blogparty

Registration for the late Fall session at LVS opens bright and early tomorrow morning, September 29. The Painter X Level I class will be offered again (complete with revisions, thanks to my wonderful students), and the Painter Level II class will also be available.

By the way, for those of you who have earlier versions of the program, all of the material in Level II is also applicable to Painter IX, and most of the material can also be used by those who have Painter 8.

In Level I, there are a few items which only pertain to Painter X, but I’ve identified each of them. Everything else in the lesson also applies to Painter IX. Again, some of the lesson content can be used with Painter 8. You will have to read the page syllabus to determine whether or not this course would be applicable since I no longer have Painter 8 installed.

Level II is a continuation of what was covered in Level I with some very interesting additions. I’m still working on Lessons 5 and 6, so the syllabus is incomplete, but you can go to the class description page and read the content for Lessons 1 through 4 now. Registration for both classes is limited, so I suggest you don’t put it off until the last minute to avoid disappointment. The first class filled up very quickly, and boy are my students keeping me busy! I love it!

I can’t believe I haven’t posted anything to this blog for over a month. Well, my only excuse is that with a full class enrollment for Painter I, and then some (35 in all), and 1250 board posts to day, I’ve been a bit busy. Meanwhile, registration opens on September 29th for the next session and I’m still writing the Level II class. It figures doesn’t it? I finished writing the Level I class on August 1, approximately 7 weeks ago. I wrote that class in 5 1/2 weeks, obviously, I require deadlines…LOL.

Actually, it’s more a case of…it was just easier writing the first class. I’m covering more information in more detail in this class and the lessons are running much longer. If the response I’m getting in the Level I class is any indication, the students are going to love this Level II class.

Such an enthusiatic bunch! It makes me so happy to see how they’re enjoying their lessons. In week one, I had them draw and paint a pear from scratch. Well, you never heard such whining in your life…lol. You would think I had asked them to cut off a finger…and in the end, everyone tried, and some of the submissions were just wonderful, many of them coming from people who had never tried to draw anything in their entire lives.

It just goes to show you…we all have it in us to be artists. Some of us will be much better artists than others, but anyone can draw. Practice, work at it, try to see things as they are, and try to see what’s not there too…but most of all, keep on trying. You can do it. I believe in you.

As a footnote, I joined Technorati today so my blog would be linked to others. For some odd reason, I can’t get the link added to my blogroll, so I’m putting it in this post. So much to learn, so little time…lol

I finished writing the Intro to Painter X level 1 class yesterday. All that’s left for me to do it proofread it, and get it uploaded. Just in time too! Registration opened on Monday, 7/28 and classes begin on 8/30. So…now I have 3 or 4 days to just lounge around, and then it’s time to begin writing the lessons for level 2.

In spite of my complaints, I’ve really enjoyed writing these classes, and in the process, I’ve also learned some things about Painter that I didn’t know before. Teaching has always been a learning process. Maybe that’s why I enjoy doing it so much.

Little did I know when I agreed to teach the Intro to Painter classes that I would end up having to rewrite them from scratch. It hasn’t even been a week since Vikki called me and I’m already starting to develop a callous on my right ring finger. I’ve managed to get 2/3 of lesson one written……gee whiz….only 5 and 1/3 lessons to go, and they’re supposed to be completed by 8/30. That may sound like a great deal of time, but trust me folks, it’s not.

So, how did I get myself in this pickle? Well, when Vikki phoned, I had the impression that I would just use the lessons from the previous instructor and sort of glide…holding the hands of the Painter newbies as they struggled to learn this very complex graphics program. Well, first I spoke to the previous instructor who told me she didn’t mind my using some of her material, but she wanted me to make the lessons “my own”… which is “polite speak” for, “do your own work, or share the salary with me”, lol (Unlike me, Karen, the previous teacher, is always polite ). Then I started reading through the lessons and realized that although she was a wonderful teacher, her way of teaching a program was not my way of teaching or learning a program.

Well, I can’t very well teach a class when the teaching style is completely different from mine can I? So here I am, it’s June 25 and I have to have the first Intro class ready for the fall session which begins on August 30, and furthermore, I need to have enough of it done to write a logical syllabus in time for the July 28 registration. Ah well, they say that challenges help you to grow, so except for my sore fingers, I will probably do a lot of growing in the next month or so.

Stay tuned…

p.s. and then there is the matter of the 3 blogs I’m trying to keep up…..I’m such a glutton for punishment

This afternoon I received a phone call from Vikki at LvsOnline asking me if I would be interested in teaching the Intro to Painter classes beginning with the Fall semester. Karen Bonaker, the original teacher is leaving to pursue her own online school devoted to digital art. Of course I said “Yes” and then discussed the current lessons with Karen. Well, they were originally written for Painter 9, and so a great deal of rewriting and revising will need to be done. Since the Fall classes begin on August 30, I have quite a bit to do between now and then. Am I bragging or complaining? A little bit of both I think, lol.

Meanwhile, Lee County, where I live, has now gone from being the dryest county in Florida to being the wettest. This is a wonderful thing because it means that the aqifers are filling up and hopefull will continue to do so thoughout this rainy season.

What else is new? Well, I found this stunning plant on E-bay. It’s called a Tricolor Stromanthe sanquinea Pachystachys. So, the plant arrives in the mail, packaged beautifully, healthy, all leaves intact (and did I mention faily expensive too?). I immediately unwrap it and pot it up in nice, rich potting soil complete with organic matter. Well, the plant retains it’s color and seems healthy enough, but all the leaves are curling. I go running around the internet to find out why, and I read that it will do that if the humidity isn’t high enough. Humidity not high enough? I live in Southwest Florida. We have heavy rains at this time of the year almost daily. So, I’m at a bit of a loss here. I’ve written to a member on Dave’s Garden who had a gorgeous photo of this plant. I’m hoping she can enlighten me since she also lives in Florida. Meanwhile, if anyone out there has a clue, please post a comment.

Our Rainy Season seems to have begun in earnest as of yesterday. There were a few feeble attempts consisting of brief showers earlier in the week, but yesterday we had a true, thunderstorm filled downpour! It was wonderful! By late evening the temperatures had cooled off and the air was finally clean. It’s raining now as I write and I know I should shut down the computer, but I’m so far behind on everything I’m reluctant to do so.

We’re definitely in the midst of our hot weather now. The temperatures are running in the mid to upper 90’s and will remain so for the better part of the next 4 months along with steamy humidity. SouthWest Florida is not the place to live during summer, but when one has no choice, one is also extremely grateful for the luxury of centrail air conditioning.

My photography efforts will now move indoors for the next few months. I have to figure out a way to get extra light into the living room so I don’t have to use flash. It’s amazing how aware one becomes of the harsh shadows caused by flash once they’ve been pointed out. I haven’t felt much like taking pictures for the past week, but I’m hoping that will begin to change soon.

Meanwhile, I need to go clean a bathroom…….ugghhh…..don’t you just hate it when chores get in the way of the things you like to do?

The lessons for week 4 have already been posted in the LVS classrooms, but I have yet to complete my homework for week 3.

Part of the problem is that SouthWest Florida is in the midst of “Fire Season” which occurs every year between the beginning of April and the start of the “Rainy Season” (aka “Hurricane Season”) and begins somewhere around June 1. The county I live in is the driest in the state and brush fires have been starting up almost spontaneously for the past 2 weeks. In addition, Lake Okeechobee in the middle of the state is actually on fire! Vegetation floating on the lake caught fire and continues to burn. The end result is smoke, and I’ve been having a very difficult time with my eyes due to the smoke. I can’t stay on the computer and read or write for more than an hour at a time and I find when I try looking in my camera’s viewfinder that my eyes start to burn and tear within the first 5 minutes. Sooooo……taking photos now becomes a very difficult, if not impossible endeavor, not to mention the difficulties in reading lessons and writing blog posts and/or assignments.

The weather forecasters are predicting the Rainy season to begin this coming week which will mean heavy showers and/or thunderstorms late each afternoon. I hope they’re right because I’m fairly chomping at the bit to get out and take some photos. I think I’m suffering from camera withdrawal, especially since I just bought 3 new filters I want to play with.

I think I’ve become an addict.

I may have overextended myself a bit this session. In addition to the Blogging class, I’m also taking Painter AutoPalettes, Photography 102, and Digital Photography 101. I’m learning so much in the photography classes. For Week 1 of Digital Photograpy we only posted photos of things we liked to take pictures of, but in week 2, Ron had us do experiments with exposure. We were to take photos of backlit objects, one photo on complete auto settings and then a second photo using whatever exposure compensation we preferred (or a combination of several). For my assignment I used varying shutter speeds and for the very first time ever, the EV setting on my camera.

So far, I’ve only posted 2 subjects. One was a white rose, and the adjustments didn’t seem to change the photo very much, but the second subject was a cut glass candle holder in front of a sliding glass door and I was really amazed at the difference adjusting the EV made.

Check out the photos here.

I’m just so excited to finally learn how to use all the manual settings on my new camera, including, what to me, are the more obscure ones, like EV.

If you have a digital camera that you only use on the auto setting and would like a better understanding of how to use it, I highly recommend this class.

Digital Photography @LVSonline

The next LVS session begins on 8/30/08, registration opens on 7/28/08.

See you around campus!

Well at long last I have learned how to install a WordPress blog. Of course my journey was not without its pitfalls. For some strange reason my brain decided to go on vacation and while setting up the blog via Fantastico, instead of telling the software to create a directory for the blog, I left that area blank. Fantastico obediently installed the blog in my root directory.

“So what?” Well gentle reader, if you install a blog in your root directory and you already have a web site, you have no way to access the blog because when you click on the link it keeps taking you to the index page of your web site, i.e., the root directory…..duh……

If all of the above sounds like nothing but geek speak, just ignore me…..I do tend to ramble…..<ggg>.

It was quite late when I began my homework (1:00a.m.), so I was probably too tired to pay close attention to what I was doing.

(That’s my story and I’m sticking to it…..)

Anyway, after hunting around in WordPress help and finding nothing, it finally dawned on me what the problem was and I created a new blog and deleted the old one, both actions were pretty easy using Fantastico once I figured out the directory business. I don’t have Fantastico installed on my Nightshadow site , so if I want to create a blog there I’ll have to create the dreaded SQL database…..shudder…..
Bean says we’re going to cover themes in detail next week. I can hardly wait. I really hate this default theme…..can you say….”ugly”?

That’s it for now folks. Stay tuned for the further exciting adventures of “Nightshadow learns to blog”.