My Dear Friend Donna

This morning I received the sad news that my dear friend Donna passed away. She has been battling brain tumors for the last 5 1/2 years. The doctors diagnosed her on Valentine's Day 2005 and gave her 6 weeks to 6 months to live, outlived their diagnosis and made it into the medical journals. Needless to say she struggled thru the surgery to remove it, endured the chemo treatments over most of these years, and she never really complained or whined. She was strong, funny, witty, she loved her children and family, and we were friends. She was always there for me during the turmoils of my life. She took care of my youngest son for years to help me out when I needed child care, and her children and mine were friends. She got me into painting again and we had a wonderful time together at Point Reyes for a weekend long painting class at the ocean. I'm so glad we got to do that together.

I'm glad she is not suffering any more and that she was able to go peacefully to her Maker. I know she is in a better place where there is no pain. I love you Donna.

B & W Christmas

I've hardly posted this month. I've been wrapped up (no pun intended) in Christmas happenings. The one big 'trip' that happened was my first experience in a light air craft! My husband's son-in-law was going to make his cross country flight as part of his training, to Weed, California, to pick up their new puppy they were getting for the family. So he invited me to come along so I could take pictures as I had previously requested a 'ride' for my birthday. He thought I could take photos flying up to Weed, and then puppy-sit on the ride home. It was a great experience and for me wasn't any different than a ride in a Southwest plane, except for the fact there were quite a few drafts going on and if you didn't wear the earphones you couldn't hear anything. Oh, and no one served you any food or drinks! Hah! As it ended up, the whole flight up to northern California was absolute clear, blue skies, however, Weed was socked in with fog, so we ended up landing in Dunsmuir. The puppy was delivered by the breeders with no problem and we were up in the air again.

It's such a different perspective from way up there in the wild, blue yonder - it's just a small glimpse of Heaven, and oh so beautiful. The puppy did great and slept on my lap under the blanket and was no problem at all. We made it home for the big surprise for the grand kids. Here's a sweet view of a mountain range and a close up of Mt. Shasta. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

High Hand Gallery

So I'm done with my everlasting birthday, as my husband puts it, and Thanksgiving is over and the bird whittled down to bits and pieces for soup making, and NOW I am moving on again with my artwork.

I am now showing my art in the High Hand Gallery located in Loomis. I took all my works: framed pieces, matted photos, cards and card gift sets, magnets, a pillow and coaster gift sets. Today I start working in the gallery as it is a co-op. So today from 12 to 4:30 p.m. and again next week on Wednesday from 10 - 2:00 p.m. Both of these days will be my training. Yesterday I met with the founder and chair person, the curator, and the calendar keeper of the gallery. They are all personable people and I am looking forward to being part of their community.

Several years back when High Hand was in the early stages of the nursery, I had permission from the owner to come and take photos early in the morning. The building and grounds of the nursery were the original Loomis Fruit Packing facility. If you go the 'galleries' on my website you can view the photos and read the history. I'm posting one of the photos here for you to view.

All said and done - 'wish me luck'!!

Morro Bay

I've returned from a week's vacation in Morro Bay with my sisters Pat and Carole. We rented a great home on the hill facing the ocean and Morro Bay rock! We, well mostly me, could see the early morning sunsets (my sisters didn't get up as early as I did), as well as the sunsets. It was beautiful...one day after another glorious day of sunshine! Day after day after day......jealous?? ; ) It was a great location to be because all you had to do was to drive 10 miles north or south or east and you were in another town with all new sights. There were miles of vineyards and wineries, wine tasting, and the vine colors were going crazy! Reds, burgundies, dark greens, light greens, and oranges - it pretty much drove me crazy it was so beautiful.

We actually got a private tour of the Eagle Castle Winery as one of the owners was a childhood friend. We saw the winery in Paso Robles and then we remembered he lived in Morro Bay. So my sister called him up and he offered us the tour!! How lucky can we get? If you're ever in Paso Robles you will definitely have to stop by the wineries - that's what it's all about. The town is very quaint too with loads of places to eat. The shops were a little pricey, but still worth the stop.

My sister Pat got us tickets for the Hearst Castle night tour. We've been to several of the other day tours, however, the night tour gives you a different view, as all the lights are on, the outdoor pool is lighted, and the staff dress up in period costumes. It was a great trip.

The last night we were in Morro Bay was the best sunset as there were finally some clouds in the sky that night, and a lot of folks were out to see the sunset.

Win some - Win some

Remember about a month ago I was turned down from High Hand Gallery? Well, yesterday late afternoon I receive a call from them saying their 'photographer' left and now they were calling to see if I was still interested in showing my works with them. I played really hard to get and immediately said, 'yes'! Someone will be getting in touch with me soon - someone from the welcome wagon! ;)

So, now I need to figure out what I will submit, although it will probably be Bodie B&W's that are already framed, although I might even put together some of the ones I took of High Hand that I have displayed on my website. You can go check them out. The website gallery is called "Historic Loomis Fruit Growers". I'm posting one of those pics here today!

Acrylic Class

I know this blog is about photography - but in the midst of all things photography - I have other interests that crossover into each other. So Monday I took my first acrylic painting class here in Auburn. I'll do this 2 times a month for now. I chose this teacher because I liked her style. She personally does body figure paintings: big, bold, bright colors, smooth strokes - and the result is 'wild'! I love it. I wanted to learn how to use the bigger brushes, so as not to get so involved with my paintings, unlike my photography. The class is an hour and a half - and it sure goes fast. So I'd like to think I'll be painting in 'stages' since I only have the hour and an half, twice a month.

This afternoon I spoke again with the owner of the Blue Moon Gallery regarding the photos for the show in February. I'll still be able to use the ones I wanted to and I'll throw in a couple of France photos. Now I need to select at least four jpg's to send her for the card mailing. I also will submit a diptych (two prints comprising one theme).

Mediterranean Pigeons

So I mentioned that I had alot of inventory that I've never done anything with. I selected a color photo that I took in St. Maxime, France, along the mediterranean. My sister Pat and I were wandering around the little village and there were two pigeons sitting on a window sill. Well, I painted it in acrylics this week. It came out pretty cool, but I'll let you decide.

Also, I will be in a group show of photographers in February 2011 at the Blue Moon Gallery. So I've been spending time selecting photos for that show. I will submit most likely all black and whites. And I'm hoping to print them in the darkroom and maybe have a couple of giclee prints. We are left to our own selection of what to submit, so I'm thinking it would be a good time to select some of my own favorites that haven't been shown.

I'm also thinking since this year has been so slow that I thinking really hard on having an Open House. People can come view my studio, have refreshments, and possibly purchase some art for holiday gifts! That's the ticket!

Busy in the Darkroom

Yesterday afternoon was quite fun developing black and white. Because the majority of the time I expose my 400 TMAX film at the same shutter speed setting makes it fairly easy to come up with the same developing settings in the darkroom. Needless to say I was on a roll printing out some of my past favorites that I've never done anything with. Before I had my own darkroom, I had another lab develop the film for me, and then scan the film and put the images on a CD. I can appreciate the work that went into that process. At first I thought $10 was rip off, but I take that all back!

I have probably enough processed film to last me the rest of my life - in other words I wouldn't have to go out again. But we know that won't happen. I have so much that it would take months to go thru - some that I thought were never that good
but when in reality they were bad scans (since I was looking at the finished product and not the negatives). So, I was going thru alot of my old stuff yesterday. There was one that a gallery owner wanted me to do, but I could never get a good print from a scan someone else did. Although if I remember correctly I did my own scan and tried again, but maybe I was having an 'off' day, because it came out superb!

I also spent some time creating my own processing times for the fiberbase paper. I'll be using Ilford Multi-grade IV fiber paper. I've only been developing 8x10s on RC paper for now. But I think I have that down now - I didn't want to waste my fiber paper! Moving up to an 11x14 will be fun!

Barstow in Black and White

We put about 1,000 miles on the car last weekend. Big event in Barstow: our 45th high school reunion. We really lucked out with the weather being in the low to mid 70s. Thank goodness! It was a great weekend visiting with ol' school friends. I think my husband and his siblings hit the jackpot with alot of their friends from Yermo showing up. I'm from Newberry (now called Newberry Springs), and no one ever shows up from there except the Bowdridges and Atilanos (the latter being me).

We all met at the Idle Spurs on Friday nite for dinner (for some of us), then cocktails and hors d'oerves. We even danced later - and I'm still recovering from foot surgery. My sisters were there and it was just alot of fun. Saturday was a tour of the Santa Fe RR station, where my Dad worked as well as alot of high school friends including my husband; then visited the Route 66 Museum as well as the Santa Fe Museum. Had lunch at the high school gym hosted by Del Taco. Barstow was the home of the original Del Taco in case you weren't aware of that one! Then Saturday nite was the big event for dinner and more visiting and picture taking. Five more years and the big 50th. I think I can wait for that one!

This picture I'm posting are the letters that spell out B-A-R-S-T-O-W. They were under a table in the museum, hence the title, "Barstow under the table...".

Morning in the Darkroom

Yesterday morning I went thru my recently developed negatives and noted the ones I felt would be worthy of printing. There were several that I found to be of interest. I started with a picture of a grove of young oak trees on the side of a hill that was taken in the early to mid-morning on a drive on Rattlesnake Bar Road in 2005. That was when I first got together with my husband-to-be at the time, and since he was into photography too, we took many of these types of day drives.

Because I have new equipment that I'm not familiar with, I took it slow and easy but steady, in determining the exposure time for this particular picture. It's always a good idea to keep a log of the timing and f-stops for each negative, so as not to have to recreate again in the future. It's just common sense to save oneself some precious time!

I did have one bit of a slow down. One of my timers went out on me, but luckily had an 'antique' version of the GraLab timer that a friend of mine had given me - and it works! So I will use the antique for the time being. I'd love to break down and get one of those fancier modern timers for the dry side of the darkroom - soon though.

After a couple of tries, I was able to print out a pretty good version on RC paper. I'm still practicing, but will switch over to fiberbase when I get the whole print processing down pat! Needless to say, I had fun and I felt like I was accomplishing something very important!

Win some - Lose some!

But it's all for a good reason too! No I did not get juried in to the latest gallery. Apparently they do have two other photographers and in regards to the pillows, they already have someone who is doing fabric art! And that's okay with me too, as I wasn't really crazy about making more pillows with my photography on them. It's alot of work too.

However, yesterday I sat down and started painting from a photo that my Granddaughter photoshopped of herself. I needed to get the painting out of my system. It is actually almost finished - I still have to finish with the highlites in her hair. I guess there's no crime in how 'fast' one completes a painting. But my husband's words are always brewing in the back of my mind, "...I wonder what you could do if you slowed down!?" One of these days maybe I will.

Next week I plan on putting myself on a schedule of spending at least half a day in the darkroom perfecting fiber based gelatin silver prints! (This term is interchangeable with silver gelatin.) By the way, for new photographers, if you've wondered what process that was, it's actually a fancy way to call black and white prints made in the darkroom. Then you have 'giclee' prints that are high resolution scanned photos (film and digital) that are printed with archival quality inks (8 - 12 color inkjet printers).

That's the lesson for the day!

Alone In the Darkroom

I must be losing it!! I spent the morning in the darkroom thinking I was developing two rolls of film - one from San Diego and the other of the family portraits - and both contained zippity doo dah, with the exception of two pictures. Apparently the shutter on this particular camera I was using (Minolta SRT 101) stopped working!! I thought I was hearing a different sound when I was taking the pictures, but blew it off, thinking I just didn't remember that sound. Yeah, right! So as a result of this moronic episode, I went thru all my film cameras to check them out making sure they were in good working condition, namely working shutters, as I do have four other film cameras to work with that are 20+ years old. I still plan on purchasing a new digital slr camera to use - just not today.

In the meantime, I also am getting geared up to submit my work to another local co-op gallery. The work is juried for starters. There's alot for me to do if I'm going to meet their deadline for this month, which is this Thursday!

Wellspring Annual Fundraising Auction

My friend Janie sent me information regarding the Wellspring Women's Center Organization's 'call to artists'. The organization provides support services in the Sacramento area to single mothers, without the help of government money. Now there's a mission! The submission was last Friday, but apparently I'm getting in under the wire. I will be donating "Cypress in the Mist" from my Point Lobos Series of 2009, which I have posted the photo above.

If you are interested in attending, the auction and dinner is scheduled for Thursday evening, September 30th. The flyer does say that the event was sold out, but you can contact Yolanda by email at: yolanda.wellspring@comcast.net. If you are unable to attend, you can also make donations!

Jurying Photography

I received a call about a month ago asking me to jury a photography show in Folsom. As I am saying "yes", I'm thinking, "...I can do this. I've got the background and it's all about offering support to newcomers in the field."

Tuesday was the day. I was all prepared. I'd done my homework and developed a guideline worksheet that comprised the following categories: composition, background, technical work, craftsmanship, and my 'personal feelings'. It was the second version. The first version was too complicated I decided. I was trying to cover all the bases in 'digital' photography as all the entries were digital. The evaluation sheet was more for ME than the ARTISTS. There were some very good entries, and then there were definitely the newbie entries, and I hope I offered them some good advice. I've been asked many times if I gave classes. And I don't. I'm self-taught, and that's more than half the journey. Go experience it yourself. One can collaborate with other photographers as I did. It's good to get a critique from someone else now and then, and at the same time, critiquing is often too close to personal preferences by individuals.

I think if I had to come up with one piece of good advice to instill in a newcomer to photography, it would have to be COMPOSITION. If you can get that down, the rest will follow. You can learn film and/or digital processes out of a book. I think passion is what lends itself to good composition. So if you have the passion - you'll achieve the composition aspect.

The show is tonite, I wonder how it all goes? ; )

San Diego

My husband and I have returned from his Army Reunion in San Diego last week. It was a great trip - combined reunion / vacation. The weather was glorious: 60 to 70 degree weather! Can't beat that - AND with sunshine. Only one morning did it drizzle a little, but it was kind of like being in Hawaii - didn't bother you at all!

We visited the San Diego Museums - there were several all located in Balboa Park. My fave was the Photography Museum to see Graham Nash's B&W Exhibit of rock bands, as well as other photographer friends of his who captured the same from the 1960s thru early 2000. It was so good I had to buy the bound book of all the photos on exhibit. Took a tour on the trolley car of SD and Coronado island; toured the USS Midway (aircraft carrier); and toured Old Town San Diego as well as Little Italy... well for dinner anyway.

Here are a couple of color shots I took with my small digital. I have a roll of B&W film to develop from the trip as well. The top photo is the inside of a transport helicopter; the second is the walkway surrounding one of the museums; and the last one is the cover over the train railway.

Le Bilig Last Hurrah!

Last weekend the French restaurant where I displayed my France photos, invited us to their last dinner - not at the restaurant, but at their house. We invited Bonnie & Tom to join us and what an adventure. Marc and Monica's home was nestled underneath the valley oaks, and you felt as though you were already in France or Italy. It was amazing. The outside of their home was done in rock and the stucco was painted a Tuscany gold. They allowed us to tour the inside of their home. It was very tastefully done, not over-the-top, but REAL and authentic. Large beams in the ceilings, the dining room was probably 20' long and a huge dining room table made out of very large beams was the main piece of furniture. It was amazing.

The dinner was awesome: Empenadas, it was like a shepherd's pie made of pork with thinly sliced potatoes and carrots, and a green salad. The hors d'oerves consisted of a small bowl of Kalamata olives, green olives, the smallest dill pickes I've ever seen and petite figs quartered, and served with focacia and sour dough breads. Dessert was flan and beignets!! Bon appetit is right!!

And if dinner wasn't enough, the live entertainment was authentic Gypsy Flamenco dancers from Spain. The lead dancer did not speak any English. Three dancers and they all sang to the accompaniment of two male guitar players and one of the men also danced with one of the flamenco dancers. We had never experienced anything like that before and it was just a memorable evening with friends. Enjoy the photos!

Brittany, Paris, Villefranche

Went to the doctor yesterday and got my stitches out - there were only about 6 of them - the rest being tape keeping the 'gaps' together! ;) The pin doesn't come out until the end of August - that one I'm not looking forward to, but all in all she said it looks great. I can start putting pressure on it, which I've been doing and it's wearing me out I must say. I did take a photo of my before foot - so when it's all over, I'll take an after and post it! Won't that be special! Hah!

Next year my husband and I plan on going to Greece among other places in Europe (hence the foot surgery now). But I was contemplating where was my favorite place that I've travelled to and taken photos. I love visiting all new places and know that I'm not done, but I would have to say it was France. France for me was almost like going home. I could see myself living there, and I hated to leave. When my sisters and I travelled over there we were there for 3 weeks and we saw the north western parts of Brittany, Paris City, and the French Riviera. And we experienced the TGV, their train system. Now you know language is all about the pronunciation. We saw the acronym and said, "tee, gee, vee". But if one was to ask a Frenchman, they would look at you like deer in the headlights! Then we realized, drop zee Americain accent and use your French accent! "tay, zhay, vay" and then they responded, "oh, oui, zee tay zhay vay! ; )

Trudging Along

I finished my "sorting" of photos project and can't do much more until I can get out and buy some photo albums - but I have time for that. In the meantime, I found some, what I call, "black mail" photos. I was just having too much fun poking fun at relatives: mostly my nieces and nephews. Then I think Cecile had just about enough and said, "...funny how all YOUR photos that we see are cute"! So, I can play fair and I scrounged up some of my growing up years photos. Man, I was homely. Heck, I didn't grow into these front teeth until I was at least 18. They were the same size at 7 years old! And so, I am sharing one of them with you in case you wanted to see what I looked like "back then"!

I believe I may have mentioned a copyright free photo my friend Rocky shared with me of the San Francisco Cliff House taken in 1889. I did some printing out on various types of photo papers and thought I would share that one here also. All I've got to say about these two photos is, WHAT A COMBO!

Recuperating Photographer

I've finally hobbled out to my studio and have decided I can work on some sit-down projects - like sorting photos. That took a couple of hours with my foot in a drawer and now my back got a little torqued, so I'm on the computer in a comfy chair.

As I'm looking at all the photos which were taken any where from the 1940s all the way thru today, it's interesting to see the progress: black and whites with old scotch tape still stuck in some of the corners and with bends still in them that wil have to be scanned in and touched up; moving on to kodachrome 3x3s, 4x6s, enlargements; and color polaroids. The edges have gone thru some changes too, from the fancy wiggly edges of the 50s with white borders all around, to straight white borders to now where there are no borders. Of course my favorite part is just seeing the natural aging process of our families. How we thought we looked ugly or fat or whatever, and we look at them now in our "surreal" years and think, DAMN, I looked pretty hot! Or, cowabunga, Mama's looking great in her Marilyn Monroe look-alike dress! And then of course, I did find some photos worth scanning and sending them to family with captions like, "Oh, look you had hair!", or "Lyle Lovett's got nothing on you bud!", and "Was that a bus that parted your hairdo?" I sure crack myself up! ; )

Come back after I add some old stuff!

Satisfied Customers

So the family finally got to see the photos and they loved them. Janel and Jason suggested I do more portraiture, but you know, being a casual, no stress, scenic photographer, I find that portraiture and wedding photography are high stress for me and I don't care for it. I'll do it for family and that's about it.

For those who read my blog and who apparently remain anonymous! ; ) my surgery went surprisingly well. My foot is now loaded with titanium screws and I am banished to the downstairs bedroom (the France room). I've discovered I am totally uncoordinated on crutches, my derriere is already destroyed, I'm bored to tears, and thank God for electronics. My husband has been really supportive but I fear he is already frustrated - but maybe not. I haven't taken any drugs yet today....we'll see how that goes. I am attached to a TENS unit which manages pain with electronic pulses. That's cool! I think I would be in a big heck a hurt if I didn't have it, since my foot feels really, really heavy. And my left hip is already feeling the pain from hobbling to the bathroom and back. But it's just a foot surgery and I am going to live, so shut up Soto! As Frankie once said, "I'm alive, I'm alive!"

Family Photoshoot

Today I picked up the proofs - all 170+ - and put them in an album for my daughter-in-law and family. Later I printed out an 8x10 color family pose and it came out rather nicely. It's really hard to get a family of five all looking the same direction when the children are all under the age of 5! Then I changed some of the ones I thought might look good in B&W to give them an idea of what could be done with these. That's the main reason I used the digital because of my short time frame to get this done, so that I could change them easily, even though that's not my gig to do it that way! ; ) If I don't run out of time I may develop the one roll of B&W film - but really, I AM running out of time!

So here's a couple you can see for yourself!

Photo Shoot

Yesterday morning was the photoshoot with my daughter-in-law and her husband and three boys. We have really lucked out with all the great weather - not too hot for summertime! It was a two hour shoot and the setting was really beautiful. I'll have to remember that one for future portraits. Portraiture is not my thing, other than to do it in B&W in a more secluded setting where I can maniupulate the shadows and light. So we took photos under a giant oak tree, along the stream, on the grass, and on the rocks in the middle of the stream. Since I am pressed for time (with two and a half days to surgery) I used my husband's digital so I could immediately go have the pics printed out right away, which I did, and I can give them these as proofs next week. I did take a roll of B&W for some of the shots and will develop these before Wednesday, I hope. But I think these I may use for Christmas gifts if they come out exceptionally good.

However, today I must say I AM sore! Running around back and forth in the park - it can be brutal on an older person! Like they say, "I'm no spring chicken!" Of course, after yesterday morning's photo shoot, I took it upon myself to go out in the yard and plant a couple of plants, pull some weeds, pick veggies, and just play out there since I won't be able to get out of bed for a month. It was beautiful. Later I asked my hubby to make us some "gin rickies" so we could have a drink out in the Japanese Pavillion with our dirty fingers wrapped around a cold one!

Four More Rolls

Last night I did go into the darkroom - my beautiful darkroom at that - and developed four more rolls of film. Once I get in there and start mixing the chemicals and the timers are going and I'm shaking away! - it's so much fun. I get lost in there and really don't want to come out. I can't wish for wanting to have had this luxury of a darkroom 20 - 30 years ago, it's here now and I'm happy for that! Thank you hubby! Tonite I cut the film and sleeved them all.

Earlier today I drove down to Sacramento to buy more chemicals. I'm going to try to get in there and start making prints this weekend, but first I have a family photo shoot and this time because I am pressed for time, I'm using my husband's digital Canon. So after the shoot I can go thru the shots and get them printed out for my daughter-in-law by this weekend. Tonight I went thru the camera and cleaned the lenses and got out the tripod, as well as my trusty Minolta. I will take some pictures with film - I have to! It's just moi!

As an aside, I LOVE music! And today I went into Starbucks and treated myself to a coffee, and as I'm ordering I see a Marc Cohn CD, "Listening Booth: 1970". I loved Marc Cohn's first album, "Walking in Memphis" and haven't really heard anything else since then of his that I liked. But this one is pretty awesome. He sings Paul McCartney, Van Morrison, Cat Stevens and more. You definitely need to go check it out!

Six Days and Counting

This year has been eventful to say the least. Family loved ones passing away, dear friends terminally ill, vacations, and surgery! If you've been a follower of this blog by now you know I suck! I've tried to keep it just about photography, but that is really hard especially if people are expecting something elegantly technical coming out of mouth. It ain't happening. Not now, maybe not ever - who knows?

I know what I need to do and there is so much at times that I can't always just throw myself in the darkroom/studio. I want to, but life gets in the way. And now I'm going to have surgery on my right foot. So I've been getting everything ready: getting a TV set up in the downstairs bedroom, adding a phone, and I need to get some projects lined up and ready, so that when I can't get out of bed and I'm bored, I'll just ask my hubby to bring me the box labelled "X" or "XY". I won't be able to be on my foot for 4 weeks, but when I can I'm going to have my studio set up for painting acrylics with a card table and then I can put my foot up on the futon - hope it works out.

But now I am going to throw myself in the darkroom and hopefully have some luck making some great B&W prints!

Return to Reality

My husband and I just returned from a two week vacation to the east coast: visiting my son and his family and touring Cape Cod. Personally I thought we managed to skip the so-called bad weather - everywhere we went, people were spouting the words: it's so hot here! We didn't think it was that bad - it was just the 'moist-ness' of it all and that really wasn't that bad either.

Driving thru the eastern states of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts was beautiful. I don't want to knock it because it was a great change from the west coast, however, we Californians are so used to to the 'open' spaces where you drive along and actually SEE the area and the landscapes changing. Not so back there. What you SEE is the beautiful greenery of the trees along the extremely clean roadsides mile after mile. It's refreshing at first, but then, it's like, hey, I want to see something! Anything! A house, possibly a lake, or ?? whatever, but you can't.

And the signage - holy moly - not good! First you see a sign telling you the right direction with the posted mileage to get there. Then you come upon a fork in the road and there's no more signage! Very aggravating to say the least. They also have alot of rotaries or if you were in France they would be called 'arrondissemonts'.

However, I did take my trusty 20 lb Minolta and I did shoot some B&W film of Cape Cod scenes in: Hyannis, Plymouth, Nantucket, Newport, and Provincetown (or P-Town)! I only have 2 rolls of B&W, and the rest are color digital photos. Actually the Minolta I used this trip was an SRT 101 Minolta that a good friend of mine gave me. It belonged to his father. It worked very well for a while and then the mirror got locked in the up position. But after a few gentle nudges it came back to the down position! And then I didn't think there would be THAT much difference between a
50mm lens and a 58mm lens - but yes there is more than I imagined. I'm so used to the 50mm capturing a 'whole' scene - I've never used anything close to it. I would usually step up to a zoom lens. I've learned a lesson. Luckily I had a wide angle lens that did the trick.

More later!

Contact Sheets

Fourth of July morning and early afternoon I closed myself off into the dark room and proceeded to pump out the last of six contact sheets for the last rolls of film I developed. That's all done for now. However, next I really do need to practice, practice, practice developing prints now. I've pretty much conquered (1) the chemicals for both the film side and developing side; (2) the timing processes for both; and (3) developing the contact sheets. I will definitely be devoting my time now to developing 'showable' prints.

On another level, I am part of a collaboration of artists to paint 1/3 of a canvas of the Foresthill Bridge. I must have it done before September! Everytime I drive the canyon road I look and study it to hopefully memorize some of it and the hillsides for when I do start painting it. So, that's been eating at me too...why did I say I would do that??? ; )

Back to Developing Film

After a week of family visiting, I was able to finally get back in to the darkroom! I got 3 more rolls of film done yesterday. I'm amazed how some of my older film still develops out so good. I always kept it stored in my office drawer, which was always kept in the middle of the room - not near a window or any other heat source, so that must have really helped.

I will go back and make contact sheets for the rest of the developed film. Then I still have about 6 rolls from my son, who uses all sorts of the film speeds, which means changing times for developing: everything from 3200 to 100!!

I did receive the replacement bulbs for the Beseler and replaced it. Now it's back to darkroom!

My First Good Print!

I've been in the darkroom......figuring out the correct timing on the Beseler enlarger. Started to print.....and the bulb dies on me. So, I go online and order two replacement bulbs to have on hand, which of course won't be here until Friday at best. And I move on to the other enlarger, the Vivitar (good thing I had two!) So basically, I needed to start from scratch as I hadn't used the Vivitar as yet. The guy I bought both enlargers from said he used the Vivitar the majority of the time. And I've only used Beselers.

I have to admit, I had to quit for a few minutes and read up again on the test strip for the print (not to be confused with the test strip for the contact sheet). So I guess there's more than one way to do the test strip. I ended up trying it the way it was described in my 'step-by-step' book, which was to expose the entire strip for 5 seconds; move the card 1/5 of the way and expose for 5 seconds; 10 seconds; 20 seconds; and 40 seconds. That seemed to work out better at f5.6. That only took about two hours with all the practice strips I did and two previous prints. The print I was making was of the Lone Pine in Monterey. Voila!! I have to say it's not perfect and could use some burning in the upper right corner - but this is alot better than my first try.

In the meantime of me washing this print, my dog starts barking outside the darkroom and is chasing this 2" black bumble bee in the studio! She's chasing it and I'm screaming and getting the chills every time it flies past me. So I had to run upstairs and grab a fly swatter, and of course Chica is following me, and we both run back downstairs and I manage to swat the thing and kill it. It's always something, as Gilda Radner used to say! Makes even the little things in life exciting!

Photo of Moi in the Darkroom!

Okay so I said I would post a photo. Finally got around to loading up a bunch of photos for different people including this blog!

Also drove down to Sacramento and bought more chemicals, ink for both printers, and some Epson Velvet Fine Art Paper, as well as 11x14 fiber based. That always takes a good four hours out of my day.

Tomorrow I'm going back into the darkroom! I've got lots more film to develop. I found some really great shots of the Lone Pine in Carmel and also looks like some good ones from Hearst Castle - specifically of the indoor swimming pool. And that's only the beginning.

In the Darkroom!!

What a great day for moi! I've been in the studio and darkroom all day. And now I've got to quit and make some dinner.

Getting everything set up takes a lot of time and patience - working out your own process times and procedures. I'm a visual person (no pun intended) and I need to write my stuff down! I developed four more rolls of film and then got set up on the dry side to do test prints. Figured out my developing time for the contact prints, of which I finished two of those. I could be in that room 24/7. My husband was in the studio here also drawing up a plan all day too. He was happy to see me working in the darkroom. I think he was as excited as much as I was. He had to take some pictures of me coming out of the darkroom and showing him my "results"!

I'll post one later! ; )

Swapping out Photos

After almost two weeks of company and my husband returning from his fishing trip, I'm out in my studio!

Today will be a traveling day as it's time for me to swap out photos from the Blue Moon Gallery with new work. So to make it easy I will be removing two of my new Bodie works from the Kerry Terese Salon and Gallery and replacing them at the Blue Moon and vice versa! That's easy enough.

And then I can get back into the darkroom and develop more film and actually start on some prints! I am so behind.

Beseler 67s Enlarger

I delved into the Beseler enlarger a little more deeply as I am writing out my 'process' for the printing portion of the whole darkroom process. This Beseler enlarger did not come with a manual. I purchased one from Canada and it is still not the exact manual, as it covers the 67SC/67SD. And this supposed manual does not tell you really how to operate it during the actual process - you are supposed to know everything about it so it seems. And of course the enlargers I've used in classes were not this particular model either. After reading up on the enlarger process in several books I have, I ended up calling Freestyle in southern California as they have a 800 number.

I was able to find out some of the issues I had like there is no white lite switch (though the manual refers to one); however it is turned off when I plug the enlarger into the timer! Easy enough! And there is no contrast filter as this is a dichroic color enlarger and the contrast for B&W is done with the magenta filter! So now I know how to take care of those issues. I think I found out on my own thru the Beseler website that the silver little handle is actually a 'tap screw', but I still don't know its' purpose or function. So if anyone knows, let me know!

More Film Developing

Yesterday late afternoon, after running around with errands all day, I went into the darkroom and developed two more rolls of film. They were both another two rolls from two years ago: scenes of Cool at sunset amongst the oaks, Hearst Castle when I went with my sisters, as well as our trip to Pismo Beach, Shell Beach, and Solvang! What a combo, eh?

It is just too much fun in the darkroom for me. I have 6 more rolls of my own to develop. I called my son to have him bring me up all of his - and I know he's probably got alot!

I think either tonite or tomorrow I'll start developing some prints. I will have to check my chemicals but I think I'm fixed for that. One of these days I'd like to stay in the darkroom developing prints all day! No interruptions. But when you have an indoor dog, it's just not possible if you're all alone.

I definitely have to write my friend and fellow photographer Dave and let him know how my photography is going and to thank him for his input. He's been my inspiration from time-to-time over the last nine years. It's good to have a friend like that even though we've never met in person.

Photography Fan

Once in a while, a true lover of photography will take that extra step and tell me that they love "my eye" for capturing life. This happened to me out of the blue over the weekend. I wasn't home as I was downtown Sacramento picking up my framed works from the Doiron Gallery which closed it's doors on May 15th.

It turned out that this gentleman was an Oregonian passing through Auburn and he had stopped in to the Dessert Place and saw my Bodie Ghost Town Series. He said he proceeded to tell me he thought I definitely had the 'eye'!! He too was a photographer and I have to say that photographers aren't really fans of other photographers. Oh yeah, they might have their photography predecessor heroes long passed on that they yearn to emulate, but we don't buy other photographers works...unless they are absolutely fantabulous! I've done that only once so far. So thank you Mister Oregonian for building me up, making my day, providing encouragement to carry on knowing someone out there truly appreciates my art works!

Eureka!

I've been sick for the last couple of days....living in my PJs. So I haven't written anything. I had done all of my film developing homework previous to my getting sick with the same cold my husband has had this last week. So today after laying around until 4:30 p.m., I went in the darkroom and decided this was it - sick or not! In my PJs I might add - so much for the apron! So, I just developed my first two rolls, which were probably from two years ago. I can't believe they came out - no streaks or bubble marks or chemical issues. Just plain ol' 'normal developed' negatives. How fun was that! I ran out and told my husband to come see - I was so excited. He comes in and wants to take a picture -- not today dear!

I have to say though that it did take me almost a half hour to load two rolls of film on the reels. But finally I mastered that, at least I was hoping.

Also, I might have a small iota of a 'light' issue from the door. Maybe it's nothing, but when I go to develop the prints it could be an issue. I need to figure that one out, but for now, I'm developing the film. I've got 8 more rolls to go. I should call my son and have him bring me his rolls he's got laying around his house.

Black and White Chemicals

Yesterday I drove down to Sacramento and finally purchased the chemicals needed to start developing my film! It was I have to say very exciting for me. The gentleman at Filco who sold me the products is also a teacher of photography at one of the local community colleges! How lucky can I get? I proceeded to buy the chemicals and also a package of multigrade ilford galleries fiber paper. First I'm going to start out using Ilfords RC paper, then progress to the fiber.

Today I continued to do some studying of the chemicals and figuring out the ratios - with a magnifying glass, I might add, as the fine print was made for flying insects! It took all morning and then I started mixing some of the chemicals, but not all. One of the big issues was Kodak's Photo-Flo. It says, '...mix 1 part to 200 parts'! Hah! Try to figure that one out. So I go online searching for someone who has already done this and find the "recipe" real quick! Well, I'm not the only one out there who had a hard time figuring it out. There are chatrooms on this subject. Finally, after reading everyone's opinion on this subject, I found the answer that I am going to try which is: 2-3 drops per 1 1/2 liters. And this answer was not on Kodak's webpage, but rather on some kind of a health website! I'll let you know how that churns out!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Today is memorable for me because it's the first Mother's Day without my Mom. I'm not sad because I have so many wonderful memories of my Mom and all the great times we shared together. I feel so much of her is in me as a woman and a mother. I see her smile when I think of her and her wonderful laughter. Thank you for teaching us to be strong women, Mama, and to know that raising our families is what life is all about. No matter what happens in our children's lives, we will always love our own. My sons Lee and Mitch are wonderful "men" and very loving and giving. When people say if you could do it all over again I always say I would never change a thing. I have been truly blessed as a mother and accept my responsibilities in that respect.

So to all my sisters and girlfriends and relatives I wish you a wonderful Mother's Day and pray that your lives are blessed too!

Mission Accomplished!

What a day! Or as my Mom used to say, "holy schmokers!" Thank goodness my husband Ron helped me out - I never would have gotten those photos hung by myself. There was a big wall - a tall and huge big wall. As it was we weren't able to get up to the very top and a space is still available up there I'm thinking, since the owner said, "Will you be coming back with more photos to fill up the space?" Well, not this week! I told him I did have more and would bring some back for the top and with a taller ladder. It took a good long hour, whereas it would have taken me all day to do it by myself. Me no like getting on the ladder that high! However, we made a good team and got them hung which again, includes New York City, San Francisco, Sacramento, and France! A couple of the customers commented on how much nicer it looked from what was up there before, which were large acrylic paintings, as one patron stated, "...at least it doesn't look like high school work anymore!" Well, thank you very much!

False Start

Well, as I'm heading down the hill to Sacramento this morning (it's 45 miles to where I was going), I called the owner of the cafe I am heading to in order to drop off my photos, and apparently there was a misunderstanding as to "who" was going to hang the photos. It's ME! And I was not prepared at all: no ladder, no hammer, no nails. So I told him I would come back with my husband and one of his ladders! We are planning on going down Thursday to get the job done.

Tomorrow I'm headed off to Stockton with my Aunt Carole to meet one of her classmates with who I have been corresponding. We're meeting at an Italian restaurant that is apparently very picturesque. So I will definitely take my B&W film camera (Minolta) and hopefully click off some great shots!

I was also saddened today to learn of a good friend and previous boss that I had at the county who passed away today. I'm posting a photo of the two of us in memory of him (as you can see it's definitely 80's). Dee was a great man, a good husband to his wife Ruthie, and a wonderful father to his four sons. We will miss him.

Framed Art Delivery

Busy, busy weekend! Working in the yards on Saturday which was exhausting, but not enough that we couldn't go to a party later! ;) Sunday we had company visit. A childhood family friend came down from Reno who I hadn't seen for about 13 years and we had a great time reminiscing. Both our mothers passed away recently - 21 days apart to be exact. We think the timing of their passing happened for a reason. It was a great day and we're already making plans to get together again!

So back to work on photography for me today. I finished up the last of the framing, adding the signage to the back of each photo which includes the: series, copyright date, my website, phone number, and email address. That takes alot of time. Cut the one last mat I needed to finish framing one photo. Boxed it all up and now all I have to do is type up the invoices to the Tantric Cafe and I will head down tomorrow and deliver all three boxes! It's a good feeling to clean up my new studio and eliminate alot of inventory that I had on hand. Wish me luck on the new venue!

Framing, Framing, Framing!

Today, and I mean all day, I have been framing the photos for the Tantric Cafe in Sacramento. That's 18 in all!! Since some of them have been stored, I thought it would be better to open them from their frames and clean up the glass and re-do the backing. So that's what is taking so long! I've got a couple more to do and then I saw that I had made a boo-boo way back when! One of the photos matted in black, I accidentally used the wrong side and you can vaguely see the brand name stamped along one side. It is vague, so I guess no one ever did see it, but I can, so now I will be cutting another mat - can't have that.

Anyone have bunions out there? ;) I'm gonna have to soak my feet tonight. I'm posting one of the photos of the Downtown Sacramento series that I framed. I took this shot in 2001. It was what was left of some color artwork placed over a condemned building, and in black and white it was pretty awesome!

SAN ANTONIO MISSIONS

Finally got around to uploading my San Antonio Mission series to my website. I took photos of all five remaining missions, however, the Alamo photos were lost - I have no idea where they are! Who stole them or what! ;) The ones posted are Espada, Concepcion, San Juan and San Jose. So go immediately to Galleries on my website and see for yourselves.

Making all my notifications via: email, Facebook, and my Blog takes alot of time. I think I can connect my Blog to Facebook, but I don't know if I'm really sold on doing that.

I'm still working on the chemicals. I think what I will do is write what I think they should be (or what I want to use) and run them by my friend who used to have a darkroom and he also shot the same film I do: 400 TMAX. He'll know for sure. And then I'll be ordering them.

The other little task I have sitting here is to 'tally up' all the costs of building this new art room and darkroom. Hhhmmmmmmmm....do I really want to do that!?

Darkroom Chemicals

I have finally taken the time to sit down and write out what my next steps are in the whole realm of the photography world. First of all, I do have the large number of photos to put together. I need frames for the NYC ones - 6 ea of 11x14; and then there are the Sacramento ones, which will be mostly 8x10s, maybe one 11x14. I got the impression that the owners of Tantric want some that are abstract in a way - so I've got those. The San Francisco photos are already framed.

Then I need to order the chemicals and I can do that online also. Most of the chemicals are in powder form. I have to admit I was never involved with mixing the chemicals in school for the print developing, so I actually had to study up on that issue. And I'm needing three more 1 gallon containers, and I think I'm going to spring for a separate small timer (in addition to the GraLab timers) and I'll be needing a proof printer. And that should be it!

And lastly, the one item that has nothing to do with photography: the guest bedroom (my old office). I shampooed the carpet in there this morning and it came out great. Ron was surprised. I had glue on the carpet from overspray of photo mount! ; ) Oops! So I need to get that done soon as we're having company. All in all, I'll be busy!

Painting

Today I ended up painting my 'old office'. It took about 3 and 1/2 hours of painting after I taped off the room. It came out really nice - it is a light coral color. And I have hopes of decorating it in SouthWest design. Tomorrow I will start painting the trim and doors - that's the hard part! Other than that I am whipped! good nite!

Multi-Tasking

So did I ever mention I was a multi-tasker?! Well, I am. Always working on more than one project - but getting everything done too I might add. Today I went to the paint store and got paint for my 'old' office that I will be turning back into a second guest bedroom. And I need to do that pretty fast as we are having family come up the end of May! I spent time yesterday prepping the room: removing all the switch plates, patching the nail holes, and cleaning the baseboard and ceiling light and fan. I'll be painting the room a soft coral color with two shades lighter for the trim and doors; the trim color is more of a beige color.

My husband and I joke about our 'decor'. We call it the "Chinese-Cowboy" theme going on as I am Asian influence and he is definitely Western! And the Chinese did help build the American railroad, so it's a good match. We'll put his saddle in there as well as some Western artworks that he did. And my sister Pat is donating one of her American Indian paintings that she is not using. I have high hopes that this room will definitely be the South West room!

I also bought a Plantation white shade for the studio as it is facing south and will be getting sun in the summertime. My husband gets to put that up. Tomorrow I have some ordering to do: paper supplies and developing supplies. Busy, busy!

Lost Negatives

My goal yesterday was to pull out all the photos that I will be using. The San Francisco ones are all matted and framed and ready to go; NYC photos are matted, just need the frames; and Sacramento........well, I spent half the day searching thru my negatives, over and over again, came really close and found a couple negatives of the series but not the ones I needed! Drats! I must have put them somewhere safe! Yeah, right! So, now I do have a backup which are some B&W photos of Sacramento. I had done a "Then and Now" series of B&Ws of historic downtown Sacramento and I'm hoping that is what I will be able to use! Either that or go out and take new ones. But I've given myself two weeks to get this done. So there you have it!

The phone repair guy came out too and fixed the phone connection in the art room, although it's actually in the darkroom - which still works. I definitely don't need two phones. Now I just need to go out and buy a wall mount phone.

New Photography Venue

This morning I drove down to Sacramento and met my girlfriend Charlene at the Tantric Urban Bistro. Her friends, Mike and Cindy, own the Tantric Urban Bistro at 1215 K Street, downtown Sacramento. Really down to earth folks. After showing them some portfolios of mine and also my website galleries we decided to hang B&W photos of San Francisco, New York City/Central Park, and most likely color photos of downtown Sacramento. I lived in downtown Sacramento for a year in 2001 just a couple of blocks from this restaurant. On the weekends, specifically Sundays, I would head out early in the morning and walk the streets clicking off shots of the early morning sun in the city. I really enjoyed that. I even have some photos right next to this cafe! It's pretty ironic if you ask me!

Here are a couple of photos that I will be hanging in their cafe!

Darkroom Supplies Arrived!

This is just too exciting for me! The darkroom supplies arrived today in two boxes and it was just like Christmas!! This is like a dream come true...wanting a darkroom for years and I finally get to this point...thank you very much to my husband - hell, I never thought I'd even have a husband again! ; ) This room is just so beautiful - I could live out here. I'm going to have to be careful about staying out here too long! Everything is coming together...all I need now are the chemicals I think. Once I do a walk thru I'll see what is missing if anything. Lord knows I have about 10 rolls of exposed film to practice with that has been waiting to be developed. And then I know my son has lots of B&W film that needs to be developed too. Every photographer should go thru this - it's exhilarating and I just can't stop smiling. Thank you God!

Darkroom Supplies Order

This morning I took a couple of hours to sit down and order my darkroom supplies from Freestyle. It was big job, but I got it done. They should be delivered in 3-5 days. Since I placed my order early this morning, it should have been shipped out today too.

Later this afternoon I finished the touch up on the paint in the art room and darkroom, so now that's done. Now I need to get busy and get some portfolios updated and ready to show to a cafe in downtown Sacramento. A girlfriend of mine from my old job set this up for me! That was pretty considerate of her. I have no idea what they may want. However, I do have some photos I took of downtown K Street Mall when I lived in midtown in 2001. I used to get up early in the mornings on the weekends and go wander around the streets and take some shots. I think that was the best part of living downtown - going out and exploring. Whatever they end up wanting, I'm sure I can go out and shoot it if I don't have it.

Darkroom Supplies

Today I was busy pricing the rest of the supplies that I will need in the darkroom. I already have a lot of the major components like the enlargers, trays, beakers, developing tanks, timers, safe light; however, there's alot more to be had. So I've been listing those other items and pricing them out: tongs, paper safes, grain focuser, apron, film clips, squeegees, changing bag. Once I order this, the only thing left will be the chemicals!!

Yesterday I put two coats of sealer on the linoleum tile squares in the darkroom. It looks nice and shiny too. I have a little touch up painting to do and that should be all that's left as far as the construction punch list goes.

I'm also contemplating building my own hanging film dryer! I think I can do it. The one I was looking at from Freestyle is basically a vinyl hanging shoe bag! It's not even equipped with heat for drying. So I'll keep you posted on that one.

Sacramento Second Saturday

Saturday morning was all about moving the rest of my equipment into the new art room, like the PC, printers and scanner. Ron had to go under the house and reroute the PC cable, and he did a great job! It worked! Then I rerouted myself out into the vegetable garden -- I know, way different scenario -- and my son came up and helped me while we weeded and turned the soil under and got it ready for ANOTHER big storm this weekend. But I did get the soil covered - I just don't want to weed it again. Then as I'm wrapping it up around 4:30 p.m. I realize it's SATURDAY!!! Oh, my gosh, I've got to go and try to get myself cleaned up and head on down to The Doiron Gallery for her Last Hurrah!

Well I made it downtown Sacramento and it was a great evening. She has alot of new great art: acrylic, water color, photography (moi), and sculpture, scarves, jewelry. It was very upbeat and exciting. I'm posting a couple of photos from Saturday. Best wishes to Joyce Doiron on her last month and a half before she retires!!

Second Thursday and More

Last night's Auburn Art Walk was pretty productive, plus I was able to see some long time friends! The weather was great and I think people were anxious to get out and about. My photos will continue to be on display at the Kerry Terese Salon & Gallery for at least a couple of months.

Now this Saturday in Sacramento I will be down at The Doiron Gallery for their Last Hoorah! from 6 - 10 p.m. They will participate in the next two Second Saturdays, so yuo've got time to get over there too. Again they are located at 1819 Del Paso Boulevard, across from the Bank of America.

So in between getting artwork ready for these two shows, I'm still moving in. Almost there. I've got to move my PC and printers and scanner in - 'cause it's driving me nuts to keep going back and forth. AAaaaaaarrgh! But I'm posting some photos of the move in for ya! I'm also going to put in a futon and place it under the three photos of the SF MOMA at the far wall.

Auburn's Second Thursday Art Walk

I would like to invite you tonite to the Second Thursday Art Walk here in Auburn from 6 - 9 p.m.

I will have my B&W BODIE GHOST TOWN Series on display, as well as some of the color photography of Bodie. I will be at the Kerry Terese Salon at 164 Sacramento Street (upstairs from Awful Annie's). I hope you will come out and immerse yourselves in the art world! I will also have on display some of my Hawaiian themed acrylic paintings of Maui and Oahu.

Come out for dinner and then enjoy the art! There are 30 venues displaying art in Old Town (that's where I'll be), as well as n Downtown on Lincoln Street. See you there!

Moving In

The last two days I have been moving in, and moving in, to the art room! Organizing, cleaning, categorizing, labeling, hanging photos - you name it! I'm almost there, but still not quite. My computer and printers are still in my old office and Ron has to add some brackets underneath the work space. The sink plumbing in the darkroom got connected. Now Ron is going to build a wall unit that I can hang the film from to dry. I still have to bring down the darkroom trays and equipment, and Ron brought down the enlargers for me.

This is just too much fun! I'm tired now, but tomorrow I'll post an updated photo of the room.

Darkroom Day 38 and 39 - Finis!

Wednesday the carpet came in and the room and the hallway look fabulous. It looks so finished - my husand said it looks better than the house! Then on Thursday, Gary came back to work with Ron on putting up the final workspace area for the PC and scanner, printers, etc. The electrician showed up and put up the light fixtures, the fan, and got all the electrical outlets completed. So the only thing left is the sink to hook up to the plumbing! I'm posting some before I moved in photos so you can see the whole finished product!!

Darkroom Day 37 and More Scanning

This morning was all about putting up the FRP board (the material we are using for the back splash on the 'wet' side). Ron cut it out and then we glued it to the walls. He also cut the hole in the formica top for the sink! I didn't want to be in the room when that was happening. But it all went well - no problems. I ran into town to pick up the trim material for the back splash - picked up one wrong piece to use for the corners, but Ronnie made it work! Cleaned up the mess and tomorrow the carpet is coming at 10:00 a.m.!! We still have to put down the tile in the darkroom, hang the doors, put up the last workspace - but all this has to wait for the carpet.

This afternoon I delved into more SCANNING! I'm really getting quite good and the prints are coming out excellent. Seems a little ironic that I've finally learned the scanning business - right when I get a darkroom! But now I can do both and I love it. I have a feeling I'll be spending alot of time out in the new art room and darkroom! I'm posting a scanned photo I did today.

Historic Bodie Ghost Town

Yesterday I was able to complete putting the printed photos together - matting and framing them. They came out GREAT if I do say so myself! I am framing just five 11x14s and will have some matted 5x7s and 8 1/2 x 11s for sale as well. I also printed out 4x6s for the greeting cards of Bodie since I hadn't made any cards of the Bodie series yet. Yeah, I was busy.

I'm posting a photo to give you a preview of what to expect with the first Second Thursday Artwalk in April in Auburn at the Kerry Terese Salon & Gallery. I will also be sending out an email to all those in my mailing list and I do hope you can come out and support the local arts. Old Town Auburn has a lot of offer. Take the night off and have dinner and then come see the show.

Darkroom Day 35 and 36 and Scanning

Yesterday Ron decided he was going to paint the moulding/crown moulding in the new hallway white, to keep in sync with the artroom. We also went into town and bought the back splash material for the 'wet' side of the darkroom. We stopped by the carpet place and if all goes well and it comes in on Monday, they will be out to install on Wednesday. Today I think he may put the second coat of paint on the trim. I'm posting a photo of the new garage hallway and the actual color is that of the far wall with the door on it (putty). The digital with the flash tends to make it look green. And it's NOT green. This is quite an improvement for this area.

Yesterday while he was painting, I hunkered down and attacked the scanning of the film. I used to have a lab do it for me, but now I think I've finally (and I won't say mastered, because it's still a mystery to me and I wouldn't be able to give anyone else advice!) gotten quite good at scanning the 35mm film. The scans were so much better (scanned at 3200 pixels) and I was then able to print out some much improved 11x14 prints for the April show. Now today, I'll clean up some old stock of 'good' frames, mat them, and hopefully get them all put together so I can relax or something like that!