I'm Officially Addicted to My iPad

My cell phone only makes phone calls and I rarely even turn it on, so it's only taken a few short months to become totally iPad addicted. The advantages of an iPad over a 'smartphone,' are many for those of us who now require reading glasses. The pinch-zoom feature is worth the price all by itself. It's a bit heavy to carry around everywhere. I'm still never without it even though it sometimes stays in my car if I'm shopping. If the iPhone ever becomes available on Verizon, I would seriously consider it. In my area, non-Verizon phones are out of service in most of the places that top my list of  “places I don’t want to be without a phone.” Although I would probably have to increase the magnification of my reading glasses, I do like the idea of being able to sync all the info on my iPad with a smaller, more portable device. I’ve been consciously trying to lighten my handbag load lately.

Although I've done my share of copywriting over the years, I’m an artist and I never imagined that article writing (for myself and others,) research, website updating and Internet communication would become dominant activities of my day. I now have seven email addresses, dozens of login names, passwords, keys and pin numbers. Keeping track and on top of these things was beginning to make me want to turn everything off and go live in the woods . . . just for a minute or two, I love my toys.

I started out adding apps slowly; Kindle, Netflix, NYTimes, Slate, Dropbox, a few games, more news feeds and some reference apps. Research the reference apps unless they are free; often, it's better to download the actual book to iBooks or Kindle. Many of these apps may be too simplified in their content. The AP Stylebook is one example. If you are constantly on the run, the AP app on your iPhone may come in handy, but for the same price you can subscribe to the internet service directly through AP. If you feel the need to analyze this article to determine whether I’ve actually referred to AP today, I’ll save you the trouble, no. 

As of today, there are 93 apps on my iPad. I will admit that I enjoy some mindless ‘Angry Birds’ launching and some challenging ‘Words with Friends’, so a third of them are games and puzzles. Thanks to the recent system update they are all in folders, which frees up screen space for the apps I use frequently. I have to blame AppAdvice for all the games. It’s a great source for almost-daily lists of ‘apps on sale’ (or free) for a short time. Why doesn’t the App Store have a reduced-price or sale category?

A Bluetooth keyboard was a welcome Christmas gift. I do some writing on my iPad, but I’m an old-school typist; first learned in high school when it was called typing, not keyboarding. You can’t ‘type’ on a virtual keyboard. According to Wikipedia, “Touch typing is typing without using the sense of sight to find the keys.” For those of you who don’t type, (two-thumb texting does not count,) there are two huge advantages: speed, and the ability to just concentrate on what you are saying without the interruption of looking down to find a key. I’m still adjusting to the new keyboard. I have noticed the iPad goes wonky after I turn off the keyboard. The touch-screen does not respond as it should. Restoring it to normal requires entering the settings, turning off Bluetooth, and shutting down the iPad. On restart, the iPad is fine, but these few more steps are inconvenient.

I haven’t discovered any joys of creating art on the iPad. I’m sure there are some to be found, I’m not there yet. I am organized. Well, no, I’m not exactly organized, but all my info is. My emails are all linked together, photos and images I need most often are in Dropbox, passwords and pins are all in one place and easily accessible. The most important and newly added app is ‘Find My iPhone.’ No one plans on losing their iPhone, iPad or all that information; but it is reassuring to know how to instantly wipe the info should the device go AWOL; which is something one cannot do with a wallet or notebook.

The App Store is an affiliate.

Read Between the Bylines

Writing has become a second (or is it the third, fifth, eighth . . . too many to count lately) job for me. I'm certainly not alone. Many of my favorite artist blogs are filled with interviews, stories, commentary; and yet the artists still manage to regularly post their artwork. I'm sure many of them also write for others. Although I've done my share of copywriting, I have avoided it whenever possible. I'm an artist, not a copywriter.

This is the last thing I ever thought I'd spend this much time on. Paintings to finish, a new website to design, and article commitments to keep; how does everyone manage this? (I didn't even mention a regular job.)

I am somewhat of a spelling and grammar Nazi. For my own blog, I try to edit carefully before I post, but if there is one thing I have learned from my advertising experience, it is no one will care how perfect the ad is if it doesn't make the deadline. There are some gremlins that manage to appear between my iPad writing app and the formatting on the site. I'm still catching typos and revising sentence structure after I post, but it is my blog. I set my own deadlines (I really don't have any,) and I don't have to be too fanatical because I know I can change it later.

Writing for others is a whole different zebra. In addition to a thesaurus, a dictionary and a grammar reference, I'm now a regular visitor to the "AP Stylebook" online version. I'm learning a new variation of  'getting over perfectionism;' write it, post it and hope the editor approves.

I have added a new tab section, "Other Stories." I will post some guest articles here, when I am permitted to do so.

Can I go paint now?

You Can't Always Get What You Want

If you've read this blog from the beginning, (not all that long ago,) you might be wondering how things are going with my efforts to find a social life, so here's an update.

Still haven't actually joined anything (Groucho would be pleased.) The Art Director's Club of Philadelphia (missing for a few years now,) had a Launch (or re-launch) Party on Nov. 11th. I missed it, but I keep looking for updates on the somewhat blank website. Nothing. Another artist group proves my point. (See: Where Do You Go to Meet People in 2010?)

What can I say about my Match adventures? I still look, but I've been a little busy the last few weeks. Before that? Well, no, you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometime you just might find, you at least get yourself out of the house.*

*Thanks to The Rolling Stones for the paraphrase.

No More Excuses - Excuse Number One, Which Paint?

My mother loved the paint-by-number sets in the fifties. Somewhere along the line, she discovered 'someone' was borrowing assorted tubes of paint from her sets. One Christmas . . . I think I was ten, I opened my first treasured box of oil paints, brushes and canvases. I could't tell you the brand, brush numbers or number of colors. It didn't matter. I was in love and lost in my room for the duration of Christmas vacation, except for a few ice skating breaks (the winter thing to do when I was ten.) My first painting was a still-life of an orange and a Heinz ketchup bottle. I think I liked the colors.

Remember construction-paper turkeys? That was pretty much the sum of grade school art class. My best memory of high school art class was the day we were assigned the task of creating a crucifix in clay. I attended an all-girls Catholic high school. I stress the 'all-girls' aspect, because in this environment (no boys to impress,) being a lady wasn't a consideration. A clay crucifix? Really? The energy that day was spent hurling gobs of clay at each other (the teacher had left the room,) in the most creative ways possible. I was fortunate to attend Saturday classes at the Cooper School of Art in Cleveland (doesn't exist anymore.) College level art classes taught by professors who dismissed the idea that we were kids. I was in my own little form of heaven.

Thanksgiving Continues . . . I'm Just Grateful!

Today, I am most grateful for my very wonderful son, his most-gracious girlfriend, and her family. Thanks to all for fantastic food, a really fun time, very enjoyable company, and a peaceful night in another part of the state.

I am grateful to new friends I've made in the last few months. It may have only been a drink or an evening, but those moments will stay with me for a long time. I'm grateful that my near decade-long life of a hermit has been disrupted, in so many good ways.

I'm grateful for running out of excuses. After listening to myself talk about why I haven't done this or that (all kinds of things, really;) I'm now doing those things.

I'm grateful for new books, new inspirations, and new reflections on some older ideologies that have put my own trivial pursuits in their appropriate perspective.

I'm grateful for new work I am excited about. Sometimes things just happen when one is not looking . . . kind of like love. I'm grateful for tea. I could learn to love it.

I'm grateful for Netflix, Kindle, Elements, Wordbook XL and Angry Birds on my iPad.

Today, I'm also grateful I wasn't anywhere near a retail store.

Where Do You Go to Meet People in 2010?

MEETUP.COM OR MATCH, OF COURSE

Unless you prefer eHarmony.com or Chemistry.com. Neither was a good choice for me. After an hour and a half of answering questions on eHarmony, I was blurry-eyed. It was a “free” weekend and I just wanted to check the site out. By the time I finished answering and writing my life history, the free weekend was almost over. They sent me 4 matches over 2 days, and there is no way to search for yourself. One of my favorite customizable “matching” criteria was height. The question just asked for my height (I’m 5’5”), then asked me to rate how important that is to me. Huh? Well of course it’s important to me, it’s....me; and it’s even more important when I’m looking for jeans with a 34” inseam. Whether or not it’s important to someone else might have been a better question, or how about how I feel about my match’s height. I also think there should be an addition to all female height-related questions. I’m 5’5” barefoot, 5’8” in heels, and yes that’s very important to me. Needless to say, my matches were all shorter than I am. I’m sure they were very nice gentlemen, but I also have nothing in common with someone who hasn’t read a book since high school. This isn’t a judgement thing, I was “shopping” after all. If I went to a store looking for a white silk blouse and I was shown only green t-shirts, I’d probably say thank you and go to another store.

It All Starts Here

Edit: I've changed my blog appearance, thought I'd try something new. Sometimes simpler is better. I still like my hibiscus (it was the background art), so here it is just in case someone else liked it also.

WELCOME TO MY JOURNEY

Changing one’s life, at any age, is always a bit anxiety-prone, starting over everything at age 60 has it’s own set of problems, as well as advantages. I’ll have to discover the advantages as I go along.

FIRST, A LITTLE BACKGROUND

I’ve been an artist forever, and a graphic designer, art director, illustrator for over 30 years. I’ve been fortunate that I’ve been able to work doing what I love. I not only smoothly transitioned from the traditional drawing board to the computer, I was immersed in it. Work during the day, come home and read software manuals and books at night. I was very good at it. About 8-9 years ago, I took off for awhile. Since there had been a lull in what was a fairly successful career, I decided to take a side road. I’ve always enjoyed architectural work, since the pen & ink days, so when an opportunity presented itself to work in architectural illustration, I accepted it.