Eye Candy

I'll be seeing a lot more of this lately. I'm taking a color theory class and it involves lots of paint mixing. This is my palette after a day of work:



The following pictures are of things in a gift shop that I visited:






This one made me think of my sister, Amber, who is a violinist:




I think every city should have a street named Hope.

Things I like about LA - Pinkberry

Some may say I've joined the pod people, but they can think what they want - I like Pinkberry.




I like the funky, asian-themed interiors:



I enjoy looking at the random items they have for sale (ie. a family of bottle openers):





And, of course, the yummy, low calorie frozen yogurt and fresh fruit toppings:

Project: Nature Meets the Built Environment

Here is my work from another project for my design class. It is a study in comparison of shapes and forms from man-made and natural elements. Each image is a group of photographs that I took and assembled together under 6 categories - Line, Shape, Texture, Pattern, Spiral, and Radial.

Shape:


Radial:


Texture:

Pattern:



Spiral:



Line:

Elements of Design

I am taking a design class for the past few months, and the assignments have been really interesting, so I thought I would share some of my projects (and my Mom keeps mentioning that she would like to see what I have been doing :) ).

Dot and Line Project (Ink on Bristol Board):

For this project we were supposed to be obsessive with the details. No minimalist compositions here!

Clockwise from top left:

1. Dots, heavy, filled in with lines around them from edge to edge.
2. Straight lines of different lengths
3. Bent lines, arcs, curves, angular lines
4. Straight lines in the center, curvy lines on the sides



1. Circles, dots of varying sizes, some empty, some filled in, overlapping
2. Cross contour to suggest volume, 3D
3. 3, 5, and 6 sided shapes using lines of different thickness and mass to show light, medium, and dark values.
4. Straight lines, lines from edge to edge, thin, thick, etc.



This was a shading assignment. I traced the outlines of the shapes, but did all of the shading myself. This composition was then photocopied using different copier settings and served as the basis for the compositions that follow it. (Pencil on Bristol Board)



Constructivist Composition - Abstract geometric, the balance of unequal parts (photocopied paper on Bristol Board)



Cubist Composition - images that appear fractured and reconstructed displaying prismatic qualities simultaneity of view. (photocopied paper on Bristol Board)



Expressionist Composition - Spontaneous, gestural, expressive, accidental. More abstract, less recognizable imagery. (photocopied paper on Bristol Board)



Realistic, objective illustration. We got to pick the object that we were illustrating. I chose an orchid. (Pencil on Canson Mi Tientes Paper)



Conventionalized object: the same object (orchid), simplified into most basic shapes, 2 dimensional. (Black and white gouache on Canson Mi Tientes Paper)



Geometric and volumetric. Composed of straight lines and geometric shapes. Illustrates 3 Dimensions and light logic. (Black and white gouache on Canson Mi Tientes Paper)




Stylized object. Organic with a sense of the unexpected. Additive, free, open. Accent on the ornamental. Elegant. Lots of detail. (Black and white gouache on Canson Mi Tientes Paper)


Whew! What you have just seen represents many hours of my life over the past few months! Though these assignments have been a lot of work, I have really enjoyed them.

LA Favorites (in no particular order) #1:

I was inspired by Los Angeles Magazine's "The 64 Greatest Things About LA" article, and I decided to start an ongoing project of my own, documenting MY favorite things about LA. I'm not going to trouble myself with ranking things, so the posts will be in no particular order - just what I've been able to grab as I go (one thing I DON'T like about LA is how it seems like no one wants you taking pictures of anything - except actors who are trying to get publicity...). So, here's my first post:

M Cafe de Chaya: "featuring contemporary macrobiotic cuisine, using whole, natural foods prepared daily, with an emphasis on great taste." They are in West Hollywood on the corner of Melrose and La Brea. I love their California Club sandwich with its tempeh "bacon". They serve really excellent and interesting dishes, and great desserts!

A beautiful visitor

The other day I went outside to check on my plants, and to my delighted surprise, my Lavender was hosting a beautiful visitor:

I love organized things!

I recently took charge of my kitchen utensil drawer and whipped it into shape. For years we have just thrown everything into the drawer and then had to search through it all to find what we were looking for. I don't know why it didn't occur to me sooner, but one day a couple of months ago, I came across some kitchen drawer organizers at Target, and had an aha! moment.

I forgot to take a before picture of the drawer before, and I wish I had because it would emphasize so much more how wonderful it is now to have everything so easy to find. Just looking at this picture warms my heart!


I'm always on the lookout for good ways to simplify my life, and this has definitely done that!