Special Delivery to Phoenix

Decided to hand deliver two of my most recent weaving project instead of sending them through the mail.    At least that was the excuse I used to go out to visit my brother and his family in Phoenix.

Table Runner for Jacki & Jeff

The first was promised as a wedding gift to my niece Jacki and her husband Jeff.  They were married last October.  OK - I know I am very late but this turned out to be the most difficult weaving pattern that I have ever done.  I was pleased at how it turned out.

The second was a baby blanket for their expected baby boy.  I did get this done before he was due.  Chesney is expected to be born on 12/28.

Chesney's Blanket 

I was able to deliver it on my first night in Arizona when the entire family that is out there met for dinner.

A very pregnant Jacki

From Winter to Desert

No sitting outside today - enjoying the sun.

Hopefully tomorrow - I leave for Phoenix to visit with my brother and family.

Good Work

Cleaning up old "piles" in my office at home and came across this quote from Bob Woodward regarding the Post, that I had written down.

"All good work is done in defiance of management."

What are your thoughts?

Intro to Photoshop Assignment #4

For the last assignment - we were to create a poster in Photoshop.  I decided to make one for the race walk group.  I plan to use parts of it for the redo of the Pegasus A.C. website that I need to start working on after the holidays.

Intro to Photoshop Assignment #3

Our third assignment was to create a collage.  I picked pictures that I took in Sicily (all except the Sicily symbol which I got off the internet.   I think I got a bit carried away.

Intro to Photoshop Assignment #2

Our second assignment was to repair an old photo or to "beautify" a picture. We were encouraged to use one of our own photos instead of one that he supplied.   He kept talking about his definition of beautify - which was not to take all the pounds off, eliminate the wrinkles or make someone look like a "Barbie Doll", but to do small cosmetic clean-ups.

In todays New York Times there was the following article:

Photoshopped or Not? A Tool to Tell 


I was amazed as some of the examples they had.  They talked about trying to establish a standard as to how much retouching was done.  In my example I would say it was kept to a 1 or 2.  I decided to use a picture I had taken of my dad.  I just cleaned up is face a little.  The biggest change I made was to eliminate the sling he had on since that was not a permanent feature but a temporary one. 

Original

Digitally Altered

Intro to Photoshop Assignment #1

Our last class is on Thursday.  Our first assignment was to do a color correction.  I never realized such a thing was possible.  Can't see a big difference but the snow is less blue so it should be truer to real life.

Color Corrected

Origional

Falling Trees versus Falling Leaves

Supposed to be the season for falling leaves - instead we had falling tree. 

Sunday evening we heard an explosion and looked out side to see a close up of the tree that fell due to the high winds onto our house and garage.  We were lucky - house is still livable - no hole in the roof.  Our awning and frame is ruined and there is damage to the gutters and shingles.  The garage roof and siding,  were also hit.   

SpiderMan Bandaids

OK - what does spiderman bandaids have to do with anything?

I attended the workshop sponsored by the Michigan Weavers Guild that was given by Diane Totten titled "Crimp and Create".  One of the items on the supply list was bandaids.  Of course I had to throw the spiderman bandaids into the bag.  The bandaids - which I ended up sharing with others, was for the blisters one developed from crimping on the pull threads to create the permanent pleats that was part of the technique we learned.

I read the instructions incorrectly so I was not able to experiment as much as others with various "patterns" of crimping.  So I was left with color experimentation.

But I loved the technique.  So crimped scarfs are now on my list for future weaving projects.

Some of Diane's Samples

Examples of Diane Tottens Weaving

Some of my samples

86 Years Old

Today is my dad's 86th birthday.  Had him and some family and friends over yesterday for a big pot of chili and two wonderful desserts.

You can see pictures at this link:  http://gallery.me.com/susanlolli#100270

The Red Chair

In my Photoshop class last week, we were playing with "masks" to change part of a picture.  So this week I decided to take one of my old pictures (as you can see by the snow) and really change it to be sure I understood the concept.  Of course, in the exercise he had us do little tweaks.  I decided to take it farther to be somewhat unnatural but still look like the original.

Origional

Unnatural

Evening Views

Monotypes Class 2

In Fridays printmaking class we continued with monotypes but layering more transparent colored inks in successive printings.   I was not as happy with this round but I am learning what doesn't work.  Below are my two most successful attempts.

Newest Endeavor

A former colleague of my husband's has taught Printmaking at the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center for many years.   I always told her that I would take the class once I was not longer working.  Since that has occurred I signed up for her Introduction to Printmaking.  The first class was on Friday and we are covering Monotypes for the first two weeks.    The following were my first attempts.

- A reduction technique where you paint the ink on a plate then scrape off.  The second image is called a ghost image and is taken as a second run with the remaining ink.

I was much happier with the second set where you inked the plate then added supplemental items to the plate. 

Snaps of an old t-shirt that I am getting rid of since it is now a dingy grey:

To:

I love playing with my new phone!  I start my photoshop class next Thursday but I know we will learn more controlled techniques than the almost random techniques from the iPhone software.

WebSite Version 2

Announcing edition 2 of my web site.  The first edition was put out using the iWeb software on my Mac.

This summer I took the Intro to Web Design course at the College of Creative Studies.  Our project was to put out a portfolio site using the Dreamweaver software and we were not to use any of the standard templates.   You can go to www.susanlolli.com  to see my project.  While not as fancy from a design point of view as others in the class (they were all graphic designers),  I spent most of my time learning different techniques to show my photos.   If you go to the weaving page you will see a different technique than my photo page.

Edition 2.5 will have my blog added to the site..... but I am already thinking of redesigning the home page (edition 3).

More Altered Photos - Margarets House

On Tuesday - we went drove by our former house in Detroit.  It was good to see the two trees we put in doing well.  I used the picture taken from the car as my latest playground.

Flowerly Purse

Todays altered picture -  two versions from the same origional

Vibrance Bowl

Todays edition of altered photos....

Todays Newest Altered Photo

With a program called - Percolator.   Makes it look like a comic.

My Newest Fun Toy of the Week

End of June I bought my self an iPhone as my retirement present.  This week my niece Katie posted a photo she had taken with a smart phone then altered via an app.  Looked around and found a free program called Pixiromatic which I immediately loaded.  Then - Thursday's New York Times had an article regarding using iphone apps to alter photos.  While I have not yet  downloaded the apps they listed - I thought I would share my first attempt at altered photos.

TECHNOLOGY   | August 25, 2011 
Strolling Artists, Bearing iPhones 
By TODD LAPPIN 
Gather a throng of iPhone enthusiasts, add a sampling of photo-editing apps and a cocktail bar, and the result is an "Instawalk" followed by art. 


Note:  Have not yet added the "cocktail bar"

Mistaken for a Flower

At our recent trip to the  butterfly house at the Detroit Zoo - one of the butterflies decided to rest on my arm.  It was very hard to get this picture without scaring it away (and also hard to hold my camera steady with one arm!)

Zoo Plants versus Animals

Went to the Detroit Zoo on Tuesday.  They have some beautiful gardens and I believe I took more pictures of flowers than animals.  

But had to include the picture of the giraffe - my favorite animal.

Who Hates My Birds?

Yesterday was not a good day.  (At least today is going better!)  Woke up not feeling well.  We received a phone call from my sister-in-law who lives in Rhode Island that she had taken the train in the day before and was in town (If you know her you would not be surprised even though we were).  When she called the day she had arrived we were in Port Huron so she ended up at a motel.   After changing our plans and taking her around to look at apartments (she is considering moving here), we went out on the deck for a drink and I noticed that someone had taken both my bird feeders from the back yard.  Out of all the things to steel in my yard - why those.  I love to sit out on the deck or at my dining room table watching the birds.
Looks like I will need to go my replacements.

Unusual Vine

Does anyone know what kind of flowers this is?  Saw them in the yard at an estate sale I went to.  I brought home two books to add to my stash of future reading along with these pictures.

Another Two Books Finished

Been doing much more reading in the evenings.  Finished two more books, one a collection of short stories "Servants of the Map" by Andrea Barrett and a memoir, "Are You Somebody" by Nualoa O'Faolain.  Both were my thrift store finds.

I usually do not read short stories but I do read them if they are by Alice Munro and I had read a collection by Barrett.  I was attracted by the name since I am in love with maps.  The first story was wonderful, about a group who is mapping the Himalayas in the 1800's.

I was intrigued with the second because of the title.  The author was in love with literature and the best part of the book was about her early reading.  "If there were nothing else, reading would--obviously--be worth living for." She lists a number of Irish and English authors I will be looking up.   She talks about being in boarding school and not being allowed to read fiction there.  Much too rigid for me.

Flowers and Foliage

So Far Enjoying

Though it still seems like a vacation.  Have already finished one book, have been to two are museums (the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Toledo Museum of Art and have started a new weaving project.

And have exercised every day (except today but there is still time).  I think I may like this retirement.

Retirement Day - from Red to Pink

Thursday, June 30th was my last day of work at Comerica after 34 years.  Last Sunday at the Y,  Joan, one of my friends from weaving suggested I dye my hair red for my last day.  I was intrigued enough that I looked at the hair dye and the drugstore that day but wasn't sure what shade and everything said it was permanent - not ready for that kind of commitment.

Frank saw her at the stretch class on Wednesday and when I came home from work on Wednesday Frank said that she had suggested it to him.  I said why not - might as well go out with a bang.  A trip to another drug store had the usual permanent hair dye but temporary spray on dye in purple, blue, pink, silver and glitter.  I picked pink as the closest to red as I could get.

The next morning - I sprayed a little in my hair then wiped allot of it out - I was being timid.  When Frank got up he said it wasn't enough and proceeded to take the can and spray away.

 I must say I did cause a stir.  It succeeded in making most people laugh or at lease smile.  It was a great way to go out.

Additional pics will be put out later.

Theatre of the Greeks and Romans

A rainy tour of the theatre at Taormina but a beautiful setting overlooking the sea.  The following is the description from Wikipedia. 


"But by far the most remarkable monument remaining at Taormina is the Ancient theatre, which is one of the most celebrated ruins in Sicily, on account both of its remarkable preservation and of the surpassing beauty of its situation. It is built for the most part of brick, and is therefore probably of Roman date, though the plan and arrangement are in accordance with those of Greek, rather than Roman, theatres; whence it is supposed that the present structure was rebuilt upon the foundations of an older theatre of the Greek period. With a diameter of 109 metres (after an expansion in the 2nd century), this theatre is the second largest of its kind in Sicily (after that of Syracuse); it is frequently used for operatic and theatrical performances and for concerts. The greater part of the original seats have disappeared, but the wall which surrounded the whole cavea is preserved, and the proscenium with the back wall of the scena and its appendages, of which only traces remain in most ancient theatres, are here preserved in singular integrity, and contribute much to the picturesque effect, as well as to the interest, of the ruin. "