Interesting Reads

copyright 2007 Stacy L. Rowan

My archives list in the right column shows me that my postings for July have been few and far between. What can I say? Summer has a way of pulling me away from both the computer and the studio. I want to be at the pool and the farmers market and enjoying the outdoors. I want to go swimming and get lost in a book and ride bikes and go on walks with my kids. Of course, come the end of next month when my shows start I will be paying for my fun in the sun, but right now it seems like a decent trade.

Although I haven't been writing much, I have read some good blog posts lately. I thought I would share them with you just in case you missed them.

Maggie over at Greywaren Art wrote two posts on the topic of being consistent in style. They can be found here and here. I'll be pondering her words as I soak up the sun. Hopefully the sun's bright rays will help me see clearly what my "cookies" should be.

Katherine on Making a Mark has also been putting up some thought provoking posts. This week she started reviewing Imagekind, an online print on demand service. Her first post was a brief introduction to Imagekind, and in the second post she really starts to delve into the details.

Now, just to prove that I've been doing more than just reading...

Earlier this month, Katherine also posted information on how to make a light box for still life photography. The information originally came from the knowledgeable folks at Strobist. I followed Katherine's link to the original directions and I am happy to say that I now have my very own light box!! It was so easy to make and fun to play with. The picture above of the pepper was the first picture I took in my new light box. (Isn't that a beautiful pepper? I didn't even know purple peppers existed until my trip to the farmer's market last week. It tastes like a regular green bell pepper, but looks so pretty in a salad. I'm planning on buying more, so watch for them to turn up in my salads and my artwork!)

After testing the light box in the set-up that Strobist had described, I decided to play with different colored lighting. I had some sheets of colored translucent paper that I bought in the scrapbooking section of the local craft store. They cost about 80 cents each and worked well for this experiment. For this picture of the teacup, I slipped a light blue sheet between the light source and the box. I also put an orange sheet standing up inside the box on the shadow side of the cup. Can you see the two colors reflected in the cup?

2007 copyright Stacy L. Rowan

I also tried the opposite set up with the orange between the light source and the cup and the blue on the shadow side. Unfortunately the orange is a little dark, so that picture didn't work as well. I plan to go back and buy a yellow sheet and try again.

So you see, I am doing some things. Sure they may seem more like playing than work, but isn't that what summer is all about?