Art Studio/Small cabin sketch

Sketch #1: Idea for my small cabin/studio down in the woods. Reclaimed tin roof and wood. Would be 8' x 8' studio with a 8' x 8' deck. This is a fairly conservative design — I may try something more unique with some found materials.

Pothole at Folly Beach

Pothole seen at Folly Beach, SC. I wonder if I would have noticed this if not at the beach.

Sketch 6.10.13

Doodle: 1.15.13

Pitt pens and Prismacolor marker

Lost glove - Peace Y’all

Noticed this in the parking lot the other day and it made me smile. Peace ya'll.

The Golden Ratio: where design and mathematics coincide

The golden ratio (also known as the golden mean, golden section or divine proportion) is a height to width ratio that measures 0.618 and manifests itself in nature, art and architecture. The Parthenon in Greece incorporates the ratio, but it’s unknown whether or not the designers actually used the principle. The human form has this same basic geometric relationship — DaVinci studied this and created drawings that illustrated the proportion in his Vitruvian Man (below). Piet Mondrian used the golden ratio in much of his work in  the 1920′s. Even Twitter uses the golden ratio principle for it’s screen design.

The Golden Ratio looks like this:

It's defined as the ratio between two segments such that the smaller (bc) segment is to the larger segment (ab) is to the sum of the two segments (ac), or bc/ab = ab/ac = 0.618.

And can be calculated like this (adding 1 to the ratio is phi, yielding the same basic geometric relationship):

More examples of the Golden Ratio:

Fascinating! Is it an inherent aesthetic preference or is it a design technique turned tradition? How do you explain the proportion found in nature? However you decide to answer those questions, it’s hard to argue that it has had an enormous impact on art and design over the years and continues to influence design today. Next time you see something that just “feels” right, or that you just can’t take your eyes off of, take a look at the proportions and remember – Ahh, it must be the 0.618!

- Ryon

Library of Congress and Bill of Rights detail

I found this beautiful version of the Bill of Rights on the Library of Congress site, which has an amazing collection of images: A Bill of Rights as provided in the Ten Original Amendments to The Constitution of the United States in force December 15, 1791. http://www.loc.gov  http://1.usa.gov/Ha5LQY

Pain at the Pump

Soda Wars

Looks like Coke has held up a little better than Pepsi. Wait, is that an ashtray in the middle?

Protect Antarctica Poster

Poster I designed to support scientific research and preservation of Antarctica and its habitat. Specifically for Dean Schuster of www.truematter.com, who is running a marathon in Antarctica for the cause: Check it out at http://runningwithpenguins.com/

 

Project Bike - Sears 5-speed

My latest project bike — I love the classic styling and modern graphics on this bike. Bonus that it's green and it's made in Austria (probably by Puch). Trying to decide whether this should be a Fixie conversion or a restore to original? These pictures don't illustrate how much work this bike will need.

After five months of on-and-off work, lots of elbow grease and finding just the right parts, it's complete! 

The restored 5-speed below:

New wheelset, tires, tubes, derauiller (Simplex), new vintage styled seat, recycled cork/rubber grips, new  left brake lever, brake pads and all cables. Ready to hit the street!

if…

Sometimes things appear in the most unexpected places. If this had been more obvious, it would have jumped out of the water and bit me. Which is something that crossed my mind while paddling down the calm Cedar Creek in the Congaree National Park/Swamp. We saw 300-year old bald cypress trees and tupelos, dragonflys, fishing spiders, jumping fish, and numerous snakes. Will and I paddled a little too close to a brown water snake that was hanging out on a branch above. A little too close for me, but we gently cruised on by and all was well.

But seeing this word appearing out of the water is what made the trip even better. A slanted lower case “i” (complete with the dot) and a perfectly positioned upper case “F”. Perfect. And living there in perfect harmony in nature as if it were asking us to complete the sentence. iF ...

Maybe you had to be there, but for me, it was fantastic. I've been trying to complete the sentence ever since.

Thanks to Jeff McGurk for the shot for me (and for organizing the trip). Let's go back soon and see what else we can discover.

Vaughn's Promo Cards