Morning Fruit....

It's all done. There are things I like about it and things I don't like about it. I got the vibrant colours I wanted. My stump turned out pretty good. Now of course it is always easier to see what you don't like in your own work. First I don't like the grain of the paper. I used Mi-Tients, I wished I had tried the smooth side. I think I might have used the same # of layers without getting a gummy look on the smooth side. I don't like the rays of sunlight, it seems juvenile, in the drawing. In my photograph I liked them. I wish now that I had done something more subtle to convey the light. Possibly going with colours to convey the trees and light rather than structured lines. Overall it's not too bad, but if I was going to hang something on the wall it would be my photograph. If you want to see the rest of the WIP photos they're in a post on the new LMA.

Let's Make Art has a new site!
Let’s Make Art is a home for self taught artists where they can safely display their work in all media, share tips and ideas, learn from each other or just be friends. It is a social network as much as an art place. Membership is totally free.

You get your own page to customize, your photos can be put in albums and you can have a slide show. It reminds me a whole lot of Sue's Sunday Salon with lots of interaction between members.

Some More Pictures....

I think I have all my white down now. I feel that I don't have enough black showing, but I have read that green and yellow need white behind them or they don't look right. I guess I will find out when I start adding colour to it.

New Project.....

I finally got my self started on a new project. This is my plate of oranges and grapes. It will be a coloured picture. Right now I am putting down the tones in white. When I have all the values down I will start adding colour. I am still real new to using black, so I am going to take lots of pictures. This way if it doesn't work out I can see at what point I went wrong.
I also put this picture up for the challenge at Drawspace. If you want to see some different interpretations of it, go check it out.

Shave for a cure.....

My blogging friend Wendy Prior has shaved her head to raise funds for the cure of leukemia and blood diseases. Wendy has raised over a hundred dollars. She has also told us of another way that we can help out. Watch this 45 second video from Fidelity Life and they will add $1 for every view, up to a total of $10,000. Shave for a Cure. Take a minute and go check it out. Then check out Wendy's amazing CP work on drafting film.

This is another picture from my camp weekend. I liked how the posts lined up with the tree and the tree was on the edge of nothingness. The lake is just barely visible because of the mist in the air.

Life....

Here is another picture from my nature walk at camp. I thought I would use it to introduce another TED video. A feast for the eyes and ears, even if you have different ideas on the start of our planet.

In this stunning slideshow, nature photographer Frans Lanting presents The LIFE Project, a collection that tells the story of our planet, from its eruptive beginnings to its present diversity. Hoping for a glimpse of the world the way it was in the age of photosynthesizing stromatolites, "back before the sky turned blue," Lanting journeyed to a remote lagoon in Australia, the only place in the world where stromatolites still exist. The story moves forward from there, via a lyrical collection of photographs set to a soundtrack from Philip Glass.

Camp Cook.....

My two younger sons William and Douglas went to camp this weekend. I went too, just not as Mom. I went as the camp cook. Luckily I am not the only volunteer, there were several of us to do the work. I have seniority, since I have been going to camp for about 8 yrs, ever since Alex started cubs. When I started I offered to help out in the kitchen.....when I got there I found out I was it! I had to cook for about 15 kids and 5 adults. Now we cook for about 20 kids and about 10 adults.

I brought my camera to camp with the intention of getting some art worthy pictures. Someone mentioned that my plate of fruit looked good, so I started with it the first morning. It was a great time to take pictures, the sun was just coming up and there was frost touching everything. I had a great time walking around the hills, and mud, taking pictures. I even remembered to take pictures of children. I had three nieces, a nephew and a Brother in Law at the camp also, so, actually there are quite a few pictures of children.

You Have to Check Out TED....

Morning
300 pixels/inch

I was checking out Sue's blog, the Ancient Artist. On it she was discussing a video that she had seen. This video is on TED and is one of several hundred on this site.

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.

The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).

This site makes the best talks and performances from TED available to the public, for free. Almost 200 talks from our archive are now available, with more added each week. These videos are released under a Creative Commons license, so they can be freely shared and reposted.

Today, TED is therefore best thought of as a global community. It's a community welcoming people from every discipline and culture who have just two things in common: they seek a deeper understanding of the world, and they hope to turn that understanding into a better future for us all.

I watched the video that Sue was discussing and then another and then another! I am hooked, these are some of the most intelligent talks ever put in one place. You may not always agree with what is being said, but you will come away thinking.

Here is one to get you started. (this one is environmental, there are many other topics) I was impressed with her passion on her topic.

The Colours Out My Window....

This was the view out my window on March 28th. It is unusual for us to have a snow storm this late in the season. The colours are what caught my attention, the sky, the snow in the sun and the snow in the shade. it made for a delightful day to look out the window.


This morning I woke up to this glorious shade of blue. The snow of three days ago is long gone. I was really glad that I grabbed my camera as this lasted only moments.