Long Weekend

In the US it's the beginning of a long weekend and I for one am quite ready for it.  The end of summer is a time for one last celebration of the heat and sunshine, memories for when the cold gets unbearable.  Although a little haze has been hanging over us here recently, due to dense coastal fog recently, it's been lovely and bright today.  A great way to start out the weekend.

I took this shot (wish) around this time last year.  It reminds me of warm days and cool breezes.

Do you have plans?  I've still got some work to do, but mostly I want to go out and shoot some new photos.  I haven't been out for a long session in far too long.  Have a great (long) weekend!

Slush Pile: Moonrise

It's been such a hectic day for me here, I almost forgot to post this!  But here's Moonrise a picture I think I took after a storm last year.  It needs to be cleaned up a little bit more, but I like the rough quality it has right now.  It's so rare that I can take decent night sky photos because of light pollution, so getting this shot was a treat!

Como la Cigarra

This morning I was going through my music, and for some reason I stopped at this song.  I love Mercedes Sosa's voice, and downloaded this a while back but hadn't listened to it recently.  This video is of a a really beautiful live performance of the song.

The reason I've put it up here today is because I think I needed to hear it, and share it.  My Spanish is a little rusty, but Como la Cigarra translates to Like the Cicada.  This song is about perseverance and overcoming adversity.   My rough translation in part is:  "I went on singing, singing to the sun like the cicada."

There's more about despair and the trials and tribulations that the subject has overcome, all to continue letting their song be heard.  It's really a lovely song, even if you can't understand Spanish.

Slush Pile: Cut Flowers

More Fabric

I've put some more fabric designs up in my Spoonflower shop.

These two patterns are Bao and Evangeline Greenery.  The pictures are of the actual printed fabric and they both came out wonderfully.  I am so excited whenever I see my designs on the fabric.  It's fun to work on the patterns beforehand, but there is nothing like the gratification I feel when I see the printed fabric.  It's simply amazing, akin to finally seeing a print of a favorite photo.  It's almost as if holding it in your hands makes it more real, if that makes sense.

August has been a long month.  I could go on and on about the dog days of summer, but suffice it to say that I am awaiting fall at this point.  I think around this time of year many people begin to feel like the heat has overstayed its welcome.  Count me amongst that number.

Still, I am working steadily on new textile designs, on old projects and photos.  I have some birthdays coming up to celebrate with the people I love, and visitors to prepare for.  It's going to be a busy, if a bit long end to the summer.

Bloglovin

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I've put my blog into Bloglovin to make it easier to follow! I've heard wonders about this service, especially from people that followed multiple blogs with Google Reader. Check it out, and thanks for following my professional antics and adventures. There's always more art where there's cookies.

Just a few more images for the slush pile

I'm still worn out and recovering this week, so I've collected and done a few edits on some photos I took back in 2009 to share with you.  I love surprising myself when I go through an old folder of photographs, because there are so many wonderful shots or times I've just lugged my camera around that I've forgotten about.  Some of these images I might turn into desktop wallpapers or continue to edit for sale eventually.

Anyway, do have a good weekend.  I hope mine is full of rest and warm, easy days.

Slush Pile: Summer Letter

It's feeling like the end of summer around here already.  A few more weeks of warmth, but we're on the decline.

Nebula 3

As the title says, this was the third nebula I ever painted.  I was ready to give up before I made this one, because the first two were so awful, but this came out much better.  I kept working in photoshop, trying desperately to make the painting look like an actual region of space.  For an early attempt, it's quite good and I am proud of it now.

I have been trying to organize my work into a more coherent file system, and so I get to revisit a lot of my older stuff.  Lately, I've been daunted by the idea of starting yet another new thing, so it's good to get some perspective.  There was a time when all of this was new to me, and I still went forward.

As I mentioned previously, I'd like to do more.  Right now the best evolution for my space art feels like learning to be more technically precise and getting into using Bryce, which I downloaded some time ago.  Recently, I've tried doing some illustration work in a commercial capacity and while I wouldn't say it was a complete failure, I certainly learned a lot about what kind of work I do and don't enjoy creating.

My space art needs to veer off into the more accurate, scientific and detailed work that I admire.  While retaining an element of fantasy is practically guaranteed in the genre, I would enjoy making art for textbooks, journals and concepts based in fact more than pure fantasy.  I like the illustrations in old biology books and the like, and want to create more with that inspiration.

It's good to have direction when you're out in space.

Friday Stuff

Happy Friday!

I haven't had the chance to mention it before, but my work has been on a few other etsian blogs lately.  First on Jill's Kiln Fired Art blog.  She and I are both part of the Etsy Shop Owners Networking group, which has been a great place for me to get to know people.  Stop over and say hi sometime on the blog, I'm the Blog Coordinator over there.

Yesterday, another etsian,  Eco-Friendly Freckles featured my work on her blog.  My photo Overcast was part of her blog about photography.

Thanks so much for displaying my work!

My Society6 shop has free shipping on most items until midnight on August 11th.  Click here for the promo link to my shop.  S6 features my photography and space art on a variety of items, included mobile phone skins and cases and framed prints and laptop skins.

I've also started putting up my photography on 1x.com.  I find that I like the format a great deal, and it's a big community of photographers of all kinds.  I'm just beginning to look around, and free members are capped on how many photos a week they can upload, but I've managed to put a few up already.  Take a look at my work on 1x.

And lastly, I've put up some of my textile designs on spoonflower for sale.  I've got the widget on the right, but you can always click here to see my whole library of designs.  Right now I've got eight patterns for sale, but there is more to come soon!  Here's a snapshot of what a printed design of Bettina Black looks like in person.  I love that you can see the difference between the grey of the fabric and the black design so well.  This was my first hand drawn damask type repeat, and I love how it come out so much.

Have a great weekend!

Slush Pile: Butterfly Scribble

I really like the way this came out.  It's been interesting working with new kinds of textures, and giving me inspiration to make more of my own.

When I was making this, I was listening to Here, There be Dragons.  I was near the end, and without giving it away, I wanted to create something to dispel the gloom of the climatic battle, which doesn't look good for our heroes.

I might be away for a few days, because I actually did have one of my wisdom teeth out, and I still have one left to go once I recover from this one.  It's a huge relief to finally have it done, obviously and I was lucky enough to have a very quick oral surgeon.  Still, it's surgery and I will take some time to recover.

At least time in bed gives me a chance to think up more photo adventures!

A Future in Film

Lately, I've tried a lot of new things, trying to decide what more I'd like to add to my professional portfolio.  I've decided that I'm not really for illustrating much that isn't space or technical.  Who knew I would hate it so much?  I do love textile design though, my work with that has been an unexpected delight.

As for my true love of photography, I've decided to shoot on film more.  I've always wanted a Diana F+ camera, and I've found one that I would love to add to my collection.

Photo from lomography.  Besides that one, I have a few other cameras that I've acquired over the years that I can work with.  Sadly, none of them have more than one lens, but it's a great starting point once I get them all cleaned up.

When we bought our house, I thought about turning the basement into a darkroom.  The basement is a dark, somewhat eerie place that can only be accessed from outside and not very well when there's snow.  There's also no running water down there.  But we wound up taking out the window in the first floor bath and put in a fan, so it would make a good place to start developing film.

We'll see what happens next.  I'm looking forward to trying it all out!

Slush Pile: Yet Another Beach Picture

Slush Pile: Untitled