I'm moving my blog address!

So I'm moving my blog address and I'm hoping to get my act together to really blog!  My new address is http://www.jsgreene.com/blog.  My vision was always to be able to connect my blog with my new website, but I've only just managed to get everything put together.  (There are still a few kinks to get out of the way, but best to get on with it, right?)

I have lots to share!  Although I have not been blogging, I have had many creative moments to share: painting, craft, tasty foods, etc.  (Even today, I made something very tasty AND I went to a glass fusing class, so I have much to share!)  And, I've figured out that it's better for me to write a few posts at once and then schedule their appearance on the world wide web.  So, that's what I'm going to attempt to do right after I finish this post! 

Again, the new blog is at http://www.jsgreene.com/blog (Aunt Ellie, I will try to figure out how to get it to email you--I have not forgotten about you!). 

And for those of you who get bored of checking and checking and checking if I've posted anything, I suggest you follow my RSS Feed.  RSS feeds are cool because it will automatically update you when I do anything to the blog.  Some people use Google Reader to manage their RSS Feeds.  I just use the bookmark bar at the top of my browser.  I go to the RSS Feed, click on the bookmark button, and then whenever I open my browser, I have a notice that says "Jenny's Blog (2)".  The (2) would indicate that there are two new entries that I haven't read yet.  Maybe I'll do a tutorial on my new blog!

New Website: Design Section Complete!

Great news!  I have been working very hard and, with Gavin's help in scanning some items that I didn't have an electronic file of, I am now finished with the graphic design section of my new website.

Please check it out here: http://www.jsgreene.com/new/design and let me know what you think.  Try out the links -- let me know if the grey menu bar is missing.  If anything goes wrong, please let me know!  It needs to be fixed!

Now...onto the watercolors portion of the website!

Watercolor Class: Day 2 & 3

Well, as many of you are aware, I did not post my watercolor painting from my class last week.  This is because I was in class long enough only to draw the still life -- I had to leave early to attend a luncheon for the nonprofit of which I am president.  So, this week I worked on the painting from a photo I took before I left class.

The finished painting is to the right.  On a side note, I recently bought a new all-in-one printer/scanner/copier that does larger format scans.  My initial scans were positive, but then I noticed that the colors were slightly off and in this painting I can definitely tell that the scan quality is poor.  In this painting, I discovered that the scanner cannot pick up on light colors, so the scan looks really washed out, and is more yellow than it should be.  The background looks like it's pure yellow -- in actuality, the painting background is a mixture of yellows and orange.  So--this is disappointing.  I am going to return the printer and think about buying a (very expensive) large format scanner that can capture these colors more accurately.

Anyway, when I was painting the succulent throughout the week, I thought that the painting was ok (although the leaf up front really needs some work...not satisfied with it, really), but too cool.  I think the yellows and orange in the background really warm up the painting and help bring out the yellow and orange details that I put in the succulent.

In today's class, the teacher displayed a really neat, massive purply-pink succulent nested in a straw hat.  I really enjoyed drawing the various curly/pointy leaves and then had a lot of fun laying down the various colors.  I didn't fully finish the painting, but have laid down the colors so far.  Now my plan will be to create the detail needed to make the painting pop.  The painting is to the right--I will update once I finish the detailing.  I'm really undecided so far whether to add another background beyond the hat--it might be too much, but then again, it might add a little something.

Website update:
I've finished a few more sections of my new website, but added a few more sections to fill-out, as well!  It's madness!!  The website is here (http://jsgreene.com/new) and the finalized sections within the design section are the last five sections: flyers, invitations, logos, posters and websites.  I just noticed a broken link in the flyers section, which I will fix, but if you notice anything that needs to be addressed, please let me know!

Also, good news--my cousin, who hosts my website, says that he can make my blog hosted on my website, so once my website is finished, then I will work on transferring over my blog, which means that I'll be able to fix the blog design to be easier to read!

Where have I been??

Where have I been?  Well, I've been working on updating my website.  I am finding that it is taking awhile because I am trying things that are newer to me...expanding my skills a little.  So, I am learning and trying and fiddling with things to try to make them right.

One of the things I'm trying is using this one site called Typekit to import specialized fonts into my website.  For those of you who don't know, when designing websites, fonts are really tricky because each computer has their own set of fonts, that other computers may not have.  So designers typically use a handful of fonts that happen to be on every computer, Mac and PC.  It is very limiting.  I found out about this Typekit place, and basically they can imbed specific fonts on your website...for a price.  I thought that I'd try that out, but it's been difficult because when I build the website, I can't see what it looks like...I have to upload it and make it live in order to see how the fonts are working.  It's a lot of work, a lot of back and forth.

Anyway, it is more slow-going than I'd like it to be, but it's a challenge.  You can take a sneak peak at my new website by clicking here.  Right now, only the home page, the design page, and the website pages work.  Everything else will be a blank page or a file not found.  If you have any thoughts or suggestions, I'd love to hear them -- leave it in the comments.

You may also be wondering -- where is my watercolor painting for this week?  The answer is unfinished.  I had to leave class early on Monday to go to something and could only sketch the demo and take a picture.  I have since come home and done a fair amount of work on the painting (maybe 2/3 or 3/4 done), but haven't had time to finish it.  I'd post a pic of it, but Gavin took his camera to work, I think.  You'll have to wait.