mom and dad

Here you go – something a bit less ranty than my last post and a bit more happy. It was my dad’s 63rd birthday the other day and we had a birthday party last night for him. It was a good time. Here is my mom with my dad. The cake had no nuts so I could eat it. It tasted pretty damn good.
I made a website for my mom – she is an artist. If you are a relative of mine or a friend of my mom, you may have heard that this website was a long time coming. It is true – ever since around 2003 I had been planning it in my head. I was ready to build it at any time, and earlier this year my dad registered the domain. That was it – I had to do it at that point since they were getting serious about it too. I designed the site to showcase her art, awards, and upcoming events as well as show a bit of info about herself and there’s also some room for interactivity in the form of commenting in her gallery. Here’s a screen shot:

I am deeply pleased that I have been able to set it up in a way that allows her to update the site herself with a Content Management System. The handwriting you see on the site is her actual handwriting – I had her scan (at a fairly high resolution) some words that I asked her to write out, and then I turned them into PNG24’s with an alpha layer to achieve a seamless blend with the website background, which I created out of a canvas pattern blended to the colour scheme that I had decided on. I also added some rollover behavior on the handwriting buttons (previous, next, more, back) so that it becomes more prominent when you move the mouse over it. I think it translates really well to what I wanted the user experience to be – professional, sophisticated, but not out of reach. A lot of effort has gone into this website from both myself and Mom and I’m glad to see that it is up and in front of the public now.
Here is the link:
Nirmala Greenwell, Artist – www.nirmalagreenwell.com