I'm having an art show!

I don't know if I mentioned that besides being a designer I am also an artist. I draw paint etc. Anyway, I'm finally having an art show! woo hoo!!! I've talked about doing this for years now but never went through with it. So now I have my venue booked and am working on planning and getting my artwork together. It will be a joint show with my sister who is majoring in fashion design at the Art Institute of Chicago. Here is a piece that I just finished. A friend of mine is a photographer and has taken a couple of trips to Africa with a church group as their personal photographer. He allowed me to use one of his photos as subject matter. You can see more of his work at www.dcvizion.com He is a great photographer :)

My personal critique: I chose to use pastels as my medium because I couldn't ignore using color for this piece. I also love doing very detailed drawings and pastel really allows for that. I used pastel pencils for the detailed areas which really helped with the face and shirt.
My version also has simplistic elements with the background and the pants. One of my favorite artists is Jacob Lawrence and I think the simplicity is somewhat reminiscent of his style. The background in particular gives me the feeling that was achieved in this particular Lawrence painting on the left, "They were very poor." The solid color. I think it just works for what was being portrayed.

Logo designs

Sometimes logos can really stump you and it can take a lot of work trying to come up with something interesting. Here are a few I've done that I personally think work well.

This logo is for Detroit Public Schools' AAA Educational School House which represents the new goals of the school system: Accountability+Added Value=Achievement. All of this information had to be included in the logo so it was challenging to find a design that worked well while including so much information at the same time.
This logo is also for Detroit Public Schools and is for a new program which honors students who are considered heroes in their school by teachers and peers. I think this logo works because the playful nature of the font allows viewers to know that this is a program for kids. Also, the use of the crown shows that someone is being honored and I feel that purple and gold are regal colors.

This logo was done for an online woman's clothing store.

This logo will eventually be used on a label design for a line of natural bath and body products. I think the design lends itself to the idea of naturalness and beauty. :)

Less Stress!

So. I attended a 1-day retreat a couple of weeks ago and really got some good information. It's not that I really heard anything that I didn't already know, but sometimes you need to hear something to really realize it.

First: There are not enough hours in the day! One of the speakers really broke down what happens in a day and honestly there is hardly no personal time left at the end of it all. After you've had a full work day, jam-packed with meetings and major projects, attempting to eat something in the middle of it all, spending time driving to and fro, cooking dinner, cleaning your house etc. it's time for bed! And don't even think about time spent on children. I'm not married yet and have no kids and I still have a jam packed schedule! I guess the point is, we are all busy and have very hectic schedules. But in the midst of all of that, don't forget about your time. The personal ME time that everyone needs to just be alone, grab a drink with friends, go shopping, or whatever it is you like to do to unwind. There's no way that you will be able to do it all when you're completely burned out and exhausted.

Second: Stop multi-tasking! What? Me? Not multi-task? That's exactly what I was asking myself as I sat listening. But they made some good points. If you do a million things at one time are you giving 100% to any of the things you are doing? Of course I am! But wait...really think about it. Imagine how much better that project would have been if you weren't emailing clients, making calls and eating lunch at the same time. This is one I will truly have to work on because I am a serious multi tasker (is that a word?) and it may take some time to break away from this habit.

Third: Learn to say NO! I don't know about you but I have a hard time saying no to people. No matter how many projects I have on my desk it's hard for me to say to the client who is frantic and needs something designed and printed in a ridiculous time frame that I can't help them. And in my personal life I'm the one who's always running here and there taking care of other people's emergencies when I have 10 of my own to handle. Sometimes it's just not worth it to stress out about things that are out of your control. One of the ladies at my table told me something that really hit home to me. And I think it will be one of my mottoes to live by. "Don't make someone else's neglect your emergency." Wow. Great isn't it? :)