British un-things

Have you noticed the books out semi-lately with "un" things as main characters?

• The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall, published in 2007 (un-Space and the Un-Space Exploration Committee)
• Un Lun Dun by China Miéville, also published in 2007 (Un-London and pretty much everything else)
• And not quite, but along those same lines: Coraline by Neil Gaiman, published in 2002 (Coraline had an "other" mother)

The link between them might be in the water; all of the authors are currently living in or were originally from England. That and, whether you like the books or not, critics have widely agreed that at the very least these authors have created unique worlds and ideas and display incredible imagination in their writing.

Keri Smith

For any creative type who needs a little humor and a gentle nudge in a productive direction, take a look at Keri Smith's Web site. For the most fun and a lot of creative ideas, choose the "Play" link, and don't forget to check out her portfolio while you're there.

Great work, great ideas and a great inspiration to the creative community.

Firefly Chocolates @ the Mall

My friends down at the Firefly have opened a new shop at Westmoreland Mall in Greensburg, and they've included more of my signage. All the posters hanging in the shop were also part of our branding campaign. Included here are both the outside signage as it was designed, and a shot of the shop from the mall interior.

Snow @ twilight

Our first-ish snow of the season of any consequence.

Twitter

Finally moving on Twitter:

http://twitter.com/NoraThompson

Combination of all the work I do: fine art, kid's illustration, graphic design and The Rots©. Kind of a daily updating of my working life.

Women in Art 2009

I had two pieces juried in to the 2009 Women in Art exhibit at Harlan Gallery, Seton Hill University, Greensburg, PA. Titles: Thirteen (shown here) and Eleven (shown below, bottom). Both are in the portfolio section of my fine art Web site: www.norathompson.us. The show runs November 1 through November 22.

Westmoreland Art Nationals

Two of my digital images were juried into the Westmoreland Art Nationals this spring. They are both photo montage giclee prints, and attached. The show ran May 30 through July 5, 2009.

By the way, Harpers Ferry is a fantastic spot to collect photos. Textures and tombstones seem to be popping up all over my images lately.

Pittsburgh Pirates

Oh, and the Pirates traded Nyjer Morgan today.

And what can be done at this point?

If we stop going to games, the team will move from the area. If we keep going to games, that enables management to keep on trading.

Can't the league step in and help?

Even a little?

Somehow?

Does anybody in management understand the concept of building a team?

It's the fans who are paying the bills (buying game tickets, memorabilia, etc.), so shouldn't we have a say in how our money is being spent? Or on who makes the decisions on how to spend our money? Shouldn't we have the right to vote out management if we believe their managing strategies leave something to be desired?

For the last 17 years?

The Pirates are on a pace for a major league-record 17th consecutive losing season.

--Associated Press

Images 2009

My acrylic and mixed-media on canvas painting, "The Song Came and Went," was juried into the Images 2009 Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts show at State College.

This would be it.

Possible gorget

So last year about this time, we took a trip to Bar Harbor, Maine, to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary (we were married there at the top of Cadillac Mountain at sunrise). The first time we were there, I had found a piece of slate that I thought was interesting near the beach, and I brought it home with me.

Last year while we were there, we took another trip to the Abbe Museum, and it was there I saw a piece that looked very familiar to the piece I had brought home five years earlier. It was a Native American gorget.

I've already contacted the folks at the Abbe Museum to hear their thoughts. I've also uploaded a few photos I took of the piece I found, and I'm interested in hearing what other people may think of its origins.

Fontstruct

So I taught Typography last fall, and for a semester-long project, I had the four-credit students work out a font on the FontShop site, www.fontstruct.com. (If you haven't made it over there yet, it's a great site where you can create your own working typefaces.) One of the student's typefaces was even chosen as a "Featured Download."

Here are links to a few of the final products. I'm very proud...

Kimothy by Kim Franczak
Bloc by Lara Heinz
Hot Mess by Jon Stefaniak
Brickyard by Corey Perkins

Leave them a comment, and let them know what you think!