About

I’m Ed Stone, an artist living and working in Cincinnati, Ohio. I have been creating art for most of my life and working as a designer/developer since the mid-90’s. I’ve also released a couple of books that I’m extremely proud of, and have a couple more in the works.

Before becoming a designer/developer, I was a Navy Hospital Corpsman/Field Medic ( ) working with the Marines for nearly ten years. I had spent most of my young life in emergency medicine ( ) but near the end of my Navy career, I had ultimately gotten stuck in a factory making glasses ( ) in the largest optical fabrication laboratory in the world (the Naval Ophthalmic Support and Training Activity) in Virginia.

While there, I met some amazing souls ( ) who have profoundly impacted my life in positive ways. I’m a lucky guy.

My love of learning and teaching myself how to design, animate, and code gave me the ability to leave the military and do work that still helps others, but in a way that gives me full autonomy and creative freedom. And I’ve been doing it ever since.

Work

For more than two decades, I’ve built long-lasting relationships with people and companies who I’ve helped through visual tools such as websites, branding, marketing materials, etc., to show the world the incredible things they do.

And for more than ten years, I’ve been the lead designer/developer for the Global Partnership for Education, which has been highly fulfilling work.

I believe in generosity, empathy, honesty, kindness, humility, and integrity. And for a good fit, I look for these same qualities in those I work with. In addition, I strongly feel that the little things matter, as well as being proactive, earning trust, and exceeding expectations with every project I’m part of.

Ed Stone

My artwork

My Art = My Life

The things I create constantly evolve: from concise ideas of what I wish to create or capture, into allowing random sequences of thoughts to take shape and letting the art create itself.

I rarely describe the meaning behind my art — I prefer my work to be wide open for interpretation. Feelings and meaning over a piece of art can evolve over time, but if I define a piece for someone with my own meaning, I might also prevent this evolution from happening and change how someone connects with the art.

I create my artwork solely for the process itself and try not to worry so much about the finished piece. And I don’t expect to become a world renowned artist but to express myself well in what I create.

Ed Stone

Taking pictures

Simple beauty is everywhere.

My camera is my muse, and just the simple act of carrying it often forces me to look for and see moments that I might often miss. It’s a pretty magical device.

I try to use my camera in a way that requires little or no post-processing, especially with my more abstract photos.

I feel that “fixing” bad captures or manipulating photographs to make them more appealing in Lightroom/Photoshop makes me a lazy photographer and I try to avoid that at all costs.

Ed Stone

Prints & things

My stuff…on other stuff.

I don’t create art, take photos or write books with the goal to sell them…but for the process itself. I just love making things that wouldn’t have existed before and if I can offer it to someone else who might enjoy it, even better.

Instead of selling things on this website, I have a separate site at EdStonePrints.com which is managed by an excellent print-on-demand provider, SmugMug, where I dump all of my hi-res images and let them handle the sales, printing, returns, etc., and the product quality is fantastic.

I also have a Redbubble account if you want a t-shirt. Or a sticker. Or a coffee mug. Or some other kind of weird thing. I set my margins as low as possible, so the stuff there should be pretty accessible/affordable.

If you’d like to buy an original piece of artwork, please send me a message.

Making money from my art is a huge distraction and I avoid thinking about it as much as possible.

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My recent name change

You and I were born without choosing to, to parents we did not choose, into bodies we haven’t chosen, into a region of this planet we did not get to choose, during a period of evolutionary history we also did not get to choose.

And we were given a name.

The challenge comes when we grow old and wise enough to put all of life’s circumstances together and begin to question who we really are and what all this life and death stuff means. And we begin to ask, “What do I do with all of this…potential?”

We start to evolve a bit as we grow older and we begin to stir together our experiences, impressions, feelings, memories, and inner workings into a ball of self-actualization and begin formulating our own life…choosing our own path, despite where we came from. We grow. We suffer. We learn. We grow…stronger. Wash, rinse, repeat.

For me, part of my evolution insisted on a name change, and I went from being a “Robirds” to a “Stone.”

Looking back through my scattered family tree, I discovered that I had a great-great Grandmother, Eda Stone, a Native American Cherokee who passed away on my birthday (but back in 1914). So using “Stone” as my new last name felt natural and true for my family, and was necessary for me to move forward.

This change has been a challenging and surreal experience, but overall it has been incredibly liberating, to say the least. One more thing that I can control.

I am very proud of who I am…who I am becoming.

Eda Stone