This was a bit challenging, especially since I overlooked the linear gradient error note in Prof. Tortorelli’s email. That killed about 30 minutes. I also didn’t quite understand the closed shape – mine wasn’t symmetrical, but I was also just playing with the coordinates/variables. I also messed around with the order of rendering shapes to get a funky background and the looping lines effect.
Here’s a link to my HTML code/page: DonaldScott.canvas
Dr. Raul Cuero’s extremely humble beginnings and several significant events in his life enabled him to rise above the socio-economical norms we all typically experience. Often we’re not able to see those norms, or boundaries in our lives unless we forcibly break outside them.
In one example, Dr. Cuero was deeply affected by last statements made by his basketball coach when leaving Columbia to pursue higher education on a scholarship. His coach said (I paraphrase) “We are all given a gift by God. I believe your gift is basketball.” Dr. Cuero’s coach failed to see him as anything other than a basketball player, and Dr. Cuero used that limiting comment as motivation to prove the world otherwise. Dr. Cuero did not allow someone else to define who he was.
One of Dr. Cuero’s keys to creativity is observation. Observe all things and activities, but mostly observe nature. Nature’s complexity in simple being holds many creative insights, but observation is not simply looking at or watching something. Observation requires deep thought and correlation between your experiences and what you are taking in.
I believe the best lesson from this interview is the fact that Dr. Cuero did not allow anyone to discourage him from becoming whatever he wanted to be. Further, he used discrimination and obstacles in his life as positive motivation to make himself better than anyone ever expected of him. Never allow anyone else to limit you by listening to their expectations. The only expectations you should use in your own life are your own expectations. Keeping that thought with me will allow me to achieve whatever I set out to achieve.
…to my UT Art Blog. This website covers most of my classes here at the University of Tampa. It contains a portfolio of my work since starting school a couple of years ago. Enjoy!
A bit about me: My name is Don Scott. I retired from the Air Force (26 years, active duty) in 2010, but went right back to work doing basically the same thing without wearing a uniform. I am what people call a DoD Civil Servant. I retired from United States Central Command (CENTCOM – the command responsible for Southwest Asia – Iraq, Afghanistan, and several other countries you don’t hear about).
After I retired I went to work for United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM), literally right down the street from CENTCOM. SOCOM’s big claim to fame is being the command that “got” Usama Bin Laden while he was hiding out in Pakistan. SOCOM is also known as the top command for all those recent SEAL & military shooter movies. It’s not as glamorous as it may seem.
I also have my own side business, Tampa IT Specialists, which is an independent IT consulting company for small businesses (mostly friends of mine) in the Tampa Bay area. I moonlight as a web developer, system administrator, network troubleshooter and general IT consultant. If I don’t already know it, I’ll find you the answer you need.
While in the military I lived all over the world with my family – my wife of 29 years (still on my starter marriage) and my two daughters, now 23 & 21. We lived in England, Japan, the Netherlands and several states here in the US. We settled here in Tampa, Florida. Tampa is now my home.
When I was in high school (I graduated in 1983) I aspired to be a commercial artist, but back then everything was manual. There was no digital media. I just didn’t have the patience for it, and joined the Air Force to learn a skill. I became an IT guy for my whole career, and I witnessed many things, to include personal computers, the birth of the Internet, cell phones, smart phones, and broadband connections to people’s homes. Some time around 2002 I started playing with Photoshop and early web sites. I was completely self-taught, and slowly progressed, usually based on need…I enjoyed making programs for military ceremonies and creative military graphics.
I’m taking these classes because I enjoy creating digital graphics and art from all sorts of media. I am drawn to minimalist/retro styles from the early 60’s, black & white portraits and old jazz album covers. I prefer a clean, minimalist web design style with no borders/boundaries and with interesting balanced composition.
Thanks for reading! Don
I showed up to class a few minutes early (18 minutes?) and probably should not have strolled right in, but I did, and took a seat way in the back… Professor Tortorelli seemed really laid back – he just let me waltz right in and take a seat after saying hello and confirming I was in the right place…although early.
I realized pretty quickly that this class was already deep in the throes of a lesson, and looking to end soon. I looked up on the display and saw some basic code in Dreamweaver. Holy crap! First day, coding in Dreamweaver, hard-coding lines, rectangles and curves. These must be some upper-level geeks! “Wow…what class is this?” I thought… That class ended with a review of homework (a blog) and a couple other administrivia notes…and I realized it was the same class I was taking. AWESOME! We’re gonna code right from day-1! I’m excited.
“My group” comes in and we dive right in. Log in to our workstations, go to the shared drive and review the lesson. The coding turned into more of a copy-paste exercise, but that’s okay, I felt more at home in this hands-on environment. Ready to rock-n-roll. I also noticed the amazing array of power tools at our disposal. First time I’ve ever seen Audacity (MP3 splicer/mixer/editor) outside of my own computer. Excellent.
Prof Tortorelli also told us he’d unlock the secrets of the Illustrator Pen Tool…that, in itself, is well worth the class. The Pen Tool is still a mystery to me, after several years of tinkering in Photoshop…and I stayed away from Illustrator because of that damned Pen Tool. Bring it! I’m expecting big things from this class.
Purple-blue hair. Awesome. Professor Rountree strolled in, a couple of minutes late because of the rain and parking, but it was a confident stroll.
She has a European accent and hinted at a small country of origin…I’ll guess Luxembourg.
I’m back in class after taking the summer semester off, but only my second semester of class after decades away from the classroom. I’m an old guy in a class surrounded by “kids” the same ages as my own. Awkward. Fortunately this is a 200-level class, different from my introductory 100-level research and writing class but still very young. I easily have 25 years on everyone but the purple-haired Professor Roundtree. I’m uncomfortable.
She refers to someone named “Santiago” who I later assume is a legendary figure here at UT, an artist who is also a programmer…or a programmer who is also an artist. Regardless, I will have to meet him, because I consider myself in a similar regard…an IT/computer guy who is also an artist.
I took this course mainly to learn the history of art & technology, but I’m also expecting to learn more about composition and creativity. I’ll apply that different perspective to future web sites.
Prof. Roundtree also took firm control, chastising cell phone use and encouraging writing/doodling note-taking….NO digital note-taking. That’s a bummer but I can deal with it. She also stressed attendance. Confident and firm. Creativity with structure…looking forward to this one.
