In the process of creating this year's poster I looked back at my process from last year. 2009 I recreated a classic poster and in 2010 I tried to put a contemporary spin on the poster. It's interesting to see the trial and error and process.

Working on a new batch of posters!

2011.26/52

German-American Fusion Dinner
"Hähnchenschnitzel mit Frische RotKraut und Kartoffelpfankuchen" (may be incorrect, my German is very bad)

My goal for "52 in 2011" was to tap into my creativity and find new inspiration, broaden my creative palette and produce a larger amount of personal work. This creativity can reach outside the bounds of visual art, as long as I am creating.

A few years ago I discovered cooking. And while I feel I am not the best, I love to refine and perfect recipes and come up with my own creations. This blog was actually started when I visited Germany, France and Switzerland on a business trip in 2006. I loved the food, but I find a lot of German food tastes like garbage in the US.

So I came up with my own spin on some German classics, mixing some fairly stereotypical dishes with healthy ingredients to make a hearty meal. I made Chicken Schnitzel with a fresh red cabbage slaw/kraut and sweet potato pancakes.

I will post the recipe in the future.

2011.25/52

NoLA!

A while back I created this "logo" from a collection of old Woodtype letterforms. I miss our vacation, it was nice! So relaxing and a ton of great food.

Trying to get back into more hand-drawn "slow design." Here is a cool process video of Kevin Tong making a poster.

2011.24/52

Foggy May in CincyTown

A really rough cell phone pic actually looks pretty nice. It was a foggy day and the typical view looking out from Eden Park was obscured. This view of the foggy lake, with the sun trying to pierce through the fog highlighting my bike resting against a tree. I love these little moments that happen during my bike commutes.

2011.23/52

Around the bend, sunrise over the Ohio Valley in March

I often stop in Eden Park for a moment of serenity during my morning bike commutes to work. I love to look out and as the sun rises it abstracts the hills and river into a series of hazy shapes and tones intersecting with each other as they disappear back into the horizon.

Sneak Peek.

2011.22/52

Snowy Creek in Red Bird Hollow

I was hiking last winter and noticed how stark and beautiful the scenery was. One could easily reduce the scene down to three tones — white, grey and black. I did add some subtle hue to these tones, a bluish grey and using a very dark brown instad of black. I brought in a surprise hit of a fourth color, a single red bird as a reminder of this place's namesake.

It took me awhile to sit down and implement my vision, but I am glad I can use this artwork to remember this year. I was hiking here with my elderly dog named Button, a 13 year old Brittany. Unfortunately she passed away this spring, so I hope when I see this illustration in the future I will be reminded of her.