C. Proppé

Photo post editing and album design by CProppe Design
Portrait Photography by A. Costello
Shop 👉BLAKETHECHEMIST Organic Apparel & Products

Shop 👉All Designs by CProppe for BLAKETHECHEMIST

Website and Organic Apparel design by CProppe.com
Photography by A. Costello & Team Blakethechemist

Image from a series of Musical Instruments created with flower petals in the Spring of 2021. I created a Gibson brand electric guitar, piano, uke, saxophone, and trumpet with fallen flowers foraged from the ground in the Spring of 2021, and Summer of 2020. Images are online as prints and available at Fine Art America here.

Link: Fineartamerica.com/profiles/colleen-proppe

❤️Click here to shop for Music Land Art Gifts & Art!

You can also buy T-shirts, Art Cards & Music Gifts at:

🎵🌺🖼 TinyURL.com/MusicFlowerArt

Created with ripe and foraged, Kousa Dogwood berries on the East Coast. I have done food styling and food blogging for many years. As an animator, it’s fun to see what’s possible to draw attention on Social Media with food. Hi res images available on request. 9/9/2021

Pro-bono add design for Salesforce Events.

Instagram promotional ad for Bjork Music concert livestreams to support the women’s shelter in Iceland. Created October 2021

Social media ad created to assist Farm Aid with their online auction promotion and sale of signed guitars and items to raise funds for farming in the US.

This is an instagram promotional ad created for the group “Misner and Smith” in Davis, California. misnerandsmith.com

Alicia Keys had a Birthday on the same day that Webb Telescope reached La Grange 2.

Photography and Design by CProppe.com

Birthday Design for Bobbie Nelson, Pianist

Pro-bono design incorporating:

• Salesforce NetZeroCloud Character, Astro

• EarthDay.ORG & the 6Rs

• Clean Swell Beach Cleanup App

• My Photo @ Climate March, San Francisco 2019

• Diversity & Activism: MLK and John Kerry (image).

• First Earth Day Button Design, April 22, 1970

Climate Action AD Design, featuring image and words of Greta Thunberg, Author and Climate Activist

Ad Design promoting:

• Apple Music Southern Craft Radio w/Margo Price
• FarmAid.ORG (“The Farm Aid Episode! Podcast)
• Earthday.org April 22
• Use of Emojis: Tractor and American Flag
• Earth Flag purchased at Good Earth Natural

Pro-bono Climate Action AD Promoting the purchase of EVs and Hybrids and the US Government Incentives*

*CLICK HERE TO GO TO US.GOV INCENTIVES PAGE

Pro-bono AD Promoting BOOK: “Racing with Aloha” by Fred Haywood, Champion Windsurfer and Realtor in Maui, Hawaii. Photo & Design, CProppe.com

Photography and Educational Design depicting days it takes to go from inside a chrysalis to a butterfly.

🦋CLICK HERE to Buy Art Gifts w/Monarch Lifecycle

CLICK HERE TO SHOP “FoundedByHER.ORG”

I participated in this fundraiser in 2022 and helped Marin County “Trips for Kids” reach their fundraising goals. I created videos on social media, Instagram and created graphics to promote the event.

🚴‍♀️CLICK HERE to visit “TRIPS FOR KIDS MARIN”

Design Concept for Sierra Hull Music.

🎸CLICK HERE to visit “Sierra Hull Music” online.

Promo Design for Emmy Lou Harris and her charity that rescues dogs, “Bonaparte’s Retreat.org”.

🦴🐕CLICK HERE TO VISIT “Bonaparte’s Retreat.org”

Hope Foye, was the first person to sing the song, “Lilac Wine”, which was written by James Shelton for the Broadway Play, “Dance Me a Song” in 1949. Though this play was considered a flop at the time, it featured Bob Fosse in this Broadway debut, and Liza Minellie’s father, Vincent Minnelli. However, I could not find any recordings of Hope singing this song. It was later recorded by Eartha Kitt and made even more popular today by the singer, Jeff Buckley. I loved learning about Hope Foye from newspaper archives, her daughters, Melody and Joy Woolley, and her amazing career as a singing teacher and professional singer. Pete Seeger sang with Hope on a very early recording of the song, “Oh, Freedom”.

(Above image source link here)
Hope’s Broadway performances were “The Green Pastures” in 1951, and “Dance Me a Song” in 1950, where she sang “I’m the Girl” and “Lilac Wine”. She has a beautiful soprano voice. I was disappointed to not be able to hear her sing “Lilac Wine”, but maybe someone else will find an old recording somewhere. 🙏 Hear Hope Foye YouTube clips here

Task: Create header graphics in different sizes for SOFI San Francisco blog.

Banners were created in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.  The process involved the design of an exhibit postcard first, and then I would resize the postcard art for banners and modules and upload into Joomla CMS. I created new banners and designs each month for this major art gallery in San Rafael, CA.

I was asked to created a banner ad for Annie’s during my role as a Packaging Production Designer. This design was created in Adobe Illustrator, the background images, graham crackers, marshmellow and chocolate all in separate layers that could be reused at a later time. This was created in part of a single day that also included work on sell sheets, packaging mechanicals and organization tasks.

I created graphics and content for the weekly e-new for Marin Arts Council.  Tools used were Photoshop and digital photography in the gallery.

Created for Marin Arts Council E-newsletter and website

Created for E-newsletter for Marin Arts Council

Art on the Farm Exhibit Banner created for Marin Arts Council

Created for Marin Arts Council, e-news

Designs for a Lighthouse emoji for Unicode Proposal.
January 26, 2023. Created in Adobe Illustrator.
Purchase organic apparel in my SHOP based on this design.

I have always wanted there to be a “Lighthouse emoji”, so I finally started designing one in January 2023, based on the updated Walton Lighthouse in Santa Cruz. I like this lighthouse because it is GREEN and has green paint and a green light that flashes every 4 seconds. It was dedicated the same year my twins were born, and you can see it from Twin Lakes Beach. Unicode accepts emoji proposals once a year.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW PDF - UPDATED EMOJI PROPOSAL Jan. 30, 2023

This is a page I created to demonstrate how the “Barn” and or “Farm” emojis could be included with other farm animals and nature emoji in the current Unicode Library.

“Barn” and “Farm” emoji designs. Created February 2023 for Unicode Proposal. Designs based on two barns I photographed: One in Franklin, Tennessee, which has the fence and the dormer/window at the top, and the other was a friend’s family home barn, in Waccabuc, New York. This barn had a diamond-shaped window, and a minaret/weathervane tower at the top that I liked the design of, so I incorporated different elements from each into the Barn emoji design. Emojis must be created and submitted for proposals in both full color, and “black & white only, with no gradients”.

I designed this coloring page for Willie Nelson’s 89th Birthday. I posted it on social media with links to download and print the file. I created a separate social media design/ad for a suggested donation and link to Farm Aid’s donation page.

Download the Willie Nelson Coloring Page

I worked on a team of three internal creatives, and hired an excellent Sheridan trained character animator at this amazing Accessibilty company in Northern Marin County. We brainstormed and designed adorable and fun math software, which was accessible for those with visual and motor disabilities.

We learned to design art, games and animation for Intellikeys, which operated as a USB keyboard with overlays and switches that could allow the response rate and repeat rate to be changed. It supported sounds on key pressing, and shift key latching and locking. These features were new at the time and developed long before there were iPads, iPhones, Siri or Google Assistant.

One of my favorite jobs ever, with the best team leader, Eric Nardone, who went on to work with real sea otters and is now the Director of Interpretive Media at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Intellitools software and hardware is unique, specialized and still out there online if you search for it.

We have come a long way in 20 years, and the newest phones, tablets and apps can do so much more we couldn’t do back then. However, the art process is relatively similar. We still use Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and Adobe Animation products to create the art for games today. The changes to those products have also been nothing but miraculous. Now, if we could only just use our knowledge to save the seas, sea otters and improve habitat and biodiversity loss!
Let’s go, #climateaction !

Oshi the sea otter teaches counting at the seashore as his friends come out of the beach cave, you count them! Reward animations were made for correct answers, and incorrect answers.

In the first image, a moray eel comes out of the reef and you have to choose the correct bubble at the top: Greater than >, less than <, or equal to =. We made it easy for kids to understand, because the eel will always want to eat MORE- the GREATER #, and the mouth shape of the eel looks like a “Greater than sign”.

I had a lot of freedom to design the “how it works”, the backgrounds, characters and colors. It was a challenge to do this with a limited team. I’m proud of what we accomplished together.

I started my computer graphics professional career as a 2d animator and digital cel painter creating tiny, hand-drawn animations of spiders, bats, elephants, giraffe and monkeys. We used Adobe Photoshop to color the scanned in 2d, hand-drawn character animations, and Macromedia Director to assemble all art and lip sycnch with sound.

Living Books: Stellaluna (Read to Me)

Click to view animations on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGMLDmkpo5Q&feature=youtu.be&t=2m15s

In 2021-2022, I designed these “Winter Musicians Birthday” pages for December, January and February… I was impressed that many of the most popular musicians were born in the winter months. My idea was for Apple to incorporate these Birthdays into a “Mental Health” feature that shows you what popular musicians you like were born on the same day as you. I share May 16th with Janet Jackson, and that always makes me happy. 😊

GIF created for Tik Tok and social media.

Astro Coloring Pages with Added Background Images

In 2020, during the height of the pandemic, Salesforce Trailhead started producing “Activity Books” which always had a coloring page. I started coloring them and adding my own backgrounds. I promoted the designs on social media with my “art” and links to the Trailhead activity books.

Eventually, I started making my own “Rogue Versions” with PDFS that others could download and color. This was just pure fun for me, but completely voluntary work. As a professional, I would do things differently, but as a Trailblazer, it’s fun to have freedom to make things differently and just for fun.
Please download and enjoy 4 unique coloring pages, listed below. (See also the “Willie Nelson Music with my Friends- Farm Aid” coloring page, above ⬆️ .)

Download these Coloring Pages:

Be Well Ranch Life

I added a background design to this page, which was originally from Trailhead Activity Book version 8.

Download “Superheroes in San Francisco” Coloring Page

Download the Original Trailhead Activity Book 8

This was my design for Astro’s Birthday outfit in 2020.

Download the Astro Rockstar Coloring Page

Graphics created in Adobe Illustrator to represent their Non-profit Success Pack.

Graphics created in Adobe Illustrator representing a group peacefully protesting for housing rights.

Mock up gif to illustrate peaceful protestors waving signs.

Educational PPE Illustration for Covid-19. Please view more about this on Behance.

I wanted to create a bar chart that simply compared the most devastating pandemics and wars with COVID-19 pandemic. I started with a Google Sheet where I entered the total deaths for each selected event. I have been updating the COVID data with info from Johns Hopkins website and .json file. When COVID deaths reached 1 million worldwide on Sept. 28, 2020, I created a logo graphic lock-up to represent the significance of this tragic milestone as COVID surpassed three other pandemics that reached 1 million worldwide. Covid’s speed at reaching this point is the most significant factor:

* In just 8 months, we have lost over 1 million people worldwide.*

Learn more online here and download high res files, here.

The task was to create a visual timeline for the client’s hiring process. The client was not a designer and yet wanted to be able to edit this file herself and was only familiar with MSWord. So, I created this with a grid and color-coded the blocks to show the hiring process and the staff responsible for the tasks at hand.

Created with ripe and foraged, Kousa Dogwood berries on the East Coast. I have done food styling and food blogging for many years. As an animator, it’s fun to see what’s possible to draw attention on Social Media with food. Hi res images available on request. 9/9/2021

May 31, 2025 I’ve now built the entire System 3, ships and all the technical gear in vectors! This design includes all the parts that make this system work to clean the Great Pacific Garbage Patch with out harming any fish or animals in the process.
Visit my Design Shop on Teemill to view all images from the Ocean Cleanup Collection designed through June 15th, 2025.

Learn more online at TheOceanCleanup.com a global non-profit that is the largest cleanup of ocean plastics in the world.

May 2025 Designs for TheOceanCleanup.com Τ shirt contest. I missed the deadline, but I loved making these and plan to print some for myself and family. Maybe The Ocean Cleanup will use these designs for a future printing. All work created in Adobe Illustrator. Original concept started with Google Sheets designs in March of 2025. Sketches and a hand-drawn version were created first, and the final version came soon after.

This is one of two versions on white. The swoosh of the curve of South America wraps beautifully around the bow of the ship. It’s a pretty design that makes me feel good looking at it, just like clean oceans! Don’t forget to donate to TheOceanCleanup.com so we will have clean oceans by 2040. Thank you!

May 2025: I have been working on a Τ shirt Design for TheOceanCleanup.com My idea was to include the 9 countries around the world on the top part of a globe, and the Ocean with System 3 and all the Ocean animals that are helped by the work of The Ocean Cleanup. The rainbow bar at the bottom include all 9 countries in the order that they were added and in the order of the numbers of the vessels and barriers. The design also includes the founding date, 2013. I made vector sunglasses based on those originally made from plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and a vector boat and Retention Zone “net” full of plastic bottles. Using symbols in Adobe Illustrator is a great way to work for complicated designs that involve multiple versions of a vector object. I enjoy this type of Illustration work. Please click here to donate to my fundraiser for The Ocean Cleanup today! Thank you.

May 2025: My current design work in progress for a Τ shirt for TheOceanCleanup.com

Created as a limited palette poster design from a photo using Adobe Ilustrator. Bike commuter headed home from San Francisco at sunset.

I participated in Climate Ride 2019 on the California Central Coast and raised funds for the San Francisco Bike Coalition. I created this design in Adobe Illustrator during the time I was fundraising. It is based on the previous design (below).

Inspired by a colleague at Salesforce, I created this after working on a Sustainability presentation for a class project. I was bummed that the pie charts were not more fun, and I started with icons and created a seemless pattern in Illustrator, then added it over the colored pie. I like it a lot and feel like it could work as a starting point for a brand, packaging or as a piece of art on it’s own. Maybe even a mural? Who knows.

I had about 30 minutes or so to design a t-shirt and a few other items for a job test in San Francisco. The theme was “SF Pride”. I am a straight woman, but have lived in the Bay Area since 1995. Everyone celebrates Pride in San Francisco, and I have had many friends and LGBT teachers in the Bay Area. Many of my friends now have LGBT children. This is something everyone needs to accept and be respectful of. I would much rather live in a welcoming world that is like “Sesame Street” and represents a diverse community than any place that is not kind to all.

Created for a job test 12/10/2018

Version on black for tshirt designs.

Candle/Lotus Flower and flipped arches.

Created in Illustrator 12/10/2018

Inspired by a doodle and my guitar teacher, Carrie Love at SFguitarlessons.com

11.14.2018

This is a pattern I made in the newer version of Illustrator. I created the bike and cloud icons first, and then used the tools in Illustrator to “Make Pattern” or repeat the design. This was formerly called a “Step and Repeat” pattern in previous versions of Illustrator. (8/18/18)

I was biking over a bridge in the rain and I looked down to see the tiny heads of turtles popping out of the water. The pattern from the rain drops was a series of circles breaking into each other. I loved the image and thought it would make a cool pattern. Here is a first draft based on my photo. A vector image and a pattern, both created in Adobe Illustrator CC. (8/20/18)

Updated the design of the turtle to include a few new elements and gradients. This could be a card or a scene in a children’s book… or even a design for a wall mural.

Created in Adobe Illustrator (8.20.18)

Created in Adobe Illustrator (8.20.18)

Summer 2015: I was asked to design a Logo and web buttons for Marin County realtor, Theo McCaughey. Theo wanted to have the city, the bridge, the rainbow tunnel and Marin, all in one logo!  It was hard to do and keep it simple enough that it could be used small.  There were MANY renditions before this final design.

Updated logo for Sweet Cheeses, Artisan Cheesecake Company.

October 2015- Mike Deni and the band Geographer were on a tour to the Eastern States of US. Mike(or, the band) posted a video on Instagram on a beautiful day in Utah, with blue and yellow mountains and stellar clouds in the background. I decided I just needed to make it into a graphic, and grabbed a screenshot of his face and the mountain in the background. I used Adobe Shape to capture the black and white image, then brought it into Illustrator to add the mountain, color and tweak the left eyebrow outline to make it look "spikier". Added some text and the words "Journey to the East" a book that Mike posted he had been reading on the trip. It has been really fun inbetween jobs to do some design that means something to me emotionally and creatively. I don't think designers always get the chance to explore the tools on their own, and this was a fun little project that forced me to just make something quickly and fun.

I was asked to create a logo for the company " Success & Chocolate".  As a blog and Facebook account, it had to work in a square as well as a banner format.
 

Success & Chocolate logo designed for blog, Facebook, Twitter and notecards. 

Woman's Clothing and Gift Company

Accounting Department at Nutiva wanted this image created as a vector file and print ready for a t-shirt. 

Created for Sheppard Partners, 2013. 

Vector logo/business card idea created for an online contest, 2012. 

An exhibit by the Marin Arts Council, I created this logo from images in the show.  It was used for posters, enews, website and artist e-blasts, as well as a scavenger hunt for kids and families in the gallery. 

Design created for t-shirt, poster and promotion of a fundraising event with Gary Fisher. 

I created a strategy and mocked up designs for 3 major brands to reduce waste, promote sustainable behaviors in their customers, and market their products.

1. World Central Kitchen ChicoBag for Ukraine
   
   This cobranded bag made by ChicoBag could be used and sold in several ways. First, it could be used in Ukraine when handing out food to those in need. Second, it could be sold at ALL restaurants when ordering take-out food online. This bag would be an item available to purchase and your food would be delivered in this bag instead of paper or plastic. A discount or donation could be offered if you pick up your food in this bag.
   

2. Salesforce Net Zero Cloud
   

   This bag would be used at Dreamforce and other major events and given out to those who attend the events. It encourages reuse and sustainable behaviors for all attendees and also markets Net Zero Cloud, a product that assists businesses in achieving net zero emissions faster.
   

3. The Apple Store
   
   A co-branded ChicoBag for the Apple Store would be handed out when customers purchase a product. It would act as both the bag to carry the purchased items and also, as a method to promote reuse and sustainable behaviors. If a customer brings this bag to the store when they purchase a product, a donation could be made to an ecofriendly non-profit.
   

Mockup: Design and sustainable event and marketing idea for Salesforce Net Zero Cloud “Team Earth”. The packable, reuseable bag would promote the company, the sustainable cloud product and encourage reuse and sustainable behaviors working towards climate action.

Mockup and Sustainable Packaging Idea: A co-branded reusable ChicoBag for the Apple Store. This product would be used when customers purchase a product at the store in person rather than a plastic drawstring shopping bag. Customers could bring their Apple Chicobag back to the store when they purchase a new item and have the amount saved deducted or go to support a sustainable charity.

Packaging design work created for Gymboree, Janie & Jack, GAP, San Francisco, CA. I transferred over 150 packaging skus from JJ, Crazy8 and Gymboree to GAP at the end of 2019.

Assisted Annie's Creative Department in-house where I transferred dozen's of files to new film dielines, added "How 2 Recycle" logos to product packaging, created sell sheets, 3d renders, barcodes, and web banners for new products.

Assisted Amy's Kitchen in-house with packaging mechanical updates for food products (soups, meals, burritos, cases, etc.) for US, France, Germany, Australia, UK, and Canada. Updated sell sheets and ads. Generated barcodes for products. Created Holiday Card design for vendors.

"T Minus 5" is my concept for a fun tea box rebrand; a suggested collaboration between Celestial Seasonings and Scholastic to help kids read and drink tea. The Organic "T Minus 5" comes in a rocket ship box, which offers a sustainable use beyond the recycling bin, as kids can collect and play with the box. Side panel has a story about bear visiting The Great Bear Constellation, and back lists a Scholastic reading countdown of the top 10 space books as chosen by parents.
Ready for liftoff!  (View additional images on Behance)

I worked as a Production Artist in 2013. I assisted with line extensions for this rebrand, and created a butter wrapper mechanical, as well as an app logo and t-shirt designs. To learn more about the rebrand, visit here.

I was asked to create a mechanical for the inner liner for their new product, "Buttery Sticks".  This is the resulting Adobe Illustrator file.

Holds individual 1 oz hempseed pacakages.

Concept Design Mechanical for CLIF Bar, 2.4 oz energy bar.

CLIF Bar was started on a bike, yet most of their energy bar packaging uses rock climbers, kids on skateboards, climbing trees, etc...  I wanted to design a package that featured a cyclist in some capacity... This is a work in progress.  Concept design for packaging mechanicals ©2014
 

Inside of Pop-up Card: Cut, scored, folded and assembled 40+ complex pop-up cards for Clif Bar under direction of Experience Designer. Involved use of Xyron Adhesive machine and comping tools. Provided advice on project during assembly in-house and remotely.

Cover: Cut, scored, folded and assembled 40+ complex pop-up cards for Clif Bar under direction of Experience Designer. Involved use of Xyron Adhesive machine and comping tools. Provided advice on project during assembly in-house and remotely.

Created 3 designs for a fold over, mesh orange bag label for Capay Organic.

Inspired by advice from one of the Creative Directors at Salesforce. Created in Adobe Illustrator and shared with the Trailhead team during the Chinese New Year month (February 2019). I started working with Salesforce as a contract Illustrator in October 2018. Since then, I have become a Trailhead Ranger with a broad understanding of the Salesforce CRM platform. Click here to view my Trailhead Profile.

Created for fun from my 2018-2019 Holiday Card.

Art designed with an iPad and Procreate app.

Fall 2014: This was a student assignment in Packaging Design 2.

This is the first part of the assignment, where we had to design a bottle, a gift box it could be contained in for shipping and 3 different flavor varieties of the product. I chose to do a rebrand of an olive oil packaging. I picked the harlequin checkered pattern to stand out and draw attention on the shelf.

Designs are for chocolate cake box label for an organic, flourless chocolate cake "Chocolate Couture".

3" round label in a youthful, fun style for a 9 year old farmer.

The client requested the design be based on a child's artwork and handwriting. The egg carton on left shows the child's drawing.  The design on right shows how I was able to create a vector font and graphic from the child's art.

In 2001, I worked as a Designer for Dynacraft Industries in San Rafael, where I designed graphics for children's bikes, seats, bells, bags and other accessories.  We used Photoshop and Illustrator to create all designs, worked with mylar, Pantone colors and outside vendors.  I organized their asset library in-house.

Design and mechanical

Chainguard separation of mylar and color

This large 35" x 40" sign was designed in Adobe Illustrator to hang in the front window of the main gallery at 1337 Fourth Street to attract those on the street inside.  It worked very well when it was first installed, as there were many people who saw it and ventured in, stating they never knew there was an art center in San Rafael. 

This tri-fold brochure was designed in Adobe Illustrator, with images edited in Photoshop.  I worked with key staff and the Board of Directors to rebrand their design from a previously outdated Brochure.  The look was to use the current website branding and colors.

For the inside of the brochure, I suggested we put the photo of the building along the inside, with little photos to show what happens inside the center.  This concept worked well and because it is a long image, this also works well as their Facebook Cover Image.

The 2nd Fridays Art Walk happens every month in downtown San Rafael.  I was responsible for designing and updating the monthly, trifold brochure for Art Walk, which included 20+ venues along 4th Street, plus sponsors and other special events.  It was always different and always a challenge to complete by our deadline.  I worked with outside printing vendors, photographers and artists who would supply files for the even map.

This was a full-color, 4 x 6 inch postcard that displayed in local shops to promote the event year round.  It was a re-design of a previous card that had become outdated.

Back of the 4 x 6 inch postcard that displayed in local shops to promote the event year round.  I designed this with the focal point being the large, colorful circles to invite businesses, merchants, and artists to come participate.

I was responsible for web content management in Joomla 1.5.  This is page that shows 2 side modules that I added graphics into (featured artist and featured exhibit) and it also shows the graphic I created for the building that is also used on Facebook.  I was trying to be consistent with the branding and identity across the board as we changed the collateral.

This is the graphic I created for the new business collateral at AWD.  It works well as a Facebook Cover Photo.  I also created a new Twitter account (@artworks1337) and used this modified small square redesign as the Twitter avatar. 

The Founder of Art Works Downtown wanted a simple, but elegant modification of their logo and tag line on an A5 notecard for sending thank yous to donors, visitors and volunteers.  After several attempts, and speaking directly with Mrs. Thelen, I was able to understand that she wanted it to feel like a ribbon was flowing down to the "Thank you".  This graphic continues to be used in their monthly newsletter.

This was a tri-fold Event Guide for the "Art on the Farm" fundraiser in 2012.  It had exhibits on two floors in 5 unique gallery spaces.  This guide was available to all who attended so they could locate and view all the art.

Several years ago, I painted a painting of the Marin Coffee Roasters in San Anselmo, California.  The owner at the time had me create this ad, and notecards with my painting on the front that would contain the holiday gift cards from his store.

I created three designs for the unique "Holiday Gift Boxes" that Marin Coffee Roasters sold one year.  This ones for the first box, for the "Coffee Connoisseur".

"Holiday Gift Boxes" for Marin Coffee Roasters;  This was box #2 "The Tumbler Selection"

This was the third in the series, "The Mug of Holiday Cheer" and included a Dog or Cat mug (they had hand-painted images of dogs and cats on the mugs, and you could select your own). 

Client asked me to design a card that would be included with their holiday gift cards.  I designed this card using my painting, and included a choice of Gold or Green metallic envelopes.

In 2011, I brought my sons to meet artists, Judith Selby Lang and Richard Lang of www.beachplastic.com  We collected plastic from Kehoe Beach and borrowed additional plastic collected by the Langs for this project.  I asked grade school students to arrange the plastic in the shape of a sea animal affected by plastic pollution.  The images were used to create notecards which were sold as part of the YES Foundation school fundraiser.  The project was shared with the Marine Mammal Center, where they adapted the project for visiting children.

These students and my sons are about to turn 21 in 2023. Now adults, they have been educated in Ocean Pollution, the problems of pesticides and plastic in our environment, and they have created art projects in public schools to raise awareness since they were 8 or 9 years old. I believe it’s time for all of us, including all politicians, to start fighting pollution for our planet and our oceans, demand net zero now, and respect the children who grew up with this tragedy. They are now adults who have a very firm understanding of the many issues facing our world, from pandemics to pollution. Don’t underestimate 20 year olds, and don’t try to talk down to them! They’ve had it rough.

I worked with Executive Director, Sharon Burns, of the Stapleton Ballet in San Anselmo, California, to create this 52 page book for their 27th annual Nutcracker performances at Marin Center. Although this book had been created in the past, this year, I recreated the file from scratch in Adobe InDesign so they could move away from files that were in an older software program. The layout is similar to previous books. I created several ads for local businesses and dancer ads. You may view the book as a PDF on ISSU here.

Cover and Back of 265 page workbook created in Adobe InDesign for a 3 day seminar by Charlie Sheppard, of Sheppard Partners.  I also laid out the full workbook over several weeks, working directly with the client. The work combined older files from Illustrator and Powerpoint, plus creation of new graphics in InDesign.

65 page student yearbook created in Adobe InDesign.  Photos edited in Photoshop. 

With the mustangs as the mascot, I used cowboy, hats, lassos and more through out the pages.

I used the cowboy theme and tied the pages together with different colored bandanas for each grade.

I used the cowboy theme and tied the pages together with different colored bandanas for each grade.

Designed for kids and families attending the Marin Arts exhibit. 

View InVision Prototype, here:

http://invis.io/7SAUYG2QE

View Research, here:

Concert Connect PDF

This mobile app was designed as way for Eventbrite, Bandsintown or similar Concert Ticket Purchasing Apps to be able to let ticket purchasers network before concerts and join tables at nearby restaurants(could potentially work with Open Table, but the goal is different).

Single ticket holders and smaller groups are matched based on their interests, and then they may chat or choose to be placed at an "inclusive table" for dinner before the concert. It is based on the idea of inclusion and the concepts behind "No One Eats Alone", a nationwide middle school and high school program of Beyond Differences that teaches youth to accept all individuals and not exclude people based on race, gender or other differences.

My research(interviews and survey) showed that 50% of people ages 30-55, especially single women or males who wanted to network in San Francisco, would purchase more tickets to local music if they had a way to feel they were not going alone, but also, not made to feel like they were going on a date. This app is specifically designed to not feel like a dating app, and is more about inclusion, networking and meeting groups of people who like the same music.

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After conducting surveys and interviews with a variety of personas regarding a hypothesis, we identified goals, motivations, problems and pain points. Teams informally may use post-it notes on the wall in a meeting to group or sort their data. Post it notes will always remind me of my first UX class in downtown San Francisco, many years ago.

Card sorting is a method used to help design or evaluate the layout of information on a site or mobile app. I worked with others in my class to card sort data from my research. Colleagues organized my findings(topics) into categories that made sense to them and this activity helped me develop the information architecture/ framework for my app. Card sorting tools online today, such as optimalworkshop.com actually include teams of people you can have sort your findings and create labels that make the most sense.

Prototype Created in Sketch April 27, 2021.
An app used to register bikes, lock and secure bikes, report bikes lost or stolen, and network with other cyclists, bike commuters and members.

Ideation & Problem: Bike theft in the SF Bay Area is a problem. I envisioned a solution based on personal experience living in San Francisco and having two bikes stolen there.

Process: I gathered local connections and information I wanted to include in a GoogleSheet. I then storyboarded the path of a user registering a bike, purchasing locks and security, reporting a bike lost or stolen, and alerting police, networks, bike shops, Craigslist, EBay and Flea Markets “at the touch of a button”. Finally, I began creating the prototype in Sketch and Adobe XD to test with users.

I researched and gathered the information required to register, secure, report stolen and network with other cyclists and bike commuters in the Bay Area. This includes weblinks, phone numbers, social media accounts, videos and more. Available in a single spreadsheet.

Rapid Paper Sketching “Wireframes” and story of how a user would

1. Register a bike

2. Purchase Locks and Security

3. Report a Bike Missing or Stolen and have the app automatically send a police report as well as alert friends and people near the scene of crime. Generate a flyer based on bike registration data already in the app and allow user to print, and share flyer to post in neighborhood.

4. Network with local bike groups, shops, events, etc.

In 2021-2022, I designed these “Winter Musicians Birthday” pages for December, January and February… I was impressed that many of the most popular musicians were born in the winter months. My idea was for Apple to incorporate these Birthdays into a “Mental Health” feature that shows you what popular musicians you like were born on the same day as you. I share May 16th with Janet Jackson, and that always makes me happy. 😊 This would make a great app too.

This was a quick concept done in Keynote to show:

1. User Profile Page

2. List of Events

3. Connect/share with all social media friends (Not just FB)

VIEW KEYNOTE VIDEO 

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App Prototype for teaching 6-8 year olds the color wheel and how to paint light and shadows with complementary colors. ©2019 CProppe.

Concept art for a nutrition-based/health mobile app to help you "eat your colors".

Avocado Toast with sourdough bread, kalamata olives, mint, edible flowers

Food styling, cooking and art created by me over the past twenty years. I am available to hire as a personal chef for primarily vegetarian meals, styling, photography, food company social media posts, food marketing, ad brainstorming sessions, food art and animations using food. I love creating with organic and seasonal food. It’s fun and delicious!

Organic 🍌Banana, mango🥭, walnut, chocolate-chip bread with fresh seasonal fruit 🍓🍊 and edible flowers.

I love to grow organic veggies and make Summer pizzas, spring rolls, fried zucchini blossoms and colorful desserts

I love baking meals in Maui with fresh fruit and cacao!

Banana Bread made in Haiku, Maui with Star Fruit

Organic Coconut Ukulele Sugar Cookies, Holiday 2022

Lilikoi fruit in Maui, Hawaii

4 sections of a Veggie Quesadilla

Breakfast! Scrambled Eggs with Organic Sauteed Veggies & Sourdough Toast

Spring Rolls with Peanut Sauce

A Strawberry castle made with cucumbers and fruit. Summer 2022

I create recipes with organic products, such as a mini-mock apple pie baked in porcelain ramekins I created with oatmeal Clif Kid’s Zbars. I am always up for a creative cooking challenge!

Lincoln’s Birthday Brownie crumble dessert

Quinoa and veggie, Baked Stuffed Organic Red Peppers

Connecticut Organic Farms Photography during Farm Aid, 2021

Photos of Food from Farm Aid, Hartford, CT 2021

Summer Garden Fresh Pasta Salad

Food Prep for a Veggie Stir Fry or Pasta Salad

Fresh bread, cheese, strawberries packed for a picnic hike

Summer smoothies and avocado toast

Frozen banana dipped in cacao nibs and organic chocolate

Fresh summer rolls packed with organic veggies

Veggie Taco prep…

I have updated the Summer Course brochure for the Stapleton Ballet in Summer 2016 and Summer 2017. View the PDF file here.

As soon as I arrived at this job, my first task was to design a postcard using the Store's current Brand, fonts and quirky illustrated style. I used the sketched clouds and hot air balloon they had used in past concepts over a photo I took of the building in progress. It had to be done quickly and from a different location. I visited the new location to photograph the image and return to the old offices to finish the project with the Marketing Manager. It was our first successful project and we finished it very quickly!

Ann Brebner's 90th Birthday celebration was also used to raise funds for AlterTheater in downtown San Rafael, CA. Ann Brebner has been an Actor, Director, Casting Agent for the motion picture industry, Playwright, and Co-founder of the Marin Shakespeare Company. Ann has worked tirelessly to support Theater, Film and non-profits in Marin County.

I wanted to design an elegant image that showed women communicating dramatically, and I chose the word cloud and words above them to share many of the people, places and words that were important in Ann's life. The blue and orange are colors of the Alter Theater logotype. Black, white and gray state an elegant affair; a summer evening dinner party and fundraiser in Marin County. I took this job pro-bono to assist Jeannette Harrison of AlterTheater.

Vector Graphic I created for the front of this card in 2011 for Art Works Downtown.

Just for fun, I had a recent painting that lended itself to promoting this event, so I put some type down on the painting.  I think it looks pretty fun, and gives the idea of an evening party in San Francisco.  Painting is for sale, here...

Designed for an exhibit curated by KALA INSTITUTE in Berkeley.

It had this as the color front, and there was a black and white back.

This was a collaborative exhibit with Marin Organic and The Marin History Museum, taking place as the first building-wide exhibit at Art Works Downtown. 

Solo exhibit by artist, Foad Satterfield. 

This was a postcard, poster and e-flyer used to promote the annual, "Art on the Farm" exhibit in Bolinas, California. 

I was contracted by Kate Green Design (for Annie's, Inc.) to do photo retouching on several of her packaging design photos. All work is done in Photoshop at high resolution, and files saved out in different sizes for print and digital use. I have done work like this for over 10+ years.

A Google Glass visit with the Founder of Mountain Biking Marin, Celia Graterol. Mountain Biking Marin offers guided bike tours and corporate trips to ride the best mountain bike trails around the San Francisco Bay Area + Tahoe, as well as customized mountain bike skill clinics for those willing to learn and practice technical drills.

Music credits at the end... "Celito Lindo" by Mariachi Aquila, from "30 Songs for a Mexican Wedding" on iTunes

This is my first little painting created from Google Glass footage I took this week. My #ifIhadglass response was that I would use Google Glass to get reference imagery while biking to create my paintings. The first week, I have been learning how to use it and creating videos. Now I am starting to paint! Fun.