Learning from a Pro

I had another haircut today. I like my new hairdresser. She's warm and friendly and is good at what she does. I'm trying to grow out the top part of my hair while keeping the back and sides short. It's a good haircut for me, and is a good style for the wavy hair I now have.

Cathy offered to help me today with the printing of my watercolor pictures to mount on greeting cards. She's amazing. She uses Photoshop to set things up for printing, and works so quickly I can hardly keep up. One thing is that instead of using a computer mouse, she uses a Wacum digitizer stylus pen. I learn so much sitting with her at her computer. She made templates in different sizes for me and put them on a CD so that I can print my own at home as I need them. What I intend to do is to cut the photos out and center them on a black mat, then mount them on blank greeting cards.

I learned why the paper is important when printing - the various manufacturers of printers put a proprietary coating on their paper to work specifically with their printers - and the evidence was just discernible when we used 2 different papers on the same printer. Not a great difference, but a slight variation in the color. Interesting. She worked with me for over 2 hours on this project, and I was very grateful. At a later point, when I don't need the end product for a deadline as I do for this Red Hat event on Sunday, I'd love to spend some more time learning Photoshop. It's amazing what you can do with it. Cathy has been using Photoshop for years. She's had it since it first came out, and I believe it's now in its 9th upgrade. She teaches Photoshop at the local community college.

I was very excited to see my own watercolor paintings printed out. It makes a lot of sense to print them, as Cathy suggested. That way, I still retain my original painting to do with as I want, and I can make more of the same paintings.

PHOTO: Ming Poo, looking very sleepy. I love the sleek shine of her fur.