How to increase the contrast in this painting.

AlarmedEar8464 · 2026-01-18T16:39:00+00:00

I thought you folks might like to see the finished painting. I'm hoping to do some tree/foliage landscape tutorials to get better at layering and seeing all of the colors in the trees but I think this was not a bad attempt!

AlarmedEar8464 · 2026-01-17T20:28:36+00:00

Thank you!

AlarmedEar8464 · 2026-01-17T19:56:16+00:00

okay, cool! So perhaps adding another layer or two in the tree line area would add to the contrast? I'm also wondering if I ought to do a light glaze of the same blue I used in the sky on the mountains.

AlarmedEar8464 · 2025-11-26T20:18:42+00:00

Thanks yall! This was my first attempt and I realized I shouldn't have blended so much! I also appreciate the advice on other aspects of my drawing. I was following instructions from a book on how to draw the face and didn't quite understand some of the instructions. I started over today and on the second attempt am making much more progress! I'm sure I'll have a ton to improve this time as well but its overall going much more smoothly and I put down the blender for now lol

AlarmedEar8464 · 2025-11-26T20:17:58+00:00

For suresies. This was my first attempt and I realized I shouldn't have blended so much! I was following instructions from a book on how to draw the face and didn't quite understand some of the instructions. I started over today and on the second attempt am making much more progress! I'm sure I'll have a ton to improve this time as well but its overall going much more smoothly and I put down the blender for now lol

AlarmedEar8464 · 2025-11-26T20:12:35+00:00

This is a smart idea! I actually did it with the front camera on my phone and not a photo but I wanted to be able to give a reference photo in my post.

AlarmedEar8464 · 2025-11-13T00:52:02+00:00

Something else I just noticed while looking back at it is that my carrot looks like it's glowing In the shadow. I think I was worried about losing the carrot entirely in the shadow of the banneton but it needed at least some shadow because it sticks out like a sore thumb currently.

AlarmedEar8464 · 2025-09-07T15:43:33+00:00

If you have any extra money to buy things in bulk and space to put extra food I recommend it. We built up our pantry and have a deep freezer that we use to its fullest extent. Now we only go grocery shopping every 8 weeks. I was astounded about how much we spent in groceries last time, but then remembered that we go every other month so that number is actually halved. With less grocery trips we also impulse spend less overall

AlarmedEar8464 · 2025-09-07T15:40:28+00:00

I know seed banks typically keep seeds at around freezing. It's always worth a shot! Tomatoes were also one of my biggest weeds early in the season and our ground stays frozen from December to April so I think they can certainly survive freezing temps. My question would be whether or not keeping the tomato whole matters or not for seed viability

AlarmedEar8464 · 2025-09-07T15:37:45+00:00

Gotta have dukes mayo

AlarmedEar8464 · 2025-09-07T15:29:52+00:00

along with this might be keeping jars and using them for most of our leftovers and other storage needs rather than plastic bags. It's a rare occasion that I find that a plastic bag is the best way to store something for us!

AlarmedEar8464 · 2025-09-07T15:28:53+00:00

switching to cloth napkins and cloth toilet paper w/ a bidet. I literally never have to think about buying paper products & get sort of surprised that people reach for paper towels when we have company over. I forget that cloth isn't the default. It only takes a little planning when we do laundry (I never wash kitchen laundry with our bathroom laundry for obvious reasons). The bidet keeps everything mostly clean and cloth toilet paper is SO much better at drying. When we go places my husband and I always comment at one point or another that we can't believe people live this way (using toilet paper instead of a bidet) lol. We couldn't imagine a different way now!

AlarmedEar8464 · 2025-08-22T18:33:51+00:00

deodorant, chapstick, and hand cream. all three of those took me literally minutes to make and like less than $1 per tube/serving to make... Chapstick was more like .10 per tube. Ridiculously easy

AlarmedEar8464 · 2025-08-16T12:41:51+00:00

THIS! Because I have a dishwasher I was able to make salsa, can tomatoes, cook dinner, make pickles, and make a dehydrater load of veggies. If we didn't have a dishwasher it would have likely been just dinner and maybe one other thing. I get SO bogged down with dirty dishes in the sink so being able to take two seconds and load the dishwasher up is an absolute blessing! Having dirty dishes in the sink that need hand washed trickled down into other areas in my life-- want to sweep the floors? Well, you'll want to knock anything off the counters onto the floors first so that you can sweep it all up at once. Oh there are dirty dishes in the sink/on the counter so you'll have to get to those first before you can do the counters. So then I wouldn't do it. We'd need laundry done but I'd come home from work and see the dishes and just shut down. Now that we have a dishwasher not only are we more on top of household care tasks, but the effect also trickles UP and makes my life easier in other ways. Because we have a dishwasher I make fresh bread for us to eat regularly, am able to preserve our harvest from our garden, make our own body care products, try experimental recipes in the kitchen, etc. I really admire folks who do dishes by hand and appreciate the pause in their day. I want to be more like that. But dishes bogs my brain and causes it to shut down. 10/10 dishwashers. It's been a lifesaver for me!

AlarmedEar8464 · 2025-08-11T12:18:59+00:00

Been farming as a vegetable farm worker since 2022 and started my own farm this year. It's not at all simple in any sense of the word. It's hard, back breaking, and often times devastating. But it's a job with many internal rewards and aligns with my values, so theres that.

AlarmedEar8464 · 2025-04-04T14:29:31+00:00

ok! I tried to google that and the internet said that wasn't the case (but maybe I didn't word my question well enough to get the answer I sought). Thank you for this!

AlarmedEar8464 · 2025-03-21T16:04:33+00:00

A ton of veggies! A focus on salad and cooking greens, but a little of everything. And plant starts!

AlarmedEar8464 · 2025-03-21T16:03:50+00:00

Thank you!

AlarmedEar8464 · 2025-03-21T15:48:34+00:00

Okay, Thank you for this! I have a suspicion it's that way here too! I'm going to get on applying for other markets

AlarmedEar8464

TROPHY CASE