Hello

Welcome to my design journey, a journey which officially began this week when I started a 5-year program in interior architecture at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro (North Carolina, USA). I will be documenting this journey in this bog. Showcasing my personal development in skills and orientations, as well as the training one receives here in my fabulous program.

This is my first foray into the publishing of personal information on the internet. I don’t have a “MySpace” or “Facebook” page. My reasons for this are varied (e.g., avoidance of an avenue to look stupid or otherwise undesirable in public, avoidance of having to maintain an additional means of communication with others beyond phone calls and email, fear of being tracked down by a psychopathic killer or rapist). However, maintaining a bog is a requirement of my program and thus all my reservations against placing personal information in cyberspace must be overcome. Who knows, I may soon (to the joy of my friends) actually make my own MySpace page.

This blog is partially inspired by the sketch blog of France Belleville
www.wagonized.typepad.com

Her blog strikes a nice balance between providing factual information and personal orientation. Her tone is confident, yet friendly and personable, her humor enjoyable, and her artwork engages. Not only is she a technically skilled artist; she also has a way of infusing her personality into her work. I would find it just as easy to identify the drawings of France Belleville as I would her writings. That strong representation of self in visual design is something that I aspire to, just as I aspire to develop technical skills in this area.

Below you can see my very first drawing for my “Design Visualization” class. We were given a limited span of time in class to draw our feet. As you can see, I have plenty of room for the development of technical skills! I may easily be the least technically skilled individual in my class. Previous drawing classes have been negative experiences for me. My lack of skill, has in the past, generated quite a bit of inward turned shame, and sadness, as well as frustration. However, at the ripe old age of 28, I have come to possess far more self acceptance and self love than I did when I was younger. Looking at my drawing below makes me smile. It is me, and I like me. Expressing myself through art, like expressing myself through design, may actually be fun.