Colorful Conversations Aug.28 - Sept.3 '06

artc · #1 08-28-2006, 08:37 AM

Good Day Everyone.....Welcome to another week of colorful
conversations...we discuss everything here....everyone is most
welcome to join us.....Please feel free to join in....Art

mauricar · #2 08-28-2006, 08:58 AM

Good morning Art. Thank you for starting the new thread.

I am still working on the 1927 Studebaker. Having a hard time getting the right color of blue on it. If I was working in oils or acrylic I would just add some black to the blue. But with colored pencil that doesn't work very well. Hmmmm. I'll just keep experimenting until I get it.

What have you been working on? (Artistically speaking of course)
Midge

artc · #3 08-28-2006, 09:35 AM

Yes, Azure.......A painting buddy would really be great...and get those x-rays
taken care of soon ok?....I really dont know how you do it with those
crazy hours that you work...I would be zonked out all the time. I also have
a problem eating in the hot weather....just lose my appitite completely.....
As far as bad water in S.F. goes, afriend of mine is renting a little 2 room
bungalow for almost $600/month and the water is UNDRINKABLE.
It is slimy and reeks of sulphur...and the landlord could care less.
The board of health has tested it and says its fine.

Hello Midge....hope you are doing well.....How is your "Last Supper"
painting coming along??Is it still up on your wall??Im looking forward
to seeing your 1927 Studebaker.
I have been working on a series of paintings in oil....Arties "Shawangunk
Sunset" series. There is a mountain range about a mile behide my house
and I have seen some truly beautiful sunsets there....so I decieided
to try and paint a series of them...each one numbered sequentually.
Some of the mountains are almost a mile high...gonna keep painting the series until I get one I really like.

Hi Carol....hope your doctor appt. went well today...I dont know about
you, but I am very,very leary about buying expensive electronics
on e-bay...I see lots of test equipment that I could use but,basically
I'm afraid to buy it.

Carol....I'm surprised to hear that it is still so hot down in your
area....it is very,very cool here....almost cold. It has been cold,
cloudy and rainy for the past three days...I'll be glad to see
the sun again.

I think I'm gonna shop around e-bay,buy some parts that I need
and see how I make out...gonna buy really cheap stuff first.
I have heard some horror stories about art supplies from e-bay.

Well,guys,as per usual,too many things came up yesterday and I
didnt get to painting....maby today..gotta run...hope everyone
has a nice day......Art

FriendCarol · #4 08-28-2006, 12:24 PM

Hi, Art -- I've had excellent luck buying paints on Ebay, anyway. The key to success is to read the feedback comments, make sure they got good feedback as a seller, and also pick a seller who isn't selling thousands of items, but maybe hundreds. (With the really high bulk sellers you might fall through the cracks.) A PC from Ebay, I figure, something a few years old with floppy & DVD (and maybe r/w CD) should go for about the same as shipping cost: maybe $60-70 total.

Some of them even come with a system (Windows), whereas all the Goodwill PCs are stripped; that's okay, though, since I'm going to install Linux myself regardless.

My doctor is calling to figure out the thing about the colonoscopy not covered by Medicaid (she thinks it is -- she's been sending dozens of people for it). She also introduced me to the social worker there (who admired my folding kneeling chair). My bone density is excellent (well, I never stopped eating dairy products, particularly yogurt and cheese, and broccoli is my favorite vegetable, after all

). The social worker is going to call a good home health care agency to try to get me a decent worker, and also will try to get a bar that attaches to the tub so I can run a bath once in awhile, being able to climb in and out if I want. And, yes, my doctor is making an appointment for me with a dermatologist; she agrees the patch I showed her last year has doubled in size (though it's still only about the size of a dime). Also, two other small patches appeared this year on that arm, as well as one on the other arm. She also noted freckles; I didn't used to get freckles, and I'm not sure what that means, but it seemed to be significant to her, anyway.

So overall, I'm glad I went through the trouble of getting the appointment and going in this morning, even though I was out 3 1/2 hours. On the way back, the cab driver had no change for my $20 bill, so I paid him (extra) to take me to the drug store, and used my debit card to buy 2 months' supply of my glucosamine chondroitin supplement ($52+), and got change for him.

Hi, Midge! I thought blending with CP was in these days.

Maybe you could just add little dots of black and let it mix optically? But I know nothing at all about CP, she hastens to add.

I'm gonna go check the old thread now. Oh, first my other good news: My new neighbor has a washer & dryer! So when I can change the linens (tomorrow is my goal), he said I can give him $10 to get that done.

I didn't sleep too well last night, maybe about 4 hours in all, so I might not get back here today. But tomorrow I will also try to install the scanner (in Linux

) and maybe post something from August in the Figure forum.

Hi, Azure, Ron, Vivien, Shadia, stoney, and anyone else I didn't name yet. Have a great creative day.

vhere · #5 08-28-2006, 03:08 PM

Hi all, a very satisfactory doctors visit Carol

I hope the social worker continues helping you and you get a new and decent aide.

I also hope the new neighbours turn out to be reliable and help out regularly

No painting at all here as my daughter had come over and so we were busy visiting my parents, going out for a meal etc etc It was very enjoyable

She treated herself to a lovely new laptop and went home a very happy girl!

Work tomorrow though

Art good luck with the plans and the articles

I hope the storms heading for the US aren't affecting any of you?

Here it's gone quite chilly the last few days, feeling like autumn

Later this week I will get some painting time again.

Hi Azure, Ron, Shadia, Stoney and anyone I missed

WaltWally · #6 08-28-2006, 04:14 PM

Happy Monday, everyone!!

Art, thanks for starting the thread. No mountains in SE LA-- my mother-in-law would say the clouds were her mountains. Nice lady; I miss her.

When we took our last vacation (16 years ago!!!) we went thru the Smokies and the Blue Ridge Mountains and musta looked like a bunch of hicks: we'd stop at every lookout, get out the car, stare at the mountains and go OOH! OOH!
Hope we get to do it again soon.

Carol, glad to hear some things are looking up for you! We are holding a good thought for you on the health front, and have our fingers crossed on the safety and transportation issues.

Midge, looking forward to the Studebaker and the Last Supper-- that IS two different projects, right??

FriendCarol · #7 08-28-2006, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Midge, looking forward to the Studebaker and the Last Supper-- that IS two different projects, right??

When does your vacation start, Ron? Do you think you might stop in around here? I'd be happy to take y'all out to supper, if that's any enticement.

(Remember, I still have plenty of capital, it's just income that's a problem, until I find more affordable housing.) This is the Piedmont region -- lots of rolling hills, but no mountains until one drives out an hour or so from here. Since I grew up largely in the mid-Hudson valley, basically across the river (Hudson!) from where Art lives, I'm used to seeing 'moutains' on the horizon, and miss them, as well as missing the sea.

Some irrelevant trivia for y'all: The area called the "Catskill Mountains" is actually an old plateau, deeply carved by running water -- not really moutains in the geological sense. Just as the Hudson is not actually a river over its lower length, but an estuary, tides and all.

Vivien, good to see you again, and delighted to hear you had such an enjoyable visit with family. Great to hear, too, that your daughter went home happy.

I'm not really keeping up on storm news much. Last terrible hurricane around here was in '79 (Hugo, I think, just before my father & step-mother arrived); can't say it won't ever happen again, but we are a couple hundred miles inland, so it's certainly very unusual for one with any power to make it this far.

Art, it's early for your area to be so cool, isn't it? At least that's good sleeping weather. How's it going with that tree-felling project? Did you get to paint today?

I napped this afternoon. At 6:30pm it seemed still to be getting hotter (about 88F!), so I've just put on the a/c. This might help me develop an appetite, which would help me eat this evening, which might help me sleep through the night. Then tomorrow I'll be able to pull together all the laundry (piled in that horrible bathroom, where the last home health aide left it when I asked her to put it in the appropriate laundry bags), strip this bed, and make it up with the last of the clean sheets. I've been hoarding them, since I could neither take a shower before sleeping this summer, nor work out how to get laundry done again. The yellow pages (telephone directory) does not list a laundry service that picks up and delivers, btw, though probably there is one somewhere. Anyway, that's something else a home health aide can take care of for me, once I have one again.

I am so looking forward to lying on clean sheets again! I'm even out of t-shirts -- wearing my last one now, though once in awhile I've been washing one by hand and throwing it over the line (usually when I rinse out underwear and a dress, day before life class). So tomorrow will finally be laundry day, if I have the stamina for it.

When I described the way this summer has been going, my doctor asked if I wanted a referral to a therapist! She thought perhaps I needed to talk about all these stressors. But I explained I had all of you, my online friends, so I didn't need one.

Anyway, things are getting better again now. Soon I should be able to establish VoIP (Internet telephony), and in not too many more months, move to a cleaner, better or less isolated place, where perhaps I will find a few other disabled persons. Perhaps we can arrange to share transportation; I did that a couple times at the independent living center, though sadly, most of those were mentally disabled (including most of the ones with physical disabilities).

This afternoon I collected my phone handset. This time I took out the battery, so it should last a couple days, in case I need to make a call. (Although I turned off the ringer, a light flashes and the LCD screen lights up when my neighbor makes or receives a call, which depletes the battery.) This afternoon the Cheap Joe's fall sale catalogue was in the mail, and the only temptation I found was some paper. For some reason, Arches is suddenly very cheap again! (Earlier this year the price suddenly rose steeply.) Even Lanaquarelle is on sale, better than half off. I still have plenty of paper, though. Perhaps around Christmas I'll be ready to buy another batch. Those prices are very tempting, though -- especially a package of 10 "double elephant" sized, about 25"x40". But I'm not ready to handle anything that big, anyway. I still have trouble properly conceiving of a composition for a half sheet.

Azure, have you started reading your new books yet? Are you enjoying them? Getting any painting done, or sketching on your lunch break? Art makes the day go faster and smoother.

I'm going to check e-mail, then see if I can work out something I'd want to eat later tonight. See y'all tomorrow!

mauricar · #8 08-28-2006, 10:24 PM

Hi you all out there. It is getting close to my bedtime here, so I wanted to pop in and say goodnight.

This has been a very quiet day. I worked on the 1927 for awhile. I still don't have the color I want, but the shape of the car is good. I'll post it when I get closer to finishing it.

As for the last supper picture, it is still hanging on my wall, waiting for me to work on it. It is too large to bring into the front room, where I have room to move around. In my bedroom, where it is, there is no room to move around, and I would need to stand to work on the upper portions of the room (that is the room on the picture). The man who portrays Christ came over the other day and told me that he is going to shave off his beard. His girl friend is complaining that he is looking really old. So, I told him to go ahead. I have several photographs of him and that should do me.

Yes Ron, they are two different things. (lol)

But I have another commission coming up. I will have almost a year to complete it. It is another religious picture. So, after I finish the car, I will work on some thumbnails to find the right composition for the religious picture.

Well, I got my Cheap Joe's catalog also, Carol. I saw a pastel sharpener that I want to get and also some Wallis paper. The prices are really good right now.

Well, sweet dreams everyone, I'll see you all tomorrow.
Midge

aszurblue · #9 08-29-2006, 06:15 AM

Our weather has cooled a little, but still in the 90's in the afternoons. Still to hot to work outside when I get home....
I also got a art catalog yesterday, but from Jerry's. I've not ever ordered from Cheep Joe's (yet!!)...

Midge, do you think the Wallis paper is worth the price?? I am a Arches fan myself, but not so much lately because of the price

I only have one pad left

.... I do still have my silk and rice paper tho

I came across a very large roll of white rice paper marked way, way down, like three/four dollars at Michale's, so do have some paper to play with.

Carol, I have been reading those books since the day I got them

I am a real book alcoholic and love to read!!! I have been working on a new drawing for a very large (my first) painting. But alls not going well. I keep loosing the composition and depth. I am drawing small, for what (I hope) will be a very large painting. Happy you got to the doctors and hopping you find the right helper.
Clean sheets are the best!!! I'd have them every night if I could

Is Linux like Windows for computers? Or is it something else?? What ever it is, sounds pretty difficult to install.

Hi Art, Vivien, Ron, Midge, Stoney and Shadia.... Hope everyone has a great day.... Azure

FriendCarol · #10 08-29-2006, 04:20 PM

Hi, Azure! Linux is extremely easy to install, most of the time -- at least, the MEPIS distribution is easy. It comes on a single 'live boot' CD, which means you put it in your CD drive, boot up, and the system just comes up. Then you can install it if you want, right on top of Windows if you like. (This makes the PC's system a 'dual boot,' so as you power on, you can run either W or Linux.) If you install it (instead of just running it from the CD), it automatically recognizes almost all hardware, so you don't have to separately find drivers for odd bits. It sets up your network, too, if it's like mine (broadband). Finally, it has a GUI (graphical user interface) that works so similarly to Windows (something like a task bar, with the running applications as icons at the bottom of the screen, etc.) that most of the time I'm not even conscious of the difference. Applications use the same old conventions as Win OSs, with Ctrl-V for paste, Ctrl-C for copy, and so on. You can drag and drop things to a trash can... Quite easy to use, even if you don't want to learn to use the command structure (which is more powerful) instead. Takes just 10-30 minutes to install, too.

I think the reason I have no sound is this $15 PC's integrated sound board just doesn't work. The floppy doesn't work because the cover of the PC's case won't open and close properly, and the floppy drive isn't perfectly aligned with the slot in the case... So I just can't get the diskette in and out of the drive.

Yesterday I found 3 PCs on Ebay, all around $20-30, with the same for shipping, all with working floppy drive, DVD, and CD r/w. Perhaps I'll buy one today.

Someone helped me change this bed today, and when I told her I would be getting rid of this PC, she said she'd like to have it. Perfect! I think she just wants to be able to go online and type stuff, anyway. If I buy a PC that comes with a monitor, she won't even have to buy that.

Yes, after a tiring morning, I'm lying on clean sheets.

I read a book about Caravaggio (which wasn't his name, actually, just the place he was born

), and now I'm reading another book about tracking down one of his 'lost' paintings. Meanwhile, a new painting is forming in my mind (and sketchbook). Nothing like anything he might have painted, I hasten to add!

I might put a figure in this one, though, just another silhouetted, cloaked & hooded figure. It's an autumn picture, with stylized bare trees, draped sky colors, and negatively glazed leaves. It might even incorporate a small snowy area. It's not really going to be abstract, but don't know what to call this sort of work.

Hope your painting is going very well, Midge (painting as in process, that is, as well as both or all of the paintings on which you are working

).

Hi, Ron! Hi, Vivien, stoney, Shadia, Art... and everyone.

WaltWally · #11 08-29-2006, 06:45 PM

Carol, we are still firming up our travel plans, coordinating our trip with other people's plans.

Will we be able to communicate by PM or email with you about the details as they develop?

Azure, my wife loves Arches paper, too... It seems to be on sale around here lately.

aszurblue · #12 08-30-2006, 05:42 AM

Hi Ron, what name dose your wife post under? I tried to find some Arches last week and could only fine One lonely sad pad!! So need to try on-line now...

Carol, I could never do what you do with a computer

Even if I could, I don't think I'd have the patients. Can you show us what you are working on??
Mine is going no-where real fast.... What a treat,.... you, Ron, his wife and a get together!!! Take pictures and let us see???

Hi Art, Vivien, Stoney, Midge and Shadia.... Hope everyone Paints Happy today..... Azure

mauricar · #13 08-30-2006, 07:33 AM

Hope you all have a great day. I am going to start my day off well, and when I get home I will work on the car again. I have done two preliminary drawings, and one of them came out well. So, at least I know which pose to use.

Carol and Ron. I am very excited about you all getting together. I hope you will take some pictures so we can all see what you look like. That way we can place a name to a face.

See ya.
Midge

Finally Home · #14 08-30-2006, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aszurblue

snip
I am a Arches fan myself,
snip Azure

Just stopped by to say "HEY" to everyone!

I was somewhat dismayed to see I haven't been on since April. I have been doing a lot of traveling which has kept me away from the PC a lot. Nothing like a trip to Iceland for inspiration.

I'll try to play catch up a bit in the near future (but not all the way back to April!).
As for the Arches I don't do a lot of watercolor any more, but one of the things I liked most was putting a used sheet into the shower and washing it clean. A very liberating feeling, and I'd swear it has a better texture after it has dried.
Anyway, have a great day everybody,
Kevin

FriendCarol · #15 08-30-2006, 11:33 AM

Kevin! You're back! It's a treat to "see" you again, friend.

Yes, Ron, I do have to figure out what to do about this whole PM/e-mail thing. My temporary fix is that later today I'll try to track down (again) how to set up a new e-mail for this site, since some of you don't have my other e-mail, and I have no intention of publishing it in clear. (I get enough spam already, thank you very much!

) So by tomorrow, I'll have an e-mail for this site, and you can send me e-mail (which will be a forwarding address). Once you do, I'll respond and you'll have my major e-mail address, which I normally check at least 2-3 times a day.

Hope we can get together! But no photos of me, sorry. Even as a rule, I don't do photos. I certainly wouldn't do them to be published online!

Really, I never intended to learn so much about computers. My first undergraduate term, I signed up for FORTRAN (programming) only because I figured it was a new kind of basic literacy everyone should have. Then, since I had a scholarship funded by a computer company, I was given a summer job where I ended up doing odd jobs programming in one of their research labs. Then I took only one more computing class my sophomore year, because a friend had to take it and wanted my help as she did so.

Then I ended up learning more than I ever wanted to know about computing because I somehow turned into a statistics whiz. (Quite often, if one is not particularly ambitious oneself but enjoys almost all subjects, and can do something others consider difficult, one ends up fulfilling other people's goals.) Finally, when I left the academic world and moved to NYC to "be a writer," the only job I could find (and believe me, I tried to get lower level jobs, everything from secretary to messenger!) was technical documentation, almost all of it as a consultant. I was just too overqualified for a 'day job,' which was what I really wanted. Then, it was just my luck to be working at a time that I had to learn everything about PCs (used for documenting), because the companies I worked for only had technical support for their in-house mainframes or minis!

Of course, once you know a certain amount about PCs, it just snowballs from there. And that's how I came to know almost everything about PCs except networking: By the time PC networking came along, the companies where I consulted already had technical support for that. But later I had to learn a tiny bit about it because so many students couldn't get their laptops connected at SIBL (Science, Industry, and Business Library), and I felt sorry for them. When the library's tech staff couldn't do the job (often they could, fortunately), I was willing to spend hours and hours, for days at a time, doing the experimentation and exploration necessary to get them connected. For no pay, of course.

(That was during my days as an entrepreneur, so I was used to not being paid.

)

Aside from some plays, poems, and novels, and maybe a few articles, I've lived a largely wasted life. But that's all over now; now I'll focus on painting -- just as soon as I get that next online PC working...on Linux.....

(See, that's how it happens. Be warned!

)

Kevin, do you like fruitcake? Is there any regular here who doesn't like fruitcake? I'm making my baking plans now, so speak up, everyone! (Vivien, I doubt the Customs people would look benignly on shipping fruitcake to England -- anyway, talk about coals to Newcastle!

Maybe I could just send you a nice, hand-painted card for Christmas.

)

Salute to our Partners