-N- – Page 51 – Ink, Yarn & Beer

Wood & Wetland

I have been spending the better part of the day watching the videos in a class in which I have enrolled before starting any of the projects. There are a lot of short videos in it pointing out this and that, but sitting still to watch the longer ones makes me restless. I need something to do with my hands rather than just sit on my butt! Knitting is out as I have a few projects at a point which need some focus, but oil pastels did the trick. I can draw / paint and watch at the same time. I may not get all of the video, but I do get a lot of it – just as I am now as I write this post.

I picked up a few brands of oil pastels and a 6-pack each of soft white and greys. These include Sennelier, Mungyo, and Caran d’Ache. The white and grey pack are labeled “Anders” I think. I also have been playing on various papers, but decided to check out the Sennelier oil pastel paper. It seems to do a pretty good job despite all the rubbing in of layers of pastels.

Oil pastels, at this point, are more like playing with crayons for me. I blur the colors using my fingers and tortillons. Harder oil pastels make up the underlayers with the softer, oilier ones going on top. This adheres to the adage of “fat over lean” in oil painting, so it makes sense that it would apply to the oil pastels as well.

Oil pastel on Sennelier paper; about 5×7 finished. Scanned on Epson V600.

Morning Vitamins

Our bathroom night light has rotating colors – the marvels of LEDs! There are about 12 of them, but in general we keep it on red as it is less likely to wake you up but it still lets you see as you stumble around in dark. In the mornings, once the makes the “turn off” switch of the night light happy, the light goes out. On a gloomy day, the light may never turn off, but early in the morning, the light remains on.

One morning, dumping out my vitamins onto a blue towel, suddenly I noticed these little bright bits of color and light. Coming through the gel caps, everything just took on a surreal quality. Out comes the Christmas macro lens and here we are with what I think are some of the more interesting photos I have seen in a while. Vitamins A, E, and D are now immortalized for your viewing pleasure.

2024 Resolution: Schedule or Agenda?

Schedules are usually events fit into a time slot, like a dental appointment. An agenda is still something to do, but perhaps a bit more open ended. After working for years in a world regulated by bells and students and patients with exams, I really dislike – or don’t want – scheduling as a daily event. Agendas give a sense of potential – something to do, perhaps a vague something, perhaps a timed something, perhaps a definite something – but there is much less a sense of obligation.

I like agendas better than schedules!

As with most people, I make resolutions for the New Year, and this is one I struggle with quite often. I don’t think I need to schedule time to paint or sew or whatever. I just need time to do it. Thus, this year I have determined that 2024 is The Year of the Agenda.

And what does this mean?

Simply every other day I will change my choice of something to do on alternate days. Visual Art one day and Fiber Art the next day.

Problem solved.

And so, below, some of today’s Visual Art . . . . taken with the Nikon Z 50mm f2.8 Macro lens.

A Painting on My Desk

I took this picture of a painting I recently did to check on my contrast values. There is always a struggle here, but with practice, I do “get it” better each time.

As with other photos of the past few days, monochrome and the Nikon 50mm f2.8 macro.

A Bottle of Paint

After I opened up my Christmas lens, the Nikon Z 50mm f2.8 macro, I putzed around with it. You have to do that! This is a snap of a small bottle of paint in the tub that holds all my liquid acrylic paints.

I used the macro component – the bottle is about an inch across, so you can see that the macro is rather nice.The original was in color – the bottled paint is a mid-toned blue, but I turned it into monochrome in LR and On1 Photo Raw. I upped the contrast as that is what I prefer in BW photos.

Now, time for breakfast.