In Memoriam: Amelia Platts Boynton Robinson

I met Civil Rights heroine Amelia Robinson in 2006, at a speech in Los Angeles. She recently died, at the amazing age of 110! Using the image from when we met, I create a new image that included her historic walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on "Bloody Sunday", and the text of a quatrain she wrote in her book "Bridge Across Jordan", which was then sublimated on metal and made into a commemorative plaque.

Using the Gradient Mesh tool in Illustrator

Most people are familiar with gradients, the smooth transition from one color to another. But the gradient mesh allows you to draw gradients along contoured paths with incredible precision! Last summer I went hiking in Colorado, along a trail known as The Crags (near Colorado Springs), because of the toothy nature of the rock spires. Along the trail I saw this beautiful wild Columbine, and used the gradient mesh in Illustrator to draw it. Voila!