Photoshop, medical, baby

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Final version of the Attermire Scar Photoshop painting.
Click to enlarge

The trees and the sky have been completely reworked, and the foreground colouring strengthened.

The Knee.

It is now a week since the arthroscopy. My impression is one of some improvement, but no miracle. I visit my GP on Monday 5th December for dressing removal and assessment.  

Following hospital advice I should then be able to tackle modest walking (there are differing opinions  interpreting that phrase amongst friends and family in relation to my observed regular activity). I am promised an appointment with the surgeon in 6/8 weeks when a new knee joint will be discussed. In the meantime I perform recommended exercises three times a day, and cabin fever is building.

Katie update

Jill is threatening a sale on Ebay if the recent crying episodes persist - this pic shows a rare moment of peace.

One thing leads to another

Apple have introduced iCloud.

iCloud "pushes" photos, emails, calendar entries etc. from the iPhone to the Mac desktop and vice versa cutting out  physically syncing the iPhone with the Mac. During  download  I bought extra "cloud" space for approx. £10 which I then found I didn't need. Next I learned that iCloud was not compatible with my Mac operating system, nor was my Version 5 of Parallels compatible, so I had to purchase and download OSX Lion - approx. £21, and Version 7 of Parallels - approx. £50.00. Parallels is the software that allows me to run Windows on the Mac side by side - the virtual Windows PC contains all the files and some software that I couldn't bring over to the Mac when I changed to Apple, and is therefore important to me.

After all this I discovered an iPhone app - Parallells, and for a special offer price of £2.99 (proper price £19.99), I can now access and operate all the files and software on my Mac and virtual Windows PC via my iPhone - this seems a trivial price to pay for such a massive advantage giving my iPhone the attributes of a £1000 desktop.

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Yesterday I had the second arthroscopy on my left knee. The surgeon reckons it is worse  than the x-ray indicated and predicts that any improvement will only last a month or two. I have an appointment in 6/8 weeks at which time he says he would have no hesitation in giving me a new knee joint. Looks like walking maybe going on hold for a while.

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Katie update - 

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Photoshop painting - UK's County Tops - Katie

This is the latest, unfinished version of Attermire Scar. The sky and the trees are not to my liking and will be taken back to a white restart. I have been trying to learn about the Gradient Tool in Photoshop to achieve a graduated deep to light blue colouring for the sky. It was not used in this version, but I think I have now mastered it. The trees have too much colour in them - I want them to appear more skeletal giving the picture an increased lonely and wild-open-space atmosphere.

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One of six doctors in our practice is a keen climber and a serious partaker in charity runs and duathlons. Visiting him on Tuesday he told me about a new Cicerone Press guide - The UK's County Tops. Cicerone Press publish a huge range of outdoor pursuits guides covering the UK and many other countries, and they are located  thirty yards across the road from the surgery in Milnthorpe.

Jonny Muir walked and cycled the 91 tops in 92 days. This concept looks interesting, and could be tackled in many different ways - I have my own thoughts, but no positive plan. It would be a good project for Mick and Gayle (click here) with their newly acquired Colin.

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Katie update  

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Photoshop painting - Attermire 3 (for my nerdy followers). Katie progress (for real humans)

 Painting update: the trees are still work- in- progress. Blotches on the white (unpainted) part of the sky are my improvised palette where I have been testing different brushes - the blotches will be painted over white before I tackle the sky. I have created another problem in not first completing the sky behind the trees, but this can be sorted, albeit somewhat laboriously.

To post this pic I  "save as" the Photoshop file (psd) as a jpeg, then downsize from 3000 to 600.  I inadvertently reduced size first and continued to save as a jpeg. When I set it back to 3000 as a psd the picture was hopelessly lacking in pixels, and I thought I had lost many hours of work. Fortunately, even after all the aforementioned sequences,  Photoshop's powerful "undo" facility got me back to my original 3000 psd again.

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Katie is  gaining weight via breast feeding. During daytime she has some baby crying episodes, and sleeps a lot. At night she has been tuning up around 10:00pm and carrying  on until 3:00 am, but last night, after 12:00 pm, she "slept through". Jill's bedroom is crammed with furniture and baby stuff making it almost soundproof, and contrary to comments received, I have not been worn to a frazzle.

I have joined the ranks of macho males observed over the years who have degenerated into soppy, sentimental adorers of grandchildren, and like them all, I think my granddaughter is the most beautiful.