Category: The Artsy Side

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“Walden” Weekends To Artsy

RJ Walters

Of course, “Walden” refers to Henry David Thoreau’s book about spending 2 years in a crude log cabin by himself near Waldon Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. Many scholars believe this is one of the best-known non-fiction books written by an American. It was published in 1854. He did it as an experiment to live a simple life, escaping the complexities of society, and to deeply contemplate and reflect on life. 

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The Times, They Are a Changing…

RJ Walters

Being a Bob Dylan fan, but only during his folk music years, I thought it appropriate to use his words for this post. I have been posting at RJsCorner for sixteen years now. It’s time to move on. With this post, I want to tell you why. A good part of my corporate world work life was spent fixing processes and building software tools to do that. It seems I never saw a process that I didn’t think could be made better. I was pretty successful at accomplishing that as I got some serious recognition for my work and a … Continue reading The Times, They Are a Changing…

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Mosaic of Life #90 – Windmills Of My Mind

RJ Walters

I have been in a playful mood lately, or maybe you could call it infantile creative mood. I have been on a serious search for Artsy tools and so far have found ten good ones. This mosaic was made with one of them. I tried to clear my mind of anything of this world and just go crazy with my iPad pen. When I was done it looked like I was trying to draw a windmill. I have been watching House Hunters International quite a bit lately, so maybe that had something to do with it. It was fun just … Continue reading Mosaic of Life #90 – Windmills Of My Mind

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Mosaic of Life #31 – One Of My Hobbies…

RJ Walters

I’m not much of a collector of things, but one thing I have collected are model cars, particularly the metal kind of the 1/32 scale from the 1960s. They currently occupy the bottom three shelves in my six-shelf curio cabinet. Being a teenager in the 1960s, I was intimately familiar with most of the cars of that era. My first new car, or any car for that matter, was a 1970 was a Mustang Fastback. I wore it out by 1973. Three years was the typical lifespan of cars during that period of time. Then came the 1980s and all … Continue reading Mosaic of Life #31 – One Of My Hobbies…

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Mosaic of Life #75 The Thing About Orchids

RJ Walters

It has been a while since I posted an artsy mosaic, so here goes. Almost all my life I have had a green thumb, but that was mostly the outdoor variety. I had my first veggie garden before I was 8 years old. Of course, I don’t specifically remember all those early childhood dates, but I do use one reference to establish the date. In 1955, my mother abandoned us to looker for greener pastures, and I do remember not too long before that is when I was raising radishes, green onions, and leaf lettuce in a small plot in … Continue reading Mosaic of Life #75 The Thing About Orchids

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Mosaic of Life #100 Turning Back The Odometer… And Other Such Things

RJ Walters

(An Artsyfiied picture of RJ – wrinkles and gray hair what there is of it) Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me, I want people to know “why” I look this way. I’ve traveled a long way and some of the roads weren’t paved. ― Will Rogers I recently saw an image of Cher, and it was obvious that she has had dozens of plastic surgeries. She is five months older than I am, but she refuses to show her age. As this quote from Will Rogers says above, NOT ME. I want people to know I am … Continue reading Mosaic of Life #100 Turning Back The Odometer… And Other Such Things

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Mosaic of Life #70 – Red and Green & White All Over

RJ Walters

One of the advantages of living in a college town is the number of artsy sources in the community. Last month I visited the IU Biology Dept green house for the first time. I was warned ahead of time that it is a “working” green house, so expect hoses and wet concrete. Most of the flowers were one steel-grated tables, not elaborate presentation as most conservatories are. But, that was perfectly fine with me. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #70 – Red and Green & White All Over

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Mosaic of Life #32 – Veggie Flowers Are…

RJ Walters

Just because I am trying to nurture my artsy side here at RJsMosaics doesn’t mean that my logical engineering side is stifled. I decided to use the 2017 photo of my veggie garden to highlight the yellow flower that is prominent at the top of the picture to show you the beauty of veggie flowers. Yes, they are for the most part very short-lived and die off quickly when the veggie, in this case zucchini, starts maturing, but that doesn’t decrease their beauty. I think that veggie flowers are just as beautiful as the flowers that were in my wife’s … Continue reading Mosaic of Life #32 – Veggie Flowers Are…

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Mosaic of Life #53 – Four Things That Draw Me In…

RJ Walters

Now that I am beginning to populate this new artsy site, I have discovered that there are certain types of artsy that draw me in more than others. Those are Containers, Flowers, Texture and Reflections. I am a regular visitor of historic sites and almost all of them have an old-fashioned general story filled with containers. Flowers are probably the main reason for RJsMosaics. Their beauty, variety, and mind-boggling intensity fascinate me. The closer I look, the more I am entranced. Texture, specifically brick walls, as shown in today’s M53-mosaic. I don’t really understand this one, so I will let it go … Continue reading Mosaic of Life #53 – Four Things That Draw Me In…

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Mosaic of Life #5 – Piano Flowers — The Analog Approach

RJ Walters

I seriously started my Artsy project in mid-2023. For a few months, it was almost exclusively freehand doodling. That got my confidence up that I could at least do some rudimentary hand-to-eye things. Maybe I should include some of those sketches on my artsy wall, but I kinda think of them as “pre-artsy”. As almost everyone knows, to be good at anything takes PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. Some of the things I attempted in those first three months were just plain awful. They stayed out of the trash can about 3 seconds after they were done. But, they were learning experiences. The … Continue reading Mosaic of Life #5 – Piano Flowers — The Analog Approach

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Mosaic of Life #12 – Artsy Bird – 1st Vector Attempt

RJ Walters

I need to show you my early attempts at vector graphics, so that you know how far I have come since then. This was my first serious attempt at using a combination of vector and raster graphics. The photo from which this originated was of a bird in the birdbath at our homestead home of 20+ years. At first, I was going to do the whole scene, but then decided to Simplify and just concentrate on the bird itself. All the various colors you see are filled-in vector shapes, while all the scratching used a raster app. I don’t think the result … Continue reading Mosaic of Life #12 – Artsy Bird – 1st Vector Attempt

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Mosaic of Life #9 – Stone Walls

RJ Walters

I have always been fascinated by stone walls. This one was at one of my favorite places to visit at Pleasant Hill Shaker Village near Lexington KY. This mosaic was made via the analog method using marking pens. It was very tedious work drawing all the stones, but I think the result is one of my favorites in the analog mode. I will limit this post to artsy, and reserve the story of Pleasant Hill for a future post, or posts. Continue reading Mosaic of Life #9 – Stone Walls

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Mosaic of Life #7 – Indy Skyline – In Pen & Ink

RJ Walters

If you read the previous post about “Analog Artsy” you probably get the idea that I will likely avoid this technique in the future. There is some truth to that, but some of the creations I made even impressed me, and I am a hard person to impress. One of those is the Mosaic #7 above of the Indy Skyline. I spent the better part of the day doing this one. As usual, it started out with a photo that I traced the basic features I wanted to convey. From there it was all freehand. Since this picture was to be “pen … Continue reading Mosaic of Life #7 – Indy Skyline – In Pen & Ink

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Mosaic of Life #29 – I Know Artsy When I See It

RJ Walters

And this is definitely artsy. These Artsy Ladies were in the Nicholas Conservatory & Gardens which is located in Rockford, Illinois. When I visited in 2017, the Bruce Monro Light Exhibit was the current attraction. This was in the beginning phase of my search for artsy. I don’t know if these ladies were part of that exhibit or a permanent part of the conservatory, but they did fit very well into landscape of the dome. They were about 5 feet tall and made of glass, but I can’t imagine exactly how they were actually constructed. The conservatory itself is certainly in the top three I have … Continue reading Mosaic of Life #29 – I Know Artsy When I See It

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Mosaic of Life #23 – Digital Artsy – The Tools – Part 2

RJ Walters

/im A few posts ago, I told you about how I spent 3 months doing analog artsy and then 3 months doing the digital version. This is the second post defining the digital version. (Click HERE if you want to see the first post). When I seriously started studying digital artsy, I had high hopes that I would find something that I totally enjoyed doing, and indeed I have. Of course, being a techie, I had some previous experience with digital tools, but this time I looked far and wide for just the right tools. I think I came close to … Continue reading Mosaic of Life #23 – Digital Artsy – The Tools – Part 2

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Mosaic of Life #18 – The Digital Stage Of Artsy – Part 1

RJ Walters

This post is the second part of my six-month experiment with becoming artsy. I have already told you about the doodling/analog stage, so this is about the digital stage. The mosaic picture above is one of the first attempts at digital art. It started out pretty much the same as an analog pictures, in that I traced the basic outline from a photograph I had taken years before. But, this time it was done by manipulating layers in a digital app. The picture was put on the bottom layer and the penned outline was made with an iPad and digital pen … Continue reading Mosaic of Life #18 – The Digital Stage Of Artsy – Part 1

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Mosaic of Life #6 – The Last Rose

RJ Walters

In today’s artsy post, I give you the Last Rose, and the story behind it. When my future wife asked me out on a date in late 1985, it totally surprised me. A few months before, I had totally given up the idea of dating. Due to my Aspie traits, all the attempts at dating from the years before that were disasters. I think I said “yes” to her asking me on a date more out of shock than anything else. Long story short, I asked her to marry me a few months later, and like me on that our … Continue reading Mosaic of Life #6 – The Last Rose

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Mosaic of Life #1 – Doodling & The Analog Stage Of Artsy

RJ Walters

I seriously started my Artsy project in mid-2023. For a few months, it was almost exclusively freehand doodling. That got my confidence up that I could at least do rudimentary hand-to-eye coordination. I have created a collage of these sketches above, and they are on Mosaic Wall. As almost everyone knows, to be good at anything takes PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. Some of the things I attempted in those first three months were just plain awful. They stayed out of the trash can for about 3 seconds after they were completed. But, they served a purpose. They were learning experiences. The first … Continue reading Mosaic of Life #1 – Doodling & The Analog Stage Of Artsy

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Mosaic of Life #36 – Who Knew I Would Some Day Become A Flower Child?

RJ Walters

Being in a RetCom (retirement community) now, I see plenty of bouquets at the front desk ready to be delivered to one of the residents. I can’t help but take a quick photo of them when I am there. The purple flower in the middle reminded me of the many cacti I saw on my Arizona adventure in 2022. Thus, the name “Purple Cactus”. In the 1960s, I was in college and working 40-hour weeks to pay for it, so I didn’t have the time to participate in the many Peace demonstrations during that period. I missed out, but I … Continue reading Mosaic of Life #36 – Who Knew I Would Some Day Become A Flower Child?

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Mosaic of Life #2 – The Beauty Of Flowers…

RJ Walters

As the first post on this new blog, I thought I would show you the first serious attempt in my Artsy Project. I have decided, at least until I get bored with the subject, to concentrate on the beauty of flowers. I am going to try to avoid all the complicated stuff about flowers and just focus on their beauty, and maybe their generic names. Until now, I couldn’t tell you my favorite flowers, as I didn’t know their names. I do have a couple of garden books that I bought from ThriftBooks. One is about how to photograph them … Continue reading Mosaic of Life #2 – The Beauty Of Flowers…