Magenta

What is it they say about the best laid plans?

Anyway. Magenta. Other than this being Steph's favorite color...what else does Magenta have going for it? Well my friends, Magenta is actually a pretty important color! Remember our old friends the Primary colors?

Good ol' RED, YELLOW, and BLUE.

*hee hee...did you read those by the color on screen or by the text? :) err...sorry. Back to Magenta.

Do you remember what used to happen when you would combine those good ol' primary colors?

Red + Yellow = Orange
Blue + Red = Purple
Yellow + Blue = Green

And so on and so forth. But being the amateur color mixers that we were, we couldn't mix much more than that. Remember how everything would just turn into a brownish blob of color?

Did you know that this is why printers use the colors Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black? (better known as CMYK *bonus points if you know what the 'K' stands for*) These four colors combine to make a FAR larger range of colors than the old Red, Yellow, and Blue when it comes to pigment mixing. Since I only use the free version of Photoshop, I don't have the option of printing in CMYK. But the average person probably isn't going to be able to tell the difference. If I ever start printing out my photographs...that will be a different story.

Recently, at the North Texas Irish Festival, I discovered that stage lighting can make use of similar colors. Meet Angus. He's here to help us illustrate this point.



Angus is the frontman for a great little indie band called Brother. I caught them for the first time two years ago and was glad to see them back (albeit one member shorter) this year. They play a variety of instruments which really gives their music a unique sound.



These pictures were an experiment as I'm not a concert photographer and don't really have the proper lenses for this type of lightning situation. When I took them I thought "What the heck. It's not like I'm wasting film or anything." Surprisingly, I actually came out with some decent shots.

But I digress. The shots you get to see today are the shots that are illustrating the use of Magenta in stage lighting. (i.e. not necessarily the best shots I took) In looking at the following picture I (being a huge nerd) went "Hey! That's CMY! Cool!". Take a look:



See it? For those of you that are less nerdy than me and wouldn't notice the color separation from the lights on the shirt of the lead singer while listening to a rockin' awesome band...here it is a little clearer:


(click on that pic to get a closer and more readable version of the photo)

Here it is one more time...but with a different focus. Say hello to Drew. He plays the didgeridoo real awesomeish!



So there you go. Magenta DOES have a purpose! And maybe I'll post more of the concert pics sometime soon...

Gold

When I first set out to do this post, my original intention was to do one similar to the silver post. I figured it would only be appropriate. I mean, gold is kind of opposite of silver right?

(I've always thought they were mortal enemies...but hey. That's just me)

So while mulling this around in my head, instead of working, I looked over at the hell beast. She was lying in the sun all sleepy-eyed and I realized...Holy Turtles she's got pretty gold eyes!



In typical cat fashion, her eyes change color a bit. But primarily, they're gold.

This got me realizing. There is another in my life that has color-changing eyes.



Pandora's eyes are usually either gold or green. They match my light green quilt perfectly when she is laying on it.

All this realizing made me realize something else.



Thats right. It made me realize I should lay off the cheesy Photoshop techniques.

Silver

Once again, I'm behind.

Silver is a tough one. I tried and tried to come up with something Silver that was important to me. Yeah yeah, several of you assumed I would do jewelry but I've already POSTED about the stuff I made in my metalsmithing class so long ago. And I certainly haven't done any MORE of that recently.

As I sat and looked around my house for inspiration, I began to realize that silver is so...utilitarian! There are TONS of things around the house that are silver. There was only one problem. It was after dark and I HATE the on-board flash on my camera. It washes things out something fierce! Often to where I can't repair them with my limited Photoshop skills.

BUT! I had been looking for a good excuse to try this (ok, you're right, I don't need an excuse to TRY it...just an excuse to use the time to fiddle with it). It didn't work quite as well as I would have liked but it did improve things significantly.

So. On to all things silver! Er...at least, in my house.


First up was the test shot with the film canister diffuser. As I happened to catch two...count them TWO!...silver objects in the shot, it's included by default. Those are scissors and an X-Acto knife for you craft impaired people.




Next is the ladder (thanks Mom!) I used as a 'tripod' when I took these photos.




As I wandered past the ladder I caught a glimpse of these in the bathroom.




There wasn't really anywhere to go from there, so I headed towards the kitchen. On the way, I passed the old desktop computer. This is the old broken down mouse that doesn't work right.

The left button performs the function the right button should and the right button doesn't do anything at all.

The wheel still opens links in a background tab though!


I found this on my fridge. Who in the heck is Bruce?

Just kidding. This clip came from an old place of employment and this clip used to hold jobs for Bruce.

Now it just holds my butter recipes. And a Cracker Jacks prize.



There is my silver accented coffee pot. (thanks Mom!)

Eww. I really need to wipe the waterspots off the top of that. And NO! That is NOT a wine bottle hiding back there. Really. What are you trying to suggest?



And next to the silver coffee pot is a high window.

In that high window sits the pepper shaker.

WHY is it there? Pshaw. I certainly have no idea!



The kitchen holds such a myriad of silver items. Here is my deadbolt. It does not turn in the direction one would think a deadbolt should turn.

Took me a year to get used to that...



Of course there is a silver item nearly everyone has in their kitchen.

No. Besides the silverware.

You shouldn't ever be caught without it.

That and toilet paper. But I digress. What else can I find around here that's silver?

Oh look! There's the salt shaker!

Oh. Oh my. Do you see what's next to it?

No, not the Karo syrup! On the LEFT side of the salt. That's the fancy shmancy disposable pepper grinder.

Shallow salt shaker. Only hanging with the pretty condiments.




Moving right along, here is the lawn chair that Jeremy left behind after the Mardi Gras celebration in Soulard.

Hey Jeremy! Finders keepers!



Oh! I almost forgot!

It was hiding here in the corner. THIS is certainly a (mostly) silver object that is meaningful to me! (Again...thanks Mom!)

Seriously. Have any of YOUR moms ever bought YOU a sword? Huh?



Alright. Since I could go on forever like this (there are a TON of silver items in your house when you start looking!) I'll give you just one last picture.

I use this more and more frequently. It's my grandmother's sewing machine that my Mom lugged all the way from Oregon for me. (Once AGAIN...thanks Mom!)



I think I should have named this post "Things my Mom has given me".

Workplace Dangers

There are many jobs that are considered dangerous. High-rise construction, crewing a crab boat in Alaska, firework technician, customer service for the local utility company...

My job is hardly considered dangerous. Unless you count paper-cuts and carpal tunnel. Except for two things. There are two very serious dangers at my place of employment. Prepare to meet the first!

See how she stalks her prey!?



There's nowhere to hide!



She WILL find you...



And voice her displeasure in your attempt to escape.



She is always watching.



Always.



The other danger in the office is a danger of a slightly different sort. While the previously mentioned ferocious beast keeps you on your toes, the following furry ball of cuteness lures you into a false sense of security. I believe they're working together.



That is plotting my friends...not sleeping.



He sneers at your attempts to resist his cuteness.



In all seriousness. How in the world am I supposed to get any work done with these guys around? They're a constant form of entertainment and distraction.

Don't tell the boss though...

Brown

Upon a hilltop in a land
of Rainbow colors out of hand,
there lived a stone of little hue,
he wasn't red or green or blue.

In this land of multi-tone
unhappy was this little stone.
The reason for this you shall see
was that he thought he was ugly.

The other stones were bright and gay
lighthearted in the games they play,
the lonely stone was left alone
his name even was quite unknown.



Like sparkling jewels among the sand,
or diamond rings upon your hand,
shone all these stones of brilliant sheen,
the red and yellow, blue and green.

And trapped within this land of cheer,
he tried to hold back just one tear.
The reason that he was so down,
his color was a boring brown.

In younger days he tried to play,
with even just the stones of grey.
He looked for friendship joy and love
and something to be a part of.

They told him not to come around,
for no one liked his boring brown.
With weighty heart and heavy sigh,
he chose to let life slide on by.



For years and years he sat so still
that no one saw him on his hill,
and though his spirit seemed to break
there'd come a day when he would wake.

The years of sun revealed a glow,
new colors that began to show.
Copper, bronze, and even gold
were there like treasure to behold.

No longer was he plain and round,
a change had happened on the ground.
The wind and rain and Divine art
had shaped him to a lovely heart.



And this, my love, is how I found
a lovely stone so bronzed and brown,
no longer lonely now you see
because I brought him home with me.

Of all the stones within that land
no other did I take to hand.
The brown one was no doubt my prize,
the brilliant color of your eyes.

Black

As you may have noticed, I'm nearly a week late on this post.

Last Wednesday I blissfully posted my pictures from the lunar eclipse and went on my merry way. The very next day I was alerted to the fact that the next color on the list was black.

Seriously!? I just posted all those great nighttime pictures a DAY BEFORE the color posting day AND didn't title it 'BLACK'? Brilliant.

Steph suggested I scurry back and re-title it but you know...I just couldn't do it. I figured those pics deserved a better title than 'BLACK'. So. Now that we have seen how unobservant I am...on to the actual color post.

There were many things I could have written about here. Black is an important color to me. Much of my wardrobe is black, my camera and camera bag are black, my cat is black, one of my favorite/most frustrating horses growing up was black...seriously, I could go on forever here.

I also thought about writing about how black is a truly misunderstood color. I thought you might be interested in the science of black. It's always bothered me that people assume that black is the 'absence of light' when it really is ABSORBING the entire spectrum. So in reality, since black absorbs light, it's really FULL of light where as the color WHITE would be an absence of light. Makes you think about the traditional meanings of color doesn't it? But, since your eyes are already glassing over, I won't write about the science of the color black.

Instead, I'm going to show you one of the most important black objects in my life.



Here you see my car. My lovely wonderful car. This car was the car that I had my first (and only) accident in; it's the car that goes through starters like a four year old goes through Lucky Charms; and it's the car that functions not only as transportation but as a personal storage space, closet, and food pantry. This car has been with me for...five years I think?

Oh how I love snow. It hides a multitude of sins. Here are the things you DON'T see in this picture:

1. The dent on the rear quarter panel from where I scraped a pesky telephone pole while trying to be nice to a girl that was looking for a parking spot the night before Mardi Gras three years ago.
   
   
2. The dent and gouge in the back where I mowed over a dumpster that had the audacity to jump right behind my car just as I was backing out.
   
   
3. The missing plastic thingy that goes right behind the front driver's side tire that fell off sometime in the last three weeks.
   
   
4. The various orange peels, chip bags, soda cans, and random pieces of mail littering the floorboards and back seat.
   
   
5. The giant crack in the windshield that I've had since February of '03. Or was it '02? How do you normal people keep track of what years certain things happened? I have no sense of normal time passage.
   
   
6. The general unwashed state of the car. I won't lie. It's filthy. But hey, think of it this way. You can write all those cute and clever messages on it like "Wash Me" and "Ridin' Dirty" and...wait. Those aren't cute OR clever. So knock it off.

Anyway, there are a few of the things you DON'T see in that picture up there. But something you DO see?? All that snow!

That's right my friends. I moved to Canada! Check it out!

That's a Canadian solar powered traffic signal changer. Those Canadians! They're so eco-friendly!



And that's obviously a Canadian truck. Parked on the side of a Canadian street. That was plowed by a Canadian plow.



And this is the Canadian road to my new Canadian house.



Isn't my new Canadian house just beautiful? It came with the snow. Free of charge. Cause we're in Canada.



And last, that's my new Canadian back porch.




What do you mean it looks like my back porch in St. Louis? And that that house looks nothing like mine? You're crazy.

This is SO Canada.