school's out for the winter

I finished up projects and tests for fall term last Wednesday and have spent much of the time since then catching up on much-needed sleep, but have also been having my fair share of fun.

As soon as Lis was done with us and our campaigns, Nate, Lindsay and I headed down the block for beers at the Cheerful Tortoise. Nate made this list and then promptly left it at the bar. That guy.

Faye came to visit! We ate, we walked, we shopped, we drank, it was all wonderful. Spending time with old friends who I can talk about any and everything with is so therapuetic.

Dawn organized a hang session with some of my favorite people from our program and we had a grand old time. Nachos were eaten, jokes were made, and shitty trivia was attempted and then abandoned.

Dawn broke out Cards Against Humanity and hilarity ensued. And to think I thought Apples to Apples was the best game ever!

Then Olivia visited! Again, we ate, we walked, we drank, and we made moves to make 2013 a million times better than 2012. And we plotted tattoos. This picture is of the ploughman's breakfast I whipped up for us, it was perfect and delicious.

And finally, my Simple debit card finally arrived! Until my direct deposit transfers over, I won't be able to say how this is aiding my goal of a fiscally responsible 2013, but it sure is beautiful, and the accompanying app is pretty cool.

weekend warrior: party people

John and Heather were in town, Lorraine turned 30 and threw herself a rager, and there was a photobooth. Naturally, hilarity ensued. Please note how us girls just jumped in with that random boy. He was super into our themed frames.

working on: Similarly Different update

Similarly Different is plugging right along, we've posted two and are working on the final prompt. This is a fun project because it's so open-ended. For prompt #2 I really wanted to incorporate watercolors, and I've been wanting to do a series of fashion drawings, so I got my feet wet with this post.

The girl in the front in black reminds me a Vera Wang. I'm so grateful for my scanner when I work with lines and colors on different layers like this, to think that I used to do all my scanning at school. I hope you like the finished product!

just for fun: desktop wallpaper

While actively avoiding working on my Type II project this morning, I decided to make something of the James Victoire quote I'd had sitting in my inbox for a week. The result was a desktop background, so I'm reminded to keep at it and make good work.

It's Monday, start strong!

four more years

image via door 16

internet hunting: YA-NE-SEN a Go Go

A friend of mine posted a link to this beautiful little video on twitter, and after watching it in awe three or four times I knew had to share it here. The art is beautiful and captivating AND she's an adorable dancer! I'm in love.

working on: Similarly Different

In an effort to completely overwhelm myself with work this term, I've been trying to take as many of the opportunities that come my way as possible. Last week one such opportunity showed up in my inbox in the form of a collaborative project between PSU graphic design students and graphic design students from University of the Creative Arts, Farnham in the UK. Headed up in part by PSUGD's own Briar Levit, each of us here in Portland is paired up with a student from UCA and given a fortnightly prompt. We 'research' our prompt (ephemera, sketches, thoughts, visuals) and email it to our partner, who takes the 'research' and creates a visual piece of art based on it. All final art will be posted to the Similarly Different blog, and each school will host a culminating gallery show.

The project is unlike anything I've ever worked on before, and I'm really excited and interested to see what kind of work it produces, particularly because we're working with total strangers! Sometimes I feel like being a designer in Portland is like designing in a vacuum, so I'm curious to see what this geographical collaboration will turn out. Feel free to follow along with the blog, and I'll try to post things here as they are created as well.

look what i made: a GIF

For part II of our first project in my type class, I decided to conquer something I'd never tried before: make a GIF. My friend Cass kindly sent me the super simple instructions she'd found on the web, and after a little bit of cutting and a little bit of photo-taking, I was done! The most intricate one of the series is still in the works, but I'm pretty proud of these!

field trip: Edmonds, Washington

The weekend before school started I boarded a Bolt Bus for Seattle and the surrounding suburbs, my main goal to meet Ethan and Kaylee's son, Anker. The deal was sweetened by John being in town for a film premier, and Nicole making the drive down from Bellingham like it wasn't no thang.

It was wonderful to do very little of anything besides eat, stroll the streets of sleepy Edmonds, ride bikes with Addy, and pass tiny Anker between us. It's rare these days to get this many of our friends in the same town, what with everyone being strung to the far corners of the earth, so I relished every minute we were able to spend together. Seeing Kaylee and Ethan in their roles as Parents 2.0 was an added bonus.

Hey guys, when are we gonna do it again? i miss you already.

moodboard: ART354 project 1

The first week of fall term is over and my enthusiasm for school is at about a nine on a scale of ten (one point off for having to walk six blocks from the art building to the closest microwave). Fall is by far my favorite season, and a lot of that is owing to my return to campus. The one studio class I'm taking is Typography II and I'm really excited to see what comes of it. For our first project we're working with experimental type and Lis encouraged us to try a medium or technique or environment that we haven't worked with and I immediately thought of Yulia Brodskaya and her beautiful paper work. I may give myself carpal tunnel over the weekend, but I have high hopes that the finished product will be worth it. Above is the moodboard that I compiled for class Wednesday. Lots of delicate and detailed curlicues and cuts.

field trip: the oregon coast

Last week Adam and I seized a mild Portland afternoon and drove out to the coast with a bottle of wine and a picnic. Adam steered us to Sunset Beach, just north of Seaside, where the draw is that you can drive your car right out on to the sand. Naturally, said sand was only fun to drive on until we got stuck and had to be pulled out by a kind stranger and his four-wheel drive. The weather on the coast was much more blustery and fall-like than in town, but the afternoon was the perfect symbolic end to the summer. Hello, fall, I've missed you!

baby steps

Hi! If you're reading this then you're one of the very first people to set eyes on this blog! CMYKstripes has been a long time coming, but one can only plan so much before you have to just jump in feet first. This space will be a hodge-podge of things, mostly because my interests run the gamut from design, to food, to fashion and beyond, but it's been something I've been wanting to do for a long time and I'm excited to get started, whatever the content may be. I hope you check back and find something that inspires you, or maybe just makes you smile.