I like to thank sandboxpm, Anastasia Valentine, for inspiring this post today. I'm also charged up on her compliments with my work. I met her at the Selling Your Soul Event, NYC, with Danielle Laporte and Marie Forleo. Its been a really interesting road getting my design work to this caliber, and all I have to say is like my old cello teacher would say: "practice, practice, practice!" Yes I have contracts, deposit requirements, time deadlines I follow to get any project done. Though today I like to just slow down a bit and share how it all happens. When I meet my prospective client, I usually have an instant intuition how we will work together. Here is where the art start. It starts with the art of conversation with my clients, I listen, I try to get clear, I do the research. The research is at times online, or offline, at moments organic. Organic meaning there could be a leaf, a feather that falls from the sky while walking my dog on break. It could be the shadow forming from a tree, that unconsciously taps the new shape or background, to a logo forming abstractedly. It could be a song, or during my yoga practice something gets cleared and a solution presents itself for the client or project. It may pops out of my bookshelf once in a while, or a color that day vibrantly talks to me like a game when I'm out and about. Then it is the orchestrating part, usually if the website project scope is small, I will design and program it myself. Though I currently work with a selective group of subcontractors locally and the world, to get a site launched to its fullest potential. This post about art and web design development also brings me to when I was in NYC recently. I made it to see Alexander McQueens Exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was amazing, absolutely gorgeous. It was so natural for me to want to touch the garments. It just astonishes me the amount of dedication, passion I see through the veins and threads on all of the dresses. There was all kind of materials, from wood, to leather. The presentation was theatric, dramatic, and sci-fi in some moments. Choice of classical music, lighting, ambience, and holographic video display of a dress in flight acts as a small movie box for the viewers.The exhibit is still fresh in my mind, and entered my creative soul quite interestingly. I plan to contribute it back to updates on this website, my art, and my writing. Here's just a few pics of the book off my desk, it will come out on amazon soon. But yes wow, thats really what its all about, owning the experience of inspiration, whether its from travel, art exhibits, food, scent, and the engagement with nature and family. We just need to take action to get the most of our happiness in line. I miss NYC dearly, but the more I miss it, the more I plan trips back to my home. I'm going to leave this post today with one of Mcqueens Quote, based off a gown he created from feathers. I think its a good reminder for us to always look at the sky, whether for a skyscraper, or bird. Its always ever so possible to reach your dreams..
"Birds in flight fascinate me. I admire eagles and falcons. I'm inspired by a feather but also its color, its graphics, its weightlessness and its engineering, its so elaborate. In fact I try and transpose the beauty of a bird to a women." --A. Mcqueen
(Funny my new signature this past couple of months have been a feather..interesting ;-)