Blog Views By Roz...

As a result of the 911 catastrophe Graphics Schmaphics Exclusive Judaic Greetings Club flung open its virtual doors in the early part of 2002. BEFORE 911 it was a dream, AFTER 911 it was my mission and became my reality. My motivating thought was: "We do not know how long we will be here, why not follow my own dreams instead of playing the victim!"

Won't you help me celebrate that dream. It is FREE to enter, Nothing to lose, but all to gain! Click the banner to find out more!

Roz Fruchtman

Posted by roz at 01:51 PM | Permalink

In Tribute To, And In Memory of...

the 911 World Trade Center Disaster,
the attack on our Nation's Capitol,
and those who lost their lives in a small field in Pennsylvania

It is "my belief," Memorial Day is not only to remember and honor those who lost their lives in wartime, but all lost lives and all those left behind to carry on.

Since September 11, 2001, that fateful day when we were unmercifully attacked and almost 3000 people lost their lives in one swoop, I do what I can, when I can... to pay tribute to those who were lost, those who were left behind to pick up the pieces of their lives and move on, and the rest of us who are lucky enough to still be here. This Memorial Day is no different!

While it seems small in comparison to the enormity of what happened... during my period of healing I discovered my flair for digital art and design.

Before 911, I was dabbling with my new found skills and talent, however, it was only after 911 when I discovered my art was motivated and dominated by my deep emotional feelings for everyday life's happenings, unfortunate catastrophes, compassion for others, and my own insecurities as well as accomplishments. I discovered I was not unique, IF I was experiencing certain feelings, so were others, or they would, or knew/know someone who would or did. This inspired me to move on and is a continual source of joy and feelings of gratefulness! Since then I learned to embrace this gift and use it whenever, where ever and for whatever reason I can.

AS AN ASIDE: A few days after the attack on the World Trade Center, in order for me to give something back — how small it seems in comparison to what others gave — and to get me through the early feelings of shock, pain, and devastation I put together a small tribute of eCards.

http://www.TableTopGreetings.com

Posted by roz at 02:22 PM | Permalink

After all these years on the web, I suppose I was lucky to have escaped this long without catching a killer virus. A month ago my luck ran out when I my computer was invaded beyond repair. You would think people had better things to do with themselves than create havoc in other people's lives.

This said... in the end it was a blessing that it did NOT attack my main computer where my life's work resides. My laptop did not contain much data and I was able to back it up before trashing everything. What a learning experience this turned out to be!

I spent the better part of Monday evening with Dell technicians reformatting my hard drive and reinstalling my Operating System. Considering how bad it could have been, it was a true blessing. I got two excellent Dell technicians located in the Philippines.

They made appointments to call me back and so they did. I will admit I was leery as I have not had the best of experience as of late with Dell's tech support ot anything else from them since they started outsourcing. I am hoping times are changing as I have had better experiences the last few times I called them.

Way to go Dell!

Posted by roz at 02:12 AM | Permalink

I just posted this novella on another site in response to a question on how "Making Changes Inspires One's Art and Creativity." It's a look into my own life and how life's changes inspire my art and creativity on a daily basis.

Art, Creativity and Making Changes

I am not a formally trained artist and until five-six years or so ago would have laughed if anyone would have told me that I had a *graphically* artistic side. However, when I came to the web I discovered I needed to learn HTML. Then I needed graphics for my pages and I then discovered copyright infringement laws and the lack of art that was really available for the taking/using. Even the programs which I bought, I found to have *very limited* usage.

With all of this I discovered I was in trouble when I needed to find some Judaic graphic images for my very first Passover page (This was my learning time. I started doing holiday pages, for lack of a better topic!). After two weeks I found one image that I could use. It was nice, but I was clueless what to do with it. An Internet friend made it into a left border background for me and all was well, NOT! I wanted to know how to do it myself. She invited me to a weekly free Paint Shop Pro class on the web. I went and met some other caring souls who took me under their wing and taught me enough to be dangerous.

So now I discovered that I had a flair for digital art and enjoyed it as well. I think I first enjoyed the amazement that I was able to create things that people actually liked! Took a while to accept the term artist, but I eventually accepted digital artist with pride!

After 911 I decided, since we did not know how long we were going to be here, I was going to follow my dream of setting up a Judaic eCard club. Not being religious this was a stretch, but I plugged along. I was/am blessed to have a friend who IS religious and she was able to guide me. But... I HAD great difficulty coming up with the words and even some ideas. The images were ok, but I was lost when it came to the words as I came from a VERY dysfunctional family and I DID NOT have much to draw from -- that was good, that is. Much negative was stored, but very little positive!

FINALLY, at my lowest moment I discovered Tony Robbins via a late-night infomercial. I wish I would have found him many years ago as my life would have been so much different, but... as Tony says *Your past does not equal your future!* This was a life-changing statement for me. I unloaded lots of heavy baggage the first time I heard it.

MY POINT... AFTER... I started doing *Personal Power Classic* with *Get The Edge* I found that *my artistic side* was blossoming. I could look at almost anything and be artistic about it: Even a crack in the sidewalk inspired me - literally!

BEFORE... Tony Robbins I did realize that my creativity was inspired by *my deep emotions and compassion for others.* But AFTER, I worked with Tony's programs... I embraced this fact!

Now... I am able to draw/pull ideas from my emotions daily if need be. IF I am scared, then I realize that others are feeling as I do or will or have, or know someone who is at that moment. IF I am glad, then the same applies. I draw from all of this when I design.

I can't really draw much with pencil and paper, but I have learned that I can draw a few simple things where before I would not have even tried. Mostly my art is created digitally using Photoshop, filters, plugins, images, etc. etc. I design from scratch or using other images and manipulating them *most of the time* into something that does not resemble what I started out with. For example, I have learned that even bad digital images can turn out to be beauties.

I started to write this in response to the original thread, but am not sure I hit the mark.

But I will say, that artistic creativity comes in many flavors and I find my biggest inspiration *everyday life!* (whether good, bad or ugly)

NOW... if I can support myself with all of this that would be the ultimate prize!

My card site is at:
Graphics Schmaphics Exclusive Judaic Greetings
http://www.GraphicsSchmaphicsExclusive.com
SHORTER URL: http://www.GSExclusive.com

Hope this saga helps in some way. I have far from reached my goal, but I am light years away from where I was. I have Tony's programs to thank for that. Like he says: *I did the work, but he... provided the tools and the support!*

I guess after all of this I am trying to say... IF you can somehow introduce your clients to their artistic side, the rest might take care of itself as they discover that they really do have talent -- drawing, writing, helping others, etc.

I am in NYC and have gone to the National Stationery Show for the past three years or so. Just walking around there and seeing what some call art is inspiring. There seems to be a market for almost anything!

Roz / BlogViewsByRoz.com

Posted by roz at 05:47 PM | Permalink

William J. Bell is the Legendary Creator of my two favorite CBS daytime soap operas "The Young and the Restless" and "The Bold and the Beautiful." I almost fell off the chair when I saw the memorial message a short time ago.)

Mr. Bell died Friday, April 29, 2005 at the age of 78 of complications due to Alzheimer's Disease.

After the initial shock, my first thoughts were: "How many more will we lose to this horrible disease. Why can't they find a cure! Is this what the rest of us have to look forward to IF we are unlucky enough to get Alzheimers." At least, Mr. Bell and former President Ronald Reagan had loving families. What about the rest of us who may not have the loving support system available to us! What will become of us!

I have been watching The Young and The Restless for more years than I can remember. My mother died in 1976. I remember a time before her death when she and I were talking about Mrs. Chancellor's husband being buried on the Chancellor estate. The conversation seemed so real to my father that he asked who we were talking about. When we told him we were talking about soap characters he looked at both of us as if we had just gone around the bend! (Isn't it funny the things we remember. It is as vivid to me as if it happened not five minutes ago.

Read the official story on the CBS website.

My heart-felt condolences go out to the Bell family as well as all the fans of The Young and The Restless and The Bold and The Beautiful!

Posted by roz at 02:06 PM | Permalink