hands and knees


I woke up this morning and focused on this book jacket cover with the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe on the cover. I was mesmerized by the simplicity of her face, the decorative aspect of the illustration and the wonderful iconic gesture that she had and figured I would do a bit of googling for fun. Turns out, this Virgin is from the same template as the other Virgins of Guadalupe--with the hands always in the same place, the veil describing her figure, sometimes a red dress, sometimes not...always with the spiky mandorla...a true, almond shaped mandorla. I came across this very interesting website, Catholic Home and Garden from a woman who has merged her love of quilting with her faith and creates these prayer quilts. She shops online...either on ebay or online stores with some very interesting results. Love the palettes (as you scroll down the page)-- and the sheer vibrancy of the images. I just tooled around ebay, and yes, there is a great selection of fabric (by the yard and 1/2 yard cuts). Who would have known?

And now, I need to soak all that in. Then I started searching retablos or exvotos and came across this:


eBay seller Granconopio is offering another superb octopus-related ex voto. Here's the translation:

When I left to fish the sea of the dawn was as a silent puddle of fused silver calm and quite, but sudenly I felt that my boat shook and from the waters an enormous octopus came out and I saw in the paleness of the moon how tentacle by tentacle it climbed to my boat. I invoked the Virgin de Guadalupe because the animal was dangerous and my boot staggered, I heard a fly of wings and I saw as two birds flying around the octopus that tried to sent them away without getting it, until very annoyed it rushed again to the sea , in that moment the first gold of the sun melted with the silver and in that gleam I saw an angeles miracle that went away flying and I thanks.

Here is a link to those offered today on ebay>>

I really dont know what this has to do at all with anything...just that it ran through my brain and thought this curiosity might amuse you too.

Double downpour yesterday. Need to call the school and review this years schedules. Work beckons.

Monday Morning


Early rousing this morning. The truck is being truculent... and not starting. Understandable if you were to cast your eyes on this beast--both visually and the odometer. Miles. Many journeys to Corning, to the dump, around Camp Street. R. bought it used to get us through a summer. Five years later, its still trying...though we have squeezed whatever was left out of the poor thing. So, that leaves me sans transportation this week...more time for Quest Diagnostics and the immediate work we are firing on . Lots of day turn-around deadlines this week to roll on. I have moved my appointments to take the lack of transportation out of the mix...and we will see. I did see a used VW bug on the lot at Maguires that given the price tag, could suit me, and R. could drive the minivan...but that isn't in the picture!

We worked with Kitty on her portfolio yesterday. There was scanning and resizing some of the bigger pieces--with a readjustment of the layout. Its coming together. I hope Kitty is beginning to feel better about herself/her work with this piece being leaned upon. Loved using the CS4 Photoshop and the new and improved "stitching" tool that joins scans together--in a really spectacular way (automatically drawing masks on different levels and the averaging the backgrounds to fit...). No lines or an real evidence they were multiple scans joined together. Remarkable.

Our treat was to see the newest Harry Potter which, without a doubt, transcended the entire series of movies (with Kitty questioning outloud, " do you think the other movies could be redone by this director "--immediately?).

I have been thinking of snakes and thistles. Pointed and sharp, slithery and smooth, poisonous and spiky, reptile and flora that often go unappreciated...and that somehow work together. I am working with caduceus (the wand of Mercury--patron god of Doctors and healing)and may play out a few images as it intrigues me. I was also reading bits of Milton Glaser's "Art is Work" book and was inspired and enchanted by his sketch process around getting to know Piero della Francesca--down to seeing every single picture Della Francesca did...and the sketch process he worked through from his interpretation of these images--to the next generation of those images which morphed to Milton being lovely again. Glaser said about his process:

"One morning after a number of aborted starts, I realized Piero could be thought of as nature. His paintings could be looked at as though one were looking at a landscape through a window. Once could take any part of the view and interpret if freely, acknowledging, as we do with nature that it would be impossible to replicate it.

This insight allowed me to develop a series of watercolors and drawings inspired by Piero that explored details from his works in a more analytical way."

This man, Milton Glaser speaks to me. I have a feeling that he is going to pull me into another zone. I just need to keep reading.

Friday's performance of "Rent" at the Hangar was great albeit a tad slow in some parts. Kitty and Maddie seemed to love it along with crushing on the lead man, Mark. I was interested in how the Hangar promotes themelves, promotes the shows and applauds the local support they get. I have been asked to do their show poster plus one for next year which should be fun-- and a change from the Triathlon which has a tough set of requirements for their teeshirt. They just announced their shows which I do not have the wit or memory to give to you verbatim now (am blogging today courtesy of my phone!). So I hope there will be some bold vector portraits in the mix! I will need to shoot some reference-- and really act like a grown up illustrator with this. I will pick up the scripts this week to put my eyes in the real story, the characters, the ambience.

We got Maddie off with Liz and her troop of smaller children, friends, active new dog, and all the luggage, electronic toys and general stuff that surrounds that age group. I was cooking a few blueberry cakes and taboulie for the party we were invited to later. Liz and kids came at noon-- so lunch was in order despite my not planning it. We had good leftovers for the big people but no bread for the littler ones. There was a bit of a scramble around that. I really need to get smarter around this.

We had a lovely time at the picnic. It looked like rain, but didn't. All sorts of really interesting people-- each really bright, focused, with opinions. There were musician guests playng-- Morris dancer guests dancing--and all the rest if us gabbing up a storm. Brain was on--

Buddhas and Circus Posters



Images of windows of Blue Bird Antiques, State Street. Ithaca. One of my more favorite places!

The truck's battery died this morning, so everyone is being hastened along so that we can commute down to Tburg this a.m. so that R. can take the Wonderbus for the day. We had a nice evening with a trip down to the best optician in the universe, Cayuga Optical on the Commons. Alex needs glasses, so we got him all figured out (and paid for) so that next week he can roll into cross country preseason with sunglasses and better vision. I am hoping that these glasses get used. We have done this many times before with his shrugging the glasses off (dont need them, dont want them)--a freaking waste of money. I think these may take because he needs them, and there is a cool factor involved.

We had a little listen to Richie Sterns and The Evil City String Band on the Commons. They were tight and quite impressive with a nice Ithaca turn out of all shapes and sizes, babies and grown ups dancing and enjoying the cool summer evening. We zipped up the lake to Sheldrake for dinner bought from the farm stand--so things were good albeit I think the younger set was planning on dining out. Oh well. More $ staying in my pocket (at least for now).

This evening we see the last of my subscription for the summer Hangar Theater performances, "Rent". Should be good (as they all are) and fun with Kitty, Rob and Maddie. Alex is at a friends for the weekend (plus)to his delight. Maddie leaves us tomorrow with her aunt Liz picking her up so she can have time with her cousins in New Jersey (with the promises of trips to the Jersey shore). Tomorrow is the famed Mammal Roast. I am going to have to think and do pretty quickly as there is a dish to pass, and our esteemed hosts are foodies. Hmmmm. There are two lambs that are going to be roasted over a fire. Hundreds of cloves of garlic needed to be peeled. And imagine the energy to get the beasts hoisted over a fire...! I hope they have help as this is truly an amazing gift of energy and time! (or thyme>?) More later on this pending amusement.

Speaking of amusement, I was fiddling around with my blog (this one) and by accident/for fun, changed the language from English to Bengali as I liked the letterforms. And damn, if it didnt change everything immediately, not only on my blog page, but all the lists, all the secondary blogs at all levels throughout. So, I clicked on every link that now stretched out across the page to finally find the language one and after sweating a bit, managed to turn it back to English. Not funny nor amusing. Teaches me to not mess around with the important stuff.

tinsel on the tree


Gotta wake up the sleeping giants. We have about an hour before we trundle down to the office for another day of celebrating Christmas (visually), revamping/moving the design on the Tiffany Treasures logotype of the Museum, and having a 24 hour blitz on an iphone app icon design which then rolls into a web page, and fun collateral (I am proposing pins from Busy Beaver and temporary tattoos for the roll out of the phone icon). But, first things first, wake the giants.

Giants roused, not up though. One more shout and holler in another 15 minutes.

We had a busy day with work, the Trumansburg Farmers Market and the streams of visitors from teenagers to friends. I think it will be much of the same today but inching along with finalizing a few things as we go. I cooked a nice big dinner which is now parsed into small bags for the working mans lunch at the office (if you work with/for me, I provide coffee/tea and lunch everyday...whether it is leftovers, new stuff (like soup) or Chinese lunch specials). I find that as the season progresses, I am in awe of the things we can grow and eat locally. The glistening raspberries in their little wooden boxes, the glowing mammoth jars of honey from Mr. Waid, the white eggplants--3 for a dollar. So many organic farmers. One even had locally grown artichokes!

Met up with a local Rotarian at the market who was buying corn and salt potatoes from a farmer to add to the chicken barbecues they (the Rotary) put on at Taughannock State Park every Saturday the free music is offered. They use the Cornell Chicken recipe and grill great piles of chicken along with the expected corn and salt potatoes. Then you need brownies (this is the school signature)) if you are doing the Tenth Grade Prom Fundraising chicken barbeque...with all the brownies made from mix, cut randomly and wrapped. All very nice. My Rotarian Friend was happy to keep the produce local and support the local farmers. I love that...as the dollar is staying here--and we are encouraging our neighbors and friends to stay growing this wonderful produce. Plus, little carbon footprint from the field to the State Park. Happy all around.

I pulled a stack of books out for Maddie to look at relative to a project I am having her work on. Some good ones about the Pushpin Studios, Jim Flora and then the divine Mr. Hohlwein. This seemed good for Maddie and got the steam building in this shallow brain. I am fiddling rather heavily with pattern brushes in illustrator and created the logo above as a proposal for a "clean and spare" holiday mark for the Museum. Clean, spare and contemporary its not...Its psycho russian easter egg...but as it was the first "real" thing that came off the pen versus flush left, or flush right? centered? Justified? Sans serif all the way? mixed? letterspaced? positive and negative? I liked it...and so I just sent it. They like it too...with revisions. So, hopefully revisions today and then I can noodle with the applications. I like being a decorative Russian for a moment albeit with type and stuff. Maybe some reference? Could it blend with the growing project? hmm. Time for some reference: Russia, Russian, Folklore, illustration, crafts?

bon bon


Fiddling around with excessive decoration. Holiday fun is coming...and this making brushes thing, the new "average paths" and several other new things I have learned with Adobe Illustrator looks like it could be a marvelous time waster and image developer. I am taking the lead from the San Francisco illustrator, Craig Frazier for the holiday card project that always seems to confound this monkey. I am planning on being a bit metaphorical and focusing on images of growth, growing, the garden as it is a simple concept that translates easily to business. Maddie has gathered up a nice bit of reference to start thinking about. So, next week, I am going to start drawing/ thumbnailing before I leap into these illustrations. I don't know why I am acting so cautiously--but I am.

Kitty had foot surgery in the doctor's office last evening which went as well as it can go. Alex needs glasses (no contacts as he is astigmatic)...so we are moving and grooving on the medical front. Next stop, Wisdom Teeth! Tonight we get the glasses fitted...and maybe dinner in Ithaca. The Tburg Farmers Market is happening today...should be fun.


Crunched on the work for the client yesterday. Turned out nicely--and we seem to have answered their need. Phew. Its day two, no rain...we really dont know what to do with ourselves.

Alex and Nigel are out doing surgery with the weedwacker and the beds of hosta, weeds and the ever present sumac. Yeesch! But, the guys are hard at work--with Nigel driving the situation and Alex a good second. The overlay of hostile rap music is pervasive (no John Muir here)--which ratchets up the stress a bit. Kitty is busy decorating shoes and doing watercolors. I have set up some doctor appointments for both of them prior to getting back to school, so we will be rolling into quite a bit of that soon.

I subscribed to a year of Lynda.com for classes/tutorials on all things software and computer. I was pricing classes--individual classes (which combined with hotel and transportation is much more expensive than an annual subscription which we all can use.

Gotta go. Lunch awaits


Worked a bit yesterday afternoon--trying to get some of the base work done for the masterblaster I will have today trying to get 3-4 "look and feel"s for webpage for a new product for my main client along with 5 different (x2) iPhone application icons. There is a lot of writing/thinking that goes with this as the marketing pros are not on this (as this and all the cool new stuff from this company is not part of their traditional mix...so no one is assigned)--which isnt a problem...I just wish there was a business plan written so as not to fumble in the made up messaging I am doing. However, its better than nothing. And, I can guarantee my direct client will be able to hold her head up in the presentation. That is on the horizon.

We saw Anvil last night after my work and after R's patient guidance of Kitty and the prep of her portfolio (which is looking good--showing some diversity, some threads, and some skill in a variety of media). Anvil is about this Metal Band (a documentary) who was on par with the best in the business in the 80s. Everyone else took off..and Anvil did not hit "it". The movie is about their shot at "making it" at the age of 51 (the leads, Robb and Lips) juxatposed against their simple lives and jobs in Toronto, and their european "tour" which ended up as a flop. It was a very poignant movie portraying these sweet men as vulnerable, kind, lovely people who really live for their art--regardless of whether people like it or not. Lips, the lead singer, was very philosophical--truly seeing the best in everything and everybody that I found myself rooting for these guys--hoping that the next turn will be the golden moment. It was charming albeit sad. We had a dinner of tapas at Just a Taste, sitting outside and having a great time with Kitty, Alex and Maddie.

We had a late night swim in the lake as the skies had cleared (more thunder and rain during the day). It was great and Shady showed her new skill in actively pursuing the aggressive ducks that swim in a pack. Shady plows into the water without much encouragement, and swims after the ducks. We all had a nice paddle which made sleep from the paddling and the lower body temperature perfection. I love this cool summer. No complaints on this end. Its my idea of the way things should be.

R.'s horribly old, battered truck refused to fire up this morning. He needed a solid landline (phone) as he was on at 7:25 a.m. with Martha Stewart on Sirius Radio. The chatter was around Glass Crafting (what?) and collectibles. If I didnt like a lot of the Sirius other channels, I would not subscribe based on how totally stupid the hosts and the vibe of the MS channel. Sirius would be wise to look at this, as should Martha herself as this programming does not reflect the quality and intelligence that is expected from the Martha Stewart Omnimedia presence. Sad. So, he took the wonderbus, and maybe may have it this week, which may mean juggling all the doctors for another time today/tomorrow.

Sunday almost morning





The Ithaca Farmers Market was a riot of color, scent, flavor and image pointing to the absolute bounty this area has at this time of the year. The flower vendors, who will make you a bouquet for $10 of flowers you pick, had buckets colorblocked and bursting with peach gradient dalias, zinnias of every shape,color and size, roses, sunflowers, daisies, delphinum and the list continues. There were piles of produce with long beets abutting piles of red cabbage. Kale or some leafy vegetable with multiclored stems in yellow, pink red, maroon, and orange. Even the people, many tattooed in a very recognizable way, seemed to add to the painted environment that the market provided. We had a little lunch (a samosa for me, and peanut lime noodles for R), bought a big bag of basil and an equally grand bouquet of parsley. We strolled along the lake edge with Shady Grove who was actively interested in the ducks. We let her off her leash and she bounded carefully into the water and actually started to swiim towards the birds. A first for this water dog!

I did a little shopping with Maddie on the commons and discovered this great sample store where I bought some cool teeshirts with thai leaf writing and asian inspired patterns ($5. a pop). Worth visiting again as the selection is interesting, random and very european cool.

We picked up A. from his golf game and all of us got into the lake without much hesitation. Divine. We floated beneath the clear blue sky adorned by a rococo cloud bowl, without any idea of the rain we were to get today (downpour, thunder)
I did some sketches on the iPhone app. Today, I will render them to get in front of the work required for Tuesday (assigned around 5 on Friday). We plan on seeing "Anvil" at the new and improved Cinemopolis.

There is a leak in the roof. Gotta go check things out--rain seems to want to come into the house in many and varied ways. Time to look for a flashlight.

Saturday a.m.

A week later and the brain is still pretty constricted. I mean, I haven't relaxed though I must admit, its better than last week....at least I am not falling asleep in meetings.

Things are getting pretty busy at the office. Got a mess of projects for end of day Monday, first thing Tuesday--a few icons (possibly for iPhone use...this will be my second!) and three or four looksees at a website homepage that the IT folks get 3 months for and I get a day to design. Is there something out of balance here? Submitted a bunch of stuff to the Crane Studio folks...and found that as I was working on this submission and toggling between my work and what they have in the current line, that they are limiting themselves to categories that are almost anachonistic as calling cards (which I have!?) and seating charts. People or at least the broad new class of new rich, do not really do these things. But, as Rob points up, within the context of Steuben, Crane and Co. are likely to continue on down that road until the old ladies die, and their grandchildren take up the social moires of a moment in time not known to them or they will change. I would hope that Crane Studio (much like Studio Steuben...a concept often tossed around at the luxury crystal company prior to their sale to Shottenstein) might not keep the same categories, but think more about how the wealthy want to communicate with paper goods...and deliver an excellent product.

I need to gather my sketchbook for noodling the Monday work in while I wait for R to get haircuts and eyes adjusted. Kitty is riding with a friend. Alex is playing golf and maybe the Ithaca Farmers Market and a swim for me.

More later

IF:Attitude (Modification)

Back from finishing my MFA in Illustration from the Hartford Art School, University of Hartford. It is a limited residency program that takes three summers (2 weeks on campus each summer) and two independent weeks(per year) traveling with the school to different illustration hotspots. My brain isnt working too well on the illustration front...and plan, once my head syncs back up, to be back in the swing of the Friday challenge.

If you are bored, looking for something to supercharge your career, or just want a general push, the Hartford program is the tops. I cannot recommend it enough.

looking for summer


Gotta make this quick. The wonderbus is ready to take us back to Trumansburg. Was pottering around last night and found that Crane and Company, the wonderful stationery company (rag paper, all cotton paper, engraved illustrations...not quite Mrs. Strong but close second) is looking for designer/illustrators for a new line called Crane Studio with the first submissions due by Saturday (only PDFs). So, I am revved about this...as I have a bunch of illustrations that could work for them from pumpkins to narcissus, from valentines to holiday illustrations...so I could patch something together for that inbetween the design for he next few days. I would love to have a relationship with Crane--as its a good fit for my work, a good fit relative to my small work with Steuben and could dovetail with what we are doing easily and happily.

Yesterday, I signed up for a year of classes with Lynda.com. This is something that I have been jawboning about--and now its time to act. There are design and illustration related tutorials, but also on word and powerpoint which are tools we often need to design for...or even, in some cases, with. Information is power in this case, so I am looking forward to getting a jump on that. Plus, they have a bunch on Painter which considering the classes etc. that are out there, we probably can do it with books and Lynda without having to figure in the travel expenses and time.

We went to the Tburg farmers market and were thrilled with the tremendous bounty of everything from oyster mushrooms (a new guy who runs his business as the Blue Oyster Cultivation) to organic produce, grassfed meats, flowers galore. It is a smaller market, but the prices are more in line, and it is much more convivial and local than the monster Farmer's Market in Ithaca (albeit great--but its more like comparing Main Street to the Mall). Different kettle of fish.

Alex gets picked up from Cornell's Summer Sports Camp in Cross Country. Its a beautiful morning for their scheduled race. I hope he exceeds his own expectation!

field work




Relatively quiet day yesterday with a bit of small fireworks at five from the client. Nothing impossible, just hard as I always feel like the branding junkyard dog telling the client who owns this mark and identity that they cannot do certain things. Definitely feel like the odd man out regularly...and then, taking a breath and saying okay...though I have expressed "the line" on brand, their brand, their guidelines..which gets me through that. Generally, there is a ton of work arounds and clean ups around these unconsidered rule breaking. But hey. Thats what i get paid for.

Maddie (my short term intern), Kitty and I went blueberry picking around 6 last evening. It was a glorious evening with breezes and clear skies. We went to Loses Blueberry Patch (signed with some great handlettered arrows), driving down a dirt lane by a pair of goats sitting on top of their goat house, and a golden grain field surrounding us until we got to the blueberry patch. The bushes were glorious and filled with ripe berries (and all levels of berries getting to ripe from pea green to olive green, from pale pink to a brilliant fuscia, to all shades of blue to a shiny purple plum color). It was perfect. We got some small buckets and communed with the laden bushes (rare for me as I always time it that we go at the end of the season and have to glean the dregs). You could just run your hand through the branches with the bucket poised underneath and the berries dropped happily. After a half an hour, we had between the three of us, picked 17 pounds of berreis ($1.65 a pound). So, we are happily eating, freezing and dreaming blueberries. Kitty was musing over children's books and how she would use a blueberry and its transition from a hard green sphere to a ripe shiny berry as a way to express Beauty in Beauty in the Beast. I thought that was an interesting insight. Maddie and Kitty and I talked about food, food in countries they have visited and our plans for our cache.

Maddie is busily registering/copywriting my illustration. It appears to be easier than it seems as images we have used for the website work (note to self, keep a folder on the desktop of images going on the blog or web for future posting). We have also mounted pdf files of images (Memento Mori, my thesis) as a way of capturing images in their entirety. Something to think about.

My classmates from Hartford are settling back into their lives and are talking on Facebook about their work and plans. We graduates are laying back a bit...trying to shift into the new chapter. To be honest, I am having a bit of a traction problem as i cannot really get it going right now. I want to draw and do stuff, but I am a bit stuck in the mud. But, as the program has pointed up, this stall is part of the process. Time and marination is in place.

I just was called about a winelabel for three very sweet (read very popular wines) that are marketed under the Banana Belt name. The Banana Belt is a swathe of Seneca Lake that has a very distinct climate zone "tropical" thanks to the geography of how the land interfaces with the lake. As you know, lakes are a real moderating force whenit comes to weather and climate...with the steady temperature controlled by the the very deep waters and it's temperature of the lake. Takes a lot to make it hot, takes a lot to cool it down. This is a lake that never freezes given the depth. So, back to Banana Belt. Its a pretty cute label as we speak...but Banana Belt reads first without a clear nod to red/white/pink WINE. Love the monkey that is on it...and maybe as the future client suggested, we look at fruit crate art (and my words, put a monkey with a wineglass--not a chimp like Travis from Connecticut, the lawnmower driving, chardonnay drinking, pill popping, hot tubbing monkey)--with a bit of a lakeview in the background? I have been noodling this and we will see. Could be a fun one.

Today I work on a logotype for the Museum of Glass--and do some mom stuff (kid's doctor appointment). Maybe a swim in the divine lake this evening. We did that before dinner last night to all of our pleasure. This is really summer.

Royal de Luxe




Someone at breakfast last week mentioned in passing a story about a skindiver/scuba diving giant that somehow was part of a presentation in Nantes recently. It struck a chord with me as it sounded very much like the Sultan's Elephant I referenced a few years ago...a presentation by Royal de Luxe. And gol dang it...I was right. Recently (mid July) there was another presentation by this group in Nantes--its home base of the uncle of the young girl (star marionette in the London presentation of the Sultan's Elephant) looking for his niece...this little girl...and his search for her. Then to find out, Royal de Luxe had done some major wiggie presentation featuring squid and these marvelous primordial fish!


Wiki sez:
Royal de Luxe is a French mechanical marionette street theatre company. They were founded in 1979 by Jean Luc Courcoult. Based in Nantes, the company has performed in France, Belgium, England, Germany, Iceland, Chile and Australia.
Revolt of the Mannequins>
La Princesse
Les Machines de Nantes

More visual poetry. More making us think. To see this new diver walking down the street with a crane and the hoards of red coated men in livery jumping off a mobile platform in succession just points up the reason for all of this is for art, for wonder, for the sheer why not ness of the entire idea...beautifully designed, perfectly performed and a moment for the viewers and presenters to marvel at the abilities of man, of a story, of the precise time that our world morphed into this wonderland. Bless these people, their big brains and slippery tongues able to convince big corporations to invest in this sort of puppetry street art.

We are the big country. Its alarming we do not make big ideas like this happen.

"Why, anybody can have a brain. That's a very mediocre commodity. Every pusillanimous creature that crawls on the Earth or slinks through slimy seas has a brain. Back where I come from, we have universities, seats of great learning, where men go to become great thinkers. And when they come out, they think deep thoughts and with no more brains than you have. But they have one thing you haven't got: a diploma." The Wizard to the Scarecrow, The Wizard of Oz.

No more brains...just a diploma. And now, alarmingly, I am qualified to do more things than before when essentially, I am the same chap prior to entering this program. Perhaps with less patience than before (not a good thing). But, its true--its all in the empowerment, that fearlessness that we all have as children that we lose as we move forward in our lives and living, making a living and being queried and questioned by those who have less knowledge and more power than we do. I am currently having a hard time keeping my eyes open--as my brain is finally letting go...and letting me wander a bit. Its a bit tedious to have illustration guidance and key commands populating a restless night becoming little nod off snippets during critiques or dark lecture halls. Hugely embarassing...but beyond my control...(all the pinching, sitting up straight, etc did not work).

We drove home via New Paltz and were stunned that the town seemed much tidier...and nicer. We had lunch and trolled the local art store (amazing old style place with a great selection of stuff from hand made papers to jars of pigments, Golden Acrylics and Williamsburg Oil Paints. Very few "student grade" materials to my delight. The school seems good. We need to do some research.

Gotta go now...as we need to get Alex to Cornell.

Catch up

It's been a very trying and tiring week for me. I truly believe mynerves and the exhaustion of getting the paper, work and business prep for these last 2 weeks in Hartford were more wearing than what I had assumed. I really couldn't sleep very well due to the buckets of stuff being poured into my brain, the need to bring closure to the work and paper and a lot of small stresses laid on by small people. The load got a lot lighter with the arrival of the home team, their good spirits and assistance was good medicine.