Rude Dude.

Random newspaper blackout. Haven't done one in a while.

Evil Talk.

I'm normally not one to quote the Bible; I think more comes from doing good deeds alone instead of evangelizing. But I believe my thoughts on that matter are beyond the scope of this post.  Lately at my church this quote has been the central theme of our sermons and I believe it's a good piece of advice to live by.

Pull My Finger.

The last of my drawing lessons! There are a bunch of bonus challenges I'd like to come back to, but I'm glad I made it to the final lesson. 

The All-Seeing Eye.

This is the next to last of my drawing lessons. I would love to draw this again but without the extra shading above the eye. I think it looks like eyeshadow... But I am pleased with the result!

Wise Girls.

Good piece of advice.

Change the Conversation.

Well, this is my 100th post! For all 2 or 3 of you who might occasionally glance at my blog, thanks for sticking by me this whole time. I wish I had something better to post for this milestone, but the truth is I've had some personal things weighing on me lately and this blog has taken a backseat. Plus I've been trying to finish up the drawing lessons I've been doing- which have taught me a ton! I've not been great this whole month at keeping up with this as I have in the entire lifetime of this blog. Part of me says, well it's my blog, my rules.. and the other part of me thinks I'm slacking badly and I need to just keep at it.

Here's a quote from one of my favorite TV icons from one of my most favorite shows- Mad Men.

The Only Living Boy.

I heard this song on the way home from work and it's been stuck in my head ever since.

The Street.

Drawing of street with mountains 

The Room.

Just another drawing lesson. 

The Tree.

Just another one of my drawing lessons ran through Photoshop and a background added.

No Rhyme or Reason.

Just random, chaotic art.

Record Collection.

Mine's not very big either- but I'm out of room for more records! Hoping I can get a bigger cabinet or something someday...

Record tutorial courtesy of: http://bavotasan.com/2008/6-free-vinyl-record-vectors/

Ye Olde Scroll.

Another from my series of drawing lessons. I only have 10 more. I will have to see if this author has written anything else because I have thoroughly enjoyed his book and I've learned a ton.

Here's a scroll. I didn't know what else to say on it.

It is written.

The Unknown.

Feeling lots of "unknowns" right now.

Put A Bird On It.

Today's post highlights another hobby I have- thrifting clothes and customizing them to my liking. This was a pretty royal blue cardigan (I about live in cardigans since every place I go loves to keep their air conditioning turned up too high...) and I found these embroidered bird patches at a craft store. I think this will be a piece of my wardrobe that will be in heavy rotation.

Imagination Heart & Soul.

This blackout came from a really uplifting article about a boy who was inspired to create environmental action figures after watching a TV show on global warming.

Honestly I had no inspiration for  anything creative to put on the blog today (this whole week has been a struggle, hence the gaps in posts..), but this article made me feel awesome and I felt that this blackout captures the spirit of this boy's project.

Ocean Waves.

The ocean. I love it. That was the subject of the drawing lesson I did today in the series I'm taking. I'm over halfway done with it- I'm hoping I can get back on track with doing one lesson a day.

Oceans is one of my favorite Pearl Jam songs too.

Great Scott.

In all of my lifetime, the Back to the Future trilogy tops the list as my favorite series of movies. The first one is the absolute best in my opinion. I love these movies so much that I can recite them from memory. Not sure if that is brag-worthy, but it would come in handy during an 80s trivia night! I will have a moment to utilize this useful skill, I will have my day in the sun. 

Plus One.

Pic of my cat's fur with a cool filter.

Dumb and Dumber Minimalist Poster

So my life has been so crazy for over the past week that this blog has kind of taken a back seat. It's amazing how quickly one can lose the groove of something when just skipping a day or two.

Anyway, I came up with the idea for a minimalist Dumb and Dumber (one of my favorite movies) poster while driving really late at night about a week ago on a road trip. I was trying to stay awake, so naturally ideas for future design projects did the trick.

Bouquet of Lilies

Yet another installment of my drawing course- but I decided to do this one with a twist. I imported my drawing into Photoshop and hand painted to make it appear as if I colored it in with pastels.

Triangles.

Lots and lots of them.

All We Know.

Had a flyer I had to design tonight for a volunteer project so I didn't have much time for a good post here. So here's a quick blackout. 

Sock it to me.

Image of one of my wild socks ran through a few filters.

Brick pile.

Just a quick shot I took of a brick pile, then playing with an app called Piclab.

The Rose.

Another drawing from my lesson book!

Tubular.

I really enjoy these drawing lessons I've been doing. Tonight I had to go get my car worked on after getting off work, so I did a lesson while waiting. I can't wait to see what other types of things I'll get to draw.

Corporate Threads.

So my husband's team at work wants to have some t-shirts made. They are having a contest for designs and criteria were to have the words "Sys Eng" along with a hammer & sickle. I went with a Soviet propaganda poster type design. I found myself today researching that style of poster and typefaces for inspiration. After a few hours of tweaking and eventual suggestions from my husband, here is our submission. We even went the extra step of mocking it up on a t-shirt.

Jeepers.

We've been wanting to take the Jeep off roading for a while now- some friends of ours visited Moab today and that is on our list of destinations.

Shuttlecocks.

Today I visited the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri. I hadn't been there since middle school (well over 20 years ago.. you do the math). This is part of the Shuttlecocks exhibit out on the lawn. I put my spin on it of course.  It was well spent for an afternoon of free entertainment - one exhibit had an actual ancient mummy! I went alone but hope to go back soon to take my husband along.

Bandana Cat.

This is a pretty random picture. I had envisioned this the other morning while laying in bed so I just went with it- a cat wearing a colorful bandana over its eyes.

PJ the Cat.

This is one of our cats, P.J. (aka "Pearl Jam"). I'm a huge Pearl Jam fan and believe they're one of the best bands of our lifetime. So it's only natural I'd want to pay homage to one of my favorite bands by naming my cat after it.

She is our little diva cat, always the first to let us know it's meal time, but very commonly wants to curl up and nap in your lap. She can also be a chatty kitty when she wants to be, sometimes we can almost carry on a conversation with her! Here's to you, P.J.!

Boxes.

I've always liked doodling but I think there's always room for improvement. I bought the book "You Can Draw in 30 Days: The Fun, Easy Way to Learn to Draw in One Month or Less" by Mark Kistler. So far I'm very pleased with the results! The drawings above are from Lesson 5.

I Heart You.

I saw this phrase on the wrapper surrounding my silverware & napkin one day at one of our local breakfast joints. It easily translates into pictures.

Textured Home.

Here's another house near where I live. The siding texture from that era from when the house was built I think looks pretty neat, at a glance. I try to block it out of my mind that it contains asbestos. :)  I'm beginning to realize that my morning outdoor walks are beginning to become numbered for the season as we inch towards shorter days and colder weather... despite having a high of 100 degrees today.

Serendipitous to the Point of Uncanny.

OK so this may be cheating a little bit since I didn't create this image today, but the serendipity surrounding this picture is off the charts. I really must post this.

I shot this image at an old motel in the town I used to live in 8 miles south of where I currently live. I worked some Photoshop magic on it at the time to appear as if it was glowing at night. The old neon tubes were broken off and hanging, so it definitely wasn't easy to restore. 

It was July 21, 2006 when I shot it. I remember because I was off work that Friday. Back then my summer job schedule had me working 4 days a week. I took my day off to go shooting around town with my Nikon D70 camera and a tripod. My grandmother passed away suddenly early that next morning, July 22.

Fast forward to approximately 8 years to the day from when I shot my image and this appeared today on Facebook on a local page that celebrates our city's history: 

I learned that the motel used to sit just a few minutes from where I currently live but then the entire building and sign were moved to the location pictured here. The motel was torn down at some point, not exactly sure of when. 

What are the chances of this, I am still in amazement. 

Shapely Weekend.

Doh! For the first time since starting this blog I missed a day yesterday. In my defense it was a very busy day from morning until night. I hope to maybe post twice sometime in the near future to make it up. I got up and cleaned my kitchen for a while, then had to shower and then drive an hour to my hometown for an annual festival. It was a nice day spent with my parents and seeing people I hadn't seen in a very long time. I also visited my aunt in the hospital. Came back and hit a music showcase at a small local venue in KC with my husband. It was a good day!

I really don't want Monday to come... blahhh.  I really had no purpose in mind with this image other than it looked kinda cool, so I just went with it. 

Starting Point.

Good piece of advice. Happy Friday!

More Fun With Shapes.

Just more colorfulness with the shape tools in Illustrator.

Flower Cloud.

This week I watched a 2 day webinar on creating infographics using Illustrator. The first day was almost entirely spent learning how to make cool things with basic shapes. This is a doodle made from Illustrator's basic shapes. The webinar didn't cover doodling, but I'm a fan of doodles.

Wanderlust.

This vintage RV is parked down the street from my house. I have a serious case of wanderlust anymore. I would be perfectly content living out of some kind of vehicle that would allow me to live in whatever city I felt like living in at the moment, as long as I had an internet connection, bathroom, comfortable bed, space for cooking, and storage space for my clothes. OK those are just the bare essentials. ;) I spend my days dreaming of this. My husband and I have even done some research on it.

The quote is from one of my favorite authors, Austin Kleon.

Random Doodled Square Crap.

I pretty much put zero thought into this one. Why? Because I have a dull headache tonight and am tired from it being Monday. Plus I had to go to the office today. Abstract masterpiece or crap? Your call.

Eat More Ice Cream.

I heard a very wise woman in her 70s today say that she retired from teaching high school students at the age of 70. In the years since then, she advises that we should eat more ice cream (basically to enjoy life). Well said.

Treat Yo 'self.

I spent a good chunk of today uploading new products to my online stores. I also have one on Society6 now. http://society6.com/itsrturn is where you can find more wares designed by yours truly.

My wonderful husband brought home a pint of fresh vanilla custard from one of our favorite places in town tonight. This design has an ironic twist on an indulgent logo- urban type speak with a classical style typeface.

This Old House.

Honestly, I don't know why I was compelled to draw this house. There's really nothing strikingly special about it. It's just your typical post-war, old, small, suburban home. However, the gut spoke on this one and I still shot a picture of it out on a walk one morning.

Tame Impala.

I think this is around a '65 Chevy Impala convertible. Tame Impala is the name of a band I really like too. I spotted this hidden gem on one of my neighborhood walks.

Goods for sale.

So for anyone who might actually read this blog, I opened up a store on Zazzle with my designs on a variety of items! Right at the moment the store isn't very big but I plan to upload more work in the near future and grow it. Up for grabs I have t-shirts, mugs, clocks, posters and more. Let me know what you think!

Check it out at: http://www.zazzle.com/itsrturn

I'm researching other avenues at this point in time as well to see where else I can post my work.

Abundant Rain.

Boy did we get a storm last night! In retrospect, I should have somehow illustrated wind here. We had 70mph gusts at our house late last night followed by heavy rain. Plus our area had heavy tree damage in spots, but luckily the block where I live was pretty well spared.

I got the idea for this picture from 20 Ways to Draw a Doodle by Rachael Taylor. Doodling with Adobe Illustrator instead of a pen or pencil? Sure, why not.

KC Arts.

I live near Kansas City- I like the downtown area & surrounding- near the urban core. This newspaper blackout says why. 

Image by Eric Rogers 
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/