FEBRUARY OF A THOUSAND PHOTOS

That's not a brag, kind of the opposite actually. But I'm happy about it because the images were mostly from a trip to a spot in Florida that is completely new to me. I'm considering myself very lucky to have a chance to go south with the family for a bit. And you're not going to believe this, but I took 30ish of my favorite non-people photos from this trip—unless a pic of me counts, I took a selfie!—and threw it on my blog. Here's the link to that post. Sneak peek here 👇

A 40mm lens and nothing else 🤷‍♂️

AND ANOTHA ONE (OR EIGHT)

Remember in last month's newsletter when I introduced a new 52 week project that I was starting? I said I wanted, and I quote (myself):

"A fun, relaxing, easy way to make something that is a accomplishes a few things..."

Well I'm still going with that, thankfully! I could do it every day. But I didn't, just a few times a week, not unlike January. I'm learning that I like every color. They don't always work together, but it's interesting how I'm finding myself drawn to colors that I don't frequently use in other design work. This project is kind of liberating that way. Here's the roundup 👇

👆 The 52 week practice is STILL like 2 a week

SOMETHING NEW

I have to apologize a second because this one likely excludes most of you (sorry!) but it might excite the rest of you because it's a local thing. Local as in Ithaca, or speaking slightly broader, Tompkins County. Or as we're calling it now, ToCo.

a placeholder page for toco design rally

The current tocodesignrally.com is a placeholder page more than anything

What is it? A monthly meetup/group for graphic designers. I've been working with my friend Coralee for a few months to make this thing happen. It's going to be a morning coffee/tea/whatever hang (during the work week, challenge thrown!) on the Third Thursday of the month. Exact time and location are finalized, but we're limiting that knowledge (for now) to people who sign up for the newsletter or join the Slack.

But who is it for? Visual creatives who use a screen somehow in their practice. Have you cursed the Adobe suite in the last six months? Examples (but not limited to, we’re artists after all): Graphic designers, printmakers, illustrators, signmakers, web/product designers, art directors, photographers.

What and why? A creative group where sharing, networking, troubleshooting might lead to belonging, helping one another, human connection for lonely remote workers, leveling up, etc... Maybe we all learn something. Not a space for flagrant self-promotion.

That's it. I'm really excited about it. Our area (ToCo population just over 100,000) hasn't had anything like this in a little while. Long overdue. Last event I can remember is the Design Crawl back from 2017! Wow time can't stop, won't stop.

That was a lot. A few of you sent some good book/movie/show recommendations last time, thank you! I picked up the novel Kraken by China Miéville and am excited to start it shortly. Severance Season 2 SLAPS, y'all. And I've been listening to a new album called SAYA by Saya Gray. So there you go! I'm still off Instagram/Threads, so if you messaged me there, sorry!

Stay healthy,

Follow me on Bluesky