More Computer Woes

Well, my life just gets better and better.

Sat down at the computer this morning only to be staring at a completely black screen. Some time after midnight my fairly new (less than one year old) monitor apparently decided to commit suicide.

So for the interim I will use my husband's laptop - and have no access to my Word documents or digital pictures. I'm heading out of town in a couple days anyway and just cannot deal with this now. Perhaps when I get back I'll be able to figure out how to get some of my stuff into this one (won't he love that!) as a back up and will deal with whatever the problem is with mine.

Oh - and did I mention that last night my husband came home, sat down close to me on the couch, lowered his voice and said "Deb, I've got some bad news for you." Well, of course, my thoughts went immediately to death - what else could account for this type of mannerism? (Had he just run over the dog????)

Turns out that the car, which I'm to drive on the above mentioned trip, needed service - the "Service Engine" light had come on. (deeeeeeeeep Yoga breath . . . . .)

So taking the car in for service shot most of this morning, and also messes up my Friday plans. Hmmmmm, what else can I complain about! Hopefully in a couple of weeks I will have more interesting info to post, along with more paintings and/or pictures.

What is that saying - "the best laid plans go astray" - (and I had big plans!)

By the way, today was my husband's birthday - I found the perfect card for him - it was in booklet form, all about (those of you who are a bit squeamish might want to skip this part) . . . FARTS! (If you knew him, you'd understand!!!)

Here's hoping you are achieving your art goals better and faster than I am! Happy Painting, and watch for my return in a couple weeks.

Hang in There!

For those of you who visit my site regularly, and for those of you who are new - thanks for hanging in there!

I'm no longer on dial up - I'm using a Sprint card which is faster than dial up - but not that fast! It's very hit or miss for me to post - this morning I spent over an hour and still couldn't get it to connect to Blogger!

But I promise I'm trying to keep this site current and interesting.

So, please stop back often and watch for new items as I'm able to get them uploaded.

Painting Lace

This is another in my casein series of lace, fruit, flowers, etc. using some of my grandmother’s things. There is one more in this series planned, if I can just get the picture figured out and drawn!

I do enjoy working in a series. Sometimes the series is planned in advance, but sometimes it dawns on me that I’m doing a series without realizing it. I’ve got several paintings composed of roses, peonies, pears, that I didn’t really realize until I sat down and looked at my digital photos the other day. Well, DUH!

Anyway, I’m very pleased with the lace on this one. My husband said I have the cup, etc. too high, there is too much lace. Well, gee, this was planned to be “all about the lace”. I took the coffee cup which appeared in my original photo and redrew it shorter and wider to become a tea cup, and made up the rose patterns on the cup and saucer.

Even my Darling Daughter (my harshest critic) whose normal critique always consists of “needs more detail” said “Looks good, lots of detail.” And my husband’s final comment was “you have raised the bar” – which I think means that I’m improving (maybe?).

Hope you enjoy looking at the “in progress” photos.

Pears and Lace, casein on watercolor board, 18x14

Chicago Trip

Arrived home safely from a 3-day trip to Chicago. It’s the third time I’ve been there, but the first time I’ve had a fun time – (perhaps it was my previous traveling companions???) Our tour guide/hostess is a true Chicagoan – which I call “She-kaw-gan”!

On Saturday we went to the Art Institute of Chicago, via train. I must mention here that I’m a small town gal – born in Batesville, Indiana, raised in Cincinnati, Ohio (which, while considered a “major city”, isn’t really all that large) and now living in rural Indiana.

I must also mention that it was my first train ride – other than the usual tourist trains here and there. So I was as excited as a little kid. And, just like a little kid, I managed to make a fool of myself! (For those of you who know me and know how dorky and daft I can be, this should come as no surprise).

After we had boarded, we were walking single file through the train – our hostess, my friend and myself. Much to my horror, the door to the next car closed in my face and I was frantic – so, of course, I let out a shriek. My friend turned around to see my look of horror, whereupon she began to laugh, but did bail me out by opening the door – which I thought I could not open myself due to the sign on the door which said “Do Not Open Door”. Well, she let me into the next car, much to the highlight of all of the She-kaw-gans there! The first few groups, closest to the door, who had probably heard but not seen the shriek had a shocked and surprised look on their faces – not sure what was going on and whether they were included in it(!) while the next few groups had most likely seen, rather than heard, and so were laughing at my expense. By the time I got through that train car I was laughing at myself and fully expected a round of applause (and somewhat disappointed I didn’t get it!).

But wait, there’s more!

After we de-boarded (is that a word??) at the station I was taking a photo of the rafters – after all, I am an artist! – when, much to my amusement I overheard two people next to me talking – “look, that’s the woman who got stuck between the cars, taking a picture of the ceiling”.

Well, I’m sure I’ve got quite the reputation now – probably along the lines of “that poor old lady with dementia”.

Blog Comments

My husband asked me to show him my blog the other evening. After reading a few posts, his comment was “it’s a lot like talking to yourself”.

I think he’s right! I know I’m getting “hits” since I was, through some miracle of computer time and space warp, able to get a site meter uploaded. Now I’d like to do the same with my website, but . . . due to slow internet, everything takes me so long to do. And, by now, I’m sure that I will never remember how the heck I got the thing linked here, oh well.

So, anyway, yesterday, July 4, 2008, was the one year anniversary of my website and, once again, while the nation went outside and celebrated (and, according to various PSA announcements, lost body parts and suffered many and severe injuries due to fireworks accidents!) I remained inside, safely but slowly attempting to blog and add to my website. (I did not want to be outside anyway since it was raining – again!).

However, after hours of attempting to update the aforementioned website, and losing some info before it got saved, and then attempting to publish it, but it wouldn’t make the connection, I gave up in sheer frustration. Compounding my frustration with the computer was my frustration of attempting to do some beading while waiting on the computer.

While I love living in the country, I do envy you city folks your high speed internet. Guess everything in life is a trade off!

Since it seems we should always have a picture attached to our blog, but I had none to go with this particular topic, here is a photo of me at the 2007 Viewpoint - my painting is the pears above my left shoulder. They sold! (Also note my wonderful sense of fashion - gee, how I love to get dressed up!)

p.s. This morning I was finally able to update the website. If you haven’t seen it, you can go to my link or just hit this: www.debwardart.com.

Old Glory

In visiting several blogs, I see that some of you are putting up flag paintings, so here is mine. This is one of the small paintings that I use in beginning watercolor classes. Of course, there is the usual grumbling from the students – no way can they accomplish such a detailed painting! But then, of course, they do!

Makes me think of all the grumbling we Americans do. But in reviewing our nation's history, seems like we all pull together when the chips are down.

Our American flag, symbol of liberty and justice – long may she wave.

Figures in Watercolor

My husband and I had gone to Mobile, Alabama last year to see the battleship USS Alabama, and then we drove around the area for awhile before heading to New Orleans. These girls were bouncing on a huge branch somewhere in Fairhope, Alabama. They just struck me – they were at that “in between” age – still little girl enough to play, but beginning to develop into young ladies. When I got out of the car to take their photo they automatically struck poses! I had to wait a couple minutes to get a more natural pose, until they went back to bouncing, but they were still aware of me.

My purpose in this painting was not to get an exact likeness of the girls, but to work on figures. However, I do think that if you knew these girls you would actually recognize the girl on the left and might figure the other two to be related to someone you know!

For some reason I’m becoming interested in figures. Combined with wanting to venture into different mediums and techniques – what’s up with that? Maybe I’m becoming an artist after all!