greenpepperpressblog

Tag: HIM

mayday, mayday

Can you stand it? We are on the new HIM dvd, Digital Versatile Doom. When they told us to send in photos I thought maybe they would print them out and post on a bulletin board and do a quick pan of the camera across them and we’d have to rewind and pause and get out the binoculars. But it’s way better than that – they flash each picture across the entire screen in slide show format for like 5 seconds. (I counted….5 seconds is a long time….it’s not like if you blink you will miss it.)

I have plenty to do in the next two days. I’ve been packing, editing, packing, editing…..for my trip to Valley Ridge Art Studio this weekend. I can hardly wait to have two whole days devoted to making cool pages with returning friends, friends I know online only, and friends I haven’t met yet. Time spent with Kathy and Bill is always a treat too. Mom is coming again and then ……shhhhhh ……..I’m sneaking to MN for a visit with Shannon. I am beside myself with glee to get to see her. I’ll check back in after I get back on Tuesday. Behave while I’m gone. Come on….you’re squeeing with me about being on the dvd aren’t you?

April 30, 2008
mayday, mayday

Can you stand it? We are on the new HIM dvd, Digital Versatile Doom. When they told us to send in photos I thought maybe they would print them out and post on a bulletin board and do a quick pan of the camera across them and we’d have to rewind and pause and get out the binoculars. But it’s way better than that – they flash each picture across the entire screen in slide show format for like 5 seconds. (I counted….5 seconds is a long time….it’s not like if you blink you will miss it.)

I have plenty to do in the next two days. I’ve been packing, editing, packing, editing…..for my trip to Valley Ridge Art Studio this weekend. I can hardly wait to have two whole days devoted to making cool pages with returning friends, friends I know online only, and friends I haven’t met yet. Time spent with Kathy and Bill is always a treat too. Mom is coming again and then ……shhhhhh ……..I’m sneaking to MN for a visit with Shannon. I am beside myself with glee to get to see her. I’ll check back in after I get back on Tuesday. Behave while I’m gone. Come on….you’re squeeing with me about being on the dvd aren’t you?

April 30, 2008
FIELD TRIP

Not far from here is this place – the Fonthill Museum, former home of Henry Chapman Mercer. The entire place is constructed of concrete. Don't let that fool you – it's not the cold gray variety. It's much more – a very organic interior floor plan that would take weeks to learn to navigate with the meandering arrangement of rooms and random stairways throughout. Every surface is embellished with embedded tiles – from his Moravian Pottery and Tile Works factory as well as tiles collected from places around the world. You have to see it….astonishing!

And anyone claiming to be a HIM fan should know this is the site of a video shoot, and must be visited.

Let's take a minute and watch it HERE….and then click over and see "the making of" HERE, ff to 5 minutes.

So we behaved and didn't get our photo-op shot….earlier we traveled into the woods to see this:

When the lighting is better tomorrow I'll show you the tiles I got – the factory still makes stuff! They didn't let us use our cameras inside….so you'll have to watch the HIM video afterall! Mr. Mercer was many things – an archeologist, architect, tile-maker, and collector – and his accumulation of books look stunning – piled high in the two library rooms we were shown (the tour only takes you through a portion of the home). It's worth the visit….and if you're one of my HIM fan friends, *winks* because I know you're jealous.

EDIT: here's the tiles we got…..I don't know the significance of the "AVALON" image to Mercer, but we saw it embedded in a fireplace, and it's significant to us as Avalon is Fallon's middle name (for the Roxy Music song and album!)….and IF you look closer…….AVALON……do you see what I see???? *giggles*

April 28, 2008
FIELD TRIP

Not far from here is this place – the Fonthill Museum, former home of Henry Chapman Mercer. The entire place is constructed of concrete. Don't let that fool you – it's not the cold gray variety. It's much more – a very organic interior floor plan that would take weeks to learn to navigate with the meandering arrangement of rooms and random stairways throughout. Every surface is embellished with embedded tiles – from his Moravian Pottery and Tile Works factory as well as tiles collected from places around the world. You have to see it….astonishing!

And anyone claiming to be a HIM fan should know this is the site of a video shoot, and must be visited.

Let's take a minute and watch it HERE….and then click over and see "the making of" HERE, ff to 5 minutes.

So we behaved and didn't get our photo-op shot….earlier we traveled into the woods to see this:

When the lighting is better tomorrow I'll show you the tiles I got – the factory still makes stuff! They didn't let us use our cameras inside….so you'll have to watch the HIM video afterall! Mr. Mercer was many things – an archeologist, architect, tile-maker, and collector – and his accumulation of books look stunning – piled high in the two library rooms we were shown (the tour only takes you through a portion of the home). It's worth the visit….and if you're one of my HIM fan friends, *winks* because I know you're jealous.

EDIT: here's the tiles we got…..I don't know the significance of the "AVALON" image to Mercer, but we saw it embedded in a fireplace, and it's significant to us as Avalon is Fallon's middle name (for the Roxy Music song and album!)….and IF you look closer…….AVALON……do you see what I see???? *giggles*

April 28, 2008
element of surprise

What gets your attention when you are looking at art? Or magazines, or books, or blogs? Isn’t there a hope that you’ll be surprised? A desire to be impressed by something that is new-to-you, or something that is clever, or inventive, or just different. You want to be surprised. We all get bored from seeing more of the same don’t we?

I read an interview yesterday (or was it the day before?) with my favorite rock star and he was talking about going back into the studio and what keeps him inspired. As a musician, who is also a fan of many kinds of music, it was a simple thing to say….."I want to be surprised by a melody I haven’t come across yet."

Isn’t that what we strive for too? Not a melody, but a something. We want to be surprised by something we haven’t come across yet. Notice he didn’t say he wanted to go into a music store to hear something he hadn’t heard before….he’s going into the studio to discover that melody – that combination of notes that might be the next hook or lick. Eight notes and time spent at the keyboard or on the guitar. Experimenting, exploring, unearthing, failing, succeeding.

In the studio. THAT is where you will make your discoveries, the best-learned lessons. Putting in the time with messy hands and dirty brushes is where you will find the most rewarding surprises.

Now that my taxes are done (whew!) I can being the final preparations for my upcoming workshop. This is the funnest time (yes, I said funnest). I rehearse in my head all the things I want to remember to share with the artists. I scribble notes, make playlists, overpack supplies, and try to contain my giddy-ness that I am about to spend studio time with other seekers-of-surprises. Each artist will learn something different, and hopefully surprising, depending on their accumulated experience…..and no matter what is on my lesson plan, we will all learn something from one another.

Here’s hoping you plan some surprise time for yourself this week.

April 15, 2008
element of surprise

What gets your attention when you are looking at art? Or magazines, or books, or blogs? Isn’t there a hope that you’ll be surprised? A desire to be impressed by something that is new-to-you, or something that is clever, or inventive, or just different. You want to be surprised. We all get bored from seeing more of the same don’t we?

I read an interview yesterday (or was it the day before?) with my favorite rock star and he was talking about going back into the studio and what keeps him inspired. As a musician, who is also a fan of many kinds of music, it was a simple thing to say….."I want to be surprised by a melody I haven’t come across yet."

Isn’t that what we strive for too? Not a melody, but a something. We want to be surprised by something we haven’t come across yet. Notice he didn’t say he wanted to go into a music store to hear something he hadn’t heard before….he’s going into the studio to discover that melody – that combination of notes that might be the next hook or lick. Eight notes and time spent at the keyboard or on the guitar. Experimenting, exploring, unearthing, failing, succeeding.

In the studio. THAT is where you will make your discoveries, the best-learned lessons. Putting in the time with messy hands and dirty brushes is where you will find the most rewarding surprises.

Now that my taxes are done (whew!) I can being the final preparations for my upcoming workshop. This is the funnest time (yes, I said funnest). I rehearse in my head all the things I want to remember to share with the artists. I scribble notes, make playlists, overpack supplies, and try to contain my giddy-ness that I am about to spend studio time with other seekers-of-surprises. Each artist will learn something different, and hopefully surprising, depending on their accumulated experience…..and no matter what is on my lesson plan, we will all learn something from one another.

Here’s hoping you plan some surprise time for yourself this week.

April 15, 2008
crusading, cutting

We wrapped up the month of March with a record number of participants who shared links to their custom cut rubber stamps. We took a vote and bumped cutting stencils to April. Congrats to Susan Warder for being the Top Hat Pick for Crusade No. 18. I made a little tutorial on stencil cutting over on the Street Team blog, and will continue adding to it as I did last month with the carving tips. I’m still obsessing over roses…had to make stamps and stencils yesterday. WARNING: It’s Addictive.

The only way to know if you have cut a good and useful image is to put it to work. These are the beginnings of journal pages using both acrylic paint and spray paint with my new stamps, stencils, and masks. Give them a test run before cutting more because you’ll learn what you might have done differently, or what additions you’d like to have: for instance, a solid image of your stencil to create a foundation to make it *pop*.

I don’t often use people or faces in my work so I’ve stayed away from attempting a portrait stencil. But I’ve been wanting to do a Valo, and a Poe, and finally starting working on them. I had an a-ha moment when I decided to take this design which wasn’t quite working, and turn it into a half-face. I got so excited with it I had to make a PS brush and take it for a test ride digitally. I think I’m ready to cut HIM out now. *grins*

Wanna join a fun community of artists? Come see what we’re doing on the Street Team. We have new players every month, so don’t be shy. We have artists who share their time and talent, but most of all, their enthusiasm for making cool stuff. Seriously, *we rock*.

April 4, 2008
crusading, cutting

We wrapped up the month of March with a record number of participants who shared links to their custom cut rubber stamps. We took a vote and bumped cutting stencils to April. Congrats to Susan Warder for being the Top Hat Pick for Crusade No. 18. I made a little tutorial on stencil cutting over on the Street Team blog, and will continue adding to it as I did last month with the carving tips. I’m still obsessing over roses…had to make stamps and stencils yesterday. WARNING: It’s Addictive.

The only way to know if you have cut a good and useful image is to put it to work. These are the beginnings of journal pages using both acrylic paint and spray paint with my new stamps, stencils, and masks. Give them a test run before cutting more because you’ll learn what you might have done differently, or what additions you’d like to have: for instance, a solid image of your stencil to create a foundation to make it *pop*.

I don’t often use people or faces in my work so I’ve stayed away from attempting a portrait stencil. But I’ve been wanting to do a Valo, and a Poe, and finally starting working on them. I had an a-ha moment when I decided to take this design which wasn’t quite working, and turn it into a half-face. I got so excited with it I had to make a PS brush and take it for a test ride digitally. I think I’m ready to cut HIM out now. *grins*

Wanna join a fun community of artists? Come see what we’re doing on the Street Team. We have new players every month, so don’t be shy. We have artists who share their time and talent, but most of all, their enthusiasm for making cool stuff. Seriously, *we rock*.

April 4, 2008
loving it

You know that saying: Do What You Love. It goes hand in hand with Love What You Do. From the same words is What Do You Love. I love making real art, but I’m totally in love with exploring things digitally. As I’ve said before, I’m self-taught, and I’m still working in PS DS. What’s DS you say? It’s my comical reference to DinoSaur era. That would be PS 5.5. I have a later version here but I’m reluctant to load it since I nearly passed out and threw in the towel when I made the switch from 5 to 5.5. If you’ve seen the new Stampington publication Somerset Digital Studio (I don’t have a copy yet!) you’ll see I wrote a tutorial on making custom Photoshop brushes. My apologies to those of you who have left the Dinosaur era and are working in a current version because the steps might not be exactly translatable – but hopefully you’ll still gleen some value in my tips.

So what’s my point today? I guess it would be that having an interest in learning is just plain good. Know what you love, and Do It. I don’t know where I’m going with my digital skills but it really doesn’t matter – I’m learning many cool things that can be interpreted in my ‘real’ work, and I’ve been able to make graphics for myself and others that is not just playtime stuff, it’s a paying gig, so that’s something. My other point would be that when you know what you love, and can spend time doing it, it doesn’t matter why or what for, ya know? In looking back at the evolution of my digital playtime I realized that much of it can be blamed on my favorite band. Yes, that’s what I said. I can attribute my growth in developing my digital skills to HIM.

If you aren’t an avid fan like me, you may not be aware that many bands have message boards. When you participate on a board you have the option of creating an avatar and signature for yourself – graphics of a very small size that show up on your posts. I’ve made a habit of not only making my own, but offering my services to other online friends on the board. I also participate in the graphics contests that are posted monthly. I can proudly say I won this month for designing a wallpaper below (meant for your computer desktop) and have won honors a few times over the years.

You may recall seeing the journal pages above – this time they have been layered, with text added. I love the combination of real work and applied text. It’s a great learning tool that leads to problem solving – like how would I get that text onto my page in the real world? Toner transfer, carved lettering, printed transparency maybe? Below is a partial portfolio of some of my messageboard graphics made for me and some friends, as well as assignments for the monthly contests. It won’t look like much to you, but to me it represents the hours of homework learning how to manipulate images and text. The canvases are so tiny you would hardly believe how much time they took – but to me it’s time well spent because it got me to where I am now.

Know what you love but haven’t tried it yet? What are you waiting for?

This month we are Cutting It Out on the Street Team. We are carving stamps and cutting stencils and sharing the results. Soon I will post a tutorial on the stencils. Interested in making a custom stamp? Come play with us on the Street Team. Congrats to Pam McClung who was the Top Hat Pick for the Pandora’s Box Crusade!

March 7, 2008
loving it

You know that saying: Do What You Love. It goes hand in hand with Love What You Do. From the same words is What Do You Love. I love making real art, but I’m totally in love with exploring things digitally. As I’ve said before, I’m self-taught, and I’m still working in PS DS. What’s DS you say? It’s my comical reference to DinoSaur era. That would be PS 5.5. I have a later version here but I’m reluctant to load it since I nearly passed out and threw in the towel when I made the switch from 5 to 5.5. If you’ve seen the new Stampington publication Somerset Digital Studio (I don’t have a copy yet!) you’ll see I wrote a tutorial on making custom Photoshop brushes. My apologies to those of you who have left the Dinosaur era and are working in a current version because the steps might not be exactly translatable – but hopefully you’ll still gleen some value in my tips.

So what’s my point today? I guess it would be that having an interest in learning is just plain good. Know what you love, and Do It. I don’t know where I’m going with my digital skills but it really doesn’t matter – I’m learning many cool things that can be interpreted in my ‘real’ work, and I’ve been able to make graphics for myself and others that is not just playtime stuff, it’s a paying gig, so that’s something. My other point would be that when you know what you love, and can spend time doing it, it doesn’t matter why or what for, ya know? In looking back at the evolution of my digital playtime I realized that much of it can be blamed on my favorite band. Yes, that’s what I said. I can attribute my growth in developing my digital skills to HIM.

If you aren’t an avid fan like me, you may not be aware that many bands have message boards. When you participate on a board you have the option of creating an avatar and signature for yourself – graphics of a very small size that show up on your posts. I’ve made a habit of not only making my own, but offering my services to other online friends on the board. I also participate in the graphics contests that are posted monthly. I can proudly say I won this month for designing a wallpaper below (meant for your computer desktop) and have won honors a few times over the years.

You may recall seeing the journal pages above – this time they have been layered, with text added. I love the combination of real work and applied text. It’s a great learning tool that leads to problem solving – like how would I get that text onto my page in the real world? Toner transfer, carved lettering, printed transparency maybe? Below is a partial portfolio of some of my messageboard graphics made for me and some friends, as well as assignments for the monthly contests. It won’t look like much to you, but to me it represents the hours of homework learning how to manipulate images and text. The canvases are so tiny you would hardly believe how much time they took – but to me it’s time well spent because it got me to where I am now.

Know what you love but haven’t tried it yet? What are you waiting for?

This month we are Cutting It Out on the Street Team. We are carving stamps and cutting stencils and sharing the results. Soon I will post a tutorial on the stencils. Interested in making a custom stamp? Come play with us on the Street Team. Congrats to Pam McClung who was the Top Hat Pick for the Pandora’s Box Crusade!

March 7, 2008