ArtistJoyful - Notes from the Artist

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26997415055292957592010-03-06T10:15:46.807-08:00ArtistJoyful - Notes from the ArtistBridging the gap between Fine Arts, Illustration and Graphic Design. We are all creative artists at heart.Dena McKitrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13234301548099083406dena@artistjoyful.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699741505529295759.post-60269704606453715752010-03-06T10:15:00.001-08:002010-03-06T10:15:46.844-08:00This blog has moved

This blog is now located at http://artistjoyful.blogspot.com/. You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here. For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to http://www.artistjoyful.com.

Dena McKitrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13234301548099083406dena@artistjoyful.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699741505529295759.post-50648037905911550512010-01-22T23:58:00.000-08:002010-01-23T00:36:17.417-08:00Creating Under the Pressure of the Long Learning Curve

OK, so this new client wants some new thing, this technology, or that newest buzzword. One more time, I jump on the "can do" train and spend countless evenings studying something new so I can whip it out as if it was there in my pocket all along.I have to admit, from the outside, I would admire my "Hutzpah," however, from the inside I am reminded once more of my humanity, and the inability of the

Dena McKitrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13234301548099083406dena@artistjoyful.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699741505529295759.post-25591299133513211002009-11-03T14:27:00.000-08:002009-11-03T14:43:47.458-08:00When to say I GIVE

Surrender... I don't always do it gracefully. Just one more little tweak. Now, just one more. Suddenly it's two hours later and the piece has evolved into a whole different look. Sometimes that is exactly what needs to happen. Other times, I am just nit-picking myself into the hole of non-productivity, and it is time to surrender my perfectionism. When I first start brainstorming with a client,

Dena McKitrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13234301548099083406dena@artistjoyful.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699741505529295759.post-3955172810044628512009-10-25T12:23:00.000-07:002009-10-25T12:40:07.831-07:00Graphics on the Fly

So, here I am working on some project and I get a phone call: Emergency! Gotta have something for this afternoon! What do I do?First off, there are no emergencies! Only tighter deadlines, in my book. Secondly, if I have received the challenge of producing a graphic quick, I just breathe. There is joy in creating a graphic immediately. One of the greatest joys for me is to just open up my heart,

Dena McKitrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13234301548099083406dena@artistjoyful.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699741505529295759.post-2155695731303870502009-10-11T07:30:00.000-07:002009-10-11T10:13:38.210-07:00Brand Consistancy

Do you have a consistant brand - a unified business identity? I participated a series of workshops way back when called Alpha Awareness Training. I gleaned a lot of tools there for dealing with life in a positive way. One of the concepts that Wally Minto talked about in this work was that there are two ends of a spectrum called imagers. We each and every one of us imagine - "image" - things in

Dena McKitrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13234301548099083406dena@artistjoyful.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699741505529295759.post-53091620394795203222009-10-04T12:57:00.000-07:002009-10-06T16:08:13.830-07:00Hearken unto the Muse

Many years ago, when I was teaching multiple classes at Lassen College, I had an epiphany one day: it's all the same. To what "it" was I referring? Simple: all design, all art. Designing a stained glass window requires many of the same skills that piecing a quilt does. Putting together today's outfit, decorating the living room or laying out an ad each bear many commonalities of skill with the

Dena McKitrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13234301548099083406dena@artistjoyful.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699741505529295759.post-63313692134299577332009-09-26T17:25:00.000-07:002009-09-26T19:22:04.183-07:00Flow and the Creative Urge

Today has been just one of those days that I love. Most of the day was really pretty uneventful, however the whole day was extraordinary. Like many days I spent an inordinate amount of time alone, on the computer and designing. So what was different? The energy, the energy in me, the thrill in my gut. I stayed up until almost 2am last night working on a project. I was exhausted. This morning I

Dena McKitrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13234301548099083406dena@artistjoyful.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699741505529295759.post-60559954454452110982009-09-20T22:41:00.000-07:002009-09-21T10:18:07.183-07:00Designing - Art or Craft?

I met with someone yesterday who wants me to completely redo his website. He's an engineer and very good at writing php and software. He's definitely not a graphic designer, however. Yet I've got to say he is one of the most creative individuals with whom I've been acquainted. His enthusiasm and passion for life are contagious. He has that priceless skill of being able to incite epiphany. I am

Dena McKitrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13234301548099083406dena@artistjoyful.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699741505529295759.post-56633396314838517792009-09-14T23:15:00.000-07:002009-09-21T10:23:31.866-07:00Inspiration and Perspiration

I love to be inspired. When the ideas start flowing, and we're working in the groove odd pieces just fit together. Epiphanys happen. Life is good when greased by inspiration. The thrill of a new idea can motivate me through days of hard work. I thrive in the mental play yard of creative assignments. Actually, it doesn't even have to be a particularly creative job to keep me motivated. It's the

Dena McKitrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13234301548099083406dena@artistjoyful.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699741505529295759.post-42053128025761109792009-09-07T23:55:00.000-07:002009-09-08T00:27:13.987-07:00Some Challenges of Website Design

I find it curious that I make a good part of my living doing website design. Why curious? Well, even though the "D" word (design) is right in there in the title, in reality the job only entails about 1/2 what I would call design and artistic creation - the part of the job that I naturally shine. I can create new ideas and original art easily all day long. The other half of the job, however, has

Dena McKitrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13234301548099083406dena@artistjoyful.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699741505529295759.post-17023801951377940712009-08-25T21:21:00.000-07:002009-08-27T11:39:42.534-07:00Where do the ideas come from?

Over the years I've learned that there is no end to ideas. They just keep appearing in the thoughts. I used to think that I had to act on every one of them. I drove myself crazy for years, thinking that I was somehow shorting someone if I didn't play out every single good idea I had. Sheesh!I've finally come to realize (slooooooooowly) that just like every thing else in nature there is lavish

Dena McKitrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13234301548099083406dena@artistjoyful.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699741505529295759.post-4520424966212789932009-08-20T14:34:00.000-07:002009-08-20T15:09:47.062-07:00Brand Me Successful

I decided to improve my brand. Me, Dena McKitrick: not one of my businesses, but me, the individual. Recently, I have been thinking about who I am on the inside vs. how I appear on the outside, with the focus on congruency. Am I congruent with myself in appearance and deed? What experience of me do others have? And even more important, does that experience reflect who I truly am? I've worked a

Dena McKitrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13234301548099083406dena@artistjoyful.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699741505529295759.post-5450060634131658482009-07-28T10:18:00.000-07:002009-09-21T09:45:17.232-07:00Incorporating "Analog"

After talking about the "olden days", I got all nostalgic. I am working on completely redoing my ArtistJoyful site, and I was reminded that there are pieces of old work that would add a lot to my treasure chest today. So, I went mining. It wasn't a major excavation, only half a drawer into my file cabinet. Still, I gathered some nuggets I had not thought about using before, since I switched to

Dena McKitrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13234301548099083406dena@artistjoyful.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699741505529295759.post-46652533540297476852009-07-27T23:59:00.000-07:002009-07-28T00:25:13.964-07:00Combining "Old World" art and Computer Savvy

I started doing graphic design before computers. I'd pull out my rapidograph and carefully, tediously draw a fine line border for a certificate. I would then letter it with my calligraphy pen. I loved doing commercial art that way. I loved pin-striping a car, or hand-lettering a sign, too. It was tactile and challenging and satisfying. I was working at a newspaper when the first OCRM (optical

Dena McKitrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13234301548099083406dena@artistjoyful.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699741505529295759.post-2814422401280216582009-06-09T12:20:00.000-07:002009-07-27T23:29:26.061-07:00Art, The Artist, and Daily living

Each and everyday is a new one, with new experiences, new challenges, and a new list of things that I absolutely have to get done yesterday. I love doing art. It is the center of me. What I mean by that is that when I am fully engaged in creative expression, I am connected and lined up and centered in Spirit, in God, in life, in being the most me that I can be. When I am not "doing art", when I

Dena McKitrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13234301548099083406dena@artistjoyful.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699741505529295759.post-42666327574317730502009-02-09T11:28:00.000-08:002009-02-09T11:34:20.505-08:00Blending Fine Art and Technology

Every time I approach a new project it seems I must re-enter beginners mind in order to learn some new technological trick. There is a blessing to computers and ALL the stuff you can do online, as it opens up whole new venues that you can explore endlessly. A downside to this is that you can explore endlessly, and not get anything accomplished. I learn in cycles, it seems, and the web world is a

Dena McKitrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13234301548099083406dena@artistjoyful.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699741505529295759.post-84001514704523809242009-02-03T22:36:00.000-08:002009-07-27T23:58:34.897-07:00Each New Day

Everyday gets better. Everyday I wake up in gratitude for the wonderful gift of life and the brand new day. I am a peace maker, a peace keeper. It is my job (as it many others) to keep peace in my heart no matter what life looks like on the outside. One way that I keep peace is by immersing myself in the eternal peace available to us in communion with Spirit. I enter that state of grace most

Dena McKitrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13234301548099083406dena@artistjoyful.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2699741505529295759.post-35102490678997699832009-01-20T21:59:00.001-08:002009-02-07T02:21:51.828-08:00Artist Statement

Creative expression is my lifeblood. Doing art is somewhere at the very center of my being. It is who I am, what I do. It is the magic that binds my life together, and helps me to make sense of it all. It is a joyous, wonderful experience for me, a constantly expanding adventure that I feel compelled to include in my daily life.My life is a tapestry of unusual and diverse experiences. My work is

Dena McKitrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13234301548099083406dena@artistjoyful.com0