High Hand Gallery Artwork

This weekend I started working on my new pieces to take to the High Hand Gallery. I selected my photos that I was going to print, mat and frame. Two of them I've already posted on my blog: Venice at Sunset and the Grand Canal Gondolas. In addition I selected two that were pics I took of a gondolier who was on break or didn't have any takers for the moment. I actually took several shots of him as I thought it was unique at the time, something natural. So the one I really liked wasn't very clear (as I was trying to be sneaky about taking his picture). I kept walking when I took the first shot. But I liked it so much that I put a filter/layer over it (pastel pencil) and it came out pretty cool I must say! I printed two different pics of that scenario - giclees on smooth fine art paper and voila! A piece of new artwork.

I went to Aaron Bros. and picked out some frames and a fancy mat for the picture with the gondolas. I cut mats for the other three. The larger one of the Venice at Sunset (purple shades picture) I ended up cutting a double mat for that one. I just happened to have some gold mat board that matched the frame, so I used that under the cream colored and textured mat. I wished I'd taken pictures before I rushed off to the gallery, but I didn't and I had to get it down there today.

I am posting the original photo of the gondolier on break, and what the photo looked like with the filter of pastel pencil.

External Hard Drive

The computer guy arrived this morning on time and we sat down to face the issue. Apparently it wasn't anything I did. I had loaded it properly, he said sometimes you have to circumvent the way the added software shows you what's happening, by going to 'My Computer' and performing the task that way. So that's what we did, and of course I wrote it all down for future reference. I asked some other computer related questions and that was it. He did not know about calibration, so it ended there. So, bottom line, my pictures are getting backed up and that's all I care about.

This weekend I will be busy putting together at least two additional new works for the gallery. I may have to wait until Monday to get a frame at Delta Mat & Moulding if I don't have any in stock or find one elsewhere. So that's my work cut out for me this weekend, as well as maybe doing a couple of photo transfers. Oh! Yesterday when I was working at High Hand I did sell another framed 8x10 of Bodie!! I should say it sold itself! So that was a nice shot in the arm!

Getting back to the Mediterranean, Burano was the other island in Venice that we went to. That particular island is known for its lace, but I don't think the tourists were that interested in lace. The island's other main attraction is their brightly colored houses. The story goes, that the fishermen (that was their mainstay) would paint their houses a bright color so they could keep their eye on their homes. Whether that is true I don't know. But I will say it was unique and picturesque!

Murano, Italy

For us adding a day to the beginning of the trip didn't seem like we got to see what we wanted to see. A lot of it I think was jet lag, being tired, the thrill of being in a foreign country, just wanting to soak everything up and there was SO MUCH to take in!! We didn't make it to St. Marks Square, but we did see it from the ship twice. Once when we went on our tour cruise to Murano and Burano islands, and the other time when we left Venice heading south. In between all this we still had to haul our luggage to the ship and do our initial boarding on Holland America.

It was quite a treat to see the city of Venezia from a higher advantage point. We took the cruise to Murano and Burano. Murano is the island where they have several glass making/blowing companies. These glass works were moved to the island by royal decree at the end of the 13th century because of the fire hazard. So we took a tour cruise to one of glass works: Ferro-Lazzarini. There were quite a few people so it was hard to get any 'great' shots from my point of view. I've been to glass works studios before so I knew what to expect. Here's a shot of the glass blower making one of his famous horses. I was quite surprised to hear from the tour guide that the men we see in this shop today will be the last of the glass blowers as the young people don't want to take up the occupation. I had a hard time believing that. Maybe they should send out some job notices to Tacoma and Seattle. Chihouly doesn't seem to have any issues with the younger generation!

Venice, Italy

Venice is a city of islands, actually 117 of them, and there are 150 canals, which means there are more than 400 bridges that cross each one! It's amazing when you think about it. Would you be able to live on an island, or conglomeration of islands? We did see bicycles as the only other mode of transportation besides walking. Each walkway you come to, each channel or canal is breathtaking. I was so 'excited' about the place that I pretty much filled up one disk on Venice alone. It kind of made me worry what this trip was going to be like for me, picture-wise! Egads Soto, slow down!

For now my computer is working and I finally called for someone to come out on Saturday and help me with this external hard drive. It should be easy - for them! Maybe I'll learn something!

Now I'm getting back in the groove and realized that I need to bring in some new art work this weekend to the High Hand Gallery! I'm not ready. Maybe I won't have to. I do have some photo transfers done but I don't have any frames yet! It's always something!

Venice Waterways

I'm still having computer problems, mainly I don't know what the issue is! It has to do with my external hard drive, so I guess I'll have to get someone up here to help me...maybe. So I got the computer unlocked so-to-speak, and thought I would hurry and make a post!

Getting back to Venice...what a transition in lifestyle from concrete sidewalks and cars and horns to waterways and pedestrians only. It was pretty cool just coming into Venice. All the old stone buildings and bridges - did I mention bridges?? ;) There are small bridges over each waterway. Coming into the city by air, keep in mind you have to lug your luggage to whichever hotel you are staying in. So this is an adventure in itself. But all in all, we found the Venetians pretty happy to see us and welcomed us with open arms too! The first night we found a restaurant actually not very far from our hotel, and we didn't mind as we were so tired and the restaurant 'barker' pulled us in anyway! We had a bit of a wait, but it was fun people watching. The food was pretty good as I recall. I took pictures of some of our dishes along the way, but not this night. We walked around at night and of course made our first purchases of mementos: mostly magnets. I must have been excited because when I got home and unpacked I had purchased more than enough magnets. What was I thinking??

Venice and Mediterranean Cruise

So, yes I did come home from my cruise, but then I had another small trip planned to the east coast to visit my son and family, and so there was this brief interruption so to speak!

I have been really busy getting caught up on my 'household' chores, and now I am back in my studio. For the last few days over the weekend I have been uploading pictures off my camera san disks to the computer. That takes a long time, since I'm learning this new process for my Canon T2i. The EOS Utility program as some of you are probably aware, uploads the original and at the same time makes as additional JPEG file which is nice. However, I'm not that digital savvy and so yesterday after I'd been going thru this process for awhile, the program decided not to make the second JPEG image. I don't know what button I pushed if any, but at the same time I know I can make that second image later. Enough of this I want to talk to you about Venice!!

The long flight over to Zurich was just that: LONG! From Zurich we then flew to Venice on a much smaller plane and much more comfortable one too. All three of us conked out for the whole flight and felt fairly rested when we landed. From there we were met by a guide of sorts. We had to lug our suitcases over to the 'taxi'. So, I'm not thinking that far ahead...still tired...and so the 'taxi' was a 'water taxi' because Venice has no streets for cars, right!? So we load our luggage onto the water taxi, and off we go at sunset. It's about a 20 minute ride. Well, it was the water taxi ride from hell. We had a young driver who apparently was in a hurry and not ONCE did he look back at us to see if we were still in the boat. Once we got to the city limits he HAD to slow down and this was when we were able to really look out and see our first sights of the city of Venice. It was sunset and the colors were pretty awesome to say the least.

Auburn's Second Thursday Art Walk

I've been busy to say the least. This Thursday is the last of Auburn's Second Thursday Art Walks, and Kerry Terese Salon & Gallery's Theme this time is Maps and Travel. So I took in three of my framed gelatin silver prints: White House, Canyon de Chelly; Bethesda Passageway, Central Park; and Villefranche Divers, France. Then when I got to her gallery I saw that she had two different paintings of the Eiffel Tower, and I said, 'hey, I have an Eiffel Tower too!' She said, 'I want it! Bring it in.' So I came home yesterday, finished off the sides, added a wire and varnished it, and made a second trip later in the afternoon. Whew!

Now this morning I was having another learning curve to deal with. While on my trip I shot all my digital prints in RAW. Now there's a subject for you! I have already loaded the Canon T2i's program for photo editing/uploading/filing, etc. I'm not going into detail here today - I haven't had time to really read thru all the process to deal with these types of files. I did get them uploaded and into folders so I could clear off a memory disk - that's all I wanted to get accomplished today. I uploaded Florence, Italy and Barcelona, Spain digital photos.

I'm sharing a picture of one of the many mimes we saw on the streets of Barcelona, namely the main drag for tourists: La Rambla. This mime is Medusa. I have to say these guys go all out for their costumes. It was hot and humid and to think they can sit there so still (without passing out!) in the heat of the day is amazing. When you give them money, that's when they move! It can be scary too! I'll share more mimes later.

Back to Business!

I hope you haven't given up on me - for you who have come to read my blog this year. I am back from a loooong cruise of the Mediterranean and what a vacation that was! Almost too long however. We had great weather, very, very warm, and only one day where it slightly dropped a few droplets of refreshing rain! ;) I am so tired of lugging around my canvas bag holding my two precious cameras and lenses. Wholly Toledo. I'm getting too old for this!

The cruise was great in that we always had a fairly cushy bed to come back to on the ship, the beds were turned down, with a chocolate laying on the covers for us, with a cute little towel animal of varied species each night. The entertainment was great, the food was scrumptious, the cruise staff were polite and kind and ready to please. The only bad thing that I can think of is that you are on a 'timed' agenda for the day for each port that you come into. Of course you want to see what each country has to offer, but you only have so much time to do it in. So that means, transporting from the ship to shore (at some docks), riding a bus or train to your desired destination (in some cases we were lucky and we could just walk within the town), and then when you get to your destination you only have so much time before you have to turn around and make sure you get back on the ship before it leaves for the night! But it was a great opportunity to see where I would like to return for a longer stay sometime. I would definitely go back to Italy to visit the Tuscany area, and from my previous travels to France, I would definitely go back to the eastern portion of France to their wine countryside - I think they call it the champagne region if I remember correctly.

So I am home with over 1,500 digital shots, and 11 rolls of TMAX B&W 36 exposure, and I ran out of film after Florence, and for some strange reason I felt a huge weight lifted from my shoulders!! ;) Now I only had to carry one camera and just switch over to 'P' for my programmed B&W feature! Hah! It was great. Last night I started showing my husband the digital pics on the TV. He really liked them. We'll do more tonite.

I'll post more soon with pictures - just not today as I have been busy getting back to some normalcy around here. Chica my dog sure missed me. She has been by my side all day and couldn't stop kissing me when I got home yesterday. Aaawww. She is just too cute!