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Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
« Older Entries |Dancing skirt bark
Sunday, January 29th, 2012
Is it me or does this look like dancing skirts? Maybe I’ve watched too many dance performances. Color, texture, movement, animation. Lots of movements in these flaking scales. This beautifully colored bark inspires me. Maybe I can use this color palette in a future project? This must be an Acer griseum. Not positive though. The bark looks a little different. Whatever it is, it’s a splash of color in this gray time of year. That accent of lime green is a perfect contrast/complement to the orange.
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Xmas Greetings
Friday, December 23rd, 2011
So a couple of weeks ago we were in New York visiting my daughter and we were lucky to be there for SantaCon. Hilarious. Santas (and elves, xmas trees, reindeer, dreidels, etc.) everywhere. EVERYWHERE! Every bar in town was filled with Santas. There were five or six centralized gathering spots, this is in the South Street Seaport. Plus they collected 6,000 pounds of food for Manhattan and Brooklyn food banks. I know it’s an international event, there’s even one in Portland. I still can’t figure out where they get so many Santa outfits. I would love to see an aerial shot of the city with all the red slinking along every street.
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Turkey talk
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011
It’s once again time for the raindrop turkey. Does he look more like a peacock? I actually found some beautiful photos of turkeys. Note below.
Did you know: until the 20th century pork ribs were the traditional thanksgiving meal? Turkey eggs aren’t sold because of the high demand for the whole turkey? If the eggs were sold, they would cost about $3.50 an egg. Yikes. Brining the turkey makes the dark meat cook in the same amount of time as the white meat, otherwise the white meat dries out because you have to cook the dark meat longer to get it done. I tried brining once but I couldn’t get the bird to stay submerged in the salted water. I put a brick on top of it but this seemed to add some unwanted dirt/brick chunks to the bird. Yech. Haven’t decided yet this year about the process. That first thanksgiving, in 1621, was held to celebrate the colonists’ good harvest. At first, the Plymouth colony didn’t have enough food to feed half of the 102 colonists so the Wampanoag Indians pitched in and gave them seeds and taught them to fish. Thanks to Wikipedia!
THANKSGIVING HAPPINESS TO ALL
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The peeling of the Birch
Saturday, November 12th, 2011
For the past couple of days on my walks around the neighborhood I’ve noticed pieces of Birch bark on the ground. Betula papyrifa. Paper Birch. All those plant species I learned while studying landscape architecture (go Ducks!), I’ve not forgotten. I’m continually amazed at how many I can still remember. I think we learned 600 different plants … shrubs, trees, ground covers …. that would work in the Pacific Northwest. Personally I don’t like the scraggly form of a birch tree but the bark is another story.
So here are some fun genus/species names that are fun to say: Populus tremuloides; Pseudotsuga taxifolia; Mahonia aquifolium; Rhus typhina;
I could go on and on …
these
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Patterns I Like
Thursday, November 3rd, 2011
Seen recently at the Greek festival, these great marble (?) floor designs with such striking patterns. They’re on the way into the museum which was really fascinating. There were all these stories, written by local Greek, about their ancestors from the old country and when they left the Old World for the New. Greek Festival is a very very popular Northeast Portland October event, featuring entertainment and the most delicious baklava, not to mention donut holes, ever.
But I digress …. These mosaic floors: Elegant. Symmetrical. Stunning. I think it’s the colors as much as anything that I love in these patterns. When we were little, my sisters and I used to make mosaics out of little bits of linoleum. I still have one I made in the shape of a christmas stocking. It’s a little rougher than these beautifully intricate designs. Okay, a lot rougher. Maybe I could replace our cracking kitchen floor with a tile mosaic? Would love that.
So I get together, occasionally, with former neighbors (from childhood) and various and sundry others for craft night or, as we call it, crap night. Since I’m not much of a crafter I usually am replacing buttons on clothes during crap night, but I was so inspired by these designs I actually went out and bought the materials to make a needlepoint pillow using the second pattern seen here. Will see how it turns out.
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A Change of Pace
Monday, September 26th, 2011
I varied my typical walking route one Saturday morning and came across this very interesting and unique garden of dolls. I tried to find some reference to these on the internet but can’t find anything so I’m guessing whoever lives here created these. Each is unique. They’re all in a seated position and seem to be gazing downward. They all have their hands in their laps. They look quite content, like they’re waiting for a parade, or what? Some have beads strewn over their necks. I really love the idea of not only creating such a unique collection but displaying it in your front yard. Much more interesting than pink flamingos! Although there is a lot to be said for pink flamingos.
Another reminder of the value of changing your pace …. and taking another path.
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BEST ICON AWARD
Sunday, September 4th, 2011
This is just about the greatest icon ever! I love this illustration of a dog catapulting himself over the edge. It’s on a sign at the Peter Skene Ogden State Park in central Oregon. Which is on the Crooked River Gorge, a 500 foot, vertical cliff out of columnar basalt. You seriously don’t want your dog jumping over. But in this illustration the dog appears to be flying with the birds and having a gay old time. This icon would not stand on its own: without the text, it looks like a fun thing for a dog to be doing. Maybe not such a great icon after all if it needs text to make it clear.
And anyway, why would a dog take a flying leap off the top of a 500 foot gorge???
The gorge has a rather notorious history with a more than nefarious story that any Oregonian knows and I won’t recount here because it is so despicable.
Final thought: I wonder if the state of Oregon commissioned somebody to draw this or if this is an icon they have on file????
P.S. Here is the Crooked River Gorge. They recently built a new bridge and the old one is still there as a pedestrian bridge. For those of us who are height-challenged, it’s pretty scary.
P.P. S About Peter Skene Ogden: An early explorer, one of the first white men in central Oregon, said to have “discovered” Mt. Shasta. Also the rescuer of the survivors of the Whitman Massacre.
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Fremont Fest!
Monday, August 1st, 2011
Coming up this weekend, August 6. New metal banners will be revealed, for which I, along with another designer, did the designs. I’m not sure which ones they finally ended up with but they were all cool.
Fremont Fest sounds like a lot of fun, starting with a Bike and Pet Parade at 10 am.
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Today’s colors
Wednesday, July 27th, 2011
I’m working on a decal for a construction company, they’re putting these on their hard hats. The message is stressing quality and safety.
They really like basic, strong colors.
This is where we started:
This is a way cooler yellow which I hope they go for:
Plus it looks more like a safety yellow. And it’s more contemporary. Not thinking a construction company cares about being contemporary.
More colors from a brochure that’s at print today:
A water conservation brochure.
Not that we have a problem in Portland this summer with water conservation. I think some water administrators want us to use MORE water to get their revenue up. Because it’s been so cool and damp we haven’t really had to water all that much.
It’s still a good message to remember.
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July stuff
Wednesday, July 20th, 2011
So I’m playing catch up with some new stuff hot off the press from moi.
This is a Rebate brochure for the City of Hillsboro, with a pretty cute cover illustration. I did a Spanish versions also. Residents can get a rebate if they replace their old water-wasting toilets with high efficiency toilets (HETs). Loved working with Tacy Steele on this. Love her name. Anybody remember the Betsy, Tacy and Tib stories?
This ad is for the reopening of the New Burnham Street in Tigard. For The Oregonian. If you miss this you must be blind. They’re having a big old celebration (hence the title) with tons of fun activities. The colors in the upper left are the original colors for the project. The client wanted something bright with a new color scheme for this event. I think this definitely falls in the “bright” category.
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