sdTechGirl

Oil Painting for my Dad - “Celestial Ride”

I’ve been working on this painting for my dad since 2005. I’m happy to say that it is (finally) finished and I’m packaging it up to mail to him in Denver!

I haven’t been working on it continuously, but it has taken me nearly 2.5 years to feel like it’s done….or, at least, good enough.

It is an abstract oil painting and is 36″x60″. It was created using a combination of my three favorite creative tools: camera, computer and paintbrush.

The concept: escape via bicycle

This piece started when my Dad asked me to create a piece of art for him to go on the large wall over his mantle in the living room. He is an avid bike rider (both motorized and peddle), and as I’m sure anyone who rides knows, he finds peace and escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life out on the trails and in nature.

I photographed my own bicycle, brought the images into my computer and played around with different filters and cropping in Photoshop and Illustrator until I found some ideas that I liked. I took those ideas to pencil and paper and after finding the composition that I liked - transferred it to canvas using oil paint.

I wanted the painting to feel dynamic and have a sense of movement, so I chose to use complimentary colors (colors that are across the color wheel from each other) and to place the two main subjects diagonally across from each other. The abstraction of the elements also adds to the feeling of movement.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, the abstracted elements in the painting are the hub of the front wheel (lower left) and the chain guard (upper right), there is also a series of over-lying boxes that I use to suggest being outside of constraints (outside of the box).

The title “Celestial Ride” is the combination of the idea of getting outside of ones everyday life (off the planet) and the fact that several people had remarked that the painting looked like a couple of celestial bodies to them.

My New MacBook Pro has arrived!

After 2 years of having too many problems with my white box PC (aptly named “Monster”), and especially in light of all of the recent rebooting /crashing/fixing, I finally felt it was time to buy a new computer; I chose a MacBook Pro notebook.

I’m not particularly attached to any brand of hardware - it doesn’t matter to me whether it was made by Dell, HP, Apple or the computer store down the street, it’s just a tool - as long as it works, I don’t care who made it (with the exception of companies that use slave/child labor or harm animals in the making of their products).

Of course, I’ve gotten plenty of ribbing from my Graphic Designer friends (and non designer friends too) about not working on a Mac. Hey, I learned how to use a computer on a Mac, my first computer was a Mac (I’m NOT going to tell you how long ago) - I’m certainly not anti-Mac. The truth is - I just didn’t see the need to spend the extra $$$.

I finally decided to make the switch for these reasons:

1. I wanted to buy the new Adobe CS3 software, and because it costs so much (nearly as much as the notebook!) it was better to make the decision to switch to a Mac before purchasing that software for my PC and having to buy it again.
2. I have an iPhone, which I hope (because it is an Apple product) will communicate easier with the MacBook.
3. There is now a more dependable way to run the Windows OS (using VMware Fusion) to allow me to run the PC only programs that I can’t live without.
4. I wanted a 15″ notebook for portability, the new MacBooks can accept 4gb of RAM, so they have enough power to do what I need, and they have dual DVI built in so I can use my 30″ Dell monitor.
5. It’s pretty (I’m only sort of kidding here - what’s not to love about the clean design and the beautiful OS?).

So, here I am - with my new MacBook, and I’m as excited as a kid on Christmas morning! Because it seems like the thing to do (as a photographer and an excited child), I’ve photographed un-boxing my new toy. Like you haven’t seen this a million times on the web ;)

Great sites for finding food, drink & fun in San Diego

I used to be a concierge here in San Diego, and I was damn good at it! :)

I had regular guests who would call me before they came into town for assistance, and also refer me to their friends. Management within the hotel called on me for their clients as well as recommendations for themselves. I earned many of the coveted Marriott “Teifel awards” for excellence in customer service (you only get those when a guest sends praises directly to the executives).

I really loved that job and going out in San Diego, and when you love what you do, you will become good at it.  Because I went out often I was able to offer first hand knowledge of local attractions and events and make appropriate restaurant and club recommendations to our hotel guests (and to my friends and family).

(This is the only photo I could find - Halloween at the Marriott Hotel & Marina Concierge Desk somewhere around 1996/1997, I’m on the left.)

That was back before the internet was what it is now, you absolutely had to be hands on, there was simply no other way to get the information. I continue to get requests from friends and family, I guess they still think of me as their personal concierge. Though I would love to say that I still have first-hand, up-to-date knowledge, it’s nearly impossible to see and do everything here in San Diego these days, even when you live here.

So here’s my short list of online resources, I hope you find them useful:

Open Table
Online reservations for restaurants. I use this site to make reservations whenever I can. You earn points for each reservation (that you actually go to). They accumulate into “dining awards”, which are essentially gift certificates for more eating out! The site has descriptions of the restaurants, links to their sites, approximate price (similar to Zagat) and a search that makes it easy to see who has tables available and at what times. (Do I ever wish I had THIS when I was a concierge!)

Yelp
I have mixed emotions over the usefulness of this site. Sometimes you have to wade through a lot of crap to get an intelligent opinion and the site gives crappy results via the search sometimes. When you get a good reviewer though, it can be very helpful.

Sign On San Deigo
This site is run by the San Diego Union Tribune. Especially helpful for finding activities and events, they have reviews of restaurants and bars, with reader reviews too. There are good sections on recreation and the arts as well.

MappyHour
A map showing pubs, bars & lounges with their happy hour information! It’s not just for San Diego, but we’ve got a fairly participatory group of people in SD, so there is some good info there.

Arts Tix
Want to get same-day half-price tickets to theater, events & attractions? This is a really great resource if you are open to seeing what they have available.

Healthy Dining Finder
Ever think, “I’d like to go out, but where can I go that’s got some healthy choices?” While this site is not specific to San Diego, if you put in a local address the list of restaurants with nutritional information is quite large. They make specific recommendations on which meals to order.

Eventful
A relative new comer, and based in San Diego, but again, not all about just San Diego. I don’t really use this site to search for stuff - I’ve signed up for emails in which they let me know what events are going on in my area. It could be very useful to you if you have a strong social networking crowd that uses it, because you’re personal events can go on the site as well.

Gaslamp.org
All stuff in the Gaslamp (downtown San Diego) all the time.

San Diego Reader
Free local newspaper/magazine with an online version. Great for finding local events, info on restaurants and local happy hours. Also has discount coupons for restaurants!

The easiest way to find out what’s going on in San Diego? As my mother used to say “Go outside and play!”.

Seriously, there is ALWAYS something fun happening in San Diego!