Thompson Graphx

This blog is moving to a happier place

2011-02-08T17:30:00.000-05:00

I've been trying to keep way, way too many blogs in the air at the same time, and for all the right reasons I'm in the process of combining as many as I can. This blog and all its previous posts will be combined with my kid's illustration blog at http://www.nora-thompson.blogspot.com.

I hope things don't get too mushy, but if you're feeling they are, please let me know. I'm going to keep this blog in place while I wait on feedback, so I can always separate everything again in the future.

In the meantime, I'm trying to figure out what to call the blog and how to integrate my graphic design brand (somewhat serious) with my kid's illustration brand (not so much), which isn't the easiest thing to do. I might play around with a few ideas before something actually feels right for me so, you know, comments are always helpful.

The gift of a Web site: Priceless

2011-01-20T16:50:00.038-05:00

So for Christmas, the present I gave that made the biggest splash was a Web site I built for my husband. He's a potter, a sculptor and a painter, and the site was designed to showcase his work. The gift included a domain name and perpetual updates. He's never had a Web site before and was so impressed with the idea that I could have gotten anything I wanted for about a week.

In hindsight, I realize I should have taken more advantage.

He spent the next few days taking new photos of our studio space along with shots of some pottery he had been working on. He also spent a good bit of time looking up information including titles, sizes and exhibit information. Some of the portfolio pieces I had initially marked with dummy text like $priceless and with sizes like really"xbig" which didn't really fly.

I included a lot of dummy text all over the site. It was meant to be funny on Christmas morning, but then replaced with information my husband was supposed to give me later. And the idea did spur multiple readings and a lot of out-loud laughing, which was the whole point of not using "Lorem ipsum" everywhere.

What I wasn't ready for was how much he liked that silly dummy text. He liked it so much that he chose to keep the bulk of it on the site. As is. He said if people couldn't handle his sense of humor, that wasn't his problem. I protested at first, but eventually gave in, and we ended up keeping all the references to beer and how much his wife totally rocks.

Really, I'm just the designer. Who am I to argue?

Things I'm learning about myself while cleaning

2011-01-16T19:04:00.000-05:00

I started a massive throwing out of (what is turning out to be) the junk in our office space, and I'm finding out some things about myself as I go.

First of all, until the last few years I didn't feel I had actually created an illustration until I held it in my hands, so I printed out everything I did, and sometimes in several copies. What, exactly, did I need those for anyway? Now I have a huge stack of illustration pages that are waiting to be recycled sitting illustration-side-down at my printer. The rest are in a box until there's room on the stack.

Second, my mother typically bought things in relative bulk just because it's cheaper, especially if whatever it is you're buying isn't going to go bad anytime soon (like in your lifetime). The problem I seem have with that theory is the "isn't going to go bad" part. I bought stuff that wouldn't go bad physically, but that went terribly bad personally, digitally, stylistically...

I went and got married in the middle of this career which, of course, is a good thing, except for all the business cards that state otherwise.
Shortly after I ordered a new batch of promo postcards—and shortly before I received the shipment—we changed from a street address to a post office box.
Somewhere in the middle of all these things I changed my illustration style.
And as if that weren't enough, I also updated both my graphic design and illustration branding.

So domain names and contact information all needed to be updated which now means, along with the old business cards, I need to throw out any old postcards that I could have used as handouts.

I also spent a good bit of money to participate in a directory that the Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators sent out which included giving me a stack of 500 tear sheets of my page to use as self-promotional pieces. With my old name. And old contact information. And old style. Those pages were printed on glossy paper, so I can't even recycle the backs of them in our printer. Another stack for File 13.

And third, add to all of this the fact that computers and their programs have a half-life of around 13.7 days, so after they've sucked in their last breath, you're the one left holding the coasters. Yes, that says "Windows 95."

What a waste.

What have we learned?

I don't need to print things out unless I need to.
It isn't necessary to take advantage of printer deals that offer twice as many of something for just $3 more.
My husband is stuck with me, if only for the sake of the environment.

Dear Fall: If I had appreciated you more, would you have stayed?

2010-12-19T16:29:00.012-05:00

(The trail photo is from September, taken while riding my bike on the Great Allegheny Passage.)

I'm already tired of the snow. And the winter. And the scraping of the car every time I want to go somewhere. And the gloves that you can't use to do anything except keep warm. And it really isn't even winter yet for another two days.

I'm not sure I can survive three more months of this! Steaming cups of hot chocolate, now that's what I'm talking about.

We've had one day this month above freezing, so until that day the snow just kept hanging around with no way to melt away.

Oh, and the day it was above freezing? Yeah, all day freezing rain. It was the front edge of a nasty storm that dropped another seven + inches of snow on us overnight (please see ruler picture to the right). So the freezing rain froze, and the snow piled beautifully on top. No, seriously, it was beautiful. (Just take a look at the ruler picture. The trees? In the background? See? I told you.)

Maybe I didn't appreciate the other seasons enough. Maybe I complained about the humidity one time too many. Maybe I sat at my computer too much instead of going outside.

Why can't spring and fall last as long as summer and winter?

On the bright side: After Tuesday, the days start getting longer, and then winter will have to hit the road.

Tuesday.

6:38 PM.

If I've ever said anything bad about Steve Jobs, I want to take it back now

2010-11-17T17:18:00.006-05:00

Right.

So my MacBook belched up a huge hair ball, and decided now would be a good time to never, ever allow itself to go through that whole "Start Up" bull again. After some pleading on my part, it decided to let me sneak in through the Safe start mode, so I backed up anything I could get and could possibly ever use on a computer again.

That's when it realized I was eating it's brains.

It complained my OS reinstall DVD had fingerprints. (It didn't.) Then it ate said OS reinstall DVD and laughed, "Neener, neener." Then it totally deleted the idea that it had ever even contained a hard drive to boot from.

All this in less than 24 hours.

So.

I called our local Apple Store last evening, and the nice young man (Benji) scheduled me for an appointment this morning. And, well, my laptop isn't all that new. O.K. Fine, it's like four years old now. So, so totally out of warranty.

Me: Crap. I'm so not going to be able to afford this...

Walked into the Apple store this morning and, after drooling over the iPads, I finally got a sit-down with my own personal Genius Bartender, Mike.

Mike: I don't know if we still have Tiger on our Network. Would you like to upgrade to Leopard?

(Me: Crap. I'm so not going to be able to afford this...)

Mike: (Plugs in magical "Network." Plugs in computer. Ejects DVD--huh?) This should take about five minutes.

(15 minutes later...)

Mike: O.K. You're good to go.

Seriously? I sat as still as I possibly could for a few seconds so as not to draw attention to myself and the fact that I hadn't paid them. For anything.

I closed the lid and looked around to see if anyone was watching me leaving with a new operating system on a newly serviced laptop.

Apple employee as I snuck out the door: Have a nice day!

But the no-longer-under-warranty bill. The Tiger-to-Leopard upgrade. Do they know where I live? Are they going to accost me at a later date? When I'm sleeping?

I'm thinking I don't think so. I'm thinking this is what I paid for when I bought the thing in the first place. I'm thinking Steve Jobs must have figured out how to take a flying leap over his old buddy Bill.

Thank you, Mr. Jobs. That's not sarcasm. I really mean it this time. I will recommend your stuff. Apple products for everyone!

P.S. And thanks for giving me iWork (which I paid for the last time) for free in Leopard.
P.P.S. And thanks extra for employing Mike who resuscitated my little digital corner of the world.

Now to reinstall absolutely everything.

Matthew Carter a 2010 MacArthur Fellow

2010-09-28T19:58:00.003-04:00

Here's a guy you have likely been reading for years and didn't even know it. Read about Matthew Carter's becoming a $500,000 MacArthur Fellow here. Carter has been designing typefaces for something like 50 years, and he worked as a punchcutter when first starting out, and later kept right up with technology by designing faces digitally.

You know that tiny type they use in the phone book? Take a look. It would look kind of funky if you used it as a regular face or big for display type because it was designed for a different purpose. The ink on the presses would fill in the counters of the letters (the spaces inside letters like the lowercase "e"), especially on absorbent paper like they use for phone books. Carter created extra pointy spaces in the counters to allow the ink to spread and still be readable.

And you know Microsoft's Verdana and Georgia? Yep. Carter's. Designed to be legible, even at small sizes on computer screens. He also designed Tahoma.

Carter was featured in the full-length film Helvetica where he explained the theory behind his job. He wants you to read and not take any notice the font carrying the message. If you do that, then he believes he's done his job well. So you've probably read his work your entire life, but never even noticed.

Mega storm damage

2010-09-23T19:43:00.000-04:00

And on last day of summer.

Some neighbors lost some huge trees from the storm that rolled through late yesterday afternoon. I happened to catch this lady taking photos of the damage this morning. Sad part is, they had had a beautiful tree-lined driveway and removed most of those trees last year (you can still see one of the stumps still there). They had all been huge like this one.

Another tree covered the entire road and took a powerline with it.

Sasauge Muffing

2010-09-18T16:06:00.002-04:00

Don't quit your day job.

1. A "sasauge" is not the same as a "sausage" in this part of the country, as far as I know.

2. I guess you need to reverse the number "1" to accommodate all the dyslexic customers? O.K. I understand.

3. (My personal #1 grammatical pet peeve:) Everyday is usually an adjective and means "common" or "usual." Maybe your "Everyday Menu" or your "Everyday Sausage." But if you mean the $1 deal happens "every single day," please, please use two words.

Stepping down from soap box. Please, carry on.

Some cloudy clouds

2010-09-10T19:48:00.000-04:00

An evening walking in Ligonier, PA, taken with my cell phone.

Uh, yeah that's a snake

2010-09-05T15:28:00.013-04:00

So I grew up in the country surrounded by woods, and we had snakes. I never really got used to that. I live a little less in the country now, in a spot that is being surrounded by development. Little by little, the natural habitat of the animals that live around us is being taken away.

We've always allowed our property to grow as wild as possible, first for privacy and second for wildlife. We've encountered opposum, ground hogs, raccoon, deer, squirrels, chipmunks, a weasel, (possibly) a black bear and many, many species of birds. But until this summer we had never seen a snake.

I guess it was only a matter of time.

I didn't see or get a shot of the bigger garter snake we had had on our property earlier this summer, but I'm thinking that one might have been a mom. The one I did see and get shots of was just a little guy, sunning himself on the concrete around our outdoor building. He let me take the close-up above which makes him look bigger than he really was. The photo below gives a better comparison. He was only about as big around as a pencil.

And, as was tradition when I was growing up, his name is Charlie.

R.I.P. Glenn Pavone

2010-08-31T18:34:00.000-04:00

I was saddened and sorry over the weekend to hear the news of Glenn Pavone's passing. For those of you who aren't familiar with Pittsburgh music, Glenn was probably the best guitarist many of us had ever heard in the area.

No exaggeration.

I once saw him tuning his guitar in the middle of a solo. On that same night, I saw him placing an order with a waitress while in the middle of another solo. He was the kind of guy who made it look easy.

The picture I've included here was one I took in 1994, somewhere around the time The Cyclones had released their first album, Twist This.

To get an idea of what he was capable of, take a listen:

Mr. Pavone was 52 and will be sorely missed.

Convoluted painting

2010-08-23T18:31:00.003-04:00

I finished a new painting a few weeks ago, and I wasn't all that satisfied with how it turned out at first. But I put it aside, and now that I'm looking at it with fresh eyes, I think I can deal with it. It's called "Drop Away," and I painted it with acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 36"x24". The story behind what it means is the most convoluted of any of the paintings I've done for the series so far, which would explain why the painting itself is the most convoluted of any of the paintings I've done for the series so far.

Bad, bad kerning

2010-07-22T14:39:00.000-04:00

If you're carving it in stone...

Killer Birds

2010-07-05T12:47:00.001-04:00

We have a hiking boot birdhouse (see top inset) that has attracted house wrens every summer since we first hung it a few years ago. It's just in the shape of a boot (child-size), so I'm not entirely sure what's attracting them. This spring, we successfully hatched (and launched) a full nest, and within days of their departure, the nest was being rebuilt and, apparently, reloaded.

Turns out house wrens aren't as cute as they look.

I had just come back from a run when I saw a commotion in the nest not typical of what we had seen with previous occupations. I walked over and asked what they were doing (literally, I said, "What are you doing?"), and one of two birds flew out. The second one clung to the side of the birdhouse, and just stared at me (me standing less than a foot away). I could see the end of its beak was wet, and at least one egg partially hanging out of the entryway (exitway?). That second bird flew off, so I was able to get a good look inside.

Mass murder.

Within a few hours, somebody or other had returned and tossed what was left of the eggs out onto the concrete of the porch floor (see bottom inset). Interestingly, this isn't the first time this has happened. We're thinking it's all a territorial dispute, and it may be gang-related.

The sad part is the bird (or birds) that keep returning to look in the nest and cry on top of the house, refusing to go in. The good news is, our second birdhouse--which hasn't been occupied since the fall I cleaned out a baby bird skeleton--is showing signs of activity.

Mexican Restaurant likes the signage

2010-05-28T18:39:00.000-04:00

I finished the first of several signs I'll be working on for a Mexican Restaurant located inside Westmoreland Mall. Their name is Madres Mexican, and they specialize in build-your-own orders.

This one will be 96"x30" when it's biggie-sized. Yeah. Pretty big file.

Bear scat?

2010-05-07T18:55:00.000-04:00

I'm thinking this wasn't the neighbor's cat.

We found two similar piles within a few yards of each other in our front yard. The second one was close to a line of empty (except for the leftover dirt) potted plant containers which were lined up along a wall of our small outdoor building. A couple of the containers had been tipped over, and one was broken in half.

I know, I know, this probably isn't what you typically expect to see on a blog, but we weren't sure what neighbor left this for us. We've done some research, and we're thinking black bear. We checked around the property and didn't find any kind of territory markings on the trees, but we've found bark scraped off before. We're thinking he was looking for grubs behind the pots.

The bright circle toward the bottom center is a quarter I put in for size comparison. I think the droppings are pretty impressive, no matter what left them.

And now that I think about it, I haven't seen the neighbor's cat around lately.

nornie.com

2010-04-16T19:04:00.001-04:00

I think I forgot to mention it here before, but I try to keep my different art lives separate so as not to frighten the children. I've built a Web site that has the links to all of them though, and it's here: www.nornie.com. If you're old enough and you can handle the shock, you can take a look at what I do when I'm not designing or fine arting. It keeps me out of trouble, mostly.

Even though all my sites are different, I try to keep a similar feel through each one. I use different fonts and different colors, but I've created a grungy background that has found its way through all of them. It helps me get rid of that corporate "I like to follow the rules" kind of feel because I'm not a corporation and I don't like to follow the rules. At least not as far as art goes.

Nornie was the nickname my dad gave me before I was old enough to understand what a nickname was. Apparently I didn't like it, and I guess I told him so. But it stuck and now it's mine. Thanks, Dad.

Hiking the Laurel Highlands

2010-04-01T19:05:00.001-04:00

Went for an absolutely gorgeous walk on the Laurel Highlands Trail today. I love the spot here where the trail runs in and around a maze of massive boulders. The best way to wind your way out the other side is just following the blazes.

It's been above freezing for a couple weeks now (and reached 80 degrees this afternoon!), but the area received so much snowfall in February that the spots between the boulders that don't get much sun are holding onto their last bits of winter.

New business card design

2010-03-23T15:42:00.052-04:00

I've finally redesigned some new business cards for the graphic design offshoot of my freelance work (the white cards below). I had redesigned my Web site over a couple years ago, but until now I've been using the old business cards with all the old fonts and graphics and abrasive attitude (the black card to the right). I guess I thought I could use them up or something. The problem was, I wasn't handing them out at all. They just weren't where I was coming from anymore.

That was dumb.

So I've updated the new cards with my new branding, and I designed the back of the cards to mimic my Web site's navigation and portfolio rollover buttons.

And I'm also finally in the position where I can get the cards printed on recycled paper (and did), which satisfies me a great deal.

Crocuses

2010-03-20T14:47:00.011-04:00

Crocuses snuck out of the ground while I was watching the snow melt and flood the yard.

Less than a day after this picture, our local bunnies ate every one of these down to the stem. It looked like a baby lawnmower went through.

Paintings I did 20 years ago

2010-03-07T18:30:00.001-05:00

I've posted a few scans of paintings I did around 15 and 20 years ago as a photo album on Facebook. If you've seen the scans of drawings from around that time, you'll know these were all finished before I went back to school for art.

I used to use really tiny brushes at the time, and it took me forever to finish a painting. The first image in the album is 9"x12", and it took me around 58 hours to complete it.

I don't do that anymore.

Drawings I did 20 years ago

2010-03-03T13:06:00.001-05:00

I've scanned in photos I found of some old drawings I did a long, long time ago. These are way before I ever went back to school for art, so everything you see in this album was self-taught.

You can tell I was still tight with my lines and basing everything on realism, but you have to get that part down before you should ever try to move on. I didn't know that at the time; I was just feeling my way, and I think art school came along to loosen me up at just the right time.

You can see more current drawings at www.norathompson.us. Click on the "portfolio" link on the left and then "drawings" right below.

New business card design

2010-02-27T18:30:00.001-05:00

I've been working on a lot of graphic design projects for Adventure Foods (based in Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania) including Firefly Chocolates, their shop at Westmoreland Mall in Greensburg. We wanted their business cards to reflect the same look and feel we've already established for this arm of the company, specifically the posters and signage I had designed for previous projects.

These images show the front and back of their new cards.

New photography portfolio images

2010-02-20T08:18:00.001-05:00

I've updated my photography portfolio with several more landscape images and photos from Banning No. 3 Mine. Click on "portfolio" and choose "photography." These are all silver gelatin prints, made the old-fashioned way with film, chemicals, paper, dodging and burning.

My portfolio site URL: http://www.norathompson.us

Banning No. 3 Mine operated just outside Van Meter, PA and is off the Yough River bike trail, part of the Great Allegheny Passage. You can read in more detail about the Darr Mine history and explosion at http://patheoldminer.rootsweb.ancestry.com/darr.html

New banner design for Etsy shop

2010-02-12T19:44:00.002-05:00

Here's a new banner I designed recently for The Dreaming Owl's Etsy shop, along with the matching identity icon. The Dreaming Owl sells handmade mittens, scarves, jewelry, bookmarks and purses, and requested a banner to reflect the shop's personality. We went with this hand drawn and stylized owl and banner.

Lots (and lots) of snow

2010-02-07T07:22:00.001-05:00

It must be February.

Yesterday we got more snow in one snowfall than we've had in the last 17 years. The unofficial estimate in the backyard would be around 18 inches, but it snowed more after that.

Earlier this winter, we had a January that didn't get above freezing until late in the month, so the snow we were getting just kept piling and piling. This is an image of our birdfeeder from that January stretch of weather.

Molly Leach

2010-01-27T20:11:00.002-05:00

Few designers actually get recognition in the world of book publishing, but thankfully Molly Leach seems to be getting at least a little of it.

Molly is the brilliant designing mind behind many children's books including The Stinky Cheese Man. We're used to books breaking the rules these days, but The Stinky Cheese Man expanded the boundaries of what was considered acceptable in children's book publishing at the time (1992). She rearranged where parts of the book were traditionally placed; she melted type (pre-computer enhanced); she ran text off the page; she used several different fonts on a single page; she used extreme type sizes. The list goes on and on.

Probably the most important thing to remember about her work is that everything happens for a reason. Yes, it looks really cool when it's finished, but it certainly isn't random. (Please see some specifics in the Horn Book link provided below.)

The interesting part of the story of The Stinky Cheese Man is the fact that she is the wife of Lane Smith, the illustrator, so they were able to work on the look of the book together. Until Jon Scieszka (the author) presented the text he had written to publishers accompanied by both Smith's illustrations and Leach's design, he was turned away. The March/April 1998 issue of The Horn Book contains an article written by Scieszka that illustrates this specific situation as well as how the design of a book helps relay its message.

Barnes and Noble sat both Leach and Smith down for a short video interview which they posted on their site. I've shown it to my typography classes, and I've embedded it here.

The Bald Soprano=Tim Burton @ the MoMA?

2010-01-13T19:08:00.005-05:00

The Tim Burton exhibit at the MoMA included a free, take-home brochure that I promptly and eagerly grabbed up last Thursday. The evening prior, I and my fellow museum goers had a bite to eat at a firehouse-turned-brewery in Philadelphia. In the entrance space, you could peruse various postcards and announcements for upcoming local events, and one in particular caught my eye. It was a large postcard for "The Bald Soprano," all in line art with a spiral on the front and hand-written text on both sides. I mentioned that it reminded me of Tim Burton, and so I took a copy for myself.

When I returned home with both the postcard and the MoMA brochure, I soon realized I wasn't far off in my initial assessment at the restaurant.

I've included here both the front cover of the Tim Burton exhibit brochure, and the front image on the postcard I picked up last week at the firehouse.

Strikingly similar.

British un-things

2009-12-15T10:09:00.007-05:00

Have you noticed the books out semi-lately with "un" things as main characters?

The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall, published in 2007 (un-Space and the Un-Space Exploration Committee)
Un Lun Dun by China Miéville, also published in 2007 (Un-London and pretty much everything else)
And not quite, but along those same lines: Coraline by Neil Gaiman, published in 2002 (Coraline had an "other" mother)

The link between them might be in the water; all of the authors are currently living in or were originally from England. That and, whether you like the books or not, critics have widely agreed that at the very least these authors have created unique worlds and ideas and display incredible imagination in their writing.

Keri Smith

2009-12-11T19:11:00.004-05:00

For any creative type who needs a little humor and a gentle nudge in a productive direction, take a look at Keri Smith's Web site. For the most fun and a lot of creative ideas, choose the "Play" link, and don't forget to check out her portfolio while you're there.

Great work, great ideas and a great inspiration to the creative community.

Firefly Chocolates @ the Mall

2009-12-06T16:34:00.005-05:00

My friends down at the Firefly have opened a new shop at Westmoreland Mall in Greensburg, and they've included more of my signage. All the posters hanging in the shop were also part of our branding campaign. Included here are both the outside signage as it was designed, and a shot of the shop from the mall interior.

Snow @ twilight

2009-12-05T18:35:00.002-05:00

Our first-ish snow of the season of any consequence.

Twitter

2009-12-04T17:16:00.003-05:00

Finally moving on Twitter:

http://twitter.com/NoraThompson

Combination of all the work I do: fine art, kid's illustration, graphic design and The Rots©. Kind of a daily updating of my working life.

Women in Art 2009

2009-10-30T20:56:00.002-04:00

I had two pieces juried in to the 2009 Women in Art exhibit at Harlan Gallery, Seton Hill University, Greensburg, PA. Titles: Thirteen (shown here) and Eleven (shown below, bottom). Both are in the portfolio section of my fine art Web site: www.norathompson.us. The show runs November 1 through November 22.

Westmoreland Art Nationals

2009-09-28T12:03:00.008-04:00

Two of my digital images were juried into the Westmoreland Art Nationals this spring. They are both photo montage giclee prints, and attached. The show ran May 30 through July 5, 2009.

By the way, Harpers Ferry is a fantastic spot to collect photos. Textures and tombstones seem to be popping up all over my images lately.

Pittsburgh Pirates

2009-06-30T19:23:00.004-04:00

Oh, and the Pirates traded Nyjer Morgan today.

And what can be done at this point?

If we stop going to games, the team will move from the area. If we keep going to games, that enables management to keep on trading.

Can't the league step in and help?

Even a little?

Somehow?

Does anybody in management understand the concept of building a team?

It's the fans who are paying the bills (buying game tickets, memorabilia, etc.), so shouldn't we have a say in how our money is being spent? Or on who makes the decisions on how to spend our money? Shouldn't we have the right to vote out management if we believe their managing strategies leave something to be desired?

For the last 17 years?

The Pirates are on a pace for a major league-record 17th consecutive losing season.

--Associated Press

Images 2009

2009-06-30T19:13:00.003-04:00

My acrylic and mixed-media on canvas painting, "The Song Came and Went," was juried into the Images 2009 Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts show at State College.

This would be it.

Possible gorget

2009-06-17T18:40:00.009-04:00

So last year about this time, we took a trip to Bar Harbor, Maine, to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary (we were married there at the top of Cadillac Mountain at sunrise). The first time we were there, I had found a piece of slate that I thought was interesting near the beach, and I brought it home with me.

Last year while we were there, we took another trip to the Abbe Museum, and it was there I saw a piece that looked very familiar to the piece I had brought home five years earlier. It was a Native American gorget.

I've already contacted the folks at the Abbe Museum to hear their thoughts. I've also uploaded a few photos I took of the piece I found, and I'm interested in hearing what other people may think of its origins.

Fontstruct

2009-01-31T14:54:00.006-05:00

So I taught Typography last fall, and for a semester-long project, I had the four-credit students work out a font on the FontShop site, www.fontstruct.com. (If you haven't made it over there yet, it's a great site where you can create your own working typefaces.) One of the student's typefaces was even chosen as a "Featured Download."

Here are links to a few of the final products. I'm very proud...

Kimothy by Kim Franczak
Bloc by Lara Heinz
Hot Mess by Jon Stefaniak
Brickyard by Corey Perkins

Leave them a comment, and let them know what you think!

March 2008

2008-11-28T15:09:00.001-05:00

Doodle-a-day...not so much.

Here's March:

February 2008

2008-09-20T19:42:00.003-04:00

My "Doodle a Day" pocket calendar has slowed a bit. I'll catch up eventually. Here's February:

Wall Arch

2008-09-08T10:58:00.006-04:00

I was pretty startled to hear the news about the falling of Wall Arch at Arches National Park in Utah. Here's the National Park Service article. We made a trip out there two years ago, and that particular arch was one I remember well because of its proximity to the hiking trail. A stone wall blocked one side and the Wall Arch spanned along the opposite wall with the trail sandwiched between. The structure seemed very delicate at the time, but I got that same impression with most of the arches we saw there. It was a humbling feeling knowing those stones could topple on our heads at any moment.

I'm glad we took so many pictures.
(Arches National Park: Wall Arch 14 June 2006)

Total redesign!

2008-09-05T19:53:00.005-04:00

Just wanted everyone to know I've totally redesigned both my graphic design/editorial illustration site: www.graphx.us and my fine art site: www.norathompson.us. I was hoping to make both of them a little more classy than they had been, so I created the pages in Flash and dropped them in a main page I created in Dreamweaver.

And, although it's been up for a little while already, I guess this would be the official announcement of my fine artwork online. I use many mediums including oil, acrylic, graphite (powdered and in pencil form), charcoal (powdered, vine and compressed), conte crayon and many natural materials, to name a few. I have also included several of my silver gelatin photographic prints on the site as well as previous show listings, my artist's statement and bio.

I'm hoping for feedback, especially if anyone encounters problems in the technical area.

And thanks to everyone who has already fed back!

Images 2008

2008-08-09T13:41:00.002-04:00

Over at the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts at State College, I had a painting accepted into their annual exhibit, this year called, "Images 2008." The painting is titled, "Scream Without Raising Your Voice," an acrylic and mixed media on canvas.

The show ran June 11-July 13.

2008 Westmoreland Art Nationals

2008-08-03T11:50:00.005-04:00

I had a Polaroid emulsion transfer accepted into this year's Westmoreland Art Nationals. It's actually four transfers together on one piece of watercolor paper. I didn't do many of these; at the time I was just experimenting with the process and had access to a Daylab Copy System. I had done direct Polaroid image transfers a few years back using film and photos straight out of my dad's old Polaroid that he had brought back from Korea when he was stationed there in the army (1959-ish). But this time I wanted to use copies of 35mm photos that I had already taken.

This is the piece that was accepted. It's called "Stephie's Hands." The show ran May 31 through June 13.

Ohiopyle Weddings

2008-07-30T17:45:00.006-04:00

I've finished my first entirely Flash Web site for Ohiopyle Weddings. I still have way too many things I want to do, but don't know the ActionScript to do them, and don't know the correct terminology to be able to search for the scripting on the Internet. Still, it's functional and basically attractive, and best of all, approved by the clients!

Westmoreland Biennial

2008-07-27T13:41:00.005-04:00

This image was accepted into the Westmoreland Biennial which ran from May 11 through June 8. The exhibit included 83 works of art from 80 different artists who lived within a 125-mile radius of Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

The image is called "Murder of Crows," it's a 16"x20" acrylic on canvas. The handwritten text in the background is partially painted over, but only because my husband stopped me before I painted over all of it. He walked in at the point you see here, and made me promise to stop where I was (even though I said I wasn't finished) and look at it with fresh eyes the next day.

Thankfully, I took his advice.

Up on eBay!

2008-07-07T11:13:00.004-04:00

I've listed my first item on eBay. It's a small chalkboard, hand-built from stoneware clay with a fabric eraser and using hemp as hanging material. It's one of my fine art pieces, and is inspired by indigenous creations and natural materials.

The Raw Shark Texts

2008-07-02T14:04:00.007-04:00

So. I know I'm late. I finally got around to reading The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall, and if I'm writing about it on my blog, you should understand that means something. The book takes bites from The Matrix, Memento and Jaws. The DaVinci Code should probably be thrown in there as well, except that Hall doesn't telegraph his passes (as my high school basketball coach used to tell me I did with mine), and he certainly doesn't hold your hand throughout the plot.

Where to start?

First off, the reason I bought it was because I like novels that have visual thought somehow. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, The Thin Place by Kathryn Davis and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon come to mind. I'm a graphic artist; what can I say? These novels, however, didn't affect me like TRST.

Secondly, the novel is written in such a way that different readers can come to different conclusions. I know, I know. How is that possible? My best possible answer is that it just is. Hall, who is British, meant it to be that way, and he basically says so in the title. With a British accent, "The Raw Shark Texts" sounds an awful lot like "The Rorschach Tests."

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

The official Web site, www.rawsharktexts.com, has many discussions on what readers believe is going on. Look under the "Unspace Exploration Committee" link, and see for yourself. I would suggest not allowing yourself any spoilers (the "Crypto-Forensics" link) before you have a chance to read the book, but after you've finished, you'll probably be heading there for answers.

But guess what? There aren't any. And Mr. Hall is tight-lipped, as well he should be.

I also love how this book is still developing. New things are coming out in new editions, games have been played online about it and Hall has even developed Raw Shark Texts "negatives" (From the site: "For each chapter in The Raw Shark Texts there is, or will be, an un-chapter, a negative. If you look carefully at the novel you might be able to figure out why these un-chapters [are] called negatives.").

Please read the book. Then get back here and tell me what's going on.

Forwarded emails create SPAM

2008-05-30T15:35:00.011-04:00

I know the people who think I would be interested in some email they've received aren't trying to cause problems when they forward it to me, but it turns out they are.

It's not so much in that they are forwarding, it's in the WAY they forward. This also includes any time an email is sent to everyone in an address book, even if it's not forwarded.

When you forward an email to a group of people and put the list of email addresses in the "To" section of the email, every one of the people on the list now has an entire listing of "live" email addresses. If one of the people on the list who received the email from you then forwards it to a group of people in their address book, suddenly a whole group of people--who you probably don't know--now has not only my email address and everyone else's on the list, but also YOURS.

With the speed of the Internet, my email address is now in countless boxes around the globe, and the odds of one of those boxes belonging to a spammer or someone who sells email addresses to spammers for cash are surprisingly good.

SO...

I don't want to stop you from forwarding me something you think I might find helpful. I'm not interested, however, in jokes, inspirations or petitions, and please don't put me on your list when you get an email saying, "Send this to 10 people...".

If you REALLY think there is something I should see, here's what I ask you to do:

If it's a Web site, please copy and paste the Web site address in an email. Please don't forward the address once it has come from somebody else.
If it's an email you've received, please copy and paste what it is you want me to see in a NEW email. Please don't forward the email as-is.
Please don't put me in your address book and use my address in a forward to the group of people in there with me. I don't mind being in your address book itself; of course it's easier when you have an email address handy rather than having to type it in or even remember it. I would just rather not have my email address included in a group of email addresses that is going to get forwarded, and forwarded, and forwarded...
Please don't include me in a bulk mailing to all your friends with everyone's address in the "TO:" section of the email, even if it's a brand new email that you started and isn't a forward.

Unfortunately, I don't have any kind of filter for my email that totally rejects anything that has been forwarded to me. I've blocked the word "Fwd" in both the body and subject of a message, but that hasn't worked. It only takes one person to get your address out there, and suddenly your BUSINESS email is inundated. That's what happened to mine.

I don't mind if you copy and paste this in an email, but please follow some Internet etiquette and don't send it to a group of people in your address book with everyone's email address in the "TO:" section.

And, please, stop forwarding me stuff.

Fontstruct

2008-05-12T10:06:00.005-04:00

I'm signed up for the newsletter that FontShop puts out, and they've apparently been working pretty hard over there. It looks like they have a new font-building application on their site that lets you build fonts (albeit on a grid) that work on both Windows and Macs. It's called FontStruct, and here's the link: http://fontstruct.fontshop.com. Once you've created your font, you can share it with the rest of the world to look at or to download. Or not, if you're shy.

Great for fontaholics.

And it looks perfect for the typography classes I'll be teaching this fall. I'll have to do a little FontStructing of my own before I unleash it in class.

Flash

2008-02-27T21:56:00.000-05:00

Been learning Flash and loving it. I'm still taking baby steps, but I've got so many animations and Web sites in my head, I have to keep pushing myself to get there.

One week more...

2008-02-16T19:58:00.005-05:00

Well, for me, the semester is almost over. I've been teaching a Digital Imaging class for seven Saturdays now, and next week will be the last one for this class. After that, it's nose to the grindstone to crank out some graphic design I've been putting off until I had more time. I've got two Web sites to put together, a logo, some odds and ends that it's been so long I can't even remember what they are! And a tattoo design!

I hope everybody will forgive me for just one week more...

January 2008

2008-02-01T08:50:00.000-05:00

I won a pocket calendar for 2008 last November at a conference, but thought of a better use for it. A "Doodle a Day" maybe? "Calendar Doodles?" Either way, here's January:

Firefly Chocolates

2008-01-28T14:52:00.000-05:00

I just finished putting together a simple Web site for some nice people I know from Ohiopyle. They have a couple restaurants down there (The Firefly Grill and Highwaters Grill) that are open through the summer, and then they make chocolate goodies through the winter season. They just opened a shop at Seven Springs Mountain Resort a few weeks ago, and I've been working on their graphics for it.

The image above is what I designed for the sign that hangs outside the shop in the hallway of the ski lodge at Seven Springs.

Punxsutawney Phil

2008-01-25T19:43:00.000-05:00

In honor of the most famous groundhog in the world, and the people who like to celebrate his Feb. 2 predictions.

If you don't know who he is, look him up. He's quite a holiday for some of us in the area.

Birthday!

2008-01-23T20:55:00.000-05:00

Stu's birthday today. He didn't want anything special, just to stay at home and enjoy the evening.

The cake was marble.

Hand Lettering

2008-01-20T19:45:00.000-05:00

Here's a preview of a new area I'll be uploading to my site: Hand lettering. I copied the "Kids Pix" to my other site (www.nora-jayne.com), and as soon as I'm comfortable that the word has gotten around that it has moved, I'll post samples of some hand lettering that I've done on my graphx site.

I won't be making fonts from these, at least not anytime soon. I just like the way hand lettering allows letters to hug each other. It feels more live, and more personal than an un-manipulated font. Not that fonts are bad -- no way, I love them. These ones are just...different. But I'm not a calligrapher. They're way better than I could ever be. I'm just a hand-letterer.

Career

2008-01-09T18:47:00.000-05:00

Met with my friend, Rose, this afternoon to talk about the direction of our illustration careers and what our next step(s) would be. Of course, we met at Panera. What a productive afternoon! My friend Alice even popped in unexpectedly, neither of us knowing the other would be there. Anyway, Rose and I talked about studying, drawing, blogging, taking museum and gallery field trips, and our April Illustrator's Conference field trip to New York.

I guess you could say I got a little over-stimulated.

Cold cold cold

2008-01-02T20:32:00.000-05:00

Pretty cold here tonight. Only 16 degrees and snowy. I'm sure you folks in Anchorage would probably think that would be a heat wave, but for those of us in southwestern PA, that's a wee bit chilly.

We built a fire.

New Year's

2008-01-01T14:28:00.000-05:00

Here's my idea of a new year with the potential for lots and lots of drawing and painting and illustrating.

Putrid

2007-11-01T21:05:00.000-04:00

Trying to teach grids to the graphic design students. I'm not sure why everybody wants to complicate things. A simple layout with white space works great.

This is Halloween, Everybody make a scene

2007-10-31T21:00:00.000-04:00

Not as excited about Halloween this year. Went to see "Nightmare Before Christmas 3D" this afternoon, but that didn't even help. I have the DVD (and the VHS), so I've seen it a gazillion times before, but I just thought seeing it in the theater would really get me out of this melancholic haze.

Nope.

Issues

2007-09-20T21:56:00.000-04:00

Having some issues with students. I feel like somebody needs to teach them how to be students before I should be expected to teach them how to be graphic designers.

Let's just say not a good day.

Lost and Found

2007-09-01T15:46:00.000-04:00

Went running this morning and found two purses and the stuff that was inside scattered through a corn field just off the side of the road. I mean, driver's licenses, social security cards, credit cards, whole wallets. Everything that would be in a purse except for the money. Had to call the state cops, and found out the purses had been stolen a few days ago. I didn't turn things in for any kind of reward or anything, but a little more gratitude (like a "thanks") would have been reward enough for me.

A note to all you future wallet losers:
An unprompted "Thank you" goes a long way.

Up too long

2007-08-28T21:42:00.000-04:00

Don't know if this had anything to do with the wine we had last night, but I woke up at 3 am and couldn't get back to sleep. Once that happens, then I'm up all day until it's time for bed that night. Finally made it there by 10.

Merlot

2007-08-27T21:40:00.000-04:00

Finally figured out tonight that
I don't like Merlot.
I'm not a big wine fan as it is,
but the faces I made tonight
kind of cemented the Merlot
thing for me.

Give me Mountain Dew any day.

Four years, two months

2007-08-21T09:38:00.000-04:00

Our anniversary.
Four years and two months.

Memento

2007-08-19T22:32:00.000-04:00

Just watched that time-warping movie, "Memento."
Very postmodern. The scenes are all stitched together backwards, and there's lots of writing and polaroids involved.

Just watch it, and you'll understand.

High School Class Reunion

2007-08-18T23:09:00.000-04:00

Frazier High School.

I went this time, believe it or not.

This was our school symbol.
They have a cast metal sculpture of this flame
at the front of the building.

Matt's 21st

2007-08-17T20:00:00.000-04:00

Today would have been Matt's 21st birthday.
This one's for you, honey.

Love you more
than you'll ever know.

Spinach and feta

2007-08-16T20:03:00.000-04:00

O.K. I know this doesn't look good, but we had pizza again tonight for dinner. This time it was spinach and feta at The Boulevard. Excellent.

A Day in the Life

2007-08-13T20:31:00.000-04:00

It was another one of those not-enough-sleep kind of nights. So I spent three hours working on a syllabus. Got a run in. Got another postcard designed and ordered. Pizza and pretzels for dinner.

Biking to Confluence

2007-08-11T18:05:00.000-04:00

Yesterday's drawing was so sucky, I'm not even going to post it. Trust me on this one. Anyway, we went biking from Ohiopyle to Confluence today. What a beautiful day! Breakfast at Brady's (we Rotted them) and lunch at River's Edge (Rotted them too).

Here's my gloves.

Raining buckets

2007-08-09T21:06:00.000-04:00

I guess now we have to pay for the hazy, hot and humid.
Lost electricity twice this week.
Bailing water out of the sump by hand.

Hazy hot and humid

2007-08-07T19:04:00.000-04:00

Dog days of summer here.

Mountain Dew

2007-08-05T20:02:00.000-04:00

Okay. Some people drink coffee and beer.
I don't drink either.
I do the Dew.

Pirates!

2007-08-04T20:15:00.000-04:00

Working on a new Rotty pirate painting for my next postcard.

T-shirt possibilities

2007-08-03T16:12:00.000-04:00

So many things to put on a t-shirt, so little time.

Moving dirt

2007-08-02T19:07:00.000-04:00

We're digging a spot in the yard to put the cement for the building we're going to put up to hold the stuff from the garage which we're turning into a studio. I get to be dirt leveler in the spot where the dirt gets moved.

Yellow highlighter

2007-08-01T20:40:00.000-04:00

Spent some quality time getting ready for this fall's Graphic Design class. Highlighting things in the text I don't want to forget to talk about.

Change of heart

2007-07-31T20:36:00.000-04:00

After several let-downs in house/studio hunting, we've come to the conclusion that what we already have is pretty darn good. We've decided to convert the garage into studio space.

House hunting analog

2007-07-29T19:14:00.000-04:00

Today we went out looking at the houses we found. Six tries. Six "no's." Looking online again tonight.

House hunting digital

2007-07-28T19:11:00.000-04:00

Looking for houses on the Internet. Need studio space. How did people possibly look before? Very slowly, I suppose.

String of pearls

2007-07-26T20:50:00.000-04:00

Just a fun drawing to work on.
See how many different images you can get
from just a few simple lines and shapes.

Green dryer

2007-07-25T20:47:00.000-04:00

Love the smell of clothes dried outside on the line.

Ucky drawing

2007-07-23T18:35:00.000-04:00

Not such a great drawing today, but you'll have these things. It's not really a reflection of the day, just my inability to capture it.

Out to lunch with my kids
Sold a couple pieces of art (yay!)
Bought two new sketchbooks

Sunday morning

2007-07-22T17:56:00.000-04:00

Finally got a run in today.
Not a very good time, but I did it.
And I'm not racing anybody.

The Great Allegheny Passage

2007-07-21T19:18:00.001-04:00

Biked today from Rockwood, PA to Meyersdale (and back, of course) with my hubby and two of our friends. The Salisbury Viaduct is a killer for people like me who inherited the fear-of-heights gene. Absolutely beautiful day for a ride!

Road trip to State College

2007-07-20T19:09:00.000-04:00

Went to State College today to pick up two pieces I had in the Images 2007 show. One of them won the William D. Davis award in drawing (!). The winners are posted here.

Visual journal

2007-07-19T21:00:00.000-04:00

My life as I see it.

Since I can't seem to keep up with writing what's happening,
I decided to start drawing it.

Illustration Friday: Wired

2007-03-12T09:15:00.000-04:00

I was asked to illustrate a story about one tech's experiences with technologically-challenged people who call in for support, and this is what I came up with. He had dealt with people who thought they had to physically aim the mouse toward the screen, and in one of the calls he took, the caller's computer wasn't even plugged in.

Alice & Ruthie

2007-03-08T07:08:00.000-05:00

My mother used to tell a story about riding on the handlebars of her sister's bike, dredging up memories of braking and pavement; the "Aunt Emma incident". Although not verbatim, this image was inspired by my mother and her sister during the happier seconds before Aunt Emma ever became involved.