Popsicolor #art app has had a major update :)

I've always loved this app (just as I adore the developer's other gem of creative effects 'Percolator') and it's just had a major update which makes it even more fab.
Lots more tweaks are possible, it's faster (blows my mind the processing power and coding that these apps must need to work so fast!) and as with Percolator you get effects not available in any other app.

Someone left a review complaining about drips and lack of control - it depends on how you hold your phone/pad because they are dependent on gravity ;)

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Merry Christmas...

...and the brightest of blessings to all who read this.

I am (as seems usual now) having a rough time. This week has been particularly challenging - I've annoyed myself by having a couple of mini meltdowns. (I'm supposed to cope, dammit)

It's hard to explain what living in constant body-wide pain is like and I'm actually quite happy that most people don't understand. 

I wouldn't wish this on anyone. 

I wish I could blog more about it, to try and explain - but typing is very slow and painful.

Apart from some dear 'real world' friends that keep me grounded and just the right side of sane, there are also some special online folks who keep me going. (Not an easy feat at the moment)

Extra special gratitude and heaps of love to;

@quietcdn and @mimuluxArt 

If you're on Twitter, please follow them. They are a bright light in the darkness.

Special mentions also to this roll call of fabulous ones;

@trishaclarkin 

@WakingDreamart 

@chubachups 

@ReadySetBlink 

@marigold__ 

@GioiaAlbanoArt 

@Carmen_Michele 

@ploink 

@detlef_c 

@fennougri2009 

@whichsongtitle

in no particular order. They can always be relied upon to have a kind and encouraging word and don't forget me even though I'm not online as much as I used to be, (would like to be)

There are bound to be precious souls I've neglected to mention, my memory is shockingly bad right now. Forgive me any glaring omissions.

I know I missed Thanksgiving which would have been the time to post this ;) but when I'm low I find it helps to count my blessings.

Wherever and whoever you are reading this - I hope that you can count your blessings as we hurtle toward the Winter solstice. 

The world seems rather dark right now - but the light can always be found if we look for it.

I hope...

Wallpaper with Matisse #art quote

For some reason the Posterous app won't work any more...this is how it ends here I suppose. It's been glitchy for ages but I suspect Twitter will see no need to update it. Or am I being too cynical?
Here's the wallpaper the app decided not to post for some reason.
Can't get to a PC atm to delete the previous post and the app just crashes now.

#twitterartexhibit Moon Goddess

Finally against all odds I've finished my postcard sized painting for the Twitter Art Exhibit in LA next month. Just hope she doesn't get lost in the Christmas post.

Masking fluid, watercolours, inktense pencils and iridescent watercolours on 350gsm watercolour paper, 6"x 4" (A6)

Surf on over to
http://twitterartexhibit.org to see what postcards have arrived so far.

Photo Blog - and trees... #iphoneography

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Over on my website six weeks ago, I started an iPhoneography challenge. I want to try and post a photo every week for 52 weeks.
Some weeks, there may be an old photo given a new treatment because of my Fibro body, my hope being that a little flexibility will help me to achieve the challenge. I need to feel like I can achieve something right now...

(I'm in the middle of a really bad flare, so über apologies for being so behind with correspondence and Twitter etc.)
Here are some of my recent photos - all taken during October in North Wales.

When to stop...an #Art question.

A doodle on my iPad.
Drawn with the Inkpad app then apped with Percolator and Photoshop mobile.
But...when do you stop? When do you leave a doodle or an image alone? Sometimes you know when to stop.
Sometimes you know when to abandon a piece.
Sometimes though the muse seems indecisive.
Then you need to sleep on it.
So...Will this be deleted tomorrow?

Today's iPad #art doodle

Inkpad, Percolator and Photoshop mobile.

Regards,

Sand

SandraLock.com
FibroBites.com

Please note - due to my illness and disabilities I am unable to deal with email every day. Many thanks for your understanding.

Loggerheads, N Wales - more trees

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Variations on a theme -
using 'shock my pic' and '
Camera Bag' (Lolo)
on some of the photographs I managed to take at Loggerheads.

Paradise - Loggerheads N Wales

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Still on retreat, hedgehog like, in North Wales.
Thanks to a new medication that I was allergic to, I got to Loggerheads to take some photographs with my iPhone.
Adrenal gland still sulking as is the rest of the Fibro body, so the photos are as near as I'll get for some time. Fortunately I took lots of photos...and some video too.
Hurrah for smartphones.

Twisted - Loggerheads tree trunk.

3D play #marblecam #3Dphoto

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Playing with doodles and three dimensional shape apps...
...also ramped up the colour (of course) and a few other little tweaks with Photo Shop mobile.

The Summer flower that...

...the Posterous app evidently didn't like the first time.

Muses playground.

I've just done a new post for Muses Playground - http://musesplayground.posterous.com/variations-on-a-theme-nature

Apologies byw for the lack of regular posts anywhere - I've been in North Wales with little or no cellular data signal.

More beach photos and...

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Here's a rag tag collection of some recent creations. I've not done much lately because I'm not very well and my muse goes quiet when she sees me hurting...
A couple of images from the beach photos I took on my birthday - a mixture of painted effects in Paint Mee and Artista Haiku and I *think* Pixlromatic.
The stationary shot is just Camera+
The sketch for a logo for the Fibro site I wrangle ( www.FibroBites.com ) was drawn with a bamboo stylus and Inkpad on my iPad.
...the birthday message to a cousin was made using a hoopy printing app on the iPad called...erm, damn I'll have to come back and add the name when I've checked.

Not that one - this one!

Darn it - I forgot to alter my app media settings. Sorry...
Here it is again, only bigger.

For @michaelnobbs 5th Twitter Birthday

Today is Michael Nobbs' (creator of SustainablyCreative.com) 5th Twitter birthday. So here's a little present...it should *print out ok, so long as you don't try and make it the size of a poster...

Happy Birthday Mr Micro :) thanks for helping me feel less alone.

*At some point I'll figure out an app that lets me make a printable card...

Still playing with that Rollage image

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Mostly 'Lens light' and my perennial favourite 'Scratchcam'. Hopefully I listed the other apps in that previous post...

I suspect I'm about to become somewhat fascinated by saving Lens light effects without the image and seeing where that leads...

Two new apps here too - Frame Magic and Polamatic (I used Polamatic for the splash page of my website. What do you think? I may change the photo and message every few weeks...)

Take your #art pen for a walk...

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If you recall, the week before last I wrote about the free creative course being run by Kate England at MarmaladeMoon.com
One of the tasks was to write a word and hide it with doodles that ran to the edge of the page (I'm simplifying here, you need to sign up for more info ;)
I can't always hold a pen so though I managed to begin a doodle I wasn't able to finish filling it in...so I did another one with my finger on my iPad using Art Rage. I filled it in with Meritum Paint.

It reminded me of an art activity that I used to do with children - taking your pencil for a walk across the paper, the pencil never leaves the surface and you must keep it moving. Then you fill in the spaces in between with patterns. Some of the results were amazing and it tells you a lot about the person doing the drawing...and there are a variety of adaptations possible.

Anyway - layering was the next step. Photographing the doodle and adding to it, looking at it in different ways... I've kind of gone my own route here because I'm struggling with the heat and energy is almost non-existant.

Coincidentally I'd doodled, photographed and apped sketches earlier last month...so the images with this post are -
The ink pen doodle after apping,
The digital doodle after apping,
And some of the stages along the way including two of my earlier photographed doodles.

#Art Apps that add painted effects

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The last few posts I've mentioned my fondness for adding painterly effects to the images I create - most recently with the 'Paint Mee' app.
Another painterly app is 'Auto Painter.' (There's Auto Painter ll now as well) This differs from Paint Mee and Artisita Oil in that there are no adjustments possible. These latter two apps let you tweak everything from brush size to colour palette etc. With Auto Painter there are four different filters and that's it. Apart from the option to mask the area you want the most detail added to, but I've not noticed this making much difference really...

Auto Painter one has four filters - Aquarell, Benson, Cezanne, and Van Gogh.
I'm posting this from my phone because I'm in bed, (had a bad week pain and fatigue wise this week.) so I don't know what order the app will post the images in. What I'm aiming for is -

1: The original photograph of a tree (taken with the iPhone 4S) which I then tweaked in Camera+ and turned into a painted version with Paint Mee.
2: The paint Mee version
3: Auto Painter Aquarell
4: Auto Painter Benson
5: Auto Painter Cezanne 6: Auto Painter Van Gogh (I've never seen this filter produce anything I like.)
7,8,9: Are screen shots from the app.

Creative Jumpstart - Marmalade Moon

Kate England over at Marmalade Moon is delivering a free four week course via email about jump starting creativity.
In her own words;

"To make it easy to succeed, the course will be delivered to you in 8 tiny, to-the-point, practical and bite-sized chunks, so that it’s really easy for you to follow through and be successful. Creative Jumpstart is a free four week course, delivered to your inbox on Mondays and Fridays."

Although its already started, if you join now Kate will send you the tasks you've missed so far.
Here's the link for more info -
http://www.marmalademoon.com/creative-jumpstart-course/

And to jump right in and join, (it's all free remember) click here -
http://www.marmalademoon.com/club/

The photo above is of my notebook.
Yes, it's my iPad...but although I do have a sketchbook, my hands aren't often up to the task of using it. So my iPad and iPhone are my creative lifeline.
You'll need a notebook/sketchbook for the course. So dig one out if you don't already use one.
Or if your like me, create an album ready for your doodles and ideas, on the touch pad device of your choice ;)
Let me know if you join, I'd love to see what you create and I'm sure Kate will too.

How to Write Enticing Item Descriptions | The Etsy Blog

http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2012/how-to-write-enticing-item-descriptions/?utm...

Photo Cube and Paint Mee - mobile digital art

Here are two pieces of art from my recent series of new images, 'Combinations of Infinity.' There are two apps that I seem to be using quite a bit recently;

See the full gallery on Posterous

Paint Mee, (love the resolution the two 'Mee' apps can save at) and 'Photo Cube'. I suspect the Photo Cube app is intended to be a photo album slideshow tool but I like the geometry of the images it can create. Here are some of the steps that led to the above. 

I photographed a tulip in the garden. Then using 'Paint Mee' made it blue; 

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After a brief play with it in 'Kyoobik FX' I open 'Photo Cube'. I choose this shape;

You tap each surface and then choose from your photo album the image that you want to go there.

 You can alter the size of the faces, the background colour, the colour palette can be altered to a rainbow effect,

See the full gallery on Posterous

 and there are various options about what to do with the finished shape;

I've posted some of the images to my sketchbook blog and am in the process of adding them to my neglected Zazzle gallery. I've also been spending most of my online time trying to wrestle my website into shape. Let me know what you think of it so far...bearing in mind I'm pretty thin skinned ;)

Have a happy weekend lovely reader.