New paintings

sold

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These are all from the past few months (click images to enlarge). They're my usual painting medium and size, gouache and charcoal, 18x24". All of my paintings are completed during evening figure drawing sessions. I attend a couple of different groups.

Hiking pics

In an effort to spend more time away from my desk, I've been going on group hikes. Of course I turn everything I do into an art project, so I've been taking pictures. Nothing fancy, just cellphone pics. These are the best of them from the past few weeks, mostly of the Wissahickon Trail (click photos to enlarge).

Glencairn Museum, Bryn Athyn

The last two photos are from a night hike. That was a fast hike up steep, rocky trails with hikers wearing headlamps. Getting these shots wasn't easy, but it was such a wild sight, I couldn't resist.

AC vs. AI

I've been working on a video for the Household of Faith Deliverance Worship Center. It will star members of the church talking about its history and will be shown at their anniversary celebration at the end of the year.

The video shoot was held at the church last month, on June 22, a 98° day. When we started, there was an air conditioner rumbling away at the back of the room. I recorded the first segments hoping the AC was far enough away that the microphones wouldn't pick it up.

Then I thought better of it and turned it off. It was hot in there, but the participants were eager to make this a great video. There was a lot of sweating, but no complaints. I made sure the AC was back on whenever we weren't shooting.

Afterwards, I found that the audio without the AC sounds great, but that first part, with the AC running, sounds like this:

I did some research into removing air conditioner noise from audio tracks and discovered what I needed was an AI function called Voice Isolation; AI analyzes an audio track, removing everything it doesn't identify as a human voice. Unfortunately, Adobe Premiere (what I use) doesn't have it yet.

There are several audio editing programs available that include it. I asked the Route22 group about it at our last meeting and was told that editing suite DaVinci Resolve has it, but only in the Studio version, not the free version.

Having used the free version, I know DaVinci is great for improving audio and color. So I bought DaVinci Studio, installed it, and pressed the Voice Isolation button.

The result is amazing. The AC is 100% gone, leaving the voices unmarred. I added some reverb to match it to the segments with the AC turned off and now I can't tell the difference.

AI saved this project from a muffled fate. The noise reduction functions I'd normally use aren't nearly as effective as flat out separating one sound from another.

I know Peter Jackson used AI to enhance audio for The Beatles: Get Back, but didn't realize until now that the software became widely available last year. Until the terminators show up, you won't hear me complaining about AI.

The drawing board

I've been pondering my next submission to film festivals. I've started painting again, which leads me to wonder where I left off the last time I was animating.

A quick search though old posts uncovered these embedded videos of animated works-in-progress that I put on hold years ago. Watching them requires pressing the play button twice. I don't know why.

The Telekinetic Chef

Fatal Error

Fatal Error (storyboard)

The Park (rotoscoping experiment)

Just before the pandemic, I took a video editing course at PhillyCAM that sent my interests in another direction. Looking at these now, I realize I've leaned quite a bit in the past few years (particularly with AfterEffects) that could be applied to my animation.

Maybe I'll kick these projects around or create something new. I take it as a good sign that the telekinetic chef still makes me laugh. I'd also like to return to learning Blender (the 3D animation program) as well. That's another pursuit that fell by the wayside that I'd like to pick up again.

Episode list (1–21)

Creating Fashion with Laurel so far:

2020

1. Fabric Masks
2. Scarves and Hand-sewn Masks
3. The Invisible Zipper
4. Right-lapped Fly Zipper
5. Correcting Home Sewing Patterns
6. Correcting Sleeve Cap Notches

2021

7. Correcting Collar Patterns
8. Sewing a Convertible Collar
9. Inserting Bust Darting
10. PhillyCAM Anniversary Block Party

2022

11. Preparing to Fabric Shop
12. Shopping for Fabric in Philadelphia*
13. Sewing Machine Tips
    (AKA: Laurel discusses sewing machines with a specialist)
14. More Sewing Machine Tips (Part 1 and Part 2)

2023

15. Sewing Darts and Edging with Bias Binding
16. Seven Lessons and a Story: Sewing on Guage, Fabric Jams in the Race, Sewing Machine Manuals, Why Knots & Sewing Hooks, Sewing on Men's Buttons, Sewing on Women's Buttons, For the Quilters, and Aunt Hetty's Golden Thimble* (bonus shorts: Pattern Paper and Drafting Tools and Tips)
17. Tight Cutting
18. Interviewed by Maureen Edwards for 8 Simple Steps

2024

19. Copying a Ready-Made Garment
20. Organizing Patsy's Wardrobe*
21. Teens Color Analyzed

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*These are my personal favorites.

Missing links: We've removed the videos with mask-making in them from YouTube. They were looking a little dated. But Episode 1 is still on our PhillyCAM page, right over here.

>>> Back to the Hilton

My sixth video for the Community Enrichment Fitness Network is now online. It's a lot of work turning a big event like this into a movie, but it's fun. There are so many things going on at CEFN events, the live band, the dancing, the vendors, that the editing is free to jump all around the party.

The challenge with this one was that there wasn't a stand-out moment to build the video around, like when the break dancers took the stage at a previous event. But there was Barbara James, reading her list of how things have changed since the nineteen-fifties.

So I built the video around three sections from her monologue. Every few minutes she turns up, reading more from her list. And it works.

The classroom episode

The twenty-first episode of Creating Fashion with Laurel was shot at the main branch of the Philadelphia Library.

Ariel Taylor, Youth Media Manager for PhillyCAM, recommended Laurel to the Murrell Dobbins High School to talk at their Senior Seminar event, held in rooms throughout the building.

So now, after twenty episodes of teaching to the camera, we get to see what it looks like when Laurel teaches a class.