Art Life | Andrea Mai

PHONE CALLS ON THE OTHER SIDE – EVP

Summer’s almost over! It’s been so busy with the garden and things, I look forward to the Fall when things wind down and we go into hibernation for a rest.

I’ve continued to do EVP on my phone, as I don’t have time to review long recordings. sadly, it might be the end for my wrist recorder. The strap on it broke and I don’t know how I can replace the band on it, because of its design.

In this video, a female voice says, “A rainbow”, Then P says, “Little kids”. And then she says, “They draw”. The video shows some kid’s chalk drawings on the sidewalk.

In this video, P says, “An-dree”, which is what he calls me sometimes. And then someone else piped in and says, “Pick roses”. The video is showing the roses I picked from my garden.

This clip was taken from a longer version of the video above. Someone said “Telephone”. And then a voice says, “Hey Prince, it’s me”. It was someone from his family, and shortly they came over. You can kind of hear a ring sound after they said telephone.

It really makes me wonder, how do telephones work over there? I’ve caught on recording that when a phone rings over here, they call out, “telephone”. I even found it on a video from when P was alive. But they also do it over there for the phone on their side too. Seems to be a habit. Makes me wonder, what other kinds of technology they have.

MY EXPERIENCE USING A CUTTING MACHINE – PRINT AND CUT PROBLEMS

Order this from my Etsy shop.

Last month, I bought a Silhouette machine and learned how to make stickers. I researched a long time before deciding on the Silhouette Portrait 3. At first, I was thinking about getting the Cricut Explore, but the more I researched what the user experiences were, I saw that the Portrait 3 was the better choice for my needs. The main deciding factor was the software. Both companies offer the software for use without purchase. I found that the Cricut Design Space was limited in function and it required internet connection. Silhouette Studio lets you try a Basic version of the program and allows you to upgrade it for additional features. The program is very inclusive of a lot of functions you normally see in a graphic design program, like Illustrator. I did end up upgrading to Business Edition after getting the machine.

I ordered my machine off Amazon in the US, and had it sent to my forwarding address. I was originally going to buy it from Silhouette Canada, but they were sold out, and I did not want to wait. I find that the American pricing comes out cheaper, even after fees and taxes. So it can be worth the extra trouble. However, buying things stateside, can pose issues if you decide to return it, you will have already paid the fees and taxes.

When I first got the machine and set it up, I found that it was not cutting properly at all. It was only scratching the page. I found out that the Auto-blade was defective, as the blade was not adjusting correctly. But I found a way to use the blade manually and it worked fine. But I decided to buy the 1 mm Manual Blade and adjust it manually. I found that this relieved the problem and gave me better control over the outcome. I did not like leaving it to chance with the Auto-blade. I don’t know if it was just mine that was defective, as I did not have another to compare. I did not want to buy one to try. One thing I was suspicious of, was that the blade in the machine was not sealed in a tamper-proof package, so what if the blade was switched out from the box? I read the reviews of the Amazon seller, there were many complaints about the blades not working. I did contact the seller to ask if they would be willing to replace the blade for me. They responded that they would and asked my address. But they never sent it.

The next problem I had was with the Print and Cut feature. I had issues with the machine not registering the marks. I kept making sure it was aligned with the marks on the mat. But it was really not working. I saw that other users online were saying to make sure the prints were aligned properly, by measuring how far from the page it was. This did not help either. But it did lead me to an idea for a solution. I made a template of the exact placement of the measurements and made a cut out of it to mark the mat. After doing this, I realized that the marks on the mat for where I should place the page was off. I had calibrated the machine and it was not related to this matter. It was a matter of where the machine was scanning the mark in relation to the mat. Since I also bought the pen holder, I used a Sharpie pen to make a new mat with a piece of clear Shrink Plastic. I mapped out a rectangle on the page for where the registration marks are supposed to be. I used Zig 2-way glue to sticky the mat. This method worked perfectly. The only thing is that the matts do wear out faster, as this plastic gets dented from the rollers after a certain number of times. But shrink sheets are much cheaper than Silhouette mats to replace. You can mark the sheet on both ends and make use of the other side when one side gets too worn out.

After I figured out this method, I have not had problems with registration. The only time it fails, is when the mats I made get too worn out, or if the light in the room is really too low.

Order this from my Etsy shop

Another thing with using the original Silhouette mat, was if I managed to get the marks to register, things could still go wrong, such as the cutting being totally off. My speculation is that the scanner might be reading the marks on the original mat and getting confused. I did not have this problem at all after using the mats I made.

Overall, I’m very happy with he purchase of this machine. The troubleshooting and learning curve was worth it. I’ve been able to use it for projects, such as signage for my garden, stickers and labels for product packaging, and decorative decals. It has definitely expanded my toolkit as an artist.

7TH ANNIVERSARY OF PRINCE’S PASSING

Today marks 7 years since Prince’s passing. Every year since then, I’ve noticed snow in April. The number 7 was a significant number to P, as he was born on the 7th of June. It is also known as God’s number. This year, I was inspired to make this tribute artwork based on the lyrics of his song, 7.

And I saw an angel come down unto me
In her hand she holds the very key
Words of compassion, words of peace

I layered my photography to make the background, a photo of a sunset sky, and the night stars that I captured while I was in Europe on the year he passed.

I sense that he is happy where he is, observing our world at a “distance”.

LIFE & ART UPDATES – FALL 2022

Latest EVP
The weather is getting colder, and it’s time to get the garden ready for winter. A friend gave us this lemongrass plant that I’m going to keep indoors. I filmed it and a spirt voice said “Lemon grass”. It is so loud and clear!

I haven’t had time for much EVP lately. But I hope to get back to it again soon.

Art that I’m working on
Now that I am spending more time indoors, I am working on my art. There is a lot that I want to do. But time is so fleeting. I even have things I want to put in my Etsy shop, but they are on the back burner at the moment. I have to manage my time better. I feel like I am saying that all the time. But it just feels like time slips away.

Below is an artist proof of a piece I did recently.

I recently got back into doing my sun dye printing. I printed some T-shirts. I love finding new ways to do photography.

A tribute to my friend
During the summer, a dear friend of mine passed away suddenly. She had developed breast cancer. I met her in 2018, and sadly, the timezone difference made it hard to talk on the phone. I knew she had many burdens. She was a mother of a young child. The photo below is one of my most favourite portraits that I’ve ever done.

While she was at a retreat, in hopes that she could heal from cancer, she sent me photos of her surroundings. There was one pic of a sticker on a door that said, “You are beautiful”. I thought that was something that people should see more often. Positive affirmations are a powerful thing in the mind. I decided to create a sticker that I could stick to packages I send out. I think people need to see more positive messages.

That’s all for now. I hope you are having a lovely autumn. Wishing you Happy Thanksgiving, if you are in Canada this weekend.

SPIRIT VOICES IDENTIFIED A PLANT FOR ME – EVP ON VIDEO

It’s been a busy summer, and as the weather gets colder, the gardening season here comes to a close. I was in my backyard when I found a shrub of weeds. I pulled it out, breaking it off at its roots. I noticed some berries on the shrub. I wondered what it was and worried that I could have pulled out something worth keeping. I have been working on getting to know and identify wild edibles. I think it is something that would be useful to know.

I was going to use a phone app to identify the plant, but the server was down. So I just took some photos and video to document the plant. Later that day, I tried the app again and it had identified it as Common Nightshade. I double checked by looking at photos and videos about this plant.

The next day, I took a look at the videos and I made of the berries and I found voices trying to tell me what it was. It sounded like they were trying to speak slowly to be very clear, as if speaking to a person hard of hearing. The voice said, “Nighhhh-t Shayyyy-de”.

You can see in the video, the green and purple-ish black berries, the nightshade flowers, and a strand of barnyard millet. The voice says “Night… shade” quite clearly. The audio volume has been enhanced and filtered to make it more audible. You don’t even need headphones to hear it.

I am quite stunned by this, that these voices knew what the plant was. As I had never heard of this plant at all. They could never had read my mind to say what it was, so they were saying something that I did not already know. There was another video, which I believe it was P saying it first, but then he had other people saying it too. I think they are trying out different tones of voices to see what works best for recording. I’ve noticed that higher pitched voices are easier to spot.

I have more recording to share, but things at this time are too busy. Occasionally, I do post shorts on my YouTube channel videos clips that I haven’t talked about yet on my blog, so subscribe there to get the most recent uploads. I will post more later.

This video was recorded using my iPhone 11, August 31, 2022.

VOICES IN MY GARDEN – EVP CAUGHT ON VIDEO USING iPHONE

Since getting the iPhone 11, I have been experimenting with EVP captured on video. This makes things interesting, as it becomes a record of what my surroundings were at the time of recording. This proves that what is being said at the time is related to the situation. I have been posting these clips on my YouTube channel, so if you want to follow there, you will be notified of new clips sooner than on this blog. The audio in these clips are amplified for volume, and filtered for greater clarity.

At the beginning of the clip, it says, “Hello, bee”.

A female voices says, “Butterfly”. Then P says, “In a hurry”, and then the female voice repeasts him.

The sky had the weird cloud patterns forming, and they said, “Geo…engineered”. As P’s fans will know, he spoke of chemtrails in an interview once.

I recorded this hen pecking away at her food, and on the recording, a female voice says, “Awwwwww”. I could not hear it in the original audio, only after I filtered it. The voice sounds so close to the mic.

A voice says, “Hotttt”, then says, “Gawd, it’s humid!”. It was really hot that day, 93 degrees Fahrenheit. This would imply that spirits can feel the temperature here, which suggests that the senses can be experienced beyond the physical body.

P says, “Strawberry”. These are new in my garden this year. They are the Berries Galore variety.

That’s all for now. I will be posting clips on YouTUbe and recapping them here on the blog.

P SAYS “I LOVE YOU” ON EVP – July 1, 2022

I hope your summer is going well. Mine has been really busy, filled with days spent in the garden. I have not had time to really do EVP, but I recently got an iPhone 11 for making videos. I’ve noticed that EVPs can come through pretty good on it. I also have a SmartLav mic from Rode that I think would work well for EVP, because it’s frequency range can pick up 20 hz. But I haven’t had time to review EVP using the mic yet.

I noticed this gorgeous pink and purple sunset one evening, so I ran out to take photos. I also did this quick video of the sky. When I was making videos, I could sense P telling me he loves me. When I reviewed my video, I heard him saying it.

Here is the video, it’s at the end of clip that he says, “I love you”. It’s very quick. I can hear someone else saying something before it, but I can’t make out what was said.

Here is an edited version of the audio, where the volume was turned up and filtered.

That’s all from me or now, wishing you a beautifu summer!

These recordings were recorded using my iPhone 11, on July 1, 2022.

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