VISUAL STORYTELLER EXTRAORDINAIRE

As I drove the long and winding mountain roads yesterday I had a revelation of sorts. After all these years I could finally put a descriptive name to what it is I do. I am a 'VISUAL STORYTELLER'.  

On any given day I do any number of tasks. Often I do many. I design, with old fashioned pen and modern computer. I carve, sculpt, cut, weld, hammer, grind, paint, gild, and a hundred other things. All this makes it difficult to define precisely what I do. But all of it is in service of telling wonderful and creative stories. That is what I do.

For each project we tackle, the first thing I do is determine the story. This theme is expanded, embellished and decorated to become the basis for each of our projects. Every element of the project design is carefully selected to further the story we are telling. Color, textures, font choices, graphics, sculptural elements - everything must be united in this story telling venture. Nothing can added uneccesarily for this would detract from the tale.

The Fox & Hounds Pub project was crafted in a grand scale to tell an elaborate story. Smaller projects are also guided by these same principles. The strong visual storytelling is what separates our projects from everyone else's. This is what I love to do. 

I am a visual storyteller extraordinaire. 

-grampa dan

Road tripping

Today was largely spent on the road. I was contacted by the new owner of a theme project I had designed some ten years ago to do some consulting and possible new work in the near future. The project was about 350 kilometers distant on a road I used to travel a great deal, back when I did fine art as a living, about thirty years previous. It was in the late seventies and early eighties I made a livelihood as a pen and ink artist selling my original drawings and limted edition prints to more than forty galleries across BC. I spent a great deal of time on the road in those days, both selling my art and gathering inspiration for future pieces. The road had been straighted some and was wider in places but the spectacular scenery was all the same. Traffic was light as I drove allowing my mind to safely wander and remember 'back to the old days.' 

While I enjoyed looking back, I also found myself very excited as I considered current and future projects. I realized that as good as those old days were, today was just as exciting - perhaps more so. I also felt the same old feelings I have always felt when I travel. I enjoyed the way there, looking forward to new things, discussions and business negotiations. But as business wrapped up I found myself eagerly looking forward to going home once more to those I love. Through the decades nothing has really changed.

-grampa dan

Little things add up

To comply with the many, many rules and regulations, lots of signs are required at the Fox & Hounds Pub. Inspectors demanded all kinds of signs in all kinds of places, many I would never have thought of previously. Some were rule signs for guests. Others labeled service areas or directed guests. Some merely fulfilled the law. While the permanent signs were being designed and fabricated, temporary ones were put into place, much to the chagrin of the owners. The 'ordinary' signs quickly undid the mood of the place, for they were sorely out of place and instantly undid the theme work we worked so hard to achieve.  Our job now is to create the necessary signs and still have everything look like it belongs. These signs won't win awards, but without them the project would fail visually.

This week we are doing these last 'little' signs. While not super creative by any means, the design is still very important to the Fox and Hounds. Each is routed from sturdy Precision Board high density urethane and will be carefully painted to look like aged, beaten copper with embossed lettering, much more fitting than the modern temporary ones currently in place. The router will spin for a while yet before we are done.

-grampa dan