Empty Bowl – Posters & Marketing Materials Galore!

Posted on April 7, 2011 by Jenny

Although the Empty Bowl fundraiser is not until early June, there is much to be done, including advertising the event.  One of the fun things about doing the graphics for Family Promise is that I get to do things that I don’t ordinarily do for other clients…or, at least, don’t do regularly.  In this instance, I had to produce a couple of different flyers for this event, tickets, PowerPoint slide and a bulletin insert to advertise the event among the different congregations who are a part of our Family Promise network.  All of the materials needed to have the same look, but also had to communicate different things.

I started out first with the tickets.  The tickets were fairly straight-forward, but I did have to find a way to easily distinguish between the adult and child tickets for the event.  In this instance, I chose to reverse the logo on black, which I think also really works for this event.  We will have a finite number of handcrafted bowls that will be donated to us by various potters in the area, so we had to number the tickets, which the printer will do for us in the printing process.  I just had to indicate on my file where I wanted the ticket number to go.

Then I started working on a promotional flyer to be distributed to the potters and the artists who will help support our event.  I started out with the text for the flyer (taken from another Family Promise Empty Bowl event and adapted to fit our own) and the logo…and not much else (other than the fact that I had since discovered after creating the logo that the event committee decided to make the decor of the event black and white, based on the logo, which made my color selection for the poster quite easy!).  Besides the logo, I didn’t have any graphics, so I bought a stock photo that evoked the idea we wanted to get across, and converted it to greyscale to match our black & white theme.  From there, everything fell into place.  I had some initial hesitation of what to do for this flyer, but it turned out that this flyer was very fun for me to create and, of everything I’ve created for this fundraiser, is my favorite design.  I think it came together really well, although I wish there was slightly less text on the whole.

After finishing the potters’ promotional flyer, I had to create a promotional flyer for the whole event.  This poster had to fall within  the same theme/look/style, but had to convey different information and had to be WAY less text-heavy, and would be twice as large as the potters/artists flyer.  Which meant, in part, finding more graphics to help illustrate what the event is all about.  I selected one of the family photos that I have been given from Family Promise national (a real Family Promise family who graduated from the program, but not a family who has graduated from our program…understandably, very few of our families have signed a photo release allowing us to photograph them).  I like the series of pictures I have of this family very much (good quality, interesting shots), and used a different picture of the same family in our brochure, which I think works very well.  So I selected a picture of a family to remind people of the purpose of the event.  I also found a stock photo of soup being served, to convey what will actually happen at the event.  I suppose in years to come, we can use our own photos taken at these events, but for now stock photos have to suffice.  I still had space, so I decided to add the initial donors we have confirmed for our event.  It won’t include everyone — we still have much work to do to find more donors, but it’s a start, and it shows people that our intention is to offer quality in both food and artistry.  I finished up the poster with the necessary text (who, what, where, when, why) and the left a portion of the poster customizable, so that each person who is selling tickets at their respective congregations can add in their own contact information.

Next came the bulletin insert, for the various congregations to insert into their weekly worship bulletins.  On the bulletin insert, it had to be similar to the flyer, but with more information so that the congregants would know more about the event.  Enter in the press release.  Our Family Promise board member Mary Anderson-Harris specializes in PR, and had already spent time drafting a press release for the event, which she will distribute to the various media sources we’ve identified.  I simply cut and paste the press release information and pared it down a bit, which was nice because it saved me the time it would have taken me to write up a blurb about what our Empty Bowl fundraising event is.

Finally (for now), I created a PowerPoint slide.  Some congregations (including mine) use PowerPoint in their services, so I thought it would be a good idea to have a slide pre-made so they could insert into their presentation and add in their own contact information re: ticket selling.  The Empty Bowl logo as it was created didn’t fit too well with PowerPoint’s constrained dimensions, so I altered the logo to be in one straight line.  I found it really difficult to fit everything into the slide, while still maintaining the big font that is necessary to read from a distance.  I haven’t tried it out yet on the “big screen,” but I think it’ll be OK.

And, there you have it.  Part of the reason why I’ve been so busy in the past few weeks — creating all of these various marketing/promotional pieces for the Empty Bowl fundraiser, creating a lot of landing pages, and a wedding logo/save the date project which I hope to blog about soon have made for a very busy Jenny in the latter half of March!

Posted in black and white, bowls, bulletin insert, empty bowl, family promise, flyer, fundraiser, marketing materials, poster, pottery, powerpoint, soup, thoughts | 4 Comments

Paintings displayed in my art show – Vol. 1

Posted on April 5, 2011 by Jenny

In my previous post, I noted that with the rate that I had to get all 15 of my paintings framed, most of the paintings were either un-scanned or were scanned poorly.  I remarked about this to Gavin, and he told me that he could take photos of the pictures once they were all framed with his camera equipment and this super-fancy method he learned from Digital Camera World (a photography magazine subscription I got him for his birthday last year).

Anyway, here are the first five paintings that I got back from the framer.  I’ll post pictures of the rest once I get them!

 

Posted in art, art show, birds of paradise, bridge, colorful, field, house, nectarines, painting, peaches, sneak peak, still life, watercolor | 1 Comment

Jenny’s Having an Art Show!

Posted on March 31, 2011 by Jenny

A friend of mine named Marsha was approached by a local restauranteur close to her business. Marsha had been having gallery showings in her office lobby of various Burbank Art Association members, and this restauranteur wanted to do something similar at his restaurant, so Marsha recommended me!

This is very exciting because I have wanted to do something like this, but did not know how to go about getting that sort of opportunity. It’s so wonderful when the opportunity falls in your lap! (Thanks, Marsha!) But — it means a lot of work. I found out mid-March that I had been selected by the restaurant, and he wants to start the show in April (**UPDATE — We are changing the show to be from May 1-31**)…and he wanted about 15 paintings. Thankfully, I didn’t have to paint anything fresh (no time for that right now, especially not 15 pieces!) because I have a pile of paintings I’ve painted over the years that I haven’t done anything with.

So, Gavin and I went through the pile and tried to select the bigger paintings that were the best among my pile. Then we had to figure out framing because none of the pieces were framed. We debated between getting them custom-framed or doing it ourselves. What’s great about Gavin is that he is knowledgeable in areas that I am not — like accounting. We went to Aaron Brothers to figure out, on average, how much it would cost me to frame them versus what it would cost to have them custom framed. Then we went to the framer that I use from time to time and we got an even better deal from him than we estimated! Which is so great because not only does this framer do great work, but also because I dislike framing in general and it saves me a ton of work and keeps the finished pieces at a reasonable cost.

So, I spent time today at the framer’s, picking out the frame (a simple, dark-wood frame that will work for all of the pieces) and we decided to have the same white mat for all of the pieces and vary the fillet (the inner mat) to match each painting to make it pop. I think it’s all going to look very, very nice. And even if nothing sells, I will now have some of my artwork to put up around my apartment.

I don’t have scans of all of the pieces (I would have gotten some, but I’ve had to act quickly!), but for some of the pieces I do, so I’ve posted them throughout this blog post. For the rest of them, you’ll just have to go see them in person! Here are the details:

The Café Victory
1608 W. Victory Blvd.
Glendale, CA 91201
818-247-2200, phone
http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-cafe-victory-glendale

Hours:
Monday – Friday: 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday – Sunday: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Show lasts through April
**UPDATE: Show will be from May 1-31

Posted in art, art show, bridge, farmers market, floral, flowers, nectarines, painting, sneak peak, still life, watercolor | 7 Comments

Spice-rubbed Pork Chops

Posted on March 24, 2011 by Jenny

I am very confident with cooking chicken and fairly confident with beef.  Pork, on the other hand, is a meat I’m still working on knowing how to cook better.  I ran across this recipe from Cooking Light that I’ve done a few times that is quick and produces great results.  Thought I’d share!

Spice-rubbed Pork Chops

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 8 minutes
Serves: 2

Ingredients
2 (4-ounce) boneless pork loin chops (about 3/4 inch thick)
1/8 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon brown sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons olive oil

Preparation

1. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Sprinkle pork with 1/8 teaspoon garlic salt.  Combine coriander, cumin, and sugar in a shallow bowl.  Sprinkle spice mixture over 1 side of pork (I usually do both sides).

2. Add oil to pan, swirl to coat.  Add pork to pan, spice side down.  Cook 2 minutes, or until browned.  Turn pork over, and cook 4 more minutes, or until done.

Posted in brown sugar, cooking light, coriander, cumin, dinner, olive oil, pork | Leave a comment

Fusing Glass Under Influence of the Flu

Posted on March 17, 2011 by Jenny

A few weeks ago, I contracted the flu.  Although I never get the flu shot (it does not respond well to my system), I haven’t had the flu in years.  And so I forgot that, no matter how much you desire, you really are not better in two days’ time.  Here’s how it went down:

I likely picked up the flu on Monday evening.  It was a long weekend, and I had not gone anywhere or done anything that weekend, since I was enslaved to my husband.  On Monday evening I went to a meeting where everyone seemed very healthy, but then I started coughing.  Tuesday morning, I was sure I was sick.  Tuesday evening, I was sure it was the flu.  Wednesday I felt miserable…but started feeling better in the evening.  Thursday morning I felt much better than Tuesday, so I thought the flu was pretty much over with.  So when Gavin’s sister Gretchen asked me on Thursday morning to go lunch and to the glass workshop, I agreed!

It was only an hour or so after I went out that I thought my idea was not the wisest idea, but since I was already out and in the midst of creating the glass, I stayed.  I decided to make more tiles like the blue ones I had made before in a previous workshop.

So, I made some blue ones and some green ones and then varied the iridescent pieces that lay on top.  I have plans to maybe use these to make a larger dish or maybe as a coaster set or something.  I don’t know what yet, but I do have plans.  The tiles are very pretty to look at and I think will make a good piece eventually, but what a pain to clean each and every little square before firing!  Before firing, you have to first clean the glass with rubbing alcohol, then you have to clean the glass with glass cleaner.  A lot of work for those little tiles!

So, feeling like I should have something to show for the firing other than those glass tiles, I made two more window vases.  I was trying something new in that if you use this certain kind of glass called…flecks or something like that and place pieces of clear over the top of it, it makes the glass look a little like watercolor.  So these two window vases are first experiments as I try to figure out how to get the look that I’d like to see!

Posted in art, blue, glass, green, iridescent glass, tiles, vase, watercolor, window vase, Workshop | 2 Comments

What have I been doing? Landing pages.

Posted on March 15, 2011 by Jenny

Over the past few weeks, I find myself incredibly busy putting together landing pages for a client of mine.  This is now the third go-round (I think) of creating differently-themed pages for this client to use for all of their domain names.  This client owns thousands of domain names and they place landing pages on their domains so that when users arrive at any of their sites, there is an appropriately-themed page that helps the user eventually get to where they want to go.

My contract is such that I can’t share the themes/designs that I’m working on currently, but I think I will show some of the pages I have done for this client in the past so you can see what it is that I am doing.

This page is their current top-performing landing page. They are using a different photo to make it a bit more generic, but the overall design is mine.  I really like how this one came out — I think it is sharp!

I’ve also worked on other themes for the company.

If, for instance, they have a health-related domain name, they can use one of these designs that I’ve created to convey health and wellness.

I’ve also done other types of themes– I’ll post a few below so you can see that this company offers their clients who store their domains with them a variety of great options:

Posted in design, website | 1 Comment

Glass Slumping Class

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Jenny

Way back at the beginning of February, I took a glass slumping class.  Sounds a little dirty, but I assure you it is not!  What glass slumping is is taking pieces of glass and fusing them together with a first firing in a kiln, then placing the glass on a mould and firing the glass again, making the glass slump into the shape of the mould.

In this class, I learned more about the technique of cutting glass, including how to cut glass in a circle.  However, for this class, I opted not to do a round bowl, but a shallow, oval dish (that I affectionately call “the pickle”) and I did a little, square dish (which I now store my earrings and rings in!).  I also had a little more room left on my firing shelf, so I opted to do another window vase (predictable, I know — I just love making them!).

Without further adieu, here are pictures of my slumped glass, taken expertly by my husband Gavin:

This is the dish I like to call “The Pickle.”  Actually, there is this cartoon series called VeggieTales and this particular glass dish reminds me of Larry the Cucumber, wearing a headband.   At any rate, I think the green glass is pretty, and I especially love looking at it on my table at night, since when the light shines on it, it casts a green and purple shadow (purple coming from the iridescent glass that is alternately gold/green/purple).  The bottom piece of glass is that beautiful green with the iridescent pieces (same color, although one piece has a texture to it), and a piece of clear glass was placed on top in order to give the glass coloring a depth.  It also makes the glass food-safe, since the iridescent pieces are not safe to put food upon.

This piece was placed in a square mold, but the way the glass slumped in the kiln, it came out off-center.  Normally, that sort of thing would bother me, but I think it looks entirely appropriate and wonderful and makes a great earring holder!  The top piece of glass is that aqua glass, and the piece underneath it is an iridescent clear piece with stringers in it, which makes an interesting pattern.

For this window vase, I decided to use the colors that I had been using in the first piece.  I added some dark blue for contrast.  Gavin really liked how this piece came out…still mostly transparent, but using very bold colors.  It looks neat against the window when the sun shines through!

Posted in art, blue, glass, green, iridescent glass, slumping, vase, window vase | 1 Comment

Slave Labor: A Family Reunion Website

Posted on March 8, 2011 by Jenny

Last year, around the fourth of July, Gavin’s mom Bonnie asked us what we were doing next year on the fourth of July, wondering if we might be willing to go to a (then) un-planned family reunion for her family up in Chester, CA.  Bonnie’s family is large and scattered all across the country, so it seems like none of them see much of each other.  Hence, wanting to schedule a reunion!  So she went to work on it and we put a note on our calendars, a year in advance, about the upcoming reunion.

Fast-forward to a couple months ago.  Since Gavin has so rarely been in contact with his mom’s larger family, Gavin got to thinking that it’d be nice to know a little something about everyone who was coming.  That way, come the big day, people would know enough about each other in order to have a more meaningful conversation.  So, he set about to making a survey with lots of different questions and sent that survey out, requesting that people answer whatever questions they wish and, once complete, send the surveys back to him.

Gavin then turned to me and asked if I would create a website for him that would have people’s survey responses and pictures, etc.  I told him that I would create one and sketched a hazy idea and that was that.   I bought the domain for him and arranged for my cousin Danny to host the site.  I even began a Photoshop page to try to determine what it would really look like.  All was fine until President’s Day weekend, when Gavin practically held a gun to my head and basically said, “Finish the site this weekend, or else.  In return, I will give you no food, drink, or pay.”  Which is kind of an overstatement, but also kind of not.

So on a weekend when I was supposed to be thinking about the presidents of our fine country, I instead put together a website really quickly, making things up on the fly.  And, I am pleased to tell you that I was able to complete the website by Sunday afternoon (starting the afternoon before) — 60-some pages later.  Some of the pages are empty (containing only that person’s name and photo, because that’s all we have), whereas other pages are full, displaying that person’s contact information, survey & pictures.  The hope is that this website will help spur others along who haven’t yet filled out their survey to submit something so that they will have a representative space.

Anyway, a quick turnaround for my husband — one of the hardest clients I’ve worked for!

Posted in design, family, reunion, website | 6 Comments