Image used for book cover of the novel "Best Friends" by Indiana Wilson of Toronto, Canada. It was repainted in oils on canvass.

The event to launch the book is June 15, 2000 and supposed to be attended by the Country's Prime Minister.

I took a 10 year hiatus from major design and graphics projects when my daughter Yvette was born in 1990 to devote my time and energy toward her development. Those first 6 years are totally crucial to a child's self esteem! Plus she has greatness! She has my blood in her veins...and she is well worth the efforts!

But you can't stay away from art for too long so I always found myself in the middle of some smaller design projects. Below are a few samplings from some of the companies that I worked with or projects. Now that Yvette is 10 yrs old its time for me to solidly return to the world of art and design.

I expected that by the time of my return advertising would be very inexpensive and here is the Internet as a universal response to that thought.

1999

The Power Within Print I completed and began distribution.

This scan doesn't do justice to the slickness of the produced piece which has a protective varnish coat on meticulous printing on very expensive high quality paper.

You will be very happy to know that they are VERY reasonably priced.

1999

This was part of an animation based on Tiger Woods from the poster project.

1995 20 piece one man show at the Marriott lobby in East Lansing, MI.

"Jelly's Last Jam" was being performed on campus. Freda Payne and Gregory Hines enjoyed the exhibit.

"The Power Within I" and "Beauty meets beauty" were created especially for this one.

Impact Imagery was a 2 man design company.

I handled all of the graphics while my partner did the photography.

At the peak we even began to start a minority based magazine until his mother got cancer and he went back to Hawaii to care for her.

My daughter was conceived soon after so I took on a series of day jobs (US Census, machine shop,MSU,etc.) to guarantee that her health benefits and financial needs would be solidly taken care of.

This was for one of our own print ads.

Working with the neighborhood kids was fun!

They demanded 2 gallons of ice cream apiece as their modeling fees!

We did a lot of print ad and related types of work combining my artistic, journalistic, and technical backgrounds..

more to be posted as I find copies...

from the original

to the improved

I really loved working for Modern Engineering and General Dynamics because of the pressure cooker nature of the environments and incredible precision of the projects. There's something magical about being in a room full of the best of the best and they are all artists of different types. I walked in on a whim and was seated and put to work immediately. That was kinda good for the ego!

If layoffs for the entire crew after projects weren't a constant hazard I would probably be there right now.

I temped at Time and Pioneer Engineering after layoffs but there was no comparison. I eventually got tired of the layoffs and left Detroit.

Masterstrokes was totally a fun project!

We made played chess while working, had lots of fun with the models, and made lotsa money on all kinds of projects until...

My partner fell in love, got married, and moved to Texas (and disappeared to this day).

CD Dynasty

A local record shop with vision that tapped the CD market in the beginning.

CDC (The brainchild of my mentor the brilliant designer Pat Smith) was a minority filled Architectural/Graphics/Design school in downtown Lansing, Michigan in the late 1960's-80's that was affiliated with the national Model Cities Program.

If you needed any skills polishing they could do it! They would find a way to get you the tools or training you needed or wanted! I joined CDC right after I left MSU in 1978.

I went thru their 9 month program in 3 weeks (it was self paced and I have a hungry brain!). My final project was the only geodesic dome designed and made there by a student! So after I finished they made me an assistant instructor floating between Graphics, Mechanical Drafting, and Architectural Design classes.

In between teaching I had many special projects that brought in revenue for the school. The largest was resizing all 187 floor plans for the entire Lansing School District by myself by hand (in ink)!

(In my youthful arrogance I had no idea what I was getting myself into. That project would have easily paid an architect's salary for a year. Luckily I never give up when working on a project-so I pulled it off even though I secretly felt totally buried and dreamed about those lines for weeks afterwards!)

They were standardized onto 8 1/2 x 11 sheets so somebody could have all of them in one folder. Then he lost the folder! (Luckily I had enough common sense to make backup copies)...I felt like a human copy machine.

Sadly, for CDC, Pat left to pursue his destiny on the east coast when an oil company made him an offer that he couldn't refuse. The resultant lack of leadership combined with Ex President Ronald Reagan's axing of our funding was the final nail on the coffin. As a result CDC is no more!

It's legacy is various people that were well trained and placed in good jobs utilizing their skills and fulfilling their dreams.Without CDC they probably would have never had the opportunity.

I'm grateful to have been part of the design miracles that happened there.

This is the original logo for REOlds Automotive Museum when they first opened up. The founder/first director was a Jennifer (a strategically brilliant black woman with an accurate eye for the future). I had no idea how famous it would become. It is a major city attraction!

I designed the original logo, coloring books, brochures, newspaper ads, etc.

General Motors is an offshoot of the R.E.Olds Motor Company! That is why the Oldsmobile is a major part of their product line.