26 December 2014

Life of Art SitRep #255 Xmas week

Happy Boxing Day! Or Merry Post-Christmas! Or Happy Post-Saturnalia! Merry what-have-you if you celebrate this time of year, and if you don't, I hope you've had a lovely week all the same!

The driver hoped-to-be-the-fix I uploaded last week was short lived. Went two days before my computer crashed again. Argh.

Most of the week has been enjoyable with the holiday, however, so I'm focusing on that.

Post-processed a new photograph and added Storm Clouds Breaking to my shop:
Storm Clouds Breaking Wallclocks
Storm Clouds Breaking Wallclocks by RocklawnArts
Shop for additional Wall Clocks online at Zazzle

Started work on a new design.

Rocklawn Arts blogged New iPhone 5/5S Battery Cases at Rocklawn Arts! and New Incipio Feather® Shine iPhone 6 Plus Cases at Rocklawn Arts!

Updated LOA, links files.

Reorganized store a bit.

Watched Tony Cliff's Scan Preparation video for Delilah Dirk.

How was your week?


(Links to my store or products on Zazzle are affiliate links to help me earn more so that I can continue creating photographs and designs. The links do not change the items' price.)

8! years ago on TTaT: 47

24 December 2014

Christmas Eve

It's 42 degrees and pouring out.

The past few weeks the ground was covered with snow and the temperature spent most of its time in the 20s. Several of those days were the quintessential winter wonderland scenes, trees outlined with snow.

But not now for Christmas. Nature's sense of humor.

I went out to make use of a $10 Jockey coupon and got the nicest help at the store.

On the way back, I stopped at a gas station to pick up a lottery ticket for Mom.

I stood at the counter for a moment scanning all the advertisements looking to see which lottery draws tonight.

A middle aged Indian woman around my age appeared from behind a display.

"Hi," I said. "Is Powerball the one that draws tonight?"

She nodded, "Yes."

"Do you know how much it's worth?"

She scanned the counter in between us and pushed some flyers aside. There was a printout with the totals for each game on it.

"100 million," she said, "but that's from this morning, so it's probably more now."

"I'd like 3 Powerball quick picks on separate tickets please." That'd be one for each of our stockings.

She started punching it in, I pulled out my cash, and she said, "May I see your ID?"

"Sure."

I still had my wallet out, so I slid my license out and handed it to her.

She examined it for a moment, looked at me, and handed it back. She put the tickets on the counter.

"You look very young for your age," she said.

"Thank you."

"It's a blessing," she said with enthusiasm.

"Oh, I'll take it," I said smiling.

"Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas!" I said as I headed for the door. Merry Christmas to me indeed.


3 years ago on TTaT: An xmas eve glimpse

22 December 2014

80. Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant

Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant (Delilah Dirk, #1)80.Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant by Tony Cliff

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


So great! It's 1807 and Delilah Dirk is a globe-trotting, confident, swashbuckler. What's not to love?

The story is actually told from the point of view of the Turkish lieutenant, a kind but somewhat hapless tea aficionado.

There's travel, adventures, and beautiful art.

One of the things I love about this book is that it's not mired in the competing back stories and stylistic conventions of the superhero graphic novels I read. This is its own unique story.

And it's a lot of fun. Made me laugh out loud more than once.


Two years ago on TTaT: 64. Lost Worlds: Ruins Of The Americas

19 December 2014

Note to Self, vol. XIX (out of order)

If while you're lifting weights you think to yourself, Why does this seem so much harder today?, check to make sure you're using a matched pair of dumbbells.

On the upside, it looks like I'll be able to shift up to 12 pounds for both arms soon.


(Bonus note to self: the next volume should be XXI.)

Life of Art SitRep #254 Fingers Crossed

I'm currently waiting for an interminably long Time Machine backup to finish, so that I can update a few things and then back it all up again before attempting to fix a crashing issue with a driver update. Sounds promising from what I've read on Apple's support forums, so fingers crossed.

In the meantime, may as well write this week's life of art and get it scheduled to post before I possibly break my computer.

Made templates and added my designs and photographs as appropriate to 4 new iPhone cases:

Uncommon Clearly™ Deflector iPhone 6 Plus Cases, a case that prints colors of images with translucence and whites as clear.

Incipio Feather® Shine iPhone 6 Plus Cases, a case with metallic finishes of gold, silver, or rose gold that shows through translucent or white areas of images.

Wood iPhone 6 Plus Cases that feature real wood inlays of maple, cherry, or walnut. The wood grain shows through the designs.

and iPhone 5/5S Battery Cases which double the battery life of your phone.

Rocklawn Arts blogged New Uncommon Clearly™ Deflector iPhone 6 Plus Cases at Rocklawn Arts! and New Wood iPhone 6 Plus Cases at Rocklawn Arts!

Updated links, LOA files.

Watched Zazzle Chat #2 with info on and examples of various new products.

How was your week?


(Links to my store or products on Zazzle are affiliate links to help me earn more so that I can continue creating photographs and designs. The links do not change the items' price.)

A year ago on TTaT: Doctor Who Character Encyclopedia

12 December 2014

Life of Art SitRep #253 Morning Glory

It's weird I had a photo in mind from a couple years ago that it took me too long to track down, but it wasn't quite what I'd remembered. I added the crucial missing tag so it'll be easier to find in future. Not really suitable for my shop, but I'll try to get it up on the blog soon.

This week, I...

Finished adding my Heavenly Blue Morning Glory Close-Up photograph to products in my shop.
Heavenly Blue Morning Glory Close-Up
Heavenly Blue Morning Glory Close-Up by RocklawnArts
Look at more Blue flower Ornament at zazzle

Rocklawn Arts blogged New Heavenly Blue Morning Glory Close-Up photograph.

Updated LOA and links files.

Watched Pinterest Marketing for Makers & Designers with Megan Auman on Creative Live.

Finished reading Popular Photography 12/14 issue.


(Links to my store or products on Zazzle are affiliate links to help me earn more so that I can continue creating photographs and designs. The links do not change the items' price.)

4 years ago on TTaT: Sketchbook, page 59

06 December 2014

X, Y, Z

By chance last night, I discovered that ME tv, one of my high DVR channels which shows a wide variety of shows from Perry Mason to Cheers, also airs Wonder Woman.

I loved it as a kid. Still love her theme music sans the goofy lyrics. And the gymnastics done as Wonder Woman are cool including her high jumps which must have been by trampoline? Those are still very cool.

I watched an episode, fortunately from the later years when it was shifted from World War 2 time to present day. Wonder Woman works as Diana Prince in a government agency sort of like a special agent for the FBI.

In this episode, 3 scientists have unwittingly worked to create a terrible weapon, realized it, destroyed their notes, but are now being abducted and replaced by androids.

The codename of the project? XYZ.

Really? It sounded like a placeholder name to me, as though someone had written a Star Trek script and put in "technobabble" where technical speech was to be added later. On Grey's Anatomy, they write "medical medical" where specific medical jargon is to be added later.

But no, the ominous weapon in this episode was Project XYZ.

And they said it at least 50 times, possibly closer to 100 times, in the course of the episode. That took some discipline to say "Project XYZ" or "the XYZ weapon" seriously over and over and over.

Here's a go to tip if you've got a placeholder name like XYZ in your script or story: use a letter from the Greek alphabet or two. Not three because then it will sound like a frat house. Or pick any name from mythology, bonus points if you go more obscure with Incan, Egyptian, or Indian instead of Greek.

Project Omicron, the Theta weapon, Project Osiris, the Shiva weapon: all more ominous than XYZ which feels like another way of saying "and so forth."


A year ago on TTaT: Life of Art SitRep #200 Two hundred? Woohoo!

05 December 2014

Life of Art SitRep #252 Distracted

My brain is slow moving this week, so I'm going to tap out, hopefully get a good night's sleep and start anew tomorrow. Here's some of what I did get done.

Shot 54 photographs, treetops with snow against blue sky.

Post processed Heavenly Blue Morning Glory Close-Up photograph and added it to one batch of my store products. It should start showing up in a day or so.

Some of my additions from last week didn't show up in my shop until this week, so I thought I'd share a few with you. The red linen background products are new additions; I had to remake them since the template fields weren't showing up to let people customize the text.
On The Golden Gate Bridge Incipio Watsonā„¢ iPhone 6 Wallet Case
On The Golden Gate Bridge Incipio Watson™ iPhone 6 Wallet Case by RocklawnArts
View other Golden gate bridge iPhone 6 Wallet Cases at Zazzle.com
Red Linen Texture Photo with Monogram
Red Linen Texture Photo with Monogram by RocklawnArts
Look at more Red iPhone 6 Wallet Cases at zazzle
Red Linen Texture Photo with Monogram
Red Linen Texture Photo with Monogram by RocklawnArts
Look at more Red USB Flash Drives at zazzle
Double Arch USB Wood Flash Drive Wood USB 3.0 Flash Drive
Double Arch USB Wood Flash Drive Wood USB 3.0 Flash Drive by RocklawnArts
Check out other External memory USB Flash Drives at zazzle.com
Red Linen Texture Photo with Monogram
Red Linen Texture Photo with Monogram by RocklawnArts
View other Red USB Flash Drives at Zazzle.com

Rocklawn Arts blogged New Incipio Watson™ iPhone 6 Wallet Cases at Rocklawn Arts!

Edited down recent photo additions to my archive.

Updated LOA file for end of month.

Watched free segment from day 1, Picking the Right Products to Sell from Create Digital Products That Sell While You Sleep with April Bowles-Olin on Creative Live.

Made monthly backups. Have you backed up lately?


(Links to my store or products on Zazzle are affiliate links to help me earn more so that I can continue creating photographs and designs. The links do not change the items' price.)

4 years ago on TTaT: Sketchbook, page 58: Self-portrait

02 December 2014

Grandpa Ott

Not a relative but a flower, specifically a morning glory. Enjoy!


3 years ago on TTaT: Life of Art SitRep #95 Rest and education