Wine Machine

The wine making machines.

Who knew it was so complex?

Carved Tree

A dead tree carved into artwork by an artist.

So Texas

While in Texas, take a tour bus to visit the wineries.

Texas Wineries

OMG! Why have I not been to these before? They are amazing and a ton of fun.

Saturday started off kinda bumpy. We were supposed to go to my friend's house in the morning. I kinda knew where she lived. We've gone there numerous times. But I didn't have her address. So I called her and emailed her but got no response.

I almost thought of giving up but did not want the 2 people who read my blog down.

So I told my hubby that we had two choices. First was to stay at home and clean up. The second was to head out to the winery area and sooner or later my friend would call me. We could hook up there someplace.

So off we went. And sure enough my friend called. And we hooked up. And what a fabulous time we had.

We went to 5 wineries. The wineries are gorgeous. Unlike California, you have to pay to sample the wine at most places. Which is fine with me. And they give you very small portions of each wine. Almost half an ounce.

I figured out that I am not really a good wine taster. I told my friends and hubby that my taste buds were saturated. They could go ahead and taste the wine and I would go take some photos.

At the last winery, we had dinner at their fine restaurant. The food was fabulous.

So there is that. What did you do this weekend?

Wine Trails

I am going to visit some Texas wineries today. I meet my friend at her place and then we go to numerous wineries in Texas. It is going to be a very long day.

We do have a designated driver but reality is that there won't be much drinking going on. I am working on two photo projects. The first is for the photo group I am a part of. They are going to have a show about Texas wine. I want to be a part of that show. The second is a project called million little pictures. You take photos using a disposable camera, get it developed and send it to the folks organizing it. They collect all the photos and have an exhibit in numerous cities.

So I am off to get my camera gear ready. I'll post some photos tomorrow. Y'all behave your self!

Cosmopolitan Yellow

I am excited to say that this piece got into a prestigious show in Austin.

I often wonder what art is. What is beauty? Who gets to decide what is beautiful?

And then I think... I got in! I got in! I got in! It is freaking Moma of Austin and I am in! Yeah!

Who would have thunk?

Yeah!!!

My family and close friends often don't get it. They are mostly literalistic and often ask me, "is this slightly out of focus?" I try to tell them that I like to paint with my camera. I take regular shots but every once in a while, I want to shoot something that looks like a mystery waiting to be unraveled. Don't tell me that if you saw this photo at a gallery or at a bank or at a restaurant, you would pause and stare at it. What the heck is it? It is mysterious, enigmatic and pleasing. Yellow makes you happy. And it is named after a drink. What more do you want?

Anyways. I am super happy and excited.

And I want to share my happiness.

If you want a print of any photo of mine, leave me a comment and tell me which photo print you want. I will print it, sign it and mail it to you. For free. You will have to provide a shipping address though. Depending on the response I get, this may take some time. So bear with me.

Also, I might have to change the rules on the fly. No idea how many people would be interested in this.

So the opening reception is on September 4th. You are all invited!

How hot is it?

So lately I've been hearing from my friends about how hot it is where they live. Naturally, I have to give them my 2 cents. Like everything else in Texas, it is hotter here.

See?

So interactive blog today. Tell me how hot it is where you are… Let’s all do it together! Here are some starters:

It is so hot that I had to eat chilli to cool down.

It is so hot that the water from the cold tap water was warmer than the hot water.

It is so hot that I had to drive around in the car aimlessly just to be in AC.

It is so hot that I grilled a steak without turning the grill on.

It is so hot that cows deliver boiling milk.

It is so hot that my tomato plants are now yielding stewed tomatoes.

It is so hot that all the critters have now moved into the house.

It is so hot that the pond by my house has boiling water.

It is so hot that the cars are wearing shades.

It is so hot that internet is melting.

It is so hot that my AC is melting.

It is so hot that Paris Hilton keeps saying “That’s today”

From my friend Carol:

It's so dry the trees are whistling at the dogs again.

It's so hot the cactus plants have moved north for the winter.

It's so hot we can't think of anymore it's so hot jokes.

It's so hot my infrared camera is taking normal pictures.

So tell me, how hot is it where you live?

Excuses Excuses...

Top 10 excuses why I have not blogged for a couple of days…

10. Went on a top secret mission to figure out how in the world Russia could break facebook.

9. Had a secret rendezvous with Brad Pitt. Angelina found out and locked me up in her basement. With her kids.

8. I was busy looking for World Peace at the mall.

7. Aliens abducted me and took me to the mother ship. It was nice hanging out with them again.

6. The heat in Austin melted da internets.

5. Started reading Atlas Shrugged and fell asleep for days. Again.

4. The Mayor of Pottsville threw me in jail and demanded money.

3. The twitter bird carried me away to lala land.

2. Spent days waiting for a Postcard from Wildwood.

1. While working on my top secret Pay it Forward project, I accidentally glued myself to the wall.

So what's your excuse? Do you have an innovative excuse for not blogging? Talk to me...

Silent Saturday

Young and Old

My entry for Photo Friday. Yeah! My 400th post!

Pay it forward: 2

I wrote about the pay it forward project a while back here.

The idea is simple. You write a post about it and announce that you will give a hand made items to 3 people who are interested. You have 1 year to do this. The recipients in return write a post on their blog and offer 3 hand made items to their readers.

The concept is about creating a hand made item and giving it to people.

Recently, I got this wonderful hand made wooden box from Mythos. He will correct me if I am wrong here but he found a dead tree, cured it, let it dry and created this with his own hands.

How gorgeous is that? I love, love, love it! Thank you!

I am still working on my 3 giveaways. Actually it is going to be more like 4 giveaways. Frankly, I haven't started yet. But it is not like I am procrastinating. I am visualizing, conceptualizing, blah, blah...

If you want to pay it forward, you can find the info here.

Shark Tank

My entry for Wordless Wednesday.

Red Door

The inviting red door in Savannah.

Painting

Here is an unfinished version of one of the canvases I am working on.

When you can't really draw and want to paint, you have to get creative.

I n this one, I applied a base coat of orange. Then I squirted paint on the canvas and mixed it around with the back of a brush.

The mistake I made is that the base coat is not thick enough. That is a common mistake newbies make. They do not use enough paint. So now, I plan on loading up my brush with paint and filling in the areas around the circle. During the process, I will also try to clean up any other mistakes I made. Once it is all dry, I will put some glossy stuff on it and call it done.

Here is another piece I worked on.

Another mistake the newbies make is over-mixing the paint on the palette. When I first started working on this, I had no idea what it would look like. I filled up the center with a shape and once I had painted it, decided that it looked like a flower.

As far as paintings go, these are certainly not awesome. But eh... not bad for my first attempt.

Painting Lesson

Today, I go to visit my friend to take a painting lesson. I am so looking forward to that.

Mary is an amazing artist and a fabulous painter. That she would take even a few minutes to talk to me is amazing. But she is opening up her home and giving me free painting lessons.

I hope that I don't disappoint her. I'll keep you posted!

Spanky's

I saw this painting on the side of a wall at Tybee Island and was captivated by it.

It is so very interesting!

There is this scantily clad waitress in comfortable shoes.

Doom fish. What is doom fish?

There is a fish dancing like John Travolta.

There is some drink brewing and a fish is drinking it with a pipe. What does that mean? Coffee is so good here that even the fish drink it? Right before we kill and cook it?

There is a man on the surfboard whose face looks like a bird and he is holding a flag while surfing. What does that mean?

I could have stared at this for hours. It is so very interesting.

What do you think? Is there anything interesting this you see here?

And do you have a sudden urge to go to Spanky's?

House

Nice house, nice yard with a very "interesting" mermaid fountain. A golden one. Since I don't have anything nice to say about the fountain, I'll stop now.

Painting 101

How to create a painting that is most likely to sell for 10,000 dollars.

Caution: Painting on canvas is not for the faint of the heart. It requires a lot of planning, dedication and laser focus on your part.

Before you begin:

1. Plan everything. And procrastinate. If anyone asks, tell them that you are visualizing and harnessing your creativity. Just sit around, watch judge Judy and put off the painting as long as you can.
2. Get some canvas and some really expensive paints. You could take that money and feed a nation but who cares? Creativity is at stake here.
3. Tell everyone that you are not only a photographer, but also a painter. You may never have painted ever in your life, but so what? Believe in yourself. Use terms such as acrylics, media, matte, glazed etc. If some one asks you what exactly you paint, give them an answer that is completely confusing. For example, "I channel my inner cosmic energy and kundalini to use my creativity to create a representation of the mysterious energy that is life. I capture the energy using media like acrylic paint, oils, pigments and bacon fat. In my opinion, that is the only way to obtain world peace." Ha! That will teach them not to mess with you! After that, no one will ever ask you about your paintings. Trust me on that one.
4. When you go shopping for paint supplies, refuse to buy the basics like an easel, a paint bucket etc. When your good friend, who is doing you a favor by showing you the ropes suggests you buy a kit, complain loudly. Whine a lot. "You are making me spend too much money!"
5. Tell your family or whoever you are living with that you are about to embark on an artistic journey. You are not to be disturbed because you are harnessing your creativity. You are going to paint. And you can't do dishes anymore for at least a month since you have to preserve your hands and your creativity.
6. By now, almost everyone you know should have stopped talking to you. Good. Now you are a true recluse artist and ready to begin.

To create a painting:

1. Since you refused to buy an easel, spread an old rug on the floor and layer it with newspapers.
   
2. Grab a snack.
3. Get your canvas, your paints and your brushes and lay them on the carpet.
4. Open a bottle of wine and have some.
5. Watch a movie.
6. Take canvas number one and apply a base coat of an acrylic paint to it.
   
7. Set it to dry and go grab another snack.
8. Surf the net and remember that you were supposed to clean the brush.
   
9. Run and grab your brush, pour some paint cleaner in a plastic cup and soak your brush.
10. Pour another glass of wine and surf the net.
11. In about ten minutes, go to check on your brush.
    
12. Pick up the plastic cup which has now melted into putty and clean up the paint cleaner from the counter. No one ever told you not to put the paint cleaner in a plastic cup.
    
13. Sigh.
14. Take a nap.
15. Wake up and find your long lost family. Tell them, "Guess what I did today? I painted AND cleaned up the kitchen counter."

Trust me. They will be thrilled for you.

12 by 12

An artist friend of mine, Mary, recently asked me to participate in a 12 by 12 show. 12 local artist would create artwork on a 12 by 12 canvas. Sometime in September, we will have a show.

Sounds great. Right? Except I've never really painted. So what to do? Mary assured me that if I could paint with my camera, I could paint on canvas too. It was just a different medium.

She told me to buy some canvas and practice. She even offered to give me painting lessons. She told me where to buy the canvas from but I got overwhelmed when I went to the website. So many choices! What to do?

So she sent me a link to the exact canvas she wanted me to buy. I ordered 5.

Paint was next. Do you know how many choices there are? Ridiculous! And everything was so expensive! Oye.

So I dragged my other friend Carol to the art supply store. I have to admit that I complained a lot during the whole time. Everything was ridiculously expensive. Nevertheless, I came home with some paint.

So there you go. You heard it first here. I am going to paint. And it is going to be part of an exhibit. A show. When I told my mother, she burst out laughing. We laughed until we were crying.

Yesterday I started on my first piece. I applied an orange base coat to a canvas. I rather enjoyed it. I would hang it on my wall as is. But no. There are textures to apply and even more paint. So I'll keep working on it. And report my progress.

If you've never tried painting, I suggest you get some supplies and go for it. It is fun.

PS: Don't put the paint cleaner in a plastic cup. That would be stupid. In 3 minutes, the plastic will dissolve.

This and that...

First, I've not had internet access for last 2-3 days. It was no fun.

This morning I woke up and went to view my blog. And got the shock of my life. Somehow, the discreet ads I place on my blog turned into huge photo ads and I saw some photos of things I did not want to see on my blog. I scrambled to change it. If you saw those ads, many apologies.

We have some friends visiting us and yesterday, we went to the Emerald Marina in Austin and rented a boat for a couple of hours. We had a great time. After the boat ride, we went to have dinner at a barbecue joint and came home and watched movies.

I am going to cook dinner today for everyone. I have a standard menu that I always make when cooking Indian food for parties. Every time I deviate from that, people feel disappointed. They must have my chicken curry. Since they like it so much, I figure it is easier for me to just give in and make what they want to eat. I can always experiment later. It gives me so much pleasure to cook for people. I'd rather make what they love.

The other thing that is happening today is that I have to drop off 5 pieces of artwork at a prestigious bank. They will be displaying my work for a month or more. This opportunity just kinda fell in my lap. It is amazing to me how these things happen...

An old friend and neighbor of mine emailed me a while back and asked me if I was interested in displaying my work with other artists at this bank. She regularly displays her work there and it had been there for a while so she wanted to change it.

Of course I jumped at the opportunity. Later on, when we discussed dropping off artwork, she told me to bring as many pieces as I could. There was plenty of room. So, me being the opportunistic person that I am, immediately asked if we could also display my friend Carol's work. I had no idea if Carol would agree but no harm in asking. Right?

Much to my delight, Carol agreed to display some work there. We even asked another friend of hers to join us.

I am so happy that things turned out this way. I have to drop off the artwork today at noon. Thank God Carol will be there. We are supposed to talk to the bank manager who is expecting us and to hang the frames. Some kind of putty is also involved but I have no idea what that means.

I do not know how to hang frames and certainly do not know what putty to buy. Plus I am terrified of talking to the bank manager. Carol will take care of all of that. She is an awesome mentor and a good friend. Frankly, even if she was not displaying any work there, she would have come to the bank to talk to the manager and hang the frames for me. She's just that kinda gal.