Blog

This little digital painting is based on the photo below.

I like the photo, but I thought it might make a good base for some digital play.

I did this all in Photoshop, not going into Painter.  I first painted brighter colors over the flowers and played with various filters.

I then blended the painting into the background.  While I like the look, it’s a bit flat for what I was looking for.

I then punched up the color.

I added more color to the central area.

And added a bit more color to the flower area.

At times I’m asked how I get from idea to a finished work.  This is it.  That is, I start with one idea, in this case a photograph, and I start experimenting.  In the above case, I have other variations.  I then print out some of the versions, dating them and noting the file name.  The prints go into a sketchbook with additional notes. The digital format is put within a folder on my computer, within another folder for designs for that particular month/year.

When I’m looking for ideas for a new project, I tend to flip through my sketchbooks with fresh eyes.  I sometimes add tracing paper and play around with more ideas.  Or, I’ll print out a version larger, add more color, and photograph it to push it farther.  At times some of the file sizes become huge.  I’m working on a design now that was over 4 gigs in size.  When it gets that large, Photoshop or whatever program chokes and gives a message saying it cannot save the file.  Ugh.  Then I need to figure out how I’m going to break it up int a couple files.  Eventually when it comes together, I work out the final size and create a new document with flattened artwork in the size I want to print.  And, that’s how I do it.

I’m thinking about doing some online classes on digital-related stuff.  I’m wondering about if there would be any interest.  It’s one of those things peculating.

I was only able to get a few pictures this evening.  The two I saw flew to an area that I couldn’t climb to.  I was tired anyway and so was happy that this handful was in focus.  I find the black swallowtails particular difficult to photograph as their wings tend to flutter very quickly.

Soon I’m going to be posting some books that will be given away.  Watch for it.

Tonight Rich and I decided to take a little break and head over to Asbury Park for a couple hours.  It’s not a long drive from here, and it’s a wonder we don’t get over more.  I suspect it’s because we went there so much years ago.  Oh the stories I have!

The Stone Pony which was made famous by Bruce, among others.  More stories.

It’s after 10 p.m., but there are still many people on the boardwalk.

The famed Madam Marie.  The original has since retired. My Madam Marie story: in short, when I was a teenager I went to get a reading.  She puzzled over what my occupation would be and then said she didn’t believe it was invented yet.  What?  I told her I was going to be a photographer.  She said, you like it, but no.  No?  She pronounced it wasn’t yet invented.  That was her story and she was sticking to it.  Every time we went down the shore, I remembered and it bugged me.  What the heck could she be talking about. But, funny enough, many years I did get involved with the Web and that certainly wasn’t around when I was a teenager.  Spooky.

The Convention Center and some serious moonlight.  I’ve seen concerts here when pieces of the roof started falling into the audience.  Now it’s all renovated.

Archways … must photograph archways.

Another angle of … archways.

I was so taken by this man sitting in solitude looking off into the horizon.  The photo doesn’t begin to capture how peaceful it was .  It was a good couple hours.

Among my friends, I am the Photoshop go-to person.  I’ve been using the program for a very long time and feel extremely fortunate that I can generally get design work done using the program without thinking about what tools I need to use to get that work done.  Even so, learning the program was a long time in the making, and the learning never ends. In fact, I will never, ever fully understand that program because it’s an ever-evolving bottomless pit of possibilities which I feel compelled to at least try to understand or otherwise become antiquated in a nano-second.

In that effort to stay on top of the changes, I was a beta tester for Photoshop CS5 (yes, it is now permissible to say so).  It has some impressive new features that I’m still experimenting with (did I mention the learning is never ending?).  One of the best instructors I’ve had in helping me learn is Deke McClelland.  While I’ve taken various classes with him over the past decade through Photoshop World, I was also aware of him years prior because he wrote a book on Canvas, one of the first programs I used to design with.  In other words, that boy has been around for a long time, and his knowledge and ability to share his knowledge in written form and through the classroom has helped me tremendously over the years.

Many people email me asking for Photoshop book recommendations, and there are several I like.  However, Deke’s one-on-one series is particularly good, especially for those needing a good foundation on which to quickly build on.  It’s why I’m happy to share that  his one-on-one series has a new title: Adobe Photoshop CS5 one-on-one published by Deke Press/O’Reilly.  If you haven’t read an earlier Photoshop book in this series, this is an excellent one to start with.  Not for the faint of heart, this is a heavy book, both in physical weight and depth of information. It is  full color printed on 460 glossy pages.  It is not inexpensive, retailing at $49.99 – and that’s without a DVD ($32 on Amazon, click the book link).  But if you’ve been toying with the idea of taking a Photoshop class, or if you upgraded to CS5 are feeling a bit overwhelmed, this book is worth every penny and then some.  If you take the time to sit down and go through it chapter by chapter, set up as lesson by lesson, you can learn a great deal from an incredibly knowledgeable teacher (plus you can develop your biceps with it).  With the book, you also have online access to images and videos to accompany each chapter.

I love when people buy my book and tell me how much it has helped them.  But if you have that book (hint, hint) and want to go beyond the basics of Photoshop, consider this book.  And if you’re about to write me asking for a Photoshop book recommendation, here it is.

Yesterday I managed to get out for a short while to one of my favorite nearby parks in search of butterflies to photograph.

In only minutes I spotted a swallowtail, and Immediately I photographed it.

After taking just a few photos, it flew off.  I waited around as swallowtails tend to return to the same general area several times before taking off entirely.  But it did not return. As I looked at the butterfly bush, I saw something fuzzy.

When I got closer, I realized it was a frightened looking baby bird!

After taking a couple photos, I left it alone hoping that its mama would find him.  I was glad to see the little guy fly off.  I walked around a bit more, but I couldn’t find any more butterflies to photograph.

Instead I photographed some flowers.

I like the lighting in this one.

This afternoon I went out for an hour to another place in the area that has some large gardens.  I had a bit more luck for a short while.While there were no swallowtails, there were some monarchs.

Yes, I know some of them are same old, same old, but it was fun and I am glad to get a few more photos today than yesterday.  I’ll probably go out again during the week as I’m determined to get more swallowtails in good lighting.

Anyway … I have a some good, new books that I want to talk about in the coming days, and I’m going to have some give-aways. But, more importantly, I need to return to making art.  I’ve been sidetracked with huge clean-outs, dyeing watercolor paper and digitally printing some for journals, and too much playing with my ipad.  While I was beating myself up for not bothering to enter anything into the Schweinfurth show and not having anything ready to enter into Quilt National, I decided to stop stressing over it.  I’ve had some good accomplishments over the years, and I can enjoy knowing that I finally have something in this year’s Visions show.  Plus I’ll be visiting San Jose to see the International Techstyle Art Biennial at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles and the Zer01  Festival.  Here’s where you can find more info on the ITAB show, where I have a piece being exhibited, and Zer01.  Otherwise, I’m going to finish my tech column for The Prof Quilter and finish an article that I’m writing for The Quilt Life.  Then I’m going to *try to relax and enjoy my “wet” work area where I now have a new sink and my “dry” work area which is now newly cleaned-out and better organized than it ever has been.  Now to finish that column!

Lately it seems I cannot get myself focused on doing any of my work personal artwork. I’m getting the business work done, but not my own work.  I always get crabby and punchy when that happens, and I am currently quite a bit of both.  It seems I can’t even get a blog post up.  The deadline for Quilt National is looming, and it’s becoming very clear that I will not have anything finished to enter.  I’m trying not to beat myself up over it, yet I find myself beating myself up over it.  Dumb, I know.  Focus, focus.  What happened to my focus?

The only personal thing I’ve managed to do in the past 10 days was take some butterfly pictures.  Generally by this time of year I have hundreds that I like.  Not this year.  I’ve just a hand full.  Here is the most recent handful:

This was one of those rare times that while focusing on one butterfly another came fluttering along and for a brief moment landed.  Amazing I actually got this shot in focus before it quickly took off.

Yes, I know, after a while they all start to look the same.  Sometimes I find myself more intrigued with how the backgrounds look.

The Little Guide To Beating Procrastination, Perfectionism and Blocks

While I know many people are very successful using a productivity coach, I am not one of them.  Rather, I’m a list maker, journal keeper, and goal setter.  Except sometimes, like lately, I find myself unable to focus on my personal artwork.  I get behind.  I’m in a slump.  I am trying to find the gas pedal yet stuck in neutral.  Generally when this happens, I start trolling the web hoping to stumble on something that might help me to regain my focus and kick myself into gear.

You know how it goes – you get to one site, that site has a link that you go off to, then another and another.  It’s a fine line between me wasting too much time bouncing from one site to another and finding just what I’m looking for. And find it I did.

A few days ago I made my way to a site by Hillary Rettig, a productivity coach.  Normally I’d immediately click right off such a site; however one of her free ebooks caught my eye:  “The Little Guide to Beating Procrastination, Perfectionism, and Blocks.” While I half expected it to be of little use (oh ye of little faith), I downloaded the 87-page ebook anyway.  I started buzzing down the pages, one after the next of examples of various things that knock one of their path. Immediately I thought, boring. Not for me. Then a line caught my attention: “The Opposite of Negativity is NOT Delusional Positiveness.” I slowed down. Maybe there could be something useful.

As I went through the pages, another thing caught my eye.  Something I absolutely believed in ever since I watched my business partner when we first started out business some 9 years ago — that is, showing up and doing the work.  Even though we had only a couple clients, he’d show up early morning to the small office he had and sit there working until the end of the day. He would work on writing a new program or script, read something related to work, or come up with ways to attract business.  He did it every day (still does), and it was what convinced me that our little venture may actually work.

So there it was, that very ethic in the ebook, the habits of productive work …

1. Showing up to work exactly when you are supposed to.
2. Instantly starting the work you are supposed to be doing.
3. Staying focused on the work for twenty minutes or more.

Then I read, “Most people … can train themselves to work in a focused manner for at least twenty minutes before having to get up and take a
break.”  Another reminder.

In 2008 (time flies) I wrote about using an egg timer to start work that I was very reluctant to do.  You can find that post here.  I now use the timer on my iphone rather than the widgets I wrote  about and instead of 45 minutes I often set it to 20.  Twenty allows me to set two small goals in one hour and use the other 20 minutes for making tea, stretching, letting Buddy in and out, and not making myself too crazy. Yet lately I find myself getting away from that habit and making excuses as to why I don’t have much time for my personal artwork (although to anyone saying that to me I’d reply, “That’s crap, make the time.”)

So there it was in black and white, the splash of cold water reminder:  show up, set the timer, focus, work.

While I’m still not into the idea of a productivity coach, I certainly appreciated this one. If you find yourself needing a bit of a kick, give it a read; and if you are a person who is interested in a productivity coach, I suspect she may be a good one.

Over the weekend, Rich saw a little blurb in the newspaper that the “Environmental Education Center at the NJ Audubon Society” was presenting a talk on butterflies. Huh? He kept reading and announced that it was in Plainsboro. We’ve lived in this area for a long time, and neither of us had any idea that place existed.  And, it’s not even 7 miles from where we live!  We didn’t get there until about 4:45, and the talk concluded at 5, so we missed it.  Even so, I was hungry to photograph some butterflies. Initially I saw one that was fluttering about a plant on the path to the Center, and I immediately started taking pictures.

After only snapping off some 6 shots, the butterfly flew away.  We then went into the Center.  Nice place.  A person working there told me they had “zillions” of swallowtails and monarchs in the back area of the Center.  She also explained that the Reserve was made up of over 1,000 acres and had  over five miles of trails. She told us to stay on the trails and not venture through the trees to get to what we learned was one of the largest lakes in the area. Apparently many people were hurt doing so. Rather, she told us the trail that would eventually get there. We also learned about all of the wildflowers, the rare, and even endangered species of plants.  I was eager to get outside to look for butterflies.  The first thing we did was go behind the Center.  We admired some of the wildflowers, but, darn, there were no butterflies to be found.

After a lot of walking, it was becoming apparent that the few butterfly photos I took earlier would be it.

When we eventually got to  the lake, the lighting was very pretty and produced mirror reflections.

It was extremely peaceful.  We sat at a bench on the lakes edge for some time just admiring it and enjoying the peace (and resting from the walk).  We only passed one other person walking with two children during our entire walk.  I suspect we’ll return again, and hopefully the next time we’ll see more of the “zillion” butterflies.

This is something I’m working on.  It’s not too large, like 17 ” or so on the longest side.   It’s very circular in how it was made – photos I took at various places and then printed on photographic paper which was then photocopied; the photocopies were collaged onto thin fabric with other papers and painted; that piece was then photographed and went back into the computer to create the above which was then printed on cotton sateen.  I also have the same image printed on a very thin Lutrador.  I forget what the stuff is called, it’s being marketed under a particular name that’s not Lutrador.  I bought it at the Festival of Quilts show last year when I was in the UK.  I also have thin metal coated with inkaid and waiting to dry.  I’m planning to print it on metal.  I’ve no idea what I may do with it all, if anything.  It may end up in one of my journals as some experiments.

I’m in a group called Fiber Revolution.  We exhibit at various venues.  One member arranged for and curated a show that went to Botswana last year.  This year it’s happening again.  Last year I missed the show because I didn’t get anything new finished in time for the deadline.  This year, I want to be in the show so I pushed myself to get my butt in gear and make something.  You can see the waterlily picture that I took.  That photo became the basis for the quilt.  After altering it in Photoshop, I then printed a small section onto fabric to color with a variety of pencils, pastels, and crayons.  I also experimented with various stitching.  Once I understood what direction I would be taking, I photographed, altered in Photoshop, and printed that image onto cotton sateen, combining it with some hand painted fabric.

I ended up doing far more quilting on the piece than I originally intended.  I got totally carried away with it, but I found myself in the zen-state of calm enjoyment (luckily the machine was calm, too).

The piece is now completely finished, photographed, and ready to go off to Botswana by the due date.  It’s also off to the copyright office for registration.  It’s called Refracted Lily.  It’s kind of crappy that I find myself registering everything I’m particularly fond of However, it  bugged me so much when past work ended up on mouse pads and coffee cups because someone swiped an image.  While I was able to get the items stopped from further sale, there wasn’t anything else I could do about it.  Sadly, it wasn’t the only incident. I’ve learned my lesson.  I am now far better prepared should something like that happen again.  After I get confirmation of the registration, I’ll post an image of the finished work.

Anyway, this in part is what I’ve been up to in my “spare” time.  Although, I did get out for a few hours today to take a couple butterfly pictures.  More on that soon.

Every year I tend to look for and photograph a lot of butterflies.  I feel a sense of peace while watching them, observing their flight patterns, and ultimately photographing them.  This year I’m behind and only got out recently.  There were only a couple butterflies, but they were perched on a some flowers long enough for me to take several photos.  I’m happy to start getting into the butterfly groove.

I can’t resist playing in Photoshop.  I like this one.

There are a couple small tweaks that I’m making to it, then I plan on
printing the image  both on fabric and paper.  Watch for it.  :)

An update:  I did even more playing in Photoshop with the above design and came up with several variations, including something larger and hopefully more visually interesting.  Stay tuned.  You may see it in the future.

I am so far behind with my blog posts!  My best intentions were to add more images from my trip to the Four Corners, as I’ve some nice images; images from the 4th of July (that’s now long enough over with to nix); add images from a new quilt that I’m now blocking for an exhibit that will be in Botswana; do a short video on a project I hope to have online — that is, some free digital video lessons; and post some butterfly pictures.  Instead, I’m adding a post about the recent surprise party we gave my mom for her 75th birthday.

So, last weekend was mom’s 75th surprise birthday party given by her family.  It was a perfect surprise.  She had absolutely no idea! So, how did I keep the surprise?  By putting the party in plain sight!  The party was Saturday night, but one day over pizza I suggested we have a party for her on Sunday, the 18th, the day of her actual birthday.  At first she seemed disappointed in that I suspect she wanted a surprise party.  Once she warmed to the idea, she took out a piece of paper and started making a list of what we needed to buy!  I had to stop her from buying food for the party, causally saying that my sister and I would take care of it (all while my heart was racing).

She asked if I ordered the cake, and I told her I did.  When she offered to come over to help get her birthday cake on Saturday, I jumped on it.  She actually came with me to pick it up along with other stuff. Little did she know that the party was that day. Rich and I could hardly look at each other for fear that we’d start laughing.

I practically wrote a script for everyone to follow.  When we got home from getting the cake, Rich was to moan he was hungry.  I was to suggest pizza.  He was to moan he didn’t want pizza.  I was to say I wasn’t that hungry.  We were to look at each other, somewhat exasperated.  And, just as I thought, mom took the bait.  She suggested we go to the restaurant in downtown Hightstown where we could split a burger and Rich could get what he wanted.  Bingo.  The party was at that restaurant!  I said, “Okay.  We can go there.”

Everyone knew to park in the back.  As Rich kept mom’s attention, I sent a text to my sister alerting her that we were in the parking lot.   We generally sit outside.  However, Rich knew what to say.  “It’s too hot to sit outside, let’s sit inside.”  Next, when inside we generally sit on the side of the bar so that we can watch the Giants or Yankees.  However, the waitresses were ready.  As we started to walk in that direction, our waitress stopped us.  “We’re cleaning that side, so let me sit you on the other side.”  Everyone was hiding behind a menu.  As we walked over, I somewhat blocked mom.  Then I stepped to her side, the menus dropped, and everyone shouted “Surprise.”

One surprised mama!

Mom’s eyes widened, her mouth dropped open, and nearly fell backwards.  It took her a couple minutes to realize what was going on.  My brother and sister-in-law from California, mom’s last surviving brother and his wife, and two of mom’s nieces and my cousin’s husband were there.  It was great!

Mom and my Uncle Bill, mom's brother.

Mom, her four children, three grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. Dad was there in spirit.

Mom said to me that all she wanted for her birthday was a picture of her family.  With tripod ready, my sister and I took plenty of photos. Between both of us, mom has a lot of photos from the party at the restaurant and the cake party at mom’s house.  I printed one of the group pictures, framed it, and took it over on Sunday, her actual birthday.

Mom’s present was an iPad.  Unfortunately, all of the Apple stores in this area were out of stock.  Although I pleaded with the Apple rep when ordered it on the 5th, it wasn’t shipped until the 20th (yes, she has it now and is in love with it).  I got her a book which was signed with everyone’s name.  I wrapped it with a puzzle book on top.  After she looked at the puzzle book, she assumed the next book was another puzzle book.  We all watched and waited for her to realize what her present was.  She looked at me.  “A ipod?”  No.  “It doesn’t say ipod.”  She looked at it again, then looked up.  “An iPad?  You got me an iPad?”  Yes!  A great gift, if I do say so myself!!  It was a very happy birthday for mom!

"It's Time" - © Gloria Hansen 2010 - 57" x 40"

Several people have asked me what the piece looks like that was accepted into Visions: No Boundaries. This is it.  The piece works in my obsession with time and has other layers of personal meaning.  The title has additional meaning because I have tried to get into Visions for years and years and have been rejected every time.  It still amazes me that I finally made something that caught the eye of this show’s  selection of jurors.   The piece is a digital collage of a variety of images I’ve taken over a couple years that include various ruins, arches, clocks, and strange little things like a pile of books and a swan.  It has an overlay of digital geometric pattern.  The piece was printed on silk using pigment inkjet ink and further colored with Caran d’Ache Neocolor II painting crayons and textile paint.

I was honored to have a quilt included in the premier issue of The Quilt Life earlier this year (in an article about digital imagery on fabric).  The magazine is a new publication from the American Quilter’s Society that comes from Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson and is somewhat in the style of Mark Lipinski’s Quilter’s Home, which sadly ended late 2009. In the current issue (August 2010), I have a three page article called, “Friending and Tweeting, a Beginners Guide to Facebook and Twitter.”  I have something coming in a future issue, too.

Back to some photos from our early June vacation.  These are from Monument Valley, Utah.

We finally made it!

We stayed at “The View Hotel,” which is the only hotel actually in Monument Valley.

Each room has a balcony that overlooks the Valley, hence the name “The View.”

Immediately Rich was on that balcony!

This is part of the view.

And from another direction.

This is a look down on the front lobby of the hotel.

There’s an excellent gift shop within the hotel.  When I saw the Hopi Kachina dolls in the window, I immediately photographed them in silhouette.

Another view of the Valley from the hotel.

This one is sort of funny in that we asked someone to take our picture.  The point was to get some background in, too!

There were many western movies shot in Monument Valley.  Each evening the hotel played a movie, projecting it onto the outside wall where people gathered outside, under the stars, to watch.  We could see and hear it (just at the right volume) from our balcony.  That evening it was Fort Apache.

The next morning, many people with camera and equipment gathered to take pictures of the sunrise.  I was right there with them!  These are some of my favorites from a couple mornings.

The road snaking through the Valley is what we traveled the next day.

Several of these images I quite like, and I’m hoping to incorporate some into future artwork.

"Circles Collide" - © Gloria Hansen 2010

I am very honored that my piece, Circles Collide, will be a part of the ITAB exhibition.  The piece is based on a digital painting and the image was printed on silk fabric using archival pigment ink.  It was further enhanced with fabric pastel.

From the press release:

SAN JOSE, Calif., June 22, 2010 – The first International TECHstyle Art Biennial (ITAB) exhibition, a new signature event for the Museum of Quilts & Textiles, opens August 17 and is on view through October 31, 2010. The opening reception, free with admission, is Sunday, August 22, 2:00-4:00pm.

ITAB is a juried exhibition of work by artists mining the expressive potential of combining fiber media with new information and communication technologies in their artistic processes, in the content of their work and as a mean of artistic expression. Leveraging its location in Silicon Valley, ITAB serves as the premiere platform for introducing the emerging work of artists exploring the intersection of fiber art and technology to the global community that assembles—virtually and in the real-world — on the occasion of the San Jose’s biennial ZER01 exhibition, the 2010 01 SJ Biennial, which runs from September 16-19, 2010.

The ITAB 2010 exhibition includes 41 works by 28 artists from six countries— including Canada, China, Germany, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These artists responded to this signature event in a variety of ways using technology in their content and subject matter or as the means for creating the work. The resulting exhibition explores the variety of ways that artists use technology such as jacquard weaving, digital printing and video to express their ideas.

For more information, visit the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles website.