even later

Spring has arrived several times this year and I did the cleanup thing. My PC was getting all stuffy, opening windows to air out. AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!

I have been using Mint 13 Linux with the Cinnamon Desktop. Then I added KDE Desktop because it has improved or rather my understanding of KDE has improved. The install was hurried, I put it all on one disc partition. Not  good if you are subject to change like me. I had two other options. The first was put all personal files on a USB external drive or make a separate partition for the "Home" folder which is what I did, on the main drive. Now I can change the operating system partition any time I need to, my separated personal files stay unmolested.

With that said I backed up the personal stuff to DVDs, the address book, hidden email folders and web shortcuts to flash drive, formatted the drive and installed a fresh Mint 14 with KDE. There are few quick and painless installs, ever, if you say nay, you lie or can endure more than most. A good dose of forethought, planning and resolve can help greatly and a mirror to talk to yourself.

I took a chance because when I started the install the screen went dim, stayed that way until I later installed the video card drivers after the OS was running. I was ready to trash it. If something is unfamiliar this is a normal reaction. Don't panic till you see the whites of your eyes in the mirror. A mirror is a good tool. You thought I was kidding.

Then comes the tweak-fest, getting the new setup to act like the last setup. Fonts, browser plugins for video, media codecs, working sound, internet, wireless. Then tweak the window themes, desktop icons, the panels, the clock/calender format and mouse clicks.

Go back to work, you'll notice if somethings not right yet. Hey that's the geek  life. How cool is it? Well as I mentioned I put KDE on top of another system. You can mix it up but they have different window management programs. Apples run better with apples and oranges with oranges. So this time it is just KDE and KDE's window manager. It runs smooth as expected. Only the wireless mouse is edgy at times, the wired mouse is fine. Did I mention tweaking is addicting? Tell yourself in the mirror to don't worry be happy, And quit smiling at that reflection.

the latest

Got a little discretionary spending money, bought a wireless mouse. It is small and great for a rodent, made by iHome. In my car I have a radio that is thief-locked out because the power was removed. I need to have a dealer scan and unlock the darn thing. It has a cassette player (like an 8 track), OK, it's a tape player, sheeesh! Anyway I got an adapter in the shape of a cassette tape. You slide it into the deck, has a cable to connect to a MP3 player and you hear it through the car's speakers. I bought a small MP3 device to listen to stuff I load from my laptop. Hey it's cheaper that a used car radio w/cd.

Speaking of laptops, I'm getting used to KDE desktop, I like it. My daughter came and got her laptop. I replaced a little circuit board that held the power connector socket only to discover the plug on the power supply was bent enough to cause a power shortage. Bought another jump drive, 4 gig for $6 on sale. It is so small I'll have to hide it from the cats. My next thing is wireless headphones for the laptop. Oh to roam the house without an umbilical attached. I found a Bluetooth unit but the laptop doesn't have Bluetooth, so a USB wireless will have to do. A USB wireless network device would be cool too, I'll think about it.

At the gallery we got a flat screen just for display of video art in the gallery. I've been putting slide shows and videos on it. I use VLC for the media player, it does not choke and handles a wide range of media files and does conversions too.

Mostly I've been buying small devices to tweak what I already own. Buying new systems is tempting but I need to get more mileage out of what I got for now.

Spring is here (somewhere), time to scrap the surplus hardware, PC carcasses and junk (2 boxes of floppy disc and CDs).

Now we're all caught up, the do-it list is active and things are progressing. How about you?  

why is trying so trying?

It is because of habits. Oh, you are so flexible and have wide ranging know how. Not really, you have habits, preferences, comfort zones, patterns, familiarity, a groove, work flows that fit and name brand loyalty. So when change comes along it hurts, adjustments need be made, seems whacked, strange, I'm risking something here, there's a learning curve, it's new, it's different, I've gotta get use to this............

The antidote to computer anxiety has always been good instruction and play time. You learn the basics, accomplish something simple and mess around a little. You begin to build appreciation by figuring out how to do the things you've always done. While you are doing all this you see how the system responds to your input and how to maneuver the screens. Knowing what to expect is a big part of comfort.

I've been a big fan of the Gnome desktop in Linux many years, been my first choice because I understand how it works as a user. KDE always seemed like one extra step to do the same thing. In the past the computer world acted like sugar junkies. The eye-candy in full explosion mode after bootup. You couldn't even see what the heck you're doing for all the whiz bang. It became the selling point or the bragging rights, "ooh, lookie what I can do on this!" You can still have this but now it is hidden behind a control panel. You can tweak to full bloom if you want to or not. So you can see what kept me and KDE apart. Today, I am pleased with a modest amount of glitz. I don't use my computer for showing off, and need that power to do useful stuff. OK, I show off a little.

KDE so far is snappy, some applications open faster than in Gnome. KDE and Gnome are not polished in the same places. Gnome has nicer window trims. I'm trying to do what I've always done, which makes KDE seem awkward. The feel is different. Confidence comes with experience and time. Now, I've got to go so you folks keep on doing what you do and also try something new.

Trying more, enjoying less.....

Hi gang, been doing all sorts of stuff. The art gallery had a whiz-bang Black History Month reception with drummers, dancers, singers, portrayals and artwork.

I got the itch again to explore some desktop options. These things always make me rethink how I handle my PC setup. I did some research on Krita, the drawing, painting program. I am looking for tutorials so I can see what "work flows" suit me. You just can't jump in and start, mess'n around. Well, you can but, some friendly help gets you further down the road.

As you know I am using Mint 13 (Maya) on my laptop. It is a work horse and I like it a lot. The version I am using has the Cinnamon desktop, much like most desktops. I got the urge to try KDE (K Desktop Environment) again. It has improved and caught my attention once more. Installing it I made the mistake of not having a separate hard drive partition for my "Home" directory. So I can't reformat to install a new OS without destroying everything. Let that be a warning to all you "gotta change it" folks. Partition with change in view, have a good backup plan, a big flash drive and maybe an external USB drive. I wanted to install the new Mint 14 KDE version. The live CD causes my laptop screen to go dim. I had to settle for installing KDE from the repositories on to Mint 13. If I really want this Mint 14, I will have to backup all my stuff, darn. But why the dim screen? Hmmmmmmmmmmmm?

I did put Anti-X Linux on my other laptop. I like it and I don't. It is not a good choice because it doesn't allow CD booting without mess'n wid stuff. I will install a friendlier linux on it. Here is one thing I never liked about Linux. On a Microsoft system, you can set it up so that PC's can see each other on a network, to share files. It is pretty easy. It is not so easy to do the same on a Linux network. To say it better, it is not explained so the average sort of-kind of tech savvy person can do it. Linux loses me in the explaining department. I may get it someday but not today. In the meantime, Krita looks promising.

try try again

There is one little thing in Linux I don't like. It is when programming platforms compete. There pops up a compatibility question. I use the Gnome desktop and the associate applications use a platform called "gtk". The competing platform is "qt" for the K desktop. It is no big thing until you like a "qt" application and install in on the "gtk" platform. I'm glad I'm not a programmer needing to make it all work. Actually it doesn't matter because the required libraries are installed to run what programs you have. I think it is a psychological hassle for me. With testing I get over it.

I have this app called Krita, it is a "qt" program and part of the K office suite. The kool thing is I didn't have to install the  K office suite to use Krita but, it does install the libraries to run the K office suite just to run Krita. Can you see my concern. Some times too much software can mean redundancy and or bloat.

So.....I installed the drawing app called Krita. When I first tried Krita a while back, it was limited. It seems to have been developed further. Drawing apps are weird because they have the same or similar tools but, you have to make yourself like the various interfaces. There is some strange mix of bit-mapped and vector drawing, plus a semblance of paint tools and effects. The best app is one that allows you to quickly find the tool and use it without pain in the creative process. I'm haven't time yet to play with Krita. When I do I will say further. Seems to work fine so far. Over time you can get used to anything, pain and all.

On the pen and paper front. I can't quite call my new hand drawing muse Zentangle, it's sort of more like Zendoodles or something. Anyway I whipped out a few more and am still intrigued by the whole experience. Another class is coming up on Monday, I will try to be there if I can. What fun, I think I am getting use to my own drawing. No, better than that. I am appreciating the line quality of my own drawing. I will not waste my bandwidth trying to be photograph perfect in my hand drawing. Woooah!
My anxiety level just went way down.

size smatters

Every time I do a digital work someone comments, "you know it would look good really big." This really gets me because my printer only puts out so big. I could go to a commercial printer but funds are limited. I tried to draw big but it's not the same. Drawing big requires a different mindset, larger materials and pens that will administer lots of ink or paint. I thought I would draw small and print big.

I am overcome by planning and working to the size. It is killing my urge to have fun and create. This gal, a member of our gallery, Susan Olsen, she is into something called "Zentangles". Man, did she draw some wonderful stuff. I thought that was not the kind of draw to suit me. Recently a Zentangle teacher, Judy Montgomery, taught a class at the gallery, I sat in. Dudes, dudettes, I was into it!! It could help my skills, I'm convinced.

It is sketching on a higher level, opens the realm of possibilities. What was  so killing was we drew in a 3 inch square. I never had that much creativity in so small a space.
Anyway, I am not much of a freehand drawer, more of a doodler, AH!, right up my alley. I have doodled for a long time, somehow this adds to it. Maybe it's the meditative aspect or that it obliterates a blank page with what ever creative juice you didn't know you had.

Here is one of my tiny works:

Of course I had to scan it into the PC and print it out bigger. So, I think I'll dig a little deeper into this and release the inner artist. Then see how I can incorporate it with my computer stuff. Big is good and small is gooder.
 

art-o-rama vs art-a-tunity vs art-o-mine

Time for a field trip. Went to a big show in a huge warehouse space. Monster works of art. Dang, what kind of drugs was he on? Over and over, wave after wave, paper and canvas and boards and stone and.......gee my little squirts on paper are nothing.

Another scene, another place. Man what were they thinking, where're  they going with this? It's like they are trying so hard to do something big or complex. It looks so intricate, so elaborate, complicated. I never seen so much work that required sweat to accomplish, so sophisticated.

One more place, the doors are locked, I'll just look through the windows. Yeah, I guess you can call it art. Oh, I'm having a flashback.........remember that movie "Eddie and the Cruisers"? The scene when Diesel was hammering licks on his ax at a bar. Eddie told him he played too many notes to be memorable. Great skill yes, a stunt for sure, memorable?, nah! Then Eddie played straight up'n funky (I still can hear the tune).

What's the diff? It's just art. I closed my eyes, counted the works I did by my own hand reviewing the history of each. My muscles relaxed and my heart stopped racing. I realized I am not competing in the trend wars or the top artist of the world race. The art feat is not me and the starving artist network doesn't need me. I can't see or imagine to see through eyes not in my head and I don't have to forget everything I learned in school so that my natural talent can come back.

I don't try so hard to make art. I just do it because I like to do it. When I play and fuss and experiment and stumble, I do just that. Then when art shows itself, I recognize it, embrace it, I'm done. I used to think a high degree of education and skill is what I need to have. Today I consider myself a "graphics primitive" and "art dabbler" compared to many. But the primary goal is to make art according to myself. That's the thing that makes it unique. 

deeper into my lines

The secret of any artist in any medium is to take what is in the head and make it so others can see it. Sometimes the transition or translation is smooth, sometimes not. Sometimes the outcome is exact, maybe close, and sometimes not as envisioned. We call that artistic process and artistic skill. Drawing is a big part of all that.

I talked with a local artist and teacher, he told me that most people do not know how to look so they can't draw what they see. I say they can't draw what they think either. Why? You have to get used to drawing, making a mark, guiding a pen or pencil. This is about the need and desire to do it. Now, what does that mark communicate? Does it say what you intend to communicate? Just like when you learned to write words and arrange them to convey speech, marks on a page can become pictures. It can start with cartoon like sketches and end up photo-realistic.

I am a notebook fanatic. Back in the day it was poetry writing, now it's sketchbooks. What is this about? You got the knack, you are developing the skill, you need to work on content to make it all relevant. I'm sorry you can't do one thing and then the other. In fact usually content drives you to develop the skills so that you can have your say, express your view, record for posterity in a way that others can appreciate it. What mathematician writes in an unknown language? He or she uses the symbols known by all and if they get inventive, they explain in detail the new form. Drawing even though the outcome can be abstract, is based on primitive forms and shapes common to human thought and physical abilities. I wish they quit trying to get monkeys and elephants to draw, that's fun but lame on too many levels. That's my point, even man's primitive levels are high levels.

So that's my art lesson. Desire to make a mark, learn to make marks. Desire to draw what you see, learn to look. We look through our passions. I was a model in a life drawing class. The class first drew me in caricature, big lips, knobby fingers, wide nose, what they thought a black person looked like. The teacher cursed, scolded and shocked the class, I was so embarrassed. Look dispassionately, like a camera, faithfully recording what is. You can go in and add your passion (details) later. The second round of pics were better, more life-like. The third round I appeared on the students paper. Life drawing, not cartooning.

Me, I'm a drafter, used to shapes and symbols. I gravitated toward more abstract art. It tends to be a different kind of looking than life drawing or cartooning, yet I consider if folks will understand what I'm trying to say or at least be comfortable with it. Lines and shapes and color is a language that requires lots of practice. Today it is common for practice works to be displayed as art. It is common for folks to say, "that's not his best work", in retrospect. The world is a flood with practice or developmental art pieces, so the buying public should be picky, choosy and discriminating. Buy because you like it first, then for the name if you must. Hey I went from drawing art to buying art. Hint! Hint!

my kind of lines

The main problem being me is I do more than one type of drawing. Yes the years of being a draftsperson has taken it's tole. Free hand drawing is still a challenge especially on the PC. I just can't seem to get enough of a handle on it. I usually wind up drawing on paper and scanning the drawing into the PC. This can be awkward at times.

Drafting is somewhat mechanical even if it's electrical, which is the realm my training has been. Electrical drafting can be unsatisfying, schematics are so symbolic. When you get into physical hardware designing circuit boards and device enclosures, things begin to get more interesting. What I am saying is that drawing things can be as intoxicating as drawing people, if you're into that. But mechanical drawing is not what I had in mind. Now architectural subjects are cool to me. This area is what got me drawing in the first place.

I started sketching houses in pencil, then ball point pen. I was fascinated with perspective views. My drawings were all about lines and using lines to represent textures and shadows. I even managed to use lines to show reflection and transparency. Not just exterior views, also interior views. I think my knack was designing. You know, if I were doing it from scratch, I'd design it like this.

When I made the jump into computer aided design, AutoCad was/is the tool of choice. I got to use it because I worked for some industry. I could not afford to buy my own copy and as the machines to run it well went up in price/quality, so did the price of AutoCad. There have been several drafting programs out there of lesser value, usually with awkward or un-AutoCad like interfaces and features. The kicker is that all have run on the MS PC platform. There are to date a few Linux drafting programs but because I am not into that realm anymore I can not elaborate.

BUT what has turned my head is a program called Sketch UP by Google. Sketch UP does 2D and 3D drawing and shading and............runs on MS machines go figure. I tried running Sketch UP on my Linux machine using WINE a MS Windows virtual machine for Linux. Not being code savvy I couldn't make it behave. Then I got Virtualbox which is a virtual machine hosting system. You can load many different operating systems on it, I installed XP. It runs in a Linux window just as if it were installed by itself on a PC. Then I installed Sketch UP onto XP. It works great, plays nice. I do have pictures of progress...........
 
 
Not too shabby for a guy just puttering around. I use the free version Sketch UP 8. There is a Pro version I am looking at, the price is nice, but for now this is fine. Oh yeah, the first pic was processed through a rendering program to get the more realistic qualities, the second is in a sketch mode. A heck of fun anyway.

note from the baker

Hi all, been real bizzy with normal stuff. Baked another batch o'video cards. First batch in August of 2012 and I was real excited. One card lasted only 2 months the second 5 months, not bad. Imagine how long if it were made out of Twinkies!! Now I know I need to get online and buy a new/used card or a new machine, I'm stall'n.

Any way I preheated the oven to 385 degrees and baked for 10 minutes. I used bamboo kabob skewers poked thru paper plates to make a rack to rest the cards on.

The only words of caution, off gassing of circuit board materials are probably not cool in a cook stove used for cooking meals. And if the circuit board has can capacitors do not cook, they might explode.

So here I am staring at two working laptops again, and again I do not know how long they will last. They look clear and glitch free.

Other things happening I am always butting heads with Abode product users at the Art Gallery. Converting things into formats they can use is trying if you convert from Linux app formats to Adobe like formats. I say "like" because often the Linux or open source version of Adobe formats is not always a good fit. I blame this on Microsoft and Adobe. They are companies who change their propriety stuff and don't always think about the open source programs. I have few problems with PDF, JPG or PNG, but Inkscape's SVG (a vector format) doesn't get over for Adobe fans.

I just completed a slide show in a Linux app called Imagination. It takes many kinds of media files and turns them into MP2-3 files to be burnt onto a DVD or VCD. 69 different transitions, various amimations and sound track, it is loads of fun.

So I use different programs to work on the parts of this project, like Audacity to trim an audio file to fit my slide show. Gimp and Inkscape to make and size each picture. Then Imagine to arrange it all and make the final slide show file.

We do get PC donations at the Gallery (sometimes dumped). The older PC's are only cool if they can do graphics. We discovered that even my slide show file requires a little power to do the transitions smoothly. Still slide shows are a great way to make an older PC useful.

OK. I've got to go do the dance of joy and gloat over my two laptops, later!

Linux stuffy print "Q" tip

Watched a guy on TV live with wild turkeys, he hung wid the byrds from egg to adults. What an interesting adventure, much like living with 6 cats. Only I'm not getting down on their level. No offense to you cat whisperers out there. My nose is always clogged with cat stuffs and breathing thru a filter is snot the way to go thru life. This brings me to the point of this blog, the print que.

Ever since acquiring my printers there has been this thing hanging over my head. You send a print to the printer and it sits in a que until the PC is done with it and the printer is ready for it. If by chance these events never happen.......................you will wait for...ev....er. When your PC crashes at least MS XP gives you the blue screen of death, Linux freezes (penguins like that), but when printing fails, nothing. "Warning, warning Will Robinson", would be nice. Linux does have printer tools but in the version I have they are not in an graphic application like GIMP or a print application like PhotoPrint. They are part of the system software, so if you don't read the manual (if you can find one) or search the user forums (I don't need no stinkin map!), you won't know. You will suffer a stuffy "Q" and get no prints.

Is there a solution, yes. I finally went to a forum on line and asked the question. There are probably a few answers but I grabbed the first one, it works fine for me. First I'll set the scene.

 You been trying to print artwork. Regular docs print OK but artwork can have changed settings, size, orientation, paper. No matter, no prints. Code heads usually go to the dreaded command-line (oh no, not the command-line, what if I blow up something or fry my PC?). Relax, but just a little. Deep breaths and unclench your death-grip on the mouse. Open your web browser, yes the web browser. It can do a few things off line like speak to your PC.

OK, now type: "localhost:631/jobs/" into the address bar and hit the return. Up pops a screen with your print "Q". You can now select which jobs you want to cancel. I had three jobs all stalled. I canceled them, cleared the "Q". It worked so easy. I was able to adjust my print settings and print like crazy. Now I don't know if this will work on MS Windows system, it works on my Linux Mint system. So, you need to inquire of the community who have similar hardware and software as you, if you have the same problem. In the parley of techie-dom, "google it". I hope I helped un-stuff your stuffy "Q" and free your printing.

confessions of the bud of taste

As the artist and if you are in the blank page syndrome a lot, need to address it. It is not so much a what to draw or a how to draw issue but a communication issue. How do you use your approach to art and connect with the audience at hand. I am working this out even as we type/read. My style is simple-n-precise and although abstract is more controlled, I tend to do it once, in a moment and I'm done. I get, as expected, nods from other artist who appreciate the technical aspect, the work ethic and the mental interplay of art reason. I watch typical art on-lookers walk by with a glance. Ooh, tough crowd. I feel like a stand up comic when they laugh at the joke and are dead silent at the punch line.

OK, here's where the artist undocumented skills come into play. You must balance your art assertiveness with the viewing audience at hand or find an audience who likes you as is and show there (niche). Since I am rather immobile at present, I must find a way to connect. This is not to give up on what I see myself, this is to communicate, strike a chord with the audience at hand.

I had the opportunity to be a part of an art walk via our gallery and art center, and several art shows open to the public. Observation. Watching the stream of people walk past works of art, their reactions, their comments. The people around us like really fine art, who doesn't? They also appreciate high levels of complexity. This amounts to highly complex finely done works to works of wild abandonment, (scribbling and squiggling).  I am not talking about figurative art, people don't seem to have inner arguments with those works. But take away subject matter and folks free fall till they land on an understanding. Even me, dag, what the heck, then I'll step back and see how the color or patterns work in a room or how it makes me feel. OK, it works, I even like it.

Next, I try not to use that "like" to endorse all the work by that artist. I like a musician named Archie Shepp. In a period of his life his music speaks directly to me. His other tunes don't thrill me as much. It is like that with all artist. They strike many chords, when they play my tune I surrender my ears. I do try to justify listening to their other works, but I listen for what I have enjoyed. If I don't hear it I get an attitude. You know it is the same with visual artist. They/I draw/paint many things. Sometimes it is pure, sometimes contrived, but what strikes you is what you like. If you expect to see what you like from an artist all the time, you will be disappointed. But being the people we are, we will hang in there as a fan (this is cool for us artist). We conn ourselves to deal with the good, the bad and the ugly. Are we rewarded? Yes, because we grow with them. I have listened to John Coltrane since the 70's, some tunes of his I still can't comprehend. Many of his tunes I only just now are appreciating, listening till I get it.

Anyway, my original premise here is to say, there is a chord that vibes with the audience at hand. If paint on the canvas doesn't work they might like the same art on a tattoo, or on a motorcycle gas tank or a bathroom shower curtain. What works in a living room might not work in a coffeeshop. Some even work in a gallery setting but over powers a living space at home. Of course I evolve the argument to include many angles for you to muse over. Consider your expression and consider your audience too. If the line is too fine maybe add some sketchiness or Gaussian blur or splatter or something. There is a vibe, a chord, find it, use it.

Am I an expert, no. This blog is to say what's on my art mind as I am going through the motions myself. If you can glean a little or if something sparks in you, then my work is done.

aug(de)mented media realities, the sequel

If you are a fine art artist like me, that is an artist who puts out what he thinks is fine art, then you are probably wondering if inkjet prints stack up to other media that resembles it. Of course inkjet prints are their own media with their own character. It is like silk screen kind of sort of but not really. The inkjet way of putting down ink is a fine squirt, squirt, squirt. It is very controlled and precise, even and flat. Can you imagine 1000 tiny cans of spray paint on a stick and simultaneous control of each. If you can approach photo quality that is wonderful or the flat masking quality of silk screen. Anything in between you notice the fine spray effect. Not really sharp edges are dithered and.......ooh I'm too close.........I'll step back.......OK, it's not that bad. Rno, quit trying to make inkjet like other media, duh!

One thing I have enjoyed is drawing on a black page. I've used one of those white gel pens. It's not as clean as scratchboard but good enough for what I do. I wish I could find white inkjet ink. I would probably have to dedicate a printer just for that. I have a series of designs that printing white on black would be the bomb. Yes, I can print a white design on a black background but the white is the bare page and the black is printed one line at a time. Often if the printer setting is not right, you will see the print-head tracks across the page. The color looks like bands not solid color and uses lots of ink to cover the page. And if it don't look right the first time we got to try it again. I do do small test prints to see if I got it right, usually after I've made a few efforts amiss.

The tried and true method goes like this. See what hardware and software are used by some artist with bragging rights still intact. Repeat their results before you wonder off to experiment. I got an XP computer to feed the printer because the tools are there. I also can switch over to Linux if I need/want to.

Step two in the tried and true method is to apply ICC profiles. ICC profiles do a few things. They match the printer specs to a brand paper specs for the best outcome. There are ICC profiles for higher end photo printers and better papers. Other printers, well, good luck. If it will go through my printer I'll try it and note my results.

Step three is the costly one. It involves matching the PC monitor display to the printers output. This means what you see on your screen is what the print will look like. This is called calibrating. They have hardware for that. If you are a perfectionist, it will cost you a few bucks and some hours of learning to apply ICC profiles and calibrations. Get close to somebody who knows and tap their brain.

Anyway I spilled my DNA onto the printer while printing a photo of myself. The clone was perfect except he disappeared when viewed from the side, unlike Alfred Hitchcock. duh duh duh duh!

aug(de)mented media realities, further adventures

aarrgghh!! and that's not my final word! Let me calm down. You know the artist must do what he/she does. Paint, cut, sew, photog, dance, for me it's draw on the PC then print. Do you think this stuff is easy? Does the machine really do all the work? HA! Then double HA! and aarrgghh to boot!

Ok we got a regular all in one HP printer. Those little ink cartridges go fast and the rubber gripping rollers in the paper feeder do too. The most popular throw away hell you can't fix it either products on the market are microwave ovens and desktop printers. There is not enough wrong with the HP printer to pitch it but it is nearing EOL. My Epson is my workhorse these days, that thing will print on a peanut-butter sandwich (ooh, don't make me clean that!) I've bought a continuous ink supply for it. Because being the artist and printing things with total ink coverage on a page, the little standard ink cartridges just don't cut it.

So what's the beef that's turning me to jerky? Software is the matter and being the Open Source guy that I am, I'm not finding ease. First printer drivers from the printer manufactures are usually MS Windows compatible. If they have a Linux version, it was produced under great pressure from a non-lucrative marketing sector. Yes and thankyou, it is a blessing and a favor. Then the standard Linux developed printer system is modular, complex and pieces are missing to make it a no brainier. Yeah, there is Fooprint and CUPS. Show me one interface to cover over all the various elements that make printing work, let me push the print button.

In MS Windows you have your drivers and the various applications that guide you through printing, mostly desktop photo formats. The arts apps like Adobe this and Adobe that probably do fine. Heck, GIMP and Inkscape do fine in MS XP. I do admit, you have to hammer the MS print app to fool it into printing custom sizes. In Linux the communication is not so clear with the printer. This depends on the printer. My HP did have a Linux driver, but the Epson, eh eh! There is one for some models but not for mine. So if you really need "that printer", do your through homework. The Linux printing system covers many generic printer functions across the board. There are quirks that are brand specific that this general print system can't deal with. The biggest is ink supply monitoring. My Epson has two black ink carts, If one goes down the printer goes down, even if the other cart is full. Refilling and resetting is an arcane science. Your clothes will look like you are painting instead of printing.

My most secret weapon to printing? Write down what you did on a successful print run. Computers are good at repeating processes. Tweaking and adjusting all the time will corrode your memory, so write the good ones down. As usual I didn't divulge any useful or useless information, but if you find some enlightenment, it's probably you. Your humble Linuxville guide is but the paper between the rollers of life and an inkjet squirt (that's so giclee!).

aug(de)mented media realities

It is kind of crazy how certain appliances are defined by their use. The TV is a group appliance and the PC is a personal device. If you merge the two together, you cause conflict in the home if the personal use overlaps sharing use too much. I've talked about this before. My CD player bit the dust and in the meantime I took an extra PC and hooked it up to the living-room TV. It is not a great solution, we had to do some adjusting.

TV is a shared device and simple to use. The PC requires some savvy. There are still the less savvy among us. Right now I do all the media playing on the TV-PC, till we get a standalone player. So I don't do any Internet stuff on the TV, in fact I don't even have a net connection. I want to keep the sharing use of the TV alive and well (happy wife as well). This means all on the TV's PC is from the jump drive, hard drive or DVD player. My daughter has a multimedia laptop with a remote, that's sweet. I'm looking at Bluetooth control, hmmmmmmm!

Anyway my PC's video card has a S-video output jack and a RCA video output jack. Both work OK, putting out a signal to the TV. The TV has assorted video input jacks. The problem is that the neither the S-video nor the RCA jacks put out an audio signal. I use external speakers from the PC's sound card. The sound input jacks on the TV are RCA plugs, the PC's sound jacks are smaller headphone type. There is no way to get the sound from the PC sound card to the TV inputs, thus I can't control the sound via the TV remote when using the PC media input. Whoooooah!

So when the TV is receiving broadcast, the remote does its job. When the PC is the source, the TV is just a monitor for the PC. I really hate using adapters but I hope one exists or at least a Bluetooth controller solution. And yes, it is a head banger to use a mouse and keyboard in the living-room. Wireless would be nice. In my house wireless messes up the TV signal on some stations.

Now, what do I gain by this merger? Not only can I play the usual DVD and CD recorded movies, but what I can't do with CD players is play stuff I put on the PC's hard drive like slide shows. My art portfolio looks good on the TV, as does the array of other artist works I enjoy. All the shared media functions of the PC are now on the TV too, not just broadcast TV and DVD movies.

On the PC I use a app called Moovida which used to be Elisa Media Player. It simplifies playing all the various media stored or channeled through the PC. This is so you don't have to use separate apps for each type of media.  Yeah I'm one of those who doesn't like paying to have cable TV. I can bring content of my own choosing into the shared TV appliance.

I'm working out the kinks in this concept. I haven't heard anything exceptionally good about a TV receiver card in a Linux PC and a large monitor. lnfo and opportunity have not converged in my presence yet. And the PC still hasn't shaken it's "personal" stigma to where it is the sole media player in a shared living-room or its "savvy person" operation. But hey, I flick a light switch, the wife says I'm a hacker, go figure!

point-n-clik, point-n-slow down

Man we are always in a hurry. We even think if you can do something fast, you are better than a slower person. Point-n-clik, point-n-clik, point and slow down. Smell the coffee, read the instructions, practice a little before you dive head first. WHY? Because the head gets hit first and when that head goes, you'll flop around like a mackerel for a minute then expire also. Take time to learn stuff at a slow pace, then move up to your speed. Hey, what brought this on?

I downloaded an audio bible off the net in mp3 format. I can play them on the standard audio player just fine. Only the speed of the speech is a little fast. You know what we think of fast talking salesmen, what you trying to pull dude?
I have a another app called VLC media player. I use it mostly to play videos, it will play audio files as well. I just discovered you can add controls to the control bar. One set is to control the speed of audio playback. I slow down the fast talking bible reading to a speed my mind can process. Man, just like talking to myself. Slowed down just a pinch, now I can hear every word. Don't have this problem with videos.
VLC which stands for Video Lan Controller or something, is complex but makes itself simple if you take the time to learn and tweak.

I also just scanned in another sketchbook into my laptop. What a blast to review my sketches and start a new round of idea flows. I use a Google app called Picasa and a native Ubuntu app called gThumb. They show the picture files in icon form for browsing, a double clik blows them up, etc. I'm trying to appreciate the native apps more and more. OOh! Time is getting away from me, gotta go! Later!!

limitations help you bust out

I don't really have a working philosophy but go with what you know saves the day many many times. It does get uninteresting after a while and at times seems stagnant. I bought a Epson Workforce 1100 printer. It has limitations like only 4 ink colors (magenta, cyan, yellow and black) and for a wide format printer will print 13 inches wide. For thrice the bucks I could have bought 24 inches wide. The problem is always what you want to do vs what you can do with what you got. Painters can paint a big canvas, say 30 x 40 inches, I'm stuck with 13 inches x 19 inches. No, wait, the printer can print 44 inches long. So if I divy the drawing up into 13 inch bands I can do 39 by 40 real easy, hmmmmmmm! What limitations?

Oh, wait again, you know when I print a couple of long pictures my ink is near gone. There are refillable cartridges that allow you to buy and use bulk ink which is a lot cheaper. The thing I realize is that the artist makes his own tools. I try not to void a warranty by altering the product but I kind of think some products are durable enough to be throwaway when done. Ha ha, I don't cut the tag off the mattress so I'm a bit cautious. If you do a lot of printing you should look into extending your printing capability. Look up continuous ink systems and hold your drool. Now my printer will do photopaper, card stock and printer canvas. So there are less and less limitations to your creative efforts. Trying to put it all together and make it all work is an art by itself and after all we are artist. It is what we do.

Resting up a bit.

Hey folks, the Lorain Art's Council's 1st Annual Black River Art Walk was a wonderful good time. We had Latino art in the gallery, two live bands out back, a two guitar duo, and a doo-wop group, all great. We had a small but interesting array of tents and tables manned by artist and craftpersons. The live demo of paper making was loud and they had lots of laughs. We had stone carvers and wood whittlers, face painters and photographers and mixed media artists and.... you should have been there. It was small, our first and next year bigger and better. I'm too beat to think, man what a rush!

a sad day in mudville

All the signs are positive, the Art Council's gala is shaping up and I relax after a long spell of painting, moving boxes and hanging pictures. I've had my artist's laptop running for a while then the screen gets speckled, then speckled in a pattern. I reboot and it is the same and the desktop does not come up. I thought, oh man, do I have to bake the graphics card again. Some folks said you can do it again and again, I'm so skeptical. In the meantime I will wear a black armband, no. It is so depressing to lose a computer. I'll bake the graphics card again but I'm wondering if the other laptop will go down too.

the autonomous artist

As you all know I am promoting my right to exercise as a digital artist. Today I dabble, tomorrow the world!, yeah. Part of the problem of the digital artist is the connection to the world via the computer. This is why I say disconnect the connection and get some work done. OK, connection is not bad, but a lot of the time it is time consuming. Hey you, blogger, step away from the computer.

I spend time looking and perusing other artist, research material, textures, fonts and brushes, all tutorials and seeing how I am perceived on the net. NO TEXTING WHILE DRAWING!!!! You people with smart phones have it worst than I, I dare you to turn it off for peace and solitude, I dare you. Ha, separation anxiety, lol. You're addicted like me or phone busy (a phonie). If all our words and finger fussing could be put into a picture what would look like? I'm talking about diverting energy here.

 My secret weapon is a wire bound notebook and a ball-point pen. I carry them almost everywhere. I jot ideas down and review them. I even scan them into my PC so that it is easy to review them. WHY? because ideas are fleeting, but if you let them pass the eyes again and again, they become part of your script. You know you write something down forget it and later disregard it because you've moved on in your thinking. Record the idea to keep it still, then review it to nail it down. The mind thus programmed begins to work it out. You may have to put other things on hold while you attend to this idea, but eventually just swishing past ideas is not going to cut it. And I'm talking about doing art not wishing for a fancy car when you are broke. Hmmm, I wonder if........come on lets keep it real.

Having scanned my sketches into my PC also means I can use them directly. All drawing programs that have layer tools will let you put your sketch on a layer to use as a guide as you draw on another layer, like tracing on onion skin. This is cool because often the sketch has the awkward proportions your mind originally captured, that you can't seem to duplicate with applied drawing principles. Actually my methods haven't changed much from my first epiphany. I took a small sketch to work that I scanned into a file at home. I enlarged it in Autocad and plotted it out on the large plotter. My eyes were so big, it took a week to push them back in. Today I try to perfect my line quality and color and texture and such. Especially because in Autocad we dealt with lines, on todays' inkjet printers we approach photographic qualities even with drawings made in paint and vector programs.

Again as I promote Open Source Art programs, it is about the tools and the processes. GIMP, Inkscape, MyPaint, LibreCad, Blender, there are many more, are cross platform collections of FREE tools with similar to commercial software processes. The important thing is to learn the processes to get the work done, then you can obtain what ever tools you want. Neither the free nor the paid for software will do the work for you. In that aspect they are exactly the same. Ha ha and you can never be totally autonomous with folks like your Linuxville guide around aiding and abetting. So after you read this, disconnect and get back to work.