Autumn

Can a photographer tell me if this pic is good, and what can be improved?

Thank you.

Marlie Decopain, The Accomplished Artist

Marlie Decopain is a motion graphic designer and digital fine artist with an impressive list of clients like Stardust.

She developed an interest for art at a very young age.

"Every night I'd draw and give the drawings to my mom," she recounted. It's for this reason that her parents decided to enroll her in a Summer art school at age seven.

At age 12, she joined Graffi Colori, an art school ran by her neighbor at her house, where she learned drawing techniques.

“She gave me a good foundation, which then allowed me to keep growing as an artist and expand my views and perception of art even after she was no longer my teacher.”

On her website, nicheeny.com, you can find one of her Graffi Colori drawings.

“I was 14 when I made it,” she said.

The neighbor, who was actually an architect, taught the class every Saturday, and Decopain was her student for three years.

Then Decopain moved at age 16 to the United States from Haiti and finished her last two years of high school there. She took a regular art class her junior year and an Advance Placement art class her senior year.

“In the AP art class in high school, we did a lot of figure drawing but the teacher also allowed us to work on other projects of our choice in order for us to develop a portfolio,” said Decopain.

After reading the story of a digital artist in a magazine, Decopain developed an interest in digital art and enrolled in the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan where she graduated with a bachelors degree in computer art.

Decopain is also good with animation, but she stopped working on animation three years ago. She worked on animation on a number of promos for HGTV, NatGeo and HBO to name a few.

As a hobby, Decopain paints.

“I loved painting,” she gushed. “I still do.” But the lack of space caused her to set this hobby aside.

“I'm hoping that in the future I'll be able to have a studio space so that I can start painting again.”

Nowadays, Decopain works mostly on her computer as a freelance artist.

“I bounce from company to company,” she revealed. She works on specific projects for several companies in Manhattan.

Some of the companies Decopain has worked for are Stardust, Nice Shoes, and Click 3X. Her first gig was with Comedy Central where she designed a promo.

She is currently working though with a program called, Art Quake, in which 10 artists will sell their original prints in a portfolio. Cybil Charlier who previously worked with Decopain for an exhibition invited Decopain to be part of Art Quake.

All proceeds from this project will go to artisans who lost their works or art supplies in the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

Marlie contributed to the design of the video of Ricky Martin's song "Lo Mejor de Mi Vida Eres Tu"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9_Tudgl8KE

The surviving mind

It is no rare fact that Ireland is blessed with great folk tales and writers. On my trip to Ireland, I definitely anticipated on learning more about this creative side of Ireland. Little did I know that the tour guide, himself, was one of the gifted soul of this country.
Batt Burns who grew up in Sneem, a small town in Ireland, discovered the art of storytelling at a young age. His grandfather, Clifford, was a seanachie (storyteller), and Burns will spent relatively long period of time with him listening to the old tales of Ireland, including stories of the wee folks.
Batt Burns in turn became a seanachie, performing all over Ireland and the United States and keeping this old tradition alive. He laments about the gradual disappearance of this art, blaming it on technology because storytelling was a form of entertainment in a time when TVs were nonexistent. Nowadays, it is almost impossible to find a seanachie in Ireland.

Burns wrote an award-winning book, The King with Horse's Hears and Other Irish Folk Tales. As previously mentioned, Burns host tours of Ireland, and has incomparable knowledge of this land. For more information on Burns, please visit his website, http://battburns.com/.

When you're dead, you have more power

"When you're dead, you have more power," said Dr. Brenda Flanagan, author of You Alone are Dancing and In Praise of the Island Women and Other crimes.
And this power is also entrusted to her ancestors and inspires her to write those award-winning pieces that she published.
Every writer has something or someone who guides their thoughts and help them write remarkable pieces. Flanagan explained that she sometimes call to the spirits for help in writing her books.
"There are spirits that guide you," she said.

MUST SEE

While reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett, I was trying to imagine what it would look like as a motion picture. Well, Now I will know...

Life in a metaphor

"Life is like a pipe, and I'm a tiny penny rolling up the walls inside."
--- Amy Winehouse, Back to Black ---

"Operation Beautiful" close to home

    I've never heard of this initiative before tonight. I was walking around my campus, and I found those post-it notes located at the most random places. It's amazing how words can reverse the mood of the day. Seeing those post-it notes doubtlessly made me happy. I tried to think about those single mothers and those abused individuals walking along the hallways where those post-it notes were placed and how great those post-it notes will make them feel.

This operation was initiated to help fight "Fat Talk." The creator of this project is Caitlin (http://operationbeautiful.com/about-2/), who admitted to have dealt with "Fat Talk" herself.

It reminded me of a comic book that I read a long time ago. I just wish I could remember the name of it!