The latest watercolor is kind of unique one in that the foreground actually frames a couple of people in the buffet restaurant on the Norwegian cruise ship Star as it made port in Mazatlan, Mexico. The vision through the window is of a jungle oriented big city. You can peer through the window just as the people are doing, and see the big buildings on the ridge as they look out across the ocean. One person is contemplating the port, while the other is cleaning the tables.
A peak into the progress of this painting is available through Flickr posted on the left side of this blog.
The two main thoughts that my watercolor teacher had on the previous painting, the pv photographer is that the painting did not have enough contrast in it. She said that she would have like to see the images overlap to draw in some unity. This painting (the Mazatlan port) certainly is not lacking in visual contrast.
There is a touch or two of what I have been learning from the Don Andrews DVD set. A major idea of his is that the artist does not have to tell the whole story in the painting if it is not the major focus. He also is a major supporter of "granulation" which is mixing of colors wet on wet on the paper.. moving from light values to mid values to just a few dark values to set off the whites in the paper. He dose not use masking but rather the wet/dry content of the paper will allow the colors to run together when they are wet and stop abruptly when the washes hit the dry paper.
He is a painter from Mobile Alabama. He uses nothing but big wash brushes and big round brushes. He draws in the whites first and the other parts of the paintings he brushes "though the lines to get he right value for a glaze that further defines the subject matter. Pretty cool stuff.
: ) Pat
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
Making a Facebook Page
Recently I made a Facebook page for our high school class.
We may have another reunion in the offing. Our class was El Camino High School, South San Francisco,1968. When most people get a little info kernal like that, they immediately find in their head where they fit with that class.
Sadly I do this even while waiting for my prescription at the pharmacy. One of their validity measures is to ask you what the birth date is of the person getting the medication. So you add or subtract from yours and you can tell how much older or younger this person is.
After watching the Lynda.com movie on Facebook, it became clear that I needed a"Page" for the class not a "Group." A "Group is non identified gathering of face book members. A page is used for a company or an organization that has structure outside of facebook.
We need to get 150 contacts or the page name could be pirated by someone else.
I think that the way to get that kind of support is through content.
My first content addition is a list of songs that people in my class were aware of as freshmen, in 1964.
1) I Want to Hold your Hand
2) She Loves You
3) Hello Dolly
4) Oh Pretty Woman
5) I Get Around
6) Everybody Loves Somebody
7) My Guy
8) We'll Sing in the Sunshine
9) Last Kiss
10) Where did our Love Go?
It will be interesting to see if anyone responds to the music list. In that era, most of songs were played on AM as FM was for "Good" music. This was the time that FM started broadcasting in stereo. My were were impressed! You could here a different channel in each ear. Consumers paid extra for stereo rather than "Hi Fidelity... or Hi Fi for short.
Hope all of you have a great Memorial Day weekend!
Love
Pat
We may have another reunion in the offing. Our class was El Camino High School, South San Francisco,1968. When most people get a little info kernal like that, they immediately find in their head where they fit with that class.
Sadly I do this even while waiting for my prescription at the pharmacy. One of their validity measures is to ask you what the birth date is of the person getting the medication. So you add or subtract from yours and you can tell how much older or younger this person is.
After watching the Lynda.com movie on Facebook, it became clear that I needed a"Page" for the class not a "Group." A "Group is non identified gathering of face book members. A page is used for a company or an organization that has structure outside of facebook.
We need to get 150 contacts or the page name could be pirated by someone else.
I think that the way to get that kind of support is through content.
My first content addition is a list of songs that people in my class were aware of as freshmen, in 1964.
2) She Loves You
3) Hello Dolly
4) Oh Pretty Woman
5) I Get Around
6) Everybody Loves Somebody
7) My Guy
8) We'll Sing in the Sunshine
9) Last Kiss
10) Where did our Love Go?
It will be interesting to see if anyone responds to the music list. In that era, most of songs were played on AM as FM was for "Good" music. This was the time that FM started broadcasting in stereo. My were were impressed! You could here a different channel in each ear. Consumers paid extra for stereo rather than "Hi Fidelity... or Hi Fi for short.
Hope all of you have a great Memorial Day weekend!
Love
Pat
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Scammed! Two Friends
I am concerned with people that have been hit by a mal ware scam.
Two of my friends were hit very recently with the MacDefender scam.
Here is what I know:
It usually comes in from a google search, although Google has nothing to do with this bute.
It seems to be be most often in the two cases that I have worked with, Safari, the Mac based browser.
Apple has planned to release a new version of its operating system to stop this kind of malicious programming.
WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW TO KEEP FROM GETTING THIS AND ITS VARIANTS:
If you use Safari: Go to the preferences and its General tag.. and make sure that the "open safe programs when downloaded" is Not checked!
This is a scam to get your credit card number. If you happen to succum.. cancel the transaction immediately.
: ( Pat
How to avoid or remove Mac Defender malware
Last Modified: May 24, 2011
Article: HT4650
A recent phishing scam has targeted Mac users by redirecting them from legitimate websites to fake websites which tell them that their computer is infected with a virus. The user is then offered Mac Defender "anti-virus" software to solve the issue.
This “anti-virus” software is malware (i.e. malicious software). Its ultimate goal is to get the user's credit card information which may be used for fraudulent purposes.
The most common names for this malware are MacDefender, MacProtector and MacSecurity.
In the coming days, Apple will deliver a Mac OS X software update that will automatically find and remove Mac Defender malware and its known variants. The update will also help protect users by providing an explicit warning if they download this malware.
In the meantime, the Resolution section below provides step-by-step instructions on how to avoid or manually remove this malware.
Products Affected
Mac OS X 10.4, Mac OS X 10.6, Mac OS X 10.5
Resolution
How to avoid installing this malware
If any notifications about viruses or security software appear, quit Safari or any other browser that you are using. If a normal attempt at quitting the browser doesn’t work, then Force Quit the browser.
In some cases, your browser may automatically download and launch the installer for this malicious software. If this happens, cancel the installation process; do not enter your administrator password. Delete the installer immediately using the steps below.
Go into the Downloads folder or your preferred download location.
Drag the installer to the Trash.
Empty the Trash.
How to remove this malware
If the malware has been installed, we recommend the following actions:
Do not provide your credit card information under any circumstances.
Use the Removal Steps below.
Removal steps
Move or close the Scan Window
Go to the Utilities folder in the Applications folder and launch Activity Monitor
Choose All Processes from the pop up menu in the upper right corner of the window
Under the Process Name column, look for the name of the app and click to select it; common app names include: MacDefender, MacSecurity or MacProtector
Click the Quit Process button in the upper left corner of the window and select Quit
Quit Activity Monitor application
Open the Applications folder
Locate the app ex. MacDefender, MacSecurity, MacProtector or other name
Drag to Trash, and empty Trash
Malware also installs a login item in your account in System Preferences. Removal of the login item is not necessary, but you can remove it by following the steps below.
Open System Preferences, select Accounts, then Login Items
Select the name of the app you removed in the steps above ex. MacDefender, MacSecurity, MacProtector
Click the minus button
Use the steps in the “How to avoid installing this malware” section above to remove the installer from the download location.
Note: Apple provides security updates for the Mac exclusively through Software Update and the Apple Support Downloads site. User should exercise caution any time they are asked to enter sensitive personal information online.
Two of my friends were hit very recently with the MacDefender scam.
Here is what I know:
It usually comes in from a google search, although Google has nothing to do with this bute.
It seems to be be most often in the two cases that I have worked with, Safari, the Mac based browser.
Apple has planned to release a new version of its operating system to stop this kind of malicious programming.
WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW TO KEEP FROM GETTING THIS AND ITS VARIANTS:
If you use Safari: Go to the preferences and its General tag.. and make sure that the "open safe programs when downloaded" is Not checked!
This is a scam to get your credit card number. If you happen to succum.. cancel the transaction immediately.
: ( Pat
How to avoid or remove Mac Defender malware
Last Modified: May 24, 2011
Article: HT4650
A recent phishing scam has targeted Mac users by redirecting them from legitimate websites to fake websites which tell them that their computer is infected with a virus. The user is then offered Mac Defender "anti-virus" software to solve the issue.
This “anti-virus” software is malware (i.e. malicious software). Its ultimate goal is to get the user's credit card information which may be used for fraudulent purposes.
The most common names for this malware are MacDefender, MacProtector and MacSecurity.
In the coming days, Apple will deliver a Mac OS X software update that will automatically find and remove Mac Defender malware and its known variants. The update will also help protect users by providing an explicit warning if they download this malware.
In the meantime, the Resolution section below provides step-by-step instructions on how to avoid or manually remove this malware.
Products Affected
Mac OS X 10.4, Mac OS X 10.6, Mac OS X 10.5
Resolution
How to avoid installing this malware
If any notifications about viruses or security software appear, quit Safari or any other browser that you are using. If a normal attempt at quitting the browser doesn’t work, then Force Quit the browser.
In some cases, your browser may automatically download and launch the installer for this malicious software. If this happens, cancel the installation process; do not enter your administrator password. Delete the installer immediately using the steps below.
Go into the Downloads folder or your preferred download location.
Drag the installer to the Trash.
Empty the Trash.
How to remove this malware
If the malware has been installed, we recommend the following actions:
Do not provide your credit card information under any circumstances.
Use the Removal Steps below.
Removal steps
Move or close the Scan Window
Go to the Utilities folder in the Applications folder and launch Activity Monitor
Choose All Processes from the pop up menu in the upper right corner of the window
Under the Process Name column, look for the name of the app and click to select it; common app names include: MacDefender, MacSecurity or MacProtector
Click the Quit Process button in the upper left corner of the window and select Quit
Quit Activity Monitor application
Open the Applications folder
Locate the app ex. MacDefender, MacSecurity, MacProtector or other name
Drag to Trash, and empty Trash
Malware also installs a login item in your account in System Preferences. Removal of the login item is not necessary, but you can remove it by following the steps below.
Open System Preferences, select Accounts, then Login Items
Select the name of the app you removed in the steps above ex. MacDefender, MacSecurity, MacProtector
Click the minus button
Use the steps in the “How to avoid installing this malware” section above to remove the installer from the download location.
Note: Apple provides security updates for the Mac exclusively through Software Update and the Apple Support Downloads site. User should exercise caution any time they are asked to enter sensitive personal information online.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Norah Jones, and Crock Pot Ribs
Norah Jones
I am enjoying a new for me album by Norah Jones entitled "Not too Late." There are some different sounding tracks in this album. While I have no objection to her previous albums which feature her piano and jazz backup,but this album has some diversity.
A fellow artist in my class had a similar comment when she saw my last piece, the Puerto Vallarta Photographer. She said that I have a variety of styles. It may be that I am looking for a voice in my painting or it may be that I have not settled into one style of painting. I love working them all though!
I am working on one now that started as a inconsequential photo but will make what I think is a stunning watercolor. The cruise kitchen worker and a person at the table of the buffet meet in silhouette in front of the backdrop of Port Mazatlan. It certainly doesn't lack contrast. Its another horizontal aspect painting overall smaller than the 23x36 atmosphere oriented paintings that I have been doing. Its pretty cool because skyline with its many colors that allow for a rather "painterly" approach. My teacher said that I should try to get get some other color besides black into the shadows. The shadows will be the challenge in this painting. At least it won't get lost in detail.
Crock Pot Baby Back Ribs
The vegetarians will please excuse this diversion into gluttony.
The best ribs I have every tasted I made last night. The even beat the Chili's.
I bought a two rack pack at Costco and used the Cook's illustrated suggestions to make a crockpot version.
Starting with a dry mix of 3 Tablespoons of paprika, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and One Tablespoon each of salt and pepper I made the dry mix and rubbed down those ribs.
They were coiled into the crockpot, along the sides and 3 cups of barbeque sauce was drizzled over the top. I used one bottle of Bulls eye Texas as it has a kick and a bottle of sweet baby barbeque sauce to equall the 3 cups,
After they cooked on low for 5 hours they came out and were tented on the counter top with foil. The sauce at the bottom came out and was reduced on the stove top to about 2 cups after the fat was skimmed off the top.
20 minutes of tenting and the ribs were cut and tossed in the reduced sauce.
They were sweet and spicy and good. I served them with French green beans and a baked russet potato.
Sue did not like them because they were too sweet... oh my!
You cannot please them all.
: ) Pat
I am enjoying a new for me album by Norah Jones entitled "Not too Late." There are some different sounding tracks in this album. While I have no objection to her previous albums which feature her piano and jazz backup,but this album has some diversity.
A fellow artist in my class had a similar comment when she saw my last piece, the Puerto Vallarta Photographer. She said that I have a variety of styles. It may be that I am looking for a voice in my painting or it may be that I have not settled into one style of painting. I love working them all though!
I am working on one now that started as a inconsequential photo but will make what I think is a stunning watercolor. The cruise kitchen worker and a person at the table of the buffet meet in silhouette in front of the backdrop of Port Mazatlan. It certainly doesn't lack contrast. Its another horizontal aspect painting overall smaller than the 23x36 atmosphere oriented paintings that I have been doing. Its pretty cool because skyline with its many colors that allow for a rather "painterly" approach. My teacher said that I should try to get get some other color besides black into the shadows. The shadows will be the challenge in this painting. At least it won't get lost in detail.
Crock Pot Baby Back Ribs
The vegetarians will please excuse this diversion into gluttony.
The best ribs I have every tasted I made last night. The even beat the Chili's.
I bought a two rack pack at Costco and used the Cook's illustrated suggestions to make a crockpot version.
Starting with a dry mix of 3 Tablespoons of paprika, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and One Tablespoon each of salt and pepper I made the dry mix and rubbed down those ribs.
They were coiled into the crockpot, along the sides and 3 cups of barbeque sauce was drizzled over the top. I used one bottle of Bulls eye Texas as it has a kick and a bottle of sweet baby barbeque sauce to equall the 3 cups,
After they cooked on low for 5 hours they came out and were tented on the counter top with foil. The sauce at the bottom came out and was reduced on the stove top to about 2 cups after the fat was skimmed off the top.
20 minutes of tenting and the ribs were cut and tossed in the reduced sauce.
They were sweet and spicy and good. I served them with French green beans and a baked russet potato.
Sue did not like them because they were too sweet... oh my!
You cannot please them all.
: ) Pat
Friday, May 20, 2011
Working in the Outdoor Kitchen
A couple of years ago I bought the three burner big boy stove at Costco. It is made by a Utah company called the Great Outdoors. My model is the Expedition. It has three burners and works off of a portable propane tank. Its the same kind of tank that is used for gas barbeques.
The big issue for this set up is maintaining the burners. It has a nice stand and it will hold my biggest pot.
When you hook it up to get it going it is essential that all the connections be checked with a squirt of windex to make sure that the connections hold and that there will be no safety issues.
I check this out before we started making jam on it this year and all the burners checked out. I took the pipe cleaners to the little holes and the vent and it was great. Sometimes a spider takes up residence in the tubes and the little gas holes do not work that well.
By the time Linzi made it over to see us and to get the strawberry jam going there was a storm. The burners did not get covered. Only one of the three burners pushed the gas out with a blue flame instead of a yellow one. A yellow one means that the air is not adjusted properly. This puts more carbon out and causes the bottom of the pot to get soot all over it. Such was the case for the 17 quart pot. The area around the cooking surface was nice and clean but he pot got sooty.
The best way to clean the soot off the pan is with some comet sink cleaner and a scrub cloth. It did the trick and everything is back to being able to be stored in the kitchen until the next jam session.
Have a great weekend!
: ) Pat
The big issue for this set up is maintaining the burners. It has a nice stand and it will hold my biggest pot.
When you hook it up to get it going it is essential that all the connections be checked with a squirt of windex to make sure that the connections hold and that there will be no safety issues.
I check this out before we started making jam on it this year and all the burners checked out. I took the pipe cleaners to the little holes and the vent and it was great. Sometimes a spider takes up residence in the tubes and the little gas holes do not work that well.
By the time Linzi made it over to see us and to get the strawberry jam going there was a storm. The burners did not get covered. Only one of the three burners pushed the gas out with a blue flame instead of a yellow one. A yellow one means that the air is not adjusted properly. This puts more carbon out and causes the bottom of the pot to get soot all over it. Such was the case for the 17 quart pot. The area around the cooking surface was nice and clean but he pot got sooty.
The best way to clean the soot off the pan is with some comet sink cleaner and a scrub cloth. It did the trick and everything is back to being able to be stored in the kitchen until the next jam session.
Have a great weekend!
: ) Pat
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Making Strawberry Jam 2011
Its become a delightful Spring tradition.
Linzi comes over and we make the first batch of jam for the season. The Hmong fruit stand has beautiful strawberries. There is always a nice selection of other truck farm vegetables along with the strawberries. We bought an overflowing flat and half flat to start. Its been a rainy late spring and the berries have plenty of sugar in them. Some of them are not quite as dark red as they are some years but overall they have magnificent flavor.
I had gathered up all of the old jam jars that I could put my hands on in the house. They were tucked in all of the nooks and crannies of the various dishes. That was enough for the first batch. The next batch we were off to Target to pick up a set of one pint jars. We bought them out.
This year we are trying out a new pectin mix. Its called Pomona's universal pectin. One box uses 16 cups of fruit. The usual Sure Jell low sugar makes a batch with 4 cups of fruit. There is a calcium water component sin Pomona's that activates the citrus based pectin. It could be used for any level of sugar added jam or jelly. The pectin, or jam thickener is usually based on apple or pear starch.
The mountain of strawberries that we bought amounted to two huge batches. We used the outside stove to boil the jars and took the jam making inside this time because the outside gas stove was generating a little yellow on it flame do to water from recent rains in the gas system.
The calcium water was integrated into the strawberries to start. They the berries that were crushed in the food processor were heated to a boil. Sugar with the pectin was stirred in. The whole big pot was allowed to come to a boil again and as it was boiling, butter and my lemon juice ice cubes were added. We only used 4 cups of sugar for each 16 cup batch of strawberries.
It will be interesting to see how this all works out. The box and testimonials of people who have used this method are all very positive.
What makes it easy to make is my partner helping out. It also helps to have a 17 quart magna lite aluminum stock pot.
The chance to spend some time with my daughters is truly priceless. Thanks to Linzi coming down and a chance to meet up with Heather for a full weekend Mother's day we have had a great month of reunion with the family.
Thanks girls for taking some time in your busy lives to spend some time with us!
: ) Pat
Linzi comes over and we make the first batch of jam for the season. The Hmong fruit stand has beautiful strawberries. There is always a nice selection of other truck farm vegetables along with the strawberries. We bought an overflowing flat and half flat to start. Its been a rainy late spring and the berries have plenty of sugar in them. Some of them are not quite as dark red as they are some years but overall they have magnificent flavor.
I had gathered up all of the old jam jars that I could put my hands on in the house. They were tucked in all of the nooks and crannies of the various dishes. That was enough for the first batch. The next batch we were off to Target to pick up a set of one pint jars. We bought them out.
This year we are trying out a new pectin mix. Its called Pomona's universal pectin. One box uses 16 cups of fruit. The usual Sure Jell low sugar makes a batch with 4 cups of fruit. There is a calcium water component sin Pomona's that activates the citrus based pectin. It could be used for any level of sugar added jam or jelly. The pectin, or jam thickener is usually based on apple or pear starch.
The mountain of strawberries that we bought amounted to two huge batches. We used the outside stove to boil the jars and took the jam making inside this time because the outside gas stove was generating a little yellow on it flame do to water from recent rains in the gas system.
The calcium water was integrated into the strawberries to start. They the berries that were crushed in the food processor were heated to a boil. Sugar with the pectin was stirred in. The whole big pot was allowed to come to a boil again and as it was boiling, butter and my lemon juice ice cubes were added. We only used 4 cups of sugar for each 16 cup batch of strawberries.
It will be interesting to see how this all works out. The box and testimonials of people who have used this method are all very positive.
What makes it easy to make is my partner helping out. It also helps to have a 17 quart magna lite aluminum stock pot.
The chance to spend some time with my daughters is truly priceless. Thanks to Linzi coming down and a chance to meet up with Heather for a full weekend Mother's day we have had a great month of reunion with the family.
Thanks girls for taking some time in your busy lives to spend some time with us!
: ) Pat
Monday, May 16, 2011
The Puerto Vallarta Photographer
I thought it was in interesting photo.
A guy on the Malacon was shooting a photo of his woman between two authentically dressed indigenous dressed characters by the arches. The man did not take time to put is beer with a couple of limes in it down before he took the photo.
I decided to paint this photo on a canvas prepared with the new "watercolor" grounds offered for purchase from Daniel Smith in Seattle. What this new medium allowed me to do it to take an acrylic canvas and paint watercolors on it. Without a proper treatment the acrylic canvas will shed watercolor like a duck.It is primed with the paint on grounds in a liquid medium and then allowed to dry.
There is a company that makes canvas treated for watercolors, Fredrick's but the canvas sizes are often limited. This painting called for a change in aspect(height to width ratio) so that the painting would be more horizontal than standard painting canvases. The local Michael's ran a special on canvases, half off their gallery supported acrylic canvases. I bought two and treated them with two coats of the watercolor grounds. I had to make sure that they dried between coats.
This is the first painting that I have made with these new grounds. The texture while painting them is great. The feel is similar to paper.Dry paint to dry canvas results a pleasant crusty feel and sound. It is also possible to scruble the texture right down the base if needed. I needed to do that to extend the line of horizon through the feathers for this painting. I also needed to do this to lift the charcoal shadows on the tile surface. My art teacher suggested that I do that since the shadows were reading too darkly and connecting them with the objects that they were to represent was difficult at times in this painting.
The figures were left to be loose as the setting and the photographer are supposed to be the important part of this painting.
Check to see how this painting progressed as shown in the flickr link connected on the the left side of this blog.
Have a great day! Pat
A guy on the Malacon was shooting a photo of his woman between two authentically dressed indigenous dressed characters by the arches. The man did not take time to put is beer with a couple of limes in it down before he took the photo.
I decided to paint this photo on a canvas prepared with the new "watercolor" grounds offered for purchase from Daniel Smith in Seattle. What this new medium allowed me to do it to take an acrylic canvas and paint watercolors on it. Without a proper treatment the acrylic canvas will shed watercolor like a duck.It is primed with the paint on grounds in a liquid medium and then allowed to dry.
There is a company that makes canvas treated for watercolors, Fredrick's but the canvas sizes are often limited. This painting called for a change in aspect(height to width ratio) so that the painting would be more horizontal than standard painting canvases. The local Michael's ran a special on canvases, half off their gallery supported acrylic canvases. I bought two and treated them with two coats of the watercolor grounds. I had to make sure that they dried between coats.
This is the first painting that I have made with these new grounds. The texture while painting them is great. The feel is similar to paper.Dry paint to dry canvas results a pleasant crusty feel and sound. It is also possible to scruble the texture right down the base if needed. I needed to do that to extend the line of horizon through the feathers for this painting. I also needed to do this to lift the charcoal shadows on the tile surface. My art teacher suggested that I do that since the shadows were reading too darkly and connecting them with the objects that they were to represent was difficult at times in this painting.
The figures were left to be loose as the setting and the photographer are supposed to be the important part of this painting.
Check to see how this painting progressed as shown in the flickr link connected on the the left side of this blog.
Have a great day! Pat
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