Sweetooth Studios by Alisha Wilson

Happy New Year!

2012-01-18T22:58:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! My designs are now available on some super cute sandals. Check them out here: sandalista.com These sandals are making me wish it was summer right now. I have a lot more to catch up on now that the holidays are over but my sandal shop was at the top of the list. I'm also updating the look of my blog, changing as always.

Using Adobe Kuler to help create color palettes

2011-11-27T17:36:00.000-08:00

I have known about Adobe Kuler for a while but have never used it until now. Kuler is a great color picking tool. You can start with one color or upload a picture and pick colors out of the picture to create a palette. I did this exercise to help me pick a palette for a surface pattern design I am creating. I am mostly drawn to bright jewel tones, but I tried a few different things. I really enjoyed using Kuler the interface is very smooth and intuitive and it's free. So play away! Have you used it? Do you like it? What other tools do you use to pick colors?

Designing for Mobile

2011-11-16T18:19:00.000-08:00

I recently attended an Interactive Chat: Designing for Mobile at Hot Studio. This was perfect timing for me as a designer because I recently started designing for mobile. You can see some of my mobile designs here. This talk was PACKED with useful info and resources and I wanted to share it with all of you out there in blogland.

Speakers: John Gallant & Scott Tran

What's Hot Studio working on? Here are a few of the apps that Hot Studio has worked on. Check out these apps there is some pretty solid design here.

Pop Tech

Limos.com

Zinio

Brooks Brothers

Other Apps with Good Design

LinkedIn

Jetsetter

Tweetbot

Imovie

Kayak

Design Considerations
Scanning Effect - Never feel lost in an app or website

Hands Per Device - http://www.slideshare.net/HugoMNL/hands-per-device-hpd

Design for Mobile first then other platforms next. This will keep your designs simple and focused. http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?933

Affordance – making sure there is enough space for the user to easily touch a button or hot spot with out accidently clicking on the wrong button.

Consistent Interactions – Apple has developed a set of consistent interactions throughout mobile devices. If you are going to stray from these interactions, there should be a good reason.

Content Delivery – Does my app need to be connected to the internet to work? This can interrupt user experience. Is my App gigantic due to all of the info people have to download? Will this cause users to abandon my app before it gets a chance to download?

Input Types – Mobile Forms. Make sure things are clear and there is a definite order to how you interact with input types. Put input info titles inside form boxes to save space.

Behaviors and Transitions – when you use your smartphone and you don’t get a typical user interaction it can be very confusing.

Compatibility – Make sure you know what types of devices and platforms you will be designing for.

Test and Refine – test your app or you are setting yourself up for failure. Keep your design focused and simple.

Hardware Features
Think about all of the hardware features of your devices and how you can incorporate those features into your design.

Front and Rear cameras - augmented reality, remembering, video conferencing, optical recognition,

Microphone - voice recognition, siri

Headphone - sound output

Haptic technology - sense of touch, vibrating,

Accelerometer - measuring proper acceleration

Gyroscope – measuring or maintaining orientation

GPS – Location based services, fencing (keeping a child or pet in bounds)

NFC – near field communications, used in payment such as Google wallet

Bluetooth 4 – used in payment systems

Gestures
Make sure gestures flow logically with what you are trying to design.
Common gestures: Tap, double tap, tap and hold, long hold, swipe, wipe, drag, pinch open, pinch closed, multi touch (using more then 2 fingers), flick, shaking

Web App Vs Native Apps
Where does your app exist?

Yelp has both. One on the web, and one that is only an app.

Go for simple. Web Apps typically load slower where a Native App can be faster.

Advantages to doing a Mobile Web app: it’s available because all Smartphone’s have a browser, its familiar to users, updates are quicker because you do not have to go through an app store

Advantages for Native Apps: Performance is better because info is not on the web, integration into the smartdevice hardware features ie: phone book, camera, see hardware features list

Hybrid app: Both Web and Native use, usually you can not tell this is happening.

Process and Teams
Waterfall process – User Experience, discovery sessions, project management, Engineering

What’s the great idea of the app?

What are the goals and needs for the app?

What is the environment where the app exists?

What is your device plan? What devices will you be using?

Design, prototyping,

Development, developers are a designer’s best friend

Testing and optimization

Tools for Developers
iOS Human Interface Guidelines

Mobile First by Luke Wroblewski

Wireframing tools for Interaction Designers
Visio for Microsoft

Omnigraffle for Mac

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe InDesign

Balsmaiq

Tools for Designers
Adobe Photoshop

Screen Resolutions for different devices at punchcut - http://punchcut.com/company/news/punchcut-releases-toolset-multi-screen-ui-design

For iPhone designs start designing at retina resolution then use Unretiner a Mac App, to downsize all elements from iPhone 4 to iPhone 3 resolution

Icon generation from the Mac App store. Use Iconizer to generate all of the sizes for your icon that you will need to launch your app across platforms.

LiveView Screen Caster – Easily see your designs on your mobile device or tablet. Your best friend!

Air Display – Extend your desktop wirelessly to your iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, or Mac as a wireless display

Punchcut Templates

Sketching out your ideas – no link here, put your pen or pencil to paper and draw out your ideas first

Mobile Patterns – Like Pinterest for mobile apps, good to get ideas!

Teehan + Lax

Tools for Prototyping

GoodReader – Put your files on an FTP and use GoodReader to show clients

Minimal Folio

Tools for Engineers

Xcode

iOS Simulator

App Sketch
Design a Coffee App so Zach can order and purchase the best cup of coffee. I sketched this App concept in 10 minutes at the talk. Really got me thinking.

Wild Mushroom Surface Pattern

2011-11-14T17:30:00.000-08:00

I went to Point Reyes on a long drive with some close friends this last weekend. I was inspired to draw some mushrooms and turned them into a surface pattern. This is a new faster style then I usually work in. I made these mostly digitally vs some hand painting and some computer work. I have some good ideas on how to combine my paintings into this style. Anyway I'm pretty pleased with these little guys. And I'm also trying to keep a better sketch book so more work to come as always.

30 Day Challenge - Day 10

2011-11-08T09:42:00.000-08:00

I'm doing a 30 day challenge where I do a blog post each day for 30 days based on this 30 Day Challenge List. Feel free to do the same and send me a link to your challenge.

10. Put your music player on shuffle and write the first ten songs that play

Music inspires every aspect of my life. I just got back from the gym and was listening to the Jack Johnson Station on Pandora, now I'm listening to a mix of a little bit of everything. I feel super energized and ready to start the day. I have many exciting blog posts brewing so stay tuned, I'm back from my mini blog vacation. I'm declaring this week my new inspiration week. What has inspired you so far this week? What do you plan to do with that inspiration?

30 Day Challenge - Day 9

2011-10-19T22:06:00.000-07:00

I'm doing a 30 day challenge where I do a blog post each day for 30 days based on this 30 Day Challenge List. Feel free to do the same and send me a link to your challenge.

9. How important you think education is

Matt Stevenson and I in front of our alma mater 10 years after we first met here

I started my education in pre-school at age 4, then grade school, high school, and art college. After college I continued taking classes but only classes I really wanted to take. I've taken multiple computer program classes, typography at CCA. I'm taking a Designing for Mobile class this week. I have a list of other classes I want to take and when I have time I check them off the list.

I want to take French classes and go to Paris. I want to take cooking classes, and hoop dancing class.

I think it's very important to keep learning no matter what stage of life you are in. I love learning new things and surrounding my self with other people who know more then me about things I'm interested in. Learning keeps you young and can actually help fight Alzheimer's Disease.

In a study presented at the American Academy of Neurology, researchers found that people who kept active physically or mentally through hobbies such as gardening, exercise, reading, painting, or playing board games were less likely to develop AD later in life than those who engaged in "passive" activities, like watching television.

RIP Steve Jobs

2011-10-06T12:58:00.000-07:00

1955 – 2011.
I use Apple products every day. They make my life awesome. Yesterday was a sad day. This is a little bacon tribute to apple. I heart bacon, and I heart Apple, put them together and you have a bacon apple tribute.

30 Day Challenge - Day 8

2011-10-04T21:35:00.000-07:00

I'm doing a 30 day challenge where I do a blog post each day for 30 days based on this 30 Day Challenge List. Feel free to do the same and send me a link to your challenge.

8. What you ate today

This is everything I ate today. I'm on a gluten free diet becasue I have celiac disease. All of this food is gluten free. gluten free bread, gluten free cereal. It's a challenge to eat gluten free but I've been doing it for about two years. This is why I bake gluten free goodies and write about it on my blog. I'm getting better at gluten free cooking but it was tough at first and I've made a lot of mistakes that have resulted in me getting really sick. It's pretty surprising how many different foods have wheat, barley and or rye in them. A few surprising items I have found to contain gluten are: soy sauce, fish sauce, soup base, bullion, rice crispies, cold cuts, malt balls, and malt liquor (what's the word? Thunderbird).

Crushing the Ninja List

2011-10-04T20:23:00.000-07:00

I made a Ninja List to keep track of all of the wishes, goals, dreams and fun stuff I want to do in life. Today I crossed off number 47.

47. Get a French manicure with a weird color

Electronic Awakening Film Debut in San Francisco

2011-09-30T21:55:00.000-07:00

I am very excited about this event! Music inspires every angle of my art work and life and I have loved electronic music for years! This movie is going to be off the hook! You can get tickets here. The facebook event is here. This event starts at 7:30 at Temple Night Club in San Francisco. This is a VERY cool venue. There will be speakers and DJ's. Come Join me for an amazing night of music!

How to fix Fuzzy Headers in Blogger

2011-09-23T14:57:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone, I hope you are having a good Friday. I wanted to share a little trick I learned today. Blogger for some reason displays their banners really fuzzy. As a designer this has driven me crazy for a LONG time. But I've figured out how to fix it. I am now changing my blog header every season. Happy first day of Fall. Can you believe it?

Upload your photo/header to Photobucket . If you don't have an account, set up one it's totally free. You need this to obtain a direct link (an html address) for your photo. Click on your Image and then click on "see more" under "share this image." Next, click on the "Get Link Code" tab and copy paste the "Direct link for layout pages" code. Now you might think you can do this through sites such as flickr, etc. But it doesn't seem to work. Photobucket is the answer.

Go back to blogger, and when uploading your header, paste the direct link in the "from the web" box, instead of uploading "from my computer". Wait for the image thumbnail to load, hit Save, and your banner will no longer look like it has five day stubble.

This blog post took care of #27 on my Ninja List

30 Day Challenge - Day 7

2011-09-20T21:15:00.000-07:00

I'm doing a 30 day challenge where I do a blog post each day for 30 days based on this 30 Day Challenge List. Feel free to do the same and send me a link to your challenge.

7. Five pet peeves

1. Messes, clutter, not replacing toilet paper on the little holder, people that don't do their dishes {punch in face}

2. When people use Papyrus and/or Comic Sans on every 5th print piece I see {fail}

3. When people show up to my Zumba class late and then stand right in the front and crowd me. To top it off they don't even know the steps even though they attend this class twice a week.

4. When non-designers try to tell me how to do my job {make it bigger and spray pain it gold!} How about, not so much.

5. People that dress their dogs up in clothes

Ha, this list is ridiculous. I like to think of my self as a tolerant person, but I think we all have things that rub us the wrong way. Any readers have weird pet peeves they want to share? Feel free to leave a comment.

30 Day Challenge - Day 6

2011-09-19T22:36:00.000-07:00

I'm doing a 30 day challenge where I do a blog post each day for 30 days based on this 30 Day Challenge List. Feel free to do the same and send me a link to your challenge.

6. Your view on mainstream music

I like all types of music mainstream or not. {insert annoying hipster list of bands no one has ever heard of, then act shocked that the other person has never heard of them} I actually like a lot of electronic music that is definitely not mainstream. At the same time, I'll rock me some top 40's no problem. My opinion is, music is just like art: it doesn't have to be the best to be fun and enjoyable to listen to/ look at. Here are a few of my current favorite mainstream songs:

Perry - If I die Young

P!nk - Glitter in the Air

30 Day Challenge - Day 5

2011-09-18T13:45:00.000-07:00

I'm doing a 30 day challenge where I do a blog post each day for 30 days based on this 30 Day Challenge List. Feel free to do the same and send me a link to your challenge.

5. Things you want to say to an ex

Wow this is a hard post, and although I think I could have had a lot more colorful things to say to some of my exes all of my relationships have ended for a reason. Even if things ended in heart break or worse, I'm the type of person who forgives and forgets. It's not worth holding a grudge for 8 years because your college boyfriend cheated on you.

I have had some amazing relationships and amazing experiences because of these relationships. None of them have been the right fit or I wouldn't be single right now, but some day things will click.

30 Day Challenge - Day 4

2011-09-16T07:12:00.000-07:00

I'm doing a 30 day challenge where I do a blog post each day for 30 days based on this 30 Day Challenge List. Feel free to do the same and send me a link to your challenge.

4. Bullet your whole day

• Got up at 7:00 am with the help of my alarm
• Posted to my blog, facebooked and tweeted that post
• Showered
• Turned on Pandora to the Sara Bareilles station
• Did my hair

• Made tea with sugar and half & half

• Did my makeup

• Walked to the Caltrain at 8:15

• Realized I was looking at the wrong schedule
• Waited at the Caltrain for 20 min
• Got off the Caltrain and walked to work, forgot to tag off
• Did some research on the computer about iPad app design
• Hung up my mood board with a really loud staple gun and my shoe

• Went to Wallgreens to pick up my prescription

• Walked to Ozone to meet my friend Julian for lunch
• Realized that he said Osha and hopped in a cab to meet him
• Ordered lamb and chicken skewers for an app and pad see ew for lunch
• Julian and I talked about a tons of BFF stuff including his movie Electronic Awakening
• Walked back to work
• Got a text from Sarah and she wanted to do dinner, I said cool.
• Downloaded Balsamiq and Xcode, and worked on some iPad app wireframes
• Made a list of all of the stuff I need to get from my studio
• Went home via the Caltrain, did not forget to tag off

• Went home and took some pictures of a book for a blog post
• Got another text from Sarah telling me dinner was off because everyone was canceling
• Decided to get my nails done

• Went to the salon

• Came home and ate leftovers, yum

• Watched Restaurant Impossible and worked on my blog

• Brushed my teeth and washed my face
• Bed time

30 Day Challenge - Day 3

2011-09-15T07:27:00.000-07:00

I'm doing a 30 day challenge where I do a blog post each day for 30 days based on this 30 Day Challenge List. Feel free to do the same and send me a link to your challenge.

3. A book you love

I LOVE The stranger by Chris Van Allsburg. It has been my favorite book as long as I can remember. This book has fantastic illustrations and is about a stranger (Jack Frost). He shows up and has amnesia and when he finally remembers who he is the leaves change color.

Chris Van Allsburg has been my favorite Illustrator for 23 years. I discovered his books when I was in Kindergarden. I remember every week when we had library I would ask the librarian if she had gotten any new Chris Van Allsburg books. Sometimes she would say "yes," and it would make my day.

I've had the pleasure to meet Chris twice. Once was in 2003 at the Curious George shop in Cambridge, MA. The second time was in 2005 in Boston, MA and I actually got to see him give a slide talk about his sculpture work. It is amazing when you get to meet your idol in person. Feel free to leave a comment about your favorite book. I'm always looking for new things to read. I am currently reading Decorate by Holly Becker and Heart of the Matter by Emily Griffin.

30 Day Challenge - Day 2

2011-09-14T20:45:00.000-07:00

I'm doing a 30 day challenge where I do a blog post each day for 30 days based on this 30 Day Challenge List. Feel free to do the same and send me a link to your challenge.

2. Something you feel strongly about

I feel that we we are all put on this earth to create. Being creative is very important to me and it's a skill we all possess when we are born. Some chose to embrace our creativeness and some choose to ignore it. So, I say if you are ignoring your creativeness, don't. The world would probably be better off if you take action and put your creative energy to work. So Get going.

The pictures below are a mood board I created for the design of an iPad App I'm working on.
Feel free to leave a comment about how you have been creative this week. Cheers.

30 Day Challenge - Day 1

2011-09-13T08:44:00.000-07:00

I'm doing a 30 day challenge where I do a blog post each day for 30 days based on this 30 Day Challenge List. Feel free to do the same and send me a link to your challenge.

1. Five ways to win your heart

This is a funny post, and something I have had a lot of time to think about in my single life. Although I don't think there is a magic recipe to "win my heart," and chemistry has a lot to do with falling in love, there are a few things that I admire in potential suitors LOL.

Be the best you. I am always striving to learn more and do more and be the best me I can be. I would like to be with someone who is on a path that betters them. Turn on.

Be romantic. I'm a total sucker for romance and it comes in many forms. There's the cheesy flowers and stuff (which is nice), but the best type of romance is when the other person does little things that lets you know they are thinking about you. Swoon.

Make my Life easier. I am busy all the time, and I work a lot. I haven't been in a relationship in a long time where I felt that the other person made my life easier in any way (actually just the opposite). It would be so amazing if a guy did anything to make my life less work, or less stress. Amazeballz.

Be a cuddler. I'm a toucher. I haven't read the book, but I'm pretty sure my love language is touch. I love to cuddle, hug, kiss, and give and get back rubs. Back rubs are a sure way to my heart. Not to mention it sucks to hug yourself, it just looks silly.

Be passionate. I LOVE what I do, and I want to be with someone who loves what they do. It makes for better dinner conversation. TRUST ME.

30 Day Challenge

2011-09-12T17:55:00.000-07:00

I've seen this 30 day challenge on many other people's blogs and I've decided to jump on the band wagon. Feel free to do the same and send me a link to your challenge. I'm going to do theses at whatever pace they come, I'm not trying to finish them in 30 days, but if I do good for me. Photo by Matt Stevenson.

1. Five ways to win your heart
2. Something you feel strongly about
3. A book you love
4. Bullet your whole day
5. Things you want to say to an ex
6. Your view on mainstream music
7. Five pet peeves
8. What you ate today
9. How important you think education is
10. Put your music player on shuffle and write the first ten songs that play
11. Your Family
12. Five guys/girls you find attractive
13. Your opinion about your body and how comfortable you are with it
14. What you wore today
15. Your zodiac/horoscope and if you think it fits your personality
16. Something you always think "what if. . ." about
17. Something that you are proud of
18. A problem you have had
19. Five items you lust after
20. Your fears
21. How you hope your future will be like
22. Your Academics
23. Something that you miss
24. Five words/phrases that make you laugh
25. Something you are currently worrying about
26. Things that you like/dislike about yourself
27. A quote you try to live by
28. Somewhere you would like to move or visit
29. Five weird things that you like
30. One thing you are excited for

My Memories Free Software Giveaway via Sweetooth!

2011-09-11T19:58:00.000-07:00

I've had two rockstar moments lately and I wanted to share them with you. The first moment was when I did a blog post about meeting Holly Becker and naturally I tweeted about it. To my surprise and amazement Holly retweeted it to her 30k+ followers and my blog traffic went through the roof! I was so excited. (BTW follow me on twitter @alishawilson)

The second cool moment was when I was contacted by My Memories a digital scrapbooking company. They had come across my blog and really liked it, and inquired if I wanted to do a digital scrapbooking giveaway. Heck yes I do! I made a scrapbook with My Memories of my recent trip back east. This is my first give away and I have been wanting to do one for some time now. Here are a few in progress pages from the book I'm making:

I would love to design scrapbooking kits and I know I will some day soon. Actually, I just added it to my Ninja List. This project has been very inspiring. All of my readers you will get a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store - $20 value! just enter this code at checkout: STMMMS19970

Alright, I'm sure you want to know how to enter to win this software (Normally $40). Here's what you need to do: comment on this blog post about why you would like to win this software. Yup that's it, and you thought that was going to be hard. I will draw a winner in two weeks. Good luck everyone!

Here's where you can find My Memories:

Blog- http://blog.mymemories.com/
Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/mymemoriessuite
Twitter- @mymemoriessuite

Street Art - San Francisco and Beyond

2011-09-11T15:28:00.000-07:00

Over the past few years I have fallen deeply in love with street art. I see it everywhere, on the side walks, on buildings, on bridges, even trees.

Now, I'm not onto the shitty tagging gangs and assholes do that freakin' ruins people's personal property. I'm into creative stencil art, paste ups and crochet graffiti. There is probably a fine line between these two, but that's a discussion for another time.

I went to art school and it was really okay to draw on the walls. I think people are realizing that street art is worth something. Especially when someone will pay tens of thousands of dollars to cut a Banksy off of a wall, or the fact that an entire community was in an uproar when someone unknowingly painted over one of Banksy's masterpieces. I watched Exit Through the Gift Shop, which taught me a lot about how people make street art, and who some of the major players are. I was also fortunate enough to see several Invaders when I went to Germany last year. I'm also really into Jeremy Novy's Koi Fish.

I'm always snapping pictures of cool street art and wanted to put it all together in a post for my readers to see. I also recently fell in love with Instagram, which I've used to put some radical filters on these badass pics. Would love to give these artists credit, so if you know who they are leave a comment. Heck, just leave a comment if you have something to say about street art.

Casey Caplowe of GOOD

2011-09-10T10:35:00.000-07:00

I attended a design lecture presented by AIGA SF last Thursday. Casey Caplowe the co-founder & chief creative officer of GOOD was the speaker. GOOD is doing a lot of Good shit, pun intended. You should check out their site and projects. But, without recapping the lecture I wanted to talk about one bit of information that I walked away with. My brain latched onto one quote that Casey threw out there, and it really resonated with me: Fail Harder. Fail Faster. Try to fail, and you won't.

This quote rocks. Don't just sit there, if you are afraid to fail you will never succeed. We were all put on this earth to be creative, that is why we have thumbs. So get out there and paint, draw, snap photos, decorate, sing, write, design, inspire.

Focusing on Myself

2011-09-07T15:59:00.000-07:00

I set a goal at the start of 2011. I wanted to create an art licensing collection each month for the entire year. I've had a pretty hectic few months full of a lot of bullshit upsets, and as a result I have fallen behind on my goals.

Why is it that my personal goal gets swept under the rug the moment my life has a hiccup? Well I say fuck that. I am making some drastic changes in my life to make sure I meet the major goal I set forth this year. I can't keep putting my dreams on hold. Here are the four things I'm going to do for the next 86 (that's ironic) days to help me meet my goal. (My birthday is in 86 days, and yes I will be drinking on my birthday.)

-Quit drinking
-Give up online dating
-Make a list
-Quit shopping

WTF? You might be thinking, how the hell will this help you draw more cupcakes?!? Yeah, I thought you might ask. First off, drinking is stupid. Fun, actually, really really fun, but stupid. I'm not an alcoholic or anything but I like to drink, the amount of time and money I spend on drinking could be spent on painting, designing, entering contests, social networking, real networking, getting inspired, making new friends or sleeping. All more productive then being hung over, and getting fat.

Giving up online dating. (Cough, cough, oh God.) Yeah, it's time consuming. Why am I spending a few hours a night a few times a week with some weird stranger, talking about the same stupid crap over and over again and never feeling a connection? Not to mention if I spent a few hours a day a few times a week painting, well geesh I would be light-years ahead of where I am now. So again I say fuck it. If Mr. right is out there, he can find me, I'm sick of looking. So fuck off, because I'm awesome.

Make a list. I'm pretty sure I have ADD and my mind is in hyper spazz mode 24-7. I've got freaking awesome ideas zipping around in my brain like a caffeinated ninja. They come, they go, they come again. I'm capturing those thoughts in a massive creative "ninja list." why a ninja list? Why not, ninjas are awesome and they smell like cinnamon bits.

Quit Shopping. Time is money people. The less crap I buy, the less I need to work doing side projects to pay for that crap I don't need. This leaves more time to crush the list.

I'm really nervous to post this list to my blog for the world to see. But if I post it, then it makes these decisions real. Also, by no means am I going to hole up in my art studio every spare second of my life and work my self to death. I'm an artist, I need social time, inspiration, sunlight and a break. I'm starting a new job this week and I plan on kicking some major ass at it. I'm so excited for the new challenges of working as an Art Director for a San Francisco startup.

So with all of that said, for the next 86 days I'm going to have a new focus: myself. Weird I know, but it needs to be done and has been a long time coming.

Meeting my Teacher

2011-08-29T14:33:00.000-07:00

A few months back I took a blogging class called Blogging Your Way with Holly Becker of Decor8 and Leslie Shewring of A Creative Mint. The class was fantastic! It was an online class so I never actually met the teachers.

Lucky me because Holly Becker just wrote a new awesome book called Decorate and she is doing a book tour! I just started reading this book and it has already inspired me to start sprucing up the rooms in my home. Last Thursday Holly was in San Francisco at Anthropology giving a mood board demo with Leslie and signing copies of her new book.

It was really amazing to meet both of the teachers of this online class. Holly lives in Germany so I never in a million years thought I would actually get to meet her. She was so personable and friendly. What a true inspiration.

A few other really exciting things have been happening in my life. My college roommate is getting married this coming Sunday in New Hampshire! I was worried to buy tickets for this even because I have been in-between jobs, but one day I just decided to go for it and make plans to attend. It's hard to be on the left cost, when a lot of your friends and family are on the right cost. I have missed a few of my friends weddings due to cost and limited vacation time, and I decided that I didn't also want to regret missing this one. Aimee (the bride) was my college roommate for three years and brought a lot of fun and excitement into my workaholic life. I leave tomorrow for an entire week back east which will include a stop in Vermont to see my parents, a stop in Boston to visit friends that I miss so much, and then off the the wedding in New Hampshire.

Also, I landed a very exciting new job as an Art Director with a startup company in San Francisco. I can't talk about the details yet, but stay posted for more info. I'm bursting with excitement! I really love when I take a leap of faith and everything just falls into place and works out. I'm going to try to take a million pictures of my trip and post them so you can all see New England.

Best Gluten Free Peach Cobbler Recipe

2011-08-15T14:41:00.000-07:00

I was recently inspired to make Peach Cobbler (gluten free of course) for the second time. My first try was okay but was more like a crisp rather then a cobbler, you can see that recipe here. A guy I was dating told me that it was his favorite dessert so I looked up a recipe, went to the store and got the many types of flower required to make this yummy dish. Then, he dumped me over text message. Yeah, burn. So anyway, I'm stuck with all of this stuff to make Peach Cobbler and I have a dinner party to go to tomorrow so problem solved.

This Cobbler smells amazing when you cook it and tastes even better. I'm serving mine with Vanilla Ice Cream. Can't wait for the dinner party!

Topping:

1/2 cup sorghum

1/4 cup almond meal

3/4 cup cornstarch

1 1/4 cup rice flour

1 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon orange zest (get one orange for juice and zest)

1 teaspoon vanilla

6 Tablespoons butter, melted

1/4 cup fresh orange juice

1 1/4 cup (maybe as much as 1 1/2 cups) milk

Filling:

4-6 large peaches, sliced thin (I left skin on) about 4 cups

1 Cup Blueberries

1/2 cup agave syrup

I Tablespoon sweet rice flour

1/4 cup fresh orange juice

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the liquid ingredients except for the milk. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients. Slowly stir in the milk until the batter reaches the right consistency- about 1 1/2 cups. In another small bowl, mix together the agave syrup, orange juice, and sweet rice flour. Combine this mixture with the peaches in a 9 x 13 baking pan. Spoon the batter over the peach mixture. You may have extra batter. Bake for about 45 minutes on 350 degrees.

Wedding Invitation Inspiration Board

2011-08-14T17:42:00.000-07:00

One of my good friends got engaged at the start of the year and she asked me to design her wedding invitations. I'm pretty excited about this project because I love designing invitations and the color pink. These ones so far in my mind are going to be antique rose, charcoal grey and cream. I put together this collection of pictures as an inspiration to my creative process.

The Proof is in the Numbers

2011-08-08T17:01:00.000-07:00

I was checking my blog stats today, something that I do about once a month. I was pretty happy with the numbers. My unique monthly page hits have doubled since I took the "Blogging Your Way" class about 4 months ago. I learned so many tips and tricks to making a good blog. I feel as though I've implemented about 1/4 of what I learned in that class. Whenever I have a little down time I try to implement a little more of what I learned. This class lets you download the lessons as pdf so that makes it easy to go back and refresh what you learned.

If you are interested in taking this class, visit the website, and sign up for the mailing list. It's well worth the price. Blogging Your Way is a self-paced e-course so you can participate whenever you have time each week. Please login at least once weekly to read the topics posted and to complete your homework assignment. Expect to set aside a minimum of 2-3 hours weekly for this four week course. You can absorb everything at your own pace because you will have unlimited access to the site 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

This Week in Painting

2011-08-05T12:52:00.000-07:00

I've been busy this week. I am trying to get a new collection put together called "Zombies are Sweet." I've been taking snapshots of my progress to share with you. While painting this collection I have been thinking of coordinating patterns to go along along with my ghouls. You can see little sketches of those in the margins. I've been wanting to make a paisley pattern for a long time so I took a stab (no pun intended ha) at it with some ghost inspired paisleys. There are ten different ghouls in this collection and I have some trick or treating goodie bag ideas. I also want to make these into a paper tableware and greeting card collections.

I am now working on isolating all of these images and creating surface patterns out of them. The more images I create for licensing collections the more I learn about what to include. This time around I added some key phrases along with some simple patterns I can use as accents or in the backgrounds of images.

Painting Type

2011-08-02T14:57:00.000-07:00

Life is hectic as always. It's summer time, and for me that means it's all of my nieces and nephews birthdays. I always send them cards, and I always think I should hand paint or design these cards myself instead of buying them. This year I broke out my paints and my blank watercolor cards and started painting. I've been wanting to experiment with painting type for some time so I combined the greeting cards and type. I painted these cards for what seems like forever and I'm still not completely finished yet. I learned a lot about painting type and I still want to experiment with it some more.

I have been doing a lot of painting lately and I will post more on that this week. I'm alway thinking I want to do more and get more done. When I actually sit down and paint I realize how long it takes to complete a licensing collection. It feels great to make progress. I am currently painting a Halloween collection. The next two collections I want to paint are flowers and fancy drinks.

Purple - A color study

2011-07-17T20:02:00.000-07:00

I went to one of My best friend's weddings this weekend. It was possibly the best wedding I have ever been to. The colors were purple, silver and black. This is a little tribute to Morey and Katie may they live a long happy life together and inspire others to do the same. Love you guys.

Happy Fourth of July!

2011-07-10T17:00:00.000-07:00

Red, white and blue, BBQ's and freedom. The fourth of July. I went to a BBQ early in the day and saw some amazing fireworks at night. I wanted to share a gluten free party recipe with you today. This is the second time I have made these Goat Cheese and Basil Stuffed Tomatoes and they were a big hit the first time. I wanted to make something red white and blue for the holiday, and I got 2 out of 3, so I'm happy.

Ingredients

24 Cherry Tomatoes
8 oz of garlic herb goat cheese
3/4 Cup Minced fresh basil
dash salt
dash pepper

Tools

mellon baller
sharp knife

Prep a platter with a few paper towels to place your tomatoes on.

1. Cut a small portion of the top (where the stem comes out) of the tomato. This will be the bottom and really helps the finished product stay together. Then cut a larger portion of the other side so you have a place to scoop out the insides through.

2. Use your mellon baller to scoop the guts out. Make sure not to go through to the other side or your filling will fall out. Discard guts.

3. Place all of your tomatoes upside down on your paper toweled platter. Cover with plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator. Let chill for at least an hour before filling.

4. Make your filling. Chop up your basil and mix with room temperature goat cheese with a fork. Add salt and pepper to taste.

5. Fill each tomato with cheese mixture

6. Remove from refrigerator at least 15 min before serving. Enjoy.

I'm Featured in Blu Penny's Sketchbook Story!

2011-06-30T08:24:00.001-07:00

I am Super excited to announce that I am featured on Blu Penny for my Sketchbook Story. This column comes out every Tuesday and I have been reading it for a long time. It is very interesting to see where different artists get inspiration, and how their processes work. To see all of my secrets visit the article.

Gluten Free Blueberry Banana Muffins

2011-06-21T20:51:00.000-07:00

So today was very interesting. I worked from home because I have the worst head cold ever. I did my 9 am meeting with my boss via skype and I learned 3 things. 1) The look and feel of the Recurly brand that I should be shooting for. 2) What Geocatching is. I totally want to try this. 3) What Zicam is. It's a nasal spray that is supposed to work awesome for head colds. So I dragged my self to Safeway in search of this magical cure and used it. About an hour later one of my coworkers sent me this link that talks about how people loose their sense of taste and smell because of this product. I was thinking how awful that would be. Eating would be so boring. I grew up in a house where 80% of family time was spent around the dinner table (my parents both worked a lot). As a result food was very important to me growing up and I continue to cook and bake all the time. Being blind would be much worse, as a visual designer I would be pretty useless. Anyway (end of rant).

I also started using forrst today and so far it's awesome. It's a web site where programers and designers can post their work and get feedback. This is really important to me right now because I am the only designer working at Recurly, and it's nice to have people to bounce ideas off. I also learned how to make sexy web site buttons. Yeah you heard me.

While I was at home I decided to make some muffins because I had all of the stuff and muffins are delicious. As you may have seen in the past I have the best EVER Vegan Banana Muffin Recipe. But I can't eat these muffins anymore because they are not gluten free. I found a GF banana muffin recipe online and tricked it out to be more like my favorite recipe and here is what I came up with.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup white rice flower

• ¾ cup brown rice flower

• 1 ¼ cup all purpose gluten free flower

• 1 teaspoon xanthan gum

• 1 teaspoon gluten free baking powder

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 tbs cinnamon

• 1/2 cup maple syrup

• 4 bananas

• 1 egg

• 1/3 cup melted butter

• 11 oz Blueberries

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit.

2. In one bowl sift together all dry ingredients.

3. In a second bowl combine mashed bananas, egg and melted butter.

4. Add dry ingredients to wet, mix well.

5. Fold in blueberries

6. Spoon mixture into lined muffin pan.

7. Bake for 20 minutes.

My Stay in Crested Butte, CO

2011-06-20T22:31:00.000-07:00

My visit to Crested Butte, CO was very beautiful and relaxing, Zen even. It reminded me a lot of Amsterdam. The people were relaxed, on their own time clock and there were cool bikes everywhere (Just like Amsterdam.) There were wildflowers all over and the hiking was serene.

I was fortunate enough to get a chance to paint while I was on this little visit but I didn't paint scenery. I was inspired by the calm funky relaxation of this tiny town and painted patterns. I felt good to put brush to paper while being outside. I might even turn some of these patterns into a licensing collection.

Here are a few pictures of my niece, the main reason I went to Colorado for a visit. River is 6 weeks old in this picture. She's cute, my visit was lovely and I got in some much needed relaxation. I can't wait to go back.

Vacation Time | Las Vegas, NV - Crested Butte, CO

2011-06-08T22:03:00.000-07:00

I started a new job about 8 months ago at Flip Video after working at Gladstone a Biomedical Research Company for nearly four years. Very unexpectedly Flip Video was downsized into nonexistence on May 19, 2011. This was sad news because I loved my job as a Graphic Designer and Online Merchandiser, but with every ending comes a new beginning. I soon found a new job for Recurly as their "Manager of Design and Creative Goodness." I'm very excited to start my new job and was lucky enough to take a few weeks off in-between jobs.

I took a one week staycation in San Francisco tying up loose ends, doing some freelance work, hanging out with friends, flying over San Francisco with a new coworker . . .

This flight was amazing. I have never been in such a small plane before, so I was a little nervous but once we took off the flight was really relaxing and beautiful. I got to see San Francisco from a new angle. My favorite views were of Golden Gate Park and the Golden Gate Bridge. Thanks Tim!

I also attended one of my good friend's baby showers. Everything was so cute. I can't wait for her to have her baby so I can play with her (it's a girl).

My staycation was pretty hectic so I was glad to leave the Bay Area and make my first stop in Las Vegas for one of my best friend's bachelorette party.

We stayed at the Mirage which is right on the strip. Highlights of our trip were hanging out a the pool, shopping, clubbing, and seeing Zoomanity. There were 8 girls and we all had a bachelorette induced good time.

After a few event filled days in Vegas, I boarded a plane to Denver, CO. I got in my rental car and drove for about 5 hours to Crested Butte, CO where my little brother and his girlfriend live with their new baby River Wilson. My mom had also been staying in Crested Butte to visit and help with the new baby. More on this leg of the trip later. . . for now bed time.

Shop 'till You Drop Sunday - Peanut Butter Buckets

2011-06-05T08:34:00.000-07:00

In my recent visit to Crested Butte, CO I found this little candy store called Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory I bought these chocolate peanut butter buckets, one milk chocolate and one dark. They are called buckets for a good reason. I cut them into quarters and shared them with my family. They were very good, especially if you have a sweetooth.

2011 Yearly Goal Check In

2011-06-04T10:16:00.000-07:00

My Goal for 2011 is to create 12 licensing collections, one for every month. So far, I am on track despite some major upset in my life.

I started a new job at Flip Video last October and I was well settled at Flip by the start of 2011 when I set this goal. Unexpectedly all of Flip Video was laid off on May 19, 2011. I need to figure out what my June collection will be. I'm thinking about finishing a Halloween collection I have been working on.

Feeling Blue, a color study

2011-06-02T15:28:00.000-07:00

I work with color every day and I love it. Today I am concentrating on the color blue. I picked this color for a few reasons. My last job's logo Flip Video was blue and this is a little tribute to my "blue" stage.

Blue is the color of the sky and sea. It is often associated with depth and stability. It symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven.

Blue is considered beneficial to the mind and body. It slows human metabolism and produces a calming effect. Blue is strongly associated with tranquility and calmness. In heraldry, blue is used to symbolize piety and sincerity.

Sweetooth's 3rd Birthday

2011-05-30T19:17:00.000-07:00

Today is my Blog's third birthday! Happy Birthday Sweetooth! Threee years ago I didn't know what a blog was, or what I would use it for. I joined a Plen Air Painting club with my old coworker Tony Papini. We would go all around San Francisco and sit outside and paint the scenes. I even went off on my own and painted Tahoe, and Santa Barbra.

Tony told me about his blog and insisted that I needed one as well. So, I signed up on blogger and shazam I had a blog. It started out as a place to post my paintings and other random happenings about work and what not, with no major focus.

This year however my blog has gotten a facelift, a new name and some major goals. I decided that my blog is going to be a portal for me to get my art into the world and start building an awareness around my art licensing brand Sweetooth Studios. So I named it Sweetooth, and am now focusing on all things sweet as sugar. A lot of art licensing companies are more and more aware of your online followings (ie bolg hits, web sites, and your twitter following @AlishaWilson). When I was working with Flip Video the artists with followings were making a lot more sales then those without.

I took a class called Blogging Your Way and it really took things to the next level for me. I recommend it for anyone who has a blog but doesn't know why they have one.

Tony has always been an inspiration to me he is a driven painter and practly lives in his art studio when he is not working his full time job. When we were working together about a year ago Tony told me that he was going to do a 4" X 6" painting every day for an entire year. I was impressed and interested to see if this Julie and Julia type of expearment would actually be accomplished.

A year later, including a break up, a move, and working a full time job, Tony has finished 365 paintings in 365 days. Impressive. I am amazed and inspired at this accomplishment. I work a lot, and I always feel like I could be doing more, expecially when I see a project of this magnatude compleated. So I wanted to thank Tony for being such a driven person and inspiring me to blog about my work. Bon Job!

Shop 'till You Drop Sunday - Red Sox Gear!

2011-05-29T20:18:00.000-07:00

I'm a big Boston Red Sox fan. I played on the Red Sox softball team when I was in fifth grade and that's where it all started. I was taking a look at the Victoria's Secret web site the other day to discover that they are now selling MLB gear! While working at Flip we were dealing with major licensing brands such as the NHL, NBA, and MLB. These licensing contracts are way more complicated then dealing with smaller licensing brands. They require more reporting and stricter rules. So I'm glad VS was able to work this out and offer some cute MLB gear that actually fits women.

I went to collage in Boston Massachusetts and my love affaire with the Red Sox continued. I went to many games at Fenway Park and lived just down the street. in 2005 I was lucky enough to see the Red Sox win the world series! A few friends and I pounded an entire bottle of Dom Perignon to celebrate. I still watch the Red Sox every time they play the A's in Oakland, CA. Sometimes they play the San Francisco Giants and that is awesome because I live very close to the ball park. I love baseball and VS and when combined it equals a home-run in my book.

Happy Friday - Preparing for a trip

2011-05-27T18:30:00.000-07:00

I am taking a trip to Las Vegas and Colorado starting next Monday. I will spend the first three days in Vegas for a friends bachelorette party and the rest of the time in Colorado visiting my brother who just had a baby girl six weeks ago, her name is River Wilson. My mom is staying in Colorado to spend time with the new baby and enjoy some nature. I am so excited to see the new addition to my family. River is my fifth niece or nephew.

I was gathering my travel painting supplies and I grabbed one of my many watercolor sketch books and found this painting I did of my brother in 2006. Charlie has been traveling around the world going to music festivals and Rainbow Gatherings until recently. It always amazes me how different all of my brothers and sisters are (all four of us). We do have one thing in common, we are all creative and were raised in a very accepting environment that fostered whatever it was we wanted to become. I am truly thankful that my parents let me be what I always have been, and supported me through all of my crazy art projects, art school, and beyond. Happy Friday and I actually mean that.

Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Bread

2011-05-25T21:02:00.000-07:00

I tried this recipe so I would have some yummy bread to go with my morning tea. It turned out really good. I found this recipe in Gluten-free & Wheat-free Gourmet Deserts, and it makes one loaf of bread.

1 Place sugar, oil and eggs into mixer and mix thoroughly.
2 Add applesauce, pineapple, cocoa, baking soda, and cinnamon and mix.
3 Add flowers and mix until even consistency.
4 Add shredded zucchini and chocolate chips and mix ingredients until evenly dispersed
5 Grease one standard sized (9x5') loaf pan. Place all batter in this pan.
6 Bake for 55–60 minutes at 375 degrees.
7 remove from oven and cool before eating.

Shop 'till You Drop Sunday - uncommon

2011-05-22T06:53:00.000-07:00

I got my iPhone 4 months ago. I'm pretty rough on my iPhone and I drop it all the time so it needs to be protected. My phone came with a free case from (*)speck. This case has chipped pealed and fallen apart in every sense of the word. Right now my iPhone is a sticky pealing mess. I'm scared that if I take the case off I will end up breaking it.

My mission today was to order a new case for my iPhone 4. I have done a lot of research on custom cases and skins because while working at Flip Video we were doing a lot of the same customization for the Flip video cameras. In all of my research I liked the company Uncommon the best. They have the best selection of artwork to choose from. Uncommon's website is well designed which says a lot for how the rest of the user experience will go.

I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to upload my jpeg to their site and order my case. I opted to use my own artwork instead of pick from their image library. I figured as an artist I could use it as a way to show people what I was working on. I hope this case works out better then the last one, and it should because all told I paid $50 for it.

To Share or Not to Share? That is the question.

2011-05-20T13:02:00.000-07:00

A fellow artist recently asked me if there was and danger in showing all of your art licensing collections. This, like everything, is very personal for each artist. If you show every scrap of your art work, it unveils some of the mystery of your work, and it also opens you up to copy cats. If you hide and password protect your work, no one sees it and it can be a hassle for art buyers to remember your password and have to sign in every time they want to browse your designs.

For me personally I share everything because I'm trying to make a name for myself and get my art out into the world. My feeling is that if someone copies my work they have no originality of their own and will eventually run out of steam anyway. When I'm more well known I will probably not show everything. Cindy Ann Ganaden deals with this issue by password protecting her collections and just showing some teasers on her site: check it out! I think this is a good compromise because it gives people a good feeling of what her work looks like without bearing it all.

Shop 'till You Drop Sunday - Tiny Prints

2011-05-15T17:11:00.000-07:00

This Sunday I want to share with you an online greeting card company that I have been following for years, Tiny Prints. I recently applied for a job here and decided it was time to order some greeting cards from them to see what they were up to. I was amazed at how far TP has come. First off you can pick from many designs for greeting cards for all occasions and they are all customizable. You can change the text and add pictures to make the whole card personalized. I live pretty far away from my family so I'm constantly sending cards and gifts and it's a pain in the (you know what). With Tiny Prints you can add a gift card to the card and shazam instant gift. When you check-out, you can have the card sent to you or the recipient, and you can schedule when the card is sent out so it arrives on time. This service has changes everything for me. I can buy cards for multiple people and be done with it.

Flip Artist Featured on Design Sponge

2011-05-05T08:23:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to announce that Cindy Ann Ganaden's Flip video camera design was featured on Design Sponge for a Mother's Day Gift. This is the first blog I ever followed, and now work that I had a hand in is featured on there. Needless to say I'm grinning from ear to ear right now.

Shop 'till You Drop Sunday - Pink Pumas

2011-05-01T19:29:00.000-07:00

I just got these wonderful pink Pumas. I needed some new sneakers for Zumba because my other sneakers were super old and they were starting to hurt me. These shoes are a designers dream. The attention to detail is awesome right down to the last stitch. The shoes are electric pink with hot blue soles, and green insides. I feel like a sneaker pimp and can't wait to go to Zumba class on Tuesday.

Portfolio + Identity Design

2011-04-28T10:07:00.000-07:00

I have spent a lot of time and effort creating and refining my Business Identity and Portfolio. I found this wonderful company Pina Zangaro they make a wide variety of portfolio covers that can be custom printed, as well as the pages, cases, and sleeves for the portfolios. This company is located just a few blocks away from my studio. I had the pleasure of meeting the owner Tim at a portfolio day in San Francisco a few years back. I am in the process of updating my portfolio and resume because of a recent job lay off at Flip Video. I think as a graphic artist you should update your portfolio every 6 months to keep your book fresh. Graphic Designers should always be prepared to show their work. I use the hinged paper pages the PZ offers and I can print on both sides of the pages. This is a great solution because the pages are pre-punched and fit perfectly into my book. I use my Epson printer to print the pages. Each page takes about an hour to print front and back, so I will be spending a lot of time in my studio in the next few days. Looking forward to finishing my book and going to interviews.

My Studio Mate Josh LaCunha (NSFW) photographed my book for me his work is very beautiful. Thank you Josh!

New Birthday Blast Greeting Card Designs

2011-04-20T09:09:00.000-07:00

I'm working on some new greeting card designs for a new collection called Birthday Blast. With the help of my trusty intern we are posting all of my collections to my web site. I'm having fun with organic textures that I hand paint, text that I hand write with a Sharpie and scan in, and mechanical shapes that I make in Illustrator.

Shop 'till You Drop Sunday - Gourmet Desserts Cook Book

2011-04-17T09:58:00.000-07:00

I just bought this cook book: Gluten-Free & Wheat-Free Gourmet Dessert. I made these soft chocolate peanut-butter cookies last week and they were really yummy.

Here is the recipe (makes 3 dozen cookies):

1. Preheat oven at 350 degrees

Ingredients:
2 Eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup coco
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp Baking soda
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 1/4 cup rice flour
1/4 tapioca flower
1 cup chocolate chips

2. Mix together eggs and sugar
3. Add cocoa ,vanilla, yogurt, baking soda, and peanut-butter and mix
4. Add flowers and mix slowly until well mixed
5. Add chocolate chips
6. Spray cookie sheet and make one inch blobs onto cookie sheet
7. Bake for 17 min and remove to a cooling tray.

ENJOY!

San Francisco Blogger Meet Up

2011-04-14T08:46:00.000-07:00

Hi all you Bloggers out there! I'm am organizing the San Francisco Blogger Meet up on Thursday, April 21 at Smugglers Cove. This event starts at 5 (happy hour is from 5-6). Meet other bloggers in the area, have a few drinks and network. Please feel free to invite other bloggers, and bring lots of business cards!

The address is:
650 Gough St
(between Ash St & Mcallister St)
San Francisco, CA 94102

Flip Video Talk at the East Bay Licensing Group

2011-04-13T08:15:00.000-07:00

I've posted a 30 minute video covering my talk about working with Flip Video that I gave at the East Bay Licensing Group for our April meeting. Doing this talk really got me thinking about a lot of aspects of my job, and has given me ways to improve what I know and what I do.
This post is bitter sweet because I found out yesterday that Cisco is killing Flip Video and laying off 550 Employees. I am one of the people loosing my job. I see this as an opportunity to move forward in my career. One door does not close without another door opening. I'm starting my new job search today and feeling pretty optimistic. You can find my resume here, please feel free to forward it to people who are hiring or send job opportunities my way.

Shop 'till You Drop Sunday - Etsy Vintage Images

2011-04-10T08:03:00.000-07:00

I was searching for a gift for my friend's birthday and of course I was looking on Etsy. My Friend loves fish and elephants. He loves Elephants because he thinks they are good luck, and he likes fish because he owns a company with his brother that makes salt water fish tank accessories. I came across this Etsy shop called The Curious Printery and they sell vintage prints on old victorian book pages. They had beautiful images of both fish and elephants so I thought it must be a sign.

Birthday Blast Tableware

2011-04-07T20:58:00.000-07:00

I'm working on a collection called Birthday Blast. It is a collection of cupcakes, candles, sweets and slices of birthday cake. When I make a collection I first paint the elements in watercolor, and scan them into the computer isolating the images from their backgrounds. Then I make surface patterns in Photoshop, and mock them up on appropriate products. I currently have a lot of elements painted that need coordinating pieces to go with many collections.

Shop 'till You Drop Sunday - Kara's Cupcakes

2011-04-03T11:36:00.000-07:00

As you all know I love sweets and cupcakes are my FAVORITE! One of my coworkers told me about Kara's Cupcakes and how they had Gluten Free Cupcakes. I finally got a chance to visit this cute little store in the Marina (San Francisco). They had Chocolate Gluten Free Cupcakes the night I visited, so I got 2 Chocolate, one peanut butter, and one lemon. I brought these to a dinner party and everyone loved them. I really like Kara's Cupcakes' Branding, It's just my style.

Erica Sunshine Lee Plays At La Barca in San Francisco

2011-03-30T20:06:00.000-07:00

I got to see a good friend of mine play at La Barca in San Francisco the other night. Every seat in the bar was full and the music was good as usual. I met Erica about 5 years ago and have done a few graphic design projects for her band Erica Sunshine Lee. The first project I did was a tee shirt Design. And the second was for her last CD design. She plays country music and you can hear it on her web site. I often listen to her music while I paint, it's the type of music where you never have to get up to change the song. I Love hearing her play and the show was very inspiring.

Cookie Toss

2011-03-23T23:08:00.000-07:00

This is a new licensing collection I am working on called Cookie Toss. I made about 20 patterns to go with this collection and also a tableware template. I want to make some other templates with these pattern but haven't decided what to put it on yet.

When I was working on this pattern a friend of mine was looking over my shoulder and commenting on what color-ways he did and did not like. It's nice when someone shows an interest in your work especially when they do something so different from what you do. When someone else is looking at your work they have fresh eyes. Oh yeah and I was watching the hoarding episode of the Simpsons when I was designing these.

Shop 'till You Drop Sunday - Cupcake Ring

2011-03-20T15:21:00.000-07:00

I was browsing on Etsy this morning and I found this ring. I immediately bought it. I love cupcakes and I love doll house stuff. When I was little I had a pink dollhouse that had lights that really worked. I would save up my $2 allowance for weeks so I could go to the Enchanted Doll House in Quechee, VT. I would spend forever looking at all of the rooms of doll house items before choosing the perfect addition to my collection.
This ring is made by SouZouCreations. This Shop has tons of rings made out of miniatures. Check them out if you are looking for a funky cocktail ring or earrings.

Satisfying your Sweetooth the Gluten Free Way - Blueberry Pancakes

2011-03-19T18:03:00.000-07:00

I was super hungry this morning and I recently discovered this gluten free baking mix from Bisquick. So I whipped up some blueberry pancakes. This mix is better then any of the other Gluten Free pancakes or waffles I have tried after finding out I have Celiac Disease over a year ago. It's awesome when I can find something super yummy to make that seems like the real thing. And of course I served these with real maple syrup from Vermont. Enjoy.

My Designs are Now Available on Flip video Cameras

2011-03-16T20:32:00.000-07:00

I'm proud to announce that my designs are now available on Flip video cameras! I currently have ten designs in my store and I plan to launch new designs for Mother's Day. If you have never heard about Flip Video before you can check out their web site. These are hand held video cameras that shoot HD video and the best part is they can be personalized with one of my designs. Okay, they have thousands of other designs as well, and you can upload your own if you are feeling super creative. It's so exciting to see my designs on products.

Shop 'till You Drop Sundays - Etsy Cards for Easter

2011-03-13T18:45:00.000-07:00

I always get my nieces and nephews (2 girls, 2 boys) cards as often as I can for lots of holidays throughout the year. I usually buy cards at the drug store, but this time I got a 4 pack of cards from Etsy.com I'm pretty excited about these cards because they are quite different then anything I've seen and I'm supporting an artist Lori a McKee. I can't wait to get these in the mail so I can send them off to my little ones. I'm also really excited because I have another niece on the way next month, she won't know what to do with a card for a long time, but I'm sure my brother will file them away for when she gets a little older. Hopefully I'll be making my own cards soon.

Urban Mom Moodboard

2011-03-13T15:53:00.000-07:00

I am creating a licensing collection titled "Urban Mom" for Mother's Day. This collection is going to be a play on Sex in the City meets daycare. I made this moodboard to create a color palette and overall feeling for the collection. This is going to be my March licensing collection, to bring to my licensing meeting. I am going to make these designs into Flip video cameras, greeting cards and bank checks. More to come stay tuned.

Sweetooth Blog Moodboard

2011-03-05T20:50:00.000-08:00

This is a moodboard that describes my style as an artist and blogger. I am taking a blogging class right now that is teaching me how to make my blog better, so far so good. I'm sure you've noticed all of the changes occurring on my blog. It's really challenging because I am doing a lot of self exploration and writing, two things I'm not used to. It's a growing experience and I recommend this class to anyone who wants to focus and improve their blog.

New Work on Licensing Collections

2011-02-26T16:04:00.000-08:00

The new year has brought a lot of change in my life. I have made one new year's resolution that I actually intend to keep. I am committing my self to making one licensing collection every month this year. I have been "working" on my licensing collections for 5 years now but never really gotten anywhere with it. I decided it's time to take action. My January collection is called: I Heart Bacon, and yes it's all about bacon. I actually started 2 collections for February: Cherry nice which is a mixture of cherries, cupcakes (my favorite thing to paint) and swirls. And a candy hearts collection for Valentine's Day.

I also have a wonderful intern working with me who is helping me update my website among many other things. I have gone through all of the collections I have started and organized them to see what I actually have. Another thing I will be working on is getting all of those collections up to speed and posting them to my site. My collections include snowman, Halloween treats, halloween monsters, birthday treats, Valentine's Day cookies and many other cool designs.

I am also attending monthly licensing meetings in the East Bay and it has helped me to see what other Licensing Artists are working on. I set a new goal every month and then we show what we worked on in the next meeting. It's good to have a support group.

Pimp My Pine Wood Derby

2010-11-17T20:54:00.000-08:00

I just finished making my Birds and Bees show car for the AIGA Pimp My Pine Wood Derby Gala tomorrow night. I've lost a lot of sleep over this little car but I think it was worth it.

AIGA SF will celebrate cars, their design and the need for speed with our Fall Gala: Pimp My Pine Wood Derby. The Gala will feature custom-designed pinewood derby cars created by our guests who can choose to donate them to the auction, or race them on our derby tracks for fame and glory.

The Gala will be hosted at The Forum at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on November 18, 2010. The event will feature:

Hosted wine, beer and soda
Silent Auction of “Show Cars”
Live racing of “Race Cars”
Raffle for prizes ranging from posters, restaurant vouchers and magazine subscriptions to a copy of Adobe CS5.

More Movember!

2010-11-17T18:36:00.000-08:00

FYI I am featured on the Brute Labs Blog for my involvement in Movember! So Excited

Raven Works Logo Design

2010-11-07T13:55:00.000-08:00

Logo design is the illustration of the business. It is considered to be the tool which gives the first impression of a business. Before starting a business much consideration is given to the logo design. The logo should be designed according to the name of the company and the business product. Logo design has many advantages including:

• Logo design promotes the business in the market.

• Logo design helps in attracting potential customers to the business.

• Logo design gives a unique identity to the business

• Logo design is as important to the business as the business name.

This is a new logo I created for Raven Works. Raven Works is a company that makes unique jewelry using wire weave techniques. In this design I wanted to incorporate the lines of the wire and the beads used in the jewelry. I recently did an artist Interview with the owner of Raven Works. This jewelry makes great christmas gifts I plan on buying some myself.

Movember

2010-11-06T11:56:00.000-07:00

So a lot of you have been asking about Movember. This is a picture of my team, everyone shaves their face on the first of the month and then grows a mustache to raise funds. I will be putting on some fake stashes to keep you all entertained. Please donate to my movember fundraiser! It's for men's health and cancer. Click here to donate: Http://us.movember.com/mospace/599330 And then click "donate to me" Thank you everyone!
Oh yeah, and the first 25 people to donate get a limited edition mustache print made by yours truly. Just ping me your address.

New Surface Pattern

2010-08-27T17:45:00.000-07:00

Yeah I finished a new surface design! This design is part of a Birthday collection I am putting together. I could see this being licensed for a fabric, wrapping paper or scrap-booking paper.

Artist Interview- RavenWorks

2010-08-26T14:03:00.000-07:00

I’m Super excited today to introduce you all to an amazing designer/jewelry maker Carrissa Larsen. She owns and operates RavenWorks, which is the home of unique jewelry, from simple designs, to the truly unique. She works with stones and sea glass, and every piece is original and hand made. Whenever I ware her creations I get endless compliments. You can see her designs in person at Stones and Stuff in Portland, Maine, or The Sandpiper Jewelry Gallery in South Portland, Maine or browse her collection on Etsy.

Please give us a brief bio, where you are from and how you started in this field?

I'm originally from northern Vermont, but have spent the past 5 years in Westbrook, Maine. I stared getting into jewelry design when I moved to Maine, as a hobby while I was trying to adjust to the move.

When did you first discover your creative talents?

I used to love to draw and do creative projects as a child. I moved on to writing as a creative expression, and earned my BA in English Literature. Ive always been in touch with my creative side in different ways.

Could you tell us about some of your work?

My main body of work focuses on using unique natural stones in combination with various wire weaving techniques. I try to highlight the beauty of each stone, working the weave with it, while trying not to detract from the stone its self.

What inspires you to keep going and how do you keep yourself motivated?

I'm driven to create. I hate being idle, and I'm always working on new designs and ideas.I keep motivated by the fact that I'm making a living out of doing what I love.

How would you describe your style?

My style is very elegant, and simple, but with a unique edge. My style is natural and organic.

What is your approach to design?

I don't really have a design process. Each design comes to me as I work with the individual stones

Share with us something funny that has happened to you recently.
A lot of funny things happen while I'm vending out on the streets. I end up talking to a lot of bizarre people. Recently one of my recent visitors, a local guy who just likes to shoot the breeze brought me a cup full of beautiful sea glass. I don't think he's employed, and may not have a home, but he collected all these great pieces just for me. I thought it was funny that he had thought to do that for me.

How do you bridge the gap of the business side of designing?

I'm always promoting myself, and always creating as I'm selling. I try to keep the two as intertwined as possible.

Describe yourself in 5 words.

Determined, perfectionist, driven, abstract, stubborn

Lastly, any words of advice for aspiring designers/artists?

Just do it! I know it sounds cheesy, but sometimes you just have to suck it up and go after your dreams, and the rest be damned. No one is ever going to make it happen for you, you have to make it happen for yourself. Stop dreaming and start doing!

Sea Life Sketches on my iPhone

2010-08-25T10:46:00.000-07:00

I did these sketches with my finger on my iPhone. I Went to the Academy of Science last Thursday and took a bunch of fish pictures.

Illustration-Junk Food

2010-08-24T09:18:00.000-07:00

Here is an acrylic painting I did for a magazine article on heart disease. I had a lot of fun with this one.

Gluten Free Blueberry Peach Cobbler

2010-08-19T09:18:00.000-07:00

This is my first Gluten Free baking experience.
Preheat Oven to 350

Filling:

6 Peaches (sliced with skin on)
3 Cups Blueberries
1/2 Cup Agave Sweetener
Lemon Juice from from 1/2 lemon

Topping:

2 3/4 Cup all Purpose Gluten Free Flower
1 1/4 Tsp Xanthan Gum
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1/4 Cup Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
6 Tbs Butter
1 1/4 Cups Milk
1 Tbs Cinnamon
1/4 Cup Gluten Free Oatmeal

Mix filling together in a bowl
Mix Topping together in a bowl (mix dry and wet then combine)
Use a 9x13' baking pan
Pour in fruit and top with topping
Bake for 45 min

Serve!

New Wrapping Paper Designs

2010-08-11T15:33:00.000-07:00

I designed these birthday wrapping paper designs today. I really want to get my collections into shape and start attending the east bay licensing meetings. It's a lot of work. More to come.

Sketchbook

2010-04-30T14:37:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Happy Friday! Here are a few pages from my sketchbook.

Logos

2010-04-16T15:10:00.000-07:00

Effective Logos should be 5 things:

Simple
Memorable
Timeless
Versatile
Appropriate

I am currently working on a rebranding of Gladstone. I work here full time. Here is a sample of the current identity.

This design is not:

Simple
Memorable
Timeless
Versatile
Appropriate

Here are a few examples I have mocked up (Bottom 3). In these designs our name is simplified to Gladstone and the many departments are treated similarly and the logos are taken away to make our identity feel united.

Brute Labs- Designing for the good of it

2010-04-02T07:59:00.000-07:00

I attended a talk last night at Red Rock Coffee in Mountain View called Small Talks, Big Ideas: BRUTE LABS.
It was really f-ing awesome. BRUTE LABS is a small group of young people dedicated to action. They are changing the world, utilizing any resources they have and seeking the support of their peers. They use design and technology to address global challenges such as poverty, education, health care, human services, environmental improvement and much more. They organize end to end solutions, bringing together volunteers from around the world to help drive innovative new solutions for the world's most pressing issues.

I got to see a verity of projects they have worked on. It was very inspiring. . . and made me question if I can be more like BRUTE LABS. I work for a non profit biomedical research company (Gladstone) and we do research mainly for AIDS, Alzheimer's Disease, and Cardiovascular disease. So I guess in a way I am contributing to social causes, but not in the same super cool way Brute is. I guess the big difference is I don't really see many results from my labor. And I don't make enough tee shirts. Kidding.

I also donated a painting to the Hospitality House which is another non profit (http://www.hospitalityhouse.org/) They help homeless People in the Tenderloin make art and help many homeless and low-income people to be empowered to unite their voices to stimulate social change. But still where are the results from this? What changes did I make?

As creative people we have voices and if we choose to make them heard they can make a change.

Vegan Banana Muffins Unvailed

2010-03-29T21:58:00.000-07:00

Okay you've asked for it and now I'm delivering. Here is the recipe for how to make the best muffins in the world.

Makes 12 muffins

4 ripe bananas

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup of whole wheat flower

1 1/2 cups of white flower

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

a healthy splash of vanilla

1 glass of red wine (or more to taste)

1. Pour glass of red wine to sip while you make these tasty little treats

2. Preheat oven to 350°F

3. Grease or place those cute little paper cups into your muffin pan.

4. Mash the bananas in a bowl, this is good for stress, trust me.

5. Add oil, maple syrup, salt, vanilla, cinnamon and mix

6. Add flowers, baking powder, and soda and mix some more, but not to much or you will activate the gluten in the flower and these muffins will only be good for door stops.

7. Okay now you are faced with a few choices, get ready. If you are feeling boring continue to step 8 (it's like a choose your own adventure book). But if you are feeling a little sassy you can add either 1/2 a bag of chocolate chips (which makes these not vegan anymore depending on the chocolate you use) or one of those square boxes of blueberries. Fold in your secret weapon carefully until they are evenly distributed throughout your batter.

8. Spoon into muffin tins and bake for 20 min.

9. Keep 6 for your self, give 6 away to make new friends, get laid, or get that new job you've been drooling over. Trust me they work.

Perfecting your Portfolio

2010-03-19T09:31:00.000-07:00

I Attended a talk put on by AIGA Called “Perfecting your Portfolio.” I have been working on my portfolio for over a year and this talk was a great motivator to get my portfolio finished and stop being such a baby about it.
The three panelists were Eric Heiman of Volume Inc, Liz Mullally from Apple and Henrik Olsen of Hot Studio. Here are some highlights from the talk, and a few added comments by yours truly. . .

JOB SEARCHING NOW
-People are less specialized in their skill sets
-Most jobs are looking for a well-rounded designer

HOW TO PERPARE FOR A JOB SEARCH
-Research the companies you want to work for, make sure they are right for you. Don’t send an interactive portfolio to a greeting card company, that will just make you look stupid.
-Think about the type of work you do and how it relates to the company you are applying to
-Don’t waste your time applying to companies that you really don’t want to work for
-Have good core design skills, and an open attitude
-Have good people skills and business skills

HOW SHOULD PEOPLE CONTACT YOU?
-e-mail
-snail mail (make it cool or you are just wasting time and money)
-network!
-DO NOT CALL.
-Don’t send large attachments or any attachments if avoidable, they are annoying as hell.
-In your e-mail include a link to your URL, and resume
-If contacting an in-house operation go through the right channels (ie. Recruters, staff)

PORTFOLIOS
-You should have your portfolio in 4 formats: web site, PDF, interview portfolio, and a leave behind portfolio. All should carry the same look and feel. The interview portfolio will be an interactive portfolio with you and the interviewer. The leave behind portfolio needs to have more descriptions about your work because you won’t be there., doi!
-Your portfolio has 10 seconds to make an impression: GO!
-Relate your projects to their projects
-Make sure to include your perspective about your work
-Judge your portfolio by the worst piece in it, if one piece looks like crap, your whole portfolio is going to be crappy
-Self Edit, show 5 Totally Fuckin’ awesome pieces vs. 15 not so awesome pieces.
-Don’t put in boring garbage just because it got printed, nobody really gives a crap about that.
-Your Portfolio is about your potential
-Don’t let the design of your portfolio book or website be so cool that people stop giving a shit about your work. Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS).
-Don’t let the writing in your portfolio be corny, good god real people have to read this crap.
-Be clear on what parts of a group project you worked on. Don’t take credit for other people’s work because that makes you a liar, and nobody likes a liar.

RESUME
-You are a designer so make your resume clear and well designed
-Name-dropping is actually cool on your resume, unlike anywhere else where it makes you look like a real douche bag.
-Just give the facts, no body cares if you like to hike, or that you have 3 cats all named fluffy
-How should we send our resume? E-mail is probably the best way. Include a link where they can download a PDF from your site, nobody likes dealing with attachments.
-Tailor your resume to each firm
-Use common keywords in the descriptors of your resume, if you don’t know any keywords: google it dummy.
-You really don’t need objectives on your resume, they usually just make you sound stupid.
-As a new grad should you include other non design jobs? No, it’s not really needed and nobody cares that you worked at Starbucks or folded tee shirts at the Gap. The only exception would be if design is a second career and you were a rocket scientist in your former job, because that’s just awesome.
-Put your experience section before your education section.

INTERVIEW
-Don’t show up late for your interview unless you don’t want to work there.
-The interview is about getting to know the interviewee. If someone has to sit next to you for 40 hours a week, they want to make sure you don’t smell like Doritos, or have a weird tick. So let the interviewer know who you are, be confident!
-How do you talk about your work? Can you communicate effectively?
-An interview is a two way street. Ask questions about the company, show you know about the company.
-Let the interviewer drive the interview, they don’t have all day.

FOLLOW UP
-Send a awesome e-mail
-Mail a cool note
-Bribe the interviewer with cookies, beer, or cash
-Keep following up, about once a month

Hope this was helpful.

National Student Leadership Conference Poster

2010-03-02T10:53:00.000-08:00

I designed this poster for the NSLC. High school students interested in a career in science sign up and visit many scientific institutions. I volunteer to be a tour guide for this event. I was asked to design a "cool" poster that would attract high school students attention. And this is what I came up with.

New Work

2010-02-11T14:05:00.000-08:00

So I haven't Bolgged in a while. . .

Mostly because I've been too busy.

Work at Gladstone has been insane for the last few months and will continue to be nuts until the end of March. I am in the middle of trying to move to San Francisco (from San Mateo) which is like having another full time job. No really, I'm seeing 4 places tonight after work. I also have 2 rather time consuming freelance jobs right now. To top it all off, I started a new series of paintings. I am doing acrylic paintings with graphite on wood panels. The wood panels are recycled scraps from a few different furniture shops in San Francisco, along with a few dumpsters, I won't mention the location of.
The series is called "The Birds and the Bees." It is about dating, mating, and breaking up.

enjoy.

Cell

2009-11-13T11:27:00.000-08:00

My cover design has been accepted to Cell, Stem Cell Magazine! My first cover. Awesome!

Hang Up

2009-11-13T08:31:00.000-08:00

AIGA San Francisco presents its Annual Fall Gala: “Hung Up.” Hosted at The Galleria at the San Francisco Design Center, the event attracts 700 attendees and will feature custom-designed skateboard decks. Not only is the Gala an opportunity for the design community to come together and appreciate our creative spirit, but it is also a special evening for our sponsorship partners.

AIGA San Francisco is celebrating the art of skateboarding and are inviting artists and designers to contribute custom skate decks, which will be auctioned off at the end of the night. In addition to the silent auction, there will be a raffle — ranging from posters, restaurant vouchers and magazine subscriptions to a copy of Adobe CS4 — and a live art component.

I took home this lovely Caterpillar skateboard that I won in the auction, and this black and white deck that I won in the raffle. There were some cool boards at the event, cool people, and cool sponsors. Yesterday was a good day.

Halloween

2009-11-01T20:38:00.000-08:00

I love Halloween, that is all.

East Bay Licensing Meeting

2009-10-06T08:20:00.000-07:00

I joined the East Bay licensing group and went to my first meeting last Saturday. Cheryl Phelps gave a talk about licensing and answered many questions. My goal is to get an agent by the end of 2010. After things in my life calm down in January, I am going to focus my extra time on getting my licensing act together and revamping my entire web site.

Roadworks Show

2009-09-19T22:15:00.000-07:00

My block print is for the Roadworks show. This is a combo art show and street fair. All of the prints in this show are made at the fair by being rolled over by a steam roller. The weather was beautiful and I learned a lot about different book making and printmaking organizations in the Bay Area and learned of a few other events I would like to attend.
One of my friends from Vermont (who now lives in Oakland) came to the show and brought his cute as a button 3 year old who made a print at the kids table. It was a very relaxing event and I can't wait until next year.

Creating a Block Print

2009-09-19T22:05:00.001-07:00

I created a block print for the Roadworks show in San Francisco. I wanted to do a small addition of 12 prints before handing my lino block to the show. I am doing a small print exchange with 3 other srtists and a handful of my friends wanted a print as well. Here are a few shots of the carving and printing process.

Reptiles

2009-09-15T08:01:00.001-07:00

I painted a few reptiles for an article about heart development. I love to paint, I need to do it more.

Memory Walk Tee Shirt Design

2009-09-09T10:33:00.000-07:00

I designed the Memory Walk Tee Shirt For our Neurological Department. Here is the design, the institute color is green and I thought this would stand out in a sea of white and purple shirts.

Erica Sunshine Lee Photo Shoot

2009-09-04T15:59:00.000-07:00

Erica is a long time client of mine. I am currently designing her CD for her upcoming album "Road to Recovery." These pictures are from the photo shoot we did with www.lacunha.com I was there art directing and assisting. It was 95º and we were all sweating. We got some really good shots, now on to the design.

Gladstone Golf Tournament

2009-08-28T07:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had our annual Gladstone golf tournament. There were 4 teams (GICD, GIVI, GIND, and Admin). In a stunning display of golfing skill producing 10 birdies in 18 holes, the GIND team beat back all comers and won the 2009 Gladstone Cup. GIVI finished -6, Admin +2 and GICD +4. I was on the Admin team and we finished in third place, next year we will take the cup. We played at Presidio in the city. This was the first time I played here, and it won't be the last. The course is beautiful and the weather was fantastic. I won most improved player, watch out LPGA!

30 Year T-shirt

2009-08-19T15:29:00.000-07:00

Here is a Tee I designed for an in-house contest. I have to represent the department, it's embarrassing when someone in Neuro wins the art competitions. The theme is "30 years of scientific excellence." I drew all of the directors as bobble-heads.

Change

2009-08-13T08:21:00.000-07:00

Recently there have been many changes in my life. Change is good, but not easy. Sometimes I stop, step back from my life and ask myself "is this working for me?" And usually I can say "no" to a number of things. Many things I do in life I have learned from my parents, friends, and/or teachers and never question because that's all I know. The more educated I have become the more I have started to question, and more changes have taken place.
Recently I have been exposed to a higher level of design then I knew existed. Not only talent-wise, but design that makes a change in the world. Design that connects people, inspires people, and in some cases saves lives. This change has been mind blowing. This knowledge takes everything I have been working on for the past 8 years and puts it in a new perspective. Where I thought I was and where I really am are very different. And before all of the classes, talks, and events I didn't have this new scale to weigh my career. It's humbling, and at times frustrating.

In-house

2009-08-06T09:48:00.000-07:00

I work in-house for The J. David Gladstone Institute and I sit in a cubicle. And our cubes are in 6 packs. . My scientists come down to visit me and go over figures all the time, and they always take Reven's extra chair to sit in. He always makes comments like "you are going to have to pay rent on that chair," or "that's my chair do you have permission to sit there," but I just ignore him. Yesterday my favorite scientist came down to go over some changes on figures, and he took the special chair to sit in. I guess that was the last straw for Reven. This morning someone who shall remain nameless pulled the chair out to sit on like many people do and fell to the floor. Sometime during the night Rteven removed 2 of the wheels so that the chair still rolls but when you sit it throws you to the floor. I have never seen anything this funny ever. I can't wait for some of the scientists to come take a seat. I'm going to invite people I don't like to come down so I can see them get thrown to the floor. This is the start of something beautiful.

Design Class

2009-08-01T15:29:00.000-07:00

I've been taking a Design class at CCA for the last 8 weeks with Jacob Gardner (he works at Chronicle Books). It has been great to be critiqued. Having homework has been a bit of a trip. I might take a Typography Class at the Art Academy in the fall but I'm not sure if I can fit it into my schedule. This logo is one of the assignments I did for class.

My Intern

2009-07-21T21:42:00.000-07:00

Everyone I would like you to meet Nikki. The newest (and only) other member of AWI. She joined me as an intern in January. I am teaching her the ropes (or at least my skewed version of the ropes) and she is helping me with many difficult tasks. We are working on laying out and redesigning my portfolio. I think there is light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe. . . .

Nikki lives in San Francisco and is a Student at the Academy Of Art. She is a fast learner and has a good eye for design. She also loves Abe Lincoln (don't ask.)

NYC-Surtex and Stationary shows

2009-06-22T09:07:00.000-07:00

I went to NYC for a week to see the Surtex and Stationary shows. These shows are for the giftware industry. I saw some awesome products and designs and had my work in Total Art Licensing (one of the big magazines they give out for the trade show.) I was so inspired by all of the designs. I wish I could work on my greeting cards full time. I reconnected with my best friend from second grade (thank you facebook) and turns out she is also a designer. It was design week in NYC and I got to go to some really great furniture design after parties including one at the Design Within Reach store. I also met up with a friend from college who is now working in the giftware industry for a company who makes bedding and bath collections. She gave me some great insight.

Spring Flowers

2009-05-08T13:11:00.000-07:00

May is here and it seems time passes by so fast. I have a lot going on this month including a trade show visit to New York and a total Portfolio redesign. I'm hoping to update my website next. That project will probably take place in June and July. I'm so glad spring is here and the weather is warm. It feels like a time of change and new beginnings. I think as an artist I always have to be reinventing my self and learning new things.

The Alameda Point Antiques and Collectibles Faire

2009-04-17T17:53:00.000-07:00

I went to The Alameda Point Antiques and Collectibles Faire a few weeks ago. It was a beautiful day and I walked around for hours just looking at all of the cool stuff. I was very inspired by all of the typography items, and collections of everything from baby doll legs to flower frogs. I have always been a collector. When I was little I had lots of collections, X-man cards, POGs, Calenders, hotel samples, PEZ Dispensers, Barbies, baby dolls, Old Lady Necklaces, beads, and on and on. I loved Collections! And I still love them. I'm not so much into physical collections anymore. I like to collect images that I make. Greeting card Licensing Collections. I love having a body (or collection) of work that goes together.

Sports Wine

2008-12-09T20:01:00.000-08:00

Ding wine is done. I've been working with Sports Wine for over 3 years and here are the first bottles that actually have wine in them. This is a major accomplishment for our team of many. Good job everyone. Now lets see how the wine tastes. Thanks to Josh for taking the wine pictures www.lacunha.com