. . . just another artist

No Longer Updating this Blog

2015-10-28T15:34:00.001-05:00

Find me on my Facebook page. Thanks for stopping by!

Instead of a poem

2014-07-15T22:09:00.001-05:00

Poem, I thumb my nose at you!

In a cat's eye or I need a stylus

2014-05-29T21:57:00.001-05:00

And I mean a stylus for my iPhone.

Jigsaw obsession

2014-05-15T14:38:00.000-05:00

[Your web browser does not support frames or is currently configured not to display frames. However, you may visit the related page.] made with my art. easy peasy. you can, too.

Web Log: A Morning's Sparks

2014-04-15T10:06:00.000-05:00

My mind sparks in the oddest ways sometimes. The best times are when I've had some really good sleep, like last night. I even woke around 1 a.m. for a brief glimpse of the moon eclipse. And I still got good sleep. (Good Sleeping: topic for another post.)

I started with Camp NaNoWriMo because I'm supposed to be editing my 2009 novel draft. This is a task a lot more difficult than I supposed. I found a great page of links to the stages and parts of revision. After reading one of the posts on types of editing, I decided to follow Amanda On Writing.

I liked the design of her tumblr blog and decided to install the same theme on my tumblr. First, I had to log in. Which was complicated by having to use Chrome since the latest Flash update crippled Safari on my ancient iMac. Soooooo ... reset password adventure!

After updating the tumblr, I had to add a "Pin It" button to my website because resetting the tumblr password meant accessing email. Reading email is always a nexus of distraction. Curse you email links!

Which led to fiddling with the design of the website because suddenly the colors look all garish after changing to a muted tumblr design. Fiddling with the design means arranging colors, selecting web colors, and trying out textured backgrounds (none of which looked right).

Which brings me here. Time for a break. Then some novel revision. And then, perhaps, more color contemplation.

Mini art - grape

2014-03-23T05:32:00.001-05:00

Editing a Novel

2014-03-17T17:06:00.000-05:00

I've signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo, the poorer, less selfish cousin of NaNoWriMo. Instead of luscious luxury hotels, we camp out under the stars and instead of a novel, we write whatever. Although you can write a novel, too. Or anything else your heart desires.

I will continue desultory editing of my 2009 novel draft, Cosmic Control: The Prime Locus Learns Something. The real learning will be by me as I continue investigating ways to edit. So far, I've discovered two techniques that work for me: breaking the novel into scenes and writing short sentences.

The scene divisions will allow me flexibility in rearranging the plot. The short sentences will (hopefully) point out exactly what is going on in each scene. I can't remember where I got the scene idea. From scriptwriting, possibly.

The short sentence idea came from the book Several Short Sentences About Writing by Verlyn Klinkenborg which is a unique book written all in short sentences. It's more like a poem than a non-fiction book. Shorter sentences are clearer and to the point. This should help remove vagueness and focus the action of each scene.

Although camp begins April 1st, I will get going before then. Or continue on from my failed attempt in February. Hoping camp will keep me motivated to move forward.

Open Secret

2014-03-12T03:20:00.001-05:00

Chair

Hardwood

Brick

Job

Task

Deadline

Air

Trees

Moon

Water

Heart

Wind

You choose a language that shuts doors and builds walls

When there is so much spaciousness

oh hey - i'm on pinterest

2014-02-27T12:41:00.001-06:00

Visit Elaine Greywalker's profile on Pinterest. Come see my random visuals.

Love Speaks

2014-02-14T12:23:00.002-06:00

091307 - mod2 (web)

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.

–William Shakespeare, Sonnet 130

Nicely read by Alan Rickman My Mistress' Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun - When Love Speaks - The Sonnets or get the whole album, full of excellent readings -->

Pink to dark and yellow

2014-02-12T10:01:00.001-06:00

Can't decide which one I like best. I like them all. I've been switching my iPhone background hoping that will help. I guess they are all good.

Another Pink Background Grunge

2014-02-11T16:50:00.001-06:00

And here's a background for iPhone 4.

Yellow and Blue Tree

2014-02-05T04:03:00.001-06:00

iPhone native camera shot enhanced with Snapseed.

wordpress ... again, again

2014-01-27T16:35:00.001-06:00

Reviewing Knowledge and Skills to Make Wordpress Templates

Yes, after plunking around on the live site (hesitantly and worshipfully), I am now making an attempt to do things the right way. Later today (or maybe tomorrow) I might even install a local copy of Wordpress.

I'm tired of customizing templates and not getting exactly what I want. Also, I have yet to see the layout I prefer in any template. So, once I figure this out, I'll be able to (hopefully) put in the bits I want and leave out the bits I don't want.

By the way, thank you Wordpress for making this nifty CMS free to all. And thanks to my library for giving me free access to Treehouse.

Further iPhoneography Filter Art

2014-01-16T23:27:00.001-06:00

I'm definitely addicted to futzing around with filters. Vintique has some nice ones but the app keeps crashing and won't save higher resolution images (even though they are now free to save).

Camera+ crashes constantly so I have deleted it even though I paid to get the "I love Analog" and "Hollywood" filters ... oh, and for the app. I hope future updates will fix it.

In the meantime, here's what I made with Snapseed, Vintique, and FrameURLife.

Art made with ArtStudio Lite (iPhone 4S).

Above artwork modified with Snapseed.

Above artwork framed and modified in FrameUrLife.

I don't remember how this started out.
Whatever it was I modified it in Snapseed.

Photo snapped with iPhone native camera
and then filtered with Vintique.

Texture Studies - aqua

2014-01-14T14:04:00.001-06:00

Indiscriminate

2014-01-12T05:08:00.001-06:00

I like them all. Filters are fun!

Moody yellow fogged

2014-01-10T13:53:00.001-06:00

For my iPhone wallpaper. And maybe yours.

Not sleeping

2014-01-05T03:14:00.001-06:00

Not sleeping ... Again

2014-01-04T05:03:00.001-06:00

Center-Pull Ball of Yarn Wound by Hand

2014-01-02T16:50:00.000-06:00

What my center wind skeins
look like.

What they are supposed to look like.

My Twitter Top Tweets

2014-01-01T13:25:00.001-06:00

My Top Tweets of 2013

Not sleeping

2013-12-27T02:38:00.001-06:00

Novel Update

2013-12-23T15:15:00.001-06:00

Happy Christmas!

The plan didn't work. So, okay. I'm at 63,340 which is not far from 70,000 but I won't reach that before 2014. Or at least I think I won't. I wasn't planning on writing today and yet I sat down and wrote 1,630 easy words. I just kept going and stuff got onto the page. So, there it is. I doubt I'll write any more on this novel before year's end but I never know. I may find myself in a creative drive after Christmas.

The story continues to surprise and entertain me. Looking forward to finding out what happens.

Goals for finishing this year's novel

2013-12-01T12:19:00.000-06:00

The official count is in: 56255. That's what I managed to write before the deadline and the word updater was turned off in my time zone. I continue to write with a final goal of 70,000 words because this seems a goodly amount of words to find the ending. Few NaNoWriMo participants arrive at the end of the story with 50,000 words. I wasn't one of them.

I believe I have found the ending. Sometimes it is like being in Wonderland as I start down the path to the end and the path wriggles and disappears into the forest. Characters become recalcitrant, things move from their intended location, and odd technical story stuff happens. However, I persist and am using this blog to publicly post my goal of 2000 per day (or around there averaged out) until reaching goal.

Red days are zero word
days. Yellow and orange are
low word days when I wrote
less than 1667 words.

This has worked before. I hope it works again. The holidays are crap writing times so I'll skip writing until after the new year, once I achieve 70K. Which means I need to arrive at the goal by around the 12th. After that life gets weird until the 1st of January.

Glad to see that each year I have fewer zero word days. This year there were only four. Having a stretch goal really helped. Also, it sometimes takes me 600 words or even 1000 to get into the groove.

I might return here periodically to update my word count. I will definitely post when I reach 70,000 or something close to it.