Spring became Summer too quick. With the weather being so nice this year, there's been little time for being on the computer. BUT, it's a good time for drawing and photos. Here's a familiar sight in Cleveland.

The downside of caring deeply about something is that there are no guarantees it will last. It could be a month, or it could be thirty-seven years. It doesn’t matter how long, when it’s gone all the positive feelings you felt will spill down around you in a crippling darkness that only hope and faith can remove. We’ve all been in the dumps over something so deeply that it’s stifling and all we feel is surrounded by our own negative thoughts. The key to growing out of that darkness and feeling warmth again is staying focused on positive things, reaching for lighter and brighter thoughts. It’s easier said than done, and sometimes we reach the bottom, before we can even see the light. Our heart, our spirit feels bound up. It’s complicated, but working off of those negative thoughts, we can dig ourselves out of the deepest depths and feel free and warm again. My thoughts go out to anyone that’s reached that heart crippling and stifling bottom. I hope you can take all the negative thoughts ...

Today in the United States we recognized Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He is unquestionably one of the greatest individuals from our nation. He took a stand not only for what was right and just, but stood by his beliefs. As the pastor in my church touched upon this weekend, Dr. King was a man in his twenties when he started on his publicized path for equality. Surely there were men, other pastors with more experience in life, that could have taken a stand. But Dr. King's calling, what was in his heart perhaps from his relationship with God, was to be a leader in our nation promoting equality for all mankind. Many artists to this day create art based on exposing inequality. I'm sure many of them, even in nations beyond ours, have Dr. King to thank for his inspiration and outspokenness towards social inequality. Dr. King's own words from his " I Have a Dream Speech " touch on his choice to creatively solve the issues we faced. "We must forever conduct our struggle...

"Everywhere I look a highlight in my view. I always seem to see the number 22." For this week's Illustration Friday's topic, "Highlight" I chose to represent something that seems to be highlighted in my vision. It's true, the number 22 seems to be highlighted wherever I look. I don't know what to make of this phenomena, but it helped to expand my collage projects. *Art Work: Highlight 22 by Janet Pahlau

For my second entry on Illustration Friday, I continued exploring words, in this case a literal musical narrative of a round. I am still playing with adding writing to collages, I want to hop into InDesign so badly and type this text on a spiral! But that would defeat my attempt at exploring and expanding, so this felt like a good exercise for me in practicing a collage/writing technique.

Most people have a passion in life, something that they react to or interact with exuberantly. Some may call it their calling, others their gift. My passion is creativity. It is my favorite activity or topic, and I find it in most parts of life. So, when this year's "Out of the Box" call for artists went out (a benefit for the Akron Area Arts Alliance ,) I wanted my piece to be about my creative passion. Creativity for me is something that definitely cannot be boxed in, and because it is all around, my creative muse would definitely be bursting "out of the box." Many visual artists go through phases in their careers as new inspirations or techniques are experienced and learned. The majority of my career has been as a graphic designer exploring and working in the fields of print and web design. In my daily work, creativity is what drives me, however process management and technical production often replace hands-on creativity. My goal to be working on a creative...

As a person who's intrigued by the "Occupy" protests, I was surprised by how much the passing of Steve Jobs saddened me. Why don't I lump Apple into one of those corporations extracting too much from the public and giving little back? As a graphic artist and fine art enthusiast, Apple embodies the spirit of design in every aspect of its products and promotions. Beautiful lines, simplistic design and functionality, and above all white space! The shell of every Apple product is a designer's dream. But not simply judging a book by its cover; every product also functions with such ease, the way a design tool should. I work on PC's, as I tell people "begrudgingly." Working on a Mac prior to every touching a PC, leads to many frustrations for me. Quick keys that are all but non existent on a PC, poor ability to properly name files, and functions that assume what you intend to do, only to be wrong. These errors in PC judgement cause the operator to go back ...