Write Love on your arm!

On November 13th 2009, I would love if everyone who reads this blog would take a moment and write the word LOVE on one of their arms. This shows that you are willing to listen and give support to people who are depressed and addicted. You don't have to give money, you don't have to give time, just write LOVE on your arm. It would mean the world to me and I know it would mean the world to people who are suffering from depression too! Thanks so much! Go with God!

From the Facebook event:

To Write Love on Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery.

To Write Love On Her Arms Day is a day where anyone can write the words love on their arms, to support those who are fighting against depression and those who are trying to recovering.

The vision is that we actually believe these things…

You were created to love and be loved. You were meant to live life in relationship with other people, to know and be known. You need to know that your story is important and that you're part of a bigger story. You need to know that your life matters.

We live in a difficult world, a broken world. My friend Byron is very smart - he says that life is hard for most people most of the time. We believe that everyone can relate to pain, that all of us live with questions, and all of us get stuck in moments. You need to know that you're not alone in the places you feel stuck.

We all wake to the human condition. We wake to mystery and beauty but also to tragedy and loss. Millions of people live with problems of pain. Millions of homes are filled with questions – moments and seasons and cycles that come as thieves and aim to stay. We know that pain is very real. It is our privilege to suggest that hope is real, and that help is real.

You need to know that rescue is possible, that freedom is possible, that God is still in the business of redemption. We're seeing it happen. We're seeing lives change as people get the help they need. People sitting across from a counselor for the first time. People stepping into treatment. In desperate moments, people calling a suicide hotline. We know that the first step to recovery is the hardest to take. We want to say here that it's worth it, that your life is worth fighting for, that it's possible to change.

Beyond treatment, we believe that community is essential, that people need other people, that we were never meant to do life alone.

The vision is that community and hope and help would replace secrets and silence.

The vision is people putting down guns and blades and bottles.

The vision is that we can reduce the suicide rate in America and around the world.

The vision is that we would learn what it means to love our friends, and that we would love ourselves enough to get the help we need.

The vision is better endings. The vision is the restoration of broken families and broken relationships. The vision is people finding life, finding freedom, finding love. The vision is graduation, a Super Bowl, a wedding, a child, a sunrise. The vision is people becoming incredible parents, people breaking cycles, making change.

The vision is the possibility that your best days are ahead.

The vision is the possibility that we're more loved than we'll ever know.

The vision is hope, and hope is real.

You are not alone, and this is not the end of your story.

Ocean?

"Sponges grow in the ocean. That just kills me. I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be if that didn't happen."

~Stephen Wright

Barcode

We were given a bar code and told to create a design around it. My first thought was of the sex slaves who are bought and sold everyday around the world. The image I saw in my mind was so clear that I had to follow it even though it was very different from the images my classmates were creating. Its a sobering thought that 1.75 million people around the world are slaves. Makes me want to go out there and change the world!

Self Portrait

This was a final project in another class. It is a self portrait.

Life and Death

This is my final project in one of my classes. It is the story of Hades and Persephone. Look it up and read this great story.

Top ten things that make me laugh!

I thought I would do another top ten and I thought about what makes me laugh every time I see or hear it.

10. Slap stick humor. OK, I can only take this so long but this is for that side of me that is strongly effected by my brothers.
9. A baby laugh. In fact, sometimes when I need a pick me up I watch those laughing baby videos on You tube. Sad? Yep!
8. Keeping up Appearances. This is a British TV show that aired in the '80s. I laugh so hard whenever I see this.
7. Little kid movies. I love little kid movies because most of the time they are clean and yet so funny at the same time.
6. Animals. They are crazy and stuff.
5. Manny from Ice Age. Let's just say I am Manny. I know what he thinks, how he feels, why he says the stuff he does, etc.
4. Stuff that happens at school and stuff that college kids think are soooo serious.
3. My friends. They are all goofballs and that is why they are my friends.
2. Myself. I am just about the funniest person I know. I do this dumb and crazy stuff that causes me so much...ugh. Thank goodness about a week later I can laugh at myself.
1. My brothers. What can I say? They always have something crazy going on and they act insane.

Logoscape

This is a landscape completely out of logos.

This is the second part of the same project. We had to do a poster or billboard.

Exciting News

Yours truly's design is one of three finalists for the t-shirt design for WYPR. Even though I personally did not like the design but it was what they were looking for I guess. :-D

My Sacred Place

My Sacred Place

In a small town not far from the Maryland/Pennsylvania border there is a house. Built in the early 20^th century it lies on what remains of a much larger farm. The old barn and pig house are now sheds and the gardens and grapevine are in the same location they have been for the last almost hundred years. The ancient walnut tree still drops its green hulled nuts every fall. My grandparents used to give me a dollar for every 5 gallon bucket I picked up. The small strip of trees at the back of the property are filled with the trash and refuse of farm life, I remember as a small child going a searching them for old bottles and pots.


 The land was a mass of hills and every so often a field rock would stick up out of the ground. Around these rocks is where the little four pedaled violets grew and I would pick bunches for my grandmother who lived in the “new” house at the bottom of the hill. 


But it was the old house that appealed to my childish heart and still does. When I was a small child my grandparents changed the old house into two apartments. My great-grandmother lived in the bottom apartment for many, many years and I used to love to go and visit her. We always came in the back door because the front door was never, ever opened. Inside the back door is a hall onside is brick and the other is siding. On the left side is a sliding door that leads to a bathroom and the laundry room. At the end of the hall is an old door with the skeleton key still in the lock. Inside the door is the kitchen and dining room. Off the kitchen to the left is the bed room with another bathroom. Oh, in the kitchens far wall is two steps and another door. Open the door and you will see a flight of stairs which lead to the upstairs or now a blank wall which closes the upper apartment from the lower. Go over to the other side of the landing and you are in the living room and off the living room is the parlor, which has siding pocket doors. I loved opening those doors as a child. 


In the hall is a door that leads down to the cellar which was always cool even in the hottest day of August. Down in the cellar is the potato cellar and the old well. These rooms are dug out of the dirt which is cool to the touch. I never liked going down to the cellar. It smells of damp and age. And the shadows were always darker and longer there. Exiting out the side door in the cellar I walked around to the back of the house and up the flight of wood stairs to the upper apartment.


 I lived here for a whole year and enjoyed it. The top half of the house has a sleeping porch and you enter through the door here into a kitchen and dining room. Again on the far wall is a door which leads to a flight of stairs. I will come back to the stairs. Off the kitchen is a hall way which leads to a bathroom, two bedrooms, and a living room. Every door is original to the house and the paint is cracked with age. In the bathroom is also the laundry room. The closets are tiny. Very tiny. 


I can look out the windows (which sadly my grandparents took the wavy glass out of) and see the flower gardens that surround the house. But back to that door and the flight of stairs, up the stairs which creak under your weight is the attic. This is the perfect attic. Large and full of wood. It smells old and like dust and old pine. The wood is all faded a dark grey and in the ceiling is a sky light. There is no heat up here. No insulation. The floor is hardwood just like all the floors under the tan colored carpet. The attic moans with the wind that whips around the roof. 


I go the one window and curl up in front of it. Looking out of it I can see the moon and the stars over the town. The wind blows through the sill and I shiver. The window is a modern one. I shake my head at the thought of the wavy glass windows. I hear the church bells that ring from the church down the road. These bells play hymns and songs. I listen and feel a peace creep over me. This is my family home and I belong here. This is a place that is sacred to my heart. It is full of family and memory. I want to keep that feeling and maybe one day I will bring my children to this house and sit with them by that window. We will listen to the old hymns and stare at the bright moon. And then I will realize I have come home.

Mid-Term

This was a Mid-Term. We had 1hr 45min to do this. I think it turned out ok. There are a few areas I would fix if I had time but...

Veggie Dude

What can I say? He messes with the mind. Another Photoshop project.

Strange floating watch

This watch was done in Photoshop. Strange Assignment!

Elephant update

Here my dear readers is the finished project. I still have not received the grade for this. This project was done in Photoshop.

This is the first design I did. The middle text is the radio station's mission statement. The shirt is a give away for the listeners who donate money,This second design is still the mission statement. I tried to make it feel a bit more modern.
Again let me know what you think!

My little fellow graphic designer

My littlest brother saw me mounting my projects for school on the black form core required and saw I had a piece left over. He asked if he could have it and I said sure. I offered some mounting squares too but he said "No, they are too sticky." After awhile he came back with this "piggy" face drawn on the foam core and he told me he needed a picture of it. He is going places, people!!

School Graphics

My first project in Illustrator. I know it looks bad but considering it was my first time ever using Illustrator I think I did a semi ok job.
I did this one a practice for another class. As you can see I am slowly getting better.
An Ice Cream truck. I am pretty happy with this one.
This one is an Ant Farm Zone sign. I took the American Gothic picture as my inspiration.
I was going to use this one for an assignment, but I thought several of my fellow classmates might have a slight problem. :-D
A nuclear power plant. I need say nothing more.

funny!

There was once a young man who, in his youth, professed a desire to
become a "great" writer.
When asked to define "great" he said "I want to write stuff that the
whole world will read, stuff that people will react to on a truly
emotional level, stuff that will make them scream, cry, wail, howl in
pain, desperation, and anger!"

He now works for Microsoft writing error messages.

Top 10 passions

Here are 10 things I am passionate about and they are not in order of importance. Their importance changes by day :-D!

10. Kids all over the world who are orphans
9. The Middle East
8. My Family!
7. Serving the Lord in whatever thing He puts before me.
6. Learning new things whether it is cars, or computers, or history or milking a cow.
5. Helping others.
4. Soaking up all the history I can.
3. Stuff I can do with my hands that helps others.
2. Changing my world one tiny step at a time.
1. Always, Always, Always standing up for what is right and true!

Strange Graphic

Ok, this was not my idea but it sounded so cool I had to do it. Enjoy!

Top 10 things I want to do!

Inspired by the FROBOY!

10. Visit Europe including Scotland, Italy, and Greece
9. Get married and have kids (ABSOLUTELY NO GUESSING)!
8. Live at the beach, at least for a year!
7. Run my own Graphic/Multimedia Design Studio
6. Get a Bachelors of Science Degree from Villa Julie (Stevenson U.)
5. Write a book. I don't know what about.
4. Travel to the Middle East and not on a tour!
3. Seek the Truth in all things.
2. Stand for what I know is right.
1. Be the Person the Lord wants me to be.

This list is to be followed by other TOP 10 lists!

Dear Heart- revised!

I fixed it by adding a bird. Read the book and find out what this picture is all about. I am planning on doing more Narnia graphics. So check back!

Dear Heart!

This graphic was inspired by a part in the "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" book by C.S.Lewis. I know it is missing something but I am not sure what. Makes a cool background! Let me know if you know what is missing!

Freedom!

This graphic was inspired by a painting done by my sister. I took the painting and made it into a graphic that I think would look so SWEET on a t-shirt!

Graphics

As many of you know I am going to school to become a Graphic/Multimedia designer. Every so often I fool around with creating stuff. Below you will find a couple of the graphics I have done. Please let me know what you thin. I would really appreciate your honest opinion! Thanks!