first strawberries of summer

I picked up my second CSA share this afternoon and I was hoping that I'd see some strawberries! Oh, these are soooo good! Nothing beats getting them the day they were pulled off the vine (and chemical free). We got some bok choy, turnips, butter lettuce, arrugula, spinach, and mixed spring greens. After all the rain we've had, we were lucky to already have a second share. Last week some beautiful radishes were also available. I love that I have to expand my menu by finding ways to cook these!

Speaking of cooking, I really am thankful for so many comments, suggestions and emails about where to find gluten-free information!  I picked up Gluten-Free On A Shoestring for ways to make it more affordable because the flours alone can be outrageously expensive. I also discovered gluten-free things that were already in my cupboards, like my very favorite LARABARs which I was eating for their low sugar and minimal good ingredients anyways. I'm doing a test through an independent lab tomorrow, just to make sure there are no other surprises with food intolerances. And wouldn't you know, I had seen her book before but didn't pay attention to it-- Elizabeth Hasselbeck wrote The G Free Diet so I'm going to read that too. (I exercise on the treadmill to her!)

I was thinking about my blog... such a mix of things that I write about or post! I use it like my own little library of information for most things that I do. Sometimes I wonder if anyone else even is remotely interested in most of it? ;)  I guess you can just read or look at what you want to and ignore the rest! I've thought about narrowing it, especially after my last bootcamp class, but then it wouldn't be as much about me so I'm just going by what I enjoy talking about-- as if you were here and we were just talking.
Better go make dinner now! Nice talking to you! :D

feeling like summer

tote bag by bayanhippo on etsy

With the thermometer hovering near 90 degrees today, it's a bit easier to believe that school is almost out (June 7) and we'll be busy with a new schedule. I can't believe my oldest will be in high school! She is looking forward to it, so that's a good thing. It's Memorial Day Weekend here in the States so we'll be going to work picnics all weekend. What are you going to do?

sick

I didn't have a very good day yesterday. I might have told some of you that I went to a specialist doctor a few months ago and I did all kinds of tests. There were some easy fixes with suppliments for a vitamin D deficiency and some other natural medicine that seems to be working... I'm in a much better place than I was and I'm a big proponent of curing things naturally. There was always that terrible tummy that I have lived with so long, that I hardly notice it so I forgot that I mentioned it to the doctor. It's been getting a lot worse lately, though, so I thought maybe it was something not agreeing with me. I got a second set of tests back yesterday and found out that I have a parasite which causes an ulcer so I'm going on antibiotic medicines... that is treatable. It may be from all the sushi I eat or the raw milk. And all that good fat I've been eating has not been absorbed at all ... mainly because I don't have a gallbladder anymore... my constant battle. So I have to take digestive enzymes every time I eat a meal! That was upsetting enough but then I found out that I have a gluten intolerance and he wants me to go on a gluten-free diet. First I cried because I love homemade bread and muffins and cake and pretzels and bagels and pasta and ... well, you get the picture. It's not like I overindulge in any of it, but to think that I can eat none of it?! I just read that even oats can cause problems so my granola cereal that I make every week might not be for me anymore. And gluten can be in gravies and fillers... even in ice cream!!! One of my friends here said that she heard that going off of gluten makes you feel instantly better. I can't even imagine a life without a stomach ache because that's been all I've ever known. I guess beer is out of the question too. For this foodie, this is probably some of the worst news I could get. Does anyone out there know someone who is on a gluten-free diet?  I am trying to grasp the optimistic view of this but I really haven't been able to yet.

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THANK YOU everyone for your notes and suggestions! Because of some of the links you provided, I've found a lot of information and recipes, and generally a better outlook on this!  It will be an adjustment but I think I will be able to handle it. I found out that Bob's Red Mill makes the same exact oats I usually buy in a Gluten Free version so at least I can still make my granola! (Oats are gluten free... it's just the place that they are packaged that matters.) I guess this is a lesson that some things will always remain out of my control, but I can try to make the best of it. I might have to switch my regular chocolate chip cookie recipe to oatmeal or something like it...mmm... peanut butter... now that sounds really good!

Sunday fun - Apache

Apache from oneedo on Vimeo.


Some people's creativity blows my mind! This little video is quite appropriate after watching "Hildalgo" again on Friday evening. (You must see it if you haven't already... it's one of my favorites!) Caroline used to love American Indian history so she'll love this! I found it on a new classmate's blog.

Student Art Show 2011

The Middle School and High School had their Art Show and Nathaniel was in it this year! Here is his portrait piece. I was really impressed with the portraits done by the 7th graders this year. They have a really good art teacher and it shows in the quality of their work. He also created the paper maché frame around it.

Nathaniel reluctantly poses by his piece.... why do my children never want their picture taken?!

There is an excellent High School Art teacher who does all kinds of 3-dimensional work: sculpture, glass, ceramics. I hope Caroline has him during her studies there. Here are some incredible gourd sculptures and a paper lantern:

 The ceramics look as if professional artists created them. This one appears to be an old relic but it's by a High School student! I love it...

 I love this glaze! I saw it on some other pieces too. It reminds me of Roseville Pottery or Rookwood Pottery...

 This is one of the glass works... beautiful in it's depth of color!...

 These clay self portrait masks were fun. I liked the variety of objects surrounding each face:

More gourd sculptures and paper & wood lanterns...

This was a surprise and just an incredible piece... a coffee table made out of the piece of wood...

This is a fun totem made of paper maché that Caroline says is always in the cafeteria on display...

 The sixth graders did collographs this year and I liked this abstract one (I taught this in Middle School too!)...

 Here is an acrylic painting by a Middle School Student. Nice variety of color, shape and textures...

My favorite ceramic pieces were these done by the 8th graders! (Caroline didn't get to do this with her teacher this year unfortunately). The pointillistic glaze was so fabulous to look at and gave it a good visual texture (enlarge the photo to really see it!)...

We thought the 3-dimensional works outshined the 2-dimensional pieces. I didn't take photos of those because there really wasn't anything that impressive. Maybe they need a better 2-D teacher?! ;)
Hope you enjoyed these and those of you who teach art... I hope you were inspired!

Saturday surprises

I'm breaking my blogging vacation because I just received a wonderful surprise in the mail from my sweet friend in Paris! She sent this t-shirt and the napkin with the map of Paris on it and I absolutely love it!  So thank you again O!!!  It's hard for people who don't blog, to understand how special my friends are who I've met through sharing our lives on our blogs and by email. I like to think of it as a present day pen pal. I like that friendship isn't confined to just where you live anymore. The friends I've made have so many things in common with me that I never feel alone and we inspire each other to be even better people, artists and friends. I think generous and thoughtful people have a way of attracting each other and this has been my wonderful experience here with all of you!

The sun is shining today and we're going to go to Nathaniel's Art Show at school this afternoon. The kids only have 12 more days of school left before summer break and it's come so quickly!  I am going to boast a little because they are both being recognized at a rewards ceremony: Caroline in Social Studies and Nathaniel in Science and English! I'm very proud of them and how well they've done in all their classes this year. I'm also proud of how they've navigated Middle School which is an extremely difficult time of life socially as they grow into adults. Both of them are solidly grounded in who they are and that is my biggest wish... to be themselves and not try to be like someone else. Sometimes teachers don't see their strengths in everything so I try hard at home to call those out. That way when they have to make decisions about their careers and the direction they'll take in life, they will have more of an idea about what they might want to do. Most of all, I just try to spend time with them. Sometimes that means that my own projects just don't get done (and that happens a lot), but at the end of my life, I know I will never regret the time I spent with my family, so I am content with the progress of other things (or I try to be!). That being said, I have not accomplished anything on my book illustrations besides some more character sketches. I know some books can take three years to do... hopefully not mine! But I won't get so upset with myself when plans get changed for my time to work.

Hope you're having a good weekend too!

Cute photo of Elle

little logo design

Just working on the logo/title of our book. This is only a start because it would have to be incorporated into the cover illustration. I really like this font and it is fun and young and fresh. And after posting it, realized that I do really like it-- it's in my Red Yarn logo!! ;)

I think this week is going to be a little bloggy vacation because I need to get something done with my illustrations. Next week my third Bootcamp starts and it's all about working in sketchbooks so that's just perfect for where I'm at. If you're interested in taking it too, you can email Amy or Jamie and find out if there's still room in the class! See you next week (unless I find something great to post about and can't wait!).

How to Make Your Line Drawings Have a Transparent Background So You Can Add Color to Your Work in Photoshop

When you want to scan a black & white line drawing into Photoshop and then add color, it is really very easy. The hardest part is finding a tutorial that shows you how to do this, so I created one...

1. Here is a photo of my Mac desktop. First you must realize that your drawing will be on it's own layer, so we will begin to create those layers. Select "New Layer" from the drop down menu either on the Layer dialog box or on the top bar under "Layer".

2. The New Layer box will pop up and you will see "Mode" as an option underneath. Click "Multiply".

3. Now you are ready to "Place" your drawing file into that new layer. [Make sure that "Layer 1" is highlighted in blue (the one you just created) so you will be placing into the layer with the multiply mode. This should just happen automatically.] 

4. You will see your picture file on that layer with the file name in the Layer dialog box. The background will appear transparent in the little dialog box picture. The reason it doesn't look that way on the big picture is because the original background layer is white.

5. Now we're ready to color the drawing! You need to create another new layer for this. (This time you don't want to click the multiply mode... just leave it in "normal".)

6. If you look at the Layer Dialog box, you'll see your new layer in blue. Drag that layer below the picture layer so that when you color, the color will appear behind the line art. (OR...If you do want color on top of your drawing, then leave the layer above your original picture layer.)

7.  Now you can click on your Brushes and select a Color to add spot color to the drawing. I colored the book red. I will rename this layer "spot color" by clicking on the "layer 2" name and changing it. That helps keep the picture organized. I would suggest creating as many layers as you need for different colors. That way if you need to go back and change them, you can do so without affecting other color layers. I also use a Wacom Bamboo tablet because coloring with the pen and tablet is much easier than using the mouse or especially easier than coloring with a touch pad!

8.  If you want to add color to the entire background, then select the whole area, choose your color, and then click "Fill" under "Edit" on the top bar. I changed the name of the layer to "background color".  Don't forget that you can change the texture of the color layers and use other filters too. (If you're wondering how to make the faces light or anything else for that matter, then you'll have to do that in a separate layer on top of the background color layer.) I also want to mention that you can change the color of your lines in the original drawing layer. That's a whole other tutorial and I'm not as savvy with that yet.

9. Don't forget to save your file!!! When you are all finished, then you can go into "Flatten Image" under "Layers" and save it as a jpeg or any other format... this merges all the layers together into one and creates a much smaller file. BUT... keep a version with all the layers saved as a .psd so you can go back and change it if you need to!

I hope this easily explains how to add color layers to your drawings. Please feel free to ask me any questions. I'm not a technical person so this is written for someone like me who just wants the basic know-how and wants it simple! Have fun! ;D

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For a more advanced method with much more control over fine detail on the edges of your drawing (such as with pastels), go to Lynne Chapman's post to learn how!

Friday the 13th

Well, I guess all this mess blogger created these past two days-- losing posts, losing comments, and being totally unaccessible-- is just a bit of bad luck! If you didn't see my post about Mattias Adolfsson, then click here to see his awesome sketchbooks!

Other than bad blogger luck, this has actually been a super lucky week for me and I hope to put together a brief tutorial on creating transparent backgrounds on line drawings in Photoshop (I know most of you could really care less but if you're just beginning to color your illustrations digitally, then it's something everyone searches for and never seems to find... at least not instructions for free!).

I hope everybody has a good weekend! What are you doing?

Mattias Adolfsson

I'm finding inspiration in sketchbooks lately. These come from Mattias' website... check it out to see more amazing pictures!

Book highlight

I was so excited to get this book Drawn In: A Peek Into the Inspiring Sketchbooks of 44 Fine Artists, Illustrators, Graphic Designers & Cartoonists.  It called for an immediate move to a cozy wicker rocker on the front porch and I poured over it, reading most of it within an hour's time. I don't know about you, but I love seeing the thought processes of artists in sketchbooks! So does Julia Rothman... so much so that she focuses a day a week on her blog "book by it's cover" to sketchbooks, which is how this whole book came about.  I'm so enthralled by sketches that I prefer them to finished work. Now, when I got my degree, it was a concentration in drawing so I prefer that over any other medium and I know how those lines can show so much more than any "perfected" line. I prefer my own sketches to my finished drawings. It got me thinking about my book illustrations and I'm just not happy with them. I have time to start again (really, I'm on my own deadline here anyways) so I want to bring in more excitement and less static control. Don't ask me how I will do that, but that's the plan! This book totally inspired me to draw. My next Pikaland Bootcamp (#3) is focusing on the sketchbook (perfect timing) so I hope it propels me into being a constant sketcher like I was when I was little. Off to draw!

My Mother's Day

I had a whole Mother's Day weekend and it was the best one yet! Not because we went away or anything extravagant. We started Friday night grilling filet mignon from the Farmer's Market and other yummy sides from one of my favorite stands. Then we watched "The King's Speech" which I posted about. The weather was absolutely beautiful all weekend. On Saturday we watched Nathaniel's soccer game and then hung out on the front porch, sipping adult beverages without a care in the world. Caroline drew huge pictures on the driveway for me! We ordered in sushi and just hung out as a family. On Sunday morning, the kids invited me downstairs for a very special breakfast that they made themselves (it was all their idea!)... eggs, toast shaped like a heart with cherry preserves, blueberries and strawberries with some vanilla yoghurt on top... perfect! Then Caroline gave me a poem that she wrote for me which makes all this so worthwhile. I wanted to share it but it was personal. And Nathaniel made me a card with his cartoon characters that I love and it had me rolling with laughter... he is so funny! We went to church and then ran off afterwards to watch his second soccer game. Craig bought me a telephoto lens for my camera but it didn't fit so I'm waiting for it's replacement. He took us all out to dinner to Gibralter, a very nice restaurant near F&M College (I love that part of town and wouldn't mind if the kids attended there!) and an older couple sitting at the table next to us caught Craig on the way out and told him what lovely children we have! I felt like I just received an "A" for the year! Then we hit a local ice cream shop down near Market for dessert. It was the perfect weekend! Can we do it all over again next weekend? ;)

I also have some pictures I took with my phone on the new path that I walk with Elle. It goes right past Landis Valley Museum which is a quaint little historical village showing the Pennsylvania German heritage here in Lancaster County. We discovered this walking trail and it's so pretty... like stepping back in time. I imagine that I'm in Laura Ingalls' town and that life is a lot slower. After writing this whole post, I'm beginning to really love Lancaster a lot more!

♔ The King's Speech

I finally got to see The King's Speech last night on DVD! If you haven't seen it yet, it's definitely worth viewing! It got four thumbs up from my family and is now one of my favorites. Nathaniel kept saying today that it was a really good movie. Every actor did a fantastic job but my favorite was Geoffrey Rush who is going to be remembered as one of the great character actors. I chuckle when I think of him playing this character and also Barbossa in Pirates of the Caribbean. This was especially good to watch after seeing the Royal Wedding last weekend as some of the scenes were in the same places. And we are in such a royal mood, after all!  The story is very touching, especially because it is real and it is always good to hear of someone who has courage enough to overcome personal obstacles. Put that on the queue for next weekend!

royal knit silliness

This is so great! I had to order the book! I guess that means it's time to break out the knitting needles again. Thanks goes out to Kay for posting about it!! :)

Happy Mother's Day

This week just flew by! I didn't realize that I hadn't posted since last Friday and I'm really behind on catching up with everyone and even my Bootcamp class. This is just what motherhood is all about! I did, however get my first book spread drawn and half of it inked in (see above). I still have to add color, obviously, and make sure it will work, especially with the binding on the right. But right now I have to run to the store to shop with the kids for warm weather clothes. Seems they are growing up right before my eyes and don't fit in anything anymore! And later I opted to have my Mother's Day dinner tonight because Sunday has a soccer game scheduled right in the middle of the day... argh. Seriously... when did sports become more important than holidays? Nathaniel opted to not play travel team next year and I am secretly rejoicing in that fact. Hope you have a great weekend!