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Inspiration & Tips

Camino de Santiago

We are surrounded and often bombarded by technology in our lives. The Camino offers an escape, an opportunity to disconnect and detox from digital habits. The trek was undoubtedly one of the most beautiful and unique experience in my life, and a haven for self-reflection.

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Nature As Canvas, Take 2!

Switching up from @nonamerocks, we’re giving leaves a go. Sometimes the best art happens without planning. I noticed these leaves everywhere on some of my ‘digital detox” nature walks here in Australia. Eucalyptus leaves are a sturdy leaf, and a beautiful feather shape (and the scent of the tree itself is intoxicating). I started collecting the leaves and bunches of them sat scattered on my table. It was only a matter of time when they were to meet their fate with the posca pens!

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Don’t Wait For Something To Go Wrong!

Owning a website has its responsibilities, and regular maintenance is a must. As a website owner, you are responsible to ensure your site is secure and up to date. I tell clients that websites are like cars. If you don’t perform the routine maintenance than this can cause a lot of stress, frustration and money in the future. Time to check your engines!

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1,181 Trees Planted

For Earth Day 2018, I and my favorite charity (no name) Art Group promote the use of reusable thermoses & mugs by hosting an online CupArt gallery. Supporters can view the online CupArt for a $1 donation to One Tree Planted. Our fundraiser ended in $1,181 in donations – that’s 1,181 trees planted, hooray!

I created some fun CupArt while in Australia. My “real” cups were donated to an art exhibition in Sydney.

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Latest Published Work!

I don’t knit, but by the time I was done these batches of illustrations I feel like I could confidently knit a sweater. Dozens of technical illustrations for this job, which involved detailed inspection of knitting swatches. It was nice to pick up some colored pencils again!

First Swatch Sample

Once upon a time, I wanted to be a medical illustrator. Then I found out that I needed to take classes in a morgue, so that idea dropped quickly. But I still find great joy in disecting anything other subject matter that doesn’t contain blood and guts. These made me happy.

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Rock on!

squirrel-rock2Rock art was an idea that was brewing in my head ever since I traveled through New Zealand in 2015. We came across a beach in the South island that was covered by thousands of the most beautiful smooth white rocks. I gathered a handful and around the world they traveled with me.

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Our Travel Adventure!

Here it is! Our 2014-2015 “around the world” adventure all summed up in 5 minutes. My partner and I explored 18 countries in 15 months – Bulgaria, Italy France, Spain, UK, India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Burma, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand- needless to say it’s been an unforgettable experience.

Therapeutic Paper Projects

December has brought upon deep cravings for any type of project that uses my hands….in ways other than typing on a keyboard. This desire, along with my recycling obsession and the holiday season, has led me down a crafty road of festive ornaments. Who knew a Brooklyn subway map could be so pretty? It’s fun to learn something new. Keeps the ‘ol noodle in check…

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Memory Portrait Nepal

I was very happy to initiate this project this year. This is the (no name) Art Group’s 4th time doing Memory Portraits. Mine was done for Prasama. It is a 20-hour “meditation” portrait dedicated to Prasama. It was created by repeated patterns, each mark made in a spirit of kindness and compassion. Let it reflect the beauty of universal love – and that it not be restricted to just the few persons nearest to us, but to all living creatures in the world.

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2015/16 Marketing: What To Keep And Cut

This is a great article written by ROI, a leading digital marketing company in Australia but is relevant anywhere. Business owners take a few minutes to know where to invest your dollars this year!

Cut It………

1. LinkedIn cold selling

Treating your LinkedIn contacts or any other social network’s connections as a database for email campaigns is a bad idea. Instead, concentrate on using LinkedIn the way it was intended, by having meaningful discussions.

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Once Upon A Time

I fell in love with pencils from the moment I could hold one in my hand. Most of my pencil drawings these days are sketches in my travel journals. But I still love creating work that focuses on details. I choose this medium often with (no name) Art Group projects. Below is a portrait I created as a gift for “Stephen”, founder of El-Shadai Foster Home in Uganda. Learn more about this project here >

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A guide to publishing wordpress posts

Writing A WordPress Post

Congratulations! Your WordPress website is up and running. Posting in your blog is easy, but it’s absolutely essential that you do it correctly! Invest in about 15 minutes to read through below. Following a few guidelines will make all the difference and increase website traffic.

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Tips for better email marketing

Email Usability

 The Science Of Keeping It Short & Sweet

Great advise written by Ros Hodgekiss / Campaign Monitor

You’ve probably heard the advice, ‘Keep your email campaign short and sweet’, often followed by, ‘… because no-one’s going to read loads of copy, anyway’. As much as this seems like commonsense, we’ve all seen clients attempt to cram in as much information as possible, oblivious to reason. I believe this is largely due to another school of thought, which goes along the lines of, “My subscribers have signed up because they obviously want to read all about my brand values and 5 year plan.” With a lack of hard evidence to the contrary on hand, this can be an frustrating argument to dismiss.

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Travel Sketches

My travel journals have become my heart and soul. When I’m not “working”, there’s nothing I want more then to NOT finish something to completion. I don’t want to analyze it, but to enjoy the process without worrying about the end result. Sketching in my travel journals allow for just that. They also force me to put down the camera and really look at a person, place or thing in detail…to appreciate it and love it for all it’s beauty. Then turn the page, and start again…

How To Get Your Website Ranked On Google

Quick things you should do now:

  • Add the website URL to Google
  • Include the website address in your LinkedIn profile and ask your staff to do the same
  • Add the website address to your Google profile
  • Make sure that all your marketing materials include your website – letterhead, business cards, print ads, flyers
  • Share your new website on Facebook/Google +/Twitter
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SEO Help – How To Write Great Website Content

Content is king they say. This has never been so true as it is when you are talking about web content. There is so much information available on the web these days that people expect information to be unique, timely and relevant. The content needs to be fast loading, clean and easy to read, easy to navigate and especially easy for the search engines to index.

This is the recipe for successful web content in a nutshell but getting from theory to reality is the part that most web sites miss. Going beyond the obvious — Good grammar, spelling and choosing a clean, clear typeface — there are many things that you can do to write quality content for your website. Here are a few to consider:

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Types Of Logos

Selecting the correct type of logo can be critical

( By The Logo Factory)

While there are an infinite number of variables that are possible with any corporate identity design project, and many company logos ‘straddle’ the various types, our designers have found that most design ‘treatments’ will fall into four distinct categories; Text, Iconic, Graphical and Illustrative. While these categories are certainly not to be viewed as absolutes, and many logos have the features of several types, this is a fairly basic, yet accurate, overview for those new to the logo design process. Each logo type has it’s merits, while others have disadvantages. Some types are more appropriate for certain market segments than others. By being familiar with the different versions, and their strengths and weaknesses, you can make an educated decision on which logo type is more suited to your requirements.

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