Christmas Cards and Computer Flu

I have been in the process of making Christmas cards, and I actually did get as far as printing three different designs on glossy photo paper before the computer had to go to the computer hospital. And, yes of course, it was expensive and it still doesn't quite work right yet!!!! It also made the Christmas card project grind to a halt while I waited for the machine to be fixed.



Anyway, back to the cards - I am going to cut the four-up printed sheets apart and glue the individual images to the cards. The cards also have to be printed with the inside message and the "who-done-it" information on the back.



I thought when I painted the images while I was still traveling that I would be ahead of the season, but instead the joke's on me. Hello! Don't you just love computer jokes!

Sears - An Email About Ethics and Appreciation

The following is an email I received that made me proud of Sears for treating its employees who are in the called-up reserves with kindness and appreciation for their military service.

Subject: Sears - Christmas shopping has already started

I know I needed this reminder since Sears isn't always my first choice. Amazing when you think of how long the war has lasted and they haven't withdrawn from their commitment. Could we each buy at least one thing at Sears this year?

How does Sears treat its employees who are called up for military duty? By law, they are required to hold their jobs open and available, but nothing more. Usually, people take a big pay cut and lose benefits as a result of being called up.

Sears is voluntarily paying the difference in salaries and maintaining all benefits, including medical insurance and bonus programs, for all called up reservist employees for up to two years.

I submit that Sears is an exemplary corporate citizen and should be recognized for its contribution. I suggest we all shop at Sears, and be sure to find a manager to tell them why we are there so the company gets the positive reinforcement it well deserves.

Pass it on.

Decided to check this before I sent it forward. So I sent the following e-mail to the Sears Customer Service Department:

I received this e-mail and I would like to know if it is true. If it is, the Internet may have just become one very good source of advertisement for your company. I know I would go out of my way to buy products from Sears instead of another store for a like item, even if it's cheaper at that store.


This is their answer to my e-mail:

Dear Customer:

Thank you for contacting Sears.The information is factual. We appreciate your positive feedback.

Sears regards service to our country as one of greatest sacrifices our young men and women can make. We are happy to do our part to lessen the burden they bear at this time.

Bill Thorn
Sears Customer Care
webcenter@sears.com
1-800-349-4358

Please pass this on to all your friends. Sears needs to be recognized for this outstanding contribution and we need to show them as Americans, we do appreciate what they are doing for our military!!!

It's verified ! By Snopes.com at:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/sears.asp

Artist Workshop With Carol Frye

For the last two days I have been taking an art workshop which was called "Subtle and Sophisticated Collage Workshop," with Carol Frye of Lakeland, Florida (http://www.carolfrye.com ), an award-winning artist who holds signature memberships in six different well-known acrylic and watercolor societies. She has been featured in the " Ones To Watch" feature in the December 2007 Watercolor Magic and also published a few other times in this magazine and several other artist publications. Check out her website to see pictures of her wonderful artwork.

We prepared backgrounds for our collages using several different starting techniques and then prepared some artistic tissue papers to use in the collages which we then began by layering the three primary colors to produce dark but rich, colorful neutrals before laying on any collage materials. This in itself is so different for me, as I am wild for color.

I am sharing three of my projects here. The first one on canvas is largely a prepared background (above), just to show here how much preparation has already gone into the painting before any detail is ever added. This is the result of quite a few layers of paint on the textured canvas. I took my first photos after dark last night using an overhead light and a flash - probably the worst conditions to take photos, but I wanted to do my blog, and I intended to replace them today when the light is much better, which I have now done.

You will notice also, in addition to better pictures, that I have now finished the two last paintings.