More of Me Post

I remember a time during my preteen years, After Mom And Dad moved all of us to Cleveland, OH. That was in '65 so I guess it could have been into my very early teenage years even. 


Anyway, I've told you before how I've always like to make and build things. I can't remember why, but for some reason I was into puppets at the time. Maybe it was something I was watching on TV. I would look for old material around the house and ask Mom if I could use it to make something. White material was ideal.


I would trace my hand on the material with the thumb in the widest position from my other fingers as possible (this was accomplished through trial and error). Then I would draw the shape for my pinky afterward. 


I would cut out the shape from the two pieces of material, get needle and thread, and sew them together. When I had finished with the stitching, I would squeeze my hand into the finished product which was now my hand puppet. Now it was ready for a face. Sometimes it was a face cut out from paper of a comic figure, glued on,  or a face drawn with magic marker. 


Then I would have my very own puppet shows. It was fun...something I put together with my own hands and creating my own silly dialog. It didn't matter what anybody else thought, I knew that I was happy. The puppet thing didn't last long, but the experience will always be with me.


Looking back, I can see the development of what is now something I have always had. A desire to imagine, and then to see my imagination come to life. It's God's gift to me.


The things I put together don't have to be perfect, although if I chose to go that route I think I could make a living at it. I'm talking about a lot of things I have concocted over the years that have actually been useful....hmmmm....maybe later. 




  

Good and Bad....but no Ugly

I really had no intention on waiting this long before my next post.  I'm trying to get caught up on the designs I lost during my PC crashes. I'm doing well in that area except I keep straying because I see more ideas to mess around with. 


I think I might have to delay the opening of my website. I see I'm not going to be ready. Working a full time job takes a lot out of the day, and when I get home, I'm mentally strained as well as physically. So I have to unwind and get "work" out of the way so I can get down to business. I also ordered a latest version of the PrintMaster software. It is Broderbund's PrintMaster 2011 and I should have it soon. It's more compatible with Windows 7. I've had this version (PrintMaster Gold 11)  for a number of years and although happy with it, ready for the upgrade.


I was toying with The Heart and wondered if I could do something I had been thinking about. This is the result I came up with last night. I have yet to print a copy, and I am currently in the process of taking care of that. 

When I get the printed results, I will share them with you.

New ideas keep popping into my head, but now I need to focus on the matter at hand. I can always come back to this end of it at anytime.....that is when I'm not "working".  


The Good is that I'm still getting things caught up albeit slower than expected. The Bad...delay in website opening. Ugly? There's nothing Ugly about these pictures. 

A Break and More of Me

I have decided that I needed a break. I need to stop for a moment and gather my thoughts and give my mind and body time to rest.
I have had a lot going on these past few weeks but I did promise to reveal some things about me. So here we go.

I am currently separated from a marriage of 31 years; now into our second year of separation. Without first consulting her on mentioning her name, for now she will be my estranged wife. We are still under good terms, which makes things easier. I will say that she is currently living with our son, Reg. I wish I had pictures of him. 

I am working a job that I have done for about 35 years now. I've been with this company for 4 years. I don't like to talk about my job. I like what I do. I get to meet people and see areas that are new to me. 

I think I'm still making the adjustment to the Virginia Beach area....I guess what I mean is this part of the country. It's not a bad experience by any means. I've always lived farther north. I love not having to deal with the very harsh winters anymore. 

In 1972 I graduated from John Adams High School in Cleveland, OH. I ran track during my freshman year, but that class was too fast for me. I did that because I ran track in Junior High and thought I would continue into High School. 

I had no desire for college and that is because I like learning, but I feel confined when I have to deal with text books. That's why I liked Printing, Woodwork, Photography, and I also took Architectural Drafting during Jr and High School.

I've always liked interactive types of things, whether it's just throwing something together or taking time on a project. I wish I could show you some of the things I made when I was a kid. My gosh....looking back on that, those were some rough looking cars, and jewelry boxes with drawers, you name it I just knew I could put it together. 

I'm no decorator by any means, but I'd like to show you something I put together.

The next 2 photos are the same, just different lighting. It is a small fruit crate that my wife got from her job. She would bring home a couple on occasion. I knew I would find uses for them. The net on the front I had purchased in a package along with some shells. The lighthouses in the background is leftover wall paper crown I had in my home office in Dayton, OH., the ship in the bottle and the lighthouse I purchased from a Walmart in Dayton, OH years ago. This is hanging on the wall in my room.

 

This one is a bonus I was just about to close and post when I thought to lift the net. I like it.  

I guess that'll do for now. I have to same some for later.

  

Up and Running

Finally got the pc back up and running smooth. I had a couple of system files on two other hard drives. The 300G went south for good. I realized if I didn't do something to fix this, I would be having trouble again. Before, I was just doing a format of the hard drives. I decided to delete the partitions on drives that had systems files; that way I would start clean. I did that and now I'm installing software and getting things back in order. 


I do have copies of my designs, but I can't use them for print. They will be my templates for getting caught up.


I did a post on my daughter's blog, Guest Post Friday . I was hoping to come home from work to see how it went but it turns out I had to fix a few things. I got that done and now I'm getting ready to bury myself into some music and the pc.... a lot of work to do. 


One thing I do like about this past bad experience?.....I didn't let it get to me. I didn't have to spend any extra money or lose any sleep; I lost files, but I have copies, I lost a lot of time from designing--working and working on the pc--, but knowing what needs to be done and having something to work from, makes that task enjoyable. 


This was the debut of The Bottomless Heart....yes, catch the link above. I hadn't planned on bringing it out this soon, but after a short time thinking, felt it was the perfect time. 


More pictures will be added to my website http://whatruworkinon.com 
Feel free to browse until it's running full speed.

Guess What?

So I'm getting ready for bed last night after realizing I had run into a problem during a test print. I said how I had a couple of ideas on how to fix the problem. I was in bed when I thought to go ahead and print a sample to have it ready when I got home from work.


After the page was finished printing, I look at it dumbfounded. Then I picked it up and looked at it more under light....even though I didn't need more light to see that it was perfect. There were no jagged edges and the color was crisp...I mean it popped! OK...that color was black so I go for red. It prints. Again, I'm dumbfounded. I'm looking at these two perfect hearts, the way I visioned them after print.


As I said before, I'm using Broderbund's PrintMaster 11 for my designs and I'm really happy with it, but I thought I may have to change after this. 


So I'm looking at the prints and wondering what happened. In order for me to publish any of my design on the internet, or to mail them, I would have to save them as jpeg or bmp to unsure the recipient would be able to view them. I was also using those saved files for viewing. I only open the original design when I wanted to do editing.Then it hit me....these prints came directly from the PrintMaster software....wow! I could not imagine prints coming out this good from some artwork with jagged edges, but this one does. I owe PrintMaster an apology and a big fat Thank You for having an ease of use product that keeps me wanting to design. 


Was that a commercial?


Anyway, I'm back in the game. See...I told ya I'd get this figured out.

That Was Close

I know I said I was doing a series about me, getting to know me and all; but I was working on The Bottomless Heart and was doing some test prints and the graphics are far less than desirable. 


So in a way you can say you have found out something about me. In this situation, poor planning. I may have jumped the gun just a tad. I wanted this to debut at the end of August and running into a snag like this is my fault also because I just came up with the design a few days ago. But I had been working on other stuff for some time and this just popped. I rushed this....I see that now. But only because I'm having an art problem. The idea and concept behind The Bottomless Heart is intact. 


I now realize what my problem is and I am in the process of correcting that. It starts with the basic piece of artwork that I used. I'm using PrintMaster 11 to create my projects and Adobe PhotoShop 6 to finish some of them. I like using PrintMaster because of it's versatility. I love the different effects I got with this particular design. As I was saying, it started with the original art object. I hadn't noticed before how the edges were jagged. So when I stretched it, those jagged edges really show up in print. I can't really fault the artwork either because I'm trying to use it in a way that it's not meant to be. I see an object and I see it's potential. So what I've learned is that I may have to be careful with what type of art I use in a given project.  I have to say that this is my first glitch using PrintMaster and again it's the fault of the artwork.


I have a couple of ideas, and I'm confident that I can pull this off....all I have to do is get smooth edges.....what so hard about that? 


#whatruworkinon

Some of Me

I think I'm going to do a some of me series for my next few posts. I want to show who I am and what I would like to accomplish. 


I would like to begin with the title of my blog. I've had this thought in my head for many years and then my daughter, Darcel of The Mahogany Way convinced me into starting my own blog....yes you have her to blame for this. I just read my first post again and it still applies. I really am beginning to find the direction I'd like for all of this to take and have a rockin good time doing it. 


I had struggled through a tough emotional time during May/June of this year and I wrote a post coming out of it. It has become one of my favorite. It's actually a poem and I titled it My Experience Is---. Reading that reminds me of why I go through the things I do....I wear them....all of them. I want to remember some of the struggles and know that the finished trial is part of the finished product.


I love learning...I'm not a books type learner; although I can do that, it's just not my cup. I feel constricted when it comes to that type of format. But I do love learning, and I have taken my blog in a couple of directions. I am still in the early stages of blogging and I now know what I would like to do.....going back to why I named my blog.


Whatr U Workin On? is a very broad question and that is why I am so intrigued by it; because it spans the vast population of the world and all that the people on the planet are doing. 


Just to name a few things: some people are dealing with promotions, some are studying for exams, some are passing gas (some trying to perfect it...for real), some are wondering if she likes him, some deal with break ups (that hurts sometimes), birth/death, living life to the fullest, struggling to find your place in life, the joys of children, the sounds of their laughter, the pains of growing up, getting that project done on time, trying not to be late for work anymore, going to bed when you say you will, turning off the PC so you can, telling her again how much you love her, telling him how much you need him, learning a new language, unschooling, do I breast feed?, why should I wear my baby after birth?, there are so many blogs out there, when do I pop the question?, I hope I'm not boring you, but I think you get the idea.


When I see these words Whatr U Workin On, it makes me think about where I am and what I'm doing with my life.


Even with the struggles, I am happy with where I am.