“The only time I feel alive is when I’m painting.” -Vincent Van Gogh June 30, 2009

If I could marry an art form, I would marry painting (as long as I could have drawing on the side).

…and because of my love affair with painting, I was eager to take on the task of adding some spice to the Seattle Works office.  Over the past several days, I have been painting the Seattle Works logo on one of the walls in the office.  It was finally completed today and it is so purty.

 

THE PROCESS:

To begin, I printed out a picture of the Seattle Works logo and drew a 12-part grid to encompass the design.  Then, Chelsea assisted me with measuring out and centering a 6 ft. x 6 ft. grid on the wall (also with 12 parts) that was directly proportional to the grid I had previously drawn on the logo.  This took quite a few hours, but the grid is a very useful tool when attempting to achieve accuracy and proportionality. 

After the grid had been drawn on the wall (which is invisible in the picture above)

…wait for it…

It was PAINTING TIME!!!   

first with yellow and green dots.

 …and then light gray dots.

 Yours truly!

 …and then brown dots.

…and then blue dots.

…and then letters (which took forever aka a day and a half).

…and then the mural was done and it was purty. 

 

Oh, and this is my foot covered in paint. 

 

NEWBIES! June 23, 2009

Introducing 2 new interns to Seattle Works, coming all the way from Duke University… Melody and Chelsea!

Hi y’all!! We are two southern hillbillies and we love our biscuits and gravy.  For fun we like to ride John Deere tractors and catch crawdads in the river.  Ok… so maybe we are just kidding, but now we will tell you a little about ourselves.

 

Melody:

Hiiii everyone! I’m a rising senior at Duke majoring in History & Combined Arts. I also plan on going to law school in the Fall of 2010.  Why Seattle? Well, we have this program at Duke called DukeEngage that promotes civic engagement and sets up students with summer internships, housing, and travel in order for them to become more civicly engaged, and I joined that very program! 

So far I really like Seattle except the weather. It’s so cold!! I just came from my hometown of Monroe, NC (near Charlotte) where it has been about 100 degrees for the past week.  Seattle kind of reminds me of San Francisco because of the massive hills, the cold weather, and the abundance of people who look like they live for vintage clothing.  

So more about me… For fun I like to read, watch movies, draw, paint, travel, kickbox, swim, and take amazing naps.  In addition, some of my favorite things are sushi/sashimi, the color red, indie rock, desserts, art, the Harry Potter series, the show How I Met Your Mother, NYC, the bands Jack’s Mannequin & Something Corporate, and baseball. 

That’s all folks

 

Chelsea:

Hello!  I am so excited to be here in Seattle at Seattle Works this summer! I’m also here with the Duke Engage program and am eager to learn more about Seattle Works and civic engagement and the non-profit community in Seattle.  Things around the office here haven’t been too busy so far, but I hear that the momentum will pick up soon.  But hopefully not too soon…It took me 24 hours to get here from the east coast and I’m still tired! (storms in Chicago)

So a little about myself…I have lived in the same small town of about 500 people in Southwestern Virginia my entire life (so it’s exciting to be living in civilization for a change).  I go to school at Duke University and am a psychology major, with two minors in math and philosophy.  I LOVE Mexican food (and pretty much every other type of food too, to be honest) and COFFEE (so therefore I love Seattle).

What I’ve seen of Seattle so far has been amazing!  Although the bus system gave me a bit of trouble the first day.  We went to Pike Place Market and on a tour of the Underground and to the Fremont Fair.  But I look forward to exploring more of the Emerald City.

Seattle Works Day in the News! June 8, 2009

 

 

 

From the Ballard News-Tribune - http://www.ballardnewstribune.com/2009/06/05/news/young-professionals-clean-local-parks

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The annual Seattle Works Day brought out more than 1,000 volunteers to clear overgrowth, plant, and participate in other outdoor projects in 29 locations in the Seattle area Saturday, June 6.

One project involved clearing eight different kinds of evasive plants at the Golden Gardens wetlands, near the bridge and ponds. Another was clearing growth around Green Lake.

Seattle Works is a volunteer organization of more than 2,500 geared toward professionals in their 30′s and 40′s. Its purpose is to bring people together to do community service.

This day was sponsored KLB Construction, a heavy highway contractor based in Mukilteo. Seattle Works also has a partnership with the Seattle Parks Department.

Once finished for the day, the volunteers gathered for a celebration at the Fisher Pavilion at the Seattle Center.