Weddings. How planning one takes over your life...

Planning a wedding as a designer, especially as one obsessed with details, is simply a curse. I never dreamed of the perfect wedding, but I got so wrapped up in the madness that the rest of my life took a break. Before I knew it I was doing hand calligraphy on all my invites, and not just for a few guests like I had originally planned. My dining room table was a black hole for supplies for months, and eventually my living room turned into a jungle that was impossible to walk through.

I was not myself, and as proof pink -a color I am not fan of- ended up being one of our main colors. A color I constantly wanted to match to a Pantone since I kept getting Pepto Bismol pink, rather than blush. Designing a monogram and sketching a few pages of our initials made me seem like a schoolgirl in love covering my notebooks in my crush's name. I was not a bridezilla in the sense that I made other people's lives a nightmare, it was my own life and it was all on me.

A free generic wedding website won't do for a designer, and since they are awfully ugly I played around with a Wordpress theme, one that I'm still updating post wedding [ found here ]. Basically anything that can be designed - so pretty much everything - you can't help but try to work on. Despite scrapping most of the DIY projects, those, and Pinterest,  took over my life. I was surprised I got sucked into all of it, but it was nice that in the end guests noticed. I got compliments on all details and even on my hand addressed calligraphy as soon as the invites went out.

I questioned the necessity of it all constantly, and if the lack of sleep was really worth it. This pressure was created because in my mind, people expect designers to have beautiful weddings, that stand out in some way. I've seen weddings of my old design colleagues and was blown away by the details, but now I'm wondering how much sleep they got during their planning period. There were so many signs to make and so many things to spray paint gold...

Now that's it's over, I can get back to life without wedding planning, and just organize the aftermath. I am never tying another bow in my life! (I must've tied over 500). The day was perfect, and the visuals were not bad, but of course I can tell the signs I made at 3 am. Below are some images of the invites.

String drawing

The other day I had to dye some string and started drawing marks with it while it was still wet. That's how this drawing started. It follows the paths created by the string and it was all left to chance.

I was born in the most unhappy place on earth...

"Once upon a time there was a little girl and she lived in the most unhappy place on Earth...". According to Eric Weiner and his book, it's how my story would start, that is if my life was a fairytale.

Recently he wrote a book titled The Geography of Bliss in which my homecountry (Moldova) was rated the most miserable place on earth. He makes valid arguments for people's unhappiness, but those who jump to Moldova's defense make some counterpoints, or at least give valid reasons why the country is in its current state. I could write a lot on this delicate subject; not attacking mister Weiner's opinion but probably supporting it, at least partially. Then again perhaps being raised in that country I am already doomed to be a cynical pessimist and overall wet blanket. A family friend used to always ask: "Why do you have that sad look on your face of an exiled princess on the Black Sea?" Perhaps the sadness is already engraved on my face.

I've been thinking a lot lately about identity and culture. The problem with Moldova, as with many other former Soviet Union countries, is that our people had their identity stolen from them, and they no longer know who they are as a nation. It's a very long convoluted history that takes time to explain, and a problem my generation won't solve. However, it's not a dump, it's not under some sadness spell, and there are some happy people going on with their lives unbeknownst to them that they should be miserable. There are some very intelligent people, some very talented people, and some beautiful ones (despite mr. Weiner's statement that men don't take care of their appearance and women wear raccoon makeup).

I only grew up with two kinds of ice cream flavors (vanilla or chocolate) and didn't have peanut butter or cream cheese, but those were the least of my problems. I've had conversations with people about my background and recently I got this reaction: "wow, your childhood sounds awful, why are you such a nice person?" Maybe most of us from Moldova learn to be happy with fewer things, and learn to be kind when life finally gives us a break. Perhaps because in the end, despite our condition, we won't give up. We cannot chose where we are born, although we can choose to leave. Our parents raise us right and fight hard as hell to give us a better future working with what they have. And for that we are grateful, not unhappy.

Somewhere in my photo archive there are a lot more images, a lot probably even bleaker than these, and a lot more cheery, but  no need to go down memory lane. Just a snippet...

1. A partial view from my apartment right before the rain when the crows are going mad, so you get the morose feeling
2. My grandmother's house, after the chickens have escaped from the back
3. A tractor in the village

Why do people in MN talk about the weather 24/7?

When we jokingly call it MinneSNOWta we aren't kidding.
The reason Minnesotans talk about the weather nonstop is because it feels like half of the time it's trying to kill us. Winter ate spring this year, plain and simple. The following photos were taken April 19, when we thought we had the last snow storm of the season. In reality it happen much later—mid May—when most of the world was enjoying blooming trees and fresh green grass. At this point I have so many "Winter Storm" photo folders it's all a big deja vu, so pretend this is the last snow storm of the year.

Easter Coloring Book

I illustrated (and designed) my first coloring book!

Was that on my bucket list? Yes it was, without me realizing it because it sure felt good to get this done. From sketching stage to illustration, to design and production, this was a lot of fun.
It's a little sad without color, but the characters are happy—as most children's books characters are. I recently received the Prismacolor pencils, so a special thanks to my art "benefactors" they were finally put to use as I colored a few pages. I'm hoping to get some pencil illustrations done soon, since they are just great—no crayons for me!

This is very different from my usual style, peppy and simplified, with a very different line quality I usually work in. However, the product and audience dictates style and direction. It shows you that an artist (or at least this one) can easily adapt beyond their usual style.

So you can finally see the busy bees on the cover!
There are more images, a preview into character development, and the full book on my website.

You can also see it live here where I'm credited in the "Behind the story."

Kathy's Canned Goods/ Food Styling

I recently added a few more pieces to the project Kathy's Canned Goods, which involved some food photography and styling. One thing I learned from the experience is the following. For some photography you can get by with just the camera; for product photography you are in deep trouble without the proper set-up and equipment (I am currently accepting donations).
Balancing light back-in when you are standing on a table quickly escalates into acrobatics while you are attempting to move a wilting sprig of parsley out of your shot, and trying not to spill a bowl of soup. I now understand why the Food Stylist and Photographer are never one and the same (cudos if you are, and I'll take some tips on that!).

I've assisted in a product shoot in the past, with a brilliant photographer at Rat Race Studios, where the set-up and process where so flawless that Ken made it look easy (not that I believed for a second that it was). Let me assure you it is anything but. It is a separate skill from portrait photography, and from capturing a moment since you are creating one much more than anything else. My compositions went from elaborate set-up scenes, to something more simple, where I could actually manage and be in control of the shot. Product photography sure is a beast.

Below are some of the shots, and the full project on my website.

  

A dog day Monday

This tends to happen a lot during staff meetings and conference calls: I doodle.
Last time bees, this time dogs.