Cay Denise

I've taken one of Austin Kleon's great project ideas (100 Things) and adapted it to a zine format. It took 3 zines to have enough room for my 100 Things. Doing this project can be a bit more difficult than you might imagine, especially when doing the first one. For mine, my list includes favorite things from 2022 I want to remember (events, shows, books, materials, gifts, etc.), things I'm grateful for (health, new glasses, etc.), quotes I love, foods I've enjoyed, etc. This seems like a great way to do an end-of-year wrap-up (different than an end-of-year assessments of progress on goals). How do you wrap-up your year before the New Year? Here is the article about Austin's 100 Things: https://austinkleon.com/2022/12/29/100-things-that-made-my-year-2022/

On December 29th (2022), I received the first print of a magazine I designed and had printed by Blurb.com.  Today (January 6th, 2023), I received the revised version that looks great!   The project work began December 4th and took about three weeks from start to submission for printing. The finished magazine is a compilation of 316 pastel drawings paired with their respective 3-line (or more) poems done between 2003 and 2004.  Since there were only 226 poems written, some of the images don't have them.   If you're wondering when I had the time to do this work back then, it was after work and on weekends.  Maybe you're also wondering what prompted my interest in doing the pastel/poem work in the first place.  At that time, I was transiting a lengthy grief journey and had developed an interest in Expressive Arts Therapy certification.  It just so happened that I found a program for it and took an introductory class.  One of the activities in that cl...

This sketch is based on a source image by Platt Powell Ryder os a woman spinning completed in the late 1800s.  This was done with mechanical pencil covered by a pen outline using a black Staedtler Pigment Liner 0.3mm pen. I was recently asked to illustrate a friend's poems and am working up concepts.  This is the second one I've done.  I may add color to it, but not tonight.  The first concept piece has color (done with markers and watercolors).

This is a review of a recently-ordered, custom puzzle printed with one of my images.  The source image is on the left; puzzle product on the right. Overall, the quality of the puzzle is excellent!  I love the semi-gloss (rather than matte) finish, and the pieces fit easily together. The only thing is the slight white at the top.  The image was slightly tilted before printimg.  Other than that, I'm impressed.

Last weekend was the closing of WVLO's production of 'Something Rotten' and what a fun show to have been a part of!!  For those who don't know, the show is a parody on Shakespeare's works.  The script together with the score and song lyrics are very clever and funny.  It is a production well-worth seeing, especially if it is done well!!   It was also so rewarding to be part of this particular company -- in my role as Lightboard Operator.  The entire cast and crew were amazingly dedicated and professional...at a level higher than you'd expect for a typical community theater production. I still have earworms from the show's opening number titled 'Welcome to the Renaissance' in addition to a couple other songs!  Plus I'm missing the show already, but am glad to have my weekends back.   This is a photo of the wonderful company that pulled together during Tech Week to put on such a great show performance after performance -- and with so many standing ...