S-M-R-T

Ever since I lost my job, I’ve been mourning the loss of access to the Adobe Creativity Suite.  Frankly, Adobe CS is an essential tool for the modern graphic designer, and I’ve been keenly aware of the months that that particular tool has been growing rusty for me.

Somehow, going online and downloading a freeware version never crossed my mind,

Stuff like this is apparently genetic.

My sister and her husband have gotten a court date to finalize E’s adoption.  This means that they’ll be able to take him to the temple and be sealed as a family for time and all eternity–the church likes to make sure things are all nice and legal before proceeding with such things.

Sis was talking to the Bro-in-Law on the phone, and a question that they needed to ask me was brought up.  After Sis finished talking to her husband, she forgot what she needed to ask me, (and who she needed to call) so she called Mom.

Ten minutes into a conversation with our mother, Sis remembered what the question is and who she was supposed to call.  When Mom called me later, she knew about this, so I guess Sis shared her blond moment.

The question was if I would be willing to design announcments for E’s adoption, sealing and baby blessing.  I said that I would, but I didn’t have the right software.  Sis suggested going on line and downloading freeware…

I’m a little embarrassed that I hadn’t thought of Inkscape before.  I’ve been playing with it for several hours now, and think I’ve gotten the hang of most of it–of course, it’s just different enough from Illustrator to be annoying.

I’ve got three announcement mock-ups made, and an idea for a fourth–I considered posting them here, but Sis reads this blog, and I want to show them to her in person.

So, all of a sudden having access to a vector-based art program is allowing me more freedom in designing a header, so the theme has changed.  I anticipate this to be the last theme change for a while, but expect a rotating headers.  I should really learn CSS so I can personalize the blog even more, but, one thing at a time, here.

Requisite mention of St. Patrick’s Day.

I don’t know if the headache I’ve been fighting all day has officially progressed to a migraine, or is just a bad sinus headache.  The pressure behind my eyes make me think sinuses, but the dizziness, nausea and sensitivity to light is making me think migraine.  All I know is I feel like crap.

I got an awesome picture of it, though.

So today, went to a St. Patrick’s day luncheon with some friends.  Well, my sister’s friends.  I took TONS of pictures of other people’s kids, and ate food that had been dyed green–it looked disgusting, tasted delicious.  The sheriff’s office had a helicopter flying around the neighborhood much to the delight of the little boys at the party (and my sister), and the local news sites aren’t telling us why.

Anyway, owing to the fact that I’m feeling so terrible, and I really need to get back into the habit of blogging every day, this post is dedicated to the way I coped for the few days I was sans computer.

First, I tried to blog.  It didn’t work:

For those of you who can’t read my handwriting (And those of you who can must work for doctors or something), it reads:

Blogging Sans Computer, pt 1:

1. Sans is a great word, it doesn’t get used nearly enough.  Sans sans sans.
2. There are MEN looking at me!  When did this start happening, or have I always been too blind to notice?
3. I have a lot to be greatful [sic] for:
   • my wonderful family and extended family
   • Terry Prachett books. Although I don’t know if I can handle a Rincewind book without demons/running away
   • chores that I’ve put off forever that only take a few minutes.
   • birdsong on the morning walk
4. A little dog (or two) cuddled on the lap is a great way to stay warm on a chilly afternoon, even if they don’t like it when you balance a book on top of them
5. I love it when books don’t turn out like you expect–they turn out better.  I need to learn how to do that.
6. I suck at growing things from seeds.
7. I may no longer have a computer, but my printer/scanner/copier will still work as a copier.  Sweet!

Like I mentioned yesterday, I pulled out my watercolor pencils for the first time in way to long.  Before scrolling down too far, remember, I’m a better artist on the computer then with a pencil and paper, and mostly, I was just trying to remember how to use the darn things, and wanted to see if they would work on sketch paper.

I actually really like how this one turned out. Kinda dreamy and swirly, with a random bit of blue, though it got me thinking that I needed to practice/figure out how to blend colors.

So I got this:

with random flecks because I was trying the advice on the back of the tin to get flecks of color.

And this: experimenting with different ways to put pigment down on the paper:

I also wanted to see what would happen if I used up a whole page, and the result is a crappy desert landscape:

The scanner ate all of the blue sky, and a good deal of the detail, but it wasn’t that great to begin with.  The point is, I spent an afternoon drawing/painting when I hadn’t done that in a long time.

I also wanted to experiment with human flesh tone, but I couldn’t draw a figure well enough to use.  I did get this that I quite liked:

but I couldn’t figure out what to do with her hands.

I also spent quite a lot of time writing, and I’ve already got the story that I began in the computer, and am working on it almost as diligently as I should.

Overall, I’m quite pleased with what I accomplished creativity wise.  Being without a computer opened a gate, anyway, and hopefully, I’ll keep going on this path.

Right now, though, I just want to go lay down for a bit.