A tale of two whales...

One of the things I love about being a designer and artist is that sometimes, you have the opportunity to just completely wing-it. See how things go, work on the fly, making changes and tweaking things. Well, recently I decided to organize an evening bible school at my church, along with a lot of great helpers which left me time to scheme up some other crazy things. I found instructions online for making an inflatable whale and well, there is the challenge, I have to try. So I head off to the local hardware store in search of black plastic, no go, so opted for some blue tarp and a couple of rolls of duct tape. Now, the instructions didn't work with the tarp that I had, so I just plopped everything down on the floor and started taping. Fast forward a couple of hours and viola! Whale. So far it has been a smashing success, the preschoolers had story time inside, you enter through the mouth, and other classes were begging to get in as well. Sometimes, having a preschooler as a client/audience has its advantages.

The second whale, was one I fashioned out of a 4x8 foot sheet of foam insulation, painted with Krylon H2O paint and then detailed in acrylic. It makes for a light yet sturdy whale that a student can easily carry across stage. I was apprehensive about the foam and painting it, but it went exceptionally well and now have a plethora of ideas about what could be built with it. You never know where your inspiration for the next client project may come from, perhaps the sea. 

OMFG?

So, Adage this week is talking about the Gossip Girl promo in which they use OMFG (Oh my F-ing God). It has been getting a lot of media lately, and thought I would put it out there to see what others think. Personally, call me old, but I am not a fan of the campaign or the show, maybe it is Lost-like cult that I never got hooked into, or perhaps I just didn't like the taste of the Kool-aid. And ironically it isn't the F word that so bothers me but the God reference. Has TV gone too far? Yes, I fully understand that this is what the language of youth is, but looking at historical trends, will things swing back to a more conservative, and if it is a trend that occurs naturally, will that still happen if network TV is encouraging it? Don't get me wrong, I like edgy, out there, fun. But can we not be a bit more creative and intelligent about it? I don't know, what is your take on the ads? I think they left me with more questions than answers, was that the point?

Bit of a diversion...

I know this might be a bit of a diversion, but this evening as I was working in the yard, prepping for a nearly 100 person fairly spontaneous party at our house (a whole other story...) I saw something in an apple tree that caught my eye. Upon further inspection, it appeared to be some type of butterfly or moth. I grabbed my camera and snapped off a couple (that means dozens) of shots. And while is was great to get that close and it just sat there and allowed the papparazi to snap away, it wasn't until I got back to my computer and really started looking at it, that I was inspired.

When you get busy and have a lot going on, sometimes it is easy to overlook the small things. This put things in perspective pretty quickly. At the point when you have designed something you are really happy about, and think it is pretty spectacular, take a look around. Nature can put you in your place pretty quickly. Just look at the symmetry, balance, color palette, contrast, texture. Quite a humbling experience. So next time you get hung up, or just need a little reality check, turn to nature. Become inspired, you never know what will spark something in you.