Design Contest

Crying is a good thing – right? I just finished a “good cry” because I completed my first board for the Design Contest. Yes, I am competing in the San Francisco Design Centers Student Career Forum Design Contest. I am doing the Art Gallery Contest. The criterion is to create a contemporary art gallery located in Sonoma County. The floor plan is provided and we do the space planning and finish selections. Last quarter this was our assignment for the Architectural Detailing Class. But I have been refining it for the past six weeks. Today I finished Board#2. This probably doesn’t seem like such a big deal, but for a perfectionist like me, it has been a BIG deal. Also, I am trying new things like using a mitered mat board, new types of glues, and rendering digitally. Hence, the big cry of relief this morning when I finished Board#2. Still after all these months of planning, things went wrong and the finished board is not in the least perfect. I figured out that I could work on it forever and it would never be “perfect”, so I am finished. A few labels are slighting skewed, some glue leaked out, and some of the mitered edges are a little wonky. I just hope it is good enough t win a prize. Oh by the way, I had planned on finishing Board #1 today as well, but the printers cut one of the transparency ¼” shorter than the others ….arghhhh

Tessellations are regular patterns of shapes fitting snugly together to fill the page, without overlapping to form a symmetrical pattern. M.C.Escher had tessellations of people and animals neatly fitting together making interesting patterns. I drew this tessellation of the cobra pose, and after a few hours today at the Northern California Regional Yoga Asana Championships I have confirmed to myself that the human eye is good at seeing things which aren't really there and yogis are good at contorting the body into shapes that don't seem possible. Both create a feeling of well being and balance for the mind and the body. It is a beautiful thing.

Contemplating 2009

It is the time of year when we think about the past and plan for the future. All my life I have had a plan - for each day, week, month, and year. Oddly, my current reality is nothing like anything I ever imagined. 2009 was the year that I came to grips with my new reality - one that I had not planned - I am a creative person that I did not know existed and learning so many new things. Sometimes it is exhilarating and sometimes it is so frustrating when my brain just won't work the way I want it to.

New Year's day I was watching "Marley and Me" and Owen Wilson lamented to his editor that his plan was to be a reporter not a columnist. The editor told him "sometimes life comes up with a better idea." As I sit here with tears rolling down my face I am so glad "life had a better idea." I have many exciting things "planned" for 2010 - an internship, an design contest, new classes, perfecting my drafting and drawing skills and guess what - I am leaving one door opened for the unknown.............imagine that!!