A fine artist I am a fan of recently tweeted the following:

Just heard stress described as when a demand for change or adaptation is upon us and we lack the creative energy needed 2 rise 2 the demand. (@MetalwingDotCom)

It got me to thinking about whether this applied to the recent stressors in my life and I concluded that the tweet was poignant. Things that cause me stress generally require a high-level of creative energy or motivation and the idea of stepping up and tackling the obstacle is daunting.

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Antonio Ballatore, host of HGTV’s The Antonio Treatment does badass remodels of everyday homes. His style is very textural, industrial and creative. I like that he chooses comfortable furniture that you’d actually want to live in. He also has pretty great taste in artwork and color schemes. My lady records his show for me every week and I’m always inspired by his work.

Here are a couple before/after shots:

As a design student my ethos was simple: Make it look cool at all cost. My first priority was punchy aesthetics and I forced my preferred style (at this point, organized grunge) on every project.

My first ‘real’ job out of school required I work quickly and tear through assignments–often times at the expense of quality. My portfolio didn’t grow by many pieces but I did become one with my software packages and keyboard shortcuts. I also got to dabble outside of print design into motion graphics and some video production assistance. A little over a year later I applied for a graphic/web design position within the same organization and got the job. My thought was that I wanted to completely understand designing and preparing files for print. Done.

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