snowy tree tops

View outside my window.

uninhibitedness

Instantaneous, spontaneous and uninhibited, children draw from a place within; non-judging and free. As a graphic designer I've been trained to strive for perfection and to avoid compromising, so when working on extracurricular creations it's a challenge to throw caution to the wind and work without caring how things will turn out or how others will view my work. Children's art inspires me to strive towards creating with unguarded enthusiasm!

These drawings were created by my two youngest nieces, Morgan (santa) and Samantha (the green series.)

Snow, glorious snow!

Comox was one of many places to get a huge dumping of snow today..... and it is glorious! Snow always inspires me, so I donned my sorels and ventured out into the white bliss, camera in hand. These were taken at my sister's place, where I'm currently housesitting.

Tai Chi t-shirt follow-up

This morning I received word that the design committee of the Pacific Region Tai Chi Society has chosen my t-shirt design! (See November 30 posting) I'm pretty excited!! 

happy holidays

Wow, it's December 1st already and that means Christmas card time! This is the card I created to send out to all my clients. The dotted circles are part of my new website concept. (Website to be up soon!)

Tai Chi

A couple of months ago I signed up to learn Tai Chi with my spouse, Doug, and our friend, Jim. It was Jim who convinced us to sign up and I'm so thankful that he did, because I've been loving it! Every thursday evening we make our way to St. Hilda's church in Sechelt for two hours of observing, learning, practicing and moving. There are 108 moves in Tai Chi and it takes a 12 week course to be introduced to them all! (I say "introduced," because it takes years to really learn them.) It's challenging, yet relaxing. The two hour class includes a tea break after the first hour, which is always a much welcome break. We are encouraged to sit and chat and meet each other, which I dreaded at first, but I adapted quickly to this social aspect of the class; it's a great group of people and I enjoy meeting them and seeing their smiling faces every week. In fact, I've noticed that when I go to Tai Chi I can't stop smiling myself!

Every year a new t-shirt is created for the Taoist Tai Chi Society. Members of the Pacific Region are invited to submit designs, the theme being the Chinese Horoscopes. For 2009 it's the "Year of the Ox" and as a member I decided I'd give it a try! Here's my design:

Greetings!

Welcome to my dandy graphics blog! An extension of my website, dandygraphics.ca, I'll be posting images of my dandy projects, my extracurricular creations and images that inspire me.

The other day while out walking, I was inspired by my neighbours apple tree, with its intertwined scraggly branches and the few ruby red apples that remain on its branches. The branches reminded me of the "ink & straw" technique we learned when we were kids. I had the urge to revisit this technique and created this "apple tree" ink drawing.