My hubris bites me in the rear

My shiny new web site at judithhoffman.art

Many years ago the software I used to make my original web site got eaten up by Adobe and then stopped working under new operating systems. I couldn't add pages or edit. Several years ago I said I could whip out a new web site with Dreamweaver. Easy peasy I thought. And Bob's your uncle. And other simplistic thoughts. I got a basic skeleton together and then a bunch of other stuff happened, I didn't work on the web site. It has been chaotic around here for years, but that's not a good excuse. I just didn't work on the web site. I did finally decide I had to finish it or give up on it. So here it is, updated, larger images, fairly easy for me to add to. I will be tweaking it for awhile, but the new url has been active for years. I was worried persistent people would find it in a search and think I had no viable web presence. A main page and 6 images with bad links is not a good look. 

My previous web site, at judithhoffman.net It served me well for years. I am tired of the color though.

Note the new url is .art. So it's judithhoffman.art. The old site is still here at judithhoffman.net. Soon I will transfer all the new stuff over. So both urls will work, they will look the same and both be up-to-date. The .art site is sort of a vanity I guess. It seems like the appropriate url for an artist, but is redundant for me. Still I feel extremely pleased to have it.

I have made some changes. The organization is different. I may leave out some of the metal work since I'm not doing that anymore. The Open Studios pages might go, I'm not doing that now. Maybe I will in the future? I  am waffling on keeping the tutorials - most aren't very relevant any more. I do rather like the pinhole camera tutorial though. I'm also waffling on whether or not I should add a section for the drawings. Since some of my drawings go into books, I don't think of my drawings as finished art. But many will never be in books. And I am pleased with some of them.

The best part of doing this - other than learning a little html and CSS - is that while looking at the photos and thinking about how and why I made this stuff, I am inspired to make so many new things. Most will probably not become reality, but it's so nice to see that some of my old projects still have life in them.

Note: The little gadget at the right where you put your email address to subscribe is possibly not working any more. It was supposed to be discontinued last year, but as of January it worked for me. If you want to be sure to be subscribed, email me a judithDOTzDOThoffmanATgmailDOTcom. I will send a notification only when I post, I won't share your email address.

Artist Book: Seeing and Seen

 

Seeing and Seen, front and back cover. 2.5 x 3 inches, artist book by Judith Hoffman

Seeing and Seen, pp 1 and 2

Before the book I want to tell you Feedburner is going away. If you are getting email notification when I post a new blog entry, that will end in July. I have downloaded the email addresses from Blogger and will send you an email when a new blog post is out. If you want me to email you directly, you can let me know at judithDOTzDOThoffmanATgmailDOTcom. Of course change the capital letters to the appropriate symbol. That is a "z" as in zebra. I will also announce new blog posts on my Facebook pages and my Instagram. I have two Facebook pages - I prefer to use the personal one but I will keep posting notifications on my "business" page also. Please note - you can't count on Facebook showing you my posts. It may help if you add my feed to your favorites. My Instagram gets more love than my Facebook page, but not many reposts. 

I made this book in 2020 and apparently never took photos or posted about it. Images should enlarge.

I am happy spending most of my time alone, but during the pandemic I realized how important it is for me to spend some time with my friends. I want to see them, to understand them in their complexity (or at least try) and to be seen by them.

Seeing and Seen artist book pp 5 and 6

My art energy was on pause last year, but one thing I did was look through old, unfinished projects.

2.5 x 3 inch old painting/collage tests, sanded to be glued back to back

Among many other things, I found a stack of small mixed media collage experiments on 300 pound watercolor paper. I love small! And because the paper was already used, I didn't feel bad making some experimental collages on the back sides. Above you see the old painting experiments, sanded before gluing them back to back with PVA. They did get interesting didn't they? Sanding turns out to be an awesome technique.

Seeing and Seen artist book by Judith Hoffman pp 7 and 8

I started the experiments by collaging found images that reflected my scattered mind. Then I added drawings of faces to the results. The drawings are on architect's tracing paper, which is fairly transparent.

Seeing and Seen artist book by Judith Hoffman pp 9 and 10

As some of the collages came together I spread them on my work table and made pairs of pages. I realized some of the people in the images were trying to connect with each other.

Seeing and Seen artist book by Judith Hoffman pp 3 and 4

Some looked away, connections were not made. But a few were able to see each other and make contact. 

Seeing and Seen artist book by Judith Hoffman pp 11 and 12

To assemble the pages I glued the collages back to back. I drilled small holes in each page and bound them with Keith Smith's singe sheet binding method. The original paintings are not seen, except for a small bit around the edges which you can see that most clearly in the first photo of the front and back cover.

Still Struggling with the Web Site

©2019 Judith Hoffman - In which our main character has a revelation of wonderment

The image above is one of the final photos of a book I made last year. I will be showing you more photos here soon.

I said last year that I thought I could put together a new web site pretty quickly. Now I pay for my hubris. Years ago I made my existing site with GoLive, which of course no longer exists. It was pretty easy to use. Searching for a substitute, I tried WordPress and gave up on it. My big complaint is that they have different modules that update at different times. And they may not work with each other. So it seems I would be scrambling to keep things working smoothly periodically. I do know people who are happy with them, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

I did also want to keep my folder structure the same so that old links would continue to work. There are many links in my blog posts that refer to my web site and there are links to my website on other people's websites and blogs. if I break those the best I can do is insert a message telling people they can search my site. That seems awkward.

After dumping WordPress I tried Dreamweaver. It's a what-you-see-is-what-you-get application. But it helps if you understand basic html and a little CSS. I had a simple site sketched out - the top layer and one or two galleries. I showed it to friends and got some good feedback, including the thought that I should be aiming for people on devices. I think that's good advice, since most people now access the web from their phone. So I started looking at other options.

One option is Other People's Pixels, recommended by a friend who likes them very much. They seem much better than WordPress. I believe Other People's Pixels takes care of updates behind the scenes, which would simplify things for me. There is a fee, although you can get a 2 week free trial. But I can't keep my same folder structure.

So I went back to looking at Dreamweaver, which has a component called Bootstrap. Apparently Bootstrap will modify your web design to fit various sized screens. Luckily we can use Lynda.com for free through our library, so I struggled through some videos that explain all this. But just today I gave up. Bootstrap is not simple, you have to make adjustments and set CSS rules for every screen width. Needless to say, it's complicated.

I would at this point happily pay someone to create my web site. But I have heard such horror stories from people who went that route. Stories of months spent trying to fix a bad mistake. And ultimately I will need to add pages all the time. Every time I finish a book I want to add a page. Right now I have 3 finished books and two new little freebie zines to add. They will be on my blog soon, so you will see them before my web site viewers. So I think it's back to the simple DreamWeaver site for me. I feel it will be better than the alternatives.

My main concern is that someone told me she couldn't view my website on her phone. I think everything was too small. Which it is if you don't turn your phone sideways and enlarge what you are looking at. If any of you could try that on their phone and let me know if it doesn't work, that would be so helpful. After turning your phone sideways, to make the image rotate 45 degrees, it should be possible to enlarge by spreading your fingers on the screen. Do all phones do this? Or only some?

Time spent on the glowing box

Above: Stolen Shadows, finished earlier this year. The paper is eco dyed watercolor paper. Pen and ink drawing.

I have been trying to keep my nose to the grindstone, working in my studio as often as I can, so not taking the time to blog. This past week I had a cold, so spent more time on the computer. Instead of blogging, which was my plan, I started a new website.

I tried WordPress earlier this year and something about the interface made me crazy. The main problem is that there are frequent updates. If I rely on a plug-in for a gallery, which is essential if you have lots of images, it may not be updated when the main part of the program is. Or even ever. Obviously I am not up to speed on the terminology, but I hope you get the gist. The second problem is that I made a website years ago with GoLive, (a wysiwyg program), so the switch to a different kind of interface in WordPress seemed so unintuitive. Friends have asked me to let them know how I liked WordPress, so I have to say two thumbs down. I know it's the best solution for many people, and I love people's blogs. However, I can read html and sort of get it. So I have moved to DreamWeaver. It's pretty easy, you create a file, start making modifications and build it up. My biggest problem is that I don't remember how I did stuff two years later. It has taken me this past week to refresh my memory. Now I'm starting to do the actual work.

I also feel much better, so I need to be in the studio again. I am currently working on a book based on the Golden Book of Astronomy that my brother-in-law had as a kid. He drew and scribbled in it and I love all the marks.

What's New?

Above: The Distance of the Moon, ©1990, 2 x 3-3/4 x 1-3/4 inches, brass, silver, formica, copper. This little book is based on a story in "Cosmic Comics" by Italo Calvino, my all time favorite book.

Recently I added a "what's new" page to my web site. I've added pages for 7 Extinction Events and The Distance of the Moon. Also added many new links and updated the old ones.

When I did the matchbox pinhole camera demo at the Book Arts Jam I revised the handout. It now includes instructions for taking photos of film with a digital camera. This has been added to a matchbox pinhole camera page, with related links.

Myself as my Grandfather, made of crickets, grass and rain.

Myself as my Grandfather, made of crickets, grass and rain.
Originally uploaded by bertmac.

I didn't get any work at all done in the studio this week. We had a lot of work done on the house. I can't focus when there is pounding or when people are walking back and forth. Next week, which is Thanksgiving in the U. S., will probably be the same. Hopefully the following weekend will be very productive.

I did manage to add some things to my web site:

Seeing Fish
Fish Who Swims in the Sky
Myself as my Grandfather, made of crickets, grass and rain.
Spectacles for a Fish Goddess
Lorgnette for a Fish Goddess
When I see the stars

I also added detail shots to Fish Messages. Scroll down to see the details.

They are all "old" things. But still some of my favorites. I also reorganized my web site. Hopefully it will be a little easier to use. All the page images for each book are on one page now, instead of having to click forward to another page to see another pair of pages.

It's hot, hot, hot!

It's been much hotter than usual here all week. Because we don't have air conditioning, I have been putting off all kinds of things. I wanted to take some photos this week, but the big lights I use are way too hot.

Instead I have been working on my website. I added three older books. They are all in gallery 3 on my web site. Here are direct links:

Duck Dreams

Celestial Navigator

We can see by starlight


I also made a matchbox pinhole camera. Isn't it cute?

I starting taking some notes for the demo at the Book Arts Jam, on October 14th. My goal is to have the demo ready soon, and to put it on my web site as a tutorial. I would also like to get to work on my fern book, which will make use of all these pinhole photos.

Until next time, keep cool!

"Expedition to an Unknown Land" added to my Web Site

I spent some time this past week adding a book I completed last year to my web site.


This is "The Findings of the Expedition to an Unknown Land by Ludmilla Paulsdotter." You can see a larger view and more of the inside here..

I found most of the photos on ebay, one big box for about $25. There were lots of shots of camping trips, new houses (probably in the late 40's), and houses in snow. Some had notes on the back. "Barney's 75 pounds of catfish. The ones on each end weighed 10 and 10.5 pounds." I love old photos. They are a peek into someone else's life. It's like driving around at night and seeing houses with the lights on and the curtains open.

When I bought them, I didn't know what I would use them for, just that they looked so useful. When I spread them out on my big worktable, I noticed I could make a landscape by keeping the horizon line even. I used the "dry" method of collage. Here are links to my collage tutorials: Collage demo, part 1. Collage demo, part 2. It's a little tedious and slow, but the surface looks like photos and the pages don't stick to each other.

The recognizable people in the book are from my family photos. I scanned them and had them reprinted. It worked great because I could make them the size I needed.

I will be a little irregular in my posts for the next few weeks. (Not that I consider the last few weeks to be so regular.) Open Studios in San Mateo is May 20 and 21st. I am feeling overwhelmed by the list of things I need to do by them, plus making some progress on getting repairs done in the house.

Tips Page Added to My Web Site

I just added a tips page to my web site. I sometimes find information I want to pass on to my past students. Maybe I have taught them something that I now think is a bad idea, like mixing liver of sulfur in hot water. Or I have found a tool that they might want to know about. My tips page is the place where I can list changes, corrections and new information.

I seem to be coming down with something, so I will wait a few days to post my progress on 7 Extinction Events. My landscape form is glued together and drying under books and my palm trees have most of their paint. I'm going to watch the Winter Olympics. Not figure skating, I like curling, cross country skiing and a little speed skating.