This August marks my and Shea’s 10th anniversary in Memphis—and less important, but noteworthy, the 9th anniversary of Fox Design.
As we celebrate all we’ve done (and all we’ve not done) at Fox Design, I’m reminded of the old saying, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”
So here’s to 10 years of trying. And hopefully to 10, er, 9, more. And oh yeah, succeeding. We’ll take that too.
Over the last 7 months or so, I’ve been combing through my work looking for interesting, and perhaps forgotten, illustration work for the new site. I came across several pieces I’ve done in the past that I haven’t posted online in a format suitable for viewing. This vector drawing of City Hall in Oxford Mississippi, commissioned by a friend for the Oxford Tourism Council, is a good example. More to come soon!
Today is my daughter Lucy’s sixth birthday.
After dinner our family took a “Cinderella” carriage ride through downtown Memphis. We went by the Cotton Exchange building, which, In my opinion, could be the most beautiful building in downtown Memphis. We passed the newly renovated limestone Post Office building, that’s now the the new U of M Law School. We clopped on through Confederate Park and then on to Court Square. (more…)
“We fail a lot. We just don’t fail by the time the movie comes out.
John would be the first to tell you that every movie we’ve made has been at one point the biggest piece of garbage we’ve ever worked on.”
—Lee Unkrich, Director of Pixar’s “Toy Story 3″
From a fascinating article in Variety about John Lasster’s take on the role of failure in the creative process.
Here are a few highlights from a story about Bethesda, Maryland artist Jean Shin I heard on NPR this morning.
“In Jean’s hands, the process of making these objects new again, of giving them life [and] restored purpose, and making us look at them — or asking us to look at them — in a completely new way is very artful,” says Joanna Marsh
Used lottery tickets form the basis of another piece, Chance City, where the losing tickets become colorful houses of cards — an imaginary city full of chance and, Shin says, optimism.
“Picking up your life and moving to the city and giving it all you can, your dreams may change — transform,” Shin says. “But somehow, I think all of us retain that memory of something that they really wanted to do, and against all odds, are able to succeed.”
Okay, so my last post needs a little explanation. I started Twittering a week ago Sunday last Sunday night. Right smack-dab in the middle of what’s probably the biggest Twitter-lovefest ever known to man, SXSWi. Okay, I admit. I’m what they call a “lurker”. But I’m a recovering lurker after the chain of events that has happened to me since then. I lived vicariously through several people I was following, and through the #sxsw trend as people listened to keynotes, twittered each other, hit the Google and Facebook parties. (more…)
“I have to single out Ed Catmull, John Lasseter and Steve Jobs for creating a cinematic safe haven where only a film like WALL-E could be made.”
-Andrew Stanton,
from his Oscar acceptance speech for Best Animated Feature
“Much of the days I spend in the studio, I am preparing, waiting, and working to get ready to paint. Being a full-time artist means spending more than half of my time earning the right to create.”
-Makoto Fujimura, refractions
Since I’m on the topic of wood, I thought I’d post this little illustration I did for a friend’s blog post on Smart City Memphis.
Dear God, please let something like this happen