I just got done with my new portfolio website. While that may sound impressive, I'm afraid it really only consisted of uploading my work to a website that had a number of ready-made templates waiting for me. But- it looks pretty cool.
My portfolio!
http://www.krop.com/ksteudel/
So why would a graphic designer not design the shiz out of her own portfolio site? I wanted something quick, and it's not entirely because I'm lazy. What would happen if I were to design my own site is that I would agonize over every single detail. I would start it and maybe kinda finish it weeks later, because I would get caught up in details. It would never be done and I would always wonder, "Should I send this prospective employer a link? Noooo, I think I'll wait until I get [some stupid detail] done."
So I chose Krop. Choose a snappy looking design, upload your stuff, and never worry about how your website will appear on a smart phone or an iPad, because they've totally got that covered.
Done. And it's a relief.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Citizen Snips, the Disappearing Cat
If you don't remember how portly Snips was, let me remind you: he was portly. He's still nice and husky, but much slenderer now. He's disappearing in yet another way- since becoming and indoor-outdoor cat, he's steadily been increasing his time outdoors. I guess I shouldn't call him disappearing, though, because we do see him all the time. The lazy bugger barely makes it off the porch. Next to the house by the warm bricks, under the house in the crawl space, rolling onto his back in the middle of the sidewalk to get his belly petted, ad nauseam.
On this day, I was cleaning the kitchen and had my camera on the counter. Every once in a while, I took a picture. Like a time lapse photo of laziness in action.
On this day, I was cleaning the kitchen and had my camera on the counter. Every once in a while, I took a picture. Like a time lapse photo of laziness in action.
Mountains-to-Sea Trail
Today we all set out to hike around Mt. Pisgah, but since it's dipped below freezing lately, the Blue Ridge Parkway was closed and we couldn't drive up to it. Instead, we hiked the Mountains-to-Sea trail that runs along the parkway. We hiked up and over two tunnels. One one side of the ridge, it was cold and windy. On the other side of the ridge, it was cold and windy, but you could feel the warmth rising from sun baking everything around you.
That there's the mountain we wanted to tackle. We were at the turnaround point and decided not to press on and hike Mt. Pisgah. Some other day!
On the way back we decided to walk the Parkway. While I like getting out and taking pictures and posing in front of overlooks, hiking doesn't really get me jazzed. Most of the time I was just watching Robb's feet and trucking along behind him, not really looking much at Nature. So, walking a closed-down road through a National Forest seemed like a good idea to me.
It was pretty cool. The two tunnels we had hiked over we now hiked through, on an abandoned highway. It was neat to see the new growth on the trees damaged in the ice storm a few years ago. Most of the tree trunks are covered in a mint green lichen, and some of them had new red branches growing up from the forest. There's always neat moss to check out, and we got a great view of the mountains as we walked along.
As we neared the car, I saw a bluebird and pointed it out to Robb. Soon we realized there were lots of bluebirds; eight at least, and they flew along from branch to branch in front of us. Such intense blue. At first it seemed like we were scaring them off, but they flew along in front of us for 10 minutes, and when we crossed the road to go to the car, they hopped the road, too, escorting us along.
That there's the mountain we wanted to tackle. We were at the turnaround point and decided not to press on and hike Mt. Pisgah. Some other day!
On the way back we decided to walk the Parkway. While I like getting out and taking pictures and posing in front of overlooks, hiking doesn't really get me jazzed. Most of the time I was just watching Robb's feet and trucking along behind him, not really looking much at Nature. So, walking a closed-down road through a National Forest seemed like a good idea to me.
It was pretty cool. The two tunnels we had hiked over we now hiked through, on an abandoned highway. It was neat to see the new growth on the trees damaged in the ice storm a few years ago. Most of the tree trunks are covered in a mint green lichen, and some of them had new red branches growing up from the forest. There's always neat moss to check out, and we got a great view of the mountains as we walked along.
As we neared the car, I saw a bluebird and pointed it out to Robb. Soon we realized there were lots of bluebirds; eight at least, and they flew along from branch to branch in front of us. Such intense blue. At first it seemed like we were scaring them off, but they flew along in front of us for 10 minutes, and when we crossed the road to go to the car, they hopped the road, too, escorting us along.
CrossFit's going great, thanks.
Yeah, that's my boyfriend in the knee high socks, naturally reclining like that.
And that's one of the co-owners of the CrossFit gym I attend, who saw an opportunity and made it happen.
In other news, my camera needs to be cleaned. That beautiful vaseline effect isn't actually intended, the light was hitting all the dust piled up in and on my lens.
And that's one of the co-owners of the CrossFit gym I attend, who saw an opportunity and made it happen.
In other news, my camera needs to be cleaned. That beautiful vaseline effect isn't actually intended, the light was hitting all the dust piled up in and on my lens.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Team Pegasus West Coast Kit 2012
Some may know, some may not, that Cale started up a Pegasus contingent in California called TPWC, or Team Pegasus West Coast. The colors are the same old Pegasus Pink (100% Magenta) and a lime green that I hope prints lime green. While I didn't do this year's Midwest (and everywhere else) design, I had started TPWC much earlier. I declined to do the Midwest design because I'm feeling a little out of ideas for Pegasus kit. Or, to look at it a different way, I came up with ideas but I thought they were weak and not that original. Hmmm...
Anyway, the TPWC kit had a couple of cool features I'm liking so far. The left justified logos on the back are doing it for me. I'm also kinda stoked about the 'off registration' lines around the pegasus on the front. It shows just a hint of color, as if the light is hitting a glass Pegasus and it's casting colors onto the jersey. It's nothing totally new, but I was excited to try it.
As with years past, there will be a white kit as well.
The shorts are.... okay. The stripe will (should) line up with the jersey, so I'm hoping that it looks good. It's hard to say, though. Maybe it will make people's torsos look freakishly long. Maybe the jog over to the side of the leg will look awkward. I think these kinds of difficult details are what make a race kit look good, if you can get them right. But sometimes you only know if you got it right when you finally see someone wearing the kit.
I nearly went with black Pegasus on black jersey (and white on white). I think it looks great and pops on-screen, but may have lost a little when printed. And if that happened, who would want a black jersey with colored sleeves and, oh, now that I'm closer I finally see a weency little outline of a winged horse. The risk was too great! Sorry, black on black.
So, everyone cross your fingers and hope that all shapes show up as planned on the kit. Champ-Sys is usually great at turning my drawings into the correct forms to fit a 3D surface, but I'll still take good thoughts. So send them our way!
Anyway, the TPWC kit had a couple of cool features I'm liking so far. The left justified logos on the back are doing it for me. I'm also kinda stoked about the 'off registration' lines around the pegasus on the front. It shows just a hint of color, as if the light is hitting a glass Pegasus and it's casting colors onto the jersey. It's nothing totally new, but I was excited to try it.
As with years past, there will be a white kit as well.
The shorts are.... okay. The stripe will (should) line up with the jersey, so I'm hoping that it looks good. It's hard to say, though. Maybe it will make people's torsos look freakishly long. Maybe the jog over to the side of the leg will look awkward. I think these kinds of difficult details are what make a race kit look good, if you can get them right. But sometimes you only know if you got it right when you finally see someone wearing the kit.
I nearly went with black Pegasus on black jersey (and white on white). I think it looks great and pops on-screen, but may have lost a little when printed. And if that happened, who would want a black jersey with colored sleeves and, oh, now that I'm closer I finally see a weency little outline of a winged horse. The risk was too great! Sorry, black on black.
So, everyone cross your fingers and hope that all shapes show up as planned on the kit. Champ-Sys is usually great at turning my drawings into the correct forms to fit a 3D surface, but I'll still take good thoughts. So send them our way!
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Bear Scarf
A few months ago I made this scarf as a surprise for a friend who loves bears. The stuffed animal bear head is actually a hat he already owned.
It's a very simple crocheted scarf I made extra thick by crocheting two types of yarn at once- a trick I like to do a lot. The 'claws' (which really remind me of Bugles) are just basically tubes made increasingly small until they taper to a point. There's the correct way to do things... and then there's my way.
It's a very simple crocheted scarf I made extra thick by crocheting two types of yarn at once- a trick I like to do a lot. The 'claws' (which really remind me of Bugles) are just basically tubes made increasingly small until they taper to a point. There's the correct way to do things... and then there's my way.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
The Wonderful World of Knitting
Biking? Nope! I've definitely been doing more crafts than cycling lately. Robb and I are taking a knitting class every Tuesday night and learning new tricks. Rather than samplers, I made a bunch of washcloths in different patterns so they'd be useful. I used some cotton yarn I had around so this is really quite the thrifty endeavor.
I've been using up some yarn from my stash and making some quick and easy hats. Today I will be tackling pom-poms for the tops of them. Big day!
One evening we went to the yarn store in the Arcade and then hit up our favorite book store, the Battery Park Book Exchange, and sit and read and sip wine and eat a cheese plate. Who says we don't know how to have fun? This is seriously a very cool place, though somewhat loud some nights. The combination of drinks and large seating areas for groups can be a deadly annoying combo.
As seen at the yarn store, yarn with Possum in it. I tend to want a 2:1 ratio of Possum to Organic Cotton, but what can you do?
I've been using up some yarn from my stash and making some quick and easy hats. Today I will be tackling pom-poms for the tops of them. Big day!
One evening we went to the yarn store in the Arcade and then hit up our favorite book store, the Battery Park Book Exchange, and sit and read and sip wine and eat a cheese plate. Who says we don't know how to have fun? This is seriously a very cool place, though somewhat loud some nights. The combination of drinks and large seating areas for groups can be a deadly annoying combo.
As seen at the yarn store, yarn with Possum in it. I tend to want a 2:1 ratio of Possum to Organic Cotton, but what can you do?
Absences, and Le Art
Well, it's been a while! So long in fact that someone has commented on my absence, and family members who read my blog are calling me to see if I've died, or maybe just gone into a coma. Truth be told, I haven't been taking many good pictures, and/or I don't feel like posting. In the world of blogs, sometimes I just don't feel like I've done anything interesting enough to make people read about it, and from my Blogger stats, it looks like only 6 people read this thing on any given day. Although, I think that maybe the number's actually so large it confuses the internet into spitting out erroneous numbers. Yep. Probably that.
Anyway, over the next couple of days I'll try to post up some stuff I've done in the past couple of weeks. Rather than start with the older stuff, I'll go with what I did yesterday since it's still new and exciting to me.
I do some portrait modeling for an art league here in Asheville, and recently we've been meeting at one of the members' house since they're between facilities, waiting for the new one to be finished. This is the layout, with me missing from the model's stand.
It's a nice set-up and the woman hosting us is so gracious- coffee and tea for all, and sometimes people bring snacks. It's one of the more relaxed classes I've been a part of. There's lots of great art from this group, but for brevity's sake I'll just post one portrait of me, from the same day as the picture above.
So, with all of that as background, yesterday I finally scraped together the courage to join them to draw. They're all quite talented, and it's been such a long time since I've drawn, and I don't think I've ever sat down to do a portrait. I was slow to choose a medium and start (charcoal, graphite stick, water soluble pencil, conte crayon, conte pencil....) but eventually I chose a graphite stick and got down to it. I was thinking I would do a couple of sketches over the three hour period, but wound up just working on one drawing the whole time:
It's not a great work of art, but I'm very happy with how it went. Every time I draw after a long time away, I'm kind of astonished at how it all comes back. Like there's this talent that lies dormant and even though I don't see it or feel it, when I sit down to draw it's right there, same as always. That probably sounds like I'm full of myself, but there are many shades of 'talent', and there are so many people more talented than I am. My point is that the abilities that I can lay claim to are are still there, not that I'm God's gift to art. GOT IT? Good.
Now for some more practice.
Anyway, over the next couple of days I'll try to post up some stuff I've done in the past couple of weeks. Rather than start with the older stuff, I'll go with what I did yesterday since it's still new and exciting to me.
I do some portrait modeling for an art league here in Asheville, and recently we've been meeting at one of the members' house since they're between facilities, waiting for the new one to be finished. This is the layout, with me missing from the model's stand.
It's a nice set-up and the woman hosting us is so gracious- coffee and tea for all, and sometimes people bring snacks. It's one of the more relaxed classes I've been a part of. There's lots of great art from this group, but for brevity's sake I'll just post one portrait of me, from the same day as the picture above.
So, with all of that as background, yesterday I finally scraped together the courage to join them to draw. They're all quite talented, and it's been such a long time since I've drawn, and I don't think I've ever sat down to do a portrait. I was slow to choose a medium and start (charcoal, graphite stick, water soluble pencil, conte crayon, conte pencil....) but eventually I chose a graphite stick and got down to it. I was thinking I would do a couple of sketches over the three hour period, but wound up just working on one drawing the whole time:
It's not a great work of art, but I'm very happy with how it went. Every time I draw after a long time away, I'm kind of astonished at how it all comes back. Like there's this talent that lies dormant and even though I don't see it or feel it, when I sit down to draw it's right there, same as always. That probably sounds like I'm full of myself, but there are many shades of 'talent', and there are so many people more talented than I am. My point is that the abilities that I can lay claim to are are still there, not that I'm God's gift to art. GOT IT? Good.
Now for some more practice.
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