new blog location

baby gift

 A friend recently had a baby and asked if I would make some artwork for his nursery. She really liked the birth announcement-like canvases that you see all over Pinterest and wanted something similar to hang in his nursery. These friends are giant Cubs fans so little Simon's nursery is appropriately Cubs themed so I continued that in the color scheme of the announcement. I originally had planned to digitize the hand lettering and then get it printed through Spoonflower but I realized that I could do it much quicker if I just skipped the computer part. I ended up hand painting it onto off-white linen using acrylic paint and then mounting it on canvas stretchers. Amazingly enough, hand painting the lettering wasn't that difficult and went pretty quickly.

on the hunt: one-piece swimsuit

I feel like this year's options when it comes to one-pieces are a lot better than it has been other seasons. I have a hard time when it comes to swim suit shopping because I like coverage which apparently swim suit brands don't believe in (at least not in conjunction with a cute pattern). I found a bunch through online searching and found a surprisingly great selection at Old Navy the other day.

The middle black number was the winner for my upcoming trip to Miami. 

From top: Arrowhead Ikat Tank suit from J.Crew, Bandeau One-piece from Gap, Ruched suit from Old Navy, Pink one-piece from American Eagle, Polka-dot Ruched Underwire Tank suit from J.Crew, Striped Bandeau from Old Navy

i've been obsessed with pencils lately

I was thinking as a leave behind for my upcoming review...

From: Left | Middle | Right

elephants just make me happy

Did you know we use the word 'Jumbo' to describe large things because it was the name of one of Barnum's elephants?

Photo from here.

my life in 10 weeks

I am wrapping up yet another quarter. I have just one more project to turn in before I have three weeks of break which include a trip to Miami! While you might not be able to tell from my blog I've actually been doing very well on my photo taking. As I browse through my last few weeks I find that you can tell that my life revolves around classes and projects because that is what a majority of my photos chronicle. I really like that I think to document some of the mundane moments and my process because it's such a large part of my life that it amuses me to have people "like" these photos when they're viewed out of context.

I thought I'd do a little round-up of my school-related photos from the previous 10 weeks.

1. A slide that make me chuckle from a speaker at the Design Ethos conference that SCAD hosted.  2. A bit of process for my 3D project.  3. My friend's extraordinary interview skills for her thesis project.  4. Some napkin sketching action during drinks with a friend.  5. Practicing printing transfer for my final packaging projects.  6. Fun vinyl stickers that I made for my 3D project.  7. Actual PB&J sandwiches that I made and packaged for my class to enjoy.  8. Final's weekend to-do list that I'm still in the process of completing.

orla kiely spring collection

Orla Kiely has some beautiful new pieces in her spring collection that I am drooling over. I'll be keeping an eye out for similar styles in a more affordable price range.

Left to right: Double Cotton Pinafore Dress, Pleated Silk Boat Neck Dress, Ottoman Strappy Dress

in defense of my food-heavy instagram feed

 

my 365: march

Oh dear, I've moved on to labeling them merely by month, that's a bad sign. I'm about a month behind so bear with me...

1. Finals cram sessions are not complete without a Red Bull. I'm living the stereotype here.  2. This was, if I remember correctly, around 2 am during my typeface design all-nighter.  3. And this would be the results of that all-nighter.  4. My picnic lunch that I treated myself with while finishing up my Art History research paper. My sister turned me onto grapefruit soda and now I'm addicted.  5. My pretty new (and very painful) shoes bought with birthday money.  6. Reading at the coffee shop while being serenaded by a violin player at the next table.  7. St. Patty's Day in Savannah!  8. The greatest book of all time -- The Night Circus by Erin Morganstern  9. Picking my sister up at the airport.  10. First visit to the beach of the summer.

adventures in cooking: tom yum soup

 

My sister turned me onto this recipe when she was here visiting. I love Tom Yum soup and was excited that this recipe has easy to find ingredients in addition to being quick and easy to make. The nice thing about this recipe is that there is a lot of wiggle room in ingredient choices. This was the original recipe and I've made some small revisions (alterations are in italics) that are reflected in my version below.

This recipe yields enough for 2 sizable servings and it keeps really nicely.

The recipe:

3-4 cups chicken stock

1 stalk lemongrass, lower 1/3 finely minced

zest of 1 lime plus a squeeze of it's juice

12-14 medium or large raw shrimp, shelled

2 Tbsp fish sauce or 1-1 1/2 Tbsp oyster sauce

1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

3 cloves garlic, minced

generous handful fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced thinly

1 green and/or red bell pepper, sliced (I prefer to skip the peppers)

1/2 can coconut milk

1/3 cup fresh coriander, roughly chopped

1 fresh jalapeno, sliced

2-3 stalks green onion

Preparation:

1. Heat stock on medium to high heat in a deep cooking pot. Add minced lemongrass, including upper parts of the stalk, to the broth and boil 5-6 minutes, until fragrant.

2. Reduce heat to a nice simmer. Then add garlic, red pepper flakes, lime, green onions, jalapeno and mushrooms to broth. Continue simmering for another 5 minutes.

3. Add shrimp and simmer 5 minutes, or until shrimp are pink and plump.

4. Turn heat down to low and add the coconut milk and fish (or oyster) sauce. Taste the soup and adjust to taste. If too sour, add 1 tsp. brown sugar. For a richer, creamier soup add more coconut milk.

5. Serve garnished with fresh coriander.

music monday: fun.

I'm a little late to the "fun." party but this is seriously one catchy tune. Upon looking into the band I am not at all surprised that I like them because I was a fan of the lead singer's former group The Format as well.

my 365: week nine & ten-ish

I'm embarrassingly far behind in my photo-a-day resolution in posting and a little in taking. There's been a few days missed here and there and I'm trying to get back into the groove.

1. A rainy day  2. My empty birthday drink  3. Making corrections to my S  4. The Savannah Theater marquee  5. My favorite drink, an Iced Americano, out of a mason jar at Foxy Loxy  6. A rainy day of wandering for type inspiration  7. My computer set-up for type design  8. My birthday present from my sister that was the hardest box to track down  9. Fish-eye lens experimenting in class  10. A beautiful blue sky

inside my school bag

A new SCAD quarter just started yesterday and while it's still a tad organized I thought I'd share what I routinely have in my bag.

Clockwise from top left: I've given up on folders and resorted to these great envelopes because I was never one to keep them very tidy anyway. It has a great front pocket on each where I can keep my syllabus handy and it keeps everything in one spot. I always have my mini stapler, glue stick, and white-out on me. My calendar that I rely on to tell me everything. I usually have a couple rolls of washi tape in my bag somewhere because they are great for taping things into my sketchbooks or calendar. An assortment of pens and markers. I'm very loyal to my felt tip marker that I take notes with and it's essential to have large markers handy for brainstorming. My headphones, id card, and chapstick are always inside my wallet. Lately I've taken to carrying a large container of ibuprofen around. And lastly, an assortment of post-its. Very important, and I always find myself searching the bottom of my bag for them!

mini masterpieces

It's never too early to introduce the kiddies to the works of Jane Austen, Shakespeare, and Charlotte Bronte. I would love to buy these in bulk to give to all my expecting friends (which there are quite a few)!

The illustrations are by Alison Oliver of Sugar.

Quaker – A typeface

This is probably my biggest design accomplishment to date, and it's only halfway done.

This quarter I took the course Typeface Design where I began work on my first typeface entitled Quaker. So far Quaker includes uppercase glyphs, numbers, and primary punctuation. I'll continue working on them next quarter and complete the full set.

It was inspired by a vintage canvas sugar bag that I saw in an antique store. The starting point was the A and during the design process it is one of the few forms that did not experience significant revisions.

I have a lot of process documentation for this project because I intend to show this in my 45 hour MFA review. Below is a video that shows the designing process for the original six key glyphs and the E. I have over 10,000 frames from the duration of the project so I have to find a way to display them without it becoming an hour long motion picture. I think it is safe to say that I would be the ONLY person interested in that.