I'm up in the wilds of Woodstock (NY), immersed in wax workshop.
I'll probably come up for air in the next day or so and let you know all the fun things that I have been up to.
This sure is the land of peace and contentment :-)
La,la,la,la ..... all I need now is a hippie skirt ...
..... sorry, it must be in the Air!
Well I have finally got my "A" into gear and posted a new Online Class. This one is called "Photo Magic" and will be geared for all levels of of Digital Divas (and Dudes).
We will be looking at basic photo editing - cut, crop, straighten adjust, doing the Fab Face thing (ie. erazing zits and some frown lines), employing a little creative Mojo with the texture, blur and bokeh thing as well as getting your images all zippy and slim for the web, blog and even teaching you how to make your own Crackin' Header and stuff.
And that's just the short version!
Anyway, I'm excited. I think it will be fun and applicable to just about anyone who has a camera, be it a Point and Shoot or super dooper DSLR, and wants to make their images SING! - Beethoven or Kings of Leon - your choice!
And yes, there may be a little crossover from the Digital Magic class but there will always be snippet or two that I did not tell you last time and hey, you don't want to miss out? right?
ALSO - I have set the Digital Magic and Journal Magic Classes to run as self-paced learning modules. So if you were waiting for those to appear again, the good news is that now you can sign-up and take them any time.
They really are quite different from the new class that is on offer.
So, now I feel like I am in good shape. NO, the videos are not made yet, ask any good friend (or my husband) - they are usually done in the wee small hours and the 10th one at that. For me, the conceptualizing of the Class is the hardest part. Production we can deal with!
I just hope you will join me for the next fun ride!
When I am teaching my Online Photoshop Class there are not too many moments for creating simply just for pleasure. I am totally focused, producing 10 - 12 videos per week in CS and PSE formats with Win and Mac instructions, monitoring the class site, viewing the student's work and answering questions for about 18hrs a day.
Why would I do that? Well because it's a standard that I have set for myself.
Having seen how many online photoshop classes that are offered that fall short of student's expectations or where they are supposed to read "supplemental" instructions to make stuff work with their Operating System or Version of the program, I decided that I wanted to do it differently.
Admittedly it does not leave much time for "life" while I conduct a class, but DH is very good a making Stir Fry dinners and the cats have all realised that when I am "teaching" my lap is not so comfy!
Having said that, ONCE a WEEK , after class files are posted for the upcoming week, there is about a 12 hour window where I don't have to be "en pointe" and can take a little time to make some of my own magic.
Ergo "Paper Angel". She is the product of this week's "stolen moment"....
I must say though, to all my Students, a big Thank You! I love seeing you blossom and grow in my Digital World!
One of the things I love about Northern Summers is the plethora of Cone Flowers (Echinacea purpurea)that adorn my garden. I fell in love with them when I first lived in Delaware some 8 years ago and the relationship has not dimmed. Sadly this year something seems to be "munching" on them in a serious way, but because we also seem to have a lot of BEES in the garden this year I am loathe to spray to kill the hungry critters. A gardening dilemma for sure! However, this case, the Bees win!
In between snapping happy pics of pre-munched flowers and taking care of my Digital Magic Class 2 students I have been beavering away behind the scenes, working on more digital projects, artwork for exhibitions and putting together some new and cool digital brushes, textures and overlays that are part of "another" project that I hope to unveil soon!
Nothing like a laid back Summer with PLENTY to do!
OH and don't forget I will be teaching at Art N Soul in Portland in October. If you are planning on being up that way I suggest you take a look at the class line up, it's pretty awesome!
I think I was about 27 when I first started teaching. A Staff Development job in a big OR suite at "Charlies" where I had the pleasure of maintaining clinical standards, writing the procedure books and calming the nerves of pimply med' students and wanna be "diva" OR queens. At least in those days it was all Science based, fact influenced practice and standards that were not to be ignored. It was easy to create clinical manuals, how-to's and what not-to do's because again, the Science supported it all.
Where then to begin teaching folk how to use Photoshop (or Elements)? and create in an environment where there are no rules, 50 ways to skin a cat, or create a digital collage, manipulate the variables and oh so many buttons to tweak!
To find the answer, I've looked back at how I taught my hospital students. Many of them were in awe of the grand surgical consultants. Almost all afraid to open their mouths or move a foot forward for fear of being berated for a faux pas. In those days, my advice was - always be respectful, but bear in mind these guys, eat lunch, they eat dinner, wash laundry and buy milk - just like you do! I can't say that my advice always bore fruit, but it did make everyone think for a moment and wonder about the incredible/credible factor.
How does that translate into teaching students how to work with Photoshop (et al)? Well I think you have to start by recognizing that there are some very good digital artists who's work you love but will never teach you, ever, about how they create it - even thought they might want to. I've tried following some of the fabulous tutorials you can find in Photoshop magazines, written by incredible artists and after reading the blurb, looking at the screen shots, I just roll my eyes and go and make a cup of tea, head out to the garden and pull weeds.
So really it's all about connecting, being able to translate your vision into the path of someone else's eyes and help them see the things that you do! It's not easy. In fact I think that running an OR teaching programme is way easier that constructing one to teach folk Photoshop! For sure.
Science allows for slim borders of interpretation, ARTdoes not. Have at it, manipulate the variables and see what comes out the other end. It does not work like that for people, variables and strange endings are usually not good ones............. but in the case of Digital Art, the more variables and the stranger the ending............ usually the better!
Proof will be be in the pudding as they say. No-one mugged me in Virginia after taking my classes at Art N Soul which is a good thing! ......... I guess the jury will be out on the Online Class for a few weeks :-)
Wish me Luck!
Back safe and sound from our trip to Virginia Art N Soul where I taught two days of fabulous classes. I guess you would have to ask the participants whether they enjoyed themselves or not, but since no-one left the class early or threw eggs in my direction, I can only interpret that in a good way!
I had 20 fabulous students in my Surface Magic Class, where we created weird and wonderful substrates upon which to print and a further 16 who were brave enough to try their hand at mastering some digital art skills in the Lovely Layers Class, with incredible results.
It was thoroughly rewarding in each case, to see "light bulb" moments when people GOT what we were trying to do and the OOOOOOhhhh....aaaahhhhh's that could be heard when something gorgeous came off the printer or the magic and mystery of the layer's palette started to make sense.
Nothing rings more truly with delight for a teacher than the sound of a happy student!
I can't overlook the investment that DH made either. He was my technical support and go-fer "dude", manning printers and making sure that all the electronic and technical aspects of the class were hooked up and ready to go. He's earned Brownie points in a big way!!
Returning to New York yesterday took us a while. Unfortunately we managed to snag the 'beach" traffic as we hit New Jersey, adding an hour to the 8 we had already tallied for our journey. Still, it was nice to get back home, be greeted by the four paw critters and examine what had been going on while we were away.
Yes, the Peonies managed to bloom while I was away, and so did some of the Roses. There will be days aplenty to savour their blossoms, so that is good!
Next on the agenda is final preparations for the Online Class which starts in June, and judging by the responses I had while I was away, I think there will be a few more to come in quick succession!..so stay tuned for those updates!
Ciao for now
No - I'm not just twiddling my fingers and watching the grass grow - though it's doing a good job of that, all by itself, despite the fact that Winter seems to have come back for a visit!
We are making very very busy, lists all over the place, the Studio looks like a combination of a Staples store and copy shop. My three "pooters" are all whirring away doing different jobs and I think DH will be quite happy when all of this Art n Soul business is off the table and he can find his wife (sane and sensible) again.
Anyway, as I was cutting up sheets of Tyvek and preparing Class packets this afternoon, I decided that it was the 'perfect' time to do something creative - total derail of focus - as I snagged a piece from my carefully grown pile and had at it with the printer and sewing machine. My excuse was that I needed another "sample" to show students - well that works - right?
I'll be showing students how to work with the Tyvek during the AnS Surface Magic class as well as in the Online Class - which by the way is now FULL! Thank you to everyone who signed up! It was a rush and a roar and looks like I will need to hold another one soon!
If I have time, I will wrap my head around some fun trades to take and figure out what I will prepare for Vendor Night! ....Yikes, I guess a lot to do still!
In the mean time the DIGITAL MAGIC ONLINE CLASS Registrations have blown me away - there are only a few spaces left - so if you are hanging on the fence, I suggest you JUMP over right now!
In the mean time, a few pics from around home to serve as a little eye candy!
No, it's not just about flowers, though I have planted 250 impatiens today, so my mind could well be following along that track!
I've updated the Digital Magic website, to include Class Samples, FAQ's, Registration details and Info AND I've put stuff in the FREEBIES department.
DH persuaded me to extend the $10 discount for the Class as a Mother's Day gift - so don't forget to take advantage of it.
The Class is ALMOST FULL!!!!! Wooo hoooo... and no, the registration will NOT be open ended. I want to make sure each and every student is taken care of and want to make sure that I have the time to do that!
And in case you were worried...MAX has volunteered to be the Class Moderator...he's a tough Task Master!
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!
