Christus Painting for Christmas

2' x 4' Acrylic on Masonite.

A Feast of Floats

Hoping to begin a long lasting tradition this year after our Thanksgiving Day feast. The Float Feast will take place the day after Thanksgiving. Not to be confused with the Float Fest which is a similar celebration, but is not accompanied by a large meal.

Business Card Design

Business card I recently designed for a friend of mine. Actual card printed double sided digitally on 110# HP Pearl Ice Cover. The sparkle in this sheet brings out some nice color in this ink. I love when you hold this card up in the light you see the violin silhouette on the front of the card appearing neatly over the text.

Discovery

I had the opportunity to throw out some ideas for a real estate brokerage logo a few weeks back. While none of the concepts that I submitted where selected, I figured I'd develop and post the idea I liked best.

Tour Eiffel in oil

True Religion - Asia

Flyer design for fashion show event.

Happy 13,000

13,000 hits is nothing for some blog sites; however for me, I don't think I could even count that high. Looks like I've just hit this milestone in just a few short years without really trying. Who is looking at this thing anyway? Become an official follower of the blog or leave a comment why don't you. Thanks to those of you that have followed my progress, left comments, and encouraged me along the way. To celebrate, here is a tease for an upcoming project/event.

Rats!

Pizza - age 2

Chiquita Banana - age 4

Ali-Kat - Age 6

Snarrczar - Age 32

Here is my answer to a call to submissions for an illustrated gym rat for the Kaysville Sportsplex. My kids all pitched in as well (Mine is the one on the bottom)

Digital Study 101410

Sketches from the Loft

Another General Conference in the books. We heard some amazing messages this weekend in both word and song. What a blessing to be a part of it all.

Syracuse City Logo submission

Results are out for the finalists of a logo design contest I entered for Syracuse City... I'm not sure what to make of these results. I think I may have won by losing. I seriously can't take the entire panel of finalists seriously, could it be that the fine city employees are able to? Who is running this town? I took this screen cap from the Syracuse City website where they are inviting people to vote on their favorite. If number 2 isn't declared the winner I may have to move to a different city; it is the only well-designed, contemporary logo that has any life in it at all. Excellent design by Cam Jefferies of Seige Design.

I submitted a guide with my logo since I didn't know who would be judging these submissions, and I felt it was the best way to get my complete idea across about the importance of a nice city logo in general. Seeing that this thing is coming down to a vote, I see that it wouldn't have mattered anyway. I have to give credit to the fine folks who designed the Murray City logo a couple years back. They built that logo to last; I had to pattern some of my design decisions after theirs. Take a look at the PDF by following the link below and let me know what you think, be brutally honest in your comments.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7234077/SYR_Logo_SNARR082010.pdf

If the link doesn't work for you in Google Chrome, try Apple Safari, Internet Explorer, or Firefox.

Digital Studies

The Pinewood Princess

I was so happy to have uncovered these pictures while searching through files on my computer. My recent project illustrating for the Boy Scout Jamboral reminded me of the pioneer day float that I was able to art direct and participate in. The Pinewood Princess paid homage to the tradition of mothers helping their young cub scouts in their scouting merit badges. We wanted to design a pinewood derby car with a bit of a Nascar flair. Add two incredibly large cartoon headed figures and you just about have a float. Our ramp provided seating for young cub scouts to ride on the float in comfort. We also displayed some of the cub scout's larger than life pinewood derby cars. This all took place in July of '06. We had a great time, and we took home the Children's Choice Award from the Ogden Pioneer Day Parade Committee.

Mockingbird

Control Confidence

For a software company that helps clients prepare for external audits. Through the creative process I was interested in getting a subtle double 'C' in there somewhere as well as a captain's wheel on a ship.

Branding and biz card for voice teacher

Boy Scout Jamboral

I feel fortunate to have been asked to illustrate for this project for the Boy Scouts of America. It was a pleasure to work under the direction and collaborate with Brent Watts and Peder Singleton. The Jamboral is this weekend at the Miller Motor Sportspark. The 3 rectangle banners will be hung from a stadium and will be around 25' feet tall. The other flags will measure about 6' tall.

Here are some actual photos taken during the event:

Joshua

New addition to the family means a new logo to create. This mark for Joshua was tricky but I love the story behind it. It was inspired by a growing bean stalk and the words 'Just Wait'; saying Joshua in Italian sounds very much like that phrase. We'd named our son and I was pronouncing his name in Italian over and over. 'Just wait' is what I heard; the same 'just wait' I'd been hearing I'd been hearing in my mind with respect to many life questions for the past 6 months. In that moment, I once again learned how patience is a virtue and how true inspiration doesn't always come on my timeline, but it does come.

Ogden Marathon Poster Contest submission

I put these together for a poster contest that is going on for the Ogden Marathon. They allow two submissions so I thought I'd take advantage of the chance to do two pieces. Two very different pieces. I like to board game concept in that it shows off some specific details of the Ogden race. Submissions are showing in the Union Station Gallery 51 during the month of September. I went to check them out today with the kids. Not much to say for the competition. I didn't see many other pieces there. The great news is that my two pieces sold on the first night during the gallery stroll. Yeah!

Fashion Design?

I didn't see this one coming. My friend Nkoyo Iyamba, a very talented wedding dress designer, asked me to help her sketch some dress ideas that she is pitching to Gladys Knight later this week. Here is for trying...

Digital Study - Leah

3 hours

From the Choir Loft

Amazing what you can do with a red pencil in the moments between songs during rehearsal. Some sketches are based on folks I see around me, most are spill over from studies earlier in the day.