Friday, March 26, 2010

Jim Marshall RIP


Jimi Hendrix
photo by Jim Marshall

I saw this story in the news today. If you like rock and roll you should check out the photos of Jim Marshall.

LINK

Rock Photographer Jim Marshall Dies - San Francisco Chronicle

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Images Used in My Website

digital image by Rosa Phoenix


For my website www.rosaphoenix.com, I created images in Photoshop with the help of talented photographers.


digital image by Rosa Phoenix

This is the background of my website, which I created myself by scanning a piece of paper with torn edges. I colored the edges in Photoshop.
I used this burn hole as a frame for my images. Photo by michael1959.

 digital image by Rosa Phoenix

Home page image. Rose photo by Paul Kemp. Color enhancement and photomontage by Rosa Phoenix.

 
digital image by Rosa Phoenix

Design page image. Photo of eye by Andrejs Pidjass. Color enhancement and photomontage by Rosa Phoenix.
digital image by Rosa Phoenix

Art page image. Photo of paintbrush by ara. Color enhancement and photomontage by Rosa Phoenix.
 
digital image by Rosa Phoenix

Words page image. Photo of quill feather by Olivier Blondeau. Color enhancement and photomontage by Rosa Phoenix.
digital image by Rosa Phoenix

Action page image. Color enhancement and photomontage by Rosa Phoenix.

 
digital image by Rosa Phoenix

About page image. Fire girl graphic by Mikhail. Photomontage by Rosa Phoenix.

 
digital image by Rosa Phoenix

Contact page image. Photomontage by Rosa Phoenix.


digital image by Rosa Phoenix
 
Shop page image. Photomontage by Rosa Phoenix.


See my website at www.rosaphoenix.com.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Don't Fail the Students!


photo by mrloz


Education is like planting seeds for the future.  

Learning leads to knowledge, leads to skill, leads to empowerment, leads to better and brighter ideas, leads to progress, leads to a better life for all. This is our human path, this is how we evolve.

Yet our schools are at risk. Budget cuts to education mean that teachers have lost their jobs, tuitions and fees keep going up, and classes are being cancelled. It's harder than ever now for students to stay in school.

City College of San Francisco has canceled classes, raised tuitions, held a giant garage sale, and now is asking students and faculty for donations, just to keep classes in session for Fall 2010! This is so sad. The students are the ones who are least able to afford to "donate".

CCSF is a great resource, offering low-cost classes and job training to a diverse community. I've taken many art and computer classes there.

On March 22, CCSF students are going to Sacramento, California to the State Capitol to protest the budget cuts to education. News story here.


Support the students today, so we'll have a better future.




Donate to CCSF (they are asking for small donations of any amount, suggested donation $5):

City College Fall 2010 Donation Drive

Friday, March 19, 2010

Sketchbook: San Francisco


watercolor pencil sketch by Rosa Phoenix



Could a house be any more decorated than this 100+ year old house in the Haight Ashbury neighborhood? The San Franciscans who built these houses loved to pile on the decorations. That is why these colorful Victorian houses are also known as Painted Ladies.

I have been taking advantage of the sunny warm weather to sketch outdoors. I am experimenting with my new watercolor pencils. I like the fact that I can use the pencils to capture precise lines, and I can turn my drawing into a painting with a little bit of water and a paintbrush.

If you have been wondering why I post so many sketches, there are a couple of reasons. First, I spent the last year building my website, www.rosaphoenix.com, and I didn't have time to make finished paintings. Second, I discovered this awesome website called Urban Sketchers which is artists all over the world who sketch their urban surroundings. I want to get on this website, so I've been posting sketches. When I have a good selection of sketches I will submit them to Urban Sketchers.

I like sketches. Sketches are unfinished, imperfect, fresh, spontaneous. It's hard to get this quality in a finished drawing or painting. I often prefer sketches for this reason.

If you would like to see all the location sketches I have posted so far, you can scroll down to the bottom of this post and click on the label "location sketch."


LINKS

Urban Sketchers

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Spring Green



Spring Leaf

mixed media art by Rosa Phoenix



I made this Spring Leaf a couple of years ago for my little friend, Lea. She loves ladybugs.

The leaf is made with felt glued onto cardboard. The ladybugs are glass beads that I sewed to the leaf. I made the butterfly with wire, glass beads and feathers.



Thursday, March 11, 2010

Sketchbook: San Francisco

 


crayon sketches by Rosa Phoenix



  


crayon sketches by Rosa Phoenix


  


crayon sketches by Rosa Phoenix


 


San Francisco sketches

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Socrates Sculpture Park, New York

 

Socrates Sculpture Park

Long Island City, New York

(just across the East River from Manhattan)





This park is a great place to see . . .





beautiful view of Manhattan skyline


 


fishing




a shipwreck


 


a place for friends to play





colorful art made from recycled materials




shapes


  


textures



 


plastic wrapped around trees



(photos taken on a summer day in 2007)





Socrates Sculpture Park


 The Noguchi Museum (the studio and garden of Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi) is on the same street as Socrates Sculpture Park. Also a lovely place to visit.