. I mostly wish elephants could be SAFE in their natural habitat … but seems like they aren’t. I have to admit, the only elephants I’ve ever seen were in circus environment. I know they treated them well as you could actually see the bond between handler and animal, but realistically how would we feel if we were to perform on command? Probably not the happiest. I don’t know, better than being shot I guess – for no other reason than someone could. I hear some of the African nations have posted guards to protect what little is left. I hope it’s not too little, too late. I’ve always loved this song and as it’s not a hard song for newbies to play, it’s often included in many beginner music books. It’s just a darn fun song. I watched a YouTube video of Henry Mancini on the Glen Campbell TV show from 1982 where Glen’s team played the song and Henry accompanied on the piccolo. Remember when we had tv that was entertainment? LOL The font is called (appropriately) elephant, from dafont. I snagged the elephants out of youtube videos.
Wow … you ladies have been busy! Quite awesome, everyone! Just reading … you get to absorb great stuff! It was a great class and I think we all got to glean something out of it. That’s a fact. Not that every class Carole does we don’t learn things, we do, but this most recent one just hit everyone’s “wow, that’s quick and new” button. Very cool! 🙂
Mary – you are wise and I don’t even think you needed to tell us that you were going for emotion. Your piece has a total ephemeral vibe. Like passing over … or brief second in time. Sort of like movies divulge when portraying ghosts that disappear into thin air. That kind of thing. Well … shadowing is good, great even, but it’s not always inclusive in art. Many graphic arts don’t use shadowing at all. Your’s works and you know what, that’s what counts, right? Great choice on song, too. I thought of that one, but went with Cash instead. I hope more people play as there are a veritable smorgasbord of songs with WALK in the title.
Did anyone besides me go looking for color charts after Carole’s class the other day? I will admit I already had some favorites I made and stored, but I did go look. There is great inspiration out there in any of the painting supply houses, but then again, there were a ton of options readily available on Google. I found a load of ones, that were generated by movie films. Movies have great lighting and often use colors we don’t often keep in our day to day visionary scheme. If you get time, go look, some of them were awesome.
Thanks, Michele. The curled paper was from a very old scrap set dug out of my files and it was not large scale so had to resize in AI. It, unfortunately, had just a wee bit of shading already on it, but I opted to use it anyway as it was the look I wanted. Preshaded product can often give that blurred look you don’t want – especially if it is going the wrong way. I didn’t see a way to avoid it without giving the scroll a too sharp edge. I’m not unhappy with the finished project, but I will admit SEVERAL FAULTS on it. Which is where I thought you might be going!! If you look more closely (put on some specs) there is NO shading on a couple of the items as they required me to do something I am absolutely horrible at and it shows in great fashion with shading. Tubing! So a couple elements I included had no shading at all, which is where I thought you might be going. Seems I skated on those. LOL I think by adding a little color variation under the elements but on top of the scroll it accentuated the scrolls enlarged blur. I only did that as the scroll was fairly translucent in some areas. Anything I shaded myself used the same settings. Also … in cutting it to pieces myself … I found the bg online and wanted the lines in the floor to show and then decided they should flow opposite on the edge/rim. I think that might have created even more shadowing confusion. Art instructors have taught me for years and years that light and shadowing can come from many angles … say you have a window on one side and candle on another or maybe even a lamp on a third … if a scene has volume, each of those plays of light will have significance. When doing a flat picture/graphic without any of those elements being the volume they might ordinarily be in a real life setting, it’s tricky! Very few projects are without fault … and I am certainly not in that category. But overall, it was okay – a “feel good” one to do with personal memories. You got a sharp eye there! 🙂
I’m having a not so mobile day. LOL Can you tell? Anyway, I am giving the zoo a second try. I went with my second favorite … and in a really bright way. I made this with and without shading, but purposely left it off as the red was too much of a bleed for it.
I meant with the whole posting, Ann. Not just the boots. The Nancy Sinatra Boots theme of it. 🙂
Mop up your brow, Ann. You shouldn’t have waited at all. You did an outstanding job yourself with Nancy’s Boots. Who the heck knew so many unlikely folks did covers? I sure didn’t. Music is often mind boggling and so are musicians! I’m feeling the need to YOUTUBE one of those versions as I just can’t spin it in my head. LOL
Wow … my first visit back to this Zoo page since I sent mine. I can’t believe all the great postings!!!!! Whether embellished or simplistic – they are each and every one fantastic! Everyone has a different style and thanks goodness for that as it would be a pretty boring artistic world if we were all treading the same boards. Lynda … what kind of duck has a tuft on the top of his head? Can we say CUTE with that! I used to have ducks so kind of partial. 🙂 Never had one with a tuft on his head though. I used to raise my own as my Dad built me an incubator. Glad I had some fellow giraffe lovers. My sister was our family elephant lover so we always had to go scout those out if at a park that had them. Elephants were kind of rare in my area, but I would have been right there, for sure. I have the Bali Elephant Park included on all my Earth Cam apps. Do any of you follow EARTHCAM app sites (live feeds) around the globe. It’s wonderful to be able to pop in and out of locations all over the globe and see what people are doing in real time. Big city or out in the sticks or even places you will never in your life get to go. Great fun. They even have one of a watering hole in Africa where the elephants will come to get a drink. That’s probably as close as I’ll ever get. Anyway, loved them all!!
Thank you Ann and Lynda. Once in a while we get a winner, right? Maybe it’s that MOJO when you think about parents you miss terribly! 🙂 My parents met at a USO dance hall while my Dad’s ship was in for repairs. Soon after his extended drydock stay – when his ship was put back to sea, he wrote and asked if he sent the ticket – would she come to Virginia from Maine and marry him. She said yes … and they married at the base Navy chapel. She was a single mom with two daughters 2 and 3. He was father to all – with my brother and I coming along years later on. They had 51 years of dancing together.
I’ll probably have a lot of song entries … but first one that comes to mind is “I Walk the Line” by Johnny Cash. It was my parents signature song, if you will, so I probably heard it played thousands of times in our house … while they danced. They were great dancers. So the story goes, my Dad would call my Mom whenever it played on his watch on ship in the Navy. We got used to seeing them break out in a dance whenever it was played even years after it’s release. Not unusual there. You know, just hearing the opening signature beat now brings back a ton of memories. It’s pretty distinctive.
I have paid attention to all the lab works done by you fabulous ladies, Karon especially, as she worked through many of them. I hope to have a bunch of time this summer when I return to Maine to play with those. For now, I have been concentrating on all the scripts I purchased. Not even worrying so much as to the projects ultimate finished look really, just continuing to learn how to install them, open them, use them, manipulate them, etc. That alone is great fun. I have purchased quite a few and still am not successful on a couple. I’ll probably have to bother Carole about them one day … but I am still trying to figure them out on my own for now. Seems like just as I get one somewhat mastered, she comes out with another beauty you just HAVE to get! LOL I mean, really, foliage and flowers at the touch of a finger? What could be be better? I played with the large scale puzzle before, but now playing with the smaller scale ones. Going to try the round one after this.
Michele – Not my style really to critique someone else’s work … and I am not. Just gotta say, when you see something that’s pretty much perfection, you have to say so. Solid Satin is a knock completely out of the ballpark! Home run! First you had a fabulous and stunningly beautiful subject to work with, but you showcased her in a dramatic yet simple way. She is a Fabulous Diva for sure! Loved it.
Okay, pay no attention to the cats. LOL I just bought some blue willow salt and pepper shakers and they are sitting in front of me. Quick inspiration. Anyway, the folded edges worked ever so much better! Thank you, Carole. A few more times and I will get better at it. 🙂
I have often found, in my own humble opinion, that it surely depends on what you are going to do with a piece – if you want shading on it. For computer viewing, it almost always looks better … more depth, richer tones, etc. with shading. But there are instances where I put absolutely no shading on things as I know they are going to be mass printed and sometimes printing does not treat shading kindly. It gives more of a blurred effect than the range of depth we might be achieving online. I have numerous times had a label or project returned to me asking for shading to be removed. Especially with text on labels. Just saying. It depends on the piece, style and what you might be creating it for. Okay, I’ll be quiet now.
Was practicing with the folded edges script and I can plainly see I need a whole lot more practice with that! LOL But going to share it anyway as that’s how we learn, right? Somehow they don’t look folded at all … they look more like earmarks.
J ~ Jaguars! I don’t think I want to meet up with him anywhere – but he sure is gorgeous!
I am so NOT a gardener. I don’t have the movement for it. I love gardens though, I just can’t tend them. Yeah, I can water them with the sprinkler and I can pick the caterpillars off … which is about all I do. I have a young friend who also has issues and he loves to garden but because of epilepsy he cannot drive. He planned and planted my gardens and I water and pick off the caterpillars. I purchased the lots around my house … in the middle of a scrub forest … so that I could remain in a forest and have all the wildlife be safe in there. However, I draw the line at those pesky caterpillars which will eat a full size oleander plant in no time. I can go out and pick a big plastic cup of them off the plants every day! They are pretty easy to spot as they’re bright orange, but many times they hide on the underneath of the leaf. I don’t get them all, but at least I rescued the plants. It seems like I had to be weeks at it before it passed and they went on to be moths – or whatever they get to be. A black and orange moth, I think. My only other plant eater is the gazillion of bunnies around me. I don’t have the heart to hurt a bunny … but many of the hibiscus and gardenia’s – once the greenery has gotten to a more mature stage the bunnies leave them alone. They probably are lured by the early green shoots. So to get them past that stage … I put rugged cardboard boxes around them. Bunnies can probably smell them, but they don’t bother to try and get them. So one of my gardens is nicknamed the Box Garden as it has been chomped too many times to survive without some sort of protection. I also put big plant pot saucers underneath all the full size plants and they attract way more birds than my multitudes of birdbaths. I guess they feel more secure and protected in there. Or maybe they just want privacy, who knows? I ended up putting smooth stones in the bird baths on one side, too, as the birds didn’t like to land on the edges. As soon as I put the stones in … they loved them. Finally, Annie T, I admit it. I stole your lovely little design and made a mask border on the top. They were adorable! Just had my second vaccine shot and have the weekend with no plans … just in case. So, maybe I will get to play some. If you have read this far … thank you! A bit chatty here.
Hello Campus Crowd ~ I’ve been away with other projects, but do get a chance to check in now and then to see what everyone is posting. It seems like the crowd has somewhat thinned – has everyone got spring fever, maybe? I know I have been spending a fair amount of time outside myself and seems like the tether to the computer has loosened somewhat with good weather! The “Usual Suspects” have been churning out some lovely artistry to look at. Annie – going way back to your kookaburra birds – I had no idea they were so pretty! I am always amazed with the colorful birds you share with us from your country. I, like any other schoolkid, used to have to sing about a “kookaburra bird in an old gum tree”. Totally unknown to me, I envisioned some super huge threatening bird laughing hysterically. No idea they were beautiful. Anne L … your Good Friday post was deeply touching and meaningful. Lynda, I, too, want to say your post on your son was beautiful and a wonderful tribute to his memory – not that you have ANY trouble remembering … unfortunately the bad along with the good. I hope over the years the good is prevailing in your spirits. All the posts are lovely and just wanted to say great job everyone! I hope to have some time soon to start playing again and make a post or two myself. Oh – did love the Easter posting of baby listening to Grampy play the guitar. Looked like a C chord, perhaps. Did make me wonder what he was playing that the baby so enjoyed. Isn’t it amazing when babies start to move, sway, clap and enjoy music. When they start to get upright and want to move and dance to the music. Always some special moments! Have a lovely and engaging weekend, everyone!
Cobra
No zoo royalty here … If you live out in the sticks, zoo’s are usually a hike and a half to get to. Maybe that’s why zoo and animal shows are so popular on tv. I still have managed to get to a few in my lifetime and if they have them … there is no doubt that the GIRAFFE’s are where I would head first. I have always lived near the sea, so sea life, while thrilling, isn’t the same as seeing things you don’t normally get to enjoy. Giraffe’s and Zebra’s would do it for me. Gorgeous Irwin post, Annie. I don’t think anyone will ever forget the Crocodile Hunter. He had a truly genuine draw not only in presence and knowledge, but just a darn infectious smile! It made you want to tag along!
I’m going with Easter Sunday numbers. Company coming for this year and I am kind of excited about it. After the year plus we have all put in, company sounds great. Last year no one was here and it made me kind of sad – but I looked out the glass door and not three feet from the glass a big ole bunny sat for about three hours eating my grass. It cheered me up. If I didn’t get people, I at least had the Easter Bunny! And no … he did not leave any candy. 🙁 But that’s okay … he was here.
Ever been excited over an Easter egg hunt? Well, the bunny gets most of the credit with kids, but it wouldn’t happen if it wasn’t for the chickens and the eggs. Just kidding of course … My Dad semi-retired when my brother and I were preteens … and he spent oodles of time with us once we sort of settled in Maine. He built us incubators and we hatched ducklings and chickens. We kept a few little bantam chickens, 2 pet rabbits and 2 ducks (Hazel and George) – but all the extras were given to a nearby farm who gladly accepted them. Loads of learning lessons there. We also made home made root beer and he bought us a bottle capper so we could look professional. We even designed labels. LOL We learned to sail, hunt, fish and trap and we were enormously into space and bottle rockets with our own firing station. Those lessons continued right through grands and great grands until he died at 91. Wow, could I ever use a few lessons on stuff now. Like how do you stop a beeping smoke detector that’s wired in? Changing the battery didn’t work. You have to take it out of the loop and buy another. Even totally disconnected and in our hand, it still beeped for a while!!! I threw it out on the porch and two more beeps! Who knew? It was possessed I think.
Wow … Been gone just a few days this week and what wonderful things to look at now that I am here. Way way too many to name individually, as you have all been very creative! Just let me say to all of you … thanks for all kinds of wonderful posts and creative ideas to browse through! I am getting antsy to get home to Maine. Counting down the weeks and I look at my home security cameras there and it looks like a lovely day which makes me want to get there all the more … but then I talk to family and they say, don’t hurry. It’s only 11′ but sunny. LOL So I guess I will have to be a little more patient. Eleven is still too cold for me. 🙁 But when I do get there, I know just the places I want to go!
I’ve been sitting here all day as an installer has put in a new AC unit. He did a great job! I’ve already played with the fonts here … but here’s another with Baby Olivia. Really I wasn’t playing with that so much as I was playing with Carole’s scripts for 1. Circular Element 2. Bow 16 3. Tulle and 4. Ribbon maker … Just passing the time.
