Education is an ornament in prosperity 

and a refuge in adversity. 

Aristotle

From my garden in Sacramento "Yellow Nasturtium", 2009 

So I have another degree. This one as difficult to pursue as the first, in some ways harder because of my age.  But it was easier to be in school, with a task at hand than it is to look for work and be denied. It has made me bolder, but it is also emotionally exhausting to keep your belief in yourself strong when the seeds of hope are your children, sailing off into the unknown. That is what it is like to send out a resume. Especially when many employers admonish you not to call or stop by the place of business. I know there are people more qualified than me on paper, but I know I have a better work ethic. I know that my combined skills, gained over time are valuable, but that is offset by my age. I could freelance, but the tools to do so in a digital age are expensive. So everyday I vote for myself in the FedEx small Business Grant contest. and see that I have less than one hundred votes and know that is not enough. Vote for me reminders on Facebook don't seem to be doing the trick. Maybe I will post an ad on Craigslist. LOL. Life is good in a lot of ways. I just need more gainful employment. In the meantime, Vote for me and my business, Ferris Design & Illustration:

http://grantcontest.fedex.com/fedex-small-business-grant-voting/microsite/gallery/506f6c2e0191173746027419?cmp=EMC-1000968-2-1-200-1110000-US-US-EN-GRANTCONTEST000&ACXRID=1222955616&link=vote

Fed Ex Grant Contest

I have been accepted for the first part of a grant contest, now it is up to friends and family to help me out. With $25K I could get some decent equipment, get my car tuned up. I don't even make that much in a year. That is very sad. I guess they will take taxes out, so kiss a third of it goodbye. Still more than I made last year. Plenty to work with, and pay off a small debt or two. I included a detail of this poster.

http://grantcontest.fedex.com/fedex-small-business-grant-voting/microsite/gallery/506f6c2e0191173746027419?cmp=EMC-1000968-2-1-200-1110000-US-US-EN-GRANTCONTEST000&ACXRID=1222955616&link=vote

Lemons, Digital Photo, 2010, 

Farmers Market at X Street 

Sacramento, CA.

I don't think there's any artist of any value who doesn't doubt what they're doing. 

Francis Ford Coppola 

I have been looking for a job now for over a month. It is so depressing to not receive but one reply. I send out at least one a day; more often two or three. Doing that is my second job. However that one resulted in an interview. I did not get the job, but I still consider it a win. So why the picture of the lemons? I recently discovered when attempting to paste my resume into a spot on an employer's web site that the pdf version results in rows of little boxes. I have been counting on the pdf to work when all other formats fail. What is funny is that one job I got an interview for. They were able to print out my resume from the attached version just fine. I am baffled. Now that I am no longer in school there is no one to ask, no one to help me figure it out, I no newer software to use. So the Lemons seemed appropriate.

I am trying to balance what could be interrupted as a bit of failure with the things that make me feel positive. Artwork, yard work, catching up on chores. Being broke is wearing a little thin. Time on my hands to do other things and I have NO money. I am grateful for a roof over my head in a beautiful location, animals that love me,
friends that believe in me. Weighing things out. Life is good!

Iguana, Prismacolor, 1995

A drawing is simply a line going for a walk.
– Paul Klee

This drawing would have been quite a trek. I am slowly getting back to doing art for my self, and I am getting freelance work, but it is taking time to get back in the groove. Now if I can find a new job, with some decent hours and pay. Life will be good. Back to work! ;->

If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. 
Maya Angelou 

This image has been made for a lady I work with, she wanted faces around her cube windows so that people could not peer in. I have been working on it is little bits for about two months. Finally finishing it yesterday. I started it as a drawing, scanned it and finished it in Photoshop so that I could add some solid even color. Red and black are the company colors. I have been drawing these sun faces for a long, long time. I think I go to them as an image when things are a bit unstable, or when I am experiencing a lot of change. It is a comfort image. Maya is right, it is up to us to adapt our attitude. 

“If we can recognize that change and uncertainty are basic principles, we can greet the future and the transformation we are undergoing with the understanding that we do not know enough to be pessimistic.”

Hazel Henderson I am living in an area where there are not many jobs in the Graphic Design field. So I love what this woman says, because it is so true. I believe we as a species are going to come out of this period of turmoil and change stronger, smarter and more advanced. Will I see it.? No but I will see what leads up to peace and harmony.  One of the things I remember and it is a metaphor in this world wide situation when I am drawing is that it is the areas of change that define an object, shape or area. You can have a completely solid black shape and it is that part of the surface that changes from dark to light that tells you what it is. I think that is true of people too if you want to know who someone is watch how they change under pressure, or in a situation that challenges them. It will give them definition within that context, and from that you will know them more completely. Change is the best thing that can happen.  No artwork tonite. M

“Alice came to a fork in the road. 'Which road do I take?' she asked.
'Where do you want to go?' responded the Cheshire Cat.
'I don't know,' Alice answered.
'Then,' said the Cat, 'it doesn't matter.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Well, I am finished with this round of school. Somewhat backwards, but a good way to upgrade my skill set. An expensive way to up grade my skill set. However I think it is a good combination, especially with my previous experience in prepress. I actually wish I had gone into Graphic Design. But such is life. I have never really had a clear idea of where I wanted to go, except do something with my hands and my talent. I really hate admitting that, but it is true. I have tried a lot of different ways to make a living, mostly art related ways. I am giving myself a week to recharge.

This is another image from school. One side of a tri-fold brochure

“How would your life be different if…You stopped allowing other people to dilute or poison your day with their words or opinions? Let today be the day…You stand strong in the truth of your beauty and journey through your day without attachment to the validation of others” 

― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

I have finished another part of my journey. Another degree. In addition to working on this degree. I have been working to over come something that is addressed by that quote. People I have respected have told me conflicting things. One is that I am very talented, which I have come to believe is true. The other is at odds with the first which is that I don't think outside of the box much. But I think what happened is I listened to those voices when I did artwork because the closer it was to looking like the real thing, the more talented I was perceived to be. I thought I had sacrificed my creativity. But I have found it is still there. Each time I have created something without a care as to what the others would think, I created something that the others all love. Huh. I think all the pieces have come together. 

Three snakes is a photo collage, none of the images are my photos. Google images. The trick is high resolution. 

Oh-oh. Here we are again.

By the time we've made it, we've had it.
Malcolm Forbes

I had a flash that I had a blog. That I had not visit or posted anything to. Six months ago? NO way.

School has been interesting and obviously all consuming. Now we are in finals again. I am doing the push for portfolio and my AA ( this time ).  I have never been so tired.  My animals miss me, my yard needs me, there is dust in my house – well lets just say I didn't know it could be this thick.

And the blog has changed. So lets see if this is what I still like, and want to go forward with. And I need to post some sort of image.

ARGH, it's finals. What would Georgia say? The image is photoshop'd and actually filled with a couple of layers of typography. The original Photo is by Steigletz

I am still thinking ARGH! Finals.

Chewing me up and spitting me out.

Few people take objectives really seriously. They put average effort into too many things, rather than superior thought and effort into a few important things. People who achieve the most are selective as well as determined."

— Richard Koch: is a former management consultant,
entrepreneur, and writer 

I will post something with photos in a couple of days. Bed and then up for the second job in the morning. This too shall pass. 

ARGH! Finals

"Losers live in the past.
Winners learn from the past and enjoy
working in the present toward the future."

— Denis Waitley: is an American motivational speaker and writer

It is almost over. for my InDesign class I am working on a 24 page magazine called LEAF. I will have to post parts of it when I get through. I am also working on a small poster, 11x 17, because that is the biggest printer capacity we have for the majority of student work. That is for the Photoshop class. I feel like I have a handle on things in InDesign, but feel like I am all thumbs in Photoshop. I am doing monster insects that have bread near Fukushima Power Plant and are menacing the populace.

No new images.

From 1977, this Bota Bag was a popular way to carry wine at concerts, picnics, where ever. it had a plastic lining and a leather outside. I am embarrassed to say I wore it out. 

School and work are kicking my butt

"Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy." — Dale Carnegie: was an American writer and lecturer  This is an old sketch book collage piece. As I look at it, even though the spine is on the left, I think the piece is upside down. Yeah, it is. That is how things feel right now. Work and school, work and school, work and school. I am learning about efficiency this term, not enough time to do the work I need to do, the way I usually do it, Normally I would work carefully, and meticulously, but I don't think things out as carefully first. This time I am spending the time to think about what I want to do and the steps involved to get it done well and on time. Challenging, and as you can tell I didn't think things through because I just posted an upside down image. That was the way it was scanned. Ooooooops.

Happy New Year!

"Nothing can add more power
to your life than concentrating all your energies on a limited set of targets."

—Nido Qubein: is a businessman and motivational speaker 

My primary focus has always been art, This black and white drawing was done in 1977, in Modesto, at a coffee house named the Coffee Bean.  It had an out side seating area surrounded by a cinderblock wall. I would have been 23 years old and I remember the sketch pad went everywhere, and I would draw what ever was around me. I drew in black ink, so there was no erasing, and all of the drawings from this period have a funky, organic quality to them. They asked me to come back and do another sketch of the premises for them and they paid for my breakfast. I am not sure it was a fair trade, (looking back) I was there about 4 hours, but I jumped on it. I have boxes of sketch books that I am slowly scanning when I have time. 

Right now my limited set of targets are school and work. Because I am studying graphic design, I am spending most of my time on a computer. If I had a laptop, it would go everywhere with me much the same way as the sketchbook does. I still carry a sketch book in the car, in my purse, there is one in every room of the house, and in the survival backpack I carry in the car. I will still draw on a scrap of paper if that is all I have. Drawing is still at the heart of what I do.