Photo Friday: Orange

This is my first venture into Photo Friday - I'm going to enjoy this challenge! The theme this week is "orange". I took this at an event my church sponsors called Praise in the Park this past Sunday. I serve as one of the event photographers. This particular setting is in Estes Park Colorado (about 30 miles from where I live) and it is breathtaking! The weather was perfect, the late afternoon light was fantastic - perfect for pictures. I used a Nikon D70 for the shot with a Promaster zoom lens.

Weigh-in Wednesday

Well, it's already Weigh-in Wednesday again, and I'm happy to say that I had weight loss succes again this week - lost 1.4 lbs, bringing my total to 9.8...oh so close to 10 lbs. If I just keep following the plan, keep up with my exercise, and DON'T QUIT, I just might make it. I'm very encouraged this week!

Illustration Friday: Heroes

This week's Illustration Friday theme is "Heroes"...

Among the many heroes I could think of, I chose to honor an unsung hero - teachers. The illustration is called "A Day in the Life of a Hero". (see larger version here) I was fortunate to have had many great teachers that shaped me, taught me and changed me for the better, I hope. They wear numerous hats, work long hours, and do it all for not a lot of money. So, I thought I would give them their props - after all, I don't think we could be reading or writing this without them.

Studio Friday - Playtime 'n Action

Another first...I'm officially diving into Studio Friday! This week's theme is Playtime 'n Action. We were supposed to take out a large piece of paper and our coloring tools of choice, then close our eyes and draw using the opposite hand from what we normally draw with. We were to just let it flow, have fun with it, not peek, and then declare it finished whenever we felt like we were finished. Ok, so I chose to jump in the deep end on my first time out! So....

...this is what emerged from my playtime with pastels! It's um, interesting. It does seem to have a sort of angry red zig-zag that dominates, but it's offset a bit by the lyrical black swirlies and blue dots. It's actually kinda growing on me.

Here's proof that I did it with my left hand...

...a couple of my desk buddies are looking on with a mixture of curiosity and concern.

All in all, Playtime 'n Action was a lot of fun! Thanks Tine and all the participants! I'm looking forward to future Studio Friday fun.

Doodles at Work

Well, I just got to looking at how much I doodle when I'm at work. It's amazing...and detailed. I generally do this when I am on a mindless conference call, but as the first image shows, I almost always prepare my page for a discussion/meeting with a large capital letter and some sort of flower typically.

I've done this for so long now, I hardly even think about it. I think I've almost perfected a lettering style. Oh well, just thought it would give you a little peek inside my work life.


Must have summertime on the brain here - actually I was hoping to do a 4th of July shirt for my CafePress store, but I'm pretty much too late for that :o( (by the way, I have almost nothing out there...I'm JUST getting started)

(hint) This may be a really early peek at my June submission to A Month of Softies - this month's theme: "June Bug"

Weigh-in Wednesday

Well, I thought a lot about whether I should include this on my blog, and I decided that it would be one more way to keep me accountable. Wednesdays are my weigh-in days at Weight Watchers, so I will post my weight loss (or gain) here weekly (but not my overall weight - no way!) I'm happy to report that I lost 1.1 lb. this week, bringing my 8 week total to 8.4 lbs. It's slowly but steadily coming off, and it's great to be sticking to this. If anyone else out there is in the midst of a weight loss challenge, feel free to comment or drop me a line. Mutual support in these areas of our lives are vital.

You'll see less of me next time :o)

My New Website!

Finally, I've finished creating and posting my website: http://www.beckyyoung.com

It's just a start, but I'm so glad to finally have it out there! Please feel free to comment if something is askew in your browser or if links don't work. I didn't get to do as extensive an amount of testing in different browsers as I would have liked.

Enjoy...

Illustration Friday Newbie

Here is my first attempt at an Illustration Friday submission:



The theme for this week is Black & White.

Since I have been doing a number of black and white line art drawings for coloring and activity books recently, I thought it would be fun to show the black and white line art clamoring for color. It's actually a pretty good reflection of my current state of mind as it relates to my illustration "career" - "I CAN DO COLOR" I keep telling my editor :o) Well, I'm happy just to be drawing and getting published. And anyway, art all started for me with coloring books. Maybe some of my B&W art will inspire a kid somewhere...who knows...??

Overflow, and other things

As I feared, it's almost been a week since my last post, which was my first post. I hope to be more active in the future - we'll see. Meanwhile I have been writing. Check out the weekly email encouragement I write or edit, depending on the week. http://www.rez.org/WOW/Overflow_newsletter.htm I wrote the Overflow devotional on this one (and did the photography, graphics, etc), and just did the web layout on the others. This weekly encouragement is an outreach of the women's ministry that I lead called WOW! (Water of the Word) http://www.rez.org/WOW.
So, anyway, I have done some writing. I'm currently working on my illustration website. As soon as I've secured my domain name, I'll get it posted and link to it here. I don't have nearly as many illustrations to show as I would like, but I hope to be able to add more and more as I begin to participate in Illustration Friday as well as continue to make designs for my CafePress store: http://www.cafepress.com/milehighdesign. I only have a tiny smattering of things out there, but hope to be adding new designs weekly. Anyway, I hope it will help me to build my portfolio over time.
Thanks for listening...

I just re-read my post and I used the word "hope" 4 times. I guess I'm not too certain of my follow through. I hope I can change that :o)

A Tentative Venture

Well, a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step (or something like that)...so, here I step. I'm officially entering the blog world with the enthusiasm and starry-eyed optimism of of a newbie. For anyone who happens to stumble onto this; welcome. As I unpack and get settled in I hope to be able to show you a bit more hospitality, but for now you'll have to be content to pull up a cardboard box and have a seat.

I've been inspired of late to open a blog of my own to share tidbits of artistic fumblings and snippets of hazy daydreams . Since I can't seem to write a sentence without a metaphor, you'll have to be adept at reading with your whimsy turned up and your logic turned down. As an artist masquerading as high-tech professional, I live in a constant struggle between whimsy and logic. Perhaps I can find harmony between the two as I venture into this high-tech arena with my art in tow. I'll simply insist that they play nice together.

I hope to include imagery soon (I hate bare walls) -but for now, these few words will have to do. I look forward to saying absolutely nothing of consequence again soon - come back if you have nothing better to do.

Blessings to all. Good night.