overachiever

I've never met a piece of cardboard I didn't like* - kraft paisley No.1 - white ink on kraft cardboard - Susan Black © 2014

Striving for balance will derail your plans for greatness. It's not the imbalances of life that will get you down–it's doing meaningless things that aren't taking you where you want to go.

Danielle LaPorte - The Fire Starter Sessions

You may be wondering (I know I am) what ever happened to my 60 minutes a day of art for the entire month of March ?

Huh ? I made it 13 days. On day 3 I was so thrilled about the idea, the fun, the freedom, the newness & the novelty and tres jealous inspired by the amazing 30 min. loose spontaneous & gorgeous sketchbook pages of my friend Jennifer Orkin Lewis that I actually spoke publicly about not only doing 60 mins of sketchbook art/painting a day but maybe I'd be so bold as to add to each of my days, 'cause I'm just sitting' around dreaming up things to do, 30 minutes of pattern making plus 30 minutes of typography, all sketchy loose stuff, spontaneous, fun, not taking myself too seriously or worrying about the final outcome. Ya Huh !! I failed miserably. So ... let's do the post-mortem on that failed project - I know I want to.

Well first & simply I did not ever set the timer for 60 mins. Big mistake. Because by day 6 (or sooner) Madam Perfectionist (not a loose and/or spontaneous bone in her body) had come a callin' & settled in for a stay. Very quickly, because of Madam P watching over my shoulder, what began as a 60 min. a day fun project, turned into a many hour, had to love each day's page madly, must be Perfect, albatross around my neck.

No biggie however, and certainly not at all a surprise to me because, as they say in current psychotherapy, I am pretty "self aware" ;-). In fact the experience was another great reminder. I try to do too much & all the time instead of doing the things that really lift me up and propel me and my dreams and goals forward. The problem is I like doing w-a-y too many things. I keep thinking I should have more balance in my life ? But honestly I don't even know what that means or what "balance" in my life would look like ? maybe I already have balance and I don't recognize it ??

e·qua·nim·i·ty
noun

mental emotional stability or composure, especially under tension or strain; calmness; equilibrium.

I hear many Buddhists & yoga instructors (I hate to lump them into one group but there does seem to be lots of overlap + I do relate greatly to both practices) speaking lately about striving for "equanimity" in life. Yeah, yeah, yeah - I don't really like that word, I don't like the look of it, or the sound of it and because I am so "self aware" I'm pretty sure equanimity and me are never really gonna be great pals. Not saying I can't be civil & welcoming to a little more calm & composure in my life but I'm really getting to know, love & accept the roller coaster ride that is me.

How 'bout we finish up today with a fantastic little reminder from our pal ze



* I'm a serious cardboard hoarder - cardboard & bubble wrap, another chapter - hoarding and it's relationship to the anxious mind - stay tuned ;-)

f words - part 1

in progress - mixed media children's art - 10 x 10 - Friends - Susan Black

Do what you love, know your bone;
gnaw it, bury it, unearth it and gnaw it still

Henry David Thoreau

For nearly 9 years I had practically a full time gig with the same US based gift & home decor company, I spent most of my time drawing sweet, cute motifs for baby and/or children's rooms - primarily designing & illustrating photo frames. I became pretty good at it. The queen of kid decor and honestly, I loved it. Often the designs would include a word or phrase (you know how I love playing with typography) and it was most definitely that double bonus kind of situation where you're good at something you absolutely love doing. Now ... trouble is I love doing a lot o' things but this is my year to pare down and focus. Focus, focusing, focuser.

At the beginning of this year I and many others (in the blogging world) were all choosing a word for the new year. A one word mantra for 2011 - I chose firework for many reasons, the Katy Perry song makes me cry, touches something deep inside me that makes me want to fearlessly shine & sparkle my brightest. I want my passions in life, especially my creative passions to be brave & explosive - boom, boom, boom brighter than the moon, moon, moon.

So I've decided as we near February's end I need more than one word and the word I originally was considering was focus but thought to myself what a dull, kind of mean word focus is - Focus Will You! Sounded a little too reprimanding for me. But how about focused firework ?? Uh Huh ??? Even better free & focused firework. I'm becoming so weary of trying to scrounge & hunt down freelance work which most often ends up with you doing your best to realize someone else's dream and ultimately How far ahead does that get me ? other than a pay cheque ??

I am focusing my efforts in 3 areas each week and one of them is children's art. My goal to complete 1 piece in each of 3 categories* each week. Too bad prolific didn't begin with an "f" - oh wait ! here's a new word (to me) fecund - very productive or creative intellectually - Yes Please !

focused, firework, fun, freedom, fecund ...
fame + fortune (at the very minimum the self sustaining kind please)

* other 2 categories to be revealed shortly


a self promotional PDF that I currently send out to potential customers

cut & paste

Bleet & Winnie Dixon a cut paper illustration for Christmas cards for our local animal shelter

This illustration (circa 2002) and original holiday card's design exemplified one of those very rare times in any designers life when the end result of your efforts is very much, if not better, than the picture you had in your head. Sigh, I'm afraid that doesn't happen very often. I've always loved this design - and seeing it's time once again to produce our shelter's big annual fund raising event's poster and silhouette images being particularly HOT at the moment it seemed a good idea to upcylce this much loved illustration. Telethon of Love 2009 here and 2008 here

So yesterday's tres rainy day was spent cutting and pasting and glueing and then putting everything into poster format in Adobe InDesign. OMGoodness I've given poor Gill Sans Ultra Bold a wee rest and switched in funky wood type-esqe - Playbill - working perfectly here because of it's slab serif slimness, making a kind of typographic platform for Winnie & Bleet to sit on.



And speaking of slimness ... ne pas ... and no that it is not a small black sea lion prone & spread out dans the TTD, it's the formerly slim (way back in 2002) - Bleet NessieNess. Boy, I tell ya it's sooo hard to work with one of the boss cats hanging around your desk all day.

a good cover

HOW magazine cover illustration sketch No.1

a good cover
subtitled - and/or the fine art (& craft) of knowing when to stop.

Oh my, I've been doing a bit of stewin' and you know how I love to stew.

The current issue of HOW magazine not only has me featured in an article on hand lettering but it's also the issue of my failed, potential big deal, cover assignment (more info here). The big double issue, the 25th anniversary ... and an opportunity presented to the 29 Black Street CE* like none other (to date).

In my home office I have a large bulletin board and said failed cover collage illustration has been pinned to this bulletin board since the failure occurred (early November). In other words I am looking at this failed assignment daily and many, many times daily and like those V-8 commercials I have recently thunked my own self on the noggin', the big geezly light bulb has gone off in my head and I've just today come to terms with the fact that what I produced might have been a beautiful collage of texture and pattern but was ultimately, not at all - a good cover.

I've been a designer for nearly 25 years and I should have known better. The top image was my original sketch/mock up to which the art director requested that I make sure that my final was tres rich with pattern & texture. Can you say Go Wild Girlfriend !?! an out of control, speeding collage train. I took it too far, way too far. I did not know when to stop. There are some simple basic rules when designing covers (of any variety - album, CD, book) like miniature posters they must grab for attention. Clarity and hierarchy are two essential qualities that leap insistently to mind.

The message intended to be communicated must be clear - easy to read and to understand and also the hierarchy of information must be well communicated. In this case HOW (the magazine's masthead/logo) should jump out at you first , then the 25th issue tag line and then finally a few equally weighted bits of info. Plus this message should be able to be communicated as someone is hurrying by the new stand. Oh hey look ! it's HOW's 25th issue, the design annual. Thunk !!

Thunk ! Thunk !

Pas de clarity, pas de hierarchy = failed magazine cover assignment. In other words I blew it !

I don't think that I'm trying to beat myself up about this one but I am very glad that I'm finally getting around to a proper critique (or post mortem) of this CE* flop. It is all part of the process of moving forward and becoming better ... and better. And just like some other things in my life that cause me to get a stewin' it helps tremendously to talk about those things here, on my blog.

Inset photo is of the final published cover design.


Ah yes, tres rich in texture and pattern but pas de clarity or hierarchy

*CE - Creative Empire

hand lettering

cafe logo/identity

Last week completely out of the blue I received an email from an editor at HOW magazine she was working on an article on hand lettering and would like to feature little ol' me and my typographic wares in the article - Shut Up ! - to say I was thrilled to pieces by this request would be an enormous understatement. It felt like a big ol' shot of happy juice swallowed with a few tablets of vim, vigour and let's do it ! spirit. My work has been featured on the HOW magazine blog here and here another huge thrill - hanging out with some tres impressive company. This is a fantastic opportunity and I have been mildly (ha ha) stressing myself out trying to decide which 6 of my hand lettering pieces to send and/or what other mind blowing typographic creations might I whip up just for this opportunity. The deadline is today so very soon time (or the lack there of) will help me out with this fretful decision making.

So ... along with my regular projects which thankfully I have plenty o' going on here at the teak topped desk this last while I've been fussin' and mussin' over which 6 examples of hand lettering that I'm going to submit at the end of day today. This logo is actually one I did years ago when I first moved to this little village and at that time was working a regular 9-5 stint at a big giftware company as a product designer/creative director here dans this little village. Even with a full time job I always did my fair share of freelance graphic design and this cafe logo has always been a favourite of mine. Yesterday I cleaned it up a little, changed the colours and got it ready to place in the pile of possible and maybe type treasures to submit.

There's also a short list of questions to answer and send back and it's funny now that I've had over a week to ponder this hand lettering skill (and love) of mine. Where did it come from ? and what were and are my inspirations ? I realize I've been a little typographer since way back, long before I'd ever heard that word. I used to enter every poster contest going as a child (and won most of them). My grandmother Flo (an artist and a big, big influence on me and my creativity growing up) and I used to make wall hangings, spread out on her giant dining room table, using brightly coloured glued felt shapes and designs on burlap, we'd glue sequins (for bullets) and ric rac (still a favourite of mine) instead of rules and bars, little typographic elements and embellishments out of sewing notions and many of my little wall hangings would very often include words, brightly coloured felt letters hand cut with scissors - really profound words like Boy and Cat. ;-)

I often think and hope that she is looking down at me from her cloud and smiling ... and just maybe, she's been keepin' company with the red + yellow dogs

my day job

doorplate and doorknob thumbnails - May 08

Thought I'd show you a bit more of what I actually do - my freelance design work. That which pays our bills ... my day job.

This is a project from last year - almost exactly a year ago and samples of the finished pieces have just recently been showing up at all the spring gift shows ready for market. Yesterday while perusing a trade magazine that I have a subscription to I came across a little blurb and photo of the product that for well over a month I sunk my heart (and some blood, sweat & tears) into. For this particular company I'm working directly with in house designers. I become kind of like a sub-contractor. Either they have too much on their own plates at the time and need to farm some of the work out or they feel they need the skill set of another designer to realize their specific vision on a particular project. That's the thing about designers - our main job is to come up with the great ideas - then we figure out a way to have that great idea come to life and we're not at all personally attached to doing the realizing ourselves. The most important part is that "the vision" comes to life... some how. So we hire (if we have the means) whoever we might need to help realize that vision. Photographers, illustrators and other designers ... we become the art director or creative director of a project. Or in this case, as is most of my day job work, I am being art directed. And I enjoy it. Just me, some tracing paper, my fav red mechanical pencil and a lovely pile of parameters to work within. So much easier and much less taxing then having to be brilliant all on my own.

Each design, of these 5 musical doorknob and doorplates, was based in a historic style (Baroque, Greco Roman, Art Nouveau, Gothic and Neo Classical). Adding another interesting layer to what I do - lots + lots of research so I'm sure to get the history just right. In the end my client, the designer, was tres pleased with my drawings and apparently the collection is being very well received in the Giftware Lands. Each doorknob style is meant to represent a unique emotion or feeling and when you turn the doorknob music plays to help evoke that feeling.

The reason I'm most often totally secretive about what I do is because it can take up to a full year before the projects I'm working on are actually produced and ready for market and of course every company wants to keep their latest greatest product release top, top secret... so of course, I am totally sworn to secrecy.

Rain, milder temperatures (thank goodness), Tramp bubbles and our yard and garden is filled, this early morning, with the sounds of madly singing birds.



the actual product

Eames & Obama

Eames postage stamps

Hooray ! A gift from sweet Anya in Colorado. Miss D and I received a little care package all the way from the mountains in the post the other day. An assortment of gourmet doggie treats and many tres thoughtful goodies for Mama - including this particular fav - a sheet of commemorative Charles & Ray Eames postage stamps. We designer gals, we do love our postage stamps - our little miniature teeny posters. Big smile and a big merci Anya !

Hey ! Obama's comin' to Canada today and we're all a flutter. We're jealous, we've got a big ol' crush and believe me we're so not used to crushin' on American Heads of State - this is all tres new and oh so exciting for all of us. He'll spend 6 hours in our capital city Ottawa with our Prime Minister Mr. Dull & Conservative Stephen Harper who breaks out the blue v-neck sweater when he's feelin' a little wild & crazy. Bored Sigh. We're totally embarrassed by his complete lack of cool. Live coverage (of course) on all Canadian networks radio & TV. It's all tres exciting. Apparently the streets of Ottawa are a total buzz and the city hasn't seen this much excitement since the Queen's last visit. Oh my !

I'm taking these next two days off from the teak topped design command centre to work on more of Peter's clutter control. Les office and les finances, Wooh Hoo !!

more flow

corinthians 13:7-8 - love - painted sketch

I was rushing again yesterday. Rushing to do revised thumbnails for customer No Uno, rushing along sandbars in the afternoon sun while chatting about supper plans and laughing at the continued (daily) sweet antics of Miss D and Baby Duke and then rushing in the evening to whip up a sketch, a promised painting to show you my new illustration style. A miniature poster print with one of the many, many quotes that I love or find inspiring. I couldn't remember the last line of this quote and I do recall thinking to myself while rushing along at the teak topped desk Look it up Susan, check online to see what that last line is. But no, I didn't listen to that voice and instead continued on with my speediness and my rushing. The last line of this quote should be

Love never ends

Love never ends is completely different than love lasts. Similar but not at all the same. The last line is what drew me to this quote in the first place it's why I love it so much, that last line. This quote embodies all the feelings that I have for that big red lug of mine, that love of my life - my sweet red Noodle dog Jake and here I screwed up the last line. Sigh. Oh well, I must consider this a sketch. And I'm thinking now I may add cut paper, a bit of collage to the paint and my scribbly loose black pen drawing in the finished piece. And I'll get the words right next time.

The main thing is ... I loved making this, planning it quickly, drawing the letters and shapes in pencil first, then when I'm pleased with the composition and the details I go over everything with black pen. Then I tape this drawing to my small light table, and tape a piece of watercolour paper on top of that. Then I paint ... paint, paint, paint all the while listening to CBC radio (you can listen as well here). When all the painting is done. I remove the paper from the light table and get out my collection of thicker line black drawing pens and draw, draw, draw. Loose and free, the looser the better actually. Most definitely way more flow.

I'm happy with how this looks. It's not perfect but then I'm learning that nothing ever is. I can see loads of potential in this new style. It will only get better ... sounds like a new mantra to me.

california

california circles

Same pattern of intersecting circles from Thursday's sketch. But this time a collage combination of paint and paper from my collection of vintage books and old atlases. I do love maps. I am drawn to maps with water in them and as I began to flip through my atlas I landed on a map of California, a state that I've been to three times (all work related visits to Los Angeles but once, we did drive up the Pacific Coast Highway in a cherry red convertible as far as Oxnard, along the ocean and I would have loved to just keep on driving - continuing along the coast until we reached British Columbia ...). While I was tracing and cutting and gluing little bits of California in this collage it made me think of my friend J. she's in SoCal (like SoHo or NoHo). She lives way down the coast in San Diego, her life miles away from mine and in so many ways.

Today I would like nothing more than to stay put at the teak topped desk building my creative empire - working on more greeting card ideas for my Sept 15th submission to greatarrow, taking this circle pattern and doing another collage with a more limited colour palette, my archival mounting tapes have arrived and I have near 50 little photos to secure in matts for my upcoming HUGE etsy shop opening. (I know I may have some disbelievers out there - I know, I know I've been talking about it forever ... honestly it is coming). Think I'll add prints and cards of these new paper collages as well. Paper quilts. I'd love to work away at my desk for hours and then curl up with a blanket and a book from the new pile of books I've just lugged home from the library. A cup of tea and maybe a bon bon or two. That's what I'd like to do today and tomorrow. Apartment or condo living has been calling my name (I think .... although I confess I'm not totally convinced). Big sigh. Because instead of staying inside and working away at my tiny life I must instead dans les machete, favourite leather garden gloves and wheelbarrow and go into the overgrown yard and jungle and hack away at a small section. Why ? I'm not even sure, my little attempts at denting it are somewhat futile, but I have this idea that it's what I'm supposed to be doing. And damned if I can find any, even remotely handy, man to help - for money, for jam or for casseroles. What on earth was I thinking when I bought this big old house.

Hope you all have a great weekend !

9:00 am- hey ! guess what ? it's overcast and drizzly which in my mind is a big ol' excuse to leave the machete dans les shed and stay put with CBC radio and paper & glue at the teak topped desk. Smile.

act 2, scene 3

an illustration for a fashion-ey logo/business card that I've been working on

This blog has been a lot about dogs and cats, about big skies and glittering water, about longing and sadness and big, huge, heartbreaking love and not much at all about a designer gal's life in a tiny seaside village. It's that heart on my sleeve thing again - my heart eclipses all else ...

So today a little update from the teak topped desk of designer gal. Wink.
Earlier in the week I called customer No Uno to see if I could drum up a project.

Me: Hi ! just wondering if you have any projects a brewing for me to work on
Customer No Uno: Hmmm, let me see ... how about some very traditional Christian, religious themed photo frames - a collection
Me: 10-4

Camera pans across a very messy teak topped desk complete with a gigantic & beautiful 24" imac. The designer sits madly drawing with a mechanical pencil on tracing paper, kneaded eraser and fine black drawing pens nearby. She's drawing tiny little miniature frames some with oval openings, lots of ornate crosses and doves and hearts with words like Faith and Love and Rejoice. Handwritten script spells out biblical quotes she's researched online. She then scans four little pages of tracing paper, each crammed with miniature drawn concepts, attaches them to an email and then she waits ... and waits with bated breath.

It's anybodies guess with this particular company how things will fly. Often I send out pages of drawings that make my heart swell with pride - I love them so and they barely look at them ... dismissing them with a swoop of hands. Other times I think to myself Oh no, No 7 on page 4 is tres ugly, don't like it, I hate to even leave it with all those other good ideas, it's ugliness surely spreading around the page. But I leave it (always) ... just in case. Sure enough they love No 7. It's their favourite. I've been working with customer No Uno and the same woman for nearly 7 years ... and it's feels like a crap shoot every single time.

End of day Friday the phone rings

Customer No Uno : Good job Susan, lets go over these thumbnails
Me: Sure ! heart beating a little faster and still with bated breath
Customer No Uno: OK Page 1 - this one, and this and this one and Page 2 - we love this and that and this one too. Page 3 - draw them all !! Page 4 - this one and that. Great job.
Me: Excellent !! Merci Madam !! and to myself 1, 2, 3, 4 ..... 18 frames total.

Designer gal hangs up the phone and immediately gets out her calculator - 18 x per frame final drawing rate - click, click, click ... click, click ... cha-ching, cha-ching !!!

Me: to myself Good Job !!

Don't get me wrong, it's not all about the money - I absolutely LOVE what I do, and it never seems like work. It's just that money = security (not to mention - vines trimmed, trees chopped, mortar pointed, chimneys swept, wood ordered, plumbers paid and kitty litter bought) ... and Mama's gonna sleep tight another night. Sigh.