We had a tougher than usual winter here in the Boston area, and spring has been slow to arrive. Seeing the trees finally beginning to leaf out here inspired me to get outside with my camera today to attempt a few macro shots. It was a bit breezy at times, but I managed to get one or two… mostly in focus. Below, the tiny buds of a crabapple tree, much magnified. Happy Earth Day!
This old farm truck doesn’t do much hauling anymore, but it has come to rest in a great spot for evening sunset views.
“Bluegrass On The Bogs (BOTB) is a growing, grass-roots, volunteer-based, amazingly entertaining, organically-grown and much loved festival. It’s a three day acoustic non-traditional bluegrass festival showcasing regional bands from the New England States. BOTB features camping, jams, artisan & food vendors, kids events, workshops and more.” (source)
This time last year, I created a very quick poster and postcard design for my friends over at BOTB, so that they could have them printed up for their booth at a bluegrass music convention. Later, over the months leading up to last year’s fest, we worked on streamlining and developing the BOTB brand, producing a number of printed pieces—from the poster and postcard, to tickets, t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc. and culminating with a custom-made banner for the main stage.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of this rapidly growing festival, and so we wanted to do something special for the logo and poster design to commemorate the occasion. Larry DeJong drafted off of his original logo design to create a special 10th anniversary logo, and I worked from there to create a poster design that said bluegrass and old-timey but with a fun, modern, funky vibe as well.
Bold, radiating stripes off of the “O” gave me the colorful, vintage concert poster feel that I was looking for. A tea-stain layer added some texture and age. Pulling some pine trees from the logo for the bottom edge anchored the design, echoed the logo shape and color, and evoked the beautiful, piney woods of Camp Kiwanee, which is located adjoining cranberry bogs near Cape Cod. And last but not least, I made sure to use a liberal amount of BOTB’s signature “cranberry” color!
If you’re in the South Shore, MA area in May, and you enjoy bluegrass music, consider checking out this family-friendly festival!
If you’ve been following along here for awhile, you might remember that I started a new music project with some friends last year. I’m happy to say that we’re still having lots of fun with it, and playing out fairly regularly! With a year gone by already, our sound really taking shape, and a festival on our horizon this spring, I decided that I might risk creating a formal band photo for promotional use. We had been using random shots that people were kind enough to take at our shows. These were good, but didn’t give much for the at-a-glance viewer to go on as to what our band was about.
SO, one Sunday afternoon, I set up my makeshift home studio against a blank wall in our little cabin home. When my band mates arrived for rehearsal, I seized what was left of the natural light (along with a couple of bright fill lights) to capture some shots of them using my trusty old Lumix DMC-FZ28. I then turned the camera over to them so that they could grab some shots of me in similar light. I used Photoshop to pull everything together, dropped myself into the best shot of the guys, and added this fantastic background image, purchased from one of my favorite stock sites. This photo will get us through the next few months until we can do something outdoors with a photographer friend later this summer.
Introducing: Local Freight!
As you may have seen here, we had a few days of perfect ice on the pond last January – and no time was wasted in dusting off skates and getting out there to enjoy it! The light was just beautiful on this particular early morning, and so I grabbed my camera for a quick shot. And then things got busy, and the image languished on my hard drive for almost a year – until last week. I was casting around for the right image for our digital holiday card, and this one was decidedly “it”, after I used Photoshop to make it into “digital art.” Best wishes to all for a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!
Well, my short time filling in with Reliant Medical Group has come to a close. Ten weeks went by so fast! I enjoyed my time there very much and will miss seeing everyone. Here’s one more project that I am able to share here. Due to a company-wide rebranding, Reliant was looking to refresh their “New Doctor” ads. These ads run in multiple area publications, introducing new clinicians in the areas where they will practice. I was more than happy to give these ads a fresh look! Here’s a comp (with a stock photo and fictitious doctor name) of the updated ad that I designed for them. The background file is separate from the silhouette of the doctor, making it easy to “click together” and resize new ads as needed.
The challenge for this project was to come up with a way to deliver a complex message to a diverse group of people, using no language whatsoever. We needed a sign to communicate the need to wear a mask in the waiting room if symptoms included coughing, sneezing, etc. Any language used would need to be translated into many locally spoken dialects – going without wording enabled us to keep this message simple and direct. While there are plenty of stock images available that show people experiencing these symptoms, I found this generic “pedestrian” unisex figure worked the best to convey the message as universally as possible. I was also able to tuck in a reminder to wash hands often as well!
I’m pleased to report that I have accepted a temporary, part time job over in Worcester for the next couple of months filling in as Art Director for Reliant Medical Group. I have been taking care of urgent projects there a couple of days a week, while their Art Director is out on leave. I am enjoying both the work and the people that I work with, and was not at all surprised to learn that they are consistently voted a best place to work in the Greater Boston and Worcester area! All of which leads me to one of the first pieces that I have designed for them: this poster that now hangs in the reception lobby!
Adding another image to my growing Photoshop filter-art collection. I liked this image of three young chickens, but it became even more interesting when I boosted the contrast and applied a dry brush effect!
Lynne Fountain Creative 