My principles of design collage book

Hi everyone & happy Monday!

A few weeks ago, I completed a project for my 2D design class that took hours and hours and hours... and our relationship was definitely touch and go for a while there...

But when I finally finished, I could not have been more proud of the finished product!

The assignment was to:

1.  Make a book out of paper, chip board, thread, and fancy paper.
2.  Create a spread for each of the 8 principles of design, using both collaged images and hand applied media, to show complete understanding of each principle.
3.  Use cut out images from books or magazines in each spread.
4.  Add your own black and white "stuff" to each spread.

Here's my book!

Completely unnecessary disclaimer:  The obviously professional cut out images are not my own, and I do not claim them to be.  They were used in this project for educational purposes.

I really wanted each spread to have images that represented the principle, plus I wanted the collage as a whole to represent the principle, and I wanted the written title to represent the principle.

I spent forever finding images, planning what I could draw on each page, how I could connect everything, and how I could make sure it all came together to represent the principle of design.  I also spent a lot of time sketching the titles, writing them on graph paper, tracing them, and writing them in with ink.

Some problems I had included the book not opening and closing correctly (I had to cut it apart and make it again), the ink bleeding through (luckily this happened before I had everything glued in, so I was able to change some layouts to cover it up), and time management in general (I bet this took 20+ hours, which was frustrating to find time for in one week, knowing it was just worth 20 points!)

When I showed it to Andy, he said "Looks pretty cool... but I don't really get it."

Hahaha... oh Andy...

So... how do you think it turned out?  Do you 'get it'?  



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Thrifty art purchases including my favorite print of all time

 First purchase:  the set of Andy Warhol inspired Campbell's soup cans from Target!  I mean honestly, they only cost 75 cents each!  My plan is to cut off the labels and frame them as prints, and I'm so excited to see them up on the wall!  Beautiful and so so fun.

Second purchase!  When my friend Erin was visiting, we decided to peruse some local vintage stores in search of wedding decor for her reception... but look what I found for myself! 

 Holy oh my gosh!  I picked it up and did not put it down until it was resting safely in the bag after I bought it.  I don't often make impulse purchases, but I just HAD TO HAVE this!  Look at that sweet child's face all glowing... with that lighting... and that bright book cover... I can't look away!  It was like it had the strongest Earth magnet inside and attached itself to me.  An amazing print to encourage children to read?!?!  Um, could I love anything more?!?! 

Here's what was written on the back.  To add to my love for this print, it was from the year my grandma was born.  I can't even take it, I love it so much.  Jon Brubaker, you are a genius.

So before I decided to stop teaching, I had just started my master's program in Reading.  I loved loved loved teaching reading.  It was my favorite part of the day, and I was hoping to one day be a reading specialist and really help students and a school in a broader way.  But then... well, you know how that story ended...  But just because I left my teaching career doesn't mean I stopped loving kids or caring about literacy.  I love reading, look forward to reading with my own children one day, and hope to be involved with children and literacy in some way in the future.  Like maybe designing reading program layouts/ graphics?  Illustrating children's books?  Working for a company that is child focused?  Designing educational websites?  Fingers are crossed starting now until my dreams come true :)

You can read more about Children's Book Week here.  Please help promote literacy!


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Four Years

Happy fourth anniversary to my main squeeze!

Let's take a walk down memory lane, with some photos of how we've spent all the October fourths since 2008...

We were lucky enough to take amazing vacations our first two anniversaries to Mount Rushmore and Hawaii while I was on fall break from teaching.

See that picture of me in front of the train?  I look slightly crazy because even though it was barely October, it started snowing!  We didn't even have coats... you can see I'm wearing all possible layers and still freezing.  Oh yes, and we rode back in the nice 'open air' train car.  Too bad it wasn't the middle of July.

Andy is there going through the small space which you had to get through before signing up to go into this cave.  Well, he made it, but we missed the last cave tour.  Whoops.

Hawaii... oh Hawaii...  Oh if we could only be so lucky as to go there twice in a lifetime, it would make me the happiest person alive.  Ever.

Happy Anniversary, Andy :)

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some things that make me say YAY!

1.  Colorful jeans that were on sale!

2.  Boot wearing weather! 

 3.  Showing my displayed charcoal drawing to Andy and 

my best friend Erin who came to visit!

 4.  Um, marbled mocha breakfast bread at Target?!?  

It's like my favorite Starbucks drink in bread form.  Hello, YAY!

5.  My pop art reinterpretation of Van Gogh's Sunflowers painting. 

 I'm so proud of how it turned out!  

Completely unnecessary disclaimer:  Van Gogh's original is on the left.  No, I am not claiming that work as my own.  It was used as a template for this educational project.

What makes you say YAY?

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losing my mind?

In the last two weeks, I've lost my mind in the following ways:

1.  grabbing two paper towels instead of two plastic bags to line the trash cans

2.  trying to put toothpaste on my toothbrush with another toothbrush

3.  rolling down my window instead of turning on the turn signal

At least they've all made me chuckle...

How have you been losing your mind recently???  Tell me I'm not the only one... 

Happy weekend from Pepper!

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nine things about school

1.  I STILL LOVE SCHOOL!

2.  It doesn't matter if I have the best project, the worst, or anywhere in between; my teacher and classmates will always have at least one positive thing to say and at least one suggestion for improvement on critique day.  I was blown away by how positive and helpful everyone in class was when we critiqued our first assignment.  I love this.

3.  Yesterday we got a new assignment to create a newspaper ad, and I was so excited I had to seriously stop myself from giggling aloud and creating a highly embarrassing scene.

4.  I love that my teachers work with everyone from their starting point, and suggest improvements based on what they've seen you do so far.  They don't expect everyone to be the same or have the same style.  It makes me feel really comfortable showing my ideas and projects.

5.  Is this not a ridiculous amount of stuff to lug to class?  (Yes, I pack a lunch to take... should I feel weird about that?)

6.  Two of my projects are on display in the art hallway!  Too exciting for words.  I'm going to have to sneak in with my camera to take pictures while no one is watching.  Again, telling myself do not make a scene, do NOT make a scene...

7.  I keep trying to remember what college was like the first time.  I know I liked it, because I'm just someone who likes school, but I don't think I ever loved it like I love these classes.  I'm not sure if it's only because of the subject matter, or if it's because I get to be so creative now, or if it's because I'm older and appreciate it more now.  But I do love it, and for that I am so thankful.

8.  In the evenings, I get antsy because I'm ready to go to class the next day.  Whoa.  I can't say I ever felt like that when I was teaching. 

9.  One of my next assignments is to create a how-to brochure.  I'm thinking of doing one for a fall DIY project- any suggestions??


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my self portrait project

Last week, I was assigned two self portrait projects.  One is being done in Photoshop and seems to be pretty fun, but we just got started on that one.  This one was for my 2D Design class and had to be done in black and white, using simple printing techniques.  Basically, the paint had to be stamped in some way, and there could be no strokes made with a pencil, pen, brush, etc.

This was so scary for me because I've never felt confident about drawing faces, at least realistic ones.  It was also scary to do this on 20 x 25 paper without being able to sketch it first!  I was at the mercy of my paint.  But it was also really really fun, and it turned into something I'm really proud of.

I stamped the paint on with crumpled paper, the sides of an eraser, smaller rectangles cut out of the side of an eraser, and folded cardstock.  I wanted it to look like an impressionist painting, with thick paint built up in layers, and sort of whimsical and imperfect.  Though not every piece of hair curled how I wanted it to, I love how it turned out overall!

Here's a little step by step of my process.  I'm so glad I decided to do an overall grey textured background, to really help the profile pop off the paper.

I almost decided to leave it with just the profile and no hair... but I wondered if it was just too plain that way.  At least for a class project.  The hair was tough to curl the right way by stamping it, and didn't turn out as good as the sketch, which was a little disappointing. 

Here's the finished product, with some close ups of the texture that I love.  This project became meaningful for me, because I wanted to capture how I'm feeling at this stage in my life.  If I were to give it a title, it would probably be Free. 

How do you think it turned out? 


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