JFlah's Blunders

Sketched this scene a while back. Have considered putting some digital color to it and fixing the strange posture and such, but haven't gotten around to that yet. I missed the official World Art Drop Day, but plan to start dropping some stuff before the end of this month. I got some nice small square canvases this weekend and I think they'll do for the drops.

This is the third option. Added texture to the picture, changed the eye color and levels. This is the second one I did. The first one felt busy, and I wanted to see if the design would work with some negative space. This is the first version I did. Sure, there were lots of text arrangements and such that I tried first, but this is the first one I thought might actually work. So... yeah, sermon title slides. They're the weekly challenge at this job. Sometimes they're fun, but sometimes they're so much of a challenge that I'm right up to the wire working on them. I wish we had a communication team who could help me develop looks for various things - a sort of collaborative environment, but I'm the lone duck designer around here. When the new pastor came on board, we agreed that it would be better to use the SD image dimensions for the sermon slides since they were being shown on an SD projector. I'd been making everything in HD as per the new media...

Jake Parker's idea of the world art drop day sounds like something I'm definitely interested in. I did the crochet heart drop thing and that was fun, but this sounds like even more fun - a scavenger hunt kind of thing. I'm putting it on my calendar  and will be dropping a piece or two of art for this first annual World Art Drop Day on Tue, Sep 2. Keep an eye out...

This year I've simplified the design for the student calendar a great deal - it's been a relief to focus on making cleaner looking designs - though that's not my first inclination. My first inclination has always been to "fill the space" leaving no room for the design to "breathe." Anyway, in the new calendar design I've gone from upwards of 100 layers from last year's Windows 8 and iPad based design to just over 50 for this year's simplified one and that makes things much easier to move around and keep up with. Not to mention that I'm happier with the overall layout when I dump all of those logos in favor of text. Speaking of dumping logos, I think the next thing that needs to be considered is simplifying/consolidating the logos around here - link everything (or almost everything) stylistically to the main logo. It's that age old House of Brands vs Brand House vs Mixed Brand House issue. I know that before I arrived various minis...

A former co-worker called earlier this month wanting to know if I'd do a logo for them. They home school their kids and having a "school name" helps them in the state they've moved to. I'm such a slow designer. I didn't sketch anything for this one - mostly because I thought I could work faster if I just edited some open source stock art I had. But the process was still slower than I'd have liked. I spent a good long while on research and looking for inspiration, more time gathering useful bits and pieces, and then at several hours fiddling with things to see what direction I should go in before I had anything worth looking at. So yeah, this project has a lot of time invested in it - which for a simple design like what they wanted, is pretty normal. I'm glad I didn't need to sketch and then digitize because I'm even slower when it comes to that now that I don't have access to a graphics tablet (boo-hoo - I really miss that tool - ma...

A friend of mine wanted this plaster pot she had gotten in Mexico painted. I can't tell you how many little thumbnails I did trying to decide what color arrangement would be best, but the pot is finally done and I'm looking forward to sending it home so I can start on another project.

One of my nieces is having a Frozen themed birthday party and so I've made a few crochet crowns and a little tutu for the birthday girl. I thoroughly enjoyed putting those things together. The tutu was inspired from some pintrest posts I'd seen. At first I thought I'd put some sparkles onto the tulle but realized that the spray adhesive I had purchased wasn't going to work for that. It turned out pretty good. Sewed on the jewels... can't wait to see it on her. And this is what my dog was doing... Here's a pic of my cute little niece - she was my model so I could be sure it was going to work. She's wearing her crochet crown and as soon as I tied on the tutu, she started calling herself a princess. It was sweet.

If they created a unicorn, would it be cute or scary? Ok, here's some food for thought - or, for nightmares. I can't wrap my head around the possibility of researchers making fantasy creatures like unicorns or griffins or trolls become reality, and think I'm going to leave that for God to worry about, but the idea is intriguing. We'd in essence be creating a kind of X-Men type situation - guys with wings or x-ray vision... creepy, really. So initially while listening to the below radio interview, I thought this was silly, simply alarmist mumbo-jumbo, but was surprised by the articles from "reputable" sources even I could find that backed up what they were talking about. I know researchers have been doing stem cell research and DNA tampering for ages (well, for as long as I can remember anyway) and I have seen those pictures of how scientists have grown human ears on the backs of rats and how they have been trying to grow various human organs i...

Stumbled across this video a while back and one of these days, I'm going to actually study it and use the great tips it showcases. I've been chatting with my sister. She has a great camera. I think one day this summer we'll set something up and have a workshop. The video tutorial is a bit long if you're not interested, but it was fascinating to me. And I enjoyed listening to her accent.

Found a pattern for a simple bear on pinterst - decided to do one of them yesterday evening. It didn't take long and I think it turned out ok. What do you think? I'm not crazy about the shape of the arms - am going to make those a little different next time. I enjoyed doing it so much that I think I'm going to re-purpose those millions of old shirts into cute little plush dolls I can send with our church members when they go on various mission trips. And I should have enough left to put into an Operation Christmas Child box or two this fall.

Another sketch - I really need to practice! Fudged on the hands and toes this time... Ha! Oh well...

I'm so rusty at this it's pathetic. Wish I could get out of my head and actually draw what I see. It's so hard to stop thinking when I draw. Maybe that's why I need to be listening to something to get pieces that look like the resource material. Started with pencil, and when I put the white color pencil to paper the rest of it looked dull - that is why I colored it all. Click here for the inspiration picture.

I'm going to deviate from the usual artwork stuff and share an apologetics video that came across my desk. This guy clearly expressed an even handed, calm view of atheism and various other things. It's worth watching for any thinking person. Everybody knows there are moral absolutes...

I had the pleasure of making child dedication slides for my sister's children. They were on a very long list of children to be dedicated this year. Every year I take pics parents send for the dedication service and add the dedication verse along with the name. Often it's a challenge. This year the slides are kind of plain, but I think they work. We do child dedication every Mother's Day at work - making the week before Mother's Day a rough one for me. Come to think of it, the month of May is a rough month for that matter. We have Easter either in April or May so there's always extra music ministry work, then the children's choir usually does their spring musical on the first weekend of May. Also in May we have HS Grad recognition service, this baby dedication service and two luncheons (Daisy Chains for Bereaved Mothers and Pearl Girls Luncheon for Single Moms). It's an insanely busy month for me both from a graphic design standpoint and from the typ...

Created a hand scanner for next week's performance of The Agape League . We're going to post these at each entrance. The Agape League musical is another great imaginative and God-honoring children's choir musical by Christy Semsen . The music is so much fun. They have a great DVD accompaniment too. What's funny is that Semsen's work is all great. I haven't listened to one that I didn't go "Wow! I love this." I've made the files available to everyone who wants it. Here's a download link: http://bit.ly/1fbdeoh And the kids like to give out "invitations" for their programs at school to teachers and friends. Here's what was created for those:

Mercy. It’s such a strange un-human concept. At our base level, no human has a knee-jerk reaction that is merciful unless there is an outside force acting upon our naturally self-centered minds. If we don’t immediately jump to revenge-mode it’s likely because of two things: We are concerned about how society (read “friends or family”) will view our actions (so we reign in our desire to exact revenge or lessen our reaction to the wrong.) We extend mercy as an out-flow of something deeper, purer – namely a relationship with the God of the universe, leaving room for God’s judgment. ( Romans 12:9 ) God sent His perfect Son to live a sinless life, be obedient to the point of shedding His blood and death, then to rise bodily from the grave – providing hope of eternal life. Through Christ’s sinless life, death, and subsequent resurrection, the penalty for sin ( death ) was satiated and God freely offers mercy to us despite our sinful rebellion. (...

    Worked with Dad last week to help him get some totem poles painted. It took a very long three days of working from sun up to sun down to complete them, but it was fun. I enjoyed having a brush in my hand once more, even if I was painting ugly totem pole figures for some movie I'll likely never see. They'll be filming at Camp Merrydale in St. Francisville for the next few months. It's a horror/comedy thing tentatively called "The Final Girls." Didn't see it on IMDb yet - it's a "low" budget film (do those even exist?).

I'm marveling at the mercy of the cross. At the ninth hour (3pm) the day following Passover evening, Jesus Christ allowed himself to be crucified. He died. It was gruesome and terrible, but through His death (but mostly His resurrection) we have the hope of heaven. That's why we call it "Good Friday." Christ's sacrifice made it possible for me, a gentile, to receive God's mercy, have hope of life eternal, and it blows my mind even now. Thank you, Father God, for that mercy, for the sacrifice and for the hope that it has created in this life You've given me. In your Son's holy name, Jesus Christ, Amen.

image by Markheybo at flickr I think this quote is reflective of something endemic in churches - embarrassingly endemic because people who go to church seem to try to "look" like they have it together. Truth is, no one has it together! Of those people who do not attend church the majority of the reasons sited for their disinterest is "hypocrisy" of the church members. Most people don't feel safe sharing the truth about themselves (or about what God has truly saved them from or brought them through) for fear of the listeners spreading rumors or judging them. I hope and pray that the people I know do not see a front from me, but that they will see the truth of how amazing God is for what He has done (and continues to do) in my life. I'm not perfect and won't be this side of heaven, but I don't want to be perceived as having it all together because life is messy. God cleans me up and church is where I go to brag on Him for what He's done.