The Coffee House

[vintagesnaps]

Record breaking cold, record breaking snow. Shad'up Gary!

Nice thing about an early retirement now is on a day like this I can stretch the morning coffee til lunchtime. And set up and do some lumen prints on a table in the window.

Bri seems like you're looking for something, maybe photography is it, maybe not, maybe it's a matter of figuring out what kind of photography you love. You could try looking up famous photographers and see if you find anything you connect with. Kertesz is my favorite, I just 'get' him.

You could try searching 'elements of composition in art', that should bring up some sites that have info. for students; might be helpful for someone who never took art, for me those are refreshers, I took all the art I could as electives. I think a lot of what you find online just brushes the surface and doesn't necessarily teach you a whole lot of anything.

For Leonore.

 

[bribrius]

That shows good thinking on your part.

My winter load is 15 of those sand tubes stacked against the front wall of the bed. This places about 900 lbs at the optimum leverage to load both axels fairly evenly. I get pretty good tire flex with that setup.

yeah, I could see how that might be important if you want to steer. Motor is in front , but I still bet you ware pretty close to balanced. I really should just have mine closer to the tailgate but with this kind of setup the pros outweighs the cons. Just more stress on the front end which it don't need but it will live. Not sure on the tires, I run nothing but ten plys on that and usually run 55 in front (saves the power steering pump) and 50 in back. Give or take the load it is pretty close. I got to the point of putting down white sheets of paper once and driving over them to look for even tread contract. Not a science, but pretty close. and saves from killing tires and makes more sense traction wise. Really nothing great, but when there is two feet of snow and you are out in a blizzard it suddenly all kind of seems to make a difference. Sand tubes are great too. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[bribrius]

Record breaking cold, record breaking snow. Shad'up Gary!

Nice thing about an early retirement now is on a day like this I can stretch the morning coffee til lunchtime. And set up and do some lumen prints on a table in the window.

Bri seems like you're looking for something, maybe photography is it, maybe not, maybe it's a matter of figuring out what kind of photography you love. You could try looking up famous photographers and see if you find anything you connect with. Kertesz is my favorite, I just 'get' him.

You could try searching 'elements of composition in art', that should bring up some sites that have info. for students; might be helpful for someone who never took art, for me those are refreshers, I took all the art I could as electives. I think a lot of what you find online just brushes the surface and doesn't necessarily teach you a whole lot of anything.

For Leonore.

yeah I never did much art.. I did take art and creative writing in college but it was more of filler and easy credits. Actually, for the longest time I pretty much hated most art and thought it was a waste of time.. Except dali, for some reason I liked dali. Never quite figured out why. I still went through the occasional gallery but it was with a pretty negative outlook just on walking through the front door. Lot of it is mentality too. You get brought up with certain pretenses. in my case, my family were not arts people. People that did art couldn't find a job, people that did art couldn't make it through the business program for bas so had to go the less preferred root. People that did art did it for lack of other options and capability. Even the guy that played the guitar, you know, get a real job. it was a stigma. If I said i was going to go to school for art i probably would have been slapped. So when someone called me a artist a couple times from photography it kind of left a bad taste in my mouth to be honest. As the artists were thought of as the jokers. I still don't take most art seriously, lack of knowledge and mentality. My sister first did photography before me, but it was easily accepted as none of us considered photography art. she shot celtic games etc. it wasn't art it was photography. some stuff I see, I am just like "wtf is that and why on earth would they bother?" so I am a huge art critic, probably one of the biggest because my first assumption is 90 percent of it is futile trash. I like taking photographs though, tried painting as a adult, I suck at it. clay pottery I found entertaining. wouldn't want to do it full time but once in a while for chits and giggles. I make some of my own cups and plates etc.

 

[astroNikon]

Wow, this was the tree two days ago:

This was the tree yesterday:
View attachment 89431

That was about 7:45 am. The snow was gone an hour later but everything else looked the same.

Here's the tree now, one day later, 3:30 pm:
View attachment 89432

This morning there was ONE leaf on one of my trees. I was going to take a picture and call it "Solitairy". But it was too cold & windy out to go outside. I wonder if it's still there?

 

[bribrius]

Wow, this was the tree two days ago:

This was the tree yesterday:
View attachment 89431

That was about 7:45 am. The snow was gone an hour later but everything else looked the same.

Here's the tree now, one day later, 3:30 pm:
View attachment 89432

This morning there was ONE leaf on one of my trees. I was going to take a picture and call it "Solitairy". But it was too cold & windy out to go outside. I wonder if it's still there?

you should go look. no other way to find out.

 

[bribrius]

Here is one that I know nothing about. Says it's free, but I only viewed the first page, so let me know if it's any good.

Free online Course on Art Appreciation Basics - Open Learning World.com

thanks. Really helpful. And it says I don't even have to like art just learn how to bullshit it better!

 

[limr36 6]

Yay, little Greebo was adopted! I'm glad I got to see him one last time this morning.

Here's a screen shot from the video I shot last week on my phone.

And then there was this little Bengal girl. SO sweet and gorgeous. She'd had kittens that were in the adoption room for the day. They were all adopted and today when I cleaned her cage, she was feeling a little down

Finally was Nash. He was there this week as well and he was acting like a little nut. He had such a loud purr and he clearly needed attention, so I kept him out for a little bit and played with him a bit in his cage before I went on to clean the next one. And I kept coming back to pet him.

 

[pgriz]

Here is one that I know nothing about. Says it's free, but I only viewed the first page, so let me know if it's any good.

Free online Course on Art Appreciation Basics - Open Learning World.com

thanks. Really helpful. And it says I don't even have to like art just learn how to bullshit it better!

The nice thing about learning about "art" (and notice that it is not "ART"), is that it teaches one to see in a deeper way, the relationships between light and dark, between texture and form, between tone and depth. It allows us to see the medium as a way of framing the content. It allows us to ask about the artist's intent, and even perhaps a comment on the culture from which that art emerged.

My wife teaches art to people ranging from 2-3 years to teenagers, to middle-aged, to seniors. With each group, she tries to get them to notice something they haven't paid attention to before. Today, she did a workshop for a group with emotional difficulties (depression, anxiety, etc.), and she took them through exercises which calm and relax, then got them to explore the boundaries. Negative spaces, the shadows, the tone transition from light to dark... are places where the eye can learn to see deeper.

Art is about opening the eye, the heart, and the mind.

 

[snowbear122 54]

Yay, little Greebo was adopted! I'm glad I got to see him one last time this morning.

Here's a screen shot from the video I shot last week on my phone.
View attachment 89614

And then there was this little Bengal girl. SO sweet and gorgeous. She'd had kittens that were in the adoption room for the day. They were all adopted and today when I cleaned her cage, she was feeling a little down

View attachment 89617

Finally was Nash. He was there this week as well and he was acting like a little nut. He had such a loud purr and he clearly needed attention, so I kept him out for a little bit and played with him a bit in his cage before I went on to clean the next one. And I kept coming back to pet him.

View attachment 89618

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. I want (but can't have)! Gotta go hug Bell & Zoe, now.

 

[limr36 6]

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. I want (but can't have)! Gotta go hug Bell & Zoe, now.

I know! My girls always get spoiled rotten on Tuesdays.

Actually, right now I'm scanning some more shots that I took on film. I took some more today but I didn't finish the roll so they'll have to wait a while.

 

[Gary A.]

That must be a great experience for you ... (not particularly the cage cleaning ... but that is part of the whole beneficial experience) ... I will contribute to yours and Amy's Zoo/Farm with the Guinea Pig Barn

 

[Gary A.]

PS- Did I tell you that The Cook purrs?

 

[limr36 6]

PS- Did I tell you that The Cook purrs?

Oh!

 

[limr36 6]

That must be a great experience for you ... (not particularly the cage cleaning ... but that is part of the whole beneficial experience) ... I will contribute to yours and Amy's Zoo/Farm with the Guinea Pig Barn

It's definitely been good for me to be there, even if it involves tasks that aren't always so pleasant. It's nice to be able to help.

 

[Gary A.]

PS- Did I tell you that The Cook purrs?

Oh!

She likes to have her stomach rubbed. After a bit she'll start making heavy breathing sounds which sounds like purring. Amy swears that she's not a dog.