Lost Aussie on the loose

Hymn to the Night

I don't really know why, genetics I'm guessing, as my Father is a renowned Night Owl, but I love to create at night and I know I'm not alone.

I wonder if it's the fact that past midnight there's no compulsion to fold laundry, load the dishwasher or run the vacuum? No fear of being interrupted by the phone or the the FedEx dude? No appointments to keep and the deadlines will wait until tomorrow...even if that occurs a scant 4hrs after I've gone to bed?

As I get older I'm getting better about keeping "saner" hours - but not always!  I think I'm with Henry Longfellow on this one!

I heard the trailing garments of the Night
Sweep through her marble halls!
I saw her sable skirts all fringed with light
From the celestial walls!
I felt her presence, by its spell of might,
Stoop o'er me from above;
The calm, majestic presence of the Night,
As of the one I love.
I heard the sounds of sorrow and delight,
The manifold, soft chimes,
That fill the haunted chambers of the Night
Like some old poet's rhymes.
From the cool cisterns of the midnight air
My spirit drank repose;
The fountain of perpetual peace flows there,--
From those deep cisterns flows.
O holy Night! from thee I learn to bear
What man has borne before!
Thou layest thy finger on the lips of Care,
And they complain no more.
Peace! Peace! Orestes-like I breathe this prayer!
Descend with broad-winged flight,
The welcome, the thrice-prayed for, the most fair,

The best-beloved Night!

Henry Longfellow

On-Line Class Update

The DIGITAL MAGIC site is now UP!

It contains a full syllabus of the class, all the nitty gritty fine print and well...you can just go and see for yourselves what other goodness lies within :-)

Graphic, Graffiti & Grunge - an Online Class

Finally I can announce an online class for all the Digital Divas out there - we will be covering layers,masks, text,processing in Camera RAW , where supported as well as techniques for mixed media printing and getting your image out there with your unique footprint.

The class will be Jam packed with instructional details and based on both Photoshop and Elements platforms with accompanying videos and PDF's so that you can follow along at your own pace.

Class will start June 14th, 2010 and run for six weeks. 
You will have access to a private group to CHAT and talk about what you are doing, with show and tell on a weekly basis.

I look forward to having you come "Play" and see what we can do with your images!

The ONLINE WEBSITE for the Class will be launched this weekend - with all the juicy details you need to know - so stay tuned!

Working with Acrylic Skins

I have been working on more Class stuff.  Messing with videos and a few other things.

So without giving away "state secrects" that "Paid" folk will enjoy, I'm going to use my Blog Buddies as guinea pigs for a little show and tell..  ENJOY!

Sorry the video is a tad long winded for such a basic procedure...but I am LEARNING as I go along (with the techno dweeb stuff)!

And yes, I know there is more to the story than I have shown you here, like how to make the skins and all that jazz....so there will be more about that at a later date!

Happy Earth Day!

Not much else to say about that...except, think GREEN!

What you do while Waiting!

3:08am
#2 son has landed in Perth, according to Flightstats.com  He's been flying around the Volcano traffic for the last three days and both he and I will be pleased when he is cleared Customs, has his luggage and is on his way to a shower and horizontal bed.

In the mean time, while waiting I twiddled with the Jean bag pics and well, one thing led to the next...

Seems they are quite good fodder for abstract digital art too!

Who knew recycled Jeans had so much potential??

A Little More Re-cycling!

DH walked down into the basement on the weekend and with a wry look and a wiggly eyebrow, turned and said to me - "This place looks like a dead jean factory"

And well, to a certain extent he was right!  I've cooked up two more new bags from said "dead jeans' and listed them in the Etsy store.

Stolen - from my Husband's blog

....."On a separate note, our oldest – now on his 5th major deployment – reports he is rapidly closing in on his 100th bomb demolition mission in Afghanistan, which I try not to think about too much.  Yet I find him on my mind quite often when he is “down range”.

The picture was taken yesterday as he and the team he leads detonated yet another IED somewhere over there."

I don't think I really need to add much to that, other than Godspeed and stay safe Ryan!

Credit http://rickotero.us/blog/

Two and A Half - Family

For those of you who don't know, I have a very far flung Family.  My sons are in school in Australia, I have two brothers who live in Vietnam and my sister lives in the woolly wilds of WA, my parents in Aus' too and the rest of my Family live in the UK.

So this week it was a rare treat to have #2 son and one of my brothers in the same space.  It will have been nearly 3 years since I saw my brother Alistair, again in New York, and not long after we moved here (my how time has flown!)

It turns out that David might just be staying a tad longer than he had planned (secret Mom Happy Dance!).  He's here with 21 other boys from his school for a NYC Art Tour and they were supposed to head back to Australia tomorrow....but thanks to the smokey Volcano in Iceland, all flights to Europe and connecting destinations have been canceled and they are stuck here for the time being!!!  Of course it could also mean that we have 22 boys for sleep-over soon if the planes are not back on track!

Life.............never easy!

Oh and if you felt in need of a little art to accompany the post............I found my way to Photoshop tonight - in order to soothe my "soul" and concocted this new little ditty!...

So, that's all for now.  I have a suspicion that the weekend will be busy, fraught with travel aggravation and who knows what else!

One Down, One to Go

Wrapping my head around Adobe's InDesign - I have finally finished the first set of class instructions for Art N Soul.  A 12 page interactive PDF that students will be able to flick through and read during class as well as take away on disk and get all the benefits of the live web page links to resources and other fun stuff in the "privacy" of their own home.

I used DH as the guinea pig and he managed to follow along with the program, so I am hopeful others will be able to as well.

I know from experience that its no fun to take a class with no notes, bad notes or ones you can't really make head nor tail of after you leave the room - so I am doing my best to make sure everyone has enough information and insight so that  they can accurately replicate their new skill set after they leave the Classroom!

Both my classes in Virginia are now SOLD OUT - so if you have missed out you might like to try the Portland Venue later in the year!