I picked green night. Here is a jersey. I can do better. But not tonight! Thanks for a great year, overall. Learned a ton.

“Freedom to express” strikes me as the creative person’s raison d’etre. I think of creatives as being extra close and sensitive to the ups and downs of life, requiring channels and mediums through which to express feelings, perspectives, experiences, hopefully in ways that connect with audiences. One way to visually illustrate this concept might be a painted silhouette of a person in black, with arms outstretched in a sort of “y” position, with a vast, vivid array of colors and imagery exploding outwards and upwards.

“Freedom to Explore,” then, has a couple of meanings, to me. It implies both the desire to explore new mediums through which to express oneself, as well as the need to return to sources of inspiration when the creative well runs dry. There is no meaningful art without that periodic return to source.

Lastly, “Freedom from Expectation” seems like the ultimate goal of artists, musicians, and creatives. Once your creative voice is established, hopefully you can find ways to honor that voice, no matter what, staying true to your unique perspective on life, across mediums and types of work. This could perhaps be depicted visually by that same person’s silhouette, this time filled with vivid color and imagery, breaking the shackles that hold us back.

These concepts came together for me, particularly, in the antiwar poster project we did for Brit’s class. See below:

Ok. So tonight. Let me preface by saying that I have been going through something of a moderate existential/early-to-midlife crisis following the recent death of a family member (age 30, cancer, devastating), and in this somewhat circuitous but significant way, I wound up going to a Miranda July book signing for her new book called ALL FOURS. I may have (stupidly?) invited an instructor to go with me, possibly overstepping some sort of invisible boundary but honestly, I’m in a bit of a blow-shit-up headspace so whatever. The truth is, I was incredibly glad I went alone. I sat in the front and pretty much hung on to Miranda’s every word. The moderator was very boring but Miranda’s words and ideas and vision were (and are) life-giving. She continues to push boundaries through a variety of mediums in what I consider to be important and thought-provoking and potentially-paradigm-shifting ways, especially for creatives and women (run don’t walk to acquire a copy of her new book).

The venue for this event was the Seattle Town Hall. I had never been to the Town Hall, and was pleased to discover, due to the fact that I needed to complete this overdue blog post, that it is, in fact, a nonprofit. Dedicated to fostering “an engaged community through civic, arts, and educational programs that reflect — and inspire — our region’s best impulses: creativity, empathy, and the belief that we all deserve a voice,” I was impressed by the mission of Town Hall, and by their affordable (and thereby, accessible) event pricing. But more importantly, today, I was deeply moved by the content. There are so many ways that our lives can become stagnant, inundated by the mundane, lacking connection, feeling invisible, overworked and underpaid, etc. And having a community-focused space where all voices and people have a seat at the table- this is so needed. I made an important friend at this event. We will be meeting, as a 2-person book group, to discuss the themes and ideas in this book that stuck with us, maybe try to determine how they might be applied to our individual lives.

The ability to share in the arts and the spreading of ideas in a community-centered way is crucially important. And today, if I had $25,000 cash I might consider dropping it on this organization, which impacted me deeply.

Here’s a cartoon I recently drew that I wish I had brought to hand to the author at this event. I feel like it encapsulates our shared desire to break out of the norm and dive into what people ARE REALLY THINKING at any given moment. And how much of the shame we all carry with regard to our secret thoughts and impulses and behavior and foibles and quirks doesn’t have to be so isolating. Saying this stuff out loud is liberating, and yes, funny.

I continue to think of my cousin Evan, whom I love and miss and hope I can honor through the radically honest process of giving voice to what’s underneath the veneers that we all so carefully construct- artistically, personally, and hopefully eventually, on a societal level. Evan saw through the BS to the inner weirdness and goodness in people. I hope that I may also be able to reach that point, one day. At least when it comes to looking inward. Until next time.

The Stanley 32 oz dog bowl is for dogs and their owners who live by the adage, “a rolling stone gathers no moss,” while simultaneously immersing themselves in the mossy Pacific NW wonderland, as often as possible. Similar to the style of the Yeti dog bowls, Stanley reverts to an even more classic outdoor color scheme, drawing from the original and iconic style of the green Stanely thermos we all know and love. Dogs and their owners can select matching Stanley products, or stylishly complementary colors, as they venture out into the wilderness, taking refreshment breaks along the way using these attractive yet practical and lightweight food/water containers.

All work and no play makes Ellie a dull girl. All work and no play makes Ellie a dull girl. All work and no play makes Ellie a dull girl. All work and no play makes Ellie a dull girl. All work and no play makes Ellie a dull girl. All work and no play makes Ellie a dull girl. All work and no play makes Ellie a dull girl. All work and no play makes Ellie a dull girl. All work and no play makes Ellie a dull girl. All work and no play makes Ellie a dull girl. All work and no play makes Ellie a dull girl. All work and no play makes Ellie a dull girl. All work and no play makes Ellie a dull girl. All work and no play makes Ellie a dull girl. All work and no play makes Ellie a dull girl. All work and no play makes Ellie a dull girl. All work and no play makes Ellie a dull girl. All work and no play makes Ellie a dull girl. All work and no play makes Ellie a dull girl. All work and no play makes Ellie a dull girl. All work and no play makes Ellie a dull girl. All work and no play makes Ellie a dull girl. All work and no play makes Ellie a dull girl. All work and no play makes Ellie a dull girl. All work and no play makes Ellie a dull girl. All work and no play makes Ellie a dull girl. All work and no play makes Ellie a dull girl. All work and no play makes Ellie a dull girl. All work and no play makes Ellie a dull girl. All work and no play makes Ellie a dull girl.

This project was so fun. It became a little bit all-consuming (still owe you guys a couple blog posts from this time period), but I’m really happy to have had the opportunity to dip my toe into the world of filmmaking, if only in a silly form, so far. Jordan and Kaelau were very kind and fun collaborators, and our skill sets were complementary. I was grateful to them for jumping on board with the script and idea of Scruffman. I knew my brother would be in town and thought that he would be a great fit for the part, so I was excited when he agreed to do it. I was not expecting his girlfriend to volunteer for the role of the queen, but I was thrilled to get to know her through the process of making this film, and I think she wound up being perfect for the part! 

I loved every aspect of it! The story conceptualization, writing the script, casting, location scouting, having fun with angles, lighting, framing of shots, and of course- many many hours of editing! My friend Emma stepped in to help out with VO, and that was an added bonus, plus opportunity to work on all aspects of editing- visual, music, VO audio- learning (through trial and error) about getting things to align and balance well. Ducking music behind VO. Anyway, the list goes on- was all around a great learning experience. And in terms of the group collaboration, great to further our skills in coordinating schedules and incorporating everyone’s input so that we could end up with something better than any of us could have pulled off, individually, generally doing our best as a team to bring the idea of Scruffman to life with the time and resources we had (limitations are really helpful when it comes to creativity, I find).

Most fun I’ve had on a project so far.

I love my mom. My mom loves birds. Blue jays have kind of a punk attitude, look. Wanted to try to capture that with simple lines, minimal brush strokes, bring the outside inside a little bit.

Some aspects of design systems that are particularly useful/interesting to me:

• the speed with which designers can mock up prototypes with access to design systems and ready-made components
• the component library and patterns: UI visual and coded elements that have been vetted, tested, and revised for accessibility and optimized user experience, often combined into reused “patterns” for consistency and a streamlined user experience
• brand guidelines: a framework of company/brand personality, values, mission statement, public perception, etc, which helps guide the effective use of preexisting design systems

Specific examples:

• AUDI: I was intrigued by Audi’s rings and protocol/treatment of them within design systems- the intentional variation of line width to evoke/match different moods within the umbrella of the brand and company vision.

• MAILCHIMP: branding colors page includes helpful accessibility notes for each color option

• ADOBE SPECTRUM: I visited the “principles” page, and was struck by their efforts in terms of accessibility, and being flexible through employing an evolving design system with a variety of options, that continues to analyze and evaluate user experiences in real time, in an attempt to keep the wide range of human experience centralized in their design system thinking.

Black squares. Lots of them. Scraping the bottom of the barrel in terms of my ability to be creative at the moment (4:45pm on Friday, after a very full finals week), but I did my best. See below.

*UPDATED BELOW WITH PROCESS VIDEOS!

I’m working on a hand-illustrated album cover for Jill’s class that I would like to feature for this post, but it is not yet complete. I will continue to document my process and post video once it reaches a state of (at least mostly) completion (hopefully by Sunday evening? No promises). In the mean time, here is a placeholder image:

*UPDATE! I shifted direction a bit on this. Feeling moved by Joni’s live performance of “Woodstock” from 1970, I decided to carry over my fascination into our Color Theory anti-war poster project, with an attempt to visually interpret her words “and I dreamed I saw the bombers, riding shotgun in the sky, and they were turning into butterflies, above our nation.” Here is a quick mockup/guide I created in illustrator:

And here is a time-lapse video of me, from 10pm-5am, trying out this “peel and reveal” art technique that I have seen versions of elsewhere, and always wanted to try (underestimated the time investment, as usual).

As far as what inspired this project: too many things to count! I drew some inspiration (and shape of plane silhouette) from this meme, which spoke to me at the time:

But perhaps most importantly: the butterflies on the poster, aside from stemming from the lyrics, are representative of the fragility of our minds, our consciousness, and our imagination. And how incredibly important it is to “tend that garden” at all costs. How perhaps the only way we can build a better world is by keeping that spark and that vision strong. And it is NOT THE SAME as being willfully ignorant or checked out. It is the choice, with sensitivity and awareness, to move in the direction of optimism, creativity, kindness, vulnerability, expression, and a life lived on one’s own terms, protecting the inner spark, and striving to bring out the good in ourselves and those around us.

I believe that while we may not be able to tear down horribly broken and destructive systems, we can build something different, starting at the individual level and expanding from there. As one of my heroes, Fred Rogers, once said:

“Peace means far more than the opposite of war.”

I know some classmates understandably disagreed with the assignment of this project, and it brought up some challenging emotions for many of us. However, I think it’s SO IMPORTANT for creatives to express these very big, very difficult feelings and topics- especially those of us who have the privilege to do so. It may be the most important role we have- to be channels of those emotions in transformative ways.

This is the finished (pre-reveal) poster:

Materials used:

poster boards, color aid paper, acrylic paints, glue, artist’s tape

Here is the (big reveal!!!) presentation of the project in front of the class. I was pretty nervous about it, as the entire project was a total experiment with new (to me) materials. I was worried my tape would stick to the artwork, or that there would be paint leaks through the cracks in my taping job. But it came out ok! Grateful to Elan for the “peel assist” below, and to Sergio for the video recording (link here in case the below video does not work):

Overall, I was really inspired by this topic and project, and the chance to create something with my hands which has deeper significance than some of the other work we have been doing (more about building a skillset for the professional world- also important!). Striking a balance between both is definitely worth striving for.

As for this particular project- ideally, I think it would be most effective as a work of performance art- maybe as a mural on the side of a building or something- where a group of people could be filmed peeling away the dark and dismal image of warfare to reveal something beautiful, hopeful, and imaginative underneath (revealed rays could contain art or inspiring words by different people, perhaps)- symbolizing the importance of working together to shed what is no longer serving humanity, and move towards a shared vision of a different and brighter kind of reality/future.

At the risk of becoming too “kumbaya” about this, I’m going to sign off, but here is the final image: