I guess I do tend to fall on my sword more often than not, but if that phrase is equivalent to the word sacrifice… then I’m ok with that. I may give, bleed and sacrifice for just causes and I will give, bleed and sacrifie for those I love dearly. I do need to remember to save enough for myself though… under my windchimes or in a magical place and in the gym. Here is my newest digital composite including 11 layers and 3 masks.
….”Every sword that was dripping the blood became a pen. Every word that was written in it became a poetry.” ○○○○○Akshay Vasu
“…buried in those two infinities… the ocean and the sky at one and the same time. One is a tomb, the other is a shroud.”
○~~~Victor Hugo
○~~~Les Misérables
Here is my latest digital composite. I think it may be one of my best yet. There is so much symbology here on so many levels. My head is a mysterious, dark and powerful place. This design took some intricate layering, blending techniques and other effects.
Created with a loving heart by Felicia Lujan for the Turquoise Trail Charter School~ 6th Grade Class of 2017.
May has been a very busy month (creatively) for me. I have: finished the flowers for a wedding party; sketched, then painted a 10×10 banner; and created an almost 12 minute memory movie. Today was spent decorating the school for the big day. I’ll share more soon about what I’ve been working on over the last few weeks.
This memory movie is one of the things that took me hours on end to create. To make the movie, I: scanned hundreds of photographs; incorporated still, moving images and sound bytes; and created a custom mix of three songs selected by the kids for the audio layer.
▪On some nights, I had a cross-platform system on fire… scanning, editing, organizing. Both my PC and Mac took a beating on this project!▪
measure my heart of solid gold luminous for you lux of love illuminance gifted to the few
intensity your human eyes light across a soul fueled with power our luminosity wavelengths take a toll measure my heart luminous flux size beyond the stars full moon lux the night is clear and it’s free from wars still casualties of weighted love heart heavy with a pain peek of gold and white light green keeping another sane
•♥♦♥• Blue Eyed Christmas: A Digital Composite by Felicia Lujan •• The composite of Harley Quinn was created with 7 layers in AdobePhotoshop. Her face... streaked black by her blue eyes. She stands near a frozen Christmas tree wearing her Joker earrings. •♥♦♥•
“There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds.” (Laurell K. Hamilton)
~Fog by Felicia Lujan. The digital composite includes 4 images, 10 layers, 2 masks and 1 screen.~
The Fog by Mary Meixner
Seurat would have gone forth on such a night walking the mist-hung streets dour silence wrapping his world in thin recessions immediate frames of form. How he would chew this vapor like a food tasting distinctions when all cats are grey already in his hand, the touch veiling in layered chalk this passing woman as a monument. Each windowed structure lost in a broad stroke that makes perfection of the mood of home cubic, irradiated, finding more truth the more that it obscures.
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A couple of weeks ago on my drive into work, the fog was thick. I wanted to stop and take a photograph, but I didn’t. Fog rarely visits Santa Fe, but when it does, it is beautiful and eerie and magical and mysterious all at once. I started wondering what people thought about fog centuries ago when they didn’t understand what it was. I started wondering things like… What is fog exactly? What causes fog? Why does the smoke-like cloak evoke such contradictory feelings in me? Tonight I explored historic and contemporary research about the science of fog. I can’t possibly cover everything in one night. In the coming weeks, I would like to learn more about fog.
The earliest scientific account of fog I could find was published in an 1889 volume of Science. The article was titled Fogs, and the piece wasn’t very scientific in my opinion. That year in January, there was an anniversary meeting of the Royal Meteorological Society. The president of the society, Dr. W. Marcet delivered a keynote address about fog which was laced with “interesting lantern-slides.” Apparently, the address declared that “fogs and clouds are one in the same thing.” The article goes on to say “a cloud is a fog when entered into; and a fog seen from a distance, suspended in the air, becomes a cloud.” Isn’t that so scientific? No…not really.
While I didn’t get much from the article in that volume, a few months later, a very interesting piece was published in Letters to the Editor. On May 24, 1889, H.A. Hazen (love how that surname is perfect for a study of fog) sent a letter to Science. It opens… “A great deal of discussion has recently taken place on the properties of fog and its causes.” This letter delivered some concrete facts about the composition and causes of fog. He or maybe she calls theory “entirely inadequate” and noted percent, degrees, height, and weight measurements. Hazen says “fog, it is admitted, is simply cloud composed of water-dust or solid minute spheres of water from 1/7000 to 1/1000 of an inch in diameter.”
So how did Hazen conclude the letter written from Washington, D.C.? I was curious as I read on. Hazen concluded by outlining the circumstances surrounding the formation of fog.
“The cause of fog is briefly as follows: 1. It is essential that there be no wind. I do not mean that the wind does not blow the fog right after it is formed, but there must be little or none while it is forming. 2. The sky must be clear. We often notice a cloudless sky after a fog is dissipated. On weather-maps, “fog” is entered as “fair,” for, through not a particle of sky is visible, yet it is almost a certainty that the sky is clear. 3. The air must be saturated, or nearly so. It is very surprising how rarely the last condition occurs at inland stations. A relative humidity of 95 per cent has been noted in the air, in which rain is falling, and had been falling continuously for seventeen hours. This condition almost always can occur only to the south, south-east, or north-east of a storm. At nightfall, whenever these conditions combine, there is a rapid radiation from the earth to the sky, which speedily supersaturates the overlying air; and after that, radiation from the upper surface of the fog continues the process, and extends the fog upward until the action ceases with the rising of the sun.”
The letter was a very interesting read. Will you notice any of the things Hazen pointed out next time you encounter fog? I will. I find pleasure in the fact that one thought or maybe a few thoughts can spur my mind into a foggy haze! Hazen seemed to take some of the first concrete steps to define fog scientifically.
What about what can’t be defined scientifically like the emotions and feelings associated with fog? How do writers and artists use things like fog as a tool to evoke a feeling in the reader? I have a little bit more research to do and then you will see a part two with a focus on my interest in the mystery of fog.
Sources:
The Fog [Poem] by Mary Meixner Art Journal, Vol.25, No.1, Pg.25 (Autumn 1965)
I can’t tell you how good it felt to hold the final, professionally printed program in my hands tonight. What a gratifying moment. I know it is going to be appreciated by the awesome community of writers and creative spirits I will be surrounded by for the next 4 days. I am really proud of myself. Why? Here are some of the reasons.
1) I have a full-time position in the archives, which I love…so I did this on my personal time. I worked countless hours. I stayed up until the crack of dawn on several nights for three months until my eyes felt like they would fall out of my head.
2) I was asked to design this after earning the professional respect of two amazing women over several years.
3) I completely mastered a new program in this process. You can call me an Adobe InDesign (desktop publishing) master now! I have now made the Adobe suite my biaaaa.
4) I designed most of the ads in this program. The full-page ad I designed for an author was secured for an oversized redesign for a major book tour by a PhD who was recently awarded the Hillerman Prize. It also secured a meeting with him in the next few days to discuss a potential design/promotional partnership.
5) I have proven that if you put money last and you follow your heart with selfless sacrifice, the rest will fall into place…eventually (if you stay positive and dedicated).
And lastly…
6) I made the deadlines!!!! The 2014 Tony Hillerman Writers Conference starts tomorrow. I will be the official photographer and I’ll document the conference on it’s 10th anniversary!
Here is my newest digital
composite. There are eleven
layers in this piece that I have
titled “Ghosted.” Click on the
composite to see more detail.
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Lover of REALNESS... smart people with large brains... strong people with human weakness... all things divine and magical... and anything that makes my heart beat, my mind race, my body hurt, or my soul ache.
My Voyage Through Time 
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