I am switching over to Wordpress. Please follow me there.

Holly Herick: Creative Adventures

What is growing in your backyard right now?

Inspired by friend Sandy of Reluctant Entertainer, I thought I would post some of my current garden photos. Most of my creative inspiration comes from the outdoors, specifically my garden. The other half of my inspiration comes from people. I love to create paintings with family and friends in mind.

This watercolor was painted for Sandy, thanks for the coffee date Sandy.

Photos from my Yard:

File formats and acronyms: .jpg .gif .png .pdf

Many of my clients get confused about which file format to use when uploading items to their web site or when using files for print. It is hard to explain, but I am going to try my best in order to help out any non-techies out there. These are not the only formats available, but these are the most widely used.

JPG or "Joint Photographic Experts Group" is commonly used for digital photography. This format has been around since about 1992. Maybe you use the format when uploading photos to your social networking site such a facebook. This format compresses the file size to manageable size for web transfer; however, it is a "lossy" format. Meaning, each time the file is saved as a .jpg, info is lost by compression. Do not save original source files from design programs to .jpg for this reason.

GIF or " Graphic Interchange Format" has been around since about 1987. It is an 8 bit format, meaning it uses only 256 colors. It is a "lossless" format and supports transparency. You say " what does that mean, supports tranpsency?" Well, for example, when you try to place your business logo on a colored background or predesigned web template with a cool background and you get that white box behind it—that is totally distracting—from the page layout, and makes your logo look like a brick… that file is not supporting transparency. Therefore, because it supports transparency, GIF is often the best file type to use for logos and icons. GIF even supports some minor animation.

PNG or " Portable Network Graphics" is a "lossless" (no compression, no data lost) format that supports transparency and millions of colors. So it seems like this would be the best format hands down, why not just use PNG all the time? PNGs creates a large file size and are not supported by some of the older web browsers. As web standards progress, this will probably be the best choice for logos and icons.

PDF or "Portable Document Format" is used for printable files. It is used universally by MAC and Windows based computers. PDFs are what you would supply to your printer for business cards, flyers, brochures, etc. PDFs are exported from many different computer software programs like the Adobe Create Suite 5, also known as CS5. There are many different ways to save a PDFs from these programs. I would encourage you to find and build a relationship with a printer in your area. From my experience, a good relationship with a printer is invaluable. I like to use Arnie at Pronto Print in the Medford area. You can find more info about Pronto Print at www.gopronto.com or www.pronto.colorforbusiness.com or email Arnie at prontoprint@gopronto.com for personal service. If all of this seems a little daunting and you would rather have someone who understands the design process to handle your printing needs, then call me at 541.899.7093. To view my portfolio check out the link on the left, or go to Holly Herick Design, or Holly Herick Illustration.

If you have any more questions about these file formats, give me a call or drop me a note at hollyherick@charter.net and I will try to answer them.

One last acronym for today,

TTFN

Mother's Day means veggie garden at my house

I am a very happy mother this Mother's day. I got dirt. I also got raised vegetable beds built by my favorite handyman, my very own husband, David.

First raised bed, view from deck.

Mantis tiller helps break up our clay soil. Rogue Premium from the Grange Co-op was added—smells good.

Planning the arrangement in the first bed. Baby lettuce in foreground.

Gotta love him.

David building the second veggie bed. It helps to have your very own handyman.

Tilling in the good soil. We have red clay and veggies don't care for the it much.

This year's garden includes:

Eight types of tomatoes:

Mr. Stripey

Sweet Millions (a standard in my garden)

Sweet 100's

Burpee Burger

Cherokee Purple

Tangerine tomato

Lemon tomato

4th of July (Early tomato)

Three kinds of cucumbers:

Lemon (a standard for us)

Express

forgot ????

Two kinds of strawberries

Cheddar Cauliflower. Can't wait to taste this.

Chives and Basil—not pictured.

Cilantro and carrots—not yet sprouted.

Baby lettuce, love the speckles.

Patty Pan Squash.

Have you ever gardened with your kids? It is amazing to watch children grow food and then eat it. It makes the food extra special. What's your favorite to grow? "Create Adventures" in your own garden.

April Showers, bring May Flowers, and Prom

Old gardens are extra special.

Today I went with a friend to her mother's garden which was abundant with Lilacs and Snowballs. It is not the fact that her mother is older than us that made the garden glorious, but the fact that the garden is mature. What a treat to have to climb a ladder to fetch these beautiful Lilacs. We have a special project in mind for these flowers, soon they will become a wrist corsage for his Prom date.

This week Dillon and I went to the store to purchase crystals for Kayla's corsage. We used elastic cord and made a three strand bracelet—two of the stands were tight so they would hold the flowers to her wrist. Above is the bracelet we designed. It has one large teardrop crystal at the bottom.

Dillon wrapping the flower stems with florist tape. Lilacs and Snowballs.

The flowers were attached to the crystals with florist tape.

Kayla wearing the corsage. For me, part of having a creative home is sharing with my children. The time I spent with Dillon working on this bracelet corsage will be forever in my mind.

Flowers are my favorite inspiration throughout the year. I loose track of time when I am in the garden. Every flower, to me, is like a intricate painting from God—a glorious creation, right in front of me. What a wonderful way to enjoy flowers, by sharing them with Kayla. How can I NOT get excited? Happy May Day!

Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other's gold.

I seem to have some sort of connection to photographers these days. First I worked on a logo for Tim Tidball Photography, and now for Soulful Heart Photography. Soulful Heart Photography is the business of an old high school friend Patty Rader Williams. Above is one of my favorite photograph's of Patty's. Below is her revised logo.

Isn't it amazing that we can still keep in touch via this social network called "facebook." Maybe you've heard of it?

My mother used to say, "Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other's gold." She also used to say, "You'll never remain friends with those kids after high school." Well, Mama was right in some ways and wrong in others. Patty is a "golden" friend who now lives in Texas. I have never been to Texas, yet she contacted me recently for some small business design work. What an amazing tool facebook is to display my creative efforts.

I am so impressed with Patty's collection of photographs that I thought I would share a few with you.

As a graphic designer, I have learned that friendships made over the years are one of the strongest factors in finding work. Although it has been years since Patty and I have seen each other, I get to maintain a friendship and appreciate her talents by keeping in touch. Maybe I will get to travel to Texas to see Patty again. If you live in the Texas area or are interested in Patty's photography visit her website at Soulful Heart Photography.

"Pink Church"

In our little historic town we have a "Pink Church." It is a lovely building—the subject of many tourist's photographs. The church is over 100 years old—which is old for the west coast. At the end of the Oregon Trail, is a gold mining town called Jacksonville, established in 1800s. From the roots of the town, the First Presbyterian Church of Jacksonville has been here, since 1881. The church has outgrown the old historic building, but still remains in town at a new location. Many of the original building's wonderful architectural characteristics were used in the design of the new structure.

photo by Tonya Pontevint

First Presbyterian Church of Jacksonville

http://www.jvillepres.org/

425 Middle Street, PO Box 297
Jacksonville, Oregon 97530
Phone: 541-899-1287

So what color is your church? Who do you worship? What do you believe? What and who is on the inside?

The exterior color of your church is not important. What is important is that you know our Creator.