Housekeeper Needed

 

Life Documented 2017 Group Challenge 1/14/2017

Good morning Lovelies! I hope this post does not confuse anyone, because it is a slight departure from the previous 2 weeks, but I really believe it will make everything easier. Be aware that we have just set up a Blogger site dedicated for the Life Documented 2017 group as of yesterday, but I cannot access it to post our challenge yet, so I decided this is better that struggling with Facebook (dis)function for one more week!
So onto our weekly Challenge and Prompt!....

Challenge: draw or paint a face 

Prompt: "Only in darkness can you see the stars" - Martin Luther King, Jr

Challenge: For those who are now freaking out - "I can't draw a face!" - deep breath! I gotcha on this! First, you can draw emoji style "smiley" faces, if you want! I also have a link (further down) to a very easy method if you want to try to draw. And, as always, you creative person, it is okay to adapt the weekly challenges. You could grab a face from a newspsper (if you can find one anymore-lol) or magazine, or print from online. Draw or paint right on it!

Prompt: It is there for inspiration, to be interpreted artistically in any way you wish. You might use it entirely, or a word from it, or be inspired by it. And if none of that appeals to your muse this week, then ignore it! It is perfectly okay to do that!

Here is my page, and a step by step visual of it with instructions in the caption: 
fyi: I used dylusions paints, and I gesso prepped my page, in my Dylusions journal.

My challenge to myself has been to try to capture emotion better by working more losely, to be more gestural with my strokes

1) pencil sketch a face 2) a dark purple color to make a paint sketch 3) dark blue wash added 4) yellow-orange added over face 5) white for highlights 6) turquoise added on face and background 7) white again this time in hair and highlights on face again 8) brown lowlights in background and detail in hair and face, some brown scribbled detail with a colored pencil 9) midnight blue around background. 

That's it! A pencil, a colored pencil, a few paint colors, and gesso.

As I promised, here is a link to a very detailed video by famous Mixed Media Art Journaler, Dina Wakley:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2YwcmFTd8g 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2YwcmFTd8g

I finally did it!!! I posted my  listing on Etsy the first in a very long time) for a mixed media paper pack of epic proportions!  Check it out here:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheMixiePixie

 It has taken way longer to complete this than I thought it would, so I am celebrating a victory over my disablity/medical situation with a trip to Caribou for a coffee treat!

New ATC's for trading...

The theme is "Bird People" and I am sad to say I did not get them mailed in time for the swap event, but I hope they will find new homes in the general trading millieu. I am putting them on Flickr too. If you are interested just contact me here, or on Flickr (also as TheMixiePixie). I love trading, and have been out of it for a while. Returning to it feels a little like coming home.

Check this out! (It is art stuff) and please give me your opinion

Take a look at this post:
http://moonbeamsfishflakes.blogspot.com/2014/04/wood-kit-whimsies.html

I thought it would be better than copying it and posting it on this blog. I'm trying to decide if I should separate out my art posts from other life stuff, or put it all in one place.

Please tell me your opinion. I would like to post what you like to read/see.

Thank you!

Online Scam Warning - BEWARE! and take note, dear friends...

I just had a very near miss getting scammed by this online web hosting site called "Hostia", "Freehostia", also known as "Liquidnet", "chocolate", "supernatural", and several others. It supposed to be free,  but you have to pay for a domaine name ($10 per year - not too bad). Then they tell you they can protect you from identity theft, spam, etc. for another $10 (per year) which I paid, since I am new to this whole business ( I am trying to set up to conduct online art classes) and not too savvy, I admit. The first hint there was something wrong is that even though they are supposed to be in the web hosting business their website really really sucks! In fact, they have a so-called log-in area where you are supposed to put in your username and password. So that makes it look legit, right? But guess what. There is no way to generate a user-name or password! There is no "create account" option anywhere on the site! So I thought that would occur in the purchasing process, but n-o-o-o-o-o. So I look on my paypal receipt which gives the contact information and I called the "company" to ask how to get my username and password. It said to call their' pre-sales and customer support number noted below". The generic answering message thanks you for calling  "web-hosting" sales and customer support (notice- no company name!) and got I a guy who was the absolute worst jerk annd biggest asshole I have ever had the misfortune to deal with by phone- ever, ever!  -- and by my age I have dealt with plenty.  He refused to allow me to speak. I would barely say one syllable and he would talk over me. Then, yelling at me, he demanded repeatedly "Who is this? Who are you?" But as soon as I tried to answer he yelled over me again. I ended up in tears. It is so damn frustrating and shocking, trying to talk to someone who is demanding answers but won't let you speak! (In fact, it sounded to me like he had a middle eastern accent, and I have noticed that middle eastern men in customer service jobs tend to have a problem dealing with American women. I can only guess it's the "subservience thing".)  Anyway, I tried yelling over him to stop yelling and let me answer; he yelled even louder; so I called him a vile name and I hung up.  I called back, hoping to get someone else, and guess what - same guy - 6 times in a row!  So I called Paypal.  The people there were VERY helpful and supportive. Here's something new I learned too, which you should be aware of: Paypal protection only applies to shipped items, not to services.  But I have been a longstanding customer with a pristine record, so they refunded the money to me anyway. I am sure the fact that I called within an hour of making the transaction helped, as well.

Sadly, I wasted my whole day looking into setting up an online classroom to teach art techniques. The only ones I am aware of use NING - and it functions so badly I have vowed I will never use it again (after the current class is done). PLEASE LEAVE ADVICE IN COMMENTS if you know of a good classroom platform that is free or cheap!  I was thinking I would use Moodle, but you have to get it through a site that hosts it, and that's where my day went awry.  Too bad I am on these meds. I seldom would say this (as my close friends and family will attest) but I could use a good stiff drink!