Free Music and Art in Fuquay-Varina

Free Music and Art in Fuquay-Varina

The arts organization, the Cosmic Cow Society, and Durham-based band West Trinity will be hosted by Cellar 101 in Fuquay-Varina in a multi-sensory blend of art and music on Friday, January 7 at 7 pm as a part of the Art After Dark event.  Durham-based band West Trinity will perform its bluesy rock originals and the entire establishment will be lined with the eclectic art from a regional arts organization, the Cosmic Cow Society. West Trinity features accomplished and original musicians, thoughtful lyrics, and powerful vocals. Currently working on their second album, Therese, Kenray, John, and Jensen have been featured frequently at Cellar 101 and are always well received. The arts organization, the Cosmic Cow Society, is made up of twelve diverse artists who work in various media, including painting (oil, watercolor, acrylic, gouache, mixed media), fiber art, photography, and woodcarving. The group is made up of some full-time professional artists, several interior designers, teachers, and some emerging artists pursuing art on a part-time basis. Artists will include artist and leader Scott Plaster (http://scottplaster.com), collage artist Perry Boswell (http://perryboswell.com), and woodcarver Bob Stuart (http://oldmancarvings.com). Highlights of the evening will include a woodcarving demonstration and prize raffles. You can find out more about the Cosmic Cow Society at http://cosmiccowsociety.com. West Trinity publicizes its events on http://WestTrinity.com and on Facebook at (http://www.facebook.com/WestTrinity). Find the Facebook event at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=160128810686851. Join us for an exciting evening of art and music!" The art will remain on exhibit until West Trinity returns on February 11. Cellar 101 is located at 101 S. Main Street, Fuquay-Varina, NC, 27526

ScottPlaster.com is Now W3 Validated. What??

ScottPlaster.com Website is Now W3 "Validated"  

Ok, so what does this little icon mean?

I'm sure everyone out there has visited a website and things were "out of place" or flat-out broken. Some sites even say Best Viewed in .... whatever browser. Well, the internet (believe it or not) has standards that website developers are advised to follow so we don't all bump into these problems. While being snowed in, I had something to keep me busy....

Some of you know that, besides being an artist (and teacher), I'm also a website developer. In addition to developing my own artist site at http://scottplaster.com and my new Free Greeting Card site at http://artgreetingcardsonline.com, I also have one for my website development consulting at http://webyoni.com.  I've also built many websites for businesses, including the Community Arts Cafe, the Gallery of the Arts, my arts organization the Cosmic Cow Society, restaurants including Fabian's in Winston-Salem, small businesses such as Brookstown Music and my girlfriend Therese's hair stylist site, and a number of art-related sites: Martin Tucker Photography, Sharon Kuhn's StudioTies website, and others. 

So, over the last week, I undertook the task of making some of my sites "compliant." That challenge is easier said than done, since only about FOUR PERCENT of all websites out there "Pass" (See for yourself HERE).   Only a very few popular sites you may use actually pass the test, including the Opera and Firefox websites, Wikipedia, and MSN.com. Some well-known sites fail miserably: Amazon.com with over 400 errors, Yahoo and Youtube with over 100 errors, and the ever-wonderful Facebook with a dozen. Of a few hundred thousand tested by one group, even websites produced by Dreamweaver and FrontPage are almost never compliant (3% and less than 1%). These "errors" don't necessarily mean that the websites are bad or don't work, or that passing the standard alone make it a good website. Passing the validation test DOES mean that the behind-the-scenes code will ensure that all recent browsers (and even older) can view the web pages accurately.

I like to think that you can make a user-friendly, attractive, functional website and still follow the "rules." During my website "fixing" validation process, I used every available popular browser (IE, Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Sarafi) to make sure that my sites look the same in each. This task was not easy. Some functions, in particular, do not follow the standards well, including Facebook and video integration, but I found ways to make my pages compliant. 

In the end, I was able to validate ALL 15 pages of http://scottplaster.com (including the online image gallery), all the pages of http://webyoni.com, and the entire http://hairbytherese.com site.

Was it worth it? It was to ME. :-)

--Scott

FROM: http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/mama-markup-validation-report/

NEW: Online Art Jigsaw Puzzles from Artist Scott Plaster

Online Art Jigsaw Puzzles
I'm really happy to offer everyone a little diversion in these trying times -- which goes along with the philosophy embodied by my artwork. Who doesn't need an extra laugh or smile?

I already have SIX Puzzles to choose from, including "Shaggy Sheep" featured here. These online Flash-based puzzles featuring my artwork are fun to use, and the pieces even snap into place as you solve them. What a cool challenge -- time yourself as you see my artwork piece itself into place. Just use the link below, or from my website at http://puzzles.scottplaster.com, select "Puzzle!" from the jump menu.

Happy Puzzling!

Try Scott's Online Art Puzzles Now

Christmas Present ...

Hello!  I have a special gift for everyone.  Solve the Online Puzzle to Unveil the Special Message!

http://scottplaster.com/christmaspuzzle.php

Also, last day to send FREE Online Greeting Cards!

Send a free greeting card from my site at http://artgreetingcardsonline.com.



Sincerely,

Scott

Solve the Puzzle to See the Message...

Solve the Puzzle to See the Message...

Hello!  I have a special gift for everyone.  Solve the Online Puzzle to Unveil the Special Message!

http://scottplaster.com/christmaspuzzle.php

Sincerely,

Scott

FREE Online E-Cards.....Send one NOW

One More Day...

It's almost Christmas; why not send an online greeting card to people on your list who didn't make the "present list" this year? I offer this service absolutely free of charge just to share my art.

I've also included a choice of Holiday Songs (which is optional).

Why not send something with some local flavor to the art and animal lovers on our list?

It's REALLY easy. No logins. No payment. You can add font effects, and even get a message when the card is picked up. You've got nine images to choose from, including "Greetings from the North Pole" featured here. The original 22"x28" "Tazewell Mountain" painting was based on a scene from Tazewell County in Southwestern Virginia, where I used to live. Yes, the mountains there really do look like that! The original painting is hanging on the wall of my classroom, and is available as a greeting card and in one of my card sets.

~ Send One NOW ~

Time Running Out: FREE e-Cards and Other News

Time Running Out: FREE e-Cards and Other News

It's getting closer to Christmas; time to send one of my free Online Greeting Cards. Most cards are $.99 at Hallmark.com, and even for the cheapest Walmart card, you've got postage and a trip to the Post Office.

Why not send something with some local flavor to the art and animal lovers on our list?

It's REALLY easy. No logins, no annoying music, no payment. You can add font effects, and even get a message when the card is picked up. You've got nine images to choose from, including "Greetings from the North Pole" featured here. The original 22"x28" "Tazewell Mountain" painting was based on a scene from Tazewell County in Southwestern Virginia, where I used to live. Yes, the mountains there really do look like that! The original painting is hanging on the wall of my classroom, and is available as a greeting card and in one of my card sets.

I've been hard at work on MY WEBSITE. If you haven't taken a look lately, please do! I have it decorated for the holidays, but I've also added some visual effects, totally rebuilt the site to make pages easier to find, and also added a contact page. I recently added a neat little Cry Baby home button, and made the images on some page rotate through a set of different pictures. My site has an image gallery, but also has separate pages to showcase my cards and prints. There's even an interactive page where you can play with the animals from my paintings! See if you can see anything different about the animals in the header...

If you'd like to know more about my work, I was just featured in a newspaper article available online below:

~ Send One NOW ~

Read the Article About Scott in the Mountain Times