An Oldie for Ya'

This is a piece that I did for the end of semester show last year (spring '11).  I wanted to include an illustrated piece as well as my graphic design and photography work.  I also wanted an excuse to play around with my new colored pencils ;) hehe

Okay, so that was the real reason I made it...

Either way, I realized that I never posed this piece, so here it is at last—almost a year after I created it.  But the nice thing is that it ended up in my senior show, so this little piece has been in two shows so far.  Kinda exciting :)

.

Goodbyes—Round 2

Watched my friends walk across a great big ol' stage today. Graduation in Arborshire.
So exciting.  So sad.  So ... crazy...  I can't believe they are already done!
Another series of "good-byes".  I am confident that many of us will still keep in touch, but it is still hard to close another 'stage'.  It will be hard to continue next year without these friends.  I will miss them.

But I was also forced to think about next year—when it is my turn.  It's going to be absolutely insane!  On the last week of school, the final Friday will mark the end of exams, Saturday will be my graduation, and on Sunday, I will (most likely) be leaving for Italy!  And after Italy, more craziness. . . (cue man voice): Job hunting!
Oooooooooh.
my  (!)
It will be good.  It will be fast.  It will be sooo . . . whorl-windy.  I feel dizzy already.

I'm suddenly very thankful for the break that I have this summer... God, I'm glad you know what you're doing, cuz I sure don't!

I love you, oh Lord, my strength 
Psalm 18:1

Self Promotion

Here is the result of some of my web design labors this past semester: my portfolio site
While the other sites I made are no longer online, I did make one other fully functioning site, as well as one home page remake of an actual site (a horrid one, I might add) that only had roll over images and a basic layout.
Then my final project was to create a portfolio site for myself, one that effectively reflected my design style and my goals as a designer.
Take a look, feedback welcome as always :)

The Power of The Attitude

There was an outbreak of the stomach flu in Arborshire the past two weeks—so bad that graduation was postponed a week!  When it first broke out there was no cause for me to worry, in fact I was almost entirely unaware of it until it began to cause the cancelation of non-academic events on Campus, including Midnight breakfast!  Heartbreaking? yes.  I was rather disappointed.
Anyway, in our housing unit, there was not much worry of the "plague", though a few girls did get it—it was largely in the underclassmen living areas, specifically those with the community bathrooms.  Gross, huh?  So we had no reason to fear the plague—until, that is, it struck home.

Hillary got the plague.

Yes, while I was at work, my roommate sent me a message to tell me that Hillary had gotten sick.  We screamed a little, and then Brit went on a cleaning frenzy as we realized that Hilly-Bee pretty much lived in our room, and thus, plague-like germs were in our living space.
Not okay.

Suddenly, I felt extremely tired.  This was not quite how I planned on spending my finals week.  And my stomach started to flip a little—I knew that I already had it.  When I got back to the room, turned out that my roommates weren't feeling so hot either.  Awesome.  A room full of sick college girls.  Emily spent the entire night in the bathroom, Britney couldn't sleep and I had a sour stomach.

Until, that is, Hillary came in the next morning and told us that she was only sick once, slept all night, ate breakfast and felt great.
OF COURSE SHE DOES!

Then we all felt fine, haha

DTS logo

Logo design that I did this semester.  I haven't quite finished the entire identity system, and I haven't even presented the logo to the owner of the company (hehe, they don't know that I took over their identity system).  I doubt that I will even show them to be honest, I just needed something for my assignment!
Anywho, feedback welcome—it's obviously a tax service, so I was going for professional and I threw things together.

Geometric Sherlock

Here is my last design for Graphic Design 3.  HOORAY! I'm finally done with that class!!!  I grew a whole lot, but I'm glad to be headed towards a break, though I'm having more trouble then I can express with actually relaxing.  I have this thought in the back of my mind that I'm not quite done yet, even though I am in no mood to do anything productive—academic wise anyway.
Anyway, I am obviously getting distracted (another quality that is consistent with my newly–freed, brain–dead–self).  Even when I began this design, I was getting rather frustrated and ready to be done.  I wanted to try a more abstracted illustration and came up with this design.  Not sure how it works, or if it even represents the book / target audience well, but oh well, it's done now!

Feedback welcome, I am thinking about just scrapping this piece and trying something different...

Oh Pauly — day 1

I just started my Beth Moore bible study on Paul.
Excitement? YES!
And she's starting with the historical context?? Yes!  And even using a witty story as an aid to her points? YES! She must have done this before, cuz she's pretty good at it!  This Jesus-loving-history-buff is quite satisfied with the commencement.
It began so simply—reviewing the very beginning steps to how God prepared Paul for his ministry to come.  He was born into a good family, one that could give him the education that would become such a large tool in the future, the social standing (Roman citizenship) that would save his life, and the traditions that would give him a strong understanding of the God who commanded his life.  But despite this, Paul was born into a hostile world—one that did not smile upon his religious traditions—similarly to the world that we live in today.  I was challenged to look at how I respond to the way that my faith is received around me.  While in "the bubble", it is easier, in the 'real world', I know that I struggle with finally coming out and saying the truth—telling people how it is.  I can live out the faith, I can stand apart and be a witness towards something better—and people do notice that I have something different and even tell me so—but aside from a few instances, I still stutter when I try to tell people why I am filled with hope (1 Peter 3:15).

Day one and I'm already hooked—it's going to be a good 90 days or so—challenging, but good.  New book, new journal (also very exciting), new adventure (just finished classes for the semester—one final to go and I'm DONE), and a new drive to clean out the clutter in my living area! Who knows where this is going?

Excited for the new—but also glad to be returning to some of the old for a while (home!)

Baby Bliss

 Mandie came to visit, and she brought her beautiful new niece with her!  It was great to see them both, though I confess, I was rather hooked to little Taylor—so darling!  Here are some of the pictures we took—out of focus, she was a wiggly thing!  And the lighting wasn't ideal... thus a slow shutter speed, rats

Package for Logo

Here is the package design that goes with one of my recent logos.  Created for my GD3 class, the logo went over better than the actual package design—go figure, lol
Anywho, feedback welcome as I modify it for future shows (possibly...)

Friends in High (and low) Places

This week has been so long.  I have a ton to do, and I'm just worn out from all of the work that I have to get done—it's a manageable load, but I'm ready to be done with it for a while!
Anyway, today is placing me near the edge and the past 24 hours have been witness to a rather crabby Chocolate Lover!  Not too bad to people, but I feel crabby!
However, God knew just what I needed: I got 3 (count 'em: 1, 2, 3) encouragement notes from friends today.  And 2 of them were from people who had no idea about the show or anything that I have on my plate right now! I'm so thankful
After that I have been so uplifted.  God is so good—He sent me a lot of people this week to lift my spirits when I was feeling low.

I love you too, Lord!

Fire & Birds

Yet another logo design!  This one has a package design with it, but I'm not entirely finished with it yet, so you will have to bare with me. I will post it shortly (well... probably in about 2.5 weeks—when finals start and my load eases, hah)

Contracts and Toilet Paper

I love my roommates and all the fun we have together—here is one of our typical facebook conversations::


B,
I would like to draw your attention to the beginning of this school year when the four of us roommates created an agreement, a contract really. In said contract, we specified that the toilet paper would always be put so as to fold OVER the roll, as opposed to under.
However, the toilet paper that is currently on the roll is folding under. Because I myself did not change it, and Mandie and Emily have been away, it is clear that you are the guilty party. I regret to inform you that you are in violation of your contract and must therefore leave the room. 
Immediately.


To which she replied::

K! (add snap and head shake),
whoever was the one that put the toilet paper on top of the toilet paper holder instead of changing it and putting it on the roll is also in violation of the contract. because as i remember we did not agree on that my dear sweet sweet K :) I was only being the responsible roommate and friend by putting it in it's correct spot. I am very sorry for putting the roll folded over the other way, i kinda forgot about that..lol! 

You still love me anyway and i will not leave the room cause you would miss me too much :) ♥

And of couse I had to agree to the last statement—I love that girl :)

Sneak Peak

Here are some glimpses of what I have been working on, and will hopefully finish as soon as the semester is over.
Both of these pieces are portraits, though in different media.  The top one is in oil pastel, which I have newly developed a love for, and the lower piece is being made with my beautiful premium colored pencils—my one true love.

Finished and on desplay soon I hope!

1 John 4:19

I was challenged with this today and it kind of rocked my evening!  Instead of saying "I love you" to God each day, I am going to take a period of time saying: "I love you too".
We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).  And while I do love Him, and sometimes I need to tell Him that "first", it is all because of what He has done—He saved me.  He acknowledges me.

And not only that, but in saying "I love you too", I acknowledge in turn that HE LOVES ME!  ((You can't say "too" if nobody says the original!))  He finds delight in me—The GOD of the entire Universe, the One who made me... loves me.  He can see that I do not measure up to what He made me to do, but He loves me anyway.  What more proof do I need?  Is there any reason for me to search for fulfillment or approval from elsewhere?  nope!

He is lovingly holding me, gently pulling away the weapons that I use against myself, assuring me of His continual love.

I love you too.

Outside the Art Center

Due to my wide open schedule I decided to take on some extra projects.  Psh, who am I kidding? Open schedule?? For an art major?
Oxymoron.
But I did do some extra pieces this semester.



This piece(above) was for a campus event where the entire school talks about a single topic for the day.  It's called "Focus", and this year we talked about social media, ie facebook, twitter, and the like.  Thus the play off the fb logo.  The team heading the event ended up changing it slightly when they hung it up around campus and to be honest I was not thrilled with the results.  Oh well, they were happy.

This poster was also a campus event—but this time it was for the Office of Intercultural Relations here at school.  They wanted a comic book style poster.  Not really something that I typically do, but they liked it.

In fact, they liked it so well that they asked me to do another one!  For this piece they specifically asked for images of the speakers.  Unfortunately I couldn't get images large enough so I drew them instead.  But that made this piece (though more time consuming) more fun—I was able to do some figure drawing AND make some people happy :)

Safe and Sound

"Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young—a place near your altar, LORD Almighty, my King and my God." (Psalm 84:3)  


Newly added to the list of favorites.  If God places a bird's nest near His altar, then I am convinced we're right there on His lap.  Hold me tight, Lord, here we go!

Sleeping?

This place is getting crazy!  Only about 4.5 more weeks until the end of the semester! AH—so much to do!
There are, however, some entertaining side effects to the added stress in our lives.  A few weeks ago Mandie was with us again for a few nights and she instructed her students on proper public speaking—all while sleeping peacefully in her bed!
Sleep is less peaceful for those with stress—and when your father has the habit of sleep talking / walking when he is worried, then you're in for some really entertaining events!
My poor roommates... I have always giggled in my sleep—appariently I do so almost every night—but I have begun to talk quite a bit this past year or so (or maybe they are just now hearing me).  Last semester I cheerfully informed my roommates that "My kids are from Nebraska".
??
And the other night I gleefully asked: "Hi! Is there room for me?"
I'm not sure where I was going, but apparently I was pretty excited.  According to the roommates, I am always very excited and happy when I am sleeping—I guess that's better than being cranky :)

Poster Design—Adoption

This is my latest poster design for my GD3 class.  I wanted to do a typographic portrait—but I had no idea it would turn into something quite this large!  It took me a long time to make this, and while it's not yet perfect, I need a break from it!
I'm struggling still with the "abortion" and "adoption" balance—I want you to see "adoption" as the more dominate element, but I want "abortion" to still have an impact.  It's kind of the foundation behind some of the symbolism in this piece, so it's important.  Also, can you read the text?  I know it's difficult, but I hope after a moment or two you will be able to catch the verses (there are only 2)
Feedback would be MORE than welcome on this piece—I'm leaning towards making this one of my show pieces for the semester, so I would like to perfect it before then :)

Spoiled

My favorite young man bought me flowers on Friday :} Isn't he fantastic?

Yes, he is. And not just because he brought me flowers and chocolate (he's a keeper!). I am so blessed to have him around—and it was great to spend some time with him and my family on Friday night. He gets along with them—sometimes too well... they are not above getting together in order to prank me. But that's okay :)

God has spoiled me—and I am very okay with that :)

...8 months and counting...

PhotoShop—Weakened

Photoshop is one of my least favorite programs. I know everyone loves it, but I guess I would rather not work with photos—I'd rather draw! Anyway, for this project (better image coming soon...) I was forced to work with a weakness. So out of my many photoshop weaknesses, I selected photo manipulation. I found a tutorial and worked from there.
Target audience wise, my roommate has a beautiful voice, and she has always wanted to work with and encourage young girls who struggle with body image and are trying to trust fully in God. It's a great mission :)


My classmates suggested the texture in the background. I'm still unsure about it and will probably mess with it a little more, but this is what I turned in for my midterm. I thought the crinkled paper might be a little too cliche, but maybe not...
Feedback? :)