Wednesday, January 27, 2010

How To Produce An Abstract Image - Part 1

Perhaps the title would be better as the question I have so often heard: "How can I produce an abstract image?"

Within the next few articles I intend to lead you into those dark secret places filled with wonderful tantilizing enigmas, where we will find all the passionate inspiration and the great variety of techniques required for you to be able to produce an astounding work of art worthy of Howard Hodgkin or Mark Rothko (do not worry if you do not know who they are ... you will meet them sometime soon).

So ... how do you do it?

I need to ask you a slightly different question in order for us to move forward upon this slippery creative path.

Why?

Why do you want to produce an abstract?

... here is a list of answers which I would like you to read and then decide which, if any, loosely fit your reason for wanting to do it:

1. No reason ... I just want to.
2. It looks so easy ... and it would be nice for something to go with the decor.
3. In order to make money ... lots of it!
4. I feel compelled to ... like I really need to.
5. I have visions; dreams; day dreams; thoughts; I hear voices; I am being told to by an inner something ... and these need to be brought into the material world.
6. Therapy ... this is an opportunity for venting my aggression; bolstering my lack of self confidence; visualising my inner turmoil.
7. I want to express myself ... in a strictly personal way.

This is by no means a complete list ... you may well have completely different reasons, but this is a start.

So ... which one did you tick?

Lets have a look at them in a bit more detail:

1. This is the answer of the anarchist. A very valid reason for wanting to work abstractly ... you already have within you an angry boiling cauldron, and the potential to produce truly opposing and dramatically random works. However, this requires brut strength of will, and the blinding power of obstinancy for it to work for you.

2. One of the most common misconceptions. It is NOT easy to produce an abstract work ... it IS easy to produce a mess! This will only lead to frustration, depression, and bitterness ...then you will be an a far better position to produce something like a true abstract work.

3. There are literally millions of people producing the most amazing pieces ... and none of them are rich, famous ... even earning any money at all. I stand by my belief that what I paint is not about money - it can never be. Try again.

4. An interesting answer ... the driven series worker attitude. Dangerous yet compelling. You are destined to succeed ... but success will have no meaning or interest for you and will not help you. Yet the compulsion will take you deep into darkness (not scarey darkness but mysterious darkness) where you will find more questions.

5. The surrealist. Abstraction will not be too difficult for you ... as long as you relax a little. Do not allow the explicitness of sights blind you to the potential, and more appropriate imagery, of the arbitrary joining of coincidences.

6. Here is the answer for the purist abstract producer. Inner tensions, inexplicable fears, and blinding mental flashes all contribute to a truly innovative palette.

7. The fearless explorer ... well, that is what you will expect of yourself, but you had better tread carefully. Are you prepared to hear people telling you how much they hate your work ... so much so that they want to destroy it? ... even then are you still willing to carry on?

How do you feel? Still want to carry on and produce that masterpiece? Yes? Then here is some practical work until the next article.

Get a sketchbook, ensure you make at least one mark of some kind on one page every day. Go to galleries (online ones aswell), take your sketchbook to make any observationss or scribbles. If you are a little hesitant about mark making then here is a very useful exercise:

Get an A4 sheet of paper and a pencil; find a watch, clock or timer that measures seconds, Set the timer for 15 seconds, place the paper and pencil on a table, making sure the table is clear of any objects other than the paper, pencil, and timer ... have a chair ready to sit on at the table.

Reach out for a nearby object that you can place upon the table ... it can be anything from a mobile phone to a magazine ... and, without thinking simply place it onto the table - sit down, start the timer ... and look at the object for five seconds (DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DRAW IT). Consider shape, texture, space, highlights, lowlights, tone, tints - pay special attention to the outline of the object. Once five seconds is up start drawing ... you have ten seconds to to try to capture what you have just been looking at.

Lets face it ... you are not going to produce a masterpiece! So do not even try. I want you to simply capture the dynamics of what you see ... no more.

Repeat that six times. Each time try to slow down and draw a purposeful line - no hesitant scratches. Why draw twenty little marks when you can draw one big one.

How to Prepare for a Long Flight

`The first thing I like to do is to get as little sleep as possible the night before I fly, this way by the time I get to the plane I can hopefully just go to sleep and wake up at my destination. I only recommend this if you are able to perform any tasks you need to do before your flight. If you have to drive for 5 hrs first you may want to get a good night sleep, and maybe take some Tylenol pm or something else to make you drowsy. Many people like to get a little drunk on a flight, I am not one of them, but if it helps you relax and get some sleep then I say go for it, just don’t allow yourself to drink to the point where you become an obnoxious drunk on a plane.

My next tip is to get to the airport 3 hours in advance, this is for 2 reasons. By getting there so early I am always one of if not the first to actually check in for my flight, which usually gets me a good seat, and I don’t have to wait in long lines. The other reason for always getting t the Air port at least 3 hrs before your flight is, if you check in early you cant get bumped from the plane, the people who get there last minute sometime here the words overbooked.

Things to pack in your carry on:

When ever possible I try to avoid putting things under the plane, but sometimes it is unavoidable, depending on how long I am going away for. What you take with you on the plane can make a big difference between having a pleasant flight and being so unbelievable bored that you go mad.

I always make sure to bring a fully charged MP3 player, my MP3 player hold 20 gigs of music so I never have to go into my bag to chance a CD or a memory card, and I have way more music to listen to then time to listen to it. This way I have the music for any mood I may be in, so I just load it up and listen as I fall asleep on the plane.

Just incase I cant sleep I will also make sure to bring a book with me, if for whatever reason I can not fall asleep which does happen to me, I like to take my mind off things by getting lost in a good story, but something light and entertaining, I have always found a good Action book or even Science Fiction to be good for that.

I also recommend bringing a thick soft sweater with you on the plane, this can be used if it is cold on the plane, or you can use it as an extra pillow.

I like to play video games, so I travel with one of the new hand held video games everywhere I go, so if I am not in the mood for reading I can play some games and keep myself occupied, and that really is the key. Keep yourself busy on the plane and you will be amazed at how fast the flight goes, if you stare at the clock and focus on the planes progress it will feel like forever.

How to Play Texas Holdem, For Beginners

Texas Holdem is by far the most common for of poker played today due to is popularity there are even several TV shows of the game. Besides being popular texas Holdem is also the best game for a beginner to learn, the game can be learned after a few minutes and afte just a few hours of practice you can be playing fairly well against other beginners, but to really get good you must play often.

Texas Holdem is played the same way in the casino, online casinos and in your home with your pals.

Texas Holdem is played in the following manner:
1. Betting structures can vary. In Texas Holdem rarely are antes used. Most Texas Holdem games start with first two players on the dealers left placing predetermined bets. These players are called the small and large blind, and their bets are called posting the blinds.

2. Each player receives 2 cards face down. These cards are called you pocket cards and they are the only cards that are unique to you.

3. After each player is dealt their hole cards a round of betting takes place starting with the player to the left of the 2 blinds this round of betting is called the pre-flop. Just like in any other poker game a player can call raise of fold during their turn.

4. After the Pre-Flop round is over the dealer will remove the top card from the deck and discard it, this is called the Burn Card. This is done to make sure that no cheating is done. The dealer will then turn over 3 cards in the center of the table. This round is called the Flop. Any player may use any of these cards to make the best 5 card hand possible, but you are not allowed to actually touch the cards, each player can use the same cards if it help them, this is why your hole cards are so important.

5. As with the pre-flop there is now another round of betting, it is at this point you will start to see players folding.

6. After the betting is over, the dealer will burn another card, then deal the fourth of the communal cards. This card is called the Turn card

7. Again another round of betting begins and now is when you will start to see the size of the pot really grow.

8. One last time the dealer burns the top card before turning over the last card of the game, called the River card. Players now have all 5 of the communal cards and their own hole card to make the best 5 card hand.

9. One last chance is given to raise the bets or get out of the game. After this each player still in the game will show their cards. This is called the Showdown. The player with the best hand is declared the winner and wins the pot.

Now that you know the basic order of the game you are ready to start playing Texas Holdem. Holdem is a simple game to learn but if hard to master. This is the part that will take you many hand and many dollars, but if you put in the time you will be rewarded for it.

How to Plan the Perfect Spring Break Family Vacation

From time to time everyone needs some time away from their life. It does not matter if you are 10 years old and in 5th grade or 35 years old and working a full time job, to maintain good mental health you have to take the occasional vacation.

Some time around the beginning of April most public and private schools have Spring Break from School which is a great time to plan a vacation.

Most vacations when you have children become about them, and you wind up at places like Disney land or some other child orientated vacation spot, but what about you?

Las Vegas used to be known as an adult getaway where what happens there stays there. This is no longer the case. Over the past 15 years, Las Vegas realized that more money can be made from a family orientated city rater then just from gambling.

Many casinos started adding attractions for children like go carts and other amusements, and many other activities aimed at giving a child a good time, but the casinos also opened up day care centers, so parents can get some time to enjoy themselves as well.

I know when I would go to Disney World with my kids after the 2nd or 3rd day I was looking forward to getting back to work.

For the last several years we have been going to Las Vegas for our family Vacations over spring break and the kids enjoy it. They get to go on roller coasters, swim, play video games, watch movie the list really goes on and on for all the things they can do, and I get to spend a few hours ever day with my wife in the spa getting a message, eating in nice restaurants and playing some Blackjack in the casinos.

Since we started doing this I have seen my family grow closer. My wife noticed that I am in a better mood for the rest of the year after we get back from vacation. I am enjoying my job more and all in all life is just better.

Putting together a Los Vegas vacation is very simple to do. You can go to a travel agent, or do it yourself online. I have always preferred to go to a travel agent and just let them do it, but if you are trying to save money you can get some good deals online that a travel agent can't or won't offer you.

If you choose to do it yourself, it is easy to do. You can go to your computer and do a search for Las Vegas. You will see every casinos and hotel listed and you can go thru them one at a time and see what they offer for you and your family to do.

You will also see everything the city and surrounding areas have to offer, and there really are tons of fun things for everyone in Las Vegas.

I hope to see you and your family there.

How to Plan a Great Vacation

Making sure your vacation goes according to plan is not difficult to do, but it does need to be planed carefully.

First you need to decide where to go, this year I have decided to go to Holland for my vacation. Once you have decided where you want to go on vacation you can start to plan the things you want to see and do. In Holland I am interested in the Van Gogh museum, the Rembrandt museum and the Casino.

I have always enjoyed casinos, so this is going to be my first chance to go to a casino in Europe, so how can I pass up the chance to play some European Roulette, and I have been practicing at an online casino, ok I have to admit I have also been "practicing" poker and blackjack, please don’t tell my wife.

After you have figure out where you want to go and what you want to do when you are there you can get a feel for where you want your hotel to be.

There are many different websites that offer the best prices on hotels, so make sure to check several of them before making a final decision. Most of these sites will offer pictures of the hotel facilities and the different rooms.

After looking at the hotels pick the top 3 and do a search on the internet for them. Try to find reviews from people that have stayed there before. The hotels site is always going to tell you how great the hotel is, but if someone were annoyed enough to trash a place or tell you how great it was, then you can be pretty sure they are telling you the truth.

The first hotel I was looking at for my Amsterdam trip said it was close to the center of the city, in a nice area, but reading reviews from former patrons told me the area was filled with drug addicts and homeless, and this is not really what I want to see on my vacation, so I found a much nicer location. It is a little farther from the city center but it is near the museums we want to go to, so by being closer to them we can get up early walk to the museums and spend the rest of the time walking around looking at the shops and attractions inside the city's center.

Now all that is left is packing the right clothes. Unless you are going to someplace where the weather is always a constant, make sure to pack clothes for both good and bad weather. My trip is in a week and the weather is expected to me mostly sunny and in the 50's but there is a chance of rain so I will be packing a coat for the rain, ad extra socks just in case.

If you are gong to be in Europe and plan to visit a casino you should know that in Europe casinos are more upscale then in the USA. They will not let you in wearing your shorts a T shirt and sandals, most casinos require men to wear a tie and jacket or a turtleneck.

It is also always helpful to buy a travel guide for where ever you are going. Besides having helpful recommendations for things to see and places to eat, many of them offer discounts for attractions.

Well the only thing left is to go and have a good time, I know I will.

How to Meet that Special Someone

Chances are unless you are very lucky you will go thru many different relationships before you find your special someone. Finding your sole mate is like gambling. In poker and blackjack you may have to play dozens of hands until you get a winning hand, and it is the same with relationships.

During your life you will probably meet some people who seem like they may be the one, or that they are close, but still have the feeling that something else is missing. My advice is that if you are not happy, because something seems like it is missing, then it usually is not right.

Before I found my special someone, I was in a relationship for over 10 years, and I thought everything was great, until I started to seriously consider getting married. Then I noticed that we had so little in common and in reality wanted so many different things out of life and one day we both realized there was much about each of us that we both wanted from someone, but it was not us that we wanted.

Then one day I decided I had enough of trying to go to clubs and bars to meet people. I was sick and tired of trying to find someone in the time it takes to finish a drink. It always seemed the ladies I would meet were all wrong for me, or they seemed great after talking to them for 5 minutes but they seemed to have no interest in me.

Then one day I had an idea, it was not an original idea but I decided to use the internet to try to find the right person for me. So I proceeded to make a myspace profile. On this page I tried to put the real me and not the funny guy trying to be charming that was looking for love at the bar.

And as I would at the poker rooms I went all in, I poured my heart and sole into this. I wrote what I wanted and wrote down who I truly think I am and not who I want to be, and I was rewarded by 1 email responding to my site.

It was amazing; the response I got was like a dream. Imagine you are sitting in a Las Vegas casino playing poker. You are down to your last few dollars, you go all in and you wind up being dealt a Royal Flush, and suddenly the sky is bluer, the grass is greener, and all your worries seem to just fade away.

At first things were a little awkward for the both of us. We decided to hold of on actually meeting until we got to know each other first. We spent a month just talking everyday on the internet. You can really open up to someone and show them the real you and not have to worry about rejection on the internet, after all you are just a faceless ghost, and if things don’t work out you could be sitting next to her on the bus one day without ever knowing it.

The key to finding happiness is realizing you are going to bust more then you are going to get blackjack, but you must keep trying, trying to remember you only need to find the real thing once.

How to Make a Web Site of Your Own?

Now a day the business is not only restricted within one area. Because of today is on demand of online internet market. If you are interested in business you acquire an online market. The website you have is online shop. Before you launch a new product in the market, you require updating it with a new content on your website.

There are many templates online to create your page. You can use free HTML templates and fill the content you want to in. Also many free java scripts, images, web programming codes and other graphics are available on the internet. You can buy a domain from the hosting company or temporary go for free domain.

Now you can start simple design pages using Dream Weaver after downloading templates into your PC and also you can make basic contact or inquiry Form using downloading script for developing page. Once you have upload pages on your server. Go for instruction which is given by hosting company to you. So these are the main and easy step to build a website. But if you have need more advance web programming details then better way is to learn about course like PHP or ASP.NET.

We are defining here two standard web programming language PHP (Hyper text processor) and ASP (Active Server Page) for Website Programming Development. Basically it is database driven web programming languages. Whenever you require huge data connectivity and extra features PHP and ASP are useful. ASP.NET is such type of programming language which providing by Microsoft Product Technology. On other hand PHP is an open source programming language which is derived from many of various languages.

To develop dynamic database oriented websites these both programming languages are used. Microsoft Product mostly comfortable with Active Server Pages (ASP) and is also used IIS Server (Internet Information Server) to run asp application. But PHP can connect with different types of databases and so it is platform independent programming language.
Both web programming languages PHP and ASP are used to develop dynamic database oriented websites. Active Server Pages (ASP) is normally from Microsoft and is used only with Internet Information Server (IIS) that runs on Microsoft Servers also. But on the other hand you can say PHP is platform independent web programming languages and can connect with several kinds of databases.

And the last if possible, with some optimization to your website for top ranking on the search engines so people can reach you as fast as you aspect. Finally we hope that this article will help you to understand of basic idea of how to make simple web site it’s your own way.