Amazing feet.

I've spent the last couple of weeks with a really big shoe. A big tennis shoe, to be precise. It's part of Team Dreams 2008, sponsored by the Allen County/Fort Wayne Convention and Visitors Bureau, local sports facilities and some very generous sponsors. Team Dreams 2008 features 20 amateur sports tournaments taking place this year in our community. By sponsoring a shoe, area businesses help to welcome tournament visitors and to bring attention to the importance of sports tourism to our community. Right now the shoes are residing in Headwaters Park on the east side of Clinton St. They will be part of the Fort Wayne Newspapers Three Rivers Festival Parade, and then will be brought back to Headwaters, where they will remain for the duration of the festival.

I was contracted by the CVB to design and paint the shoe sponsored by General Petroleum, Inc., a wholesale lubricant distributor located here in Fort Wayne. The shoes are constructed of plaster and are eventually bolted to a wood base. They're pretty light and easy to move around, thank goodness.

After visiting GPI's web site, I thought it might be fun to use a racing theme. I needed to incorporate several logos, so it seemed fitting. What you can't see in the photo is the Mobil 1 logo on the toe of the shoe, and "General Petroleum" — a cartoon character painted on the back. After presenting the initial design, I had to make a small revise, and then I was ready to begin painting. The shoe was delivered with a design already painted on it, so I had to prime it before I could even put on the first coat of paint. The checks and Pegasus where projected on to the sides, sketched on and then painted with exterior enamel paints. I also included a design on the sole of the shoe and on the base (in reverse) to make it appear as though it had stepped in oil. The folks at GPI loved it.

It's been fun to watch the reactions of visitors to Headwaters. They often stop and point out details, and pose for photos with the shoes. It's been a long time since I've done a project like this one, and it felt good to do something that will benefit Fort Wayne. You might say that we're a city with a whole lot of sole.

Secret identity.

One of the many differences between fine art and graphic design is that you don't get to sign your work. Unless you're Paul Rand, no one knows or cares that you're the brain behind some familiar graphic identity piece, TV spot, etc. Such is the case with this logo. It was designed back in 1998 or so, and was originally intended to represent the birth center at St. Joseph Hospital, one of the medical centers in the Lutheran Health Network. It was most recently used as the graphic identity of the Birthplace at Dupont Hospital — another hospital in the Lutheran Health Network.