Paint and Pixels: May 2010

Friday, May 28, 2010

Two more stop-motions... and that's it

This one Roxanne and I did while Rocket was at school because she really really really really wanted to make a movie WITHOUT any boys around... it's called "Monsters and Tsunamis".

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

And this one Rocket made for his Australian animal project for school. He came home and said, "My animal is the stringray and for my project I'm going to make a stop-action movie!" and I was like "umm... I'm kindof sick of doing that." and he said "well I can do it on my own"... which meant that I gave in and helped him. He presents it to his class today. I hope he gets a good grade.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

This is how you make a stop action film: Take a whole lot of pictures of something happening. Then upload them all to onetruemedia.com and add music. If you want to make it look like something is magically moving on it's own, you have to move it very gradually, and get out of the picture when you snap it. It's best to have two people- a mover and a snapper. The mover moves the object and the snapper takes the picture once the mover's hand is out of the picture. You have to sortof get into a rhythm like this: move, snap, move, snap, move, snap. There is a lot of youtube how-to videos about it. But once you do it with your kids once, they will want to do it all the time. Every toy they have will give them a new stop-action movie idea. Like "oh I could make a stop-action with this barbie" or "oh wouldn't this car be cool in a stop-action?" The possibilities are endless... but I'm sure your time is not.... mine's not.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Playdough, Caps, Lids, Screws, and a Destructive Shoe

We love making stop action videos around here. Sometimes I forget to post them. But we talk about making them more than we actually do. But yesterday, we broke out all the caps and lids that Jodi and I have been collecting for the last couple months, as well as the playdough... and some screws... and I think a few other odds and ends maybe. Anyways, here's our video:

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I can't figure out how to make it not end so abruptly... I wish the music would fade off. But that's OK, because OneTrueMedia makes the rest of it so easy to do.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

My Solo Art Show

My art show on Saturday was exciting. I can't really say that anything particularly exciting actually happened.... it was just the people. The fact that these people actually came out JUST for my art show, was mind boggling. It makes me wonder if I bugged them so much that they thought that I wouldn't be their friend anymore if they didn't come... or if they really did want to be there. And there was a good mix of people that I knew and people that I didn't know and got to meet. And the food was delicious too!

Before the show, I made buttons of all my paintings and pinned them on a canvas that was labeled "buttons" (I didn't get a very up close picture of it). Everyone that came to the show got to pick their favorite painting on a button that they could wear. It was a good way of making people think they were getting a free gift, but really they are just endorsing my artwork!

And I wore buttons with portraits of myself on them created by my two favorite artists, Rocket and Roxanne. Buttons are the coolest.

Even Matt wore a button! What a good husband...

One of the biggest surprises (ok, I guess THE biggest surprise) was when Jody and Cassie showed up. They are my blogger friends, and in the 21st century, blogger friends are just as valuable as real life friends, even if you have never met them.... but it's always exciting to meet them too! I had never met Cassie before, and I had met Jody before, but I was too young to remember it (like 16 or something). But I was pretty shocked and speechless when I saw that they were there, and I wish I had known they were coming, cause then I could have acted chill and planned cool things to talk about. Oh well... maybe next time.

This is me talking with people about my art... or whatnot. See Dianne? She put a lot of work into finding a babysitter so she could come. Things like that just say a lot.

OK, these pictures are out of order.... this is before anyone got there.

Yeah this one too.

I always like it when Luke comes to my art things. If I have too many though, he might stop coming.

Kyle never misses an art show! And, it's always good he's there cause then Matt has someone to talk about baseball with.

This is the lady who actually wants the art to sell!

Good ole Clyde and Susie! Did you know they're married now?!

Some other people.

And the folks. Thanks Dad- without you, I wouldn't have any of these pictures (the camera card). Thanks Mom- without you, I wouldn't have those cool boots.

And thanks everyone else who came, or wanted to come, or reposted my link on facebook, or said "I like your art", or said "you look good tonight, no you dont look like a school teacher", or asked how the show went afterwards, or posed for me so I could do these paintings, or whatever else I cant remember now, but thanks pretty much everyone in the whole world ever... yeah, thanks. I'm so so so lucky.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Grandmama Goes Grocery Shopping

My big art show was this last weekend. Saturday. I prepared for it all day... by trying to figure out what to wear and by sleeping and by charging my camera battery. I thought "boy it would be awful if I got to the show and my camera battery went dead and I couldn't take pictures", because that HAS happened to me before at really important picture taking times. And Matt is just never as sympathetic as he should be when that happens and I start crying.
So when I got there, you can imagine the feeling of panic I had when I realized that even though I had charged my camera battery, I had forgotten my camera card. Luckily my dad was there and had his camera that used the same memory card as his. But he didn't want to loan it to me. He was like "well, when would I be able to get it back?" and I had to talk him into letting me use it, which he eventually did. Pffff..... Dad.
His reluctance to letting me use his card made me think there must be something secret on it... hehehehe. He didn't need to worry about me not returning his card, but he did need to worry about me stealing pics off of it. So ofcourse I took it home and checked it out after the show. No big secrets I dont think... nothing too incriminating... well, except for the pics of him playing beer pong while wearing a Heidi Ho costume in a German pub with his coworkers for Oktoberfest. Just Kidding. But I did find these awesome pictures of my grandma, his mom, at the grocery store. It seems every time I see her, she is a little bit shorter... and if this pattern continues, soon I'm afraid she won't be able to see over the basket when she goes grocery shopping.

Coming up next.... pic from my art show (not sure if that's as good as pics of Grandmama grocery shopping though)

Sneak preview: unexpected guests, looking like a school teacher, and buttons, buttons, buttons....

Sunday, May 09, 2010

Happy Mother's Day to Me.

For mother's day, I was given a very nice piece of original fine art- and its even supposed to be me! And Friday. I also got to go to Cici's pizza buffet last night, and we discussed how my children could make being a mother easier for me.
I don't believe there has ever been a mother's day where I have been less confident in my mothering skills.

Thursday, May 06, 2010

So this is what I've been waiting for, folks... I think.

On Tuesday I took every original painting on of the walls of my house and transported them all the Tastes Wine Bar, where I am booked for the next two months to have a solo art show. It's exciting. It's what I've always dreamed of. This is what the facebook event invitation says:

Please join us for Naomi's first solo art show!

-Enjoy free delicious tapas!
-Enjoy Naomi's paintings of people with deformities, Little Miss Religianity, exotic ocean creatures, and more!
-Pick out your favorite painting on a free button!
-Try out a bottle of wine!
-Chat with the artist!

If you can't make it on the 15th, don't worry. The paintings will be displayed throughout May and June, so stop in any time (although you won't get a free button or tapas).

Event presented by Tastes Wine Bar and Bistro and Jennifer Mosquera

I keep trying to figure out if this is that moment I've been waiting for all my life... if this is what I envisioned it to be or not. My brain sometimes tricks me. It tends to separate every event in my life into two categories; either "this is EXACTLY what I've always wanted!" or "this is NOT AT ALL what I wanted!!", instead of just taking it in for what it is. So it seems that no measure of success would satisfy me, because I would always be wondering if I actually was hoping for something better, and then envisioning what "better" actually would be. "Better" would probably be if it were written about in People magazine maybe. Maybe People mag is the pinnacle of success... no wait... Oprah. I think I could be satisfied with the Westword though...

Nevertheless

, I am trying to enjoy the ride. I bought a new shirt to wear to the opening reception. It says "Life is cool and fun"... and it really is... cool and fun. I mean maybe it could be cooler and funner, but who cares. But I bought the shirt on the internet, so I hope it fits good when it gets here, cause if it didn't, that wouldn't be very cool or fun.

Anyways, speaking of success, I've been reading "Outliers: the story of success" by Malcolm Gladwell and in it, he argues that success is not merely talent, but rather talent coupled with many unlikely events and people lining up in order to give someone an opportunity for success. Without the right doors opening, the right stars lining up, etc etc, no one would have the success they do. They owe it to so many different variables besides their own determination or talent.

If my art is considered successful, I was thinking, it really is the result of all these different opportunities from different people and circumstances that just happen to fall into my path.
OK, so I just started to try to write out all of those unlikely happenings, and it become an overwhelming task so I stopped and deleted what I had already wrote. But what it all has taught me is that every person and every situation I encounter, as insignificant as they may seem at the moment, may become something extremely important to m life if I keep my mind open to that. You just never know what potential little encounters may have. Oh gosh, I'm being all vague now, but there's just too many examples to start getting specific!

Anyways, if you're in the Denver area on the 15th, I'd love to see you at the reception! Even if you don't know it, you've probably inspired me or encouraged me in some way or another over the past years... yes, even YOU!

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