I’m always trying to find colors that are a little different. I want a blue you can’t buy in a store. When I was painting, I found this place in Amsterdam that actually made pigments — I’d buy from them and make my own paint. I remember buddies asking me, “Why do you do that?” And I said, “You know why? You’re using the same blue, the same red, and the same green as every other schmuck that walks into that paint store. And I don’t want to do that!”
I’m using the same principle to pick colors for my work now. I want colors that make people say, “Oh, look at this combination of orange and green and blue — I never would have thought to mix those.” I want to have that effect on people.
I take a lot of digital photographs just to extract color. I go to an arboretum here on Long Island at different points in the year and take pictures of the orchid show or the Christmas poinsettias. Nature does a pretty good job of blending. You’ll get a flower that starts with green, goes up to yellow, and blooms red. So already I’ve got a red, a yellow, and a green that all complement each other.
I’ll extract those colors, and then I might find a blue that I like in a sunset photo, and extract that as well. Next, I bring those colors into Photoshop. All the colors are by themselves, saying, “I’m a blue, don’t touch me.” Then I go into Filters and apply a Gaussian blur to the colors, so they’re no longer independent. The blue is now blending into the green, the green is blending into the yellow, and I have this blurred image of all the colors mixing together.
I take that image and run it through this program I’ve created, and say, ”Okay, extract the top 16 colors.” So now I have a range of colors extracted out of the image that I blended. The most complex color set I’ve done was 74 colors, and the average is 32. And that’s where I get all my colors.
— Joshua Davis
Maybe it’s just exhaustion, but I found myself caught in a brief dark wave of premature retrospection this afternoon. As she pushes nine years old, I was walking with Kona and battling the painful reality we dog owners all must inevitably face someday with canine mortality. It’s that thing you never want to think about, but, when your guard’s down, can’t help it. I instinctively stopped, took a knee, and gave her a big hug. As hard as you try, it never seems possible to squeeze every drop of meaning out of those one-on-one moments. You love ’em and hug ’em and kiss ’em and schnuggle ’em as hard as you can, but it’s never quite enough, you know? You never feel finished. Hopefully that’s a good thing. I suppose that’s what eternity is all about.
Two things I’ll miss most about my little shiny bear are her ears. They’re to die for. Especially when the wind catches them and they go up like two sails. Here’s a good example of such a moment, caught this afternoon with the cell phone.
So where are we? I’ve lost track already. This whole thing has turned into a jam!
Before the drywall goes up, there were some electrical issues to take care of. Took about two days of full work, but ended up stretching across the whole week. Some interjections occurred along the way, including the need for extra heater duct, the decision to put a light bulb in every closet, some basic rewiring off Breaker 1, and a badly cut finger that required emergency medical attention. But hey, we’re here, right? And it’s not even mid-September yet.
Tomorrow, Sunday, we’re gonna hang the drywall. I’m meeting Mike at Home Depot to pick stuff up tomorrow at the unthinkable 7am. A long physical day. I’ll be needing a massage next week.
Most of the recent work has been done under the hood, so there’s not a whole lot of change to be seen. But for now, here’s the first test look at the back cans. In there now are cheap incandescents, to be replaced by directional halogens on dimmers. Still on the To Do list is to address the lighting situation between the soffit and the beam. Those decisions begin tomorrow.
There’s no such thing as “just another” sunset. Every one is the only one. This one is from last night, taken from upper White Point. Jutting out from the coast on the right is the site of good ol’ Marineland, home of our pals Orky and Corky.
This is just plain nutty.
FACT: A second-hand coat selected as part of the costume for Professor Marvel in the film version of The Wizard of Oz was later discovered to have been owned by Oz author L. Frank Baum.
Two different guys sent this to me this morning within a couple hours of each other. Wacky how fast things get around.
Groove on.
Facebook has a feature called “Pokes”, which I don’t think anybody has really wrapped their brain around just yet. What is a Poke? From the Facebook FAQ:
A poke is a way to interact with your friends on Facebook. When we created the poke, we thought it would be cool to have a feature without any specific purpose. People interpret the poke in many different ways, and we encourage you to come up with your own meanings.
There are currently three questions posted in this section of the Facebook FAQs:
— What happens when I poke someone?
— Why won’t it let me poke anymore?
— I hid a poke. Is there any way to get it back?
I loosely submit to you the Top Ten Questions Not Included in the Facebook Poke FAQ Section:
10. I haven’t been poked yet. Is there something wrong?
9. Are pokes safe?
8. Are pokes private, or will everybody know about it?
7. Somebody says they poked me, but they’re lying. What do I do?
6. Does it hurt?
5. I keep poking somebody but they’re not poking me back. Now what?
4. Do pokes cost anything?
3. Can I poke more than one person at a time?
2. I poked somebody on accident. Can I take it back?
1. Can I poke myself?
