One of my painting goals for a few years has been to loosen things up and be more expressive. I want people to understand what they're looking at, but I don't want a … [Read More...] about Loosening Up My Painting Style
Loosening Up My Painting Style
One of my painting goals for a few years has been to loosen things up and be more expressive. I want people to understand what they're looking at, but I don't want a photo-realistic style. For me, it's about painting from the heart. Regardless, I do tend to get caught up in the details and render my subjects too tightly. When finished, I am highly critical of how accurate my painting is! I think I'm finally beginning to break this crazy cycle. A friend once told me a way to reduce the … [Read more...] about Loosening Up My Painting Style
Connecting Domains to Separate Web Hosting
Two requirements for any website are domain name registration and web hosting. Most web host providers offer both services. You can keep them together at the same company or separate them. There are benefits and disadvantages to both approaches and you'll find all kinds of arguments favoring one over the other. This post addresses how to connect the domain to the website when the domain name is registered at a different provider than the web hosting. There's a mix of what my clients do. So, … [Read more...] about Connecting Domains to Separate Web Hosting
How to Use the Modula Custom Grid Gallery
Modula is a fantastic WordPress plugin for creating galleries. It has loads of options in the Settings section, which makes it very flexible. I especially like the Custom Grid gallery type because of its modular nature: the images can be all the same sizes or a mix of sizes. This guide will show you how to (1) create a new gallery, (2) configure it for a custom grid, (3) add images to it and (4) display the gallery on a page or post. (1) Getting Started: Create a New Gallery (2) … [Read more...] about How to Use the Modula Custom Grid Gallery
Revisiting a Painting
I usually know if a painting is finished. Something in my gut tells me there's nothing more to do and we've reached completion. If I'm unclear, I ask myself this question: "Am I futzing or finessing?" The answer will lead me to my next step. Futzing equals done! Finessing means I have to make a few tweaks. I can see some thing(s) that just doesn't look right. Yet, I might not know how to "fix" it. What tweaks should I make? That's when I put it away and revisit the painting at a later … [Read more...] about Revisiting a Painting
Cropping Thumbnails in WordPress
WordPress Image Defaults When you upload an image to WordPress, it goes into your Media Library. Then, WordPress generates 3 copies of it at default sizes: thumbnail (150x150 pixels square), medium (300x300 pixels maximum), and large (1024x1024 pixels maximum). Your theme settings may vary or include other sizes in addition to these defaults. The thumbnails, used in in the blog archive list and image galleries (among other things), automatically cut off parts of the original image. Sometimes … [Read more...] about Cropping Thumbnails in WordPress
Beginner’s Guide to Gutenberg Blocks
WordPress replaced the classic editor a few years ago with the Gutenberg block editor. I encourage you to start using it! The original classic editor behaved similarly to a word-processing program: the words and images got placed inside one, long, continuous edit field. With Gutenberg, each type of content has its own block: heads, paragraphs, images, quotes, lists, etc. It's a more modular system, very flexible and easy to style. In this tutorial, I'll introduce you to the basic Gutenberg … [Read more...] about Beginner’s Guide to Gutenberg Blocks
Painting Azaleas at Auburn Lake
I've always admired a pair of azalea bushes at Mount Auburn Cemetery's Auburn Lake. Their remarkable magenta and rose colors astound me. A Dawn Redwood tree provides a sheltering border. I love to paint in this quiet, magical area, especially in springtime. It's a very relaxing spot, very meditative. The only sounds I hear are birds singing. In fact, catbirds often watch me, probably because they build their nests there. Be sure to watch the video I made, posted at the end of this … [Read more...] about Painting Azaleas at Auburn Lake
InDesign: Single Pages vs. Facing Pages
When you create a New Document in InDesign, one of the most important choices you'll make is whether or not you want Facing Pages. The option is in the Preset Details, where Facing Pages is turned on by default for Print documents. But, if you want a Single Page layout, you can turn that off by deselecting it. In this tutorial, I'll explain the two scenarios and provide examples for each layout. Single Pages If the pages will be seen one at a time, then you use the Single Page … [Read more...] about InDesign: Single Pages vs. Facing Pages