Audra returned to work on her painting skills and wants to share with you her newest and favorite technique.

Because Audra is now working on a Christmas painting, she wanted to create the feeling of frost. We chose a dark blue wash, and when it was just about dry, she sprinkled salt onto the blue paint.

Salt glazing, is a fantastic method for creating snowflakes, fur, flowers in a meadow, and stars in the sky. If you put the salt on the wet watercolor wash too soon, the salt dissolves completely and then you lose the effect you had hoped for.

You must wait until the wash is slightly damp on the paper. Then when you sprinkle the salt, the crystals create the patterns.

I was able to complete the eagle painting today. I would like to share the finished close up of the eagle chicks and a close up of the family grouping.

I'm often asked why I paint animals and for me they are a way to stay connected to nature. One of my teachers told me that the purpose of art was to communicate your ideals. My paintings of nature are my way of expressing how important and precious the natural world is to me.

[caption id="attachment_105" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Anne-Marie is the cute one, in the middle, in pink. "][/caption]

 

Have a great night,

 

Jody

5 Teardrop Sinks, 5 Basket Sinks

4 x Prone Balance Up, 8 x Side Balance Ups (4 on each side)

8 x 50 @ Prone Balance Up, Slide to 1/2 Arrow, into Free (same off other wall)

30 Diggers, 20 Core Water Pushes

6 x Free Speed Sharpeners

8 x 100 @ Free feeling what the water is doing over your arms and core.

4 x 200 @ Free feeling the water and trying to make it feel thicker.

3:00 Aquatic Signature

At first, whenever she would see a car coming from behind she would say it wasn't safe. I would wait and wait and finally realized that the caw was very far away and the second she saw a car she perceived it as a threat and looked away.

[caption id="attachment_33" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Overtaking traffic - probably not going too fast."][/caption]

So what is transposing? Wikipedia defines it as

...the process of moving a collection of notes (pitches) up or down in pitch by a constant interval.

This means that if the note written in the music is a 'C', then transposing into B flat the same note would be played as a B flat. This is very common for players such as baritone or trombone players who read trumpet music- the written note is written as C but played as a B flat.

French horn music is commonly written in the key of F, though it is written in standard treble clef. Thus, a middle C in the horn part would be played by a trombonist as an F a fifth below. Since the trombonist is essentially reading the part in F, one must also add a flat to the key signature in order for the notes to sound correctly in relation to the other instruments in the group. When reading, it is useful for the trombonist to read the music as though it were written in mezzo-soprano clef - that is placing the middle C line on the second line from the bottom in the staff.

During the course of the rehearsal, I was abruptly reminded that I have not done much transposing of late other than reading trumpet music, which is written in standard treble clef. Treble clef for trumpet simply involves playing the note a full step lower than written and adding two flats to the key signature (if the piece is written in C, then the player would play it in B flat). Reading treble clef in C (a piano part, for example, the trombonist does not need to change the key signature, and plays the notes as written). Thus, i encountered two major difficulties- first I am no longer particularly apt at transposing on the fly, which led to numerous occasions where I simply lost my place in the chart, and second, my range is no longer extensive enough to accurately hit the high tones necessary to play horn parts.

Overall, I would strongly recommend any aspiring musician to thoroughly learn all the different clefs so that when placed in such a situation he or she is able to read the music without needing frequent stoppages. Secondly, aspiring musicians should become thoroughly familiar with their instruments so that when asked to play in a particularly high or low range, the ability is at least present. While I was once able to do exactly that, my lack of steady practice over the years has definitely hurt my ability to play in the ultra-high register. The moral of this story is practice, practice, practice!

I train people on the back of my tandem in San Antonio and Cynthia is my newest client and tandem buddy. She is new to cycling but is very fit and strong and is an awesome stoker. We start out from the KGS Bikes studio at six in the morning ablaze with lights and a great attitude. Since Cara, our other training buddy was not with us on the day in question we chose a new route for Cynthia which is called the Iron Cross.

KGS Bikes Iron Cross
Find more Bike Rides in San Antonio, Texas

The Zinn has all the right geometry and enough comfort to be used on the road, so I took the track fork and handlebars off last week and added a road fork with a front brake and a road handlebar with a front brake lever and a tandem stoker dummy lever on the other side. This allows the "on the hoods" hand position and more braking than just the rear wheel braking by resisting the pedals.

For the maiden voyage in Dallas I wanted to go on a Greater Dallas Bicyclists (GDB) ride that leaves from Forest and Preston Road and heads over to DFW Airport, with a fast loop around the airport, then a moderate ride back for a total of 60 miles.

The choice of gearing is critical on a fixed gear bike as you only get one combination. I chose a 50/17 gear (77.2 gear inches with a 2096 circumference, 667 diameter) which was super going out to the airport. Once I got there and the wind picked up to 15-20 MPH, I knew the airport loop would be interesting. This loop typically averages around 24 MPH so I wasn't too worried about the upwind sections but the downwind sections might be untenable.

My worst fears were realized when I spun out about 32 MPH on the first downwind leg. Ouch! While we all have been dropped at times, it is so surreal to be dropped while going down wind, while everyone else is having the time of their life! I had to give in to my limits as this equated to holding 139 RPM.

When I finally got to the end of the ride I was re-introduced to the fact that 60 miles on a fixed gear is 60 miles. I can't wait to do it again!

For those technically curious, Analytic Cycling has gear, aerodynamic and other geeky data.

I made one version of pumpkin gingerbread for my cousin's visit last weekend. Unfortunately, we gobbled it up before I could get the Nikon to it, so it's not featured here. I used a recipe in Prevention magazine, which I'd picked up at a talk given by the magazine's fitness editor just days before. I was surprised by the breadth of the little magazine. In flipping through its pages for the first time, I found two recipes that looked worthy of a shot.

A fall dessert with only 1/4 cup of oil that uses pumpkin for sweetness and moisture? Sign me up. Not to mention the health benefits of the humble orange squash: beta carotene, potassium, vitamins A, C, B6, B3 and fiber.

The first round of this cake was dense and moist, with the warming flavors of cinnamon and nutmeg. It was popular, but I wondered if it would be better with a little more lift. Really I just wanted so badly to incorporate kefir, my new best friend. I went searching for a recipe that included an acid ingredient, and began to experiment.

Because I had this huge can of pumpkin puree to use up, I went at it a second time. I was amazed, it yielded an entirely different species of dessert. I used a muffin recipe that otherwise looked almost exactly the same, and adapted it to the baking pan. What I got was something resembling a gingercake more than a traditional gingerbread.

I'm no chemist, but according to Mark Bittman, when you're working with acidic ingredients (yogurt, buttermilk, kefir, lemon juice) you use baking soda as your leavener. The acid reacts with the baking soda and causes the cake to rise. Baking powder is used when there is no acid--just liquid, eggs, and heat causing the leavening. By playing around with ingredients, you can create your own custom texture.

Because, you know, all of us just have tons of time to sit around doing this.

I leave you with the two experiments while I scheme about ways to finish off that still leftover pumpkin puree. My ideal for this particular gingerbread would lay somewhere in between. Until then, both, I assure you, are delightful with coffee on a day full of woodsmoke and crunching leaves.

Dense Pumpkin Gingerbread

1 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour (adding a few teaspoons of cornstarch to flour will make a substitute for pastry flour. I used King Arthur's White Whole Wheat flour, mixed with a bit of cornstarch)

2.5 tsp ground cinnamon

2.5 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup chopped crystallized ginger (optional, I didn't use)

2 large eggs

1 large egg white

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup molasses

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup canned pure pumpkin

1. Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 9x9 inch baking pan with cooking spray.
2. Combine flour, cinnamon, ground ginger, baking powder, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Stir in crystallized ginger, if you're using it.
3. Whisk eggs, egg white, oil, molasses, and sugar in a medium bowl. Whisk in pumpkin. Fold into dry ingredients until just combined. Pour into prepared pan.
4. Bake 35-40 minutes until gingerbread starts to pull away from pan sides and wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from rack and cool on a rack, or serve warm.

courtesy of Prevention Magazine

Pumpkin Gingercake

2 cups flour

1 T ground ginger

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

1.5 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup + 2 T pumpkin

1/2 cup + 2 T buttermilk or kefir

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 large egg whites

1 large egg

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup molasses

1/4 cup canola oil

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease a square (9x9) pan.
2. Mix all dry ingredients together in a medium bowl.
3. Whisk pumpkin, kefir or buttermilk, and vanilla together in another.
4. In a stand mixer, beat egg whites and egg until foamy. Add brown sugar, beat until light, about 2 minutes. Beat in molasses and oil.
5. Stir the egg mixture and the pumpkin mixture into the dry ingredients, working in alternate batches.
6. Bake at 350 until cake pulls away from sides and a tester comes out clean, about 45 minutes to an hour.

adapted from epicurious.com

As for Heavenly Harvest - they have a great little farm (50+ acres) half way between Corvallis and Albany and right now, all month long, is their annual Harvest Festival.  In addition to the activities listed above, they also have the pneumatic corn launcher, a large rubber-banded apple chucker, and a hay bale maze for the small ones.

During our low-60's and intermittent rain on the hay ride - I spied this truck off to the side.  I cranked the ISO to 800 to get a fast enough shutter speed (shooting aperture priority @ f/4) to compensate for the long lens, gray skies, wagon travel, and bumps in the road.  After that, just a bit of crop, and lots of futz - and here's a quick image to share from the adventure. 

If you're in the area, Muddy Creek corn maze is also a heck of a lot of fun and worth the trip if you don't have little, little kids.

The director told me in advance that the actors would be wearing body mics, and the board had enough "room" on it to plug me straight in. I just had to provide the recorder and the cables.

Okay, I have to admit, I don't actually have a DAT recorder. I'm too cheap for that, and besides, it's not necessary anymore! Got a laptop? Got sound recording software? You're good to go!

What I'm using for audio now is a six year old IBM Thinkpad laptop running Windows 2000. To record the audio, I use Audacity. The laptop came from my day job - after six years in the biz, the boss decided it was time to upgrade, so all the old laptops were retired. While I don't "own" the one I'm using (and am typing on at this moment, as it happens) it is on permanent loan until, a. the company forgets I have it (likely that they already have); b. the company just gives it to me (not as likely, since they're already forgotten about it.)

But I digress.

Sound was, in short and as you may have figured out, taken care of.

Video was another matter. Mounting a camera on a tripod and shooting something, that's fine. Holding your camera and shooting something, that's fine too. Editing together footage that is both tripod mounted and handheld...

...well, that's something else now isn't it?

Using a Stabilizer While Working Handheld

I built this as an aid to working handheld, and here is what I learned: it's great if you're moving around, it totally SUCKS if you're standing still. Counterweight and pipes taken altogether, it adds seven pounds to the weight of the camera; holding that steady for a static shot is Hell on Earth, and I'll never do it again without attaching it to a vest on my body to help support the weight. As it was, I ended up removing the bottom weight and tucking the end of the pipe into my fanny pack, letting my hips bear the weight instead of my elbows. It still sucked, but sucked less.

Next time, I'll use one of these.

So, I have two sets of footage of (mostly) the same stuff. Problem is, once I got into Premiere™ and put the two side by side, it was jarringly painful to watch. To go from tripod to hand-held and back...no, it just wouldn't work.

AfterEffects™ to the rescue. I had forgotten I'd installed this little gem of a program (I say not without some irony) and what it was capable of doing, to whit: motion tracking and image stabilization. Granted, in some cases there is so much camera movement that no amount of stabilization is going to help: a stabilized image that is quickly in motion simply turns blurry for a moment, and there are times when the image moves unacceptably out of the viewport, but now I can blend both sets of footage without a problem.

And what's really fun, is I can take the tripod mounted footage and make it look handheld by shooting a reference dot against a black background and motion tracking the static footage to it, resulting in a blend of camera work that is nearly seamless, and that's even better.

Next time: how I got screwed by the lighting.

Anyway this time around I thought I should make an effort to learn the double push as it seems this is the only way to go fast and win races..so at the tender age of 41 I have begun learning,please follow the link to the video and tell me what you see,I have been trying this for a week or so....

Q: You're an avid user of Flickr. How and why did you get started?

Good cornering technique can save a LOT of energy and put you in the proper winning position in the final straight of a race. Many people have difficulty cornering so here are a few simple tips to help you along the way;

1. Always look where you want to go , not where you want to avoid or down at your front wheel .

2. Anticipate the speed for the corner and brake before the corner if necessary. DON’T brake in the turn!

3. Approach the corner wide, cut to the apex, and finish wide. A common mistake is cutting to the apex of the turn too early.

4. Watch the 2 or 3 riders ahead of you who have already entered the corner. Note if they are pedaling safely through it and judge whether you should do the same. If it happens that your inside pedal hits the pavement, don't panic and over correct. Over compensation is how most crashes happen.

5. If you need to coast through a corner then once you have passed the apex of the corner begin to pedal again as soon as possible.

COUNTERSTEERING

You may not realize that you intuitively countersteer every time you enter a corner. However, once you are aware of this concept it's much easier to control and perfect. Let me explain:

To initiate countersteering, momentarily turn away from the direction you're turning. This increases the lean of the bicycle into the turn. This method allows for greater steering control and makes it easy to affect a change in direction during the turn.

If you have 5 minutes, the following video does a great job explaining countersteering.

This is a book that every writer should have.  Hell, it's a book just about everybody should have but especially writers.  I use this book to inspire me when I'm "sure I'll never make it in this business."  Those times when that neat little critic guy in our heads screams, "Who the hell are you to think you can write novels?  No agent or publisher is ever going to want this drivel."  Here's a neat site that talks to some published authors about certain parts of the book.

He begins with a brief life story, of course.  Who we have been shapes who we are now as well as providing intellectual fodder for our writing.  This is an enjoyable little romp through little Stevie's life and gives a view of how one popular writer came about.

Then he gets into the meat of it.  The writing.  He helps you construct a "writer's toolbox" and insists that the two things most important, fundamentally, to good writing are grammar and vocabulary.  Not someone else's vocabulary.  Your vocabulary.  The one you bring to the table without conscious effort.  The one that you built with every hour spent under the covers at night reading by flashlight when your parents thought you were asleep.  He makes you promise not to try and expand your vocabulary though I'm sure he understands that writers "accidentally" expand their vocabularies every day.

Overall I agree with Mr. King.  We should never unnecessarily complicate our writing.  Yes, I know, "unnecessarily" is a loaded word.  When is it necessary and when is it not?  This boils down to how King says to structure your paragraphs.  It's all in the beat you hear as you write.  It's all dictated by your style.

Consider the following:

"Bob hoped no one else was in the men's room as the trumpeting of his vigorous act of excretion echoed around the stall."

"Bob hoped no one else was in the men's room as the trumpeting of his vigorous bowel movement echoed around the stall."

"Bob hoped no one else was in the men's room as the trumpeting of his vigorous shit echoed around the stall."

All of these say the same thing.  All of them are correct (even if kinda gross).  All of them will appeal to a different audience.  There are those that don't want cussing in anything they read.  There are those that don't want you to beat around the bush ("If he's shitting, man, just say he's shitting.").  There are those that won't mind either way.  I'm of the opinion that one of these (if in your story) will fit the beat better than the other two.  That's the one you should use.

King recommends using the first word that comes to your mind.  For the most part, I agree.  Sometimes, though, it's just fun to play with this funny little language we use.

If you have questions about techniques or just curiosity about the how to of art, drop me a line by way of a comment.  Might make good material for a post, because if you have a question, there's bound to be others who are wondering the same things!

I'm reading L.P. Wilkinson's Golden Latin Artistry, which is primarily about the techniques of prosody and ran into this great line from Walter de la Mare that (paraphrase) "people make mistakes about what words should mean; as Linoleum is obviusly meant to be a charming old Mediterranean sea-port." It's a wonderful book; tremendously learned and wide-ranging and it's got me thinking about the mechanics of the English language in the same way I've become accustomed to thinking about ancient poetry.

I know it's not easy to take animal picture especially for moving animal, you need to be patient - and for fish you need to take photo without reflection because of aquarium glass. In this case, I don't like to use flash because the color of arowana will change because of flash effect. Anyway, after I finished my task to apply working visa, I go to Taiwan to work - as a newbie piping designer - not to design aquarium pipe (LOL) but to design petrochemical & power plant pipe.

I have written a proposal for a resin jewellery book, which would reveal the secret behind my ice jewellery as well as 9 other projects for the beginner to intermediate resin crafter. Unfortunately, the publishers in this country don't think there is a market for it. I need you to change that! This competition is mainly for the UK readers, but US ones are welcome to participate (I think it's only fair).

The prize is one of my ice rings (pictured), and to enter, all you need to do is leave an honest comment to this post.

The two questions I would like you to answer are: Would you buy a resin jewellery craft book? and Where do you live? If you would like to leave further comment on what you would expect from the book, price, whether you would also accept it in e-book form, etc that would be great. The winner will be picked at random on October 25th 2008.

Thank you for your help!

This is the one wherein I talk about that most crucial part of the writing process - finding inspiration. If you're any kind of writer, amateur or professional, and have been writing creatively for a period longer than, say, six months, you should be stifling laughter right now.

(I am, and I'm writing this blog!)

Inspiration is notoriously fickle. Tapping into your muse is difficult, but here's what works for me:

1) lots and lots of notebooks, easily accessible.
2) always having pens on me.
3) being prepared.

I've heard of musicians having guitars everywhere within their apartments or houses, so that they can get ideas out whenever they have them.

I view the writing process in the same way; when you're searching for inspiration, you can get it anywhere, at any time, and notebooks are infinitely more portable than guitars.

I also try to do a few other things as well :

1) Associate it with something.
2) Slow things down.
3) Be descriptive.

Normally, ideas rush through the head, and in an instant, they're gone. Try to make them last, or be more tangible.

• If you can Associate an idea with an image, a taste, a sensation, ANYTHING, you'll be able to recall it easier later on.

Secondly, Slow Things Down. Sometimes ideas come fast, but you always want to get as much out of an idea as possible.

• If you can take the time to think an idea out, it will be better developed in your head.
  You may miss a couple small parts, but if you've still got the central idea, they may come back later.

Lastly, Be Descriptive.

• The more effort you put into your ideas - is the character tall? How does he dress?
  How would he sound in real life? - the more you can hold on to, the longer your idea will last.

A perfect example - last week, I was thinking about I girl I met a while back, who bemoaned the state of the "strong woman" breaking into any male-dominated field. We had also talked and joked about her being an evil genius, since Dr. Horrible was a point of conversation we kept coming back to.

(in all fairness, she had a few hours' sleep spread across several days; she tended to repeat herself, and charmingly so.)

So, after some time had passed, and I had been listening to Skullcrusher Mountain on loop, the idea emerged and began to solidify itself:

What about a female evil genius, looking to establish herself in a man's world of villainy?

The idea kicked around in my head a bit more. I liked it, and decided to detail it a bit. But I felt it was missing something; at this point, I was about to head off to go see Weezer, so I tucked the idea away and hopped in the car.

However, it was another song that helped me crystallize the idea, and capture the theme of it; four songs into their set, Weezer played one of my favorites, Perfect Situation, and that was it.

What if she wasn't evil to begin with? What if she just screwed up at being good, and saw this as a way to redeem herself?

I managed to build some connections in my head, and as soon as I got home three hours later, I jotted out the ideas i had and fell asleep.

That, of course, was just the start of the process, and the idea itself has become something quite unique and different, but I felt I'd share with you the way my mind works.

If I somehow set off a rash of stories about conflicted female evil geniuses, It'd make me happy... especially if they're well written!

-Brian

P.S. If they're trash, please, by all means, euthanize your computer.

more about "Handless Maiden 7", posted with vodpod

Haven't had time for posting so finally got round to putting up the slideshow for the current process of Handless Maiden 7.
No he tenido tiempo para escribir mi bitácora pero por fin he subido la presentación del proceso (corriente) de La Doncella Manca 7.