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2-26-02
Gave a seminar today on slicing interfaces to the Web Design students at my Alma Mater: Clover Park Technical College. I based it on a simplified (only one layer, no Javascript) version of this site. In about 4 hours total, last night and this morning, I put together and burned a CD with before and after Imageready files, the finished html version and a 6 slide Powerpoint tutorial with screen shots and explanations of the slicing process. It seemed to go over pretty well. The teacher passed around the files before I started and at least a half dozen students were able to work along with me as I sliced, named, saved and placed the images in html. It was fun to walk around afterward and see the finished work on their computers. Later I hung around, troubleshooting some of their projects which used similar principals. They look like a promising bunch of students. I wish them well out there in this difficult job market.
2-21-02
Dads sleeping face floats over the Black hills, twenty miles off on the horizon. Through his kindly expression, lost in dreams, I see veils of rain sweep across the distant summits. The late afternoon sun shines through the huge tinted window beside his hospital bed, illuminating the wrinkles of his aging countenance with harsh lines and shadows. Mom dozes in a chair beside me, while I ponder the meaning of this ethereal reflection superimposed over the 5 star view. It's ironic that he had to suffer a mild heart attack to enjoy a view like this. I brought the laptop down to get some work done on my new interface while I lent a helping hand to mom, who at 80 something, shouldn't really be driving back and forth to the hospital this often. But instead I am writing here at the laptop, captured by the significance of the double image. When we were both 30 years younger we hiked through those hills together. Later Sue and I hiked up Capitol peak and marveled at the incredible display of stars outside our tent. But now, surrounded by the quiet sounds of hospital machinery, I sit and wonder about the nature of time and it's inexorable effects on our bodies. We all end up in hospital rooms sooner or later. It looks like dad will escape this time with a mild warning about diet and proper exercise. It's easy to get wrapped up in the minutia of day to day life, and forget the fact that our lives are like sand, pouring ever faster from an hourglass. I think it was Tony Curtis who said, "I'd like to live my life so completely, that when the grim reaper comes like a thief in the night, there will be nothing left for him to steal."
2-16-02
Yesterday the sun was gorgeous in the morning, sending long shafts of misty light through the treetops into the ground fog outside the house. I checked my email, no new messages. Nothing pressing, and thinking I might as well take advantage of the weather, I gathered my art stuff and drove down to the water for a morning painting. I've sold two paintings of this location in the past and love the spot for it's relative solitude. Despite the fact that it is right underneath a busy highway bridge, and immediately below the beach bulkhead of a Texaco, it remains a deserted stretch of beach. The morning light turns the moldy old arched concrete bridge delicate shades of orange and pink, lighting up the reflections in the rip tide waters below.
I parked off on the shoulder and cautiously picked my way down the steep glass littered trail to the beach. The bridge glowed like a beacon and my spirits rose in anticipation of the painting I would make. Hearing a dog barking ahead, I slowed my pace and glanced up toward the bank. A large mongrel dog was running toward me, barking with vicious intent. Beyond a low beach log, I saw a man raise his head from underneath a pile of old newspapers. He was bundled up in old tattered clothing against the frosty weather, with long matted and tangled gray hair covering his entire head and spilling onto his chest. He hollered something ineffectual at the dog, who pranced around me, waiting for an opening to bite. I pointed my easel at the dog to shoo him backward, but he darted towards my ankles, snapping his teeth. I waved a friendly greeting at the homeless guy, and got a blank stare in return. A few handfuls of beach gravel sent the dog off to a safe distance and I resumed walking toward the bridge.
Seeing people like that reminds me how fortunate I really am. Sure, I was laid off from a good job as a Web Designer, but unlike that unfortunate soul, I have a safety net. My wife works, I may find another position in Web Design, and my efforts to start a freelance career as a Web Designer are beginning to bear fruit. Plus, my landscape paintings are always a joy to work on, when I can justify spending the time. A bright sunny day after 5 weeks of hard work sounded like a good time for painting. Not too long ago I finished a painting in the studio using a photograph to fine tune the water reflections. Yesterday, as I confidently stroked in the values of the shimmering water reflections below the bridge, I reflected on how much easier it is to paint from life than in the studio. I spent the rest of the day being Mr. Mom, taxiing the kids around to jobs and friends, squeezing in a work out session with rollerblades and weights. Later I worked on some exercises in Illustrator and Freehand. They are cool programs, although more aimed at Graphic design than Web Design, the tools are very similar.
2-12-02
Went to a meeting of one of my art clubs tonight. I was one of 3 guys in a group of 30 women artists. They had a great speaker, talking about all the things artists need to do to present themselves to the business world in a professional manner. Some of the artists asked why it was necessary to use slides when contacting the galleries and having prints made. The ordinary Joe on the street is as likely to use a digital camera as a film camera these days. If he does use a film camera, he will be shooting prints, and as a result, slide film has become a specialty item and can be hard to find.
After the meeting I talked with some of the artists, explaining how I enjoy my digital camera for it's convenience. But a digital camera that can match my old 35 mm cameras for high end quality and versatility is priced at over $4000 and will be for some time. At the extreme end of high resolution photography is my 50 year old Speedgraphic press camera. The film size of this completely manual camera (no batteries, no light meter, just springs, steel and glass) is 4 inches by 5 inches. If you ever want to have your paintings printed at larger than 8x10, you will need a transparency from a 4x5 camera.
I recently took transparencies of some of my new paintings before taking them to my gallery. Not having used the camera in a couple years, I was pleasantly surprised to have them come out perfectly. The camera is anything but point and shoot. It requires intense concentration and careful planning. But the results are stunning. With 4x5 transparencies of all my best pieces, I am all set to enter the limited edition Giclee (pronounced Jee Clay) market.
It was nice to take a break from Web Design. I've been pushing hard this week in Photoshop, working exercises and bringing my skills back up to speed. Looking for work has occupied my time lately, and I've had precious little time to spend working creatively in Photoshop. It is a demanding program....probably why I enjoy it. Here are a couple recent exercises. Exercises in Photoshop are comparable to a pianist working his scales. You need to have the tools dialed in to the point where you can do them without thinking, otherwise they can interfere with your flow. The effort I've put into helping Lisa with her Algebra has paid off. She got her report card this week: Straight A's. Just like her dad, when she sets her mind to something she is one smart cookie.
2-8-02
I've been meeting with clients this week, preparing a bid on a large corporate site. I wasn't aware of the amount of work involved in freelancing that has very little to do with Web Design. Among the many things I've been doing this week:
- designing and printing matching business cards and letterheads
- writing and submitting bids
- creating a client survey form
- writing and responding to a windstorm of emails
Don't get me wrong, I love it. Getting laid off could be the best thing that ever happened to me. For once, there is no front office out there between me and the people I serve. I am the receptionist, the salesman, the engineer, the foreman, the artistic director, the production staff and the shipping clerk. On my lunch break Wednesday I drove into town to pick up some transparencies of my paintings. Just as I used to do when I punched a time clock, I set my stopwatch for a one hour lunch. I had to laugh when I caught myself checking the time as I pulled into the driveway, ten minutes late. Today I've not taken a break at all, probably a bad idea. Sue commented last night that I needed to set limits on my working hours, just as if I was working for someone else. I've been helping Lisa a lot with her Algebra homework. She is learning to solve equations with negative variables. Math has always come easy for me. It has a simple logic, as long as one knows the ground rules.
2-5-02
Found an awesome site devoted to archival art and photography prints. This page on luminous-landscape.com concerns the latest printer from Epson, the 2000P. If everything I am reading about it is true, it is a phenomenal printer! I used to get my limited edition prints from Richcolor here in Tacoma until they went out of business, partly due to desktop printers like the Epson 2000P and the Epson 1270. Unfortunately my current cash flow will not allow me to buy either the 2000P at around $850 or the 1270 at around $500. Were I to do so, I could easily enter the print business. Selling prints in the past has been troublesome due to the logistics and time involved in having someone else doing the printing and color matching. With it all in house, I would be in total control. Of course, I would need to buy a large format film scanner, or rent time on one from a former employer. The list of exciting attributes to this printer is too long for me to go into here. Suffice it to say that the quality and archivability come close to matching my original artist pigments.
Things are beginning to move in my search for work. I've been out talking to people, learning the ropes as a freelance designer. I have total confidence in my abilities as a web designer, however, being an hourly employee does not prepare one for bidding on jobs as a freelancer. These are interesting, and exciting times.
2-2-02
Framed 5 paintings yesterday and drove them down to my gallery in Olympia. Deb said sales have been slow due to rumors of layoffs at the Legislature. Still, I had some new paintings from the summer and it didn't cost me anything to swap the new paintings into some existing frames. She has an excellent eye for what will appeal to buying public. I've been continually impressed by the business acumen displayed by Deb and Hugh at State of the Arts gallery. They have survived, and even thrived for almost 10 years in a downtown corner store that used to see businesses move in and out every few years. When asked what her secret was, she responded that she learned from her customers. She doesn't just sell fine art. A large part of her success are the small, inexpensive and hand made gift items she carries. Yesterday I was surprised to see custom cast doorbells. They were tiny bronze sculptures with an electric doorbell built in, cast in the rectangular shape required for a doorbell installation. She also sells many prints by the artists she carries, some as cheap as $17.50 for a matted, shrink wrapped 5x7. She has sold some of my prints, although mine were limited edition framed 8x10's. I am investigating the archival properties of the new ink jets. I need to get some samples from a demo unit to test in the window of my car. If I find a good one, I am all set to sell prints. Since '96 I've shot 4x5 transparencies of my better paintings, banking them against the day when I can economically enter the print business. I'd need to buy a decent transparency scanner, but those are coming down in price rapidly.
After delivering the paintings, I went up to Dads to do some more testing of his Internet access problem. Testing the laptop and his old PC consecutively on the same phone line, I found that the laptop would always dial through, while his computer would occasionally get through, stay on a short time, then either log off or stop responding. Immediately afterward, I switched the line to the laptop and it dialed in and stayed on. That seemed to finally convince him that his old computer wasn't worth saving. We've already tried a new modem, plus the CD drive is broken. After an hour's tour around town we found someone selling a reformatted Dell 250 MHz for $250 with a 60 day guarantee. They are less than a block from his house so it looks ideal.
I've been getting some responses from the contacts I've been making in my job search. When I was laid off a month ago, 300,000 people were unemployed in America. The number is up to 960,000 today. I am confident I can find work. To find a job in tough times, one just has to work harder. It helps to have something special to offer. My unique combination of creativity and integrity has found me work in the past, and I am certain it will do so in the future as well.
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My ICQ number is: 147492032 
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