Happening Upon Some Fall in Central Park
My stroll across town was splendidly colorful the weekend before Thanksgiving:
HEY! NO! DON'T DO THAT...Oh man.
This should not have happened. We should not have had to stoop to this level, people. I should not have to bust out photoshop to get folks browsing a book table to read signs.
It's an embarrassing day for humanity.
The situation:
Every fourth Sunday, Tom and I man the book table during muffin hour at church.
The problem:
People get their muffin and coffee, and then proceed to meander over to the table and set their coffee on it. And then it spills. Every time.
Tom and I are miffed.
So in an attempt to prevent their embarrassment and protect our books, someone kindly made a few signs—respectable-get-the-job-done-thank-goodness-this-isn't-word-art 72 pt Times New Roman in black on some white computer paper—asking the nice folk politely to please not place their coffee on the table, thank you.
The effect:
People get their muffin and coffee, and then proceed to meander over to the table and set their coffee on it. And then it spills. Every time.
Tom and I are miffed.
Tom, being a retired NYPD, jokes we should threaten to punch them. I think the sign should be doing that for us. And so that was the goal here—a visual punch in the face. We want people to notice it and get it. BAM.
We deployed them last week, and are very pleased with the results so far—not one coffee made contact with the table! I think we'll probably need a graphical refresh down the road when people get used to them and start ignoring them again. I'm very interested to see how long these will last—exactly how long it takes for for a group to begin to filter out a specific instance of visual messaging.
But for now, mission accomplished.
Mattias gets Sprinkled
My first time cartooning subjects in person. :) I drew/inked this during the baptism, and then scanned and digitally colored it when I got home.
Colors of the Greenmarket
On Saturday mornings, there's a greenmarket that pops up in Union Square. I'm not, as a rule, a fan of things that grow from the ground and claim to be edible, but I did snap some fun pictures on my stroll through.
Another Pun'kin Season!
Fall time = fun times, because I enjoy painting pumpkins. Here is this year's crop:
This one was for my friend Vanessa, who just had a baby named Owen:
For Zelet's, I decided to keep it simple with some web-entwined type:
I think Lois's is my favorite:
And I did one full size for Jonathan and Susana, so I would have room for a portrait of their golden-doodle, Surely:
This one was for my friend Vanessa, who just had a baby named Owen:
For Zelet's, I decided to keep it simple with some web-entwined type:
I think Lois's is my favorite:
And I did one full size for Jonathan and Susana, so I would have room for a portrait of their golden-doodle, Surely:
Avily has Arrived!
My first attempt at birth announcements! Avily was born and will grow up here in New York City—hence the stork driving a taxicab. I also chose the taxi theme because I could use the ad space on the taxi to incorporate her name in the drawing, and the rooftop dashboard to display the date—so the art is really personalized without being a traditional portrait.This was a bit of an experiment in media—beloved colored pencil, meet my digital bff, pen tool! Let the potential synergistic awesomeness commence!
Here's how it worked itself out:
• I started by making a pencil outline drawing, and creating some textures {colored pencil on watercolor paper}.• Then I scanned them both and used the sketch as a pattern to digitally cut out shapes from the textures.
• The shapes then got layered and shaded to make the picture.
I used inDesign to set the type, and finally MailChimp to program and send the whole shebang as an html e-mail. I think it worked out pretty well.
Nick Makes Things Too.
Living space math, Manhattan style:
A studio apartment divided by (a ton-bunch of furniture) does not equal enough room for a couch.
But I happened to have aforementioned studio and ton-bunch of furniture, and I wanted a couch!
Master wood-worker brother to the rescue!
I've also been wanting a loft bed since I moved to the city—it's such a waste of space to have your bed on the ground! I gave my brother Nick a list of design demands (built in ladder, picket fence style guards up top, as little wood as possible on the bottom so light could get in, etc...). He drew up a plan, and we exchanged modifications via e-mail until my aesthetic demands and his insistence that it actually be structurally sound managed to be satisfied in one drawing.
And then he built it!
I am very pleased. We decided to paint it white (instead of a stain/wood finish) so we could use inexpensive, durable wood. I also like that, even though it's sitting in front of the window, a lot of light still manages to get in.
I found a super cool/cheap/well-kept antique couch on e-bay that fits perfectly underneath!
Nick built into the design a very handy shelf and storage box up top. (The pottery I have up there is a Japanese tea set that I made and fired myself in a very fun traditional raku fired ceramics class.)
My last alarm clock just died—I got this adorable battery powered one (yay, target!) to stick up there so I didn't have to run extension cords up the wall.
And the most exciting part? FLOOR SPACE! The kitties have plenty of romping room now!
And they can still climb in bed—they figured out how to make the 7.5 foot trek up to the top. This is Cerulean surveying her newly-expanded kingdom.
A studio apartment divided by (a ton-bunch of furniture) does not equal enough room for a couch.
But I happened to have aforementioned studio and ton-bunch of furniture, and I wanted a couch!
Master wood-worker brother to the rescue!
I've also been wanting a loft bed since I moved to the city—it's such a waste of space to have your bed on the ground! I gave my brother Nick a list of design demands (built in ladder, picket fence style guards up top, as little wood as possible on the bottom so light could get in, etc...). He drew up a plan, and we exchanged modifications via e-mail until my aesthetic demands and his insistence that it actually be structurally sound managed to be satisfied in one drawing.
And then he built it!
I am very pleased. We decided to paint it white (instead of a stain/wood finish) so we could use inexpensive, durable wood. I also like that, even though it's sitting in front of the window, a lot of light still manages to get in.
I found a super cool/cheap/well-kept antique couch on e-bay that fits perfectly underneath!
Nick built into the design a very handy shelf and storage box up top. (The pottery I have up there is a Japanese tea set that I made and fired myself in a very fun traditional raku fired ceramics class.)
My last alarm clock just died—I got this adorable battery powered one (yay, target!) to stick up there so I didn't have to run extension cords up the wall.
And the most exciting part? FLOOR SPACE! The kitties have plenty of romping room now!
And they can still climb in bed—they figured out how to make the 7.5 foot trek up to the top. This is Cerulean surveying her newly-expanded kingdom.
Round Just Got Rounder
The pregnancy thing has become sort of an epidemic around here—everyone seems to be coming down with child. It was only a matter of time before it infected my doodle population...{This gift tag for my friend Lisa was colored pencil on cereal box cardboard, a combination of media which was surprisingly excellent.}
Cerulean is Obsessed With the Toilet: A Brief Documentary
I'm not very much into video—it seems to make my poor old computer want to curl up and die—but I couldn't resist this quickie:
Also, I discovered that though my all black kitty, Rubelet, does not photograph well, she looks great in videos. Here is a screengrab of her that I love:
Also, I discovered that though my all black kitty, Rubelet, does not photograph well, she looks great in videos. Here is a screengrab of her that I love:
Help!
AIGA NY recently hosted a lecture by Richard Fine, one of the masterminds behind some of my favorite packaging design. He's one of the founders of Help Remedies, a line of products bent on making health care a bit more simple & fun. He's also a great presenter.
Here are my notes from the evening—you can click on any of these to enlarge them:
Here are my notes from the evening—you can click on any of these to enlarge them:
On the Boardwalk
Have point-and-shoot, will travel!
I've not had much luck in the past with my camera when lots of sun and sky are around {fortunately not conditions I encounter much as a city-dweller}. The pseudo-manual mode presents not a lot of options to battle my arch enemy, overexposure. Also, because I have no viewfinder and a screen that's pretty useless when it's bright out, photography becomes point-guess-and-shoot. But after some trial and much error, I seem to have found a go-to range of shutter speeds for outside outside-of-the-city. Woo.
These photos I snapped on a recent funtimes-trip to Ocean City, NJ, around noon on a very beautiful sunny day.
Cause for Celebration in the Cube 'Hood
My next-door cube-neighbor at work is getting married this weekend. She is a great producer & cube-neighbor. So whilest I was fetching my free monthly truffle at Godiva (mmmm...), I also purchased some celebratory chocolate for her. Then I made this to wrap it in.
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