Here’s the under painting. The mottling is from using a wooly roller. The green and red just look odd here, like image processing artifacts.
Paint2006.01 – Underpainting
February 6th, 2006February vacation 1
February 6th, 2006This week has been uninteresting on the creative front, because i’ve been in some discomfort. I took Friday off for some reflection, but mainly continued in the grumpies. The weekend itself turned out lovely, with much bike riding.
Crochet
⊗ CR2006.02: I’m now past the I got past the hard part of the scarf — the diamond inset pattern — and i’m back to dc stitches. This bit weighs 0.5 oz out of a 50g spool.
⊗ CR2006.04: I’m decided to share the Friday morning progress scan with Laura, as she’ll visit in March and see it then, anyhow. No holding out on a completed surprise. She promply posted it in her new baby blog.
Photography
⊗ Finished Roll2006.01 out at salt pond A2W. We biked out carrying the tripod in my bike bag, stopping once to try and shoot a green winged teal. I didn’t identify it, but asked birders further down the creek. I should recognize them by now; we keep seeing them at the Crittendon bridge and down stream. Christine took the last few shots on the roll, including the moon shot.
Painting
On the 14th of FirstMonth i put acrylic to my first canvas. Christine had “bought” them for me for my birthday in 2005, but i didn’t go pick them out at Flax until last fall. The under-painting was done with a roller and bubble wrap sometime with a simple palette of black & white, with dabs of red, green, and stainless steel. (I suppose i should document which pigments i have on hand so i know WHICH red it was.)
Saturday evening I was going to do another layer, but i may have finished it. I added yellow to this palette, not Hansa but another. The green shoots remind me of a meditation/vision i had about joy a couple of years ago, so i’m calling the painting Joy. (Or Paint2006.01) I need to paint the edges of the canvas, and i ponder painting some of the forms again so the color is more opaque.
While Christine likes the textures of the bubble wrap and the stainless steel thick media, i think i’d choose to do that last next time. there are places the texture ended up where i wish it was flat.
I’l post photos of the paintings from Flickr.
Surfing
⊗ A Craftster forum reference to my ATC
⊗ Craftster Magazine Bowls. Cool.
⊗ Silicon Valley Arts Site, reminding me it might be about time to look into more tickets for a performance at The Pear. The Merc also reports on South First Fridays:
The monthly event, dubbed South First Fridays, kicks off tonight. Three venues — Anno Domini//the second coming of Art & Design; MACLA/Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana; and the Museum of Quilts and Textiles — have agreed to stay open until midnight in hopes of drawing art lovers to the strip. The fourth, The San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, will remain open until 10 p.m.
Bike mount
February 6th, 2006This How to make a bike camera mount tempts me, but i need something MUCH more flexible. This past weekend i took the large telephoto lens out to the baylands with the tripod in the side bag. When i wanted to get a quick photo of a green winged teal, i left the tripod in the bag and it seemed fairly steady.
The features i want are
⊗ a reasonable height off the ground,
⊗ tilt and pan
⊗ quick release (because no way am i leaving that lens mounted while i’m riding!)
It seems like it should be possible. The Quantaray – QSX 2001 UT Tripod at $20 should be a reasonable tripod to hack. Now to ponder how to mount it to the back rack.
What a fun Monday — totally by accident….
January 30th, 2006Photography
Picked up Roll2005.06 at Wolf. 37 shots of B&W goodness to scan in.
Inspired, and sighting the delicate new moon, ushering in the Year of the Dawg, i loaded Roll2006.01 (OLD film, “07/2002 3715804″, Kodak Select Royal Gold, 24 exp, ISO 200/24° C-41 RB135-24, CAT 129 8041).
I shot three shots: the first two were some thing like 30 second exposures, the third was 1/2 s. I forgotten how to use the timer as well. Ah well.
060201: Spaceweather.com has a photo like the one i was trying to shoot at swpod2006/31jan06/joye1.jpg. Their write up links to an explanation of earthshine or the “Da Vinci Glow”. It will be a while before i get mine developed….
Mail art — from the Mail Box
Received the Altered Photos ATC swap (LMAO2005.08) from nervousness. Ironic, because Christine (aka greycat) hasn’t received hers, but hers arrived at the swap first — even though they were mailed together. Last out, first in?
Top row L-R: “Shine” from Supersunshine , “neon” from Iowa-art-teacher , “Evolution” ATC #73 . Bottom row L-R: “The Barrens, Co. Clare, Ireland” from Penny Miles, “Wisconsin Trees” by Carl.
Crochet
Working on the Nord/ette’s blanket (CR2006.04)– have a 3″ square worked “in the round” of mainly hdc with the 2.55mm hook. It’s something like 7 rows. Sometimes i doe the hdc in the back loop and sometimes i don’t creating this occasional ridge. I figured that out this evening and have only done both-loop hdc. It’s not exactly square by stitch count, but i think i have time to straighten that out. If every row adds two stitches at the end (i’ve been doing dc there in contrast to the hdc), i’ll say the next loop should have 18. Sides A & B add two, C adds one, and D none.
    A: 16 st
B: 16 st   D: 18 st
    C: 17 st
Surfing
⊗ Signing textile creations: A Grumperina tutorial. Requires iron on printer transfer stock and satin ribbon.
⊗ Hundreds of types of Crochet! Noticed in a Crochet Me forum and thought of the collection of stitch references that i began … and which seem to have been a victim of the site move. How odd. (Also, it seems many of the topics and author identities went away.)
Chunky Book Tip-Ins Received
January 28th, 2006I’m the happy recipient of ilovelillies “it’s only love” collage, pgills wonderful abstract watercolors (? ink?) with metallic gel, Lady Majesta’s bloom where you’re planted collage, josie’s Oh La La!, and Barbara’s fabric abstract.
How neat! I’m delighted with the variety.
People who have admitted to receiving a MA2006.CBTI.Jan from me: Mammadoo, PGill, joseta_fugeta….
Ria’s questions about Postal Issuing Authorities
January 26th, 2006In the Non_cents yahoo Group, host Ria asked some questions bout making artistamps. Since i feel still new, but not brand new, i thought i’d answer both sets.
If you have an issuing authority, would you take a few moments to share
how you created your world by answering the following questions:
1. What got you started making artistamps? I wanted to make a special card to celebrate some birthdays and wedding anniversaries. I had to come up with something that i could make with multiple copies easily, and soon i had the idea for a travel brochure trifold. It was clearly inspired by Nick Bantock’s Urgent Second Class.
2. How did you come up with the name for your
3. Is your postal authority run by a ficticious character? If yes, how did you come up with the idea for him/her/it?
4. Does your PIA have a catalog or a website?
5. What other things have you created as an expansion to your world? For example, passport books, catalogs, first day issues, sets, etc.
6. Some people design their artistamps starting out with pencil sketches, some draw or collage in their computers using things like Photoshop, some use photographs, some do linocut. What is your design process? The stamps i’ve designed to date have started from my photographs, and then i process in Photoshop. The one exception has been the stamp celebrating the ninth anniversary of our company. That one used a very early logo. I make my cancels with carved wine corks.
Weary
January 25th, 2006Mainly spent time finishing rolling up the denim blue recycled cotton into balls. Yes, balls. As i reflected on how the tedious task was preventing me from taking over the world (not a goal i had in mind until i was on the second snarled skein), i reflected, too, on the Alexandrian solution to knots of all kinds.
I’m not sure i want my crochet to take over Persia and northern India, but here’s to giving it a chance.
Some textual tweaks and additional internal links on the website, too.
Crochet patterns: onion bag and gardening apron
January 24th, 2006I think one of my biggest disappointments in this crochet thing is the fact that one bundle of yarn doesn’t equal, say, a reasonable sized sweater for me. Particularly as i look at the price of a pound of bamboo yarn.
Now that i have new yarn — but not much — what to make? Bags, i guess.
Last night i found this Onion Bag which is similar to the type shopping bag i’d like to make. No “onion” but, this is the general theory…
Today, following links on the Crochet Me forums to Jennah’s blog, i find her post about this pattern, a gardening apron. It also seems useful and appropriate to a small amount of yarn. It requires two skeins of 236yd/skein worsted weight (4) yarn — 472 yds! Yipes! I’ve only 95 yards of the organic cotton green and 180 yards of the denim blue recycled cotton. I think it’s that i used to sew. One has “only three yards” of something — and you can definitely do something with it. “Only 95 yards….” Only?!?!
Another thing i’m noticing is my immediate tendency to blow off patterns. Look, get an idea, and then — why bother with a pattern? (I recognize i have high expectations for the sweater books i’m buying. I want sweater THEORY. Explain arms, explain couture fitting (although the article in Crochet Me is fabulous) — don’t just give me the recipe.
Much later: I notice (as i spend eternities winding yarn into balls) that the green matches the upholstery on the hassock in the living room. Perhaps a cover for that?
Mailbag!
January 24th, 2006
Yesterday i was a bit exhausted from the previous late night with a server outage at work. I did receive some fun stuff in the mail:
* Yarn from Earth Friendly Yarns: two cottons, a bamboo, and a soy. We’re leaning towards the bamboo for the blanket for Nord/ette. Now to choose a color scheme!
* A postcard and form from Pippoboro
Ooops!
January 22nd, 2006I migrated the site a little too quickly to my new hosting provider and new blogging software.
The previous RSS feed is now obsolete. I hope to have a clear notice up in the next few days.