Last post of Show me...

Thanks to all that participated in "Show me yours", it was great to see different places and seasons!
I always forget to carry my camera, so I did not post as much as I intended, but that's OK, I had so many other projects going on at the same time. I still invite all to share a bit of your local area, nothing too personal, we don't need stalkers right? But something that represents a little of our area in the world.

This is a very old house by a highway. The industrial and commercial areas grew all around it, like it happens too often, and it is now alone, empty but still rather pretty.
I love pictures of old houses, even those in ruins, somehow they show a story.

Look at the tumble weed to the right.... those things are everywhere! lol

My Face in the World II teams

Yesterday was so exciting! Not only I got rid of the G+ bar (last post) but also got in the mail AWESOME started pieces from my 3 teams in FITW II
The Before and After:

And ths are close-ups:
Started by Ilona: I added the outline of a woman

Started by Malissa: I added the face features and a glaze of pink

Started by Dawn, I added polka dots and neon pink:

I am also listing ACEO in my shop HERE
and a Gourd in ebay HERE
Thanks for visiting!

Saying good bye to the overbearing black bar

Some of you know already that I never really liked the Gogle+, particularly the uninvited overbearing black bar on top.

With almost 3 million people agreeing I was not alone. (see the results number?)
I'm not sure how anyone could think that having that bar all over the sites, could make people happy. Yes, it uniformed their sites, but I do not want it in my browser thank you very much.

I tried to find out as much as possible about the results of leaving G+. I was so upset to learn that once in, it was like Hotel California.... "you can never leave". ლ(ಠ_ಠლ)
It said at the time, that once in, if you deleted the account, you would lose ALL associated sites and services. Imagine my delight. My blog! My youtube channel... flickr, iGoogle, photo albums, Followers... etc etc etc. That was a scary thought, if only virtual in value.

I guess they were bombarded by many postings because they changed the settings from "no can do" into "we will attempt to set things the way they were" so I changed my email for the blog just in case. I had not changed my profile to the "new google profile" mostly because by then I was mad at google+, and that was a good thing, because it is more difficult when you have the accounts joined with it!
So basically, undo the joining of accounts, (like in youtube for example), change momentarily the email to your blog (a pain, I know, but it helps), then go to the Google Account Management, settings, and from there select either  to delete just the plus, or the entire thing. In my case, it was just  the G+, and only after I insured it was not going to drag my blog into the mix.
My "Profile widget" was gone until I removed the other new email, and I added my old one back, then everything went back to normal.

Now my browser  is back to normal, with no black bar on top everywhere I go. I'm very happy. ٩(◠◡◠)۶  Maybe in the future they will do some new thing I'd like to use, at  this point their social networking site did not feel private to me, was too repetitive, like when you get a FWD repeatedly and has all those little extra lines... ugh!

I recommend to try out any site, but with an email that you won't care if they get nuts on your account, just in case (•‿-)

Organizing, downsizing

So, in an ongoing effort to organize, I will be also downsizing.
I have these beautiful gourds ready to paint, cut, sculpt, doll-up... you name it, they are ready. I thought of offering them in the blog and in FB first. And maybe later I will think of ebay and Etsy....

Oh, since they have seeds and are HUGE, I can only ship to the US.
I am asking only $10.00 each, except #5 which is $15.00

*Please share this post and see if any artsy soul is looking for awesome gourds. They look nice as they are, but stained or painted would be beautiful too.

Here are the pictures, (keep clicking after the page brake!) contact me for shipping. Paypal only ♥  (◠‿◠)✌

#1

FITW II projects

I was in two groups for the face in the World II, and at the last minute I joined a 3rd one. So much fun!
These are my "starting" pieces, and lets see how they end up looking!

For my team 6: with Sandra and Ilona

For my team 7: with Milo and Dawn

For my team 8: Ilona and Malissa

Already in the mail, thanks for visiting!

Show me orange

One more for the show me yours! In this area of California, you see so many pumps like this one. The grand majority are in an industrial area, but some ended up having the city growing around them. Some look like sculptures in movement, some have flowers around them making them look more sophisticated and others, like this one, are all lonely, still outside the city, working hard by the sand, birds and and the occasional barking dog.
We were just driving by and I told DH to stop to take a picture because the sun setting looked awesome! It was a very hot evening, still at 110F

 

 The video is a bit wobbly, then corrected in youtube so it looks a bit fussy, sorry about that.

I am sharing this post to Mandarin Orange as well :oD

Still the one

Today we celebrate our 21 year anniversary, my husband and I.
21 years in this roller-coaster life; Can't imagine a better partner to go through it, together. ♥

Our hands

Last year I made a whole month celebration with hearts, remember? HERE
But this time I am in so many things I can't even see my nose lol  Never the less... let's find hearts where we can!
That saying about to stop and smell the roses? It works. We must do it, -stop and enjoy- because life really goes fast.

This art is a re-post from my hearts:

Thanks for visiting!

Check my available art and online classes get my newsletter

FITW II

FITW II -Face in the World II.... (and III and IV... V, VII? I lost count of how many! ) We are doing it again!

*What is it?
A painting of a face by different people.
Lets say we have teams of 4 people (maybe 3 depends on how many people participates) So we all make one starting painting (as in: sketch, or texture, or just  a squiggle... anything to just "start" the piece, then we mail it to the person in our team (I will have a list after we all register and make teams) So you mail one, you get one in the mail... work on that and mail it to your person in the group, get another, work on it, mail it... and soon your original will come back to you all done, and you worked in 4 or 5 paintings.

*Tip: We will not cover all the past layers that others worked on, unless of course it is a layer to be covered, like blank texture.
*It is better if you start your piece by a small detail, like a line, a blob of paint or just texture, so others have something to work on.

*What size are we doing?
We do 4x6, (10.1 x 15.2 cms) or 5x7 (12.7 x 17.8 cms) to make it easier to ship international. Use either watercolor paper, Bristol, old postcards, cardboard.... anything flat and strong enough that fits in an envelope without braking.

*Is it only the US?
People can chose a "US only", or "Near by" for international participants. I will try to accommodate as close a country as we have participants. 

*Who should skip this?
People that are due to have a surgery, or a long trip scheduled, or house renovations, or final tests that will require disconnecting for 3 weeks, should *not* participate. Why? Because we need to send timely  all the mail, so we all complete the circle in about 1 month o 6 weeks. Just to play nice.

*Can I join more than one group?
 Only people that played last time can join 2 groups if wanted.

It is awesome! Let me know if you still have more questions.
Images will be shared in each blog and in FB for those in either site.

How to Carve a Stamp

The video is up! What do you think? :oD



How to carve a rubber stamp tutorial.
Things I learned:
*The material is softer than I imagined, so I made some accidental cuts that overall can't be seen, but it was stressing at the moment.
I want to try with the white board and with an actual linoleum plate.

*The image will be mirrored, so plan ahead. This I knew already, but still surprised me at the end :oB

*I need a bit more ink for watercolor paper, and press a little longer.

*You definitely need time to work on this project; it took me the whole day carving it (well, off and on, while I had to do the regular summer/house activities) But is not a quick thing, you need to carve some time for it ;o)

*It is so much fun! (◔‿◔)

Check my available art and online classes get my newsletter

Cutting a stamp

I've been wanting to carve a stamp for a long time now, since my kids went to a summer class and came back with this awesome designs. I already was doing woodcarving, so I had all these carving tools. (✿◠‿◠)
So, first thing, I have to come up with a carving idea, and what better than a face?
But I got stuck in the hair part, since I was not too convinced of making her with long hair or an up do.
I still don't carve it, but I think I now know which one I want to do.
The top left is a pencil sketch on the board, and the rest are digital images with some modifications.

  

  

*Hint, will have even hair and maybe a moon ;o)

Photos and editing

This photos are part of the "Show me yours" month, but also, a little tip on editing digitally an image. We have all kinds of desertic ground cover plants, also known as ice-plants. I personally think it is false advetisment, since there's no ice involved lol

As you can see, the first picture shows a ground covering plant. In person looks awesome, but in my captured photo, looks kind of blah, because the light was not right.

So, I played a bit with my editor, it has a "brush selector" and darkened just the area of the cute little purple flowers that were almost invisible in the first sample:

It is just a simple thing, but that's the tip. We don't need too add much to an image some times :o)

Thanks to all the awesome places you are posting people!! I love them all! ♥
Visit the "Show me" tab in my menu to visit beautiful lands and awesome people ;o)

Have a good weekend!

Just another day...

"In the desert you can remember your name,  'cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain.... " La, la la la la la laaaa...

Squirrels in the desert in California.

Want to be part of this photo month? Click HERE or in the menu button "Show me"
...And now, a song!



Check my available art and online classes get my newsletter

Show me yours

Ladies and gentlemen, show me your town! For those that love photography, those that want to practice and for those that like traveling even if only online.... go grab your camera, take some local pictures of something odd, pretty, old, whatever in your town and post it in your blog. Even bugs and flowers if they are native to your area!

Then come and paste the link in the Linky on the top Menu.
 *You don't have to mention specific location!

Close-ups or landscapes, any level of photo experience, as many as you want for the month of July. Show us your part of the world, and come visit the Linky for all the participants and their parts of the world! ♥

See you soon!

Mine

This is how it looks in the desert part of California.
Taken from inside my moving vehicle :oB