IrisCat Designs: Sarah speaks in pictures and words

This blog has moved!

thelittleprincessofiris — Fri, 27 May 2011 00:09:15 +0000

See you at http://iriscatartanddesigns.blogspot.com !

Free Scribus (1.3.9) business card templates for Vistaprint and Nitroprint

thelittleprincessofiris — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 19:46:14 +0000

These free templates are made specifically for Scribus 1.3.9 or later. They will not work with the 1.2.x and earlier versions, as Scribus has made a significant changes recently.

Business card template for Vistaprint.com: Download

Business card template for Nitroprint.com: Download

Remember: Actual file you upload when ordering cards must be PDF, fonts embedded, CMYK (process colors) and set for printing (not “screen/web”).

Bonus: If you are a U.S. or Canadian user of Scribus, you may be getting tired of having to set the pages to Letter size every time instead of default A4. Here is a blank U.S. Letter size sheet with measurement in inches.

For other popular Scribus templates on this site go to http://iridiacreative.wordpress.com/?s=template&searchbutton=Go!

Meow

thelittleprincessofiris — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 00:14:41 +0000

Artist’s conception: Bicycle racks for “the world’s greenest church”

thelittleprincessofiris — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 19:54:44 +0000

A story of a church bicycle rack

This is a certain large-sized historic church in the Pacific Northwest, with a building that is over a hundred years old. The church has recently been working on an initiative to make it the “world’s greenest” church (as far as its denomination is concerned) and one of the first ideas that came up was to build bike racks, entirely from salvaged, repurposed and recycled materials. Here I have made a conception design with used bicycle frames that were turned upside down and welded into a visually pleasing piece of public art that also double as durable bike racks.

Graphic made with Inkscape, converted and slightly edited with GIMP. The name of the church is blurred out by request.

Thanks to ChurchOutreachMinistry.net for the mention.

Sarah Morrigan, IrisCat Designs

Currently on view

thelittleprincessofiris — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 09:43:32 +0000

Thank you for all who came for the openings!

“Sometimes a great notion” – Siren Nation juried group show, Albina Press Hawthorne, 5012 SE Hawthorne Blvd., until December 1.
* Cascadia Coming Together, 2d mixed media, $105
* Flores aurees, 2d mixed media, $75

“Facing Fear” – open call group show, Launchpad Gallery, 534 SE Oak St, Portland, until November 27.
* Qian li zhi xing, 2d mixed media, $220

The Portland Tarot Show, a juried group show, Splendorporium, 3421 SE 21st Avenue, Portland, until December 31.
* Seven of Pentacles, 3d mixed media, $300

November: Sarah’s art all over Southeast Portland! Come to one or all!

thelittleprincessofiris — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 17:22:12 +0000

By pure coincidence various opportunities opened up for exhibit opportunities this summer, and they are all opening during the first week of November (coming very soon!).

Thursday, November 4 (One day only, only three hours!), 7-10 p.m.
Sometimes a Great Notion
Siren Nation Women’s Arts and Music Festival
at Albina Press on Hawthorne
5012 SE Hawthorne Blvd. 97215
(Event info: http://www.sirennation.com/festival-art/)

Friday, November 5 (the show runs through December 31)
Opening party 7 p.m.-9 p.m.ish
The Portland Tarot Show
at Splendorporium
3421 SE 21st Avenue 97202
(Event info: http://portlandtarot2010.blogspot.com/)

Friday, November 5 (the show runs through the end of the month)
Opening party 6 p.m.-midnight
Facing Fear
at Launchpad Gallery
534 SE Oak Street 97214
(Event info: http://launchpadgallery.org/category/exhibits/

More updates follow on Twitter (@SarahMorrigan) or Facebook (search for IrisCat Designs).

Southeast Grind traveller cup is now out!

thelittleprincessofiris — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 01:33:40 +0000

Only at Southeast Grind, 1223 SE Powell Blvd. Only $14!

Be green, support local business, get a reusable cup.

thelittleprincessofiris — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 19:51:44 +0000

For those who remember, I have designed this for Southeast Grind back in April 2009. Now you can own this piece of elegance and be green!

It is only $10 a piece and you will get a 25 cents off each time you use it at Southeast Grind (with your first coffee free). It is available only at Southeast Grind, 1223 SE Powell Blvd, Portland, Oregon, just east of Milwaukie Avenue/12th Avenue near the Gideon Street fire station (TriMet lines 9, 17, 19 and 70). It is open 24 hours!

What a busy month!

thelittleprincessofiris — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 16:04:22 +0000

As many of you already know, I started my post-graduate studies this past spring (majoring in feminist theology — with a plan to add fine arts major in the near future) and I have fifteen credit hours this fall semester. Fortunately three of the classes either end early or start in November, so I need to handle only three classes at a given time.

So far I have completed 6 credits

02.02.001 – History of Goddess Worship
04.01.001 – Ecology and Spirit

and have 15 credits by the end of this term

01.01.002 – Anthropology of Shamanism
01.01.006 – The Shaman
02.02.004 – Introduction to Thealogy
03.08.001 – Contextualizing Women in Religion
03.08.005 – Feminist Theology 1

(Why are the shamanism courses given 01.01.x prefix? The college originally was founded as a training centre for shamans, now it is one of very few truly interfaith seminaries that is not tied to any specific religious institution and encompasses many non-mainstream faiths.)

In addition to this, I have two art shows opening in November (coincidence) and potentially one more that I might enter as well:

Siren Nation group art show: Sometimes a Great Notion (confirmed) Open Thursday, Nov. 4
Portland Tarot Project group show (confirmed) at Splendorporium Open Friday, Nov. 5
Facing Fear group show (maybe) at Launch Pad Gallery Open Friday, Nov. 5

And also I have just joined the new curatorial team at the 100th Monkey Studio in Southeast Portland — this involves the organizing and promotion of the monthly art shows, and gives me a valuable practical experience from the side of those who run a gallery. (In addition, it gives me a studio membership, which is great, as it is always nice to have a dedicated space to work on art.)

How do I get time for all this? The fact is I operate almost round-the-clock, except when I am sleeping for about 6 hours. My biggest challenge is to stay focused on the task at hand and have a determination to get it done.

And yes, I still volunteer as a GED tutor at the Julia West House (4 hours/week).

Fall and rise of empires?

thelittleprincessofiris — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:43:04 +0000

This past week news outlets have reported that now the economy of Japan has been eclipsed by that of the People’s Republic of China (not certain if the figure includes Hong Kong and Macau). It is interesting to see the history make a full circle, with the reemergence of both China and India as the potential next superpowers. China and India (the other two being Egypt and Mesopotamia/Iraq) were known as the four major ancient civilizations.

On the other hand, Japan as a true empire lasted only from the late 19th century with its defeat of the Russian navy and ended in the 1990s as Japan’s economic dominance began to wane.

It appears today that Japan has no future, except through some kind of union with China. Only a decade ago I could have proposed a union of Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Taiwan as a kind of “Oriental Union.” Today it seems that Taiwan’s clout is soon about to evaporate, and no such union can possibly counter China’s increasing dominance in economy and geopolitics.

As I was thinking over this interesting historical development, I have conceived this proposed design for the new flag and emblem of Japan, if it were to become annexed into China.

By iridiacreative at 2010-08-31

This was a quick project just to show my conception of the design. The purple, the colour of Japanese aubergine, is one of the traditional colours of Japanese fabrics. The design of the emblem reflects common Japanese themes of the ocean waves, Mt. Fuji and a cherry blossom, while also conforming to the design standard of such emblems that include five stars of five points, evoking the national flag of China that features five stars, to symbolize the region’s ties to the People’s Republic of China. Overall design of the emblem is also a cross between classical Japanese heraldic design (the mon) and a composition of a typical socialist national emblem.

This is intended to be a parody. No further political statement is implied.