*What?* thanks, but really, no thanks. All I'm trying to do is install Shockwave to play some stupid game online, instead of what I should be doing, going to sleep.

And how 'bout that pre-checked checkbox, agreeing me to their terms, just waiting to install? I feel violated.

Posted by Hello
posted by Lorna Brown at 2:20 AM

Random things you find on the web:

create your own personalized map of the USA
Posted by Hello
posted by Lorna Brown at 8:47 PM

Happy New Year!

There is so much to write about, and I feel like I have hardly any time left on my vacation to write anything at all... but for now I will write at least this much.

One of my gifts was a new book by Betty Edwards, Color.

The book is great, but perhaps could have used a little more editing than it received, as several of the recommended pigments do not exist in acrylic paint. This resulted in a bit of a ruckus at the art store earlier today when I made the mistake of wondering about the chemical composition of some pigments out loud in the presence of a sales clerk who is also a PAINTER.

The painterly sales clerk sprang into action, loudly instructing me to not bother my beautiful mind about pesky and anti-artistic things such as pigment or paint composition, that I must not become focused upon chemistry and thereby disturb the sacred creative process of splattering hapless color combinations on canvas.

To be polite, I agreed aloud with her sentiment, and explained that in this case, I was looking for single pigment colors to do some very specific mixing excercises, and since the colors could react with each other in different ways, I needed to check the actual pigments.

In her 45 minute long pursuit of convincing me that this was wrong-headed, my sales clerk friend proclaimed that she was a master color mixer, and had no degree in "chemicals," all the while smearing paint all over the back of her hands to demonstrate her mixing prowess. It's a shame she had no scientific inclination whatsoever, since in that case she might have thought twice about the potential side effects of applying such friendly and colorful chemicals as cadmium and chromium directly to one's skin.

In the end, the entire conversation turned out to be pointless, as somehow the substitute "Cobalt Violet" we finally picked out never made its way into my bag at the checkout counter.

Anyway, here are some scans of one of the first excercises: without painting any recognizable objects, to paint a small square of colors to evoke each of the four seasons.

Here is Spring:

Summer:

Autumn:

And, especially appropriate after the last week in New England, Winter:

Posted by Hello
posted by Lorna Brown at 1:41 AM