The Assignment

Broad strokes: I’m a graphic designer and recovering perfectionist. Oh, and eternally curious. I do my best work when there’s an actual problem to solve.

I’ve lived in Seattle, Portland, Ore., New York City, and now we’re in Spokane, Wash. I miss New York, but I love living in a house with a washer and dryer. And being able to live in peace with our parrot and dog. And a decent amount of counter space.

I got a degree from Reed College and despite wanting to be calligrapher, listened to my pragmatic side and got an office job for which I was terribly ill-suited. I kept that up for another several years before leaving my full-time job to go back to school to study graphic design and illustration. Several years later, I’m just not getting to the point where most of my work is design-related. In June 2011 I finished a certificate program in natural science illustration at the University of Washington.

I blog because it gives me the opportunity to write, take pictures and dabble with web technology.

One more thing: I’m generally pretty happy, and I tend not to blog about things that I don’t find amusing. For many, many years my friends and family assumed this tendency toward happiness was about being naive or fragile, but it’s not. I know there are terrible sadnesses and injustices in the world, and I am saddened and angered by them as much as the next person. But I also know that the world is full of great mystery, beautiful, energizing and exciting things. I try to be a person who seeks these things out, and who is happy to find them. I’ll leave the grousing to others, many of whom can accomplish much more with their agitating than I ever could.

A word about the images on this blog: I will explicitly point out when I’m using other people’s work, and I will acknowledge where and/or how I got access to the image. Images that aren’t explicitly labeled are mine – I took the photo or made the drawing.