I am happy to say that yesterday’s frustrations with technology have not spilled over into today! I had class for much of the day and was feeling very hesitant to get back to my room and work on some design assignments because of all the bad vibes I was feeling yesterday. But, today Aviary and I are getting along swimmingly. I went back to work on the “Expression of Myself” assignment that I had started a couple days ago but gave up on because I couldn’t find the tools that I needed on Aviary to do what I had in mind. Today, I just took a breath and sipped some coffee and figured it out. And to my surprise, it worked!!

So this is what I came up with:

Allow me to explain. This is a reflection of me because a big part of my is where I’m from (as you have probably picked up on from my previous posts). So this image is a compilation of some things about home that are both important to me and, to an extent, define who I am.

The background picture is a photo of a sunset taken from the deck of my house a couple of years ago. The colors seem unreal, but they are very much the real deal. I am still surprised when I go home for school breaks of how gorgeous our sunsets are on a pretty regular basis. One of the coolest parts of the view from my house is that dependent on the tides, you can see the reflection of the sunset in the water; it magnifies how beautiful the sunsets are.

The second image is the handwritten manuscript of the first lines of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.” This is one of my favorite books. I really appreciate Austen’s dry and situational humor. I chose to include this in this assignment because in the summer time I love reading in an adirondack chair in my back yard. Its just so peaceful and relaxing and refreshing. I love it! Last summer I (re)read “Pride and Prejudice” in just this fashion.

The next image I chose to include was a map of the Aquidneck Island, where I live. As an Islander I have extreme island pride, so I don’t think that could be left out when describing me.

The last two images I included were a heart and an anchor. These represent my ties to the Island and my house there.

In Aviary I uploaded each image as a new layer and them changed around the order until they rested on each other the way I liked. Then I messed around with the “alpha” settings and put a “mask” over the Island’s layer (that was the test wouldn’t cover up the details. I also adjusted the color and contrast of each image so that they all matched one another. I really wanted the images to meld into one. I think I achieved this….. although I could spend days fiddling with it some more, I finally cut myself off and called this two-star assignment done.

Hollah for the effects of positive thinking!!!!