matt's first graphic design project...a gift for cousin sophie

We should start with the fact that the project was Ashley's idea. She suggested Matt do an alphabet for his cousin Sophie (my brother Gregg and his wife Amanda's beautiful, almost one year old, daughter). The whole living in Florida thing moved us in the direction of sand and shells. We began the process by removing some sand from the turtle sand box in the back yard. I sifted most of the debris out before bringing it indoors. I spread it out on a 24"x36" tote lid. I wrote out the alphabet on some scrap paper so Matt could cross off any letter he finished. Matt randomly chose a letter and drew it large with his pointer finger in the sand.

With a plate full of shells that had previously been sent up by my mother (also living in Florida), Matt would chose which shells would go where. I would give advice now and then as to which parts of the letter might need another small shell or maybe we need to make the letter a bit bigger or smaller.

I would then take out the lid, carefully, onto the porch and take several photos. I tried to keep the shadows running in similar angles. Each day we made the letters, we were given different atmosphere for the photos. I'd bring it in, remove the shells and smooth it out for Matt to begin again.

18" x 24" final poster
matt will be 5 at the end of january