The Last Stop

Well the book is done and  I am quite satisfied with the end result. The emotional roller coaster that is life is well documented through the eyes of a graduate. The book gives me the closure that I have not seeked but have forced upon my departure from this paradise. Sarasota has been a good friend which I will miss dearly. I will return a different person as well, soon, and I hope often. Sarasota 

is a wonderful place to grow as an artist and thrive in its delight. Leaving shows me how much growth has taken place and returning will prove to open my eyes once again to the glory that is Florida.I want to say thank you to all my professors who have not coddled me and have demanded perfection along the way, making me a better person, and artist. It's a tough racket out there and no better place to learn that hard lesson then the school that you pay thousands to work your ass off. It has been a huge learning experience of acceptance and power, which allows me to rise to any occasion. I feel like I can handle pretty much anything that comes my way and know that the foundation is strong, providing an awesome platform to improve. I won't let you guys down. I love you all, Thanks again Folks.

P.S. To all of those who would like a copy of my book click on the link below.

The best book in the World  

Cracker Barrel 101

      I started off just going to Cracker Barrel for a quick bite to eat. Little did I know it would turn into my next experience. Walking in I had planned to do a little drawing while eating so I asked my waitress for some paper and pen. She comes back with filled out seating charts for scrap paper and a regular Bic pen. Naturally I start scanning through the different names on each chart and wonder what they may have had to eat. My stomach growls and I start looking for my waitress, who I hope plans on serving me now. Glancing at the wall next to me, I notice some interesting vintage signs with all different kinds of typography while continuing  to read the seating charts and let my mind do the connections impulsively. At the time I tried to make a connection with each chart by continuing the list with another person's name or thing that made sense to me. Mind you all the connections or drawings were from signage inside Cracker Barrel, so I think it came out interesting. It's funny how at the time the connections that I made seemed to fit really well but now that I read it over I don't know what I was thinking. It is the same for design, when we come up with the saving grace or the answer to the problem, we work on it, it looks so good and finished, then we realize the next day how horrible it is. Yeah but that was my baby! Yeah right! One of my professor's back at community college use to make us work on a drawing for four hours at least, then he would come around and shammy every one's baby. Drawing,s of course. I learned quickly nothing is sacred in the art world and sometimes doing things fast with no thought involved create great results.    

Right Where You Are Sitting Expo #1

Write ten things about where you are sitting right now that you hadn't noticed when you sat down. Use your senses. Do it quickly. Do not Censor. Okay, begin.

1. Air freshener is going bad 

2. Fishing rod in my eye

3. Power switch to lights is still on

4. Sand everywhere

5. The girl on the back of Reax is really hot "UNZIP"

6. A receipt from tiger Mart

7. My yellow fishing line

8. White shrimp bait stinks its crusty

9. 2009 Wild Acres Art Workshops

10. 99.5 Country Music

In 1952, a milk truck driver in Watertown, New York, USA, complained to a local chemist about the smell of spilled milk. Luckily for that driver, the chemist was Julius Samann, who had spent several years extracting essential oils from pine needles in Canada. Samann, quickly discovered that putting high-quality fragrance on porous card stock was a highly effective way to make a quality air freshener. He soon sketched the now famous Little Tree shape and coined the name "Car freshener". An American legend was born!

March is Workplace Eye Health and Safety Awareness Month.

70,000 Eye-Related Injuries on the job each year cost American Business Owners    

450 Billion dollars.

Every year, dead car batteries are the cause of more than five million Roadside Assistance calls to AAA clubs nationwide.

The Typical peanut butter and jelly sandwich eaten on the beach contains over 

7,000 grains of sand.

In field tests Macrodactylus subspinosus or the rose chafer, males were significantly more attracted to feeding virgin females than field collected mated females.

From information gathered in 2002 there were 121,446 gas stations in the USA. 

Fishing with a hook and line is called angling.

16 year old Berkley Bedell, in June 1937, started Berkley in his upstairs bedroom by tying flies from his dog's fur and pet chickens feathers. It is now a multi-billion dollar company.

Not going!

Is such a good depressant! 

MY CAT GOT SPAYED TODAY

Let me paint this picture clear, 

I thought I saw her in the mirror.

I heard the sound of her hello,

she wasn't there but what a flow.

The lady at the desk said,''We will call.....

so I sat by the phone all way long.

Grey and White in the corner of my eye,

I had to call the vet just to hear her cry.

Surgery was a success but thats not why,

she follows me everywhere.

I raised her right and thats worth the pay,

Remember it like it was yesterday.

Eyes shut green without site,

Blind from an early plite.

I picked her up without ease,

She ran from me like I was a disease.

Don't know what to say,

I out smarted her in a playful way.

Snatched her up now shes mine, 

Call me if you have the time.

Eyes clear now glass,

The spay was free right to ask.

Heat fear pregnancy,

You should have called to comfort me.

Sherrif said the spay was free,

Find a vet not to worry.

 

A poem explaining the experience I had with the 

                vet while waiting for my cat to come home,      

 while also highlighting the love I have for my  

cat and the way I found her.                    

 

 

Exp. 5 Something about Nothing

Never have I been so scared. Responsibility is such a huge task that it mortifies, squashes, and paralyses every bit of unorganized movement a human can make. What is the fun in that? Doesn't the human thrive on the chaos that is produced by a free fall of human contingencies? As I near graduation I see my life flash before me. It takes me back to my childhood. My father's voice at my bedside with the love of a lullaby, the smell of fresh racked leaves, mother yelling for me when dinner was ready, and the echo salt makes when it hits a patch of ice. You ask what does this have to do with design. Everything. Design is about seeing. Creatives are the ones that have been blessed with the sight to see. We are like sponges, sensitive to everything around us which we then filter to come up with the right answer, or the solution, that changes our outlook, which once was the problem. Isn't this the definition of responsibility, the ability to take all options into consideration while putting your needs aside to create the perfect outcome. This is not childhood, this is adulthood. And that is scary.  

What am I doing

This book is not easy! We started off in the beginning of the semester being told that a preconceived notion of the thing we were doing is not good. Now that I have done some experiences, which have been totally random but have spoken to my heart, I am left with exercises of looking. These exercises have helped me see within myself and do things that will improve my process of growth as a human being. It is hard looking at your self because we are our own worst critics. 

Exploration # 49 Alt. Collect Words You find Interesting

Go out and collect words that you find interesting. This is a study of the mundane so I am sure I will find some interesting relationships. Well, I take that back, words are very interesting but it is the fact that they are words that makes it a little mundane, especially looking through a dictionary. Also I will be timing myself this exploration, which will give me only thirty minutes starting now 7:25 a.m. ...................7:55 a.m. ..................

festoon 

gob

gonad

infuse

in house

man eater

oligarchy

one-way

grumbler

grow up 

brae

blackamoor

black ball

black bass 

black bear 

black belt 

blackberry 

black bird

black box

aqua vitae

annotate

amputate

allowance

acrobatics

acropolis 

acrylic resin

chankah

chap

change

deface

defeat 

gang plow

gargle

hangman

heterodox

meteorology

merry-go-round

petty officer first class 

philosophy

snipe

thermistor

umiak

umpteen

videotape

vignette

whoopee

zoo geography

ziti

weiner

These words may not be particularly interesting to you, but it is interesting how the eye moves along the page. The eye works hand and hand with the brain constantly syphoning through words. The words with interest providing a blazon light around the ink that put it there. Surprise! Now you have 1 millionth of a second to determine if the word is of interest or your brain will move on to the next highlighted area of your life.   

Exploration 4

People Watching and Many More

I started this exploration with the idea of time.  As I continued to draw, or picture what was in front of me, I started seeing things as a story. Thinking of connections and how a rapper will wait for the right track to explode on. The sequence of things happening may not be predictable unless there are specific responses connected to the specific event. If you get shot, you bleed, but there is a time in space when the bullet leaves the gun that it is not connected to anything. What does the human do to fill that void? The void in the soul from a parent that forgot to detach from work while home, or the womanizer that has no connection to any woman, but the instrument he worships delightfully.  These are all common occurrences related to family life but the human soul is resilient, and learns to compartmentalize those pains. It's those who can't who suffer, they are scarred for life, many of them, artists, but what was it that made the sting so deep or the bite so hard. Continuing to peck away at the soul we start seeing things in one color. Retreating to places that create illusions of safety. Visions of family replaced by gangs and weapons, that honor a quick release, bring them even closer to a shining light, creating an awareness free of plight. Vivid skies blue with height, we see our goals without fright. 

Experience 3

THE GIFT of giving

Well this is an interesting one, for this I had to go back in my time machine to a few days ago. It was a weird day disguised with the smell of teen spirit.Do you remember that first date and the unabashed love you had for that certain loved one, that now looking back just seemed so dumb. Well it wasn't dumb, it was amazing, you let your guard down to let someone in.It's similar to the idea of giving a gift. Knowing the person or thing receiving the gift is not a given (like the pun) but it sometimes helps in choosing the gift. It's even better if you surprise the receiver with a beautifully wrapped box. Left in an unassuming place the receiver frequents on a regular basis. And then leave. Don't wait behind a chair to see the response. Not seeing the gift opened is the best part. Every emotion I experienced was the joy of seeing someone open a gift. But I didn't see her open the gift! Go out on a limb, embarrass yourself, do something that puts you in an awkward situation. This applies to design;Real world experience = Real world awareness. See each day as a new present and watch for new awareness.I did........which is exactly what Twyla Tharp meant by the idea of the spine.   

 

The spine is my little secret.It keeps me on message, but it is not the message itself.

Plan your work and stick to your plan.

   

Experience 2 ( Exploration # 20) Yeah!

Small thoughts huh ! That's an understatement for this exercise. I think it shows how big small words can really be. Honesty is the best policy for brainstorming because it will prove to be the most interesting part of the conversation. I was mainly influenced by the video shown in class today which gave a streaming flow of conversation between numerous characters or people with many different topics. I went on to talk to a freshmen and I told him how he should look at Graphic Design, him being a GIC major himself. He proceeded to tell me he studied film before coming to Ringling and I told him he should take what he has learned from film and try to apply it to his GIC studies. The challenge will be to look at his film background in an abstract way that he can put to the paper. I don't think I would have been able to tell him or explain that so well to him if I hadn't just seen the video and did the exploration right after. 

(circled) I Like things in Black and White/It's not complicated to look at

 I have lived in the same house my whole life, my bedroom suite is Black 

and White which has not changed for twenty-three years. Contemporary clean 

line styling and simple geometric shapes. 

(circled)Love to Procrastinate/Its funny my G's look like an Arrow 

That says,"Let's Go or Just Do It." Like the NIKE SWOOSH

A WEB OF WORD CONNECTIONS

(Click Image to view)

Experience 1 Response

After reading Why Designers Can't Think I felt this extreme warped or sterile feeling, like I had just been blown out of a vacuum. Especially when the author talks about how we students come out of school thinking we will get jobs right away. Furthermore the job market, being weak right now, heightened this feeling despite not agreeing with the time or setting the book was written in. This weighed on me heavily while doing the exploration and hence the drawings that illustrate a warped perception. I drew illustrations for everything I did in a day and that included the walking of a friends dog named Wally. But first I had to wake-up and eat some breakfast, Frosted Mini-Wheat's of course. Funny it was a day full of things that would not happen on average. So we start off by taking Wally for a walk. This included me forgetting a bag for his $^%&# which was very amusing because he had to go right when an old lady was watching us from her bay window. So of course I waved Hello and signaled to her I needed a bag. She actually came out to greet Wally and deliver the bag. It was great. After that, Wally got off his leash and this is a 90 pound all muscle dog that does what he wants. 

Presentation 101

To start off I would say my work as a graphic designer is instinct only. What I mean by this is I use my fine art background in a way that allows me to release my feelings and intentions on the page. My past professors were well schooled in metaphysical paintings and took every opportunity to push these beliefs on me. Like the juxtaposition of objects in a painting or trying to tap into your unconscious mind, which allows you to do your best work. I am currently working in a bomb shelter that was created in the late seventies, which is quite cozy. It is like my own little "sound proof booth"(Beanie Seagul). I do my best work when I can ignore my outside influences, focus on what I need or want to do, and can grasp the little things I have absorbed along the way; which make me who I am and want to be. And if you have seen some of my work this includes a lot of humor and awkward relationships that create humor. I also like to use my hands, ripping things apart or using them to craft a project that can be sculpturally solved. I will do research when it comes to doing a project but that isn't necessarily the thing that makes the design happen. I like to observe things in nature and for that you must have a good eye. The basic movement of an ant and the relationship it has with the sun for example, or just the movement of a cat ready to pounce. These are the things that trigger my creativity. It could also just be something said at the local diner that I thought was funny. Bringing on a stream of consciousness that I was not able to pin point due to the fact that, design surrounds us constantly. When you are so heavily immersed in it, something has to stop that connection for a bit and you are blessed with something that is as unexpected as it is pleasing.

 

Wabi........

In the Matcha Project, we were given the book Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets and Philosophers, a reading that helped us better understand what our outcome or solution should be for our project. The parameters were very loose but because we had the book to refer to, I was able to come up with a rustic feel for the project and incorporate my hands on learning from fine arts. I decided to use the most simple of forms, but destroy those forms to create a structural design that is both sound and pleasant to the viewer. I feel that when I am given total freedom to do what I feel is right for the outcome of the project, I flourish. First I gathered materials that  looked worn or weathered to observe how they interact with the space that surrounds them. I took from those objects characteristics that I thought well suited the rustic or Wabi feel of the book reading. I then found some left over cedar for the lid and 2 x 4 for the container part of the project. I sanded and scraped the cedar top to look weathered. Then used some of the left over scrap cedar to carve a spoon for the tea to be scooped from its container. Then I drilled out the 2 x 4 to create a pocket for the tea bag and spoon. The outside of the 2 x 4 was much more involved, for that I first took a dremel tool and made many little holes in the wood. Then I stained the wood and sanded away areas to create smooth and unstained surfaces for a rustic look. The final step in the process was to wax the whole piece and let it shine.

Shameless Self Promotion

Doing  the self promo card, I was also given very little parameters which enabled me to again do what I feel and not what was supposed to be the solution. What I mean by that is sometimes I, or many designers, get caught up in thinking the outcome will be too obvious a solution. Where if you allow yourself to ignore those thoughts or fears, and just allow the work to come out, the results often suprise you. The project was pretty much me just having fun with my hands. 

TimeLife....

Now the last thing I would like to discuss would be my redesign of the Health and Disease,Timelife book from the 1960's. It was a lot of fun for me, learning how to break from traditional grids and let the theme of the book influence the flow of the book. I feel it is important to allow the type and image on a page to breathe, not only for the sake of the design but for the viewer. I tried to do this and I think the book turned out well being that I was a junior at the time. What I really loved about the project was that it made me process everything that I had learned at RCAD in the years before and really use it. What no one really knows is that I didn't use a grid at all, I just did what felt right and the rest my eye did for me. I've been yelled at many times for not using a grid but how are we to push design if we don't do things that are off the wall. If you're not willing to be bold and fall on your face, then you will never be a good designer.   

First Experience

I have chosen to do Exploration #51 Non - Linear Life which I will be solving with pictures, drawings, and the like. I will explore the activities of my life in one day and document this in the problem solving set stated above. The exploration will take place outside, and indoors for eating habits. I did this on Saturday,  January 17.....