Mood Board

4/1/14
20x30 mixed materials on foam board

Mood Board

Today's collage takes me back to my design school roots.  It's been a while since I've made a finish board.  Working on a furniture proposal for my job and trying to find a way to communicate a mood that's not just a standard office setting.

Day 339 View from a frog's belly

Day 339 View from a frog's belly

339:365

09/04/13

Louise Hay affirmation:   “I rejoice in what I have, and I greet the new with open arms.”

Inspiration exercise from 365 Daily Creativity Journal:   Create something that’s only visible from one specific angle or location.

Media:  Magazine photos, Mod Podge

Time:  1H:10M

Comments:  Enjoying the view from this 1972 Nat Geo picture of a red frog's belly, which is perfectly matched in color by random sea grasses and coral in some other part of the world.  Then eerily mimicked in a modern day wire box structure from Interior Design magazine in 2013.  I rejoice in the bright colors of nature and the ability of humans to recognize and borrow from it to create new viewing angles. 

Day 214 Unlimited potential

Day 214 Unlimited potential

214:365

05/02/13

Louise Hay affirmation:   

“I have unlimited potential.  

I rejoice in my unlimitedness.”

Inspiration exercise from 365 Daily Creativity Journal:   Use toothpicks as your main material or inspiration today.

Media:  Magazine photos, Mod Podge, Watercolors

Time:  1H:30M

Comments:  There are some unique qualities to a year-long, daily project.  One of which is that, some days, you just don't feel like it... (I couldn't come up with any inspiration related to toothpicks today.)  

Decided to plow through my flagging inspiration and focus on unlimited potential instead.   Potential to me hints at a myriad of possibilities, represented by street signs pointing all different directions.  

The rose reminds us that essential oil of rose has the highest vibrational frequency of all the essential oils and may possess unlimited possibilities for healing body, mind, imagination and expanding unlimited potential.   

The "imagine" mosaic with flowers was from a fabric ad in Interior Design magazine and represents the unlimitedness of the imagination. 

Day 213 Medical marvel

Day 213 Medical marvel

213:365

05/01/13

Louise Hay affirmation:   “I bless other’s good fortune and know that there is plenty for all.”

Inspiration exercise from 365 Daily Creativity Journal:   Make something that involves medical supplies or things you’d find in a doctor’s office or medicine cabinet.

Media:  Magazine photos, Mod Podge

Time:  1H

Comments:  More than simple medical supplies, this collage is more of a commentary on the state of health in the US today, as well as ruminations about architectural design that addresses urban health.  

The 1973 National Geographic illustration of an ancient doll wrapped in mummy-like bandages, discovered in 1917, shows a fellow who appears to have undergone medical intervention.  Apparently, our medical dilemmas are nothing new, they're just wrapped in different 'bandages' today.    

I added the whispy fabric and lighted butterfly image from a recent Interior Design magazine in the background to represent the soul as its own life force that simply occupies the body for a time.  The soul won't be weighed down by today's medical dilemmas.  There is plenty of optimal health for all.

 

Day 176 Prairie Egg

176:365

Day 176 Prairie Egg

03/25/13

Louise Hay affirmation:   
“I am always safe, Divinely protected and guided.  I choose to be healthy and free.”

Inspiration exercise from 365 Daily Creativity Journal:   Make somewhere indoors seem like it is outdoors.

Media:  Magazine photos, Mod Podge, Sharpie

Time:   1H:20M

Comments:  Being in nature, or bringing nature indoors, seems to be sure path to feeling healthy and free.  I love it when designers are able to bring the outdoors in.  

Today's collage features a classic Egg Chair, designed by Arne Jacobsen, reinterpreted by Restoration Hardware in weathered leather... and a lot of green grass added by me.   Not sure the Egg Chair is the best example of bringing nature indoors, but I liked (and started with) the small sketch in the center bottom of the page that showed an outline of the Egg Chair in front of a large window peering out into a vast, grassy prairie.  Nice view. 

Day 162 Time the learning curve

Day 162 Time the learning curve

162:365

03/11/13

Louise Hay affirmation:   “There are people out there who are always looking for my services.  I am always in demand and can pick and choose what I want to do.”

Inspiration exercise from 365 Daily Creativity Journal:   Create a trap. 

Time to learn

Media:  Scrapbook paper, Magazine photos, Mod Podge

Time:  45M

Comments:  Toured the headquarters of a  major manufacturer of office furniture (Steelcase) today and learned about new concepts in office design and their research into how the nature of work is changing.  They've renovated their own space to "live" in the design ideas they are selling to their corporate clients.  

While most of the ideas I saw were refreshing, contemporary, new and inventive, I couldn't help wondering how large companies who can afford to apply the ideas full-scale are going to learn and respond quickly enough for the ideas we were seeing to be relevant in time to make a difference in today's ever-changing markets.  

Wholesale change to a traditional, cubicle-based work environment is a major real estate decision for a stable company in a mature or maturing industry.  It seems to take a long time for the right people to learn that new ways of working exist and understand ins and outs of what that means, to decide to pursue a physical change as corporate strategy, and then to secure funding, get buy-in from the people that will be most impacted, design at the facility level, and finally buy new furniture and implement new ideas in real work settings.  

My experience has been that many companies find it so complex and scary to make the leap to radical change that they simply decide to do nothing for another year.  It comes down to the classic battle between change vs. inertia, and time becomes a trap where creative and forward-thinking ideas get stuck. 

As far as today's affirmation goes, seems there will be a place for designers who can articulate the issues and possible solutions, and help companies navigate their way through the process of physical change. 

Link for more info:  

http://www.steelcase.com/en/Pages/Homepage.aspx

Day 156 Survey says

Day 156  Survey says

156:365

03/05/13

Louise Hay affirmation:   “I love myself; therefore, I work at a job I truly enjoy doing, one that uses my creative talents and abilities, working with and for people I love and for people who love me, and earning good income.”

Inspiration exercise from 365 Daily Creativity Journal:   Work only with toilet paper tubes and/or paper towel tubes today.

 

Media:  Scrapbook paper, Magazine photos, Mod Podge, Zots, Cardboard bath tissue roll

Time:  1H:20M

Comments:  The background data in this collage is partially from a satisfaction survey that Contract Magazine published recently on professional Interior Designers.  I found it interesting that 83% of the profession is made up of women.  Yet, salaries for women in interior design are 70% of what men make.   Go, America!?!

The irony in this survey is that even though women are making less money than men in the field, 84% still report that they are happy with their career.  Women must not be measuring satisfaction in terms of dollars only.  Perhaps the work described in today's affirmation doesn't equate to the highest salaries, but to greater satisfaction in the long run?    

I'm hopeful that someday we, as a nation, get to a place where the gender and salary are not correlated.  And if that day doesn't come, I'm hopeful that someday I find the job that where the work is so satisfying that the pay rates are not something that stands out in my mind when I read survey results like this. 

 Link for more info:   http://contractmag.hotims.com/r5/search.asp?action=search&return_by_category=y

Day 144 Supporting myself

Day 144 Supporting myself

144:365

02/21/13

Louise Hay daily affirmation:   “I support myself, and life supports me.”

Inspiration exercise from Noah Scalin’s 365 Daily Creativity Journal:   Use your feet as your hands and/or your hands as your feet as part of whatever you do today.

Media:  Scrapbook paper, Magazine photos, Mod Podge, Paper Ruler, Graph vellum

Time:  40M

Comments:  At work today I had to do some field measuring of a conference room space that is in construction at my office.  Needed to send dimensions to our glass wall fabricator.  

Found that, when you don't have extra help , it's easier to measure vertically up a wall if you hold the bottom of the tape measure against the wall with your foot as you hold the top with your hands. 

Our room's not furnished yet, but I like the meeting room photo in this collage that features Coalesse seating. 

Day 139 Wallpaper gone wild

Day 139  Wallpaper gone wild

139:365

02/16/13

Louise Hay affirmation:   “I use my affirmative thinking to create exactly what I want.”

Inspiration exercise from 365 Daily Creativity Journal:   Make something that will decay over time.

Media:  Scrapbook paper, Tissue paper, 1980’s Design Magazine photos, Modge Podge

Time:   1H:30M

Comments:  The bedroom photo in today's collage is from a 1980's interior design magazine.  It harkens back to the days when matching wallpaper and bedding were in vogue.  Overabundant prints on every room surface are a design trend that (fortunately for all of us) decayed over time.  

As for today's affirmation, the outline of the bird next to a fence reminds me of the wood privacy fence we are currently working to replace after 20+ year of wear and tear (and decay).  

We've found that at our house, working with contractors requires a lot of positive thinking and energy to create exactly what we want.  Have to keep eyes on the end goal and try not to let the details get the better of us.

Day 121 Radiating rhythm

121:365

01/29/13

Louise Hay affirmation:   “I rejoice that I am in the rhythm and flow of my ever-changing life.”

Inspiration exercise from 365 Daily Creativity Journal:   Do something with only tinfoil today.

Day 121 Radiating rhythm

Media:  Alumninum foil, Magazine photo, Glue stick, Mounting squares, Metallic Sharpie

Time:   50M

Comments:  In interior design work, and Art in general, the basic principles of design are generally regarded to be Balance, Rhythm, Harmony, Emphasis, Proportion and Scale. 

The star shaped image on the right side of this collage is actually a magazine photo of a suspended Art piece hanging in a huge, open stairwell of a commercial building.   

I liked the vibrant colors against the foil background, but also thought it was a good example of the use of radial rhythm – it creates movement of the eye by repeating shapes and colors at regular intervals.

Link for more info:     http://furniture.about.com/od/furnishingdesignresources/a/basicdesign.htm

Day 117 Happy hour

117:365

01/25/13

Day 117 Happy hour 

Louise Hay affirmation:   “I see the resistance patterns within me only as something else to release.  They have no power over me.  I am the Power in my world.”

 

Inspiration exercise from 365 Daily Creativity Journal:   Go out of your way.  Travel somewhere you wouldn’t normally go today specifically to create something inspired by that location.

Media:  Magazine photos, Postcard, Vellum, Matte medium, Glue stick

Time:  55M

Comments:  My out of the way detour today was to go to happy hour with some commercial designer friends after work.  Conversation centered around work projects and coworker personalities.  Always enjoyable, and a fun time to get together with other designers.   

Amazing to hear how gender in the workplace can still be an issue regardless of where we work... even after all the years since women entered the workforce in the US.  For me, resistance patterns that turn learning, sharing, networking and encouraging one another into gossip or grousing about work or the state of the world were in my conscious awareness as we talked.  It's too easy to slide to a negative and cynical place at times. "They have no power over me!"  

On the drive home from Dallas, I thought about how each of us has been working in the field long enough to lead our own design consultancies, but still choose to work in corporate or design firm environments.  Old resistances around fear of the unknown in starting a design venture on my own, without the safety net of a steady paycheck, came up again.    

Day 102 Avid Diva

102:365

01/10/13

Louise Hay affirmation:   “I am totally willing to learn to love myself.  All is well in my world.”

Day 102 Avid Diva

Inspiration exercise from 365 Daily Creativity Journal:   Write a palindrome. 

Media:  Scrapbook paper, Magazine photos, Matte medium

Time:   1H:30M

Comments:  “Avid  Diva.”  While working on today’s collage, I was listening to an online workshop related to training for a career in Home Staging, presented by the Staging Diva herself, Debra Gould.  She’s all about connecting work with passion and helps others get there through her training courses.  She’s a great example of someone who learned to love herself by starting her Staging business rather than allowing corporate life deplete her spirit.  Timely message for today.  

Link for more info:   http://www.stagingdiva.com/