TBT - Design Elements, 2005

Back with another Throw Back Thursday from college. This project was one of the very first projects we were given in "Design School" and it was all about connecting design elements. Well, it was also about proper technique using certain tools (i.e. the proper way to use rubber cement–oh, you didn't know there was one? I didn't either but I'd be happy to share it with you if you're interested). Since none of those tools/techniques are visible here, I'll focus on the actual images. 

The idea was to create a series of images in which image is connected by a single design element to the one on either side of it; value, color, texture, form... The original project was printed and connected into a long strip as opposed to the block of six you see here. So it should be read across the top and then across the bottom. 

We were sent out to gather images wherever we might find inspiration. After several iterations I ended up with what you see above. I'm still not that happy with it because I used color to connect images twice–what a cop out! :) 

My favorite duo is the last one. I still cannot believe that as I was walking around trying to take pictures, I looked up and snapped a shot of the clouds and then looked down at the sidewalk for inspiration and found an almost identical form in the broken pavement! I was STOKED! I also love the photo of the man-hole cover. I had to stand way over it to get a perfectly round shot and there just so happened to be a dry section where you couldn't see my reflection!

Have a great Thursday! 

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TBT - Longhorn Basketball Mural

In college, I kept myself busy with lots and lots of school. Sometimes so much school that I could almost cry about it just reminiscing. I was up at the studio for hours upon hours, thankfully with people I liked, and had a relatively minimal social life. On the side, however, I managed to take on mural commissions to create a little income–I don't think I could have swung a normal job. I am sure many of those mural projects will pop up in future TBT posts.

Today's mural was for a multi-talented young man. He excelled at every sport, but basketball was by far the family's favorite. Both of his siblings also excelled in basketball throughout high school and college and are both currently coaching high school basketball.

This mural was painted for him when he was in middle school or early high school and UT was his college of choice.  Now he plays basketball at the U.S. Military Academy (West Point). I want to believe that he's still a longhorn at heart, but I'm also very proud of him for his choice to serve in the Armed Forces.

This was a very simple mural, as you can tell. To make it even easier, his family painted the wall burnt orange first. I came in and used chalk to draw all my lines. I then used the wall paint, added white and painted out the basketball. Then I took the white paint and traced my previously drawn lines for the longhorn with a wide flat head brush so I could keep a consistent thickness all the way around.  I also really like asymmetrical balance and thought it looked more professional outlined instead of solid.

Two coats, and I was done! Tada! Here it is. What do you think?

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TBT - Birthday Fort

This blog is called "the creative endeavors" and not "the artwork of" for posts such as these. Creative inspiration often pops up at random times for numerous reasons. It's a way of life more than just that thing you do.

Today's throwback Thursday endeavor is from February of 2012. It was going to be the first time Brian and I getting to spend his birthday together, ever, but of course, as is the military's specialty, his shift changed just for the few days of Valentines' Day and his birthday. He was working the noon to midnight shift. Bummer! But hey, at least we got to see each other at all on these days, right?

Him working the noon to midnight shift made planning for time to celebrate his birthday that much more difficult. What was I going to do to make both days special?! I thought and thought until my thinker was sore. Nothing came to me. Then I had this revelation: sometimes "special" means something specifically meaningful and other times it just comes from doing something you've never done before, together. So, what could I do??

For Valentines' Day, I ended up preparing nothing (lame), but Brian ended up making me breakfast in bed–raspberry crepes and bacon. He had just learned the recipe from one of our friends and surprised me with it. How sweet is that?

Later I ended up making chocolate covered strawberries...

...and we went for a walk in a local park and took pictures at a tree marked with the words "Valentina e Valentino per sempre" (Valentina and Valentino forever). My little sister and I found the tree when she came to visit a few months earlier. 

This one is blurry, but I still love it:

So I had failed to plan for Valentines' and it turned out alright, but I couldn't just expect the same miracle for his birthday, could I?

Then it came to me. I don't know when, where, or how, but all of the sudden I had a plan–I was going to make a fort to surprise Brian when he got home on his birthday eve, and we'd ring in his birthday with movies and snacks. That was definitely something we had never done before, and all I could do was hope he would think it was special. So I got to work...

First I set out to make a frame. I strung a medium thickness string through and around the entertainment center in two places.

Then I ran the string through the holes in the ends of the broom and mop handles that I stuffed in the back of the couch. from there I ran the strings down and around the feet of the couch, using two sharpies as "tourniquets" to remove any slack.

Next I brought out all the blankets, sheets and other large pieces of material I had and just started covering and attaching with clothespins.

This is how the front of the fort turned out:

And here's the back. I wanted it to have a nice roomy feel and I think I accomplished that (by making it practically the size of the entire room).

I also added a little flair by wrapping the light fixture and hanging some stars. 

Then I made a welcome sign on our chalk board wall for Brian to see when he walked in.

So let me give you a tour:

This is the entrance, welcome!

If you were sitting on the bed with your face to the tv, you would see this lovely drying rack turned bookshelf/magazine rack.

And at the foot of the bed, a basket full of movie watching goodies, including girl scout cookies!

So I had everything set, and was ready and waiting for Brian to come home. He was supposed to get off at midnight, so I expected him by 12:30. By the time this next picture was taken, it was 1:45 in the morning and I was still waiting. That's the thing about surprises, sometimes they don't go as planned because the person in question has no idea (or hopefully has no idea) the surprise is happening. Me calling at this hour would have tipped him off. So I sat. I waited. I tried to figure out how to work the new Bluray player so I could watch a movie or show while I waited, but was unsuccessful. I ended up finding some other features and thus enjoyed a little Italian karaoke all by my lonesome. Turns out trying to sing along with songs you've never heard with words you don't know very well isn't so easy. I'm glad there was no one there to have recorded the moment.

By 2:30 Brian was home! He was so surprised, and since it was already so late/early we went straight to bed and awoke the next morning and watched our movies with breakfast. Turned out to be so much fun, we kept the fort up and slept in it for over a week! :)

Thanks for visiting Humphreys' Hideaway. Hope you enjoyed your stay. Come back soon!

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TBT - Paper Bird Arrangement

A couple years back I flew home for my dear friend, Carla's, wedding. Earlier in the year I attempted my very first "paper engineering" project, a buzzard for my husband's Maintenance Squadron. For my first go, it turned out surprisingly well. This fact only made me want to pursue paper engineering more. I was looking for a reason to do another fun paper piece and I found it in Carla's wedding.

This was not just your ordinary wedding. Carla is an amazing graphic designer with a great eye for color, pattern, and detail. And this was Carla's wedding, so you know it was beautiful. She and Alejandro had a Tex-Mex inspired wedding in Austin with their reception at the Wildflower Center–gorgeous!! To go along with this not so ordinary wedding, I wanted to gift her a paper piece for display. Risky, I know, but she's a good friend, and took a chance on me.

Celebrating Carla's wedding with a few of her close friends downtown.

I wanted to create something colorful, and originally decided on a large peacock. I love peacocks and was searching for all sorts of images on the internet for inspiration. Well, turns out I didn't have as much time as I had hoped (and I didn't want to spend less time with the bride just so I could make her something) so I opted for plan B, a small colorful bird in an arrangement of cacti, feathers and flowers. Here it is, made entirely of paper:

And here's a few close-ups of Mr. Bird Delgado himself:

It was a beautiful night, and I had so much fun dancing and laughing with new and old friends. The designs were spectacular and well executed. I wouldn't have expected any less (which never fails to heap on the pressure, I'm sure).

You want to see more? I thought so...

...just a few of the touches that made this wedding so beautiful. Here's to the happy couple! May the Lord bless you with the desires of your hearts, and may you continue to grow closer as a couple. 

Thank you for taking a chance on me Carla, and for letting me borrow that pen on the first day of classes sophomore year! You're the best.

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TBT - Racecar, 2006

As you know, racecar is a palindrome. I happen to love palindromes, especially when they are entire sentences long! In fact, one time, while in Austin, I was at a coffee shop and a man who was entertaining us with a few originals, sang an entire song where each line was a palindrome and the entire song was a palindrome. It blew. my. mind.

An example of a (quite appropriately topical) palindrome sentence: Anne, I vote more cars race Rome to Vienna.

Enough about palindromes, onto the throw back thursday art! This week I am highlighting one of the many (many) side projects I have done over the years for this or that event. This particular project was for a "most beloved sister" [first person to correctly guess which movie this comes from in the comment section wins a 10% discount coupon]. Let me back up, all of us Collier girls played volleyball. L and I even played on the same varsity team for a couple years. But it wasn't until B was on Varsity that it became popular to have a theme for the season. This theme carried out from their slogan, to their warm up music, to their team pictures.

The 2006 season was B's senior year and their theme was Racing. I was asked if I could paint a large racecar to hang in the gym. So I did, and you can see it (sort of) at the top of the bleachers on the checkerboard wall. It was senior night at the time these photos were taken–B's last home game. Below you can see all the fun things the parents did in celebration. Let's see, there were life-sized replicas of their photos, dressed to impress...

Each senior girl was made queen for the night and given all the appropriate accoutrements. They even walked out on a red carpet. This is my little B. She's so pretty.

Here's a better shot of the racecar I painted in T-Wolf green! (Insert vroomy racecar sound here.)

Oh, and here I am with the silly cheer stick I made, posing in front of said racecar. I made a little B on a stick out of foam core and pins. Her arms and legs were pinned in such a way that they would swing and flap and twirl whenever I would bounce her in the air. It was undoubtedly the best cheering prop I have ever made.

So technically this is a double TBT for you. You're welcome.

I had to throw this last photo in. I have so many memories of fun times in this high school gym.

Happy Thursday, everyone!

Amen icy cinema!


 

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TBT - Floral Still Life, 1997

Throw Back Thursday from way back in 1997! This was an acrylic painting that I painted when I was  taking art classes at Terra Rosa Studio. I learned so many things with this painting:

1. Acrylic paint can be thinned down and used almost like watercolors (note the yellow flower for instance). 

2. Just because the paper seems white, doesn't mean painting over mistakes with white paint will solve everything, especially over time. :)

3. Mixing complementary colors, or choosing a deeper color like purple really does make for better shadow colors than just using black (note the pineapple stem).

4. Hurrying to finish can make for a sloppy looking result (the fruit of the pineapple and the purple flower especially). 

My favorite part of this entire piece is the top of the pineapple stem foliage. I can tell I was really looking at how it works, and how the leaves bent. 

You can learn something from every painting and drawing you do. This is something I need to remind myself daily. I often feel this pressure that every painting I do needs to be gallery worthy. Instead I should assess what I've learned and find the value in the experience. 

I hope you have had a great thursday. 

 

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TBT - FCA Drawing,

May we be more consumed with the Creator of all things, 

than things created. 

Fair warning: Today's post is personal and deals very directly with my beliefs and world view. Because I know it is not politically correct to mix "business" with "religion", I wanted to give this warning so that if you are sensitive to that sort of thing, you can opt out now. I know I may lose a reader or two, but so be it. I am first a believer in the one true God and his work of salvation in this world and maybe 5th or 6th or somewhere later, a painter and designer. It's not super heavy stuff, so go ahead and read on if you'd like to hear more about today's Throw Back Thursday artwork.


I said it before, but it bears repeating: May we be more consumed with the Creator of all things, than things created. You may have seen that quote as my tagline for this blog in my original (temporary) design. I love this quote. It's one that I need to remind myself of every day, and that is why I used it. I don't always live that way, but I long to. Created things are often so tantalizing.

It is also my desire for this blog, that as I show image after image of something created, that I don't cloud or block the vision beyond, of the Creator. Not me, the creator of the art, but the true Creator, who had the imagination and creativity to come up with all the amazingly intricate designs of all that exists around us. The only truly original creator.  I hope that in whatever I do, and whatever I discuss on this blog–be it the tutorials, my process work, whatever–would in some small (or large) way, point to the beauty and majesty of the one who Created all the beauty that inspires us to capture it with brush and pen. All that we create is in some way a copy or study of the greatest master painter, so all of it should be a reflection of Him.

Today has been a weird day for me, and I won't go into that here, but what has come out of it is mainly a reminder that our days are numbered, and that number is hidden from us. At the end of the our days, what is left? Even if I'm remembered by my friends and family, and even if they tell stories about me to their kids, the longest a memory could last about my existence, is at most, what, 200 years? So why do I spend so much of it focused on myself, investing in something so temporary. Why not invest in things eternal, and help change the course of a greater history? I desire that for myself, for my husband, friends, family, for you! Let's invest our time in things that matter.

Okay, enough from that soap box (...I'm telling you, today has been a weird day). Today's throw back drawing is from 2007 when I was approached by a leader in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) organization to do a drawing for them to use at a conference. A little background: my dad was captain of the FCA chapter at UT when he was in college, every member of my family was deeply involved with our high school chapter, and I met one of my dearest lifelong friends at an FCA camp. What do you think I said?

This drawing is mainly about discipleship. There are, however, many different word pictures portrayed here (imperfectly, I might add, but trying to fit so many ideas into one drawing will do that). I will try to talk you through many of them.

• The overall picture is that of a tree bearing fruit, which in its time, drops and dies so that new life can spring forth in the form of another tree (which in turn bears more fruit...). You can see the cyclical nature of it, I'm sure. We, too, are to die to ourselves, our worldly passions and desires, identifying ourselves with Christ in his death, and have been given the ability to spring forth with new life, as new creations, identifying with him in his resurrection. A similar cyclical image is also seen with discipleship when one life is transformed, and they then live to be used by God to help bring transformation to others, who then live...

• Each of the apples on the tree have places for names, representing individual people touched, ministered to, discipled, etc. Not all of them drop off and take root, some die away.

• The larger tree doubles in significance. Not only does it represent the discipler but it also represents Christ (the one whom we are all to be disciples of) with arms stretched out, as if on the cross, bearing our shame and guilt for us. (Having trouble finding him? The knot is his head, two arms as branches, and torso as the tree's trunk.) His death and resurrection conquered our two greatest foes, sin and death (death conquering sin by paying the penalty for sin, blood, a life, and the resurrection defeating death, making eternal life with God available to all who will follow Him.)

• Christ ministered to many, and there are potentially thousands of apples on this tree, but you can only see 12 hanging from the limbs–representing the ones he invested the majority of his time with, his 12 disciples.

• The ground from which the trees spring forth is God's word, the Bible, in which they are firmly rooted, and receive their nutrients.

• The Bible often uses the image of a grape vine or an olive tree (not an apple tree) when sharing similar ideas. Historically, we have used an apple tree to represent the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil from which our first parents ate, and sin was brought into the world. I chose to an apple tree here to represent Jesus as the new, perfect Adam. The Bible reminds us that through Adam, sin and death was brought to all mankind, but through the new Adam, Jesus, salvation was made available for mankind. Jesus is the better, perfected Adam. (Romans 5)


I know, that's a lot, but it is really just an explanation of what's going on in the image. Thanks for reading, and hopefully you got to know a little more about me in the process.

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TBT - Salad Bar Man, 2009

It's a bird... it's a plane...it's Salad Bar Man!

This week's throw back thursday post is dear to my heart because it was the first thing I ever drew for my husband. Of course, he wasn't my husband at the time. In fact, he only barely acknowledged my existence at the time. Okay, maybe not barely, but we had only spoken a few times.

Brian had come to volunteer for two weeks at Redcloud Ranch where I was working for the summer, in Colorado. Because he began volunteering after we had gone through staff training, he wasn't able to help with all the really fun stuff like leading and running the high ropes, repelling, mountain biking, etc. Instead, he was used in the kitchen, mainly helping to prep the 15 foot long salad bar (you can imagine all the chopping involved).

Like a true champ, he chopped his way through 2 weeks of meals. Three days before he left, we had our first conversation while throwing a football around during a camp fire. The only other real interaction we had was when I taught all the male staffers to do the Hoedown Throwdown–yes, Miley Cyrus' song and dance. We performed it for the Variety Show on Thursday nights. That Friday he was leaving. I volunteered to make him a few going away presents, so as a group of staffers waved goodbye to all of our guests, I madly went about trying to decide what to make.

This was the result ("A bit of silliness, really." Name that movie). A goodbye/thank you card with a caricature of Brian as "Salad Bar Man" on the front. Inside the card reads:

Brian, Brian, he's our man, 

if he can't peel 'em, no one can!

Most people make jokes about his abs, but I always tell them there was nothing implied, that is just the way caricatures are usually drawn. :) Besides this card, I also made him a t-shirt with a big superman "S" painted on it (which he still wears occasionally, as an undershirt, just in case a situation arises...).

I grown to love the story of how we came together, especially because it wasn't "love at first sight", for him anyway. But it would be unsatisfactory to leave it there and not also say that this TBT post is primarily special because it marks the close of the 4th year of our marriage, and the opening of the 5th. This card is framed and sits on our office desk; a memory like a vector–it has a starting point and a direction, but no end.

Happy Anniversary to my handsome, honorable, goofy, and loving husband. 

Thanks for your willingness to hold me through the tough times, 

encourage me through the craziness, and make me laugh through it all. 

I love you!

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TBT - Titus and Micah, 2009

In the summer of 2009 I was working at a Redcloud Ranch, a Christian family camp in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. It was during that summer, while I was working, that I met my husband. We had a handful of conversations in person before our relationship turned electronic/long distance–he went back to Colorado Springs to finish his last year at the Air Force Academy and I eventually went back to Austin. We kept in touch via email, phone calls and Skype. Eleven months later we were married. Six months into our relationship, Christmas was coming up and we were going to celebrate with both families. Inspired by the film The Family Stone, I decided to do a drawing for his family that I could make prints of to give to each of them. But what to draw?

I eventually decided on a portrait of Brian's nephews, Titus and Micah. They were the only grandkids on his side at that time, and of all the members of the family, they were the ones that I could see everyone enjoying a drawing of. So one night I whipped out my pencils, chose a photo off Facebook, and drew until I was finished–it was a long night.

At the time I had a very lovely (and equally as expensive), professional printer and was able to make a quality print for each member of the family–the boys' parents were given the original. [I say "at the time" because as I was moving out and preparing to move overseas, I accidentally dropped a thumb tack into the printer while I was taking down a poster. Aarg!? It has never worked since. (sad face) I have taken it to multiple places to see if they can find the tack/fix it, but no one was able to help. To compound the sadness...I had already purchased (and could no longer return) a year's worth of ink cartridges for this 6 cartridge printer...ouch.]

So here it is, the pencil drawing of Titus (older) and Micah (younger):

And just like in the movie, everyone seemed to like the drawing. Unlike the movie, the weekend with his family wasn't an incredible disaster of drama and unfortunate circumstances. We did get engaged though!!

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TBT - Your Giraffe Makes Me "To Laugh", 2011

As promised, this week's Throw Back Thursday is of the next section I have completed of the small illustrated book I am working on. As I said last week, today I'll be sharing the original poem with you that the book was inspired by. Please, keep your expectations low. If you are looking forward to reading the poem at all, your expectations are probably too high. Indifference is probably the right state of mind... (I could, but I don't have to, I mean, my life doesn't depend on it, but I might as well...)

The poem was created on the first night out with some new friends in Italy. The group consisted of two other American couples and an Italian woman who was learning English (and who helped many of us learn Italian). The host couple whipped out this board game, that for the life of me I cannot remember the name of, in which you fill in the blanks of song lyrics, one couplet at a time, to come up with a new song. It's a cross between mad libs and Apples to Apples if you ask me. As an aside, does anyone else perpetually think "dust to dust" after they or someone else says "Apples to Apples"?

To play, we started out with the song based loosely on Twinkle Twinkle. The game gave us a card that read: Giggle giggle little _______, how I wonder why you ________. This is the quasi-mad lib section. Everyone wrote their own two words to fill in the blanks and turned them in. Now the game turns into a rendition of Apples to Apples (dust to dust). The person whose "turn" it is, sings the couplet with each pair of words written by the players and then chooses their favorite.

Also like Apples to Apples (...), each player has their own "way" of playing the game. My way was to make sure it rhymed. The funny thing is, I didn't just think it was my "way", but the "only way" anyone would play this particular game. Boy was I mistaken.

The first round of Twinkle Twinkle started, the cards were collected, and one by one sung aloud. This one rhymed, that one rhymed, and out of left field someone wrote: elephant, smell. Someone doesn't understand how to play the game yet, I thought. It must be Marta, she doesn't understand English very well yet. Nope! After the card was picked, the owner turned out to be my very own husband. What!?

The second card read: Your _______ makes me _______.
"Giraffe" "to laugh" This one ended up belonging to Marta, which made sense because in Italian, the infinitive is used differently than in English.

The third card read: Like a(n) ________ that can ________.
"Penguin" "Boogie" ended up being the chosen card. I should have known. By this point no one was choosing anything that remotely rhymed.

Okay, all together now...

A Day at the Zoo

Giggle giggle little elephant, 

How I wonder why you smell.

Your giraffe makes me to laugh

Like a penguin that can boogie.

Giggle giggle little elephant,

How I wonder why you smell.

So there it is. I titled it "A Day at the Zoo" afterward, because that was the only way I could rectify all the lines together in my mind. Now, whenever I think about or quote this poem, it makes me "to laugh". What a great memento from such a fun first night out with new friends!

My goal is to complete this children's book, with the kiddos of one of the couples attending as the main characters, get it printed through Lulu, and send a copy to everyone who was there that night. 

So, to get to business, here's what I have for the line "Your giraffe makes me to laugh". 

P.S. Did you ever do this sort of thing growing up? (Where you moved your hand up and down over your face, changing expressions as your hand moved past?)

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Throw Back Thursday - Payton, 2011

Payton is the daughter of a wonderful couple we met while in Italy. They are one of those couples you meet and like immediately. Sadly, though, they were on their way out and we had just arrived.

As a going away present, I drew portraits of their kiddos. Actually, I originally set out to illustrate a children's book with their three kids as the main characters. (Cooper, Zeke, and Payton are all so animated that it was easy to see they'd make good illustrations.) But like most  of my well-intended, super-inspired, large projects, I couldn't find the time to complete it, and had to settle for less. Boo.

I'm happy to say, however, that I have not given up! Just last October I drew another portion of the book--a series of giraffes making faces. Maybe that'll be next weeks TBT, along with the poem. Something to look forward to, no?


The process for these drawings was as follows:

• Draw initial sketch with a 4H graphite pencil--to make sure it's really light.
• Find the lines I want and draw over them using 2B or 4B.
• With a piece of tracing paper, transfer the drawing into a clean sheet of bristol paper.
• Check my pens to see which are working most consistently (it's a huge bummer to have to change pens in the middle of a drawing, especially if you don't have another if the same size).
• Choose appropriate pens/sizes for drawing. I chose a heavier brush tipped pen for the thick lines, a  thick 08 micron pend, and a thinner 01 or 005 micron (i don't recall) for the finer details.
• I started with the brush tip pen and drew most of the outlines.
• Then I went in with the finer tips and did the cross hatching, shading, and details.

I think Payton's turned out particularly well.

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