General Chat January 2010

Janet also gets credit. She is the one that took the initiative to start the WSO Forum.

She comes up with many of the ideas for topics throughout the forum. She acts as our sounding board on many topics, and she also created a very good banner which could very easily have been the banner as well as Callie's.

Callie was responsible for writing the section of the newsletter relating to the Group challenge and both Janet and Callie made suggestions and reviewed the rest of the newsletter as I wrote it

I'm glad you liked the newsletter. I'm still in the process of sending everyone a PM with it in. Please open yours if you have gotten it so I have room to add more.

Judy

Thank you Judy! Many of the topics are more due to my wanting to learn rather then a conscious effort to start a topic. Some of the initial topics were created more as a starting point. I'm more the construction worker here. The little things like snow that messes up your computer that's me.

The snow was only a minor mess up. Besides, it made some of the painting feel very realistic. It was fun.

Judy

I thought the snow was fun - but I was one of the lucky ones who didn't have problems because of it.

The three of you are doing an awesome job with the site. The newsletter was great, and I felt just like Chantal did about having one of my paintings in the gallery.

Judy and Sofie, I'm glad you enjoyed the snow.

Thank you Sofie! Your support is greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Chantal and Sofie

I thought the snow gave us a nice festive look, the only thing that was distracting to me was a horizontal scroll bar that would come and go as snowflakes drifted to the edge of the screen.
We're expecting the first winter storm of the season here tonight - high winds and about 6 inches of snow. No big deal for you Canadians, but here all the groceries will be sold out of milk and bread while people get ready to wait out the "Big Blizzard" - every year it's the same, and every year the snow plows have the roads cleared in no time.
Here's a pic from last year:

Callie, I hope the blizzard isn't too bad. That's one huge snowman.

the part of Canada I come from, we never have enough snow to build a snowman that big.

Love the snow man !!

We got maybe two inches but the roads look bad, I am amazed because I heard the plows all night. Wow I am thinking maybe these people need to get some plow lessons. I am originally from New England and these roads would have been bare by now. But its really kind of fun.

Dawn - all the expert snow-plowers live here I think they were all out at it yesterday before the snow even started!
I'm just relieved we didn't get the wind as predicted - whenever there's high winds it always leaves a few thousand people throughout the area with no electricity

The kids that built the snowman had to use ladders and scaffolding, they worked on it for 3 days - it was over 20 ft. tall. That's across the street from my house, so I got several shots of it. Too bad it warmed up the day they finished him - he didn't last long at all after all that work.

the wind has really picked up here, I really hate it, I am getting laundry and such done just in case. That snowman really was something there is one here made from hay bales I need to go get a picture its very different. Stay warm !!

Dawn, I've never seen a snowman or hayman made of hay bales. Sounds interesting.

Well as usual here in the great white north. Snow, snow everywhere about 2 feet so far. Cold as heck... I'm in hibernation.

Thanks for the heads up re the newsletter, Judy. I'm visiting my mom
in Hawaii this week - time just seems to drift away here . I'm not online half as much as usual until I get home next week.

I've also been
pulling together family photos for a digital frame I gave Mom for
Christmas and transferring stuff from my dinosaur laptop(>6 lbs.) to a nifty netbook (<3 lbs.). Dinosaur is going home in the mail along with a bunch a stuff I should never have brought with me (who needs socks in Hawaii ) instead of in my carryon.

My kids are "local grown islanders," so I got to see my son and his wife and kids (who live here) and my daughter and her family (who live in Wisconsin but were here to visit her dad).

Callie, you are so right about self-promotion. I've finally gotten to the point where I carry my business cards, but I always forget to give them out. That's a great idea about bringing along a few small paintings whenever we're "art and about," too.

Hi Debra! Sounds like you're having a good time in Hawaii. Congrat on the new notebook. Hope the remainder of your stay in Hawaii is enjoyable.

Debra - Sounds like a nice way to start the new year, with your family all together... and I guess Hawaii isn't too bad either this time of year (6 degrees here today). Congrats on your new netbook! Self-promo tip: keep a slideshow of a few select paintings on your netbook - just enough for someone to have a quick look to get an idea what you do (then hand them a card with your website address on it).

I use my iPhone or iPod a lot for showing my paintings to others more friends and family rite now. I like the idea of a slideshow.

Debra,
Hawaii sounds great. We almost moved there in the '60 but then my husband decided to take a job on Long Island instead. One day I'll get there.

Have fun.

Judy

A slideshow is a great idea. It would also be a good idea to put a shortcut on the desktop so you can get to it without digging down into the picture directory (or having to remember the name of the darn thing). I wonder if there's a way to give the folder an identifying icon.

Debra - on a PC you can go here to change the folder icons:
Right-click on the folder > Properties > Customize

Off to Calgary for a week bright and early tomorrow morning. See you all when I get back!

Have a good trip (vacation?)!

Sofie, Have fun!

Hi everyone! Well changed the background on the site. I hope you like it. Because we deal a lot with color and art I was finding the old background was affecting the way we see the colors and I found it a little blah to use a technical term.

So much better, Janet! All that blue on blue was kind of dull. Now individual posts are much easier to see. Thanks!

You're welcome Callie I'm glad you like it! Well I better get back to work hopefully I'll have some time later today to do the landscape for the monthly challenge. See you later!