Mini Food and Cute Stuff

Since it's a holiday weekend, I allowed myself some time to surf the web for things that make me smile. I came across a few that I'd like to share here:


The Mini Food Blog
Mini pumpkin pie by Sarah Maloney

I love food and I love miniatures so it makes sense that I really really love miniature food! Who knew there was a whole blog dedicated to this?

These Full English Breakfast earrings, also by Sarah Maloney, look very tasty:
Through The Mini Food Blog, I came across the delightful blog, Less Apathy More Cake, by Melly Kay. She writes in her intro, "I make lots of cute stuff" and that is true.
Check out her Etsy shop where she sells her adorable mini cakes along with other items.


As an artist, I constantly look for inspiration and the web never fails me. I always stumble upon something fresh and surprising and I appreciate and am inspired by the risks people take in sharing their creativity with the world.

This makes my day!!

Keeping it Local

When I first moved to Tucson almost five years ago (it will be five on September 9, 2009), I must admit that I was underwhelmed. Tucson did not wow or dazzle me right away. But it has grown on me over time, surprising me with its quirkiness and subtle desert beauty.

I was most proud to be a Tucsonan this past week during the 4th Avenue Underpass Opening (August 20, 2009). The tremendous spirit of Tucsonans came pouring out as individuals of all ages and backgrounds streamed into downtown to celebrate the long-awaited reconnection of 4th Ave and Congress. All of the downtown businesses put on their Sunday best - welcoming the crowds with free treats, discounts, and special performances. I scored a pen from Chase Bank, a t-shirt from Dinnerware Artspace, glow sticks, an Entertainment guide, and a free historical walking tour of the El Presidio neighborhood. But it was not this collection of goodies that most put a smile on my face. It was the energy and excitement I felt walking under the new underpass and searching for people I knew in the portrait tile mural. It was the feeling that we were all in this together, that for at least one day we could forget about all of the complaints and woes of downtown politics and development, and just have a good time. It was pure magic.

Tweetup at Tooley's

I created this video with Judy Kinney. You can follow me on Twitter if you so desire!

Post-it Love

Client Spotlight: LA Commons

Trekking LA 2009 E-Flyer

I have been working with LA Commons for three and a half years, doing grant writing, research, and graphic design. It has been a wonderful partnership and I feel truly grateful to contribute to this innovative and dynamic LA non-profit arts organization. I met the executive director, Karen Mack, when she was the interim program director at The HeArt Project, another amazing arts organization where I worked for three years and continue to do freelance work.

Several years ago, LA Commons, in partnership with UCLA's Department of Urban Planning, launched Uncommon LA, an initiative to bring attention to the cultural treasures of the neighborhoods where it engages artists and residents in public art projects. Uncommon LA's signature event is Trekking Los Angeles: Local Adventures in A Global City, now in its third summer. I have been involved in the design since the inception and have had a lot of fun watching the project - and the resulting graphic identity - evolve.

Cover, Trekking LA Guide, 2007

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Trekking LA website
Site design by Khari and Akia Scott was informed by Trekking LA graphic identity.
I designed the map!

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Front and back of postcard for 2008 Trekking LA BBQ series. I was very inspired by this project, partly because I love working with food images. For the background image on the back, I took a picture of ketchup that I had squeezed onto a paper towel.

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A final food + design tidbit: I used okra and peppers from my mother-in-law's beautiful summer garden (in Ohio, not LA. Don't tell anyone!) for LA Commons' 2008 gala invite and program.

Okra and Peppers

Uncommon Angels Invite (inside of invite)

The Wonderful World of Online Color Resources

I love color. I love names of colors, especially paint colors. Dill Pickle, Olive Branch, Barley, Sea Urchin, Burnt Peanut Red, Cool Lava, and Sweet Butter are a few succulent names I just pulled from a Benjamin Moore color guide.

A quick guide to color for graphic and web design: There are two different color modes - CMYK and RGB. RGB (the red-green-blue light emitted from a monitor) is the mode for computers and internet. CMYK represents the four inks - cyan, magenta, yellow, and black - that are used for four-color printing. Here is a good article explaining the differences.

You may have heard the term "web safe colors," which refers to the 216 cross-browser color palette, created to ensure that all computers would display the colors correctly when running a 256 color palette. This is not as important today, because most monitors can display millions of different colors. W3 schools.com is a great resource for HTML colors.

An important color system to know about is the Pantone Matching System (PMS), a standardized color system developed in the 1960s by Pantone, the "global authority of color." Pantone sets color trends, each year selecting a color of the year. The 2009 color of the year is PANTONE 14-0848 Mimosa, representing "hope and reassurance" during tough economic times.

Here are a few online resources for choosing colors for a project.

Kuler is a beautiful Flash site from Adobe. Themes have five colors each. You can browse and rate themes created by users, create your own themes, download themes to use in Adobe Creative Suite applications, and even use color extraction tools to generate themes from your favorite painting or photograph.


Color Schemer and
Color Schemer Online
You can browse through hundreds of color schemes created by users (for free) or purchase their software. I have never used the software myself or downloaded schemes. I just browse through the schemes as a quick reference. I noticed they have a free Galleria dashboard widget that I will probably try out. (I like widgets!)

Visibone Color Lab
This is a fun visual tool for browsing the 216 web safe colors. Each color also includes RGB and CMYK values.


Please let me know what online color resources have been helpful to you. Happy color journeys!

Going in the Right Direction

I appreciate the feedback I received on my last post. It is becoming clearer to me that I want to use all of my social media tools - blogs, Facebook, Twitter - to promote my work. I also need to work on an expanded description of my work/services and what I bring to a project (thanks Alice, for highlighting this). I have been nervous about listing all of the things I do for fear that people may think I am scattered and not focused. To turn this into a positive, I bring a diverse range of experiences to my work and can view a project holistically. For example, because of my writing experience I can edit text in the middle of designing a piece. Finding a balance between copy and design can be challenging because the client may not want to sacrifice any text but too much copy can be overwhelming to the reader. Because I am both a writer and designer, a client can entrust me to design and edit simultaneously!

It feels uncomfortable to be writing so much about myself - I prefer to write about other peoples' ideas and projects - but this is an important part of my journey. I recently had a conversation with Judy Kinney, a Law of Attraction Life Coach (check out her website Dream and Flourish Coaching) about making money doing what you love, and as a result we are going to host an event on this very topic. Just being open to this possibility has already helped me to shift my attitude.

So here I go down this road. Hope to meet new companions along the way!

Self-promotion and Micromovements

I have a hard time promoting my paid work. My "volunteer" work or community arts initiatives I have no problem talking about, pitching to the media, etc. But when it comes to my own graphic design, grant consulting, public relations, it is tough for me to sell myself. I am thinking perhaps this blog could come in handy for this.

So I am putting out to the universe that I want to grow my business and get new clients.

Here are some questions I have for myself:

- What do I have to offer a client?
- What am I looking for in a client?
- What is/are my ideal project(s)?
- How do I convey this in my promotional materials (website, business card, etc.)?

Possible action steps:
- Create e-newsletter and email list of past, current and potential clients
- Gather testimonials from past and current clients

I consider writing down these thoughts "micromovements. I found this concept years ago in a book by Sark. "Micromovements are tiny, tiny little steps you can take towards completions in your life. I'm a recovering procrastinator, and I have a short attntion span, so I invented micromovements as a method of completing projects in time spans of 5 minutes or less." (The Bodacious Book of Succulence, 1998)

My goal is to blog about my process, ideally encouraging me to move forward and help manifest my goals. I'm also interested in what others have to say about this!

Confessions of a Twitterer

Ok, I confess! I have forsaken my blog for Twitter. Can you blame me? Twitter offers bite-size chunks of information all day all the time! For a highly-distracted person like myself it is very appealing. Plus you can meet people from all over the world that you would never find on Facebook and that you would have to spend hours searching for on the internet. On Twitter, they just pop up, out of the blue, and you have a new source of information.

That being said, I have been reminded of the importance of blogging from my friend Margie, who launched her new blog recently! Yeah Margie! She acknowledged me as one of her inspirations to start blogging, so I do not want to let her down.

So I am recommitting to blogging. At least for today. :)

Downtown Scavenger Hunt!

Pop Up Spaces presents
Downtown Scavenger Hunt!! Sunday, March 1, 2009

Walk through the streets of downtown Tucson and you will find multiple FOR RENT signs on every block. While that may be discouraging to some Tucsonans, a group of artists sees these spaces as blank canvases. In the Downtown Scavenger Hunt on March 1, participants will be given clues to find 10 locations, each one with a short activity that will encourage them to engage with the current environment, reflect upon the historic record, and imagine future possibilities for the space. The resulting photography and writings will be displayed in the future at a time and venue TBA.

Clues and instructions can be picked up at Shot in the Dark Café, 121 East Broadway Blvd. between 12pm and 2pm.

Downtown Scavenger Hunt is free and appropriate for all ages.

Downtown Scavenger Hunt is the inaugural project of POP UP SPACES, a collaboration between artists Rachelle Diaz of Tu Scene, Molly McClintock of MAXED ART and Julie Ray of The Burrito Files. POP UP SPACES seeks to produce temporary, interactive, site-specific installations in empty spaces in which the visitors are not just expected to be passive viewers, but asked to be active participants. The goal of these art-based experiences is to enhance economic vitality and public engagement in downtown Tucson through promotion of the area's culture, history, architecture and business community.

Visit PopUpSpaces.org for more info.

Complete the Hunt and enter a Drawing to Win a special prize regarding Historical Downtown Tucson!

Altered Book Exchange

Community Storytelling Arts is hosting a 12-month altered book exchange. An altered book is any book, old or new that has been recycled by creative means into a work of art. Altering can include (but is not limited to) painting, embossing, collaging, and rubber stamping individual pages.

First meeting is Sunday, March 8th from 1pm - 4pm.

Community Storytelling Arts

40 W. Broadway, between Church and Stone

Park in lot off of Jackson behind building

Cost is $12 per Sunday

To sign up or for more information email csatucson@gmail.com or (520) 882-3988.

The Impossible Project

I just love the name of this project. It feels very appropriate for this time we are in - war, economic crisis and at the same time a new administration. What are the opportunities here for creative people and entrepreneurs? Can we create some new paradigms [david aguirre] - perhaps more collaboration [therese perreault] instead of always re-inventing the wheel and sticking in our silos [monica spigelman]? In the spirit of collaboration I am crediting the folks who have inspired me about these concepts. Let's give more people credit.

here are some folks that are stepping out there and contributing to our Tucson creative scene.
TDAC (Tucson Digital Arts Community)
Maxed Art
TuScene
PLAY
NATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO HIRE ARTISTS TO WORK IN SCHOOLS & COMMUNITIES
Tucson Main Street
Community Storytelling Arts

What else and who else is out there? Step up and BE HEARD [IABC tagline]

Open Source Social Change

love this concept - The Power of Us: Re-Imagine Media
A collaborative competition is an interactive solicitation to identify and develop innovative, workable solutions to the world's most entrenched social problems. Competition entries are posted online and made available for anyone to view and collaborate with by providing new ideas, asking insightful questions, and providing connections to new resources.