Renderings ~ Manufactured Home Reno

We’ve been toying with the idea of selling off my dream home. (You know the one that I said they’d have to drag me out feet first ’cause I proclaimed I would never leave.) Well, as the kids are leaving -we have one left and it’s time for him to leave the nest too. So, we’ve got a big house on a largish lot that is a bit larger than we want to contend with into our twilight years. Not to mention the cost… So we’ve been looking into ‘age restricted communities’ locally… That’s right -for the “55 and over set”.  I have to admit the ‘community’ aspect of a park with like minded and similar aged people is appealing. (Oh for heaven’s sake! I know I don’t look a day over 40! LOL!).

Age restricted communities here means manufactured home parks where the homes are set on concrete foundations and can come with garages and small yards. There are even options to own the land.  Even though the parks are tidy with lots of amenities like swimming pools and club houses, it is obvious that the homes have become dated.  Clearly they are dated to the time frame when the parks were started which is in the early 80′s here, so they are mostly in need of renovating.

I’ve been collecting some ideas on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/pamdesigns/mobile-renovation/   Based on a local real estate listing with lots of interior pictures, I have come up with a few  renovation ideas of my own:

Painted, gable shakes added, pergola over wrap-around porch and arbor over garage; stonework added; windows replaced and shutters added.

Replaced windows; tongue and groove ceiling, laminate floors, painted over paneling. Structure to enclose dining room adjacent to living room.

This dining room is in the center of the house and has no outside windows. It’s the transitional space that has doorways to all of the other major parts of the home.

Dining Room ~ Walls were added to define and enlarge the dining room space. Ceiling was dropped and a tray detail created that includes a tin ceiling in an antiqued painted finish.

Kitchen ~ New finishes, appliances, cabinets & sink. Plan not changed.

New Renderings

Wow –it’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything to this blog.  Sorry for being ‘off the radar’ for a bit. I’ve been ill for a few weeks and my ‘social media presence’ has suffered while I’ve been off feeling sorry for myself.  Well –f*** that! Time to get back in the game! While I’ve been away, I’ve actually been diligently working on some renderings. These are part of a project called Spanish Colonial ~ Dreaming of Todos Santos.

….And an homage to the arrival of spring.

Long distance information, give me Memphis Tennessee…

Those are the beginning lyrics of “Memphis” by Johnny Rivers.  Why Memphis?  Well, as you might guess I’m planning to visit there. “Long distance” certainly as I am in California and have never been to Tennessee. I have recently been notified that the Blogger 19 are having a reunion in Memphis this coming July. I’m not big on traveling and I would probably never go there if not for the generosity of Brizo Faucets.

I am a member of the original group of 19 kitchen design bloggers that were invited to attend the Fashion Week activities hosted by Brizo Faucets (already more than three years ago) in New York that included a runway show by fashion designer Jason Wu. Jason has been a long time collaborator with Brizo in their advertising campaigns and has since designed a line of faucets for Brizo. If you don’t know Jason’s work by this connection with Brizo, then you might know him as the fashion designer that designed both inaugural ball gowns for Michelle Obama. Since then, Brizo has continued to host groups of design bloggers and the groups of ’19′ now number over 100.

Again, why Memphis? And especially, why the South in July? I believe it is because it is the headquarters for Delta Faucet that Brizo is a division of and they have facilities that can accommodate such a large group. I was also able determine that faucets are manufactured in nearby Jackson.  OK –these are deductions I’ve made from my internet sleuthing and I may be adding 2 + 2 and coming up with 6, but I’m sure more information about the event will be arriving soon.

Truth be known, I’d go even if it were going to be on the salt flats of the Mojave in summer! I am very excited at the prospect of meeting up with my original B19 compadres as well as many members of the newer groups that I have become acquainted with through my social networking activities. I’ve only met a few of them in person, but am looking forward to meeting many more. I’m also happy to see our benefactors once again of Brizo and MSL who came up with this zany and cleaver idea to organize these otherwise unconnected and vastly dispersed individuals who have a vague and varied commonality of interest in kitchen and bath design that they have noted through their blogs.  Our “members” are spread throughout the US and Canada. We even have one that is from England!

“Help me, information, more than that I cannot add
Only that I miss her and all the fun we had
Marie is only six years old, information please
Try to put me through to her in Memphis Tennessee…”

More lyrics: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/j/johnny_rivers/

Gabby

A sad day today. My parrot Gabby passed away today rather suddenly. She had an amazing repertoire and imitated the voices of the many people who lived with her over the years. She liked to sing and was well known for her rendition of “La Cucaracha”. Born in Mexico and smuggled into the US, she was not leg banded but later was given documents (I’m assuming) when when she was owned by her first owner- a friend of the family who had a pet store. She was ill when she first came to the US and nursed to health by the pet store owner. Erwin had her for the first half of her life. Eventually she came to live with my parents who passed away about 6 years ago. She came to be my constant companion for the past 7 years. It is painfully quiet today.

Gabby was 37 years old. RIP Gabby.

Here are a couple of pictures Jason (my oldest son) sent that he took recently when he visited with his dog Mila. Gabby had no fear of anyone or anything… especially dogs. When faced with a barking adversary (who really just wanted to play)… her response?  Get as close as she could and say “C’mon baby!”  Really said that a lot because that is our cat’s name and she called her all the time. Bebe lost interest in her long ago and were often seen on the patio (Gabby in her cage) cat sprawled out in the sunlight taking a snooze.

Hand Drawn vs. Computer Generated Rendering

One of the members of a group that I am a member on LinkedIn called Architectural Illustration posed the following question:

“What do you think about the future of hand drawn renderings? With technology advancing so fast, it is becoming easier to emulate reality when producing renderings. Also it is becoming easier to emulate hand drawn renderings as well! Is there any life left for the original one?”

This was my comment:

“I have been selling my artwork in one form or another for 45 years. My preferred mediums are acrylic and watercolor, though I have also enjoyed soft pastels, pen and ink, and charcoal sketching. While working on my design degree in the ’90s, I freelanced doing architectural renderings by hand. In the meantime, I developed my skills doing 3D computer generated renderings that I do exclusively today. (www.pamdesigns.net) 

Even though I use the computer now, I would recommend that anybody who wants to do architectural rendering should have a solid foundation in hand rendering simply to understand the fundamental requirements for spacial expression and developing compositions for scenes. Without this basic understanding, one may know how to work a computer program, but the results will not be as successful as they could be. 

In deciding whether to do renderings by hand or by computer, one has to ask why we render in the first place. Is it to create beautiful art pieces or sell a project? Realistically, it’s the latter. Renderings are tools like 2D drawings and are created for a purpose. They are not art for art’s sake. Photo-realistic renderings can be created with a level of speed and accuracy that I could never produce by hand. Though when it comes to concept and design development, nothing beats hand sketching in front of a client to win them over. If I were still designing in front of clients I would definitely be sketching my ideas by hand —then creating beautifully crafted 3D renderings on my computer that would seal the deal!”

So as you can see, I do not see a bright future for hand-drawn renderings as a profession, though it is still indicative to have a foundation in it to become a professional rendering artist –regardless of your medium– whether it be using computer software or a pencil. The key in determining which medium to use is one’s marketability and cost effectiveness. I do not believe that high-end computer renderings are easier to create than well executed handmade renderings. To become proficient using the software takes years of learning and practice. It also takes artistic talent (which is a whole other blog post) not just knowing the mechanics of operating a computer program. Even though one may produce renderings by computer exclusively, maintaining ones ability to sketch by hand and ‘see’ the potential of a rendered scene is fundamental to creating successful renderings.

That being said, the future of rendering is going to be driven by it’s market. As computer generated renderings become more able to produce photo-realistic images that imply one can actually view into the future, the value of artistic artwork pieces as architectural rendering have become less in demand. Is the artistry lost in producing computer generated photo-realistic renderings? To a degree, I believe this is so. Computer renderings can be made to look like hand-drawn or hand-painted works, but they can’t recreate the individualistic style of painting that is unique to the artist such as the loose impressionistic style of Jeremiah Goodman.

The following is the artwork of  Jeremiah Goodman who is probably the most successful and well-known rendering artist of the last century. He’s in his 90′s now and still painting beautiful renderings from his studio in Manhatten:

Alameda Project

I’ve currently posted some views to my Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/pages/pamdesigns-3D/129609572712?ref=hl of some renderings that I created using Chief Architect software that will ultimately be added to my website portfolio. These were from a plan that I designed using Chief specifically for a portfolio piece.  All of the rendering (ray tracing) was done with Chief as well. Some minor touch ups were done with Photoshop Elements. For my fellow Chief users:  each ray trace took about 10 to 15 hours to run using the ‘high quality’ setting with variations of photon mapping and final gathering settings depending on the surfaces. I’ve learned that shiny metals can create all kinds of havoc and getting stainless steel to ‘represent’ is probably the hardest thing to render. Each view has a corresponding file where I deleted everything that wasn’t in the view to shorten the rendering time as much as possible.  All in all, I started this design about three weeks ago and the rendering process for about two of those weeks.

The current seven renderings are of the “public” indoor spaces that includes the kitchen, dining and livingroom spaces with views to the entry foyer and the outdoor deck that overlooks the hills in a rural setting that you would typically find in the area known as Alameda just outside of Oakland in the Bay Area of Northern California.. The views take place in the winter (date/time set for current) and vary from afternoon to night lighting.

My style choice for this design was decidedly modern. Primarily because my portfolio to date has represented traditional styling. I wanted to show that I am equally adept at modern and contemporary design. I also pointedly chose cool colors, sleek linear lines, hard edges and lots of stainless steel to show that these materials and shapes can exist in a space without making it seem too cold and uncomfortable. The success of this space has much to do with lighting and complementary textured pieces as well as lots of greenery and organic elements that soften the space. The effect I think is very livable.

Next, I will be working on the master suite. And in the future, designing the outdoor spaces and landscaping. There is a media room I may throw in eventually.

Artistic Renderings

These five renderings were completed at different times quite awhile ago.  I’ve just recently applied artistic filters using Photoshop to give them a painted effect.  I used to paint by hand and know these would take a long time to execute (even if I could)!  And this way, you don’t even have to wait for the paint to dry!

pallet knife effect on canvas

painted effect on linen

watercolor effect on pressed paper

Watercolor and ink on cold-pressed paper

Acrylic on burlap.