Listen

Listen, created on Ipad app, "Paper"

A new app, more play.  I don't know the meaning of this--I was playing with a face, a hand appeared and I left it.  I added a bird and a few red lines.  Is it a blue bird of happiness or is it removing brain cells?

Paper is the name of the app and it's based on moleskin sketchbooks (I never draw in my paper ones).  It began as free with pen and ink--then add $6.99 for more tools and colors, then another $1.99 so I could mix colors. Where can you buy such fun for $10?  This sketchbook is almost filled but I can delete and go back to clean pages.

I read about this on James Gurney's blog.  http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2013/10/printing-digital-sketches-as-physical.html

Okay, this link takes you to something called "Book."  The app is downloaded as "Paper 53."

Poor Willie

Poor Willie, graphite on paper
Cleaned up and colored with SketchbookPro on iPad

September has not been a great month.  My six-year-old dog Willie ruptured a ligament in his right knee two weeks ago.  During his weekly Thursday trash-night walk on the leash (his favorite activity), he jumped up onto a low wall, turned and screamed--I carried him home.  After x-rays under sedation, he had surgery Tuesday and came home yesterday.  I am his nurse, forcing pills down his throat; later I'll be his physical therapist.  He is so sad--pink bandage covering stitches on the back leg, shaved upper leg, chartreuse bandage on the front from the IV, and the cone.  He heard me taking the trash down tonight so I carried him to the street for a short two-and-a-half-legged walk in front of the house.  

Willie, age 4

We thought Willie was lazy when he'd stare at us--waiting to be lifted onto the sofa; didn't know he had bad knees.

I do realize that we are but specks in this world of floods, earthquakes, fires and mass killings.  May everyone have better days. 

Shorthand

Shorthand, iPad painting

I've always loved the symbols for shorthand--a secret way of writing--so I bought a small Gregg Shorthand Manual at the thrift shop.  I intended to draw in it.  I couldn't bring myself to mess up the pages (I have the same hesitancy with my neat sketchbooks--they're still pristine).

 

Instead, I used the kaleidoscope photobooth of my iPad to photograph a page; then added a layer with a painting. This was done in the Sketchbook app.   I like the "transform" feature; I can move and resize the painting--no symbol poking her in the ear.  I don't know the secretary in the above painting but I suspect she was influenced by my Sunday-night TV shows.  I watch Call the Midwife (the clothing), The Good Wife, and Mad Men (the chair).  Then I watch Mr. Selfridge on my PBS app (the women have this hairstyle).  Who programs all the good shows for the same night?

1961

I remember my days as a secretary--shorthand got me from the country to the big city of Washington, D.C.--working for the Federal Government, wearing hose that never matched my pale legs, and walking (even dancing The Twist) in HIGH HEELS.  I loved it.  In the photo above, my boss was away so I took over his desk at U.S. Department of Commerce--I was 19.

Easter

My Clarksville VA, created on iPad, SketchBook app

Easter is here so I'm eating blue chicken peeps and my front porch is decorated with yellow wooden ducks.

 

This is one of my first iPad projects from August.  I took a photo of our downtown with my iPad, then removed the moving cars using Corel on my desktop, and sent it back to my iPad.  The photo is one layer; the duck is a second layer.  It's fun making the duck larger (he blocks the lake) or smaller and ducking into the Pizza Pub.

Happy Easter.   

Pest Control



Pest Control, size variable, iPad screenshot

Another summer, more bug spray.  My husband has armed himself, and all the bugs who wander onto our front porch get zapped--he thinks there are no good bugs.  I worry about the birds.   I'm a bug-rescuer; if I find one inside, I carefully take it outside to freedom.  Now I wonder if I'm sending them to the great beyond--I'll have to take them out the back door.

This is not a portrait of my husband; I don't know who it might be--looks a bit like a man I worked with many years ago.  I wanted to check out skin tones and figure painting on my iPad.  Now I need to learn how to move the painting from the iPad to my computer without including the little circle that's part of the screenshot from Sketchbook (and you probably thought it was a bugbite).

**Afterthought.  If I downsize the drawing on the iPad with my fingers, I can eliminate the little circle.  Aha!

First iPad Scketch



Elder, iPadding

I ordered my first app--it took a while to find it on my iPad.  Who knew it was hiding on another screen other than home.  I spent two days reading about drawing/painting apps; most had comments about problems running on the New iPad.  I'll be patient, but I just had to try one so I ordered Sketchpad for 99 cents.  With a slider I can "size" my finger, then pick colors from the wheel--that's about it--no blending, no eraser, no zoom, but there is an "undo" button.  This was fun, took about 30 minutes; I've always wanted to be loose with my drawing--this is definitely loose.