My Views of the World at Large



Yoder, Kansas at Sunset



Bird begging for attention at the Airport



Water Lily Pond that has since been destroyed.



Downtown Mount Hope, Kansas late afternoon.



Mount Hope CO-OP on an overcast day



The Wheatfield outside of Mount Hope, Kansas



Sky on fire over Mount Hope, Kansas



Storm Clouds south of Mount Hope, Kansas

Google SketchUp Animations

Time for another post friends and lovers.

So for some of my classes at W.S.U. I used Google SketchUp in some of my final projects.  One was for my Intro to Art and Design class and another was for my Design 2 class.  For my Intro to Art and Design class I was part of a group so I took all of our sketches and came up with a 3D rendering which we all agreed on and earned a fantastic grade with I am proud to say. The assignment was to redesign a public art piece and re-imagine the public art and if wanted seek out an ideal location for the public art.  This was part of a group project so I and the members of my group came up with some sketches and together came up with a design we could work with.  I took our sketches and made a 3D rendering in Google SketchUp and it was well recieved in our class presentation.
For my next design in Google SketchUp I was assigned to design a green or prefabricated building as a final project for my Foundation Design 2 class.  Since this was my own design I decided to design most of the building within Google SketchUp with the exception of a few preliminary sketches.  I  posted about this assignment earlier this year on this blog so you can look it up if you'd like to.

The third animation featured was a just for fun project for the summer.  I designed a circular building that could be used as a community center, school, or visitors center.  During my time designing this building I learned how to animate within Google SketchUp and how to export the animation from the program.  Awesome I think. 
I took the animations that I created and imported them to Windows Movie Maker and created a short film with all three animations.  I created some music with the program Music Creator 5 to add to the movie. Otherwise it would be very dull just watching a movie without sound.  Anyway I hope you enjoy the movie.

Summer Project #2 Ink Blots

Hi, so now I've got a little extra time to work on random projects that pop into my head.  So last night I decided to try another ink project and also to use up the last of a Bristol board pad.  I remembered looking at ink blots as a kid and thought why not make some. It was a quick and easy project!  Here is what you need to get started:

1. Ink: I recommend Bombay ink as it comes with its own dropper.  You can find this ink at Hobby Lobby just ask and they'll direct you to where they have it.  I used black but I think blue, green, purple, and red would work as well.
2. Bristol Board: Your favorite brand will do but for this project I used Canson Bristol Recycled XL 11x14 96lb. 

Yeah only two items this time.  

(You might want to use gloves and lay down some paper towels before starting this project.) 

So take 1 piece of Bristol board and fold it in half and then unfold it. Then open your ink and with the dropper very lightly drop ink on one half of the Bristol. Little drops are optimum any more and you'll make a mess. Refold the Bristol and quickly rub the folded paper no longer than the count of three then unfold the Bristol and Abracadabra you have your very own ink blot. 

Featured here are the inkblots that I made.  Hope you have some fun if you want to give this project a try!

Summer Project #1

Hi, I decided to be a little crafty during June.  I was able to complete this side project of a paper mache vase.  I bought the paper mache vase at DCC outlet in Wichita, KS and they had very nice variety of paper mache items.
I started by painting the whole thing white. Then I painted the whole vase blue. Once the vase was blue I dreamed up a design and painted it in. I hope y'all like it. I was attempting to make it look like a piece of pottery.