This is Halloween

This is one of my favorite movies.  It does have an offbeat sense of humor including a two-faced politician for Mayor.  His head swivels when he has to make a decision.  The whole movie is filled with visual plays on words.  Even though you might think this is only a simple kids movie it is not; there is plenty of hidden meanings like the Mayor to watch for.  It is indeed a movie you need to set and watch to catch the entirety of the movie, it is very cleverly done.  Plus this movie has a good basic moral to it.  Apparently I am not the only one to love "The Nightmare Before Christmas" as it has been out for many years and has been redone a couple of times.  I think the last time they redid it it was in 3-D.  The kids and I have enjoyed it for years and it is starting on a third generation.  I hope you enjoy this little celebration of Halloween.
Happy Halloween


Johnina  ;^D

Spooky moons

Happy Halloween

Stormy October weather

We have had several days of rain in a row.  I does clear up for a couple of hours in the afternoon everyday so it's not so bad.  The wind however continues to gust all day long.  I decided to try out a new technique to see if I could capture the movement of the leaves during the times when the rain was not falling but the wind was blowing.  I experimented with the shutter speed so that the lens was open longer to catch the leaves as they moved while trying to keep the tree trunks and backgrounds sharp.  Some of the results are below.  Let me know what you think so I can adjust my camera for the best photos.

 My daughter also has stormy weather every fall as she starts school and breaks in new roommates on top of the weather change.  She has already had to cope with snow flurries at night already.  Since she has asthma the weather change makes a difference, but the biggest of her stormy weather is breaking in her roommates to her allergies.  You see she has severe food allergies that can send her into an asthma attack or worse anaphylaxis and it's not just eating the food, it can just being around when the food is cooked.  She posts a list which causes some teasing; it is very long and even if her roommates are understanding some of their friends are not.  They are also not used to being careful in what they eat and fix so they sometimes forget and then she can't breathe.  She really did a good job of describing what it is like for her on her blog

http://snarkandart.blogspot.com/  

I can relate; I have different medical problems but a lot of the same frustrations.  Check out her blog it will give you a different view on life.

  I have been reading the first Dresden files book.  I've read a couple of them and they are just fun, quick to read fantasy books.  This one did have a tidbit of wisdom in it and finding these little character thoughts that really round out the characters is why I still read.  The saying that the book is always better than the movie; I believe to be true almost exclusively.  Anyway here is the quote from "Storm Front" by Jim Butcher that kind of sums up how to handle the storms of life.
'Rain was coming down in sheets.  I could hear it, on the concrete outside and on the old building above me.  It creaked and swayed in the spring thunderstorm and the wind, timbers gently flexing, wise enough with age to give a little, rather than put up stubborn resistance until they broke.  I could probably stand to learn something from that.'  
I think we could all learn to bend in the storms of life so we don't break.


Johnina  :^A

More Autumn Colors

Georgia in October

Splashes of Color 14

Old white gate

Splashes of Color 13

Georgia in October 2

Autumn colors in a more traditional view; photos taken last week. 

Enjoy the sumptuous colors of this beautiful world and season.

Autumn Colors

Blanketflower art-edit

Splashes of color 17

Splashes of color 19

Splashes of color 18- Art edit

Autumn wildflower 1

At this time of year everyday brings a change of colors.  The leaves change slowly down here and this year it seems to be slower than usual.  One day you wake to a completely green tree, then maybe a day or two later that tree may have just a couple of colored leaves, then maybe a couple of clumps a few days later and then days later a tree in fall color, looking the way it should.  In the meantime another tree is doing the same thing but on a different schedule.  Added to that is the fall flowers that are currently blooming.  It is really quite pretty even if the colors are not coming out as they normally do.  I have not been able to get traditional autumn landscapes so I have concentrated on the colorful leaves, especially those that are sunlit. I have also taken the pictures and turned them into art-edits so that I have more than just leaf photos.  Enjoy some of the colors of autumn from Georgia.


Johnina :^A 

Thank you, Nora

 

I have had several really bad days in a row and so I really appreciate Nora's suggestion of coloring in a copy of the Mandala that I drew.  I found that coloring them in to be just as relaxing as the original drawing of it was.  I scanned it on my printer and than printed it onto card stock making several copies.  For the first one I colored I wanted to do a quick and easy one, so I decided to keep it simple using just a few colors, using black to do the basic outlines of the designs and leaving quite a bit of white so I gathered markers of only a few colors, not paying attention to the brand.  I quickly remembered why I now only buy certain brands.  I use Sharpie markers, they come in many colors and points and are reasonably priced.  I found with the off brands that they tend to run out of color quickly, have muddy colors, do not apply evenly and are generally somewhat frustrating to work with.  Sharpies do tend to bleed though the paper, but that can be taken care of easily enough just by putting down a sheet or two of cheap paper.  I don't use markers often enough to have tried the artist quality marker so I have no idea how much better they might be than the Sharpies.

  This is the second Mandala that I colored.  I decided to do a more complicated job of coloring.  For this one I used colored pencils, regular ones, watercolor ones, and soft blend-able ones.  It took a couple of days to complete this one and I just finished it this morning.  I could have done more layering and blending, but I was anxious to see what it would look like completely filled with color.  I think the next one I do I will take more time, do more layers and blending and more of the touches that add finesse and finish to a drawing.    

Since I do most of my drawing and artwork in pencil both graphite and colored pencil I've tried several brand and have my favorites.  Crayola colored pencils are my favorite student quality pencils and Crayola watercolor pencils are also available.  They come in lots of colors work pretty well, are available easily and are reasonably priced.  I used them for a long time.  When I upgraded to artist quality I was lucky that the first ones that I tried were Derwent colored pencils.  I noticed a vast difference in the ease and quality of the work done with the pencils from the very first stroke.  The kids were impressed and noticed a significant difference in the quality from the first time I showed them a new drawing; and then when they used them they were just as excited as I was.  This brand offers many different types of colored pencils and they are all wonderful and delightful to use.  (All are available on amazon, just click on the colored pencil site above or the Amazon.com locator on the bottom right of this blog.)  The colors are also very fade resistant.  It's very disappointing to put a lot of time into a piece of artwork only to have the colors fade and that is a problem with colored pencils.  I have tried many other brands and have found each one to have at least one frustrating point.  Things like tips that break easy, pencils that drag, uneven color distribution.  However, I have found that other artists have their favorites, too.  But after trying some other highly recommended pencils only to be frustrated with them I now pretty well stick with Derwent.  You may find you like others better because of the way you use your pencils or Derwent may not be as popular simply because it is a little harder to find; but now that it is on Amazon that problem is gone.  Anyway find what works for you.  The materials you use should not be a source of frustration.  For me that is especially important which is probably why I got on such a band wagon about my favorite brands.

If you like to do art work I hope it brings as much pleasure and joy into your life as it does in mine.  And with the bad days that I have had lately; art has made all the difference in the world in my life.  Coloring in the Mandalas was a great suggestion and has served me well.

Johnina  :^A 

New Editing Program

This is going to be a short post.  Bad night last night.  Dreamed and then pain in my dream and I started crying in my dream from the pain only to wake up crying and in pain.  I hate nights like that.
Yesterday was not all bad I got a new editing program from a friend.  At first I accidentally downloaded the wrong program, but it was free so I left it and went on to find the correct program which was a free trial (bummer).  Anyway I tried out the programs and played with them without any particular idea in mind.  I did come up with this picture which I do like.  I hope you enjoy it ,too.
Johnina :^A