Couple of techie things I have discovered. First off, there is this cool new iphone app called Color Expert. Essentially, its a palette creator where you pick colors and them can morph them to either artistic or scientific interpretations of analogous, monochromatic, complementary, split complementary, or triadic combinations. Once you tweak those palettes either starting from scratch or starting from an established "I love this color///base color" then, you can get the cmyk, rgb or even pantone chips that correspond to this combination. You can save the palette to the iphone or send it to yourself, your team etc. to use in projects on the roster. So its a fun little thing that is a color toy which is highly amusing and shows some interesting combinations that ripping a pantone book might not accomplish. Lets see if it yields anything in the future. Color Expert describes itself this way:
Color Expert contains powerful tools to help artists and designers identify, translate, capture and showcase color. Designers know inspiration can come anywhere at anytime. Just look around. Some of the best ideas are waiting for you in the real world away from the studio. Now with Color Expert, you'll have the tools to capture the moment, the moment a color captures you. Look down. See the color of that Pomegranate in your cart? Go get it. It'd be perfect for the project you've been working on. Whip out Color Expert and it tells you that shade is PANTONE® solid coated PANTONE 220 C. The interactive color wheel then finds the perfect color schemes and palettes to match. Now, email that color scheme to your friends or clients. But, you might not want to tell them you're still in the check-out line. Whether designing, decorating or accessorizing, Color Expert is indispensable for anyone working with color. Anywhere. Anytime.
The other cool thing(s) are simple applications to create web pages. One is Squarespace the other is Wix. Squarespace is on my list. I am going to backout all of my web content from this and the other piddly blogs I have going and flow it through Squarespace which I can control on my own servers versus the google one. Don't get me wrong, this blogspot empire is wonderful, simple and it works....but I now have well over 1500 entries, so my investment and actually content is something I want to protect now that I am fully engaged in this enterprise. Plus, I may want to design it a bit (not much) just for kicks. You do n0t need to be web saavy nor a codewriter but just a content person...and its WYSIWYG. I can use existing photo gallery templates for my portfolio and really rethink the blog/website interface...where one could enhance the other versus operate as two separate entities. I like my website,but I cannot futz with it...and the way to keep it fresh is to touch it more often than I am doing. Plus, if I can drive people to my blog...the flow through to the website should be simple and fluid. Right now, its pretty clunky.
Wix is a similar tool except you can create widgets, slide shows, and more flashdriven animated presentations that maybe could dovetail with the Squarespace "meat and potato" approach. I have a problem of animation for animation sake...it becomes trite. But used tactically, as a widget or a popup slide show, this could be great. It's interface is very simple...and you can use it to promote your art/music. You can use a preexisting template or start with a blank piece of electronic paper....Take a look at both. You don't need to hire a codifier, or a web expert. Just will take a little time. Plus, the bait is ...its free to get started. So, build a site in both and see the difference. This sort of small paradigm shift is welcome. No longer do we need some middle man in between us and the web. We can go direct and not worry about someone else filtering our ideas and content. So...sooooo beautiful.
Jiri Harcuba gets the pale green (to reflect his use in clear glass) background. I am going to monkey with the type a bit to punch up the lettering a bit. Kitty needs to clean her room, read her book and do some other projects prior to having a guest for 10 days. Alex is sleeping at a friends house, with the promise of more work in the fields of garlic mustard (ripping it out by the roots). Rob's sister Gloria shows up today from the sunny west Coast for a week +/- of visiting, Grassroots and vacationing. Our friend Bruce is here Monday or so. Kitty's friend on Tuesday. And then, then...big things, big sounds, volunteering. No end to the fun.
I have a bit more packing and thinking and then I will be ready to go tomorrow a.m. We have a walk through and info session at noon for Kitty at Hartford and then with help, I will hang my work... and then, my friends, may the rumpus begin!
PS. My work will be featured in a story about digital art in the Artists Magazine soon (next month)? This is all thanks to Ursula Roma who wrote the article and kindly invited me to submit work for publication. Very exciting news indeed!