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. 

Anxiety

"The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn't being said."

—Peter Drucker: was an influential writer & management consultant 

This is the theme I used for my Midterm, however the midterm piece was not as good as this. We were givien a folder of pictures, some requirements to show that we had learned what we had been taught.  and two hours to work. This is what initiated the anxiety about whether I am doing the right thing or not by going back to school. I don't work well quickly. This took hours of noodling. 


I sometimes imagine I am being talked about behind my back. That I am not good enough, that I am doing a bad job, that I am not doing enough. That there is this list of things I was sposed to do. So I work hard and I try to do more and then I work even harder and try to do even more. This is the negative side of the above quote. I work myself into a state of anxiety. Completely internal from what I can tell, but so distracting. 


Happy New Year to All. 

The day after Christmas

"You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can't get them across, your ideas won't get you anywhere."

 —Lee Iacocca: Businessman, author, former CEO of Chrysler Corporation 

"Tranquility" December 2011. 

Not my images, but my manipulation of the images. That is what communication is. When I arrange words into ideas and present them in a certain way, that is communication. The same is true of images. Graphic design is using images, typography, design, color, composition to communicate an idea. What is and will be different for me is that I will eventually be using my own photographs, my own artwork to create a design that communicates an idea. 

Stress

It has been a very long time since I have been so tired, so unable to just work up the drive to do what needed to be done. More than that to do good work. I am actually recovering, but I am going to make adjustments in the second half of the term.

Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen. 

- Leonardo Da Vinci

I have found myself engaging in my favorite childhood fantasy. Please forgive me if you are offended, or don't get it. This goes back to my earliest memories. In it I discover I am the last person alive on the planet.   When I put myself in this place, I find that all of the stress I feel about life leaves, and I have a profound sense of peace.  Now I have adjusted it a bit. I realize I would be happy to be the only person alive in a thousand miles. I realize says a lot about what stresses me out, and why I am stressed at all. But there you are. Everything would be different without people. 

I don't have an image small enough to download. Too much to do in too little time. One of the many tasks to attempt on winter break from school. . . . while I am at school anyway, redoing work that I feel is substandard, so that I can resubmit it for a better grade. 

Friday Evening

Forgot a quote for the first one.

This is what keeps me going, my belief that I have a reason for being here. I think it has to do with art, I cannot see how it does not.

"Each person has this magical thing called Soul Purpose within them. The difference between surviving and thriving has to do with whether we see it or not."

— Garrett Gunderson: is an entrepreneur and author

But I am still exhausted and am going to be early. 6:30 is way early for me. yawn. 

Time

I am not posting a piece of art. I just finished two midterms, one in InDesign and one in Photoshop. Not terribly difficult if I had found enough of the time I needed to study and do my homework in the manner that I am accustomed to. But this term the study and homework time required more of a commitment of resources than I had. The available time comes out of sleep, and from poor little Chalupa who already spends way too much time home alone. I can sacrifice a few hours of sleep, however I find I feel very guilty if I leave him home, without being able to go out for long periods of time. It is really difficult to do all my homework at school. Not having the resources at home is tough, but I am also grateful that I have access to everything at school.

Over break I am redoing some of the work that I turned in that I did not get 100% on, and resubmitting it. See if I can play a bit of catch-up. Those midterms? I will be happy if I got a "B" on either one. Very sad. Amy is taking Cahlupa for a while during Christmas break. Poor guy needs a vacation as much as I do. 

Cats

"The thing is, we have to let go of all blame, all attacking, all judging, to free our inner selves to attract what we say we want. Until we do, we are hamsters in a cage chasing our own tails and wondering why we aren't getting the results we seek."

— Dr. Joe Vitale: Motivational author and speaker

Fun with Photoshop. Needs some clean up, but it is still pretty funny. 

I am taking two very important classes this term, one is InDesign, which is part of Adobe Creative Suite 5. InDesign is a page layout program: Newsletters, magazines etc.  The other class is Photoshop. The trick with Photoshop is not to make it look like it was manipulated in Photoshop. That is the part that takes time and patience. The programs are described as robust. That is an understatement. You can do so much with either one that the possibilities are endless. 

I am becoming much more efficient due to the lack of time I have. Sometimes, however, I find myself wishing for a cats life. Meow.