Digital Piracy

A friend of mine has been repeatedly fighting a major digital piracy problem.  People buying her digital products and then giving them away to online and email groups.  She's also suffered a number copyright violations and the situation is getting out of hand and serious.  I could say more but instead I'll post a link to her website where you can read more about the problem and what her and her husband are now doing to tackle it. It's interesting reading especially if you're a digital artist.  Well worth a read.

http://www.jaguarwoman.com/

Splash of Colour

I love the studio and boutique shop, Pickleberry Papercrafts, where I'm taking my art journal workshop.  It's an inspiring and creative space.  Surrounded by beautiful art supplies, paper crafting goodies in an array of colours and textures.  So yummy!  I come away wanting more.  Motivated and inspired.

These colours are out of my comfort zone.  I guess sometimes you just need colour in your life.  Real colour.  Positive emotional colour.  Uplifting.  So bright and bold.  And I'm not really sure why I chose them to work with for my art journal.  I was drawn to them and loved working with them.  I usually choose muted tones.  These bright and bold colours are happy.  I need happy at the moment.  It somehow balances out the sadness that's in my life.  I don't know how my art journal will unfold.  I don't have a theme in mind.  I want it to be organic.  Already though, I'm excited about the choices I've made and how its evolving.

Happy.  Yes.  Happy.  Bright and beautiful.

Website

After ummming and ahhhhing for eternity about whether or not to put my website back online, I finally bit the bullet, updated it and uploaded last night.  Just my little home on the web.  Mainly my digital art.  I'll add a gallery for my mixed paintings soon.  Actually feels good to have it back online.  I've had a website online since late 90s so just felt right to update it and be back online.  I'm still tweaking so be sure to let me know if you find anything wrong or not working properly.

Diane Rooney's Digital Fine Art and Design

Clean, Tidy, Cosy

I love the promise of a new day. And a new week. New things. Maybe good. Maybe bad. Either way, I want to embrace this day, this week. So I started my day by doing all the housework. I always feel so good once I've finished and everything is spic and span! I can now happily launch myself into my week. Working on a lot of new creative endeavours! More about them soon. Hope everyone has a good week.

An Apple a Day

According to new research, eating an apple a day can help significantly reduce the risk of bowel cancer.  I have no reason to doubt this.  However, one thing I'm learning very fast is that every person is different.  Cancer is aggressive and shows no mercy whether you've eaten an apple a day or not.  My burden of grief that I spoke about previously is related to my Dad.  He has advanced stage cancer of the colon a.k.a bowel cancer.  He was diagnosed 15 months ago and although he's had chemotherapy and surgery, the cancer has returned to such a degree, they're now only offering him palliative treatment.

Dad and Mum on Dad's 68th birthday (May 2009)

We only found this out a few days ago.  It's still sinking in.  I don't actually know what to do with myself.  This is from my perspective.  I can't even begin to talk about how this is affecting my Dad and my Mum.  That's a whole other blog post.  Or my siblings and my children.

For me, I need something to get into.  I have great goals and hopes for 2010.  More crafty projects.  More art to create.  Revamping my website (its nearly finished).  New friends to make.  I'm overwhelmed by the blessings in my life.  And yet, I do have this huge burden of grief.  I can't stop for a moment and think about how it could engulf me.  I need to keep moving.  I know one day it'll catch up but for now.  I have to keep busy and carry on as normal.  My Dad said to us that we should all live our lives "one day at a time".  Enjoy that day.  Tomorrow's not promised to any of us.  I'm honouring my Dad now, through the coming days, weeks, months, by living for today as best I can.

You may recall a recent blog post here about an Art Journal course I signed up for at Pickleberry Papercraft.  It started Thursday and I actually didn't know whether to go having just found out about my Dad.  I knew though that it would do me the world of good to go and I might even make some new friends, which I need to do, and enjoy myself.  Just a few hours not to think about what's ahead for my Dad and coping with my grief.  I was somewhat nervous at the thought of meeting new people and venturing out.

My life's been a roller coaster ride for a good 10 yrs now with one thing and another.  In and out of various seasons.  Some quite painful.  Some resulting in me ending up more or less as a hermit, in my own little world.  It was time for me to step out and meet new people.  I shouldn't have worried as everyone made me feel welcome including Kate, who owns Pickleberry Papercraft, and Jane, who is teaching the workshop.

I loved the workshop.  It was so satisfying to work in such a creative environment.  I was focused and got right into it.  It was what I needed and it inspired me forwards for all my other creative endeavours.  Maybe even new friendships in the making and new opportunities for me.  More about that another time.

Oh and I'm eating an apple a day.

On my Mind

Burden of Grief

I got some really sad news today.  I can't talk about it because I don't know what to say but I wanted to log it down here somehow.  When I read this back in months to come; years to come I'll know what it is.  This heavy burden of grief that I don't know what to do with.  It's mine.  And I guess I need to claim it; see it through and then let it go.  How long that's going to take is anyone's guess.

Today is now.  Tomorrow is not promised to any of us.

Camera Woes

I'm not a photographer.  Ha!  I love photography and like to think of myself as a casual hobbyist photographer.  I've always embraced the new digital technology starting out with a Sony FinePix something or other many, many moons ago.  I upgraded as and when I could afford to and moved with the times.  At some point those cameras weren't enough and I was desperate to try a digital slr.  I used to have a Canon SLR a hundred years ago so decided to try looking at the Canon range first and after much ado, I bought a beautiful Canon EOS 450 D.  What fun!  I learned loads and took some great photos.

It served me well but last year I realised that I needed a little "point and shoot" camera that was easier to take around with me and also for taking those instant magic moment shots as well as those fun candid ones.  Everyone knows you're around taking photos when you get out a hunking big digi slr!! ha!  Well, it's big compared to a little "point and shoot".

So my gorgeous hubby bought me a little Panasonic Lumix something or other with all the bits like bag, sd card etc..  He got it for my birthday and I was so excited.  And what a fab little camera.  This whole past year it hasn't been from my side.  I took it everywhere and have 1000s of photos on my hdd to prove it.  But now it's gone and I'm sad.  I've been sad for 2 months now.  Back in early November I went for my usual walk, camera in hand.  I remember taking some photos of autumn foliage, red berries etc..  I remember coming in the back door, walking into the kitchen and putting my camera (in bag or so I thought) on the side.

And then I just went on doing whatever until I remembered I needed to take the photos off the camera.  Could I find that camera??!!  Nope!  Nowhere.  No how.  Not to be found.  I hunted high and low.  I started looking in stupid places.  Truth be told I was getting silly by now.  So that was that.  I was actually very upset.  Mainly because Steve bought it for me.  He knows how much I love my photography.  And he bought me what I wanted.  He kept reassuring me that we could get a new one.  But no, I insisted on looking for it.  It wasn't the point anyway.  It was how stupid I was feeling.  Where was it?  Did I drop it?  Did someone pinch it??!   Ugh!

So that's what I've been doing on and off for 2 months.  Looking for my camera and kicking myself for losing it.  I've been using Steve's camera.  Sometimes.  It's a digital slr.  It's big and posh and cost a whole load of money and I hate, hate using it.  I'm terrified of using it.  So the other day after another half hour of crying and searching for my camera, I relented.  I asked Steve if he would get me a new one.

Of course he said yes.  I put some of my Christmas and birthday vouchers towards it (thanks to mil, Janice!) and we ordered a new Panasonic Lumix.  The next model up, of course.  I'm happy.  My new camera will be here any day depending on the adverse weather conditions! ha!  I know that was a long way round to basically saying, I've got a new camera.  I just needed to talk about my camera woes.  I needed to get this off my chest so I could "let it go".  ha!

Check back soon for some new spiffy photos taken with my new camera! :)

Time to just Be

Steve and I have been sick on and off for almost six weeks now.  Today was one of our better days and we decided to go out.  We wanted time away.  Time on our own.  Time to just be.  And it was beautiful.  We took a very slow nice drive out to the countryside, found a little village and went for a lovely much needed walk.

We talked.  We held hands.  We talked some more.  We laughed.  We always laugh.  Every day.  We took photos.  We planned.  And we talked more!  And we just enjoyed being still.  In the moment.  In the stillness of the snow.  The quiet.

 

 

 

Perfect Birthday

46 today!  It's been a day of bliss and blessings!  I have the most precious family!  And to end the day, it's started to snow.  I mean really snow.  Coldest Winter in over 30 yrs, apparently.  Looking forward to a good old fashioned snow day tomorrow.

Fresh Start

I love that feeling of newness.  The opportunity to start fresh.  New.  To startover.  New goals.  New dreams.  It doesn't matter if you do that every single day.  That's the wonder of a new day.  And a New Year.  New resolutions.  New beginnings.  For me, I want to look at the here and now.  Maybe a little forward but not much.  I have the need to live in the here and now.  That's what my New Year resolution is.  Live in the here and now.  Stop looking back.  Make new memories.

There are a million things I want to do in 2010.  Some big.  Some not so big.  All, though, are me.  About me.  My family.  My beloved husband.  It's about me and them.  Simple.  Nothing too remarkable.  And no pressure.  Day by day goals.  They're open ended goals.  I can move the goal posts if I need to.  I don't want to feel pressure this year.  I want this year to be about moments.  Making momentary memories.  Not stressed out days filled with "oh, if only I had more hours in the day"!!.  Nope.  I want to eeeeek out the hours in each day.  Make them count.  What isn't achieved in any particular day can spill over into the next day.  Simple.

Yes.  Fresh starts.  Perfect.