Time again for another Happy Color update; it’s been a few busy weeks since the last one.

Before getting into the stuff I colored, I need to talk about the “Similar” feature that was added to the app. This is a new option under completed pictures (except for Daily, Bonus, Good Cause, Collections, and Stories—which already makes it less useful to me since much of my coloring comes from those first two categories). Click the button and the app displays uncolored pictures one might like to color that are similar to the completed one. I do spend a fair bit of time looking for pictures to pair up, so initially thought this might be good for me despite the limits. It hasn’t been that useful, mostly because their idea of what makes a picture similar isn’t usually at all close to my idea. For instance, there was a daily that showed a horse’s head and neck with flowers in the border and the horse facing to the left of the frame. When I saw it, I remembered that not too long ago I’d finished two similar pictures, so I found those in my Completed tab and clicked on the Similar option under one of those (upper left in collage below); I couldn’t do the other as it was a bonus. The first image shown in the results set (upper right shows first four pictures in that set) was not as similar as I’d hoped: a horse, yes, but in a different pose, looking straight out at the viewer. The rest were not even horses: a lion, an elephant, a tiger, a hippo, another elephant, a fox, a panda, etc. There were a few horses further down, but none in the pose I wanted. I ended up finding my own pair; it’s the left hand image in the bottom panel of the collage below, with the right hand image being the daily I’d started with.

 
All that said about the similar feature, I have used it a couple times sucessfully. Maybe they weren’t as good of pairings as if I’d done them myself but it sure was faster.
On to what I colored and what’s in my in progress. I had a full week of travel, including sitting in airports and on planes for two solid days, during this stretch, so much coloring was done. The two people with birds on their heads get the featured slot because a) they were in progress for a while, and b) I’m delighted about how well they go together.

 

Groups I’ve finished since the previous update (most recent listed first; all counts include any friends I matched with the main images for the group):

Ice cream day (2) [June 10]

Dailies and mysteries from beginning of June mostly (28)

Patterns (4) [the dots that had been separators for a long time plus another geometric separator and friend]
Mirror image florals, most with a mosaic feel (8) [rearranged these several times based on how the colors emerged as I made progress]

June (2) [gnome and the June 1 daily]

Asymmetrical mandalas (2)

National Children’s Day (2) [June 8; used a bonus from International Children’s Day the week before that I’d gotten late and hadn’t included in that group]

World Oceans Day (2) [June 8]

Best Friends Day (2) [June 8]

National Donut Day (2) [June 6]

Eid al-Adha (2) [June 5 – 9]

Squirrels, mostly spring/summer vibes (66)

Dailies and mysteries (16)

Pictures of week/month for May (10)

National Hug Your Cat Day (2) [June 4]

World Bicycle Day (2) [June 3]

International Children’s Day (50) [June 1; yeah this got a bit out of hand as I kept finding more children]

People with birds on their heads (2)

Even more dailies/mysteries (30)

Bird themed dailies (4)

Cat and/or dog themed dailies/mysteries (8)

Memorial Day (4) [May 26]

More dailies/mysteries (4)

World Turtle Day (2) [May 23]

Dailies and mysteries from April/May (28)

Tea and meditation day (2) [May 21]

Currently In Progress:

1.) Mandalas that started with six separators but in reorganizing I went to look for a better pair for one of them and ended up with what’s really a group in and of itself. [14 images total]

2.) Dailies, which I am experimenting with starting as they are issued rather than waiting until the week is over. (Separators: monster triangle pic and simpler horizontal diamonds pattern) [4]

3.) Pictures of the week for June so far. (Separators: so many patterns, including flowing waves, tile patterns, and geometrics) [36]

4.) Pride month, waiting to see if there will be more pop up in Holidays (Separators: geometric spirals, wavy grids) [6]

5.) Summer (Separators: cool toned overlapping shapes) [48]

6.) Mandalas pulled from bonuses to see if any will pair nicely with dailies. (Separators: overlapping floral-esque patterns, mosaic waves) [16]

7.) Holiday/seasonal (now with summer moved to its own group): Pet Day, Internet Day, Dream Day, Spring, Autumn, Winter, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, birthdays, Cinco de Mayo, St. Patrick’s Day, Kwanzaa, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Women in Science Day, India Independence Day, Diwali, World Kindness Day, Rubber Duck Day, Teachers’ Day, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Venice Carnival, Day of the Dead, Relax Day, Equinox, Canada Day, World Water Day. (Separators: all the rest of them) [142]

*****

On this date in 2024: A Week in Photos: 2024, Part 21
2023: No journal entry
2022: A Week in Photos: 2022, Part 17
2009 to 2021: No entries
2008: Way Out West
2007: Three Makes a Pair
2004 to 2006: No entries
2003: Trip Report
2002: Body Hair