Freedom and Individuality.

I have an idea for an installation. My vision is a to design a variety of insect bodies, wings, legs and antennae and then have community members each create their own layered insect using the paper cuts.  I will sew them together and string them to eventually float together, filling a room, all on their own, unique and free, but together.  

Maybe it's a representation of how I feel our country is today.  We are all in our own little worlds floating along and surviving the best that we can.  Free to make our own choices.  Free to go where we please and try to stay alive.  Each of us colorful and special in our own ways.  But even though we are on our own paths, we are connected.  We live next to each other, with each other, and we affect each other.  So we must must recognize one another and honor our separateness and togetherness.  

This is just the beginning of my thought process.  I'm not sure how I'll represent the powers that be, or mother nature, or survival of the fittest.  And I'm not worried about that because I know it will change and evolve as I experiment with the insects and involve other people.  That's what I love about these kind of community projects...they change with the times and I will change with them and hope that the idea is not destroyed or lost along the way.

Logo and strategies.

I am struggling to create a logo for "beth bundy designs."  I want it to be just right.  There are too many choices of colors and fonts and sizes and images that come to mind.  Why does it feel so much easier to design something when there are given constraints?  The layers and squares logo was much easier.  I knew that I wanted to use layers and squares.  This logo feels so much more personal because it has my name in it.  My number one form of identification.  How do I go about painting, designing, and forming my identity in one image?

Maybe, first, I need to be okay with the fact that it is not coming to me easily.  I need to work on branding myself and figuring out what I identify with.  I know I want it to be a blend of something creative and fun alongside something that shows the technical side of my art.  Maybe it will show some traces of where I have travelled or favorite creatures.  It need to be timeless.  I don't want to hate it a year from now.  I'm stuck.

I've been searching all my life for this logo and still have not found it.  Last year when I was teaching my middle school class, one of my goals for the year was to teach students strategies for getting unstuck.  Maybe I need to start using some of those strategies for myself to see if they really work.  So, here's what I'm thinking I need to do.

1.  Go for a run.

2.  Set my own constraints.

3.  Sketch and sketch and sketch some more.  

4.  Look though old sketchbooks and see what I found in my past that I can use in my present.

5.  Play with letter and words and fonts in illustrator.

6.  Find some logos that I like for some reason.

7.  Once I have a few ideas, get some honest feedback on my ideas.

I guess I'll start there and see what happens.  I'm off to get bundled up for a chilly winter run!

(Ok, I am procrastinating from my run so I decided to look up some logos.  I'm starting to see some themes.)

Making a photo light box.

Carrot photo before.

Getting the box made was pretty easy but then attempting to take photos where the lighting and perspective are just right is just really tricky.  Any tips are more than welcome!

Carrot photo after.

Today I dove into the challenge of taking better quality photos of my work.  This is not an easy task!  First, simply finding a place to take the photos where I have room to put the light box and a tripod is challenging in my studio space.  

I used about 10 books to get it to just the right height for the tripod and to be situated in the window so I could use natural light.  I am grateful that it was a sunny day in Portland!  I am curious to experiment on cloudy days and with spotlights in the near future.

Creating a vision.

Today starts a new year.  New Year's Eve has always held too many unfulfilled expectations for me but I've always loved New Year's Day.  I try my best to start the year off right by eating healthy, getting outdoors for some exercise, and spending time with friends and family.  Creating a vision board has also become a family tradition as we look forward to the new year, set intentions, and think about our hopes for the year.  Our board usually ends up with yummy foods, far off lands, smiling faces, and words of wisdom.  It hangs in our basement so we can look at is a reminder throughout the year.

Our family vision board from 2015.  We reuse the same bulletin board each year and just pin the magazine clippings on the board.  When the new year rolls around we take a photo of the board before we take the pins out and choose new images for the new year.

We have not yet created the family vision board but I did supply my friends today with magazines, scissors, and glue during our "lucky lunch" of black-eyed pea soup.  As we chatted about recent times and future plans, I searched through magazines for images and words to contribute and thought about what I want to focus on for 2017.  Later in the afternoon, while my three year old recuperated from playing with the older boys by taking a nap, I took the time to talk to a good friend about her present and her future.

"I have an idea." Amy said.  Amy is a creative like me and she and I have both been known to have creative ideas every now and then.  "I really want to start sketching again and I need some motivation.  Would you be interested in having a theme each month and getting a group together to create one piece of art based on that theme?"  Of course I said yes.  I need to motivate just as much as anyone.  We continued to brainstorm as she drove to her hockey practice and came up with a plan to create a Facebook group and start with creating a piece of art around the theme of "INTENTION."

So, each person will think of a one-word intention for the year (I'm thinking "gratitude") and create an image, craft, or design to share with the group.  I'm so excited to get started and motivate to create and share art with friends.  Here's to a successful and creative 2017!

25 abstract squares.

My brother and his partner are soon opening a restaurant in Seattle.  They have been working hard on all aspects of the restaurant from menu to interior to logo, to even beer and coffee tastings, for almost a year now.  In just a couple of weeks we will be able to visit the space, try their food, and hear about their success!  They also mentioned that they were having a professional photographer photograph their space soon, so knowing that I want to get photos of my art on-location I asked if they would be interested in displaying a piece of my art on their restaurant wall.

They were open to the idea to so I worked on my first piece designed for a specific space.  I looked at traditional wrought iron from New Orleans and Haiti, used design aspects from their logo and interior fabric, and found card stock to match their colors.  It was a fun challenge!  

After cutting many squares on my Silhouette, I layered them and moved them around and cut a few more to make the ideal composition.

I designed 8 different squares with three layers each and then cut, arranged and rearranged them into a 24" square frame.  I am so excited about the final outcome and look forward to seeing it hang on the wall of Acadia as soon as it is open and ready for visitors and artwork!

Ready to hang!