A is for pAisley

Ok so maybe I'll just post one thing, but it took me much of today to do it. This took a lot of work with paths, custom shapes, and just plain fun:

I was always intrigued by those big artsy capital letters in my story books when I was a kid. I wish I still had one of those books, just to look at those letters. This is kind of a tribute to those letters. I may do more, now that I'm warmed up.

Today was consumed with a) getting a late start; b) doing this bit of alphabetical art; and c) attending the Soup Supper at church. It was good, plenty of food and nice people, but I didn't like the table arrangement. We were lined up like the school cafeteria in elementary school, except that the tables were closer together, so it was hard to walk up to get more soup!

I Heart You

Another beautiful day in paradise. Things go apace. Church was good. Spring calendar is filling up. Jack is working today on finishing up his shed, and it's looking great. Painting was the order of the day, along with burying his electrical conduit. Soon it'll be ready for pictures!

I worked a bit on my presentation that I'll be doing for our Photo Club here on the 23rd. I would have finished, but my perfectionism combined with Word's formatting has me temporarily dogged, so I gave it up for today, and decided to make you a piece of art:

Filters were Ocean Ripple and Colored Pencil, applied to a smattering of hearts that I put into Difference Mode. Oh what fun! :)

Be the Change

Today was another good day! It began with sleeping in till 7, Zumba, and laundry. One of my washers chose me to be the victim of its fritzing out, so I got to wash one load twice, just so I could get the rinse cycle. I finally was done with laundry by 1.

And I did some art:

This was a Paths exercise, combined with some Gradient fun and Layer Effects euphoria.

I was happily playing my penny whistle, when I suddenly remembered that Jack and I were going to leave for dinner at 5, and it was 4:59! Yikes! I undressed and redressed more quickly than I ever have, whipped on my makeup and swept my hair into a fetching bun, and off we went!

We arrived at Claim Jumper right at our reservation time, and were seated immediately. Dinner was eximious; Jack had a steak and baked potato, salad, and toast, while I feasted on a chicken cashew salad on a most delicious tomato bread, fresh fruit, and, for my vegetable, carrot cake!

Another cold day in paradise

The weather here is sort of a joke, because ... well, it just doesn't seem like February in Tucson, which is usually lovely. I just hope that it doesn't go immediately from being too cold to being too hot. I do know that the hummingbirds are mightily confused!

Otherwise the day has been good. I went with Jack to Home Depot to pick up a GFI plug and then to Sprouts to lay in some supplies for supper, which I'm cooking. Tonight will be Fettucini Milano, one of my faves. It has sausage, fresh parsley, sweet peppers, green onions, garlic, and herbs all combined in a buttery-olive oil and served over fettucini, or whole-wheat rotini tonight.

I sat and played piano for a bit this morning! And this afternoon, I did a little bit of pre-VD art:

Now... I'm trying to commit myself to something for Lent. With the idea in mind that I want to do more creatively, I believe I will commit to posting some piece of art, a photo, or a recipe into this blog every day of Lent. Will you enjoy that?

More Building

We got the walls erected today, and put in 3 of the ceiling joists. It doesn't sound like much, but we worked hard on it all day.

Just now I was playing with some art, trying still to recreate that piece I did a few days ago. I ended up with another variation, which I like even better, I think!
 

 

This time, I've carefully labeled my layers and saved the layered file! Of course, it can't be recreated exactly, which is part of the beauty of this sort of art. No one else can do your art. Or mine, for that matter. :P



Wood has arrived

Yes! The wood came this morning for the construction of Jack's new storage shed. It will be 12x10 and will house his tools, Christmas decor, bikes, and anything else he sees fit to put in there. We worked at moving all the wood back out of the street, where it was delivered, onto his driveway, beyond where he parks his car. I'm very hopeful that this is not a very long project. I want to get his stuff out of my 2nd shed, get that torn down, get a new one built for me, and move my things into it. That new shed of mine will serve to store a few things of mine and will also serve as a tiny guest quarters.

Once we get the sheds done, we will be set to start landscaping our backyards. :) Always fun projects to do here!

Today we're experiencing a little return to winter, with some below-average temps and a stiff breeze. The sun is out, though, and it is warm, offering a promise of spring returning soon.

I got my logo work done, or mostly done, today. The thing that most people don't understand about graphic design work is that most of the real *work* is just trying to figure out what the client wants in the art, and then what sort of file format they need. Emails back and forth are the most time-consuming thing.

I played with some more art today, making this:

And it was fun! Only fun! :) I did it with layers of Gradients in Difference Mode, these Layers put into different Blending Modes, and then a filter applied to the result. Zow, I think this is pretty.