The Prelude
I’ve mentioned this in the past and have finally made some headway in refinishing my kitchen table. As a brief recap: I received the table second-hand back in ‘02-ish from friends who were moving away. There was a good bit of wear n’ tear, but all in all a sturdy table. And after my coffee table project proved a success in ‘00, I wanted to test my skills with wood once again. I also chose to recycle some of my Celtic knotwork designs to embellish the otherwise ‘blank canvas’. Continue »
As part of his talk at FOWD London 2009, the Future Of Web Design seminar, Mike Kus screened this short film to help illustrate the process he went through when designing the individual slides for his presentation. I always find it so inspiring to see other artists’/designers’ techniques in motion.
Graphic Design: The Forgotten Web Standard - Slides in 3 Minutes from Carsonified on Vimeo.
That was the sudden sharp turn in my thinking when I sat down to script out a game plan for my next series of drawings. It also happened to be closing in on Nat’s b’day, which was the main decision to pick up the ol’ paintbrushes, look ‘em over, toss ‘em in the trash and go buy new ones. The celtic Tree of Life is a design that I’d been wanting to play with for a few years now, but never did actually come up with any solid ideas. This design, however, came from a t-shirt of mine that’s fast becoming worn out.
This painting ended up taking just over 4 weeks to complete; twice what I’d anticipated. That’s the trouble with using oil paints… they can and most likely will take forever to dry when you’re counting down the days. And while the last 2 weeks felt more like a chore and actual work, I’m really happy to have it finished and looking quite nice. Now, I’m all jazzed up and thinking about the next project. I have several unfinished pieces in the works, but I’ve been thinking about finishing my kitchen table next. It just looks so naked!
Anyway, I just wanted to share this new work with everyone. Stay tuned for more updates on my table! There will be more pics!
more as it comes…
A while back I saw a program on APT discussing a massive undertaking by renowned calligrapher Donald Jackson to redesign the St. John’s Bible into the first handwritten, illuminated bible commisioned since the invention of the printing press. Jackson approached the Benedictine monks of Saint John’s University and Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota, who advised him on the interpretations of the text to which Jackson himself would illustrate. A small team of professional calligraphers under Jackson would aid in transcriptions. The completed volume was commisioned by Mary and Eugene Frey as a gift to Archbishop Harry Flynn to celebrate his 11 years of pastoral service to the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. The presentation took place back on April 24, 2008. Continue »
Well, well, well, hello there. Hope everything is froody with you guys and gals. Things are churning along quite nicely here. Been busy with this and that and a coupl’a those. Currently reading a book that just will not end no matter how much I groan. It’s a good book and all (or rather 6 in 1), but 800 pages is a bit of a haul, especially for British humor. Oh, the book is The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by the way, and I’m ever so close to finishing it, but I think I’ve lost too much enthusiasm for it to be anything more than a simple accomplishment. I mean, I’ve already forgotten what the first segment was about. It’s still entertaining to a degree, but it has certainly lost every bit of jazz it had during the 1st 400 pages. Continue »