MFA Grad School Apps Completed!

I've gone through lots of major life changes this past year. I moved from Australia after living there nearly four years back to my hometown in Michigan. I haven't lived here in thirteen years so it's been an adjustment but a pleasant one. So, some of these life changes was my decision to return to graduate school. I served in the USAF for four years largely due to their generous education benefits so I thought there was no better time for me than to return to school by next fall. I have been working on my applications the past few months. I was busy creating new art work, building my portfolio and rewriting my application essays - I've lost count how many drafts I have rewritten.

So, now they are all complete and turned in. It's one major stress out of my life and now I wait until the decisions are out in April. Wish me luck! :)

Holiday Gifts On The Cheap

Yes, it's been awhile since my last post again. Not writing regularly is a habit I'm desperately trying to break but it always seems there is something. Well, I have been busy with LOTS and LOTS of art things - I just have not kept the blog up to date.

If you have been affected by the economy like many of us then why not create some holidays gifts. In my opinion, I always prefer something from the heart. I've always loved Judaica, Jewish art and Islamic Art. A key characteristic of these art forms is the prohibition of the depiction of any human image. So, I decided to make some Chanukkah gifts this year for some friends.

I started by painting various watercolor washes.



I then cut out some stencils from the watercolor washes and pasted them onto the background of another watercolor wash.





Then I picked out a pretty frame. I picked up some great ones from Home Goods - they have great prices. Or, Michaels always has frames on sale and check online for additional coupons.

Here is one finished one. I have made many this holiday. So far, everyone has liked them.



That's how you make a cheap holiday gift this year.

If you need Tech Help - Search Forums

Anybody involved in the digital arts field be it photo, video, graphics and/or web is undoubtedly going to encounter technical problems. These could be very simple general problems or bugs that many others have figured out a work around or they could be specific to the user and their equipment and/or software.

My guests have left, the house is quiet so I thought it was a good day to update my demo reel. I wanted to digitize some projects I had on a mini DV tape and I already encountered my first technical problem on my computer. I won't bore you with the details, but if you are interested it involves a Sony HVR Z1 and Adobe Premiere Pro CS5. You can find my problem here.

The purpose of this post isn't to recruit the talents and man hours of some willing individual to solve my problem (although, that would be nice) but rather to remind you if you are having technical difficulties and are running out of hair to pull out then check out some of these helpful tech forums:

Adobe Forums

Avid Forums

Creative Cow

Final Cut Pro

They have saved my rear and many occasions and you can often (after usually many hours of sifting through the threads) work out your problem. If you can't, then create a new thread.

Remember, forums are your friends.

Editing Suite is Up and Running!!!

Finally finally finally!!! I picked up my PC editing suite yesterday. I ordered half of the components from Newegg and the other bits and pieces from Microcenter. Here are the specs in case you're interested:

+ i7 2600 K
+ GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3P
+ G-Skill Ripjaw Series 4 GB x 4
+ PNY NVIDIA Quadro 4000
+ SSD 120GB INTEL 320 Series
+ WD 2TB BLACK SATA 6.0 GBS x 2
+ CORSAIR H70 Liquid Cooling
+ Corsair 1000W Bronze Certified Power Supply
+ Windows 7 Home Premium
_______________________________

Since I picked it up yesterday I have just been installing software. Adobe Production Suite CS5, Adobe Lightroom 2 and various Digital Juice products. B&H Photo Video has a 24 hour sale on Lightroom 3 - it's 50% off and on sale for $149.99 right now. If you don't already have it, I highly recommend this program. Especially when processing large amounts of images this will save you lots and lots of time compared to processing images in Photoshop (one at a time) or other RAW editing programs.

After all of the software is installed - I will be getting back into the swing of things and posting tutorials, tips, tricks and other bits and pieces. It's great to be back after nearly a one year hiatus.

Cheers

Recent Work - Sketches and Watercolor

Hello -

I finally purchased all of my computer components and dropped them off for my system build. I'm hoping by early next week I'll have a new work station. I have been waiting, planning and saving for literally a year. In the meanwhile, I've gotten back into my fine arts. I'm applying for graduate school and I need to build my portfolio so here are some recent fine art pieces. I've signed up for a couple continuing education drawing classes at a local community college. Here are my recent pieces:







...and my watercolor...



The first three are just some sketches. I'm particularly fond of my watercolor. I have been working on it on and off for the past three weeks. How do you know when you're work is done? For me, I just know. You mull it over a bit and when you haven't touched your brush or pencil to the paper - it's finished.

Funds Received

Well, I finally got my tax return and as soon as I finish shopping for parts at www.newegg.com I'm hopefully going to have my editing suite back! Gosh, I have been waiting so long for this it's beyond ridiculous. Thanks for your patience, I know I've nearly run out.
Another big change I failed to mention - I've relocated from Melbourne, Australia to Detroit, MI. It's good to be back in the D.

Service Interruption

Hello All -

If anyone is following this blog - I just wanted to let you know that due to personal home circumstances that it will be some time before I'm able to post anything new. I no longer have an editing/graphics computer and haven't had one since November, so until I purchase a new system I'm afraid this blog will be very sleepy. I look forward to coming back online with new tutorials.

Thanks,
NK