Jun 15, 2009

Share Hearts 2 and 3

Rebirth  6" x 6" mixed-media

Two new hearts for the share project. I've been drawn to this butterfly icon lately, so I incorporated it into one of the hearts. The butterfly is also pastel, cut and fixed to the paper to add some dimension.

Grow  6" x 6" mixed-media

Both of these pieces are pastel over a watercolor base. I like the addition of some text to the paintings - the grow lettering is cut from old books and pasted to the painting.

Jun 11, 2009

Flash on Tap!

Perfect venue for beer drinking!


So this post is very overdue...I was happily able to attend the Flash on Tap conference in Boston at the end of May. It was a great event - lots of inspiring work from developers and designers all over the globe. The event alternated locations between the Castle and the Park Plaza Hotel.

Rich Shupe's workshop on As3 for designers should help me get back in the Actionscript saddle - I've been doing a LOT more illustration and design work lately, and I want to get into AS3. Perfect time for the workshop! I've been implementing some Math.random functions lately with the correct syntax (I was shamefully out of date) thanks to him.

Flash trivia rocks!


I was lucky enough to get picked for "The Flash is Right!" gameshow hosted by Phillip Kerman on the first night of the conference, and won a book of my choice. They had a copy of Rich Shupe's AS3 book (perfect!) which I got to take home.

Grant Skinner

My photos don't do justice to the venue - I did some experimenting with the camera phone, so let's just call the effect in these images "mood lighting". I liked the range of content in the sessions - keynotes from Adobe showcasing some new features of CS4 and Flash player 10 (I'm already excited about the improvements in text rendering and the inclusion of linked text boxes) and so many other inspiring presentations of development. I wish there had been a bit more emphasis on design, but perhaps that's more what Adobe Max is for.

Fashionbuddha's touch tables


Some of my favorite sessions:The film screening of "Waltz with Bashir" was a treat for an animator - the film is incredible to see with a strange style of Flash animation that seems almost like a 3D rotoscoping in its smoothness. Yoni Goodman presented on the cutout technique he developed with gives the film its distinctive look. Fashion Buddha presented some development on their homemade touchtable (which survived the trip from Oregon) including an interactive aquarium based on a local artist's work.

Keith Peters


Keith Peters presented some imagery he is generating with fractals that is just mind-blowing. Rob Reinhardt and Jamie Kosoy had great sessions on video delivery and productive workflow which I've benefitted from in my own work process this past week.

Hoss Gifford


GMunk and Hoss Gifford must have had the most outrageous presentations on some of their work to date. And of course the beer tastings at the Castle added to the fun. BTW - Cape Ann's Double Bock was my fave beer, but Brooklyn's Local #2 and Lagunitas' Undercover and Maximus were all very tasty.

A great day in Boston


The weather, unfortunately, was terrible. Rainy and cold for most of the conference, but Saturday it cleared up enough to enjoy a walk on the Common with friends Dennis and Isabelle. Overall I came away feeling inspired and energized by all of the sessions - a common thread I noted was that creatives (whether graphic artists or developers) need to keep pushing themselves to generate new work for the sake of their happiness. The results of these experiments might not be perfect - but I think it's more important to be prolific and keep motivated. And to really love what you do.