Weird?

I had the weirdest thing happen to me a few minutes ago.  I had taken pictures of my wreath (office wreath contest), as in 13 pics, and they are no where to be found.  I've checked my primary and secondary SDHC cards...no pictures from today.

It's really strange because I was checking my LCD and reviewing my photos after I took the pictures.  They were on the camera.

I just went back to take more pictures to see what's going on.  Got back to my Mac and looked for the newest pictures on the card.  The most recent set was there.  I checked the numbering sequence of my pictures and sure enough...I'm missing 13 pictures.  I'm really scratching my head on this one....

Over the next few evenings, I will be taking a break from wreath project to take pictures for my upcoming "techniques" posts.  Can't have a post without pictures (except for this one).  :)

Another Painting in Progress...My Second Rose

I'm glad I took a short break from painting.  I was having a problem getting inspired.  My quick sketches and drawings kept me in practice (e.g. learning to look).  I was able to get some rest over this long weekend.  After I dropped my brother off at the airport, I came home to paint.  I thought I was going to paint one of my sketches, but decided at the last minute to paint another rose from one of my photographs.

So, here is my work in progress:

Painted a rough sketch using a thinned yellow ochre wash

Painted the dark value

Painted the mid value

Painted the light value

Painted the details and blended the values

I have to laugh at myself.  At one point during my painting session, I had three brushes and my palette in my left hand.  I ended up getting paint everywhere.  You can see on my canvas paper some mistakes where my brush and my hand got in the way.  Here's the result after 1-1/2 hours of painting:

Second Rose...a work in progress

Photo Storage...Maintenance/Backups

I spent a few hours this weekend cleaning up my Mac hard drive.  I had roughly 9GB of storage left on my local drive.  My primary culprit was iPhoto.  I have a 500GB My Book Home (Firewire) external hard drive installed as my primary backup drive.  That drive also contains a backup of my photos.

A few months ago, I had purchased a 1TB My Book Elite at Costco for a bargain.  I went ahead and installed the new drive as my second external storage drive.  I moved my iPhoto database (~65GB) over to this new drive.  I also copied over my photos from the other external storage.

I also have a 500GB My Passport portable drive that contains a backup of my photos.

In all, I have three backups of my photos.  Is it overkill...maybe.  I'd rather have a piece of mind knowing I have a good backup when one of my hard drives fail.

I'm happy to report that I have over 60GB of storage on my primary local drive.  Life is good!

Fritters for Breakfast

Yes...that's what we had for breakfast this morning and they were yummy!

Salt fish fritters with scallions and hot peppers (50mm, f1.4, 1/125, ISO 3200)

Day After Thanksgiving with a P&S

We headed out to do some window shopping that turned into a light shopping trip.  We started out in Fairfax...a trip to an art shop and then to a computer store.  The crowds weren't too bad.  We stopped at a wonderful Indian restaurant and enjoyed a fabulous buffet.  It was definitely a gorgeous day to be out and about.

We ended up in Old Town in the afternoon and saw the ice rink was open.  I took out my handy Canon S90 and caught these shots:

Zamboni in action

A short quiet time...

...and they're off!

Around and around they went

Inside the cute Marketplace shops...ready for the holidays

A wonderful Indian lunch at Jaipur in Fairfax

Tomorrow is suppose to be another beautiful day.  Not sure where we are headed, but I'm definitely bringing my D7k with me.  

Another Pencil Sketch...a Rose

I've been trying to do something creative when I have a moment.  Lately, I've been very tired and so painting is out of the question.  I created "mud" with the last painting as I didn't have my creative juices.  I won't be posting a picture of that any time soon.

Instead of sulking on wasted time, paint, and paper...I've decided to spend some quality time doing sketches.  This trains me see the different "values" of the subject I'm drawing.  This will definitely help me when I'm painting.  I seem to be struggling with "values" when I'm painting with different colors.

So, this evening I had an hour and drew this single stem Rose:

I took this picture without flash.  I've been noticing a magenta cast on some of my pictures and also pictures I print using my Epson Photo printer.  I need to recalibrate my monitor again.

I'll be back soon to write a few posts on picture taking techniques I've discovered using my D7k and SB-600 external flash.  Stay tuned!

Funny...I'm Still Learning About My Nikon D7k

Tomorrow will be a photog day for me.  Several activities are planned at our church.  Most of my photog opportunities will be spontaneous.  Meaning...I have no clue as to where and when I'll need to be to take pictures.  I actually like being in that kind of environment.  Don't get me wrong, I'm an organizer/planner by nature.  Sometimes my creativity doesn't work too well within those constraints.

Being married to a hubby who thrives on spontaneity, I have learned over the years to adjust.  I think I've adjusted quite well and it's helping me in this particular hobby.  People can change.  :-)

So in prepping for tomorrow's photo op, I gathered my equipment and sorted through what I was packing in my backpack.  I also wanted to try out my equipment to make sure everything was in working order.  I grabbed my heavy duty SLIK tripod (I've had for over 25 years), my D7k, and my ML-L3 wireless remote.  Click, click, click...my wireless wasn't working.  Battery issue?  Maybe.  I grabbed my hubby's remote and click, click, click...nothing.  I checked my camera menu options to make sure the remote settings were correct and they were.  I went ahead and pulled out my nifty wired remote (MC-DC2) and that worked without an issue.  At this point, I was scratching my head big time.

What does a geeky gadget person have as a last resort?  I pull out my D7k instruction manual.  I slap my silly head and realize that there's a secondary dial on the camera that needs to be switched from "S" to "remote" mode.  The remote mode icon looks just like my wireless remote controller.  Duh!

Lesson learned?  Yes.  Good idea to have a practice session and make sure everything works as it should.

 

A Pencil Sketch...Spiderwort Flowers

This evening I had some time to do a quick pencil sketch.  This will eventually be used as a future reference for a painting.

Spiderwort sketch

I figured out a way to take pictures of my artwork with a flash.  I prop up my sketch pad/painting vertically.  I place my Sto-Fen Omni-bounce over my SB-600 flash.  I turn my flash to the back and bounce the flash off the ceiling/wall behind me.  This so far, produces a nice even flash without any shiny highlights on the subject.

Not a Rose-y Day

I've been trying to paint at least 2-3 hours a week...if I'm lucky.  If the week nights are busy, I wait to do the 2-3 hours on the weekend.  That's the goal I've set to become proficient at this new hobby.

Today I allocated some hours to paint...after I was done with teaching a knitting class.  I thought the class was would take 2 to 2-1/2 hours the most.  It went on for 4 hours.  I was a tired puppy.  

It took an hour to put away all the knitting stuff and then collect myself in front of my canvas and arrange the paints, palette knives, and miscellaneous art stuff.  This blank canvas stared back at me:

I've been collecting pictures of stuff to paint (e.g. flowers, blueberries, our beloved beagle, some buildings, etc).  I pulled out a picture of a pink rose and thought it would be an interesting challenge for me.  So, here's my sketch in a thinned yellow ochre wash:

I have to tell you, my heart was not in the mood to paint.  I could tell as I was mixing the colors for the pink rose and then for the green foliage (lack of) and background...I just wasn't happy with the colors.  So, I trudged along and applied the paint to the canvas panel and this was the so-so results of my efforts:  

I decided not to touch the painting anymore and let it sit and dry for the next few days.  Was I trying to tackle a subject that was way over my head?  Not really.  I've done several pencil sketches of roses and other flowers...it's not a new subject for me.  Was it because I was using a cheap canvas panel?  That may have something to do with it...it was from Walmart.  Was I too tired to paint?  Yes!

Lessons learned:  (1) not to use cheap art materials.  I'm using good paint and great brushes.  What was that?  You get what you paid for?  I know, I know.  No more cheapie canvas panels.  (2) Not to attempt too many hobbies in one day.  (3) Stay on target and focus on the hobby (e.g. painting) that I want to work on.

Back to the drawing board....

Three Apples Painting

This evening, I got a chance to sit and paint for a few hours.  I went ahead and finished my apples painting by adding in the shadows and then painting the white paper towel underneath.

Rough sketch (left) and final painting

Three Apples (close up)

I'm going to leave the painting as is and call it "done".  I've been learning that the more I touch something, the more I overwork it.  Simple and less is better.  

Now, I'm off to look for a photo to paint from.  I've only got thousands to look at.  Sigh!

Apples - WIP

In less than two weeks, I'm on my fifth oil painting which is an apple study.  I used titanium white, lemon yellow, alizarin crimson, cerulean blue, and yellow ochre.  The three primary colors represent cool colors.

My palette

Used yellow ochre mixed with thinner to create a light wash for my outline

Still a work in progress...to be completed later this week

A Fall Flower

50mm, f1.4, 1/6400, ISO 100

Beauty

Look how much the roses have opened up.

I can see this as a future oil painting exercise.

The Annual Fall Gallery Walk - Old Town Manassas

After work, hubby and I headed into Old Town Manassas for their annual Fall Gallery Walk.  The shops along the main road, Center Street, were open from 6-9:30pm and each hosted local artists and musicians.

One of our stops included the Creative Brush Studio.  Mary Reilly (owner) and Christine Raymond are the featured artists.

Creative Brush Studio inspired me to try oil painting.  My favorite painting is the colorful masks in the background

Michael Francis Haley performing

We stopped in the Opera House Gourmet shop to see what was happening.  They had a local artist who was setting up to paint real time.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance for a photo opportunity as there was limited space with lots of folks milling around.  

I did get a wonderful opportunity to sample this fabulous red wine.  

We arrived at the Center for the Arts at the old Candy Factory to see a showing of Jinchul Kim's exhibit.  Several of his paintings were so realistic (oil on canvas), I thought I was looking at photos.  This one is my favorites.  I love the glow of the painting and plus the scene is from our local Manassas train station.  

History of the Candy Factory

No wonder I'm drawn to this building, it has something to do with making chocolates

We had a wonderful evening strolling in and out of the various shops and museums.  I'm looking forward to the Spring Gallery Walk next year.

Anniversary Flowers

Hubby and I celebrated our anniversary today.  When I arrived home from work, these beauties were waiting for me:

50mm, f1.4, 1/125, ISO 720

50mm, f1.4, 1/125, ISO 320

50mm, f1.4, 1/125, ISO 320

I love pink roses.  These are sweetly scented.  Ahhhhhhhhh....