Valentine Card

Well, my websites (especially the latest one) have been giving me a hard way to go as well as my computer. I could be disgusted, but instead I have decided to take some time off from it so that I have renewed energy to work on it.

Part of the wonder of life is finding out what you DON'T like ---- and this is one of those times where I have learned things about myself. Though I am seduced by the computer, I would prefer NOT to work on it so much and work more on my art. I need the materials, the kinetic energy, the physical magic and sensuality that happens with the paint or paper that I don't quite get from the computer.

So with that being said, here is your Valentine's Day Knave, sending you a slightly wicked Happy Valentine's wish.

Patti

To Touch or not to Touch....

To touch or not to touch, that is the question. Tis it nobler to muster bravery and put yet another layer onto work that has beauty of its own, or to chicken out and leave things as they are because you know, you can always paint that landscape more than once. Personally, I am loving as is. (pictured here)

My readers, please leave me a comment on this. Should I leave this piece alone (besides a few alterations in the foreground, and there is a part in the middle ground that drives me nuts.)or should I work more into it. I do have three more pieces, ok, maybe two more pieces as I also think another one is close to being done. The other two I know I am going to work into more.

Off to work on/design my WE DO website as Cimon has asked me twice now for the site's link. I may not have much on it, but I can sell what I have and explain that more will be forthcoming as the website grows.

I feel under pressure; good thing I have a four day weekend coming up.

Patti

PAINTINGS!!!!

The program is darkening and compressing my graphics for tonight just a little bit much, but I am too tired to care.

It has been a busy few weeks, learning how to use Dreamweaver, and now spending a weekend oil painting. I don't have any time off till next weekend, where I can crash for four days.

I work at a breakneck pace sometimes, but I love what I do; it is all done with great joy.

Stop over to my Eat Man Drink Water blog, where you can catch a glimpse of my favorite painting that I did this weekend, and read more about the process.

Patti

More Dreamweaver & CSS

I took the third part of my Dreamweaver class today which focused on Tables. Actually, Dreamweaver is a fairly straightforward and easy program to learn. I think my students will LOVE to learn how to work with it and design their own webpages as a multi-disciplinary project.

I bought in my new line of cards - the WE DO line of same sex wedding, anniversaray/romance cards to one of my classmates, Cimon, who is a designer in NY and lives part time up here. He is the talent behind his company FIGJAM which is a fabulous site to see. (I just noticed it is down for maintenance, but I will eventually just put a permanent like to his website.) Anyway, he LOVED my work, was SO excited about them, and bought a handful of cards to send to friends-so now I REALLY have throw something up SOON for that!

Off to pack for my painting weekend, and do everything else that must be done in preparation to paint for 2 days!

I think I will take pictures of the experience and post them here during the week.The artist, Christie Sheele, is a FAB artist, and I am so looking forward to learning from her. She works on black/dark backgrounds and mixes her paints with a wax medium (NOT encaustic) Oh, and yes, she paints beautifully with pastels.

Off to pack! patti

Computer Problems Suck

There has been a delay on working on my site due to some interesting problems. I managed to problem solve them and fix BOTH of my computers, which I found amazing. Imaging how dangerous I could be if I REALLY knew what I was doing!

So the website is still in limbo, but now the cut/paste/undo functions have been fixed in Dreamweaver.

But man, I could have put 2-3 hours of my time into a much better and more relaxing evening.

Now I am behind, I have another class on friday, and at the very least I can tell them about the problems I have encountered and the fixes.

Off to I Tunes to listen to some Innocence Mission and Luka Bloom. Something to calm me down and make me smile.

Site is sort of Up

Over the weekend I got up two pages of my new website, Catskill Paper The index page, and the printed card page are done, including my paypal buttons, but the handmade card page is giving me a hell of a time and I don't know why. I think my computer is on the fritz, and the reality is that I really need to buy one within the year. Hopefully my websites will pull in some revenue once they are set up so that I can afford the payments on one.

Now mind you, I am buying a site from Go Daddy, which will get rid of the horrid banners that their free site gives. I did not know that when I did it, and am HORRIFED at how it looks. But please stop by and tell me what you think-just ignore the banner. The Ephemera Museum is not up and will be a work in progress as I have to build the inventory for that slowly.

I have such visions, and I hope that with some marketing work, they will have a presence on the internet. I DID put a lot of time into it!

Off to try and get more work done on it before my episode of ROME.

Patti

PS Tonight's photo is of some of the papers that I am drying from soaking out of old scrapbooks. Very tedious at times, especially when a difficult paste or glue was used.

Ice Day

Instead of a snow day, we had an ice day.

It was splendid. I worked on learning how to get my images much smaller for the web, and worked on the Catskill Paper website, as well as sketching out an idea for my We Do Greeting Cards site.

Sometimes that is a problem, when the mind's eye can see something far more powerful and savvy than my working experience in graphics can produce. I do an awful lot of experimenting, and on occasion, there is a great wailing and gnashing of teeth.

The two Dreamweaver Classes I had in the past week have been great. I bet students would really get into designing their own websites if they had the chance. I wonder if the school will buy the program....I know I am enjoying using it, in addition to all the other things that I have to do in relation to my business.

I have gotten some wonderful feedback on my greeting card line for same sex couples, wedding, romance etc.

I look to each day as an adventure and I am learning as I go. I am most happy when I am in the thick of it.

Patti

PS image is my studio during the ice storm. I did not set foot in it all day. Plenty of inside work to keep me busy!