This one was modified all in Topaz plugins for Photoshop. The resolution was very spotty, a very dirty JPEG, and I was able to clean it up nicely before playing with layer mods.
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Happy New Year!
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Blood pressure has been acting up, so I’ve been keeping company with the iPad in the recliner a fair part of the day. Hence, I’ve been doing a fair amount of playing with photo manipulation, then seeing what I can achieve in Photoshop from the results. Four more for the collection.
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One more from the iPad and Photoshop.
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Another one from a fusion of iPad and Photoshop. I rather like this expression. It changes with modification.
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The lappy gets equal time.
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Grabbed a series of apps today and played. One of the apps is called Sktchy, and it is an open source for photo resources. People upload their portraits for the expressed purpose of being a resource. These are ordinary people, not stock photo models.
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So I played around a bit with the new apps and finished it off on the laptop in Photoshop.
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Turned the corner on the sun cycle in Bryan last night. Played a lot of music to the exclusion of a lot else. I barely had time to eat anything before heading out. But I had a good time and played for almost three hours. It was my fretting thumb that gave out first, a sore spot stopping my grip. The soreness vanished quickly. It was the first time that my thumb ended my playing time at a party. It’s usually my pads or voice. But it was fun to get to play with so many people. I definitely got my fill.
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It was good seeing people, though I didn’t have a whole lot of time to socialize more than hellos across the room. It would have been nice to have shown under my own power so I could have spent the night, but the money retained was enough to accept cutting it short.
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The fog last night was a real surprise. It rained most of the day, then cleared off. On the way to Bryan, the dark fog cloud was quite looming, looking like smoke or rain, filling half the horizon. It was a strip of saturated air hugging the ground, and it got quite thick in places.
Birthday, yet another one from which I cheated death. Started off cold, just below freezing.
Wine generated in RealFlow, wine glass in modo. Rendered in modo.
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Since I have moved to Brenham, I have discovered a new breed of ant which the locals call “crazy ants”. They don’t bite like fire ants (which they keep away), and they run like Speedy Gonzales. They have incredible velocity for their size, rivaling the speed of many flying insects in still air. I managed to see them in the yard when I first got here.
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They invaded the house when the weather turned to winter, building a nest in the attic. They have repeatedly invaded the kitchen, going after food that is not sealed tightly. Each day is a new trail across the walls, through the cabinets, and out near the source of their attraction. A paper plate that didn’t make the trash the night before, cookies in the cupboard that weren’t ziplocked when unpacked, residue on the counter from a ring of diluted sauce or down in the sink when it wasn’t fully rinsed. They love seafood more than anything, such as shrimp and tuna, pouring out en masse to cover it. They’re easy to clean off the food and don’t present a real issue. I found that mosquito repelent is poisonous to them and will nullify one of their tracks instantly.
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Today was an unusual one. I have a bag of golden potatoes which has an open mesh side to it to let the spuds breathe. Today, there was a huge mass of ants in the bag, but over 90% of them were dead. I have never heard of any animal dying from eating potatoes, especially ants. Just think of how many leftover french fries have been claimed by ants. I am truly astounded. They obviously found the spuds irresistible, even though their fellow ants were dropping left and right around them. There were thousands of dead ants in the bag. I emptied the bag outside on a clean surface and brushed off the potatoes, no real damage there. But I saw what looked like a queen in the bag, still alive but none too swift. It may have taken the colony. I’ll know within a few days.
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Japan became a fascist state today.
No more freebies. The last one, the power beams, had two people download it. No one wants my stuff. Granted that the location points for distribution aren’t that heavily trafficked. But still. We’re talking a 5% view/grab ratio.
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I’m happy making them for myself. And I’ve never been afraid of walking a lone path or being a niche creator. If people don’t want, I have no problem with that. But I’m not going to the effort to package them if people aren’t going to grab. And I lost the sharing spirit years ago. The learning curve is demanding enough of my effort and should be for some time to come.
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Box with wall depth and a hole, all without Booleans.
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Couple of other notes. Found a source for Northern Exposure vids, which I’m enjoying. It was quirky enough to stand on its own.
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Also my feet have been swelling quite a bit, looking pretty red with all the capillary dilation. I need to read up on the different meds and see which is most likely the cause.
I just want to go on record as to having coined this phrase, “The Church of the Holy Banana and Airplane Flight.” “Church of the Holy Banana” is the short form.
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This is used to label people who argue that the amount of radiation in a banana or an airplane flight is worse than radiation emitted by a nuclear reactor.
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Other policies and tenants:
All forms of radiation are equal in their health effects on people, internal or external.
The is no difference in the effect of radiation on people producing stem cells (such as growing children) and those not producing stem cells.
More people died from coal pollution. No one has ever died from radiation.
Governments with nuclear accidents are 100% honest and never cover up anything.
Dump it in the ocean. Nothing there but a bunch of fish.
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Okay, I’m nauseous enough. I’ll stop there.
Another collision of particles. Two fountains pointed up and at each other. Fairly early in the sequence. RealFlow OBJ, rendered in modo.
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A couple of modeling projects to start off the month. A tree topper star for the season spirit, and a water fountain to remind me of summer, when I didn’t have to wear so many clothes.
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