Horner Art Workshop

My Leica IIIg traveling Camera with half case

This is my traveling camera, yes that’s a light meter. It is a trusty old Leica IIIg screw mount camera and a Gossen Luna Pro. This combination has not let me down, in a time when auto everything and speed; this Leica IIIg forces you to spend the time really looking and focusing on the scene brfore you take that photo. This outfit encourages me do just like the fishermen do enjoy fishing as well as getting the fish. Frankly it just allot of fun to use this old manual camera that’s made out of metal with machined parts. This camera feels good in your hands with it’s rounded corners. Well that’s not what this post is all about.

Make your own Leica camera half case

Well this what I did after looking at the prices of the half cases on the internet, I said to myself. Let me say first there are some very nice ones on the market. I noticed that people were selling the original hold cases at a low price on Ebay. I didn’t want to sell my own case because it would lose it’s value. So I looked for Inexpensive one and I found one with the straps missing that someone was selling cheaply. I said perfect my half case project this is what I did.

Two steps to making your Leica half case

First I took the old pin out that holds the eveready case together. Second I took the case parts to a shoe maker to put a snap where the pin was. The old hole was great as a landmark for placement for the new snap. Now I have a full eveready case and a half case. This is the what it looks like below.

This is my Leica half case ready for action

This case is just right and vintage just like the Leica IIIg that is at home in it. It protects my work horse, this baby does not sit on the shelf. This Leica IIIg goes with me to take my reference shots as well as those images that I will soon be showing on my photography Blog. Well I need to get back to painting, this is my Leica.

Are there any artists reading this that have built something themselves? Something that not only saved you money but you enjoyed? Please share with us.
Ray

Papa’s got a brand new blog!!!-7 Things I Did to Change My Word press Heading.

I finally added a new header to my wordpress theme. Now I feel that I have a brand new blog! Those of you who are experts at this will find this super elementary and boring. But I am excited and wanted to share with others my success.

As many of you already know, in Wordpress a template is called a theme. They are created by genius designers who make them available for customization or you can use them as they are.

Since I am a fine artist I thought it would be great to add my on special artistic touch to a theme I liked.

 Here are seven (7) things I did to change the heading of my Wordpress theme..

1. I photographed several images using my Canon G3 digital camera. This gave me a digital file that I could upload into my computer. It was not flat art but pictures of a few   tools I use in my work.

2. I extracted the image in Photoshop. That means I took out the background behind the t tools so that they were transparent. In this case I was capturing images of  paints and brushes.

3. I added a layer with color using the brush tool in Photoshop. I wanted it to look like paint was in the background.

4. I took the existing image file in the theme header brought it into Photoshop. I used the existing measurements and colors that were already present in theme. In other words it served as a template for me.

5. I then opened a layer in Photoshop and added my new art to that layer. This is done in the layers panel.

6. I then scaled it and positioned the added art in the layer. Scaling is  done w hen you want to take your   image and  make it larger, smaller or stretch it. My new artwork had to fit with the existing image specs in the header. I saved the file. THIS WAS AN IMPORTANT STEP SO I DID NOT HAVE TO REWRITE THE PHP CODE. I am not an expert.

7. I finally uploaded  the new image file to the site and presto, it was there.

Hope this will be helpful for you too. Email me if you have any questions comment here.

Ray

ARTIST –BUILD IT YOURSELF

Artists are gifted with the ability to create and discover new things. With that in mind I would like to encourage artists at all levels of experience to consider exploring the use of carpentry. Not only will you have fun but also you will save money.

You don’t have to be a professional carpenter to learn how to build some of the essential artist tools we use. You could work with a carpenter to show you how to build items that you would usually cost lots of money. Or, you could explore online HOW TO sites to learn step by step with the use of videos or written tutorials.

I have worked with my father and members of my family. I also read and listen to video tutorials. My artistic skills have been a valuable foundation in teaching me how to be a good carpenter.

In my painting classes I teach students how to:

• Build their own easels
• Build their canvas frames
• Stretch their canvas
• Build maulsticks
• Framing techniques, Plus more,

BUT ISN’T TIME MONEY?

Yes, time is money. But the time invested in learning a new skill will create more money to keep in your pocket. The skills you will learn will not be a waste of time.

In addition you will get great pleasure in knowing that not only did you create that masterpiece but you also put your heart and soul into the canvas and the frame.
Trust me it won’t be a waste of your time.

A GREAT WAY TO STAY MOTIVATED

When you are working on creating an easel that will hold your painting you can get motivated to keep creating more paintings for them to hold. I know that sounds corny but it is a simple truth. Plus, you will probably want to build as many as you can to hold painting that might have to be shown in a place that does not have great wall space.

I am busy making some tutorials and videos available for artists at all levels to help you create some of your own art tools. Let me know if you have any particular things you would like to learn.
And thanks to Dr. Jeanette Cates and her wonderful course, online success basics,( I will tell you more about it in another posting), I am learning more about online systems.

So get busy learning. Of course if you have any questions you can email me at hornerart@mac.comikoni