Mona Lisa
This is a pretty old project, from back before I had a blog of any sort (and we walked uphill both ways to school, in the snow). I want to say 2005, because I think I was interning at Kolbrener then.
This is a mural, on my parents’ living room wall. Because my folks are, well, cooler than yours. Some years before this I’d painted them another mural, in the same living room. This time, Dad wanted the whole wall done, and he wanted the Mona Lisa on it. But not a regular old Mona Lisa – something interesting. I suggested we do a mosaic, and then this happened.
We’ve had people ask as if it’s wallpaper, and how’d you do that, and WHY’D you do that. It’s not, I’ll get to that, and simply because we can.
The first chunk of this project was done in Photoshop. We thought it would be a bit easier, and likely better looking, if we did it as a pseudo-duotone. I changed the photo to grayscale, cropped it to the right aspect ratio (we wanted to sort of fill the wall), and ran the mosaic filter.
To make the pattern, I just used the K values for each block. I’m sure there is a less tedious way to do this than the route I took, but it made sense at the time. Each square was rounded to the nearest 10%, and plugged into an Excel spreadsheet (where, ultimately, each block was numbered from 1 to 10).
We made a corresponding grid on the wall, which turned out to be a little over 5,000 1″ x 1″ squares, and numbered the squares to match our Excel grid.
We did the whole thing with two colors of interior house paint, and mixed them in varying percentages. We basically ended up with a giant paint by numbers. Start to finish, it took us right around a month to complete. This should give you an idea of the scale (and my fantastic Vanna White style skills).
This is why Dad and I can’t be left unsupervised.
Sound System
Edit: You can now buy this (sort of) as a print, in the Etsy shop. Sound System Print.
And in honor of another East Bay band, the font is called 39 Smooth.
Word Art Project
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All I Know’s That I Don’t Know
The new site is up! You may have even just come from there.
There are still a few issues that I’d like to see worked out, but at some point the need to have the information out there outweighs whatever nitpicking had kept me from publishing. Most of the things I’m still having trouble with stem from my lack of Javascript skills.
I have a few scripts, on a few sites. They’re all open source. And while I’ve been able to tweak them to some degree, and change the look of them, I don’t know enough to alter the function. I certainly don’t know enough to write them from scratch.
I’ve been back and forth on whether to invest the time on learning Javascript. I see quite a few job descriptions (for designers, not developers) that are calling for it. On the other hand, I’m not entirely convinced that it belongs in that skillset. I’ve learned some ASP working at Jefferson – I even learned a bit of SQL. Javascript just seems more… programmy. My husband (who I believe fears more expensive education is at the end of this line of thought), assures me that I really don’t need to learn Javascript. Most of the technology that I do know, I’ve learned out of necessity. The process usually goes like this:
1. I have a cool idea
2. Huh. I have no idea how to make that happen.
3. Research
4. Profit?
For a lot of my web projects, step 3 seems to land on Javascript. Step 4 might actually be from that South Park episode about underpants gnomes. For now, it’s lingering on the ‘some day’ pile.
And for those of you who were hoping for some Op Ivy word art, it’s coming.
Public Enemy
I think this is also a Proverb or some such, but I found it via Public Enemy, so I’m giving them credit.
Word Art Project
Download as Desktop Wallpaper
Kings upon the Main
I keep quotes. In notebooks, on post-its, I scribble down bits of songs that I like, or phrases from books. So I’ve started making designs out of some of them. For now, they’re rotating out as desktop wallpaper on the laptop.
Word Art Project
Download as Desktop Wallpaper
DC
The day after the show, we bummed around DC. I hadn’t been down that way since I went with John in ’08, and it was Lori’s first trip.
I am just barely awake after that show. The pit was like being in a 3 hour fistfight.
We got to see the White House, just before they closed the square down. Someone left a red backpack unattended, and cops just came out of the woodwork. It’s amazing how quick they can clear an area.
At this point, I started to rethink just how much I wanted to see the Lincoln Memorial.
Green Day
Earlier this year, I decided to get my friend Lori pit tickets for Green Day in not-quite-DC. Last Tuesday, we drove about 5 hours to get to the Super 8 in Bristow.
Wednesday, we got some IHOP breakfast, grabbed snacks for the day, and spent the next 6 hours waiting around at what they’re now calling the Jiffy Lube Live arena. It was incredibly hot, and after awhile we were taking turns sitting in the car with the AC blasting. Most people had planned ahead and brought coolers – we sent a friend out to the 7-11 to pick up drinks. They could have made a mint selling water out in the parking lot, but nothing was open.
Around 6:00 they let us in, and we ended up at about fourth row center. The last time I was in a pit for AFI, I got rolled, but that was maybe 9 years ago. Much calmer this time around. They did a good opening set, even though they didn’t play anything older than Sing the Sorrow (set list here).
A drunken bunny and a few Ramones songs later, it’s showtime. Green Day’s set list is here. Somewhere around St. Jimmy, I got plowed, and ended up in the second row on Mike’s side for the rest of the show.
The Hot Tubs cover was a nice addition, even though they didn’t make it through the whole thing, and they busted out a few seriously old tunes. Billie’s Axl Rose impression is likely the worst I’ve ever heard, but was a winner for audience participation. I wish I’d been able to get a shot of the kid singing Longview – he was actually good, which is a rarity – but I couldn’t really move my arms at that point.
I’m used to small club, $12 shows, so dropping $85 for a pit ticket hurts. But I really can’t complain that I didn’t get my money’s worth. Even though I have no memory of them playing 2000 Light Years Away (I did get a crowd surfer dropped on my head around that point), the parts I do remember were really solid. Interested to see what the guys do next.
Kennywood
We managed to make it up for Brownsville’s Kennywood day, even if only for a few hours. We spent most of it chasing Abby around.
Cute, but I still think John’s her favorite.
Pete
More found film. This is Pete, up at our old apartment, so he’d had to have been under 6 months or so.
