The Velcro-neutralizer

January 24, 2009

If I was a genius, I’d invent silent Velcro. To avoid that embarrassment of opening my new laptop bag in a quiet place, making that horrible rrrriiipp noise.

Here’s another use: too many zipper and velcro noises in short time cause anxiety in my dog, who realizes that this maybe an indication of packing for a long trip. Probably scares cats and birds too.

I have the technlogy to cut off the offending velcro, but thinking that it might come in handy some time when I’m treking through hurricane force winds with my laptop bag, I decided to install a Velcro-neutralizer. Simple and silly really (but I did get several questions on FaceBook) — it’s just a swatch of the oppositely-charged Velcro (available at any fabric store), cut and applied to one side of the original pair.

p.s. I put it on the prickly side, because that’s the one that always snags my fuzzy sweaters too.

Filed Under technology | 5 Comments

Some of my favorite organizational tools

January 4, 2009

Usually I take a stab at re-organization at various times throughout the year, not just at the New Year. But this seems like a good time to mention my favorites. (Sorry PC users, but I think these are all mac-only programs. Although I still use a desktop PC, my main laptop is a Mac.)

• OmniFocus - fluid to-do list and multi-step project organizer. After a brief love affair with hand-written lists, I’ve gone back to computer listing again because it’s easier to manage a complicated schedule.

• MacJournal - for odd sorts of short lists, ideas, and reference material I can’t figure where else to put. I’m using it to write this blog post until it’s ready to be published.

• Bento - just got the upgrade to version 2 of this program. It’s an elegant little personal database program that has nice templates you can use right away, or easily customize. I’m planning on improving the database of my artwork I started last year. Tracking where the art is, when it’s coming home, and where it’s supposed to be going next is getting more complicated, and I could save time by not having to go to several sources to find the answers to these questions.

Above drawing is from the car wash — although those auto-magic places seem to take a long time because it’s one of few sunny warm days in winter and everyone in town is there — if you’re trying to draw something happening, seems like only seconds. Even though I’ve been sick (this whole year so far!) still trying to do the drawings.

Filed Under drawings, technology | 5 Comments

How to be in two places at once

October 17, 2008

The editor at the last book I submitted photos to complained that my photos were not good enough, so I’ve been working on my photography. Something cool I learned this week was how to use the auto-timer on the camera. So I can set up the camera on the tripod, then run around to get in the picture. This photo probably give you a better sense of what it’s like to work on one of these quilts, since you can gauge the scale.

A couple days ago I finalized the design on the wall and started to fuse everything down. The fusing is only temporary, things almost immediately start to curl up and fall off. But it’s good enough that I can get in under the sewing machine and stitch everything together for good. Did I whine it took a lot of time to cut snowflakes. Now I’m sewing them, which could be worse!

Thanks to Virginia, Gerrie, Jeanne, and others for reminding me about Blog Action Day/Poverty. I missed it here, but their posts reminded me to get off my duff and donate to The Kitchen, a great local organization here that provides food, job-training and medical care to people in need.

Filed Under process, quilts, studio, technology | 5 Comments

Meet me in St. Louis

August 25, 2008

Getting work done for an upcoming show has trashed my healthy schedule of working out followed by a big breakfast of fruit, yogurt, coffee, eggs and rice. It seems like weeks that I’ve been getting up at some unearthly hour to squeeze in a little more work, and am starting to skip the workout and resort to breakfast at MacDonalds. Oh well, just another week and half, then I can get back to a better routine in September.

If you’ve posted a comment recently and I haven’t responded, so sorry! But really it’s taking all my energy to get these things done. Sydney is finished, Athens is quilted, Paris is almost done — so onto St. Louis.

Filed Under drawings, technology | 8 Comments

Sew “Modern” vintage sewing machine

May 26, 2008

As promised, here’s my prize snag at the 51st Brownsville flea market and craft festival. It’s a Modern sewing machine made in Japan, and actually my eagle-eyed husband spotted it sitting inside an ugly white plastic case in the mud just outside of a woman’s tent who said it belonged to her mother. Rather than carry it back to her car at the end of the festival, she sold it cheap. And luckily for me, my husband agreed to carry it to our truck.

Filed Under technology | 32 Comments

Back in the Groove

March 21, 2008

Nice monitor huh? Got for my birthday, and it plugs into my laptop to give me two screens for drawing and looking at reference material.

Drawing for quilts is different than just drawing, because I have to remember that eventually it will be used as a pattern, and that I have be able to construct everything that I draw.

Thanks Grace Matthews for this post which quotes Faith Ringgold, “Underestimation is a psychological tactic for artists. When you employ this tactic you convince yourself that the upcoming project is not really so big or so bad, that it will not take much time and that in fact it’s a piece of cake. This method of trickery helps you to tackle the biggest of projects and makes the project less daunting and more manageable.” This is a great idea and has helped me getting started tackling some projects I’ve been worried about.

But most important, little friends and good music help oil the creative machine. Right now I’m listening to Lemon Jelly.

Filed Under Inspiration, drawings, studio, technology | 7 Comments

Twitter

March 20, 2008

Lisa asked me why I signed up for Twitter, did I see any value in it? Not really, I’m just intrigued by the idea of disembodied quotes floating around in cyberspace. It’s like a mini-blog, but there’s no commitment and no images, you can just pop in and out whenever you feel like it.

I also like the idea that tweets must be less than 140 characters, kind of like haiku of the internet. I often get inspired, sometimes even visual flashes from unusual word combinations, in poetry, in written words translated from other languages, and in my own emails that I try to make inventive. So Twitter kind of forces inventive ways of writing because of the limited character count.

And I like the interface, and there’s different tools you can get to manage it. Anyone else out there on Twitter? Almost forgot, here I am on Twitter.

Filed Under technology | 3 Comments

This is Only a Test

January 17, 2008

If you’re visiting today, don’t be alarmed by frequent changes in the appearance of PaMdora’s Box. I’m just playing around with different themes in WordPress. A girl can’t wear the same thing everyday, can she?

Can anyone tell me what the different between “categories” and “tags” are? I’ve finally upgraded my WordPress which includes capabilities for tags.

Filed Under technology | 8 Comments

Getting Things Done

December 29, 2007

Early in December I read Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity (I’m a sucker for anything that has Art in the title) by David Allen — a book that really speaks to me. For the first time, I’ve found an organizational philosophy fits my lifestyle. I’ve also been beta-testing a new Mac project management program called OmniFocus that I love — in fact I’ve pre-ordered the program which is due to be released in January.

I like the GTD philosophy because it focuses on defining and acting on the Next Step, something that is particularly helpful if you’re feeling overwhelmed. What can I say? — it’s that time of year!

Actually I haven ‘t had an attack of an organization bug in a long time, and had been doing pretty well the last few years just sticking stuff into drawers. But then disaster struck our building, and we lost several computers, hundreds of files, and the ones that were saved got all mixed up during the office evacuation. Suddenly in one short week, all my systems were broken. Since then, I feel like I’ve been walking on quick-sand, just trying to keep moving so I don’t sink.

This is where I’ve been working since we moved out of the Tiki Office last summer when it started getting really hot. It’s a great space to work — lots of light and room to spread out several projects, so maybe I’ll just stay here. It also looks clean because this photo was taken before I started this organization frenzy and hauled in boxes and crates of stuff that need to filed or shredded.

Filed Under studio, technology | 5 Comments

Drawing Big Cats…

November 26, 2007

Russ upgraded my Mac to the new Leopard operating system, so I’ve been drawing that and all the previous big cat OS X operating systems.

The biggest change so far I’ve noticed is in my mail program — lots of improvements such as a built-in to-do lists that links directly with my calendar. Maybe now I’ll get more stuff done.

Also my dad told me about Cooliris, a free extension for FireFox, and I used it a lot looking up photos for my big cats drawings.

Filed Under drawings, technology | 8 Comments

Why an Email list and Not a Blog?

November 19, 2007

To my last post, Alyson asked if I considered organizing a blog instead of an email list. No, because in my experience, very few people will actually post to a blog. I started a group blog early this year, and it is difficult to get anyone to post to it.

I find even most people who are subscribed to email lists, rarely post. But they are more likely to post an email to a subscription group than to post a comment on a blog. Let’s face it, even though blogging is big news, the people who really stick with it are the exception rather than the norm. Just like speaking in public frightens many people, writing in public can be uncomfortable also.

My goals for the artists’ email list is to build communication between artists and artists groups in my area, and a list seemed a democratic way to do it. Other arts in our area such as the opera, ballet, symphony, and theater are strong and centralized, with each having its own board and staff. Visual artist groups tend to be much smaller, all volunteer, and often do not collect enough dues to make paying the Regional Arts Council group membership dues which would make them a member organization which would also entitle them to stronger representation. I also feel that because artists are spread out and isolated, they don’t have as much voice in local public policy as do the centralized arts groups I mentioned before.

On the other email lists that I have been a part of, I have seen many thing develop and bloom, not from one person’s initiative, but from a consensus of several motivated people. I’ve seen a lot of information and resources exchanged, and I’ve been lucky to make many friends and contacts through email lists.

I believe that at the beginning of anything new, it’s important to open strong lines of communication and build from there — but then, that may be my bias because I was a communications major in school. I don’t want to be a controlling or responsible person behind the blog, I want to get an email list started that develops a life of its own.

Filed Under technology | 4 Comments

Artslist: starting a new regional group from scratch

November 16, 2007

Several years ago when I was just starting to study books and magazine articles about art quilts (mostly at night in bed just before I fell asleep), I joined the Quiltart email list group. I can’t remember how I found out about it, or what compelled me to subscribe. But I did, and suddenly I was thrown into this kind of chatty internet world, where artists and wanna-be artists were talking all the time — about techniques, materials, and where to get them, what books to read, artists to look at, what shows people got accepted to, what shows people had been rejected from, how to ship work, how to make work…. And I could ask a question, and it was usually answered five different ways in the same day.

Next, I joined the SAQA list, which is a professional discussion group. I really believe that being a part of these groups has propelled my art and career, and I believe that being a part of a targeted group to discuss and share information can help other artists.

Fast-forward to this summer: I decided that using the internet this way could have a positive impact on other aspects of my art, and have since joined some illustration email and social networking groups. Actually, it seems to be working the same way. I’m meeting people and learning lots of stuff that I don’t know how I would learn otherwise.

Fast-forward to now: Becoming visual arts chairman on the board of a regional arts council has made me think long and hard how I might best use my volunteer time. I’ve decided to try to build a regional email discussion group, but am uncertain how it will work to encourage communication between artists working in different media and allied with different local organizations.

If you would like to join, here’s the webpage to sign up.
It’s hosted off of Russ’s new regional art blog which is here.

Filed Under technology | 1 Comment

The Artist Persona

October 8, 2007

My husband says Picasso always stared bug-eyed into the camera, so I did a little looking and found that he did look bug-eyed when he was young and old. I guess this is how he perceived himself, or maybe how he wanted others to perceive him, judging from these painted self-portraits from 1907 and 1972. Some people craft their personality as carefully as they craft their art.

Many thanks for the comments on my last post. It’s always fun to see what people like and the reasoning behind your selections gave me lots of food for thought. Alyson asked a good question — the answer is Quilting Arts Magazine is working on an artist’s profile. I’m excited because the feature is usually several pages long with excellent photography. I sent them six quilts last week for photography and had an interview with Cate Prato (what a great name, wouldn’t you love a name that sounds like you’re a secret agent?)

Many comments were strong for the top moody photo, but the zebra-sunglasses were popular too. I read somewhere that Princess Diana often tilted her head down and looked up at the camera so her eyes looked huge — so for fun I tried this. Some of you commented that this combined with looking over the top of my reading glasses made the viewer feel like they were being let in on a secret, something I thought would compliment the humor of my picture-story quilts.

Based on early morning comments, I had already gone back to my folder of upteen-zillion photos, found this one and sent it. Maybe I should send a p.s. alternative and attach the first photo. I do like the zebra-glasses, but not sure they’re right for the article.

I know from editing video which is 30 frames a second, a person can look happy one second, sad the next, innocent or evil, intelligent or stupid. It’s all a question of which frame you grab. It can make a world of difference, and if someone else is doing the selection — you’re at their mercy.

update: I tried to send the second photo to the magazine, but it was too late, they had already placed the first photo into the layout (or they just liked the first photo better, but didn’t want to tell me) Anyway, they just sent the proof for the article, and it looks great, so I’m happy!

Filed Under media, technology | 10 Comments

The Moody Photographer

October 7, 2007

Last week I was supposed to send my head in a photo to a magazine for an article that will hopefully appear in December. But I dreaded going to a studio and getting a portrait done, and actually never got around to making an appointment.

So this weekend I set up some lights and a camera on a tripod, and used a shutter release cable to take my own photo. Luckily we just got the new digital Canon EOS-40D, and the camera is a lot smarter than me, because it takes pretty fabulous photos without asking me for advice. (click on a thumbnail for a larger image.)

Since it’s digital, I figured I could just shoot rapid fire like in those moviesque photo shoots, except that I didn’t have big fans blowing my hair and white floaty scarves around. I also didn’t have a great set, in fact my set looks just like my quilting studio. It took me about 200 photos just to get the lighting right. It’s also hard to get your head in the right place when you don’t know what the camera is seeing, and since I was using my Traffic Jam quilt as a backdrop, the butter dish kept ending up in the wrong place, like sticking out of my ear.

Now the problem is, which one do I send? I never know who I really am — I wanted to make a face like PaMdora and just couldn’t master it.

Filed Under technology | 20 Comments

Food Pyramid Redux

September 23, 2007

Finally a pot I’ve had on the back burner all summer has started to boil. If you remember, I started another food-inspired project and then stalled out. I thought the problem was color and some of you tried to help me out with lots of comments, thank you very much, especially Del who sent me to photos like this for inspiration.

So I struggled with color for a long while (that’s one reason I draw on the computer — it gives me a lot of freedom to play with the design) and stewed on rhetorical questions like… “what color is sand? What color is sky?”

Someone asked if I use a tablet. I’ve had several different Wacom tablets, but the Graphire 3 is my favorite. I like the small one because it’s portable, I don’t have to move my wrist much to draw, and anyway, size is relative on the computer.

When I wanted another for the home, they had gone onto the Graphire 4. But it doesn’t have the pen holder on top and the styling wasn’t as sleek. So I bought another Graphire 3 on Ebay. Although there are a lot for sale, they go for almost retail price, so I guess other people think the same as me.

But back to topic, sometimes when you think there’s a problem, it’s not just one. It’s several. Which in art, like in medicine or mechanics, makes it much more difficult to diagnose. When I found this strange photo called The Secrets of the Singing Sand Dunes, I finally realized my worst problem was the sand dunes were too flat. Then Russ said the vertical orientation was too skinny. And there needed to be more stuff happening, so I’ve added some new surprises for you to see later on.

Then I laid out the new colors. When the abstract foundation of color looks exciting, I know I’m on the right track. So that’s when the pot finally started to boil…

Filed Under process, technology | 12 Comments

keep looking »

The Velcro-neutralizer

Some of my favorite organizational tools

How to be in two places at once

Meet me in St. Louis

Sew “Modern” vintage sewing machine

Back in the Groove

Twitter

This is Only a Test

Getting Things Done

Drawing Big Cats…

Why an Email list and Not a Blog?

Artslist: starting a new regional group from scratch

The Artist Persona

The Moody Photographer

Food Pyramid Redux

PaMdora's Box

Follow PaMdora on Twitter

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