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Thursday, 24 May 2007
Fly Fishing Watercolors by Tibbetts and Homer, and Fishing Coloring Pages
Topic: Art

I came across an artist, Dave B. Tibbetts, a fly fisherman who paints watercolors on fly fishing. You can read this article on him, Zen and the Art of Fly Fishing, by Robert Dixon. Interesting story on the artist's life, shows a selection of his paintings of fly fishermen.

Tibbetts is up there in years but certainly going strong (inspiring in itself). Sounds like a modern day Winslow Homer the way he combined painting with his love of hunting sports and outdoor life. Of course Homer didn't do commissions, didn't have to. But then he was at another point in the art history continuum. He came along when photography and (the industrial revolution) were gaining momentum. Art was developing a different purpose. Homer was one of few watercolorists, in a field that had not yet been developed. There was not a broad middle class yet, a broad market for this kind of commission work (paintings of homes, favorite spots, etc.). The new world of watercolors was then wide open for such a master draftsman and brush handler as Homer. He made his place at the head of America's foremost watercolorists, along with a few others. The Tibbetts story is intriguing and inspiring because of how he's joined his two loves, painting and fishing.

I am working on some coloring pages, of fish and fishing, based on the art of Winslow Homer. I'll put them up soon. Meanwhile, here is my pen and ink drawing, of bears fishing, for you to color. (Click title link for enlargement.)

Bears Fishing - coloring page 

bears fishing art
Update: Fly Fishing Coloring Page "Unexpected Catch" after Winslow Homer

Urls of the aforementioned Tibbetts links:
http://www.heartofnh.com/Arts/ZenFlyFishing.html
http://www.dbtwatercolors.com


Posted by Catinka Knoth at 11:31 AM EDT
Updated: Wednesday, 21 May 2008 10:11 PM EDT
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Sunday, 6 May 2007
A Mother's Day Card to Color
Topic: Coloring Pages

Here is a Mother's Day pen and ink drawing coloring page Use the link for a larger view with better image resolution. You'll see much more detail in the landscape textures. 

Mother's Day Coloring Card


Posted by Catinka Knoth at 8:33 PM EDT
Updated: Sunday, 6 May 2007 8:48 PM EDT
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Monday, 30 April 2007
Trying to get Product Pricing for Walmart and Kodak Digital Photo Products
Topic: Life

It is 6:46 pm. I have been working at pricing out digital photo products from the various online photo printers since 4:00pm. It started the other day with the promotional email that Walmart sent me for Mother's Day. I'd forgotten about the tailchasing I'd gone through then. But today I looked at a promotion  from Kodak, a similar promotion on Mother's Day gifts such as memory books. I followed the email to check out the prices.

No. One would have to go through the procedure of making up a book if one wanted a price it seemed.

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Posted by Catinka Knoth at 7:24 PM EDT
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Thursday, 26 April 2007
How to Create a Note Card Layout in Appleworks
Topic: Art
How to Create a Notecard Layout in Appleworks
2 up notecards on letter size page (8.5 x 11 page yields two 4.25 x 5.5 folding cards)

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Posted by Catinka Knoth at 10:36 PM EDT
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Monday, 9 April 2007
How to Optimize Your Photos for the Web and Dial-up Bandwidth
Topic: Technical

This is a recurring situation: people tell me they will send me a photo and I worriedly start to explain that I'm on dial-up so please make your photo a small file size. Here is the, probably unwanted, advice I just sent to two friends. Perhaps it will help someone else. You can help me clarify this or add to it.

To one I explained how to make photo a smaller file size:

Remember you can adjust your photos to be a smaller weight (not pixel dimensions but file size in bytes/bits). Send your photo to your email client from the photo browser (where you look at your photos and do things to them). You will have the option to change how large the photo will be in pixel dimensions and at what quality it will be. The lower the quality setting, (which has nothing to do with picture dimensions/pixel count) the lighter/smaller the file will be. Play around with it.

And to the other, how to make the photo be bigger in dimension but smaller in weight: 

You brought the file size or weight down to 52kb, a very good weight/size. At that rate you could also have kept the pixel dimensions larger, and, using the same 'quality' setting as you chose this time, it would probably still yield a low file 'weight/size'.

Next play around with intensifying the color. Use the bright, the contrast, and the saturation +- settings or levels. Usually I lower the brightness and contrast, and raise the saturation. Most of the time the lighting that photos of artwork are taken in just doesn't bring out the best in them. They need pop. I have to do this with almost all of mine, even when I'm scanning. Otherwise it looks flat like there is a haze or fog over the picture. It doesn't matter if it seems to match the original. It matters that it looks good when it translates onto screen or print.


Posted by Catinka Knoth at 12:20 AM EDT
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