Happy Friday!

 

In keeping with the photography theme of this week, I thought I'd include a photo in my Happy Friday artwork. I picked these pumpkins up at Publix this week. I do so love white pumpkins! 

Happy Friday and Happy belated beginning of autumn!

She Inspires Me: Sylvia Plachy

via aperture.org

As I mentioned in my last post, I attended a lecture by photographer Sylvia Plachy at last year's Slow Exposures. My interest in her work began two years ago at Slow Exposures 2010 when I found her book at the independent bookstore in Zebulon where a satellite exhibition was held. That book was Goings on About Town which includes her work for The New Yorker. When I got home I found a surprise inside the front cover, Sylvia Plachy's signature! (She had been involved in Slow Exposures that year as well.)

I was drawn to the subject matter of her work. She is an observer, a wallflower with a keen eye for interesting little moments and strange scenes. Tourists mugging for the camera, camels on a New York City street, artists at work, performers caught in unguarded moments, eccentrics in costume drawing a crowd and quiet every day moments.

via aperture.org

via aperture.org

While preparing for her talk, she played Al Green for our enjoyment (I liked her already!) In her lecture she spoke about overcoming her natural shyness to take the photos she really wanted to take. (I can definitely relate.) She shared a story about a photo opportunity she almost let pass. She was driving down a New York City street when she saw a woman walking three huge dogs. She wanted to capture this moment, but she hesitated. Her friend reminded her that Diane Arbus would get the shot. With that encouragement she stopped her car, stepped out and got this amazing shot...

via grapehouse

It's reassuring to know that even celebrated artists face obstacles to their work.

Slow Exposures 2012

This weekend I continued what has become a personal tradition by going to the 10th Annual Slow Exposures Photography Exhibition. The show is part of Atlanta Celebrates Photography, an annual network of photography events throughout the greater metro Atlanta area (which is basically the northern half of Georgia). Slow Exposures is a national juried exhibition of photography celebrating the rural south held in Concord, Georgia, a charming one-caution-light town in West Central Georgia about an hour south of Atlanta. The town has a great sense of pride in its historical preservation efforts. The R.F. Strickland Building which is on the National Register of Historic Places creates a fitting backdrop for this wide-ranging collection of photographs.

Every year satellite shows and events including lectures and workshops also draw people from all over the area. Last year I attended a lecture by award-winning photographer Sylvia Plachy. This year a retrospective exhibition of the show's ten years was held in the Whiskey Bonding Barn outside Molena. This building was recently refurbished and has been used for many different events.

As usual this year's exhibition included an interesting mix of southern subject matter. My favorites are portraits of everyday people and evocative views of time-worn buildings and homesteads. The south's rich history and culture certainly makes for a worthy subject.

The exhibition is open this coming weekend September 29 and 30 as well.

And as a "collector" of vintage cars (by which I mean I snap shots of cool vintage cars wherever I find them), I'll share this beauty that was parked outside the exhibition. It was a perfect early autumn day to ride with the top down!

Happy Friday!

While looking around for free fonts, I found a cool dingbat font of cars from the 1970's called Oil Crisis on MyFonts.com that I used as a background pattern in this graphic.

I think my favorite is the Gremlin...

I can't wait to play around with it some more and see what else I can come up with. Happy Friday!

Music Pick

via Google Images

I've been digging the Kendra Morris single "Pow". It's a slow grooving throwback in the vein of Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. Right now, it's being offered as a freebie on Amazon.com. Check it out.

And besides that, I love what she's done with the place! From the TV terrarium to the happy/creepy taxidermy fox, it's a rustic cabinet of curiosities! And I do love that serpent belt! 

Home Goodies

Recently I had one of those "find what speaks to you" moments (although it was not in Pier 1). While looking for a desk clock, I found this little guy and he seemed to say "take me home with you." I happily obliged!

What have you found that "speaks to you"?

Font Book

One new project I've been working on recently is a font reference book for myself. At a couple of places I've worked, there was a simple reference for fonts. Usually it was a collection of quick printouts with one line of letters per font stapled together with no easy way to reference the font I was looking for. I wanted to create something a little more fun and versatile to reference my fonts. So I decided to create my own font book with one page per font. I want to see each letter, number and character available, see how the letters look together and whether the font is good for body text or headlines. Each page is a mini design project in itself. The bonus is that in creating my font book, I'm practicing my design skills and becoming more familiar with the fonts. (So it's an exercise as much as it's a product.)

For my font book I picked up a 9" 3-ring binder at the office supply store (ah, the office supply store...) I liked it's compact size and well, it's just pretty! Choosing a small binder allows me to create my pages at 5.5" x 8.5" so they can go two up on letter size paper. Since there is no standard hole punch for this size binder, I measured where the holes should be and marked them on each page. After I print, I cut the pages in half and then use a single hole punch to make the holes. With each font on it's own page, I can add and rearrange the fonts as needed. (For now they are in alphabetical order but as my book grows, I plan to add dividers and label them according to font type.) I can also redesign the pages as I please.

As samples of how the font might look in a design, I use favorite quotes, poems, excerpts from books or just simple words and design elements.

 

 

Random Act of Kindness

Most of the time I don't write about personal things not related to home decor, do-it-yourself projects or graphic design, but I thought I'd share this one story from my weekend.

I was driving along a country highway on my way to my mom's when I saw a tractor on a fairly steep embankment just off the shoulder. This sight is not uncommon this time of year in the south, but I do always worry when I see the extreme angles they take those tractors to. This one was especially precarious. Then sure enough, it tipped over on it's side. At first I could not believe what I saw, but I knew I had to make sure the guy was alright. I pulled off in a driveway a little up the road and was so relieved to see the guy climb out. I think he was more frustrated than hurt. Apparently, this "happens from time to time." I offered my phone if he needed to call anyone and he reluctantly asked for a lift back to his house not even a mile up the road. In the meantime another woman who had seen what happened also pulled over to make sure he was okay. He was grateful for the help and concern.

I'm glad that I could help in a small way especially since it could have been much worse. I like to think that if I needed help, there would be someone concerned enough to stop and see what they could do.

Happy Friday!

I've been working on creating some hand drawn patterns and then putting them together with type elements. Just thought I'd share one of my latest experiments. Happy Friday!

Geometric Painting

I thought I'd share this little painting I did a while back. It's acrylic on 6" x 6" cradleboard.  I'm still deciding on a place to hang it.

Happy Wednesday!

Plant Stand

As promised, I'm going to be updating with new projects I've been working on lately.

While cleaning out some things of mine at my mom's house (yes, I'm an adult with things still at my mom's house) I was about to throw out an old upholstered footstool. It was cheaply made, kinda tacky and I just didn't want it anymore. But before I threw it out, my mom suggested I use the metal base for something else, perhaps as a small plant stand.

 

To make the stool base into a plant stand, I simply put a thick piece of plexiglass on top of it. After cutting the plexiglass to size, I used a file to take down the sharp edges and round the corners. (Weird observation: when plexiglass is cut or filed, it smells like bubble solution which makes me remember being a kid.)

I decided to paint it a bright fun color (naturally). After having trouble finding the exact shade of cherry red I wanted to paint it, I settled for the pumpkin orange I've used on other projects (like this one). Now that it's done, I'm not totally sold on this color. It looks fine on the balcony, but just doesn't look that great against the hardwood floor in my living room. I'll live with it a while and decide whether to put it outside or repaint it.

What have you saved from the garbage at the last minute?