Welcome to my first blog!

Hello, everyone and welcome to my first blog!

Let me tell you a little about myself. I am a 50 something visual artist living in Houston who loves creating surface designs and patterns for apparel. This love comes from my delight when uncovering what happens when I pair and repeat visual objects together to produce a whole new visual object from a single one. To achieve this task, I record, edit and expand photographic images into patterns and watch the new designs unfold before me. I have been taking pictures as long as I can remember and drawing shapes too, so my designs have been evolving for awhile. I continue to be prolific and embrace producing digital collages as often as possible.

Technically, my digital collages are created from images I capture using cameras or shapes I draw with a pencil and paper. I then use a computer program to layout and repeat my images, or drawn objects when creating patterns. The process of editing, cropping or color adjusting the photographic images is done using a photo editing computer program. My drawings are transferred into an electronic file and colorized using either solid color or an image that I have taken. Lastly, I use apparel templates to layout patterns and repeats. I can then export my digital designs to common high-resolution print formats that are ready for printing on clothing apparel, accessories and home decor.

My professional career began in in the 80s with visual communications, graphic design and photojournalism producing content and graphics for magazines and newspapers. Now my path has moved into digital design while leaning into fine arts, gallery spaces and surface design. Scholastically, I hold a Bachelor degree in Studio Art and Sociology from Ball State University and an Associates in Arts degree from Houston Community College where I have also taught design and digital arts classes. 

Until next post, take care, Jimmy