Teaching on the web

so i have a new gig, creating tutorials for CraftEdu a yet to be launched, coming soon exciting new place to go to learn all sorts of new crafting and mixed media skills. We create the lesions at Faculte. i'm in the final stages of my first lesson, a "free basic" class about getting Photoshop to bend to your will. i've completed my gallery, and i'm trying to figure out how to embed it here, in the meantime, here's the link: http://craftedu.faculte.com/bp/MzA1MTM4OTI2OQ/view.

Adding a graphic with an e-mail

uploading graphics is quick and easy

The important thing to remeber is to upload it first!
Then add it to the article or make a new graphics box. It may be easier to e-mail graphics as i did for the native succulent above this. O what is it you asK? ah come on! when's the last tim you fell asleep on your beach chair woke up hot confused and bleary eyed?  see it yet?

showing my work again!

OK so i hustled my but off submitting my work all over and i'm beginning to see some results. three of my pictures from the "weekend away" series will be shown at the SF convention and visitor's bureau for 6 months! also last month i had three altered barbie pieces in a show about heroes at Frank Bette Center for the Arts in Alameda. I so love this place! there's nothing like it in Berkeley or San Francisco. this month there show is called "Across the Great Divide" and i have a brand new piece, "window on the beach" which is an incredible found object / mixed media piece that started with a 5 ft tall window! i forgot to take pictures of it before i took it down there so i'll be sure to get a shot of it in place at FBCA.

I am also showing several pieces at a cafe in the Mission district starting the end of the month. i keep changing my mind about which ones. So i will call on my studio helper and muse, and all around genius Sarah (my daughter) now that she's 18 i'm not so shy about mentioning her name. She went with me to meet the cafe owner at the cafe so she knows what the inside looks like. she's great cuz she can really help when i 'm pushing my limits but she never takes over or makes me feel silly for seeking her advice.

I've made several new prints and i've started using a new place to mat them. i had a really hard time with Cheap Pete's this last time and it seemed all the worse because i had to drive into to the city to use them. so today i dropped off several pieces at the Framer's Workshop here in Berkeley. I'm really hoping they come out nice so i can mat a few more.

but the most exciting thing is that i almost have my work table cleared off so i can work on some encaustics. i bought some beeswax and new colors yesterday. long ago i found a bedpost at curbside. it's beautiful wood and will make a great base for my next project of encaustic and silk.

around my neighborhood

since moving back to berkeley i have really enjoyed walking around my neighborhood taking in all the wild and unruly gardens. truly one of the best features of most of berkeley is the abundance of lovers of native plants, drought resistant gardens and low tech garden tools. it's a rare thing to hear blowers and mowers as people rake and mow by hand. in fact there are very few lawns and some - like me - are just letting them run their course to see what comes up. the local wildlife (mostly birds squirrels and raccoons) love the long grass and weeds but i'm sure i'l begin to regret it when the burrs come up.

people also don't bother with the leaf fall too much. most of the trees are evergreen, live oaks, bays etc. which means they drop their leaves all year round!

thus this image of a leaf on the sidewalk. which reminds me of a symbol in a cave painting or something and thus the name. i took this with a lensbaby composer with the double glass lens. the composer works like a ball in socket so you swerel the lens around instead of squeezing as in the origanal.

Yosemite 2008

This year Morey is not able to come to Yosemite with us. he and i will need to take our own separate vacation in 2009. Tomorrow morning, in the pre dawn i plan to pour my big kids into the back of the car and get a jump on the traffic across the valley to Yosemite. this year we are staying at Wawona Inn where we've never stayed before. It's not in the valley, but nearer the southern entrance. It's in the midst of the big red woods called Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias.

It will be a break in time for my new camera. Unfortunately my old set up was stolen, and insurance is not covering everything, so i bought the bear minimum to get back to work.

I'm excited to be going to an all new setting with an all new camera. being pushed to the edge of comfort always results in creative work. I bought another digital Rebel because i loved my old one so much. Of course it's changed over the years so i have alot to learn. I also got a new lensbaby. this one is called "the composer" it tilts and rotates more on a ball set up than bellows and the focus is like a regular lens. so we'll see how fun it is to use.

We get back Thursday night so i might be able to post some new images Friday.