I kinda wanna spend all the money I just made on Etsy on this:

or this:

from AGC916.

april star*cast

the Three Leaps of the Gazelle! I'll be looking for those, what wonderful imagery. The Lyrid Meteor shower is coming up on the 22nd, which reminds me of this:

(thanks, design squish)

Which can also be seen here:

It's terribly difficult to take a decent picture of one's own back so I feel this shot really doesn't do it justice, but you get the idea. And a cover up no less! Well done Matt Lentz!

it's different everyday

I'm adrift today. No motion, no momentum. At least the sky is pretty.

march star*cast

This month's full moon, the Worm Moon, will be the biggest and brightest of the year thanks to perigee. Hooray! Read more about it here. News of this most wonderful of full moons has me kicking myself even more than before for deciding not to visit SXSW this year. I feel like a first class dummy. :(

Apogee/Perigee image, thanks NASA!

mtns on my mind

This is the view from my apartment window:

I see them everyday, I have for the past two years and they're still a marvel to me. I spend time with them. They change, they hide, they have moods, but they're always there - and always a marvel. No wonder they've been on my mind and in my journal.

my sky tonight

Let me hear the wisdom as the moon speaks to the sea!

hubble star*cast

I was lying in bed sick today, very frustrated about my lack of energy and inability to work on projects when my internet-ing led me to this:



It's a monthly stargazing video podcast from Hubble! February is essentially over but highlights include Jupiter, Betelgeuse, Canis Major and Venus.

moon time

I'm shopping for a new lunar calendar over on Etsy. I think I'm going to get this one from Three Brown Hares:

But this one from Caitlyn Galloway is super gorgeous too!

Tough!

Best day.

Today was the best day, for so many reasons. Sunshine. Yard naps. Ukulele. Matching outfits. (>.<) I could go on, but I won't.

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These are all double exposures - and I love them, especially the last one. Really fun new experiment!

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While I'm here I feel the need to point out that the pictures I take are totally for fun, and are not to be taken seriously (by you or me!) despite the frequency with which I post them. Truth be told, I just love to fiddle with with my camera on an outside day - and the instant prints are so easy and fun to share! Also, not a single one is in the least bit photo-shopped, I'm too lazy for that sort of thing. (It's enough for me to muster a scan and post!) So please, enjoy them as I do - as a simple and joyful diversion, not unlike candy or a popsicle. :D

Bike & Beach

This afternoon I rode my bike out to Golden Gardens. It was a super beautiful day. Here is what I saw:

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LION&LAMB

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.. the variety of sky on a single spring day ..

SiNKiNG

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MT. SI

 

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First there is a mountain...

I did my first real image based print as a Christmas project, and oh did I learn things! (Pardon my digital camera, it hasn't felt like taking pictures lately. Its just not into that sort of thing anymore.) So, I started with a drawing and used that to carve a lino block:

I only used the one carved block, but did two color runs - the first black, then navy blue over the top. The black ink was your typical rubber based ink used with lead type and what not, the navy blue was a water based acrylic. Two very different inks. Interrestiinng, she says. I inked up the press as usual for the black run, but because of my acrylic paint/roller fiasco this summer I decided to skip the rollers on the blue run and just brayer the ink directly onto the block. Good idea I think. Here's the first run with black only:

 

Ink coverage for both runs was not so great. Not because of either ink, but just the press itself. I'm beginning to believe solid even coverage on large areas of color is impossible with the Kelsey, I've heard the stories. I suspect it has something to do with how the arm delivers pressure to the platen -- unevenly?? No amount of impression screwing was getting me anywhere. I tried brayering on a ton of ink which worked for a few pulls, but eventually there was just too much ink on my block. Prints were coming out goopy and sloppy so I had to clean the block off and start fresh. In fact there was so much ink on the block that the print would stick to it as I let the arm down. This actually came out in my favor as I was able to burnish the back of the print, improving coverage slightly.

For this type of print I think I prefer the lighter acrylic ink. It sure came out pretty on my tympan! Also I don't think I'll use the rubber based and water based in combo again. Can't really say why, just a hunch I suppose. I want to move towards printing more images like this and to do so successfully I think I'm going to need a different press... here we go! I'm thinking a larger flatbed for more even coverage and bigger prints! We'll see....

Cranes.

 

*very* amateur photography

Ok so here are some of the pictures I've taken with the Polaroid:

Focus and light (whats the photography word for this? aperture?) are manually adjustable, as is shutter speed to some extent. (I've found that sometimes when I hold the trigger down the shutter stays open til I lift my finger, sometimes it just does its own thing.) I've found we do best with vistas and landscape type shots, mid-range and close-ups are pretty dicey right now - I think due more to my inexperience than any lack of ability on the cameras part. Also, I am a weiner and the first few exposures are really hard for me to pull out of the camera. :) The exposures also dry funny and get really dirty when I'm outside, as I'm sure you see above.