Printer Trials and Errors

The super fantastic Epson R1900 arrived at my house on Monday, about 2 hours after my post. It's huge! I'm not sure what I was expecting in the size department, but the thing is enormous. This makes me very happy about my Ikea desk addition purchase that was bought and assembled on Sunday, making my desk about 3/4's of the size of my office.

So, I am now in the testing phase. This printer is much more complicated than your average desktop unit, housing 8 individual ink cartridges, including a gloss optimizer for stunning output. I'm slowly learning what this beast can do, and so far, am extremely happy when I the pieces fall together. The prints are full of rich colour, fantastic detail and the single piece of art that I printed last night (after a half hour of trying to figure out settings) looks perfect!

To learn more about his printer please visit:
EPSON R1900

Epson Stylus Photo R1900

Yes! I finally made a decision on which printer would be best for my needs. The number one manufacture all along for me was Epson, and I was up in the air between the 1400 and 1900. Well, I bit the bullet, opened the old leather wallet, and got myself this new, stylish, professional quality, pigment ink printer.

I'm very excited about this printer as it allows for 13" wide prints (44" long), can handle fine art stock and, depending on the paper used, has a great archival quality - perfect for fine art prints (both photographic and hand produced), greeting cards and more!!

This bad boy is part of my "re-vamp", and I should be receiving the new gadget this week. I realize now that I have inherited my father's "more computers, printers, scanners and cameras" disease, but it's a disease that I enjoy.

Visit often for more information on the "new" business, what products I will be offering and upcoming events!

Web Site Re-Vamp

Slowly, but surely, I am coming along with my business/web site re-vamp. It is taking longer than I anticipated as I am very picky about how I want things displayed and what I need to include. Overall, I am taking a more gallery-business type of approach, so bare with me, and visit frequently to see how the changes are progressing. Though, I'm thinking it best not to ease into it, but rather jump feet first and make a big splash. So perhaps keep an eye out for a brand new site, rather than just changes to the old one.

I will still be offering Pet and People Portraits, however, I will also be offering fine art - originals and prints - for sale and some new products available in my boutique. And, as always, I am still available for design work.

So, with that said, I'd better get back to work. I'm hoping to be fully operational in about two months.

Vacation will make you do that...

Yes, I have been rather lax on my posting these past couple of weeks. But I was on vacation for one of them, which I think is a good excuse, and well, it takes a while for me to get out of vacation mode during the first week back.

We spent the week on Eels Lake, just North of Apsley and South of Bancroft. I'm certain that we picked the only good week that summer has had to offer so far. So we had hot weather, lots of swimming and surprisingly little bugs. Though, the fishing left something to be desired.


We even missed a tornado that ravaged part of Milton's downtown core. The storm moved quickly across Southern Ontario, with tornado's active in certain areas, and warnings in others. We prepared ourselves, somewhat hard to do when your living in a wooden box for the week - where do you go when there's no basement and you're in the middle of the woods, but luckily we only got a nasty storm. Check out some of the images from the Weather Network:

Tornado
Damage
Trees Down
More Damage

Jumping from the swim raft

The dogs, and us, got to enjoy the water on an almost daily basis, and Brandy, my Jack Labrador Retriever, is loath to leave the water for any reason, preferring to spend hours fetching objects from the lake for us to toss back in again. Even objects that we haven't tossed, such as a random leaf meandering on the lakes surface, was enough to make her insane about getting it out of the water. And if you haven't heard a dog scream, go swimming without my little one and you'll be surprised at the noises that can come out of this little creature.

The Dig

It was also fantastic to see the dogs actually being dogs, living in the great outdoors for the week. You could tell that they enjoyed themselves, especially Brandy, who got to utilize her instincts by digging us a rather large hole. On the hunt for something unknown, which we had to kibosh since it wasn't our property. She was intent on finding what ever it was in the ground, and I was surprised at how quickly the hole expanded. The little dog excavated earth very well, going as far as pulling roots out of the way and any other object that was in her path. It was great to see her do something very instinctual like that, and after the stoppage, she seemed very proud of her handy-work. Not too worry, I filled the whole back in nicely, so we'll never know what she was after, but I think the fun was in the dig itself.

The hole

Unfortunately, now that I am back, I have to return to work mode (and I'm not talking about the portraits or my business - I enjoy those). Fortunately, I have come up with some new ideas for the business which I will reveal in a later post. As well, I have been working on a landscape of Burns Creek Conservation Area, which will also be revealed in a later post. For now, some more photos from our vacation take top priority on this blog so enjoy!

Eels Lake Sunset off the dock

My Jack Labrador Retriever enjoying the water

Little Retriever with good form

The double stick retrieve

Lot of large wild mushrooms on the property

Happy Birthday Brandy!!!

A tiny little baby Brandy

Today my little dog turns 7! I can not believe how much time flies. It seems like only yesterday, on a cool, sunny October morning in 2002, that we picked up the tiny little biting and humping bundle of energy.

I can honestly say that it was the best $350 we've ever spent, hands down. She was a challenge in the beginning, but once we found out that this little bugger loved to learn (puppy class being our first indication), things turned around, and in a heart-beat she became "the perfect" dog.

Through the years she has been my greatest teacher in regards to training dogs (or dogs training people, however you'd like to interpret that), and has been a willing, flash hating subject in all my photography and artistic adventures.

She's been everywhere with me, and is a testament to her breed. We dubbed her the "Love Dog" (with the "Love Boat" theme attached to it) because a day has never gone by without someone making a positive comment or smiling at her while we were out and about. From the old, to the thugged out youth (the term "sweet dog" has been used on occasion), they all fell in love. She is a people lover, and will go out of her way to meet and greet, which adds to her appeal.

Independent, stubborn, tenacious - yes these all describe her, she is a JRT you know, however, she is also sensitive, loving, comical and a willing worker. Surprisingly she does like to please, but on her terms, nothing like a golden retriever or a border collie though. She is awesome at agility when she wants to be, or more like when I don't throw her off, and she has quite a few titles to her name so far. And, with a little help from me, she even went and got her rally novice title, something that I never thought possible because it involves obedience - not her strong point, kind of like math is not mine.

Photo by Gabrielle Deans

Over all, she is a fantastic sport partner, a great teacher and a wonderful best friend. There will never be another Brandy - she really is one of a kind and I'm greatful for every moment that we spend together.

Happy Birthday Brandy, and here's to many, many, many more years of fun and friendship!!

Photo by Gabrielle Deans

Photo by Gabrielle Deans

Random Cartoons

Wieners dog anyone? They are delicious!

A Chinese Crested of course.

Just some results of my imagination a few years ago.

What a Storm!

The pictures aren't fantastic - I'm not exactly a whizz at night-time photography, but wow, you get the gist from these shots. This storm rolled in rather quickly and remained, with constant lightening and thunder, for a good hour and a half.

All the neighbours streamed outside for the initial show before the rain hit. Amazing to watch the ominous clouds roll in, as severe thunderstorm warnings, hail and high wind threats spew across the airwaves.