Where Art, Design, and Technology Meet, with Brenda Long
Living on a busy street has pros and cons. Need a quick dinner, fresh vegetables, cupcakes, even a paperback book – got it covered. Need a parking spot out front – now that is a bit tricky. We decided to take advantage of the foot traffic and hence the Elephant from Mabell’s Zoo has moved Continue Reading…
Each year my daughter gives a handmade bell ornament to family and friends. It is important that she is actively involved in the process. Basically that means I get to assemble and tie bows while she is creative. Since we just published Mabell’s Zoo with all the illustrations created from coffee filters, I began to wonder Continue Reading…
After counting a group of 10 crayons, my daughter asked, “Who’s’ number six”. I tried to explain that six was just a number in the counting process. I mixed up the crayons (different order for the colors) and we counted again. I found it interesting that she wanted to give each crayon a proper name Continue Reading…
We visited a beautiful Conservation Center this weekend. The outside included a wild flower garden with benches, bird feeders and a garden stream and pond. The inside was full of interactive displays and critters. Being a new facility, everything was modern and employed various technologies. They even had outdoor nature sounds subtly playing in the Continue Reading…
I was recently inspired by a student’s art piece that utilized old scratched records to make flowers. I began to wonder, what else can you make from old records. How about a fish? With Father’s Day approaching and the children’s dad being a fly fisherman – that could be fun. We decided on a trout. Continue Reading…
I teach a basic programming concepts class. We cover variables, data types, loops, functions, logic, and best practice techniques. I try to employ meaningful examples as much as possible to give abstract ideas value. The idea that variable names are created by the developer and can essentially be anything is sometimes hard to grasp. Beginning Continue Reading…
I believe in sketching your ideas. Whether it is programming or art, sketches give you direction. They allow you to discover what is going to work or not, prior to spending a great deal of time with the actual materials. Another benefit, at least for me, is that the little drawings and notes end up Continue Reading…
I am working on an children’s interactive picture book, Mabell’s Zoo. The target audience is 2-5 years old. Luckily I have a test subject in the house and she is not afraid to tell me what she thinks. She has told me the color of particular animals is wrong and some animals looked sad or Continue Reading…
As an artist, I believe I must understand what it is I want to create. This can be very literal from colors and drawings and when creating multimedia, something more abstract. Painters have always studied the subject and contemporary artists still practice plein air – taking easel and supplies outdoors and painting the scene in Continue Reading…
We have a collection of power and hand tools. This includes numerous saws – each one has a specific purpose and works well in a particular situation. These tools have been around for a long time. It seems like whatever the wish, there is a tool that makes the task easier. I needed something to Continue Reading…