The Return of the Black Pig

The black pig is back! I thought I'd blogged about the black pig before, but I can't find it. I may have just tweeted about him/her last year.

The black pig can be found lying in front of a small house's front porch on rare, joyous occasion. S/he has a rope tied around its waist to keep it from wandering off, but I've never even seen it standing, just chilling out on its belly right next to the porch. There's a ramp that leads up the stairs to the porch and we've often wondered if it's for the pig. The black pig is a large creature, no petite pot-bellied pig. Remember Suzanne's pig Noel on Designing Women? The black pig is about that size.

We stopped seeing the pig last fall when it got cooler out. There was always the possibility they had the pig to eat it, but I started looking for it again in the spring. Last night was our first sighting of 2011. Yay!

Further down the road, I got to see the tiny, tiny goats. They are so small it's hard to tell if they are baby pygmy goats or baby regular goats, hence 'tiny, tiny goats.' I also saw a deer and as I pulled into the driveway at home, a turkey. All in one excellent outing last night!

What animals have you seen lately?


A year ago on TTaT: Lez Chat

Life of Art SitRep #75 ZPro!

Every week, I work towards creating a life of art for myself. This is the zigzag filled journey.

Play along in the comments with your own pursuits if you'd like. (That's where I'll cheer you on.)

*******

Custom Postage in my shop is $6.00 Off per sheet today only! (Valid through July 15, 2011 at 11:59 PM PT.) Use coupon code: ZBDAYPOSTAGE

   
This week, I

Shot 132 photographs: post rain flowers, bela lugosi, etc.

Drew test sketches with color. The moment I thought of making the center section of the abstract design blue, my geek mind saw the rainbow colored circles as an array of planets. I roughed a version out in photoshop to check colors and then made the Rainbow Planets design in Inkscape. Wrote product description for it and created a new product line, woo!

Check out the complete collection of Rainbow Planets products:
 

Tweeted, FB'd, Zblogged Rainbow Planets link.

Became a Zazzle ProSeller (or ZPro)! Actually I qualified about 6 months ago, I've just been waiting for Zazzle to revamp their ProSeller program. Finally got to check it off my list, yay! Also appreciative of the credibility the ZPro badge gives my stores and me within the Zazzle community. On to the next ProSeller tier!

Added 24 photographs to store contenders.

Wrote 50 questions for a new lens, 50 Art Polls, which also includes several of my designs and published it. If you're a Squidoo member (free), please stop by and "like it." Pretty sure anyone can take the polls, logged in or not, which also helps my ranking. :)

Posted new lens on forum so people can add their store links.

Added coupon codes to Rocklawn Arts and American Southwest Scenes lenses.

Tweeted, FB'd, blogged, zblogged poster sale. Also tweeted a bunch of other sales and products throughout the week.

Changed store intro to include poster and then card sale as they came up. Changed top picks to appropriate sale items for the day.

Watched most of "HDDSLR Filmmaking with Gale Tattersall" (he's the DP on House) on Creative Live.

*******

How are your pursuits going?


A year ago on TTaT: He was a yellow dog named Blue, Leaf + Deck (3)

Bona fide tower

We drove past a cool tower surrounded by scaffolding. "That's so cool," I said, "too bad the light's all wrong. We need to be going the other direction."

"Would you like to turn around?"

It was a token question, out of politeness. But you know what? Screw that. With undeniable conviction, I answered, "Yes. Yes, I would."

I caught this next shot while driving past: back in the bad light, but it gives you a full view of the tower.

Even though the scaffolds and structure don't look like it, my photos remind me of watching Atlantis launch live on Friday.

As excited as everyone doing the coverage was, I was anxious until they were in space and safely detached from the fuel tanks. The first shuttle launch I remember watching live exploded.


3 years ago on TTaT: Random Scan Sunday 8: Fall foliage

As good as it gets!

60% OFF Prints/Posters in my shop Today Only! Desert & urban landscapes, geometric patterns, abstracts, flowers & more!

Use Code: ZBDAYPOSTERS

The sale also applies to all of the official brands on Zazzle like Star Wars, South Park, Harry Potter, DC & Marvel Comics, myriad bands, & more. (I'll get a referral if you buy anything after clicking through those links. Which would be rad. :)

Valid through July 11, 2011 at 11:59pm PT.







A year ago on TTaT: Sketchbook, page 37

Life of Art SitRep #74 Two-fer!

Every week, I work towards creating a life of art for myself. This is the zigzag filled journey.

Play along in the comments with your own pursuits if you'd like. (That's where I'll cheer you on.)

*******

This week, I

Shot 152 photographs: plants, Mom and Dad, bridge view, school buses, and a crazy cool tower with scaffolding, among other things.

Used Inkscape to make Dark Red and Blue Rectangles and Light Blue and Dark Blue Rectangles images. Wrote product descriptions and created product lines including my first gift tag, woo!

Light Blue and Dark Blue Rectangles and Dark Red and Blue Rectangles are now available in my shop on a variety of customizable gift items: iPad and iPhone cases, binders, prints/posters, cards, postcards, mugs, mini speakers, t-shirts, tote bags, magnets, buttons, stickers, keychains, mouse pads, ornaments, necklaces, bumper stickers, return address labels, gift tag, and stamps:

Light Blue and Dark Blue Rectangles iPhone 4 case by RocklawnArts
Browse iphone 4 cases

Light Blue and Dark Blue Rectangles by RocklawnArts
Browse more Checkered Keychains

Dark Red and Blue Rectangles return address label by RocklawnArts
Browse other shipping labels on Zazzle

Dark Red and Blue Rectangles by RocklawnArts
See other Checkered Binders

Tweeted, FB'd, zblogged Dark Red and Blue Rectangles and Light Blue and Dark Blue Rectangles folder links.

Unlocked a squidoo ad which will run for 1 month. Picked my Official Harry Potter gear lens since the timing is apt and perhaps the ad exposure will translate to a referral or two.

Revised Rocklawn Arts zazzle store introduction.

Starred some possible daylilies for shop.

Added Fireball Hibiscus to secondary title and tags for Red Hibiscus With Raindrops.

Tweeted Firework Hibiscus folder link for 4th of July.

Watched "Photographing Fireworks with John Cornicello" on Creative Live which you can still watch for free. Fun! If you're short on time, you can read his post which covers most of the show info. Alas, I didn't get out to photograph any fireworks myself because I haven't been feeling up to snuff. Perhaps I'll manage to track some down later in the summer.

Watched Scott Kelby video with a couple quick Lightroom (or Camera Raw) tips.

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How are your pursuits going?


Two years ago on TTaT: Latest note to self; Love, Loss, and What I Wore

33. Going in Circles

33. Going in Circles by Pamela Ribon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


If you're not reading Pamela Ribon's blog, Pamie.com, go add it to your feed reader right now. I'll wait. Really, it's funny and well worth it, GO!

All set? OK.

Going in Circles is a novel about a woman going through a difficult separation from her new husband. Sounds kind of bleak, right? It is a bit at first, but her coping mechanisms add humor and her sadness appropriately sets the stakes for the story.

Rest assured that the humor increases the further into the book you read and the tone becomes lighter.

Also, there's roller derby! Whip It is a fun movie, but it doesn't give you a real feel for what's it's like to learn and play roller derby. Ribon's book does, as it should since she plays the sport. I was fascinated by all the skills and strategies the rookie skaters, or Fresh Meat in derby parlance, have to learn.

I'm not sure if all editions of the book have it, but the one I read (a "pocket readers guide") has a roller derby glossary in the back as well as an interview with the author, both of which I thought were cool.

If you're reading this, Pamela Ribon, thank you for the acknowledgment! I am one of those good people you mentioned and am pleased to be in such good company.

Everyone else, go read Going in Circles! If you're on the fence, read her blog for a bit to tip the scale.


A year ago on TTaT: Scene from the Candy Aisle, Sparkles and shadows

Local Jungle

On the same postprandial meander during which I photographed a goat stampede, I also shot through a downpour by the train station and took a lot of photos of the storm clouds over the mountains by the river. I loved it all.

Once the rain stopped and the sky started clearing up a bit, the wildlife by the river was so crazy loud, I shot some video of it. Didn't really expect to hear much since the camera microphone is notoriously weak, but the birds and frogs really were that loud. Enjoy!


Click to play.
(Run time 0:26, you need sound to appreciate it.)

A year ago on TTaT: Spring thaw waters