Anne Barschall

Friday, June 10, 2022

More historical info

This is some older information that previously appeared on my updates page, but I decluttered that page by moving this here. It's not really important.

Here's a photo taken by Brad Benson of me performing with Lauren Stripling at The Magnet Theater in November of 2014.

link to: Stern Selfie

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How the updates page started (in 2014):

I made my very first attempt to post updates on linkedin

This was one of those hard knocks things.

First, they had rather small limits on the lengths of updates.

Second, they removed carriage returns, so that bulleted lists become garbled.

Third, There didn't seem to be a way to edit a post once you get it up there.

Fourth, it was really hard to enter text in there, because they automatically substituted miscellaneous links, while I was typing, and I had to hit "escape" while typing to avoid getting this miscellaneous, unrelated garbage in your post.

So I deleted my post, put a link to my updates blog on linkedin, and am maintaining it for recent updates. I also have a link to the update page on my website and on my profile at Paul Michael's The Network. I am grateful to this website for allowing me to be verbose and format and reformat my posts.

Musings about getting into Art

Update about commercializing my art

Some people have been encouraging me to try to put my doodles into the field of surface design: fabrics, carpets, etc.

I went to the Printsource convention during the summer of 2019. This is a convention where people selling surface designs offer their wares to the buyers. Apparently there are a number of such conventions in NYC. This is one of the few that allows non-exhibiting artists to visit and talk to people.

Looking at the exhibitors, it appeared that they had all put in several thousand dollars getting their designs printed up poster size and in books on thick display material. They all had hundreds of designs.

True, none of their designs looked similar to mine, but that could be fashion.

I got the e-mail addresses of at least 20 businesses that hire artists for surface design. I e-mailed all of them with a link to my google photo album. A few got back to me saying that they liked my art, but they needed art in digital vector form, not hand drawn. One company said that they need patterns that repeat so that they can be printed out on rolls.

I’m just not willing to spend the time and money to create this type of exhibit or get the software necessary to create digital images. I just want to draw on paper. It’s a stress relief thing. I don't want to work on making my designs repeat, either. I'm sure it could be done -- likely not too difficult -- but not really fun for me. I do think my designs would be suitable for a scarf or an area rug, without repeating.

There are some designers who do hand drawn designs — but companies that hire those designers did not get back to me.

I have put a couple of designs on spoonflower.com (link to my page), but no one contacted me as interested. One of the artists at the convention told me that you have to promote them. No one just goes on there browsing. Again, I’m not willing to spend the money to create a marketing campaign.

In order to sell from spoonflower you have to order a sample and proof it. I haven't done that yet, though I might at some point.

Original blog on Musings about getting into art

In the past, I always regarded art as a distraction, not even to the level of a hobby -- just something to do to calm down. I never thought that I was good at art. When I was a kid, there were art classes in school, and I never felt that my representational art was as good as that of many of the other students in the classes I took.

Also, my handwriting was very poor for a girl. I don't think it was as bad as the boys' handwriting, but I got negative remarks for it.

I started doing calligraphy to try to overcome bad handwriting. I doodled a lot, the way one might drum one's fingers or crack one's knuckles, just to release stress.

I've posted some of my calligraphy on this blog before.

Then, in 2017, I started remembering my mother's doodles. She doodled in the margins of shopping lists and newsletters -- abstract shapes. I remember thinking some of them were quite beautiful -- but I don't have any of them now, because they were all thrown away with the documents they were drawn on.

I decided to start doing doodles to give to friends, so that my doodles wouldn't suffer the same fate as my mother's. Then I posted some on social media. To my surprise, people really loved them. I've even sold some. That's hard for me to wrap my mind around. Someone bought art from me? Curious.

Animation/3D Modeling/Rigging

Samples of my work

WordPress Blog about my recent studies with blow by blow updates of samples of my skills http://barschall.wordpress.com

Courses I've taken

Certificate program in 3D Modeling & Animation, wcc Sept 2021-July 2022, Prof: Joseph Thomas
Java Programming for Video Games, Summer 2021, Lehman College, Prof: Brian Murphy
2D Animation, WCC, Fall 2021, prof. Deborah Krikun

#Maya #Java #Zbrush #Adobe #Animator #PhotoShop #Animate #Illustrator #AdobeAnimate #Flash #AdobePhotoShop #AdobeIllustrator #AutoDesk #AutoDeskMaya #AutoDeskSketchbookPro #3DAnimation #3DModeling #Animation

Wednesday, June 1, 2022

Uvalde

Just memorializing a Facebook comment that I wrote in response to a post by Tulsi Gabbard.

On the one hand, Uvalde was certainly a terrible tragedy. On the other hand, how many people were killed in automobile accidents during the same time as we’ve been watching Uvalde situation unfold? Why is traffic death not newsworthy? Isn’t that precisely the sort of corporate control of media that normally concerns you?

And why are we focused just on the mass shootings, and not the enormous number of gun related suicides? Isn’t that something that the gun lobby wants to hide, that guns are not just showy phallic totems that make the owner look potent; but also the agents of misery, depression, self hatred, and self harm?

Friday, May 20, 2022

2020 updates

Moving these from my ongoing log for brevity of that one

News from 2020

recent performances

Virtual Christmas Carol d Elizabeth Aquino; playing the ghost of Christmas Past Here's my blog about this Virtual Christmas Carol Dec 12-13, 2020
Improv performance with Magnet Theater on Zoom Dec. 4, 2020
Art show at the Warner Library, Tarrytown NY -- Nov 3-30 https://annebarschall.blogspot.com/2020/11/pix-from-my-art-show-warnerlibraryny.html
10/10/20 my midterm project in Digital animation https://youtu.be/PsQPRox-QBo
9/11/20 release of "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" with Peter Hollens and friends. I'm at 1:42-1:53; 2:37-2:45; and 3:03 https://youtu.be/TdXbEXOjft0
7/19/20 release of Virtual Choir 6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InULYfJHKI0 I didn't find my video yet, but I found me in the credits https://www.instagram.com/p/CC2WsIfjOae/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Weeks of May 11 & 18 participated https://virtualchoir6.com/ Here was my submission https://youtu.be/XIswmtaGggA
April & May, participated in Liana Afuni's "Kick-A** Play Reading Group" on FB several times
5/22/20 Participated in Eric Whitacre's virtual choir
4/10/20 remote filming undisclosed industrial from home
My blog about my STC (Saudi Telecom Company) ad link to stc blog, which has 12 million views as of 3/11/20
2/22/20 performing with Cherub Improv at Kessler Hospital in West Orange, NJ
2/19/20 filming undisclosed commercial in NJ
1/27/20 filming undisclosed commercial in NJ
1/21/20 performed in Magnet Musical Mixer
1/13/20 Photoshoot at Gary's Loft, Brooklyn for undisclosed client

courses completed

Art 147, "Introduction to Digital Animation" Prof. D Krikun (fall semester 2020 -- via Zoom) New blog site created for this course
Improv 2, Magnet Theater with Ross Taylor (retaking the course -- via Zoom) October-December 2020. Class Show: December 4 on Zoom
FTS 212 "Introduction to films and TV," Prof U Gonzalez, Lehman College online (Movies watched: "The Persistence of Vision," "The Kid," "Hugo," "13th," "Pulp Fiction," "The Unforgiven, "Pan's Labyrinth") (Encore program) (July-Aug 2020)
6/1/20, 5/4/20, 4/27/20, 4/20/20, 4/1/20, 3/24/20, 2/25/20, 2/15/20 zoom dance class with James T Lane
2/7/20 dance class with James T Lane
1/21/20 dance class with James T. Lane

CLE courses completed

November: several courses from NYIPLA
9/5/20 "Social Security and Disability Claims: A Primer" United CLE
8/25/20 "Dissecting the New York Primary: Lost Votes and the Creation of a Better Process for November"
8/19/20 "Practicing Law in a Pandemic: Remote Lawyering in the Age of COVID-19 Part II" United CLE
8/8/20 "Recognizing and Removing Bias from the Legal Profession" United CLE
6/23/20 "Litigating and appealing health care and long term disability insurance denials" United CLE
5/22/20 "Hot Topics in IP" JPPCLE

media consumed

albums purchased: "Sing Gently" by Eric Whitacre Virtual Choir; The Soundflowers EP; David Foster "Eleven Words," The Hu "Gereg," Avi Kaplan "I'll Get By", John Williams "The Rise of Skywalker," Adam Lambert "Velvet," Adam Lambert "Trespassing"
Livestreams: 4 by Josh Groban; 1 by Matt & Savanna Shaw

Thursday, April 28, 2022

My art shows

Nov 2020: art show in the Warner Library in Tarrytown, NY. Instagram posts

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Flyer for art show: Cortelyou branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. I'm hoping to move this show to libraries in Westchester soon.

My art was previously on display at the Mapleton Library in Brooklyn. Here was the flyer. Please note that most of my drawings are done with sparkle ink, which may not be immediately apparent on still photos.

My art was on display at the Borough Park Library, 1265 43rd St, Brooklyn NY -- 1/15/19-2/28/19. This was the flyer -- tho the show was extended from the original announced date

Monday, April 18, 2022

Water failing inspection due to haloacetic acids -- Tarrytown NY

I posted this question on the 10591 FB group.

Twice now I have received a notification that the water in Tarrytown has failed inspection due to excessive halo-acetic acids. What, if anything, are people doing about this? Do people have a preferred water filtration system?
I pulled an old Brita filter pitcher out of the cupboard, put in a new filter, and started using it again. I had stopped, because I was more concerned about the plastic in the pitcher than I was about the water. Now, tho, since we've gotten this notice, I decided to use it again.
But someone told me I should use a Berkey. Then I discovered that those were rather expensive, and, moreover, there are a baffling array of filtration options out there.
I'm thinking a whole house filtration system is overkill. I don't need to flush my toilets or wash my laundry in filtered water.
Anyway, if anyone has any thoughts, I would like to hear them.

This has turned out to be my most popular comment in that group. I got 60 comments before the admin turned off commenting. I'm not going to reproduce all the comments here, but here were some interesting points.

The Tarrytown Village Administrator posted a copy of the village notice.

(This follow-up notice was originally circulated Village-wide on April 1, 2022, and is posted on the Village website)
Dear Concerned residents of Tarrytown:
Good morning.
Although a Village-wide e-mail blast already went out, it appears that some people did not receive it. We wanted to make sure that the Village had shared this information with everyone.
The Village sent out a village-wide e-mail with further information on Friday, April 1, 2022.
This communication is to follow-up on the elevated chemical quarterly notice that the Village of Tarrytown issued on March 31, 2022.
• Our water is safe to drink, wash and cook with.
• Westchester County Health Department and the New York State Health Department gave us a notice of violation and mandatory order to issue that notice.
• It is a quarterly notice of elevated Tri-halomethanes (THMs) and Haloacetic acids (HAAs).
• This warning is targeted to people with suppressed immune systems and who have elevated risk of cancer over long-term exposure (20 to 30 years), so they can consider drinking bottled water for the time being.
• THMs and HAAs are a byproduct of the chlorination process, and are created when chlorine reacts with organic material like algae, bacteria and parasites that occur in natural water like the water we receive from NY City’s Catskill and Delaware systems.
• Chlorine has for many decades been considered one of the safest ways to make drinking water safe to drink, cook and bathe with.
• New York City treats our water with chlorine before it reaches Tarrytown’s system.
• The THM and HAA chemicals are elevated because New York City had been using higher levels of chlorine.
• New York City has since reduced their chlorination levels, in turn has reduced the levels of THMs and HAAs.
• We may have to issue another one or two quarterly notices, if the quarterly average levels remain above the notice threshold, but the last readings this past quarter were back down into the range of levels that are safe.
Let us know if you have any other questions or concerns.
Very truly yours,
Richard Slingerland
Village Administrator