Showing posts with label watercolor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label watercolor. Show all posts

Friday, September 3, 2010

Workflow

It's been crazy 2 weeks.
Not that we have a lot of activities, appointments or what nots.
Just lots of rain. And rain and rain and rain.
And the Little One can't quite go out to expend some extra energy (she got LOTS of them!)
And so Mummy needs to entertain her, entertain the Dog, entertain the Husband,
Take the Dog for daily walkies, rain or shine,
Cook meals for everyone (different meals, different timing.... arrggh... I really make it more difficult for myself)
Etc etc etc,
So much so that even when Solly comes around (that's my helper, bless her), the only thing that I do is simply recuperate from the rigors of 'entertaining'

Did I manage to get my excuse past you? No? Haha.. here's another one, then.

Maybe you would not care, but this blog is not my only one
It's just the one that I want to do seriously and well
Which, by my standard, means some quality writing, something which is hopefully interesting to read, and of course, some pictures to make it even more interesting.
I don't think it's too high a standard
Still, I am still struggling to get it done efficiently

Maybe I'm not a naturally neat person, so my stuff are scattered all over the place
So.. sometimes I have ideas for content, but no pics to illustrate
I think that seems to be my biggest bug bear at the moment
Followed closely with me not having quite decided on everything else about the blog
Whether I want ALL my pics watermarked (it's still quite a lot of effort), whether I'm satisfied with the design and layout, is my blogroll a good representation of my reading list (it's definitely not, not by a long shot), etc etc etc.

Yeah, my ideas are scattered everywhere, but I still want to share whatever I have so......
I guess I'll just have to work on the workflow
Hopefully as time goes (and more post got published, on the blog, that is) I can get the hang of it

In the meantime, here's some pics that I have, just some things that I have been doing....

Unfinished Ripple placemat

Crochet! (oh, and re-reading my book)


My sister came for a visit in May, and I asked her to teach me how to crochet.
Either she must have been a really good teacher or I am an exceedingly brilliant student with natural inclination for the subject matter, I got into crocheting in almost no time.
Well.. she was really great, she actually bought me 2 double ended crochet needles (that's 4 sizes!) and 2 balls for yarn for starter.
That's not the white and green yarn pictured, by the way, I bought them myself because this was already like the nth project. I was learning about turning, and also trying the ripple pattern from the lovely Lucy at Attic24. She is quite my inspiration, both to crochet and to blog.

Round coasters

The picture beside here is actually 2 of my first few projects. They were made using the yarn that my sister brought. 
(My sis actually does not know the technique to change colour, she just crochet occasionally. I believe that was why she bought such yarn, but please don't tell her that.)
It was a quick, easy project, perfect for beginner. Too bad we don't really use coasters over here.

I like to think that I am practical. If I were to have a hobby, why not make something useful out of it? That's why I did a headband for the Little One using the ripple pattern. It turned out pretty well (on second try, first one was way too big for her), too bad after sometime wearing it, and looking pretty, she got bored and started pulling it off. Hhhh.... there goes another useful Mummy-made craft. Still, it was pretty and I made another one to give to the LIttle one's friend next door.

Pink Ripple headband
In deciding for another project to do, I was really determined that it would be definitely useful. So... ambitious as I was, I decided to make a blanket.
Whoa... the newbie crocheter is actually tackling a blanket!

Again, armed with inspiration (and great photo instructions) from Lucy, I went of to buy some yarn and started with my granny square blanket.
It's been a while, but it's still not done yet. Hahaha... But at least it's starting to take shape. Small shape of a blanket.



The grannies...
Another granny
Oh, I forgot. These are not quite the traditional granny square. I basically use the pattern that Lucy used for her Big Blanket, but with different colour combination. I am just experimenting with the order and colour combination. Am hoping that there will be no 2 square with exactly same design. Haha...
I did manage to join the squares, again using Lucy's method of joining, as I crochet another layer of border around the squares. It's fun, and pretty addictive. But I think it's still quite sometime to go.

The Little One likes it too!


I do believe that the Little One has mixed feelings about me crocheting. Sometimes she does not like it. Sometimes, she'll ask for my needle and start trying to crochet as well. I do appreciate the gesture. Maybe when she's better coordinated we can crochet together. At the moment, I just give her the other needle, and some yarn to play with, or some square-in-progress so that she can pretend to crochet, even if she only poked around the square. She's cute like that.

Watercolor


Did I mention my stuff are scattered everywhere?
The scattering apparently also applies to my interest as well.
Ever since I started this blog it's like my mind's been on overdrive, and I keep looking for things to learn.

The watercolor was originally for the Little One.
Maybe she was too young, though, for it ended up as my toy, rather.
These are the set, the brush and the sketchpad, and some of my 'art'. The water jar was originally a kimchi jar. The Husband loves it (kimchi).

(I am getting tired. I should doze off soon. But in the meantime, enjoy the pics, and leave me comments.)

The Tools
Color experiments

A Tree

Wall

Little Girl



Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Learning something new everyday...

When I was working, we often welcome new batches of trainees, and sometimes full time employees, aboard. The onus is, of course, on us 'long-timers' to bring them up to date with how things are done etc etc etc. Other times, there will be on-hand training to introduce new duties or even some new way of doing things.

Not to be boastful, but I think I was usually one of those who manage to catch up quickly. Combined later on with my responsibility as the supervisor in charge, I do get to 'teach' people quite a bit, and I often quote 'learning something new everyday'. I think it's a good motto to live by. Hopefully it will prevent you from becoming stuck in the past, never growing, never improving.

Well, today I learn about watermarking.
I notice that the blogs I love often would put watermark on their photos.
Concerns regarding copyrights issue aside, I think it really make the blogs look professional.
As I might have mention before, I do have hopes for this blog. Also, I do like to think I take pretty good pictures at times, and I do not want them to be used without my permission. So I suppose it's a good idea to watermark my pictures.



I found this free watermarking service from Google, PicMarkr.
Well, I suppose there are more out there, as you can see from the google search page. However, I just happen to choose PicMarkr and find it pretty easy to use as well.
If you happen to have Picasa, Facebook or Flickr, you can even simply connect to your photos via the website and then replace the original photos with the watermarked ones.

I have been using Picasa for sharing my photos, especially the Little Ones', with my family.
I was really happy to see that the free photo editing software Picnik is now integrated in the Picasa photo viewer. It made my life very much easier the other day when I had to tell a story about the Dog (maybe will share it with you one of these days).

Now, I know that I have been dropping names. I am not paid to be an advertiser. You notice that I mainly share about free stuff. The point here is more to share about my progress in getting the hang of good blogging as I see it. As I learn, you can expect more entries in the same vein, on things I learn in order to be a better blogger, and hopefully, a better person. These might or may not be useful to you, but, hey, we need to learn something new everyday, right? Well... so...

This is one of the pics that I watermark today. There are more, but maybe they are more useful for other posts I plan to write in the future.

So, what have learnt today?

This is my own watercolor painting. It was my something new learnt some other day.