Thank you Carole Reid - your art is amazing!

I am the lucky winner of an art giveaway Carole Reid had on her blog back on October 3rd.

Carole came across some wonderful artwork back in September, in of all places, a thrift shop. She took the pieces home; announced a giveaway draw, and then Carole rework a selected piece for that draw.

The piece I have received is artwork originally done by S. Webster in 1987 called “Railway Ties”.

Ironically the draw number I selected (Carole gave the range 1 to 100) was 87, the year my daughter was born, but it was also the year of the original artwork...when I made the connection I thought I was having a Twilight Zone moment - how cool is that! 

Carole added her artistic touch and talent to this piece, along with an addition to the title; the piece is now called “Rose Petals Between ‘Railway Ties’ ”. 

I think it is truly an amazing piece of art - the combined talent is so special - I will cherish this piece given its history of where it was found and how Carole transformed it with her talent and compassion.

I have a place in my studio for my new piece of art. I am in the process of having it matted and framed; when it is ready to hang I will do a follow up post. In the meantime please enjoy the photos. 

Mail delivery October 14 - I took the tube right into the Lost and Found...

where I paid close attention to Carole's instructions...

out pops the artwork - nice packing job Carole!
(I think she's done this once or twice)

My winnings...


and a bonus - this was truly unexpected and I have just the place for it too!

Both pieces of art together - beautiful!
(held down by little candles and my wee frog)

My studio's reception area is patiently waiting for
"Rose Petals Between 'Railway Ties' " to return from the framer.

Thank you so much Carole - I am extremely excited about having your artwork hanging in my studio.

Thank you for following, for commenting, for being out there and in here. 

 Jenny

Vancouver, BC - from a different angle!

Yes, there is more to Vancouver than Queen Elizabeth Park, which I do seem to go on about.

So without further ado I give you a taste of Vancouver from a different angle.

This short movie is of Vancouver’s West End and surrounding area - I took the pictures and movie images, that make up this film, from Vanier Park, site of the Maritime Museum and home to some beautiful, serene waterfront.

Following is my first attempt at movie making - I am having fun working with iMovie, a feature built into my Mac.

Thank you for following, for commenting, for being out there and in here. 

 Jenny

Vancouver Walkabout - Queen Elizabeth Park

Friday was a glorious day - not quite cold enough to bring out the winter coats, but yet there was a slight bite to the air when walking out of reach of the sun.

I decided to take a day away from the Lost and Found and enjoy a little time with my mom.

One of my favourite dining spots in Vancouver is Seasons in the Park, located at the top of Queen Elizabeth Park where the view is spectacular! 

We started our outing with lunch (the Omelette) and then mom went in the Conservatory as she had not been in quite a while. (more photos of the Conservatory here)

I enjoyed a small walkabout and took some photos - just for you!

Click on any photo to enlarge and have a closer look!

Taken from the patio at Seasons, as we headed outdoors.

Looking back toward the patio - I took the first photo from the area behind the tree.

Seasons Restaurant, overlooking the small quarry garden.

Bronze statues of tourist having their photo taken.

The bronze photographer!

In this photo, you see the Lions - the two peaks in the distance.

In this photo, you see Grouse Mountain, a popular skiing and hiking destination (for locals and tourists alike).
This picture sits to the right of the one above.
Also, take a look at our new stadium - it looks like a crown - in the centre of the photo! Can you see it?

A little bridge leading to the large quarry garden.

Same little bridge...from a different angle.

Isobel, Anna and Karen work close by and enjoy a lunchtime stroll!

A sentinel of trees keep watch over the large quarry garden.

A look into the large quarry garden from up top...by the little bridge.

Four photos stitched together produce this amazing panoramic view of Vancouver. Click to enlarge!

I hope you have enjoyed this pictorial walkabout - if you are thinking of heading to Vancouver this is a must-see stop on your travels!

Cheers, 

   Jenny

Rabbit's Studio Q & A plus HTML coding for link backs

This little exercise was put forward by Micael Chadwick, who answers these questions once a year.

So, per his suggestion, I thought I'd give it a go...

1. What is your favourite word?

    Lucky

2. What is your least favourite word?

    Love - overused and overrated (except when used by grandmothers)

3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?

    Creatively - the world around me

    Spiritually - a free thinking mind

    Emotionally - laughing 

4. What turns you off?

    Meanness 

5. What is your favourite curse word?

    Gosh, golly, gee...do you really want me to say it in front of all these people. 

    Suffice it to say - if this was being done live onTV they would bleep it out!

6. What sound or noise do you love?

    Laughter

7. What sound or noise do you hate?

    Whining 

8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

    Heart Surgeon

9. What profession would you not like to do?

    Babysitter 

10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

    Wipe that smile off your face! 

Now it’s your turn to copy and paste the questions below. If you do answer them leave a link back in my comment section and I’ll drop by and check out your answers.

“What is a link back and how do I do it?” I hear you asking.

Okay...this is what you do:

- you copy this HTML code

- you paste it somewhere on your computer (word doc/pages etc)

- you then modify it - that means you change the stuff in red.

The first red bit is the link address, the second red bit is what the link is called.

As you can see this is the coding I use when I add “PEARSON REPORT” to my comments on your blogs, after my name. This then becomes a direct link to my blog.

What you will do is fill in this HTML coding (the red bits) with your information. 

After you have posted your answers, click on that post and the link will appear in the address line as show here:

In this example the link address is the one to my recent Mac post, not to my home page. 
Remember that when doing direct post links - linking back to your home page is not useful - unless that’s your purpose. 
But in this instance you want people to go directly to your “answer post”, so give them the direct link to that post.

For those of you that know this, sorry to bore you, but for those that don’t it’s a helpful tip - I too learned it along the way and enjoy using it!




Now...here are those question for you to copy and take with you!

1. What is your favorite word?
2. What is your least favorite word?
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
4. What turns you off?
5. What is your favorite curse word?
6. What sound or noise do you love?
7. What sound or noise do you hate?
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
9. What profession would you not like to do?
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

These are taken from Inside the Actor’s Studio with James Lipton, which he poses to each of his guests at the end of an interview. Lipton always gives credit for this list to French talk show host Bernard Pivot, who hosted Apostrophes from 1975–1990 and Bouillon de Culture from 1990–2001; he often mentions that the list originally came from French novelist Marcel Proust (1871–1922). Proust did not actually create the questionnaire that frequently has his name attached, though he did famously answer two versions of it (once at age 13, and a second time at age 20), and thereby gave the lists a certain notoriety. Their original author is unknown.

This bit of trivia is taken from Micael Chadwick’s blog, along with the questions - I thought it was interesting, and hope you do too! Thanks Micael!

I found this challenging; I answered the questions in a spontaneous fashion, as if I were being asked them without a lot of time to mull them over; hopefully this way of answering will reflect my actual current state of mind. 

Thank you for following, for commenting, for being out there and in here. 

   Jenny

MacBook Pro - using Universal Access to turn off built-in trackpad

I really enjoy the built-in trackpad on my MacBook Pro, but when I am zooming along working on my epic novel and my fingers are on autopilot I am not interested in having my trackpad on, as occasionally I find I’ve opened something or moved my cursor around, which distracts me, so this is what I do.

You will need an external mouse or trackpad to enjoy this feature. 

I’m currently playing with the Magic Trackpad, last week I tried the Magic Mouse - you will need to activate Bluetooth to use these devices.

Open System Preferences on your Dock, it looks like this:

You will see this screen.

Click on Universal Access:

What you get is this screen:

Here you can check (✔) Ignore built-in trackpad when mouse or wireless trackpad is present.

You can have this checked even when no external devices are present as your computer recognizes when there is just the built-in trackpad available.

Try it...you won’t disable your built-in trackpad if there is no external option.

Once an external mouse or trackpad is connected your built-in trackpad will be disabled.

Remember...you can access this feature anytime and do not need to preset it - I only use this option when I am sitting in the Lost and Found madly typing along for long periods of time, otherwise I still enjoy using my built-in trackpad.

This is amazingly helpful when needing to do copious amounts of straight out typing and you want to rest your wrists on your computer without affecting your built-in trackpad.

For those of you working on novels and writing projects you will find this a useful option.

Do you use an external mouse or trackpad?

Thank you for following, for commenting, for being out there and in here. 

   Jenny

iPhoto - creating a second photo library to sort photos easily

My Mac does double duty - it is primarily my work computer but it also functions as my personal computer as well.

I get quite frustrated when I open iPhoto and see my work related photos (my brow tattoo photos) mixed in the Events Library with my personal photos.

This is a problem when I’m showing family or friends my personal photos (trips or mermaid shots) and suddenly I come upon a pair of eyes looking out at me…

While I am extremely pleased with my tattooing skills, and in all instances have permission to show these photos, it still annoys me that I haven’t found a better way of isolating them from the Events Photo Library - which is the main holding pen for all my photos.

Until now…

I’m going to share a little trick I learned from John B, during my One to One session (which I have been milking like a mad farmer) the other day.

Okay...first off...make sure iPhoto is closed if you wish to try this.

Next...press and hold the “option key” while opening iPhoto...keep holding the option key until this menu appears…

Here you can create a new photo library as I did, which you can see I have named Esthetics Library.

Each of these photo libraries, in iPhoto, acts independently from the other - that is what makes them so awesome.

Now when I want to add photos of my brow tattooing, or other work related photos, I hold the “option key” and open iPhoto, where my library menu appears, I open the Esthetics Library; I then insert my SD Card and voila Bob’s your uncle...my work photos are ready to be selected and uploaded.

I hope my explanation is straight forward...and those of you using a Mac find this helpful - I know I sure did.

As a further note - if there are a few of you, in one household, sharing a computer...then this is a definite must-do; you can each have your own photo library.

But...even better than having your own iPhoto library is having your own separate computer profile - more on that in another post.

Thank you for following, for commenting, for being out there and in here. 

   Jenny

A letter to Steve Jobs, posthumous

Remembering Steve Jobs     1955 - 2011

(Source)

I sent the following letter to rememberingsteve@apple.com - I am posting it here to share it with you, my dear friends, in the blogging world.

Dear Steve,

This will be read by someone close to you, who knew you and loved you; I hope they will read this aloud so your spirit, which fills the emptiness left by the passing of your physical being, will know, that although we never met, you touched my world through your passion.

Your passion is what is your true legacy; your passion to create, to embrace life outside the box, and your zest for taking a day and living it fully...right to the end. This is how I will remember you.

I am shedding tears of sadness for your immediate family, for the loss they must now experience; as well as those in your Apple family - they will surely feel the loss deeply also; then there is the sadness I feel for the rest of us that knew you at arm's length through your public personality and your amazing products.

But Steve...I also feel joy, as odd as that may seem; the joy is in knowing that because of your brilliance, your creativity and vision, I am a happy member of the Apple Nation; back in March I bought my first MacBook Pro and have never looked back because you anticipated my needs. 

Thank you for the joy I experience because of your passion.

Because of your passion and deep understanding of the needs of average folks, like me, I am able to navigate a world that can often seem overwhelming and daunting to those of us that can still clearly remember black and white television and life before the remote control.

Yes, you have had an impact on my life...even though we never met.

Happy is the man that has no regrets upon rising with the Sun - may the Sun warm your heart and light the way on this next great journey you have embarked upon. Godspeed.

With respect,

Jenny Pearson

Thank you for following, for commenting, for being out there and in here. 

   Jenny