Drawing 018 - Veins

Veined cracked surface inspired by a branch found in the desert around Ghost Ranch, NM

Sun-dried branch found near Ghost Ranch, NM. It is dyed red by the hot red soil filling a valley floor.

Branch cracked veining close-up

I have had this branch, which I found while hiking in the desert around Ghost Ranch, NM, sitting on my bookshelf for several weeks.  I was intrigued by both the directional veining pattern enhanced by the brutal sun and dry nights and the extreme red coloration of the local sand has completely permeated the open cell structure of the wood, dying it with a chalky texture to match the surroundings.  This branch was inspiration for a drawing exploring striated and bundled veining across a surface.  Each line was first drawn across the page in quick succession, then retraced multiple times, allowing the inconsistencies in my hand, the paper and the pen to form larger cracks within the striations.

Proto Flower

Molten Bone

www.shoparnica.com

DN Studios Application

Initial design information architecture map

Concept sketch produced during a planning meeting @ Pratt

Initial design mockups

In a constant search for a way to collect, process, manage and integrate my work teaching architecture and design courses @ Pratt and NYCCT CityTech I have used many available software platforms to collaborate and share information between me and the students.  So far none of these have really hit the nail on the head for my teaching process and desired ease of use for the students and myself.  I have decided to take some time and build my own application.  These images are some initial sketches of information modeling, workflow and design mockups.  With an initial design and map in place I have started on the code.  I am using this as an opportunity to try out the recent release of Ruby on Rails 4with a MongoDB powered document database supported by Mongoid.  These are all great open source projects, making creating productive and fun tools easy and exciting.