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Taniku shokubutsu

Taniku shokubutsu, or “spoiled child”, according to Weblio‘s definition of the word “succulents” in Japanese:

translation of succulent in Japanese

I guess a spoiled child would probably be ta-niku (have plenty of meat)!

I had absolutely no IDEA about the succulent-verse online until I photographed the adorable little things as I was walking one day. Peeps are real serious about these plump plants! Using the PRISMA app, I made a colorful fabric pattern out of some little succies I photographed while walking near Date Street in Honolulu, HI.

Succulents Date Street Honolulu, HI

Then using the Prisma app on my phone, I applied different filters to the photo:

screenshot_2016-11-05-11-53-58

Then I took a screenshot of my phone and opened it in Photoshop (CS5, version 12.0). You can also save the photo or e-mail it to yourself. (Prisma cropped my photo so I had to run it twice, once on each side of the photo.)

screencaps

After cropping out the phone stuff and the app, I aligned and joined the 2 halves of the photo together into 1 layer. Then I made a backup, duplicate of the entire layer and turned it off, just in case I messed up later.

Next I used the Lasso tool to duplicate a few flowers. I just traced around the edges of a flower and Copied as New Layer a few times, until I had a few extra flowers to be used later as ‘filler’.

photoshopscreencap2

Then I used the Offset filter (select menu Filter>Other>Offset) to turn the picture into a repeat with four corners.

repeat using offset filter
Offset filter applied. Now just gotta fill in the center area with some filler flowers.

Using my new flower copies, I filled in the blank space in the center where the four corners meet. Then I used the Smudge tool to blend the four corners together.

smudge-to-join

I think it came out pretty well, don’t you?

Artistic Process – Where Cool Pillows Come From

I grew a few gray hairs creating this Cosmic Damask fabric pattern, but it was way worth it! From pencil sketches, scanning, and then repeat process. You’ll need some tracing paper for this, unless you prefer using a drawing app with a digital stylus.

First, I scoured the web for a nice old damask pattern. Here’s what a quick search might turn up — almost any of these will do the trick:

damask-image-search

Now print out the damask pattern you just found. Print on regular paper, in a size that is easy for tracing.

Lay the tracing paper over the damask printout. Now this is where your artistic vision and skill come in! Think of a theme and start filling in the damask area with your own doodles, like mine below:

cosmicdamask-002

You can scan the tracing paper and continue to work on it in your photo editor software.

showprocess

Or, you can do a repeat pattern by hand on paper, old school style. (madamchino on Instagram)

The only activity I ever enjoyed more than drawing…

…was reading, back when library cards were blue cardboard squares. It took me on quite a long detour in life, as instead of continuing fine art after LaGuardia HS, I ended up majoring in English.

The third page of my newest pad of paper was devoted to words, and the word “word”. Literally, kotoba, in Japanese, and in shining fuchsia, purple, and red. UPDATE: Customizable prints are here via Zazzle. Add your name, a greeting, etc.

UPDATE 7 June 2019: I’ve closed my Zazzle store due to their April 2019 change of policy. My Redbubble store is still open here: https://www.redbubble.com/people/studiozandra/portfolio/recent

A trip to Sam Flax on Third Avenue in Manhattan turned up yet another silky surface for pens — Borden and Riley #234 Bleedproof Paris Paper For Pens 11X14. It’s 108 lb weight, rich and heavy and the pens just dance across its surface. I highly recommend spending some time with this paper. Use caution when erasing pencil guidelines after inking, though; you will pick up some color if not thoroughly dry, and if you favor kneaded erasers, use a fresh one to avoid smudging.

年に一回書いたららくですね。もうニューヨークに帰ってアメリカン生活に戻ってしまった。漢字の読みはもっとひどくなったけど。まだ仕事見つけていませんが、とってもいい新しい友達作ったことができました。

ちょ～う久しぶりだ！！！！大変申し訳ございませんが、ちょっと忙しくてブログの時間は最近あんまりなかったです。だんだん日本語のしゃべり方が少しよくなったけど、読めるのはまだまだですね。
明日、実家に変えて、仕事面接うけます。ニューヨークで国語のteacherになるための特別プログラムに入って見たいと思います。十日間だけでみじかすぎけど、しょうがないんです。学期とちゅうで行くことはちょっとしつれいじゃないか？と思ってたけど。優しい校長と教徒先生が年休くれましたのでかんしゃしてます。さああ。。。面接どうなるか。。。？がんばります！

Wed 17 september 2008 今ウブントゥを使っています。Anthyと言うソフトで日本語の文字ができます。 学校の職員室のまどから江迎町と佐々町の間にある山のきりを見ています。明日台風が来るだそうです。 今週月曜日のニューズにLehman Brothersがしずんだことが出てきました。その上AIGとMerrill Lynchはたいへん困っていること。そこに帰りたくなくなった。

wed 7 november

昨日いのつき緒小学校ですごいことみました。普通に４時半か５時ぐらい出発しますが、昨日７Little Goats and the Wolfと言うげきのビデオをYouTubeで探していたから、ちょっと長くなって６時にでました。先生たちと親が自分で学校の掃除していました!びっくりした!