Creative Block Blues?

Do you feel like this everyday!? I know I do. 

While browsing through Lauren's blog, I stumbled upon a post that is too cute to not mention. It's Keri Smith's, Artist's survival kit. The printable little guide is a witty play on creative block that's sure to get your spirits back up.

Images via Keri Smith.

3 years of bliss.

Meet Derek.

Derek is known among friends as the walking encyclopedia of anything music, pop culture and sports trivia. His talents include scouting new and upcoming artist, drawing, spotting bulldogs and chubby babies, and making me laugh.

He'd call Dwight Yoakum and "Bonnie Prince Billy" his modern day heros, coming in second only to his mother.

He enjoys collecting concert posters, (namely by Dirk Fowler, Sasha Barr, Jason Munn, Jay Ryan, and many many more),


any and all sports (especially college football),


and microbrewed beer.

I introduce you to Derek simply because 3 years ago today, after unknowingly placing powdered sugar all over his face at the fair that night, I knew I could not fight it when he asked me to be his girl.

Random Fact: For our first date he took me to see Lyle Lovett Live in Lubbock. 

What can I say, I Lovett! 

This is when he found out who I really was.


Here are a few snap shots with Derek.
The bus ride taking us to the third day of acl this past weekend.

Watching Against Me! (I'm making that face because I'm getting into mosh pit mode.)


This is the night I turned into his old lady. aka my 24th birthday.



And this was on the airplane flying back from his birthday weekend in Boulder, Colorado!

Kind of a random display of pictures.  But what it all boils down to is is that I love the ba-jeebers out of this guy and I just want to say Happy Anniversary! You are my best friend and possess the kindest heart I've ever known. xoxo.

Poster design by Dirk Fowler of F2 Design.

Image of Football players and Dale's Pale Ale found via internet.

Amanda Shires & Rod Picott's Album Design

Here is the latest album design I completed for two incredibly talented musicians, Amanda Shires (aka "Pearl Reams") and Rod Picott. Their album is titled, "Sew your heart with wires" and I really enjoyed working on this, thanks to Rod and Amanda's patience and non-stop jokes. 

I can't say enough good things about these two. Their music is literally delivered to your ears from the soft and gentle breeze of a passerby that turned out to be an angel . Both have solo albums that are equally delightful on the ears. These two are a pair of fun loving, honky tonk, musical geniuses. Additionally, if you're from the great flatland that is West Texas, you might know Amanda as the fiddle player from the Thrift Store Cowboys, another wildly talented group worth checking into. 

I love you a whole lot Rod and Amanda!

Images © 2008 Julie Cope Photography

Solitude.

I just found this print by Aaron Jenkins and let me just say...it.is.beautiful.  

oh and..I want it.

Sneak preview.

Here is one of four handmade albums I'm working on. These books will function as wedding albums that are tailored specifically for each couple to give them a truly unique work of art from their special day.
More picture's to come.

Books. Oh how I love thee...

"Meanwhile", was my final project in college...I believe.

Actually, that may or may not be true. Turns out, I have a terrible memory. But regardless, it might have been my favorite. This explains the extensive number of pictures posted.

Normally, I would leave this up to your interpretation but I'm outright spilling the beans here..

The concept depicts my life at the time vs. the world's real problems (IE. an "oil man's war"). You can already see which one is winning, right? 

Here's the run down, my last year or two of getting my Bachelor's degree was completely overloaded with four or five, 3 hour studio classes plus 1-2, or even 3 jobs (yes, that really happened) all in the 24 hour day, 7 days a week format. Not to mention the immense amount of pressure to succeed at this juggling act, oh and quintessential sleep.  Pressure is what ended up being the kicker, and motivator especially for this project, in turn, I'm entirely thankful.

All that to say, I felt all this make-believe pressure in school...for what?  Well, apparently to open my eyes outside my sheltered, little American college girl, early 20's life to see a world in chaos and torment. A world where pressure is felt in the context of staying alive.

That my friend.is.real.

So this book is meant to take all that complaining I just went on about and turn it back to stare me in the face. It is far worse out there than I have ever known or dreamt about. I don't entirely expect the viewers to understand the part where I personally challenge myself, but hopefully it will speak to at least one person.

On a lighter note, I hope you enjoy it and the other's to come!

"Meanwhile" © Julie Cope 2007

"Oil Man's War" is the title to a Kathleen Edwards song. She and her songs are wonderful!

CU-Eco Star Challenge

I recently was given the opportunity to design a logo for a Colorado University's conservation and reduction program in their residence halls. The program, named 'Eco Star Challenge', is geared to create awareness among students in regards to their "behaviors associated with excessive consumption" and really, to get back to the basics by reuniting them with the good ol' phrase Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. The logo design went up on bulletin boards across campus' in the residence halls and was also used for t-shirts!

I was thrilled when Heather called upon me for one, the opportunity and two, it's something I'm really passionate about. Design, yes...absolutely. But I'm referring to the environmental issues.

I have this book. And here's a little secret, if I read too much of it's 'totally in your face facts' at one time, it'll keep me up all night thinking about what it is I haven't been doing to help this beautiful world you and I live in. A little goes a long way, in both reading the book and putting it's knowledge into action. 

So if you pick it up, and I hope you will, consider this your forewarning.
Here's some text from a few well known concepts:
Recycle.
If everyone in America simply separated the paper, plastic, glass, and aluminum products from the trash and tossed them into a recycling bin, we could decrease the amount of waste sent to landfills by 75 percent. Currently, it takes an area the size of Pennsylvania to dump all our waste each year.

Water Filters

If you want to be sure the tap water in your house is clean, try installing water filters on your faucets instead of buying bottled water-you'll save money over time and get better-tasting water. You can buy a water filter for as little as $29, or about a month's worth of bottled water (if you drink a liter a day). About 1.5 million tons of plastic are used in the bottling of 89 billion liters of drinking water each year. That's enough plastic to make two water filters for every household on the planet. One billion people around the world lack access to clean drinking water.
Lighting
Install more efficient lighting systems, such as those with motion sensors and dimmable lighting controls. And, of course, go fluorescent. You can save $35 annually if you replace just four standard incandescent lamps with compact fluorescent lamps, which use 66% less energy. If every American home replaced just one light bulb with a more energy-efficient one, we would save enough energy to light more than 2.5 million homes for a year and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of nearly eight hundred thousand cars.
Set your thermostat a degree higher for air-conditioning and a degree lower for heating, and you could save $100 per year on your utility bill. Keep adjusting and you'll save even more. If every home in America turned the dial, we could save more than $10 billion per year on energy costs, enough to provide a year's worth of gasoline, electricity, and natural gas to every person in Iowa.

Quote provided by Lynne Harrahy in the "Zero Waste" article by Emily Zarka.
Environmental facts provided by 'The Green Book' by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas M. Kostigen

Thanks Heather!