puffs of Spring.

Strawberry Valentine, Q. Cassetti, 2012, Adobe Illustrator CS5Shady and I just got back from looking at our hellebore, our adorable little snowdrops and to see if the cherry trees have buds still on them (that the deer have not gnawed off). We need to put netting over all the hosta, the few peonies left, and the sedum as it kept the deer from ravaging the plants… so be it. I would like big fat hosta, and plump peony blossoms on my tree peony. The ground is unthawing—with the grass all puckery and spongy.  As lovely as the warmer weather is, it still is early.

I may buy a few more cherry trees today from Millers . 3 or 4 more sours…and one or two sweets. This year is the year of the sweet cherry. I have been (and continue to be) possessed by sour cherries, but the sweet are amazing here…as big as equine eyes…and really a robust flavor. What a week cherry week will be this year!

Had a fascinating time listening to the budget work our Village Board was working on last night. It was important to attend, to hear things that maybe we can engage in with the Farmers Market. There is a community yard sale in mid May, and maybe we should offer space for $10. rental  or less, so that folks can bring their things to the park to make it more “community”. Maybe we could get some music, promote the vendors and drive some excitement. We will need some cool shopping bags to sell…and after doing a ton of research, the chico bag still seems like the best option, but I am still checking around. I want the bag to be portable, nylon (as its washable and continues to look good) unlike the cotton ones which are heavy, get ratty looking and just doesnt have a cool factor. Also a bumper sticker. What do you think of ” Carnivore, Herbivore, Localvore. More for ‘Vores”—maybe even use the phrase on the totebag too…versus the logotype. We also need to find a way to drive more to the bottom line so as to make the village investment zero out— Grants, things to sell…more money via rentals etc.

The fruits and veggies continue apace. You will see more…The new tools are fabulous.

Spring Forward!

Pea pinwheel, Q. Cassetti, 2012 Adobe Illustrator CS5Brilliant day. In the sixties. All the doors are open. All the pets are stretched out in the full sun, snoring away and catching some Ds (Vitamin Ds). Rob and a friend are tinkering away at house stuff. Alex is with a friend post tennis screaming with joy over a Pokemon computer game. It’s Prince Dauntless’ only day off this week, so I am not going to get on his back about what he should do or not. He has been a soldier with every night until 9 (even Fridays)…and all day Saturdays too for this play. Gloria is riding. I am writing to you, thinking about an interesting grant opportunity for the Farmers Market and putting some plans together for making naan tonight.

Its been an interesting weekend, not the one I planned. But we are being helpful with a friend who needs the support—so we have been here for him. He needs people to listen and frankly, to parent him a bit He needs to sleep and eat and rest and stop the craziness he has gotten himself into. Its working. He is coming back to himself…as I keep pushing food his way, making coffee, adding a cookie, offering a chip.  He had a bath that was transforming…and after a nap and a good nights sleep…its night and day. After a day, he looks a zillion times better. One day at a time. This is the least we can do.

I was geekifying this morning on my iPad—reading about warps, envelopes and the like and actually have turned an interesting corner in more things being possible/easier to do with this amazingly wonderful, not terribly friendly tool, Adobe Illustrator. New tricks! I am feeling quite frisky.

The week promises warm weather, 2300˚ at the Museum, and many practices for Alex.  The fuzzy magnolia buds are shiny and grey. Our day lilies are showing a bit of green in the ground. The daffodils are trying very hard to pretend its that time to wake up. I hope my cherry trees survived the winter. Time to buy a few more!

I have an asparagas heart on the drawing board with plans for peaches, beets, and turnips. Maybe a root heart (all sorts of roots?). And then, before we know it, Princess Kitty will be back among us! Hurray!

Polyglot

Canteloupe sketch, Q. Cassetti, 2012, Adobe Illustrator CS5I am on a roll with this fruit and veggie thing. Asparaganza, a festival of asparagus at Good Life Farm is going to need a poster, so this work nicely folds into this graphic approach of fruit and veggies. I am intentionlly going very very graphic with this…not quite as graphic as Alexander Girard, but blocky without much tone etc.  I mean, I am a designer—so its not totally out of context to go graphic and bold. I just do not go there as it somehow seems too easy (though I am finding maybe not as cinchy as it used to be).  I am giving myself permission to make some patterns and explore the world of brushes, paths, and symbols to bring some life to this work. And so, it is fun…and I have learned new tools (like outline and offset path, transform and more tricks with brushes). I spent some time this morning reading threads and forums on brushes, on patterns and learned quite a few details (ie. if you are making a pattern brush, and want to be able to use other colors, make the brush in a color. If you make a brush in black, it stays black). Sickly, this is absolutely fascinating to me…and torture for you…and so I move on.

Another discovery: Adobe InDesign is a tool you can create ebooks with. There is a book (DPS Create) available online as a pdf, as a hardcopy book and as an app for your iPad that takes you through the basics on how to figure out how do create ebooks (something I think I need to do just to add value for my customers). Code is that Digital Publishing Systems (DPS) is the word…and there is a lot out there for us to absorb. And…it looks doable. So, I need to create a project to make this a reality and trial balloon this…before I say to folks…”yeah, I can do that”.

From Adobe: Terry White demonstrates, A writeup on DPS

In the middle of all of this, I have done some work on some tattoos (using brushes) which turned out quite nicely (to my thinking) though there is a scary spikiness to these illos that might make the requestors shiver a bit.

Prince Dauntless was just accepted into Hofstra! He is actually happy and smiling…so another one done and done. Must go as the day is tailing out…so culinary creativity will be expected, soon.

 

Whoa!

Tthe National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center said the sun erupted Tuesday evening, creating a solar flare that is the biggest in six years. (AP Photo/NASA)It’s always amusing to wake up to the sunshiny smart voices on NPR’s radio show” Morning Edition”. Generally, there is  some nice little tidbit about politics, books, movies, the state of the state, even sports. “Morning Edition” is the way I brace myself for the day—grounding in it’s regular format, the calm presentation, the intelligent reporting, the odd story that I feel the need to note before rushing into the drinking coffee and driving cars part of the morning. “Morning Edition” is a lodestone for every morning since college for me…a friend and a dependable rock of information, stories, and news. Solid solid.

However, this morning, I was shocked into wakefulness when these normally salient people started talking about the solar flare being predicted for today—possibly knocking out electrical grids, and messing with the communications at airports etc. It sounded straight out of a mid-century Japanese SciFi Godzilla movie—with flares, electricity, torrential rain, possible plane accidents. Was it April 1st? Were they slipping some kind of “funny” our way just to brighten our days (beyond the amusement of Rick Santorum and the Newt)?  

No. Truly, Planes are being re-routed—and we are all buckling down for the sci-fi predictions around weather, electricity and and the possible cosmic show (ushering in a rare opportunity for those of us lower on this spinning globe, to experience the glorious Northern Lights). Word is:

“A strong storm can lead to problems with power grids, GPS systems, and can be a danger to satellites and astronauts, but this storm has produced no such problems, scientists said.

Physicist Joseph Kunches with the Space Weather Prediction Center likens the challenge of forecasting these events to hitting a major league pitcher’s fastball.”Like a hitter we try and figure out if the pitch is coming down the middle of the plate or is low and outside” said Kunches. “The problem is the pitch comes from the sun from 93 million miles away.”

So, as our team of electrician and plumber and I gabbed this morning, this solar news surfaced and somehow got linked to the wonderful Mayan end of times planned for 12.21.12— with tales of customers who are planning for end of times, even here in the magical land of TrUlysses. We are talking of folks putting in hand pumps for their wells (a great idea, I think) to the full fledged survival kit with months of food, water and electricity set by for emergency. What is a solar flare to those of us in wait for the Rapture!

Strawberry Swash, Q. Cassetti, 2012, Adobe Illustrator CS5Little veggie picture for today. Yep. Little strawberry swash… I am full bore onto produce and Farmers Markets as imagery to learn more about illustrator, vectors, brushes etc. I woke up at 3 a.m. last night thinking about brushes. I am intrigued by where the edge of brushes to custom swatches, to then the opportunity to pattern and frame. I am also revelling in my new heavy duty drawing process prior to squaring up, applying my digital tape and rendering these pictures.

I have been watching a few Lynda.com videos on brushes, textures and textured brushes. I hope this might loosen up some of these pretty bold vector images. You will see what happens if we get anything interesting. I have a very things I would like to try…and I am reluctant to ask a friend as sometimes when I try to discover how to do this sort of thing, I learn a ton more just with the hunting and pecking to try to get there. So, I am learning a lot about filters, about Smart effects etc. More on that front

Yesterday was the last winter CSA at Sweet Land CSA. It was a balmy, early spring , early evening. It was a sweet time with moms and their littles all playing together, grabbing carrots and eating them, building little projects in the pile of sawdust. It was tall rubber boots, bags of turnips, kohlrabi and kale, and the feeling of hope and promise as the next time we will be at Sweet Land will be the beginning of the Summer CSA, heaven on earth. I will be helping them to think out communications strategies as well as polish up their brand as it stands. Should be a fun process to have a monster CSA (hundreds of members), versus my smaller farmers (less than a hundred).

Spwinter

Love localvore apples, Q. Cassetti, 2012, adobe illustrator CX5Yep. It needed a name, this bizarre season of on again/ off again Spring then Winter. Spwinter. It was a two quilt night last night and the afternoon temperature promises to tempt the crocuses to bud and bloom. So as Alex and I cruised over to  Charles O Dickerson this morning, we named it just to humor ourselves. 

As you have noticed, I am back on illos of fruits and veggies…inspired by my localvoria and also the hope of the spring like weather. If the farmers are sowing seed, I can sow illustrations which has been fun. I am doing something wild these days. Drawing. Yes, drawing the illos before squaring them up in illustrator and finishing them.  This is a bit of a rare thing, but as I find the design gets better, tighter and its a more profitable use of my time. So, in the lineup, there are a few illustrations with strawberries, some with cherries, some with pumpkins, some with zucchini. Tomatoes still need to be considered. Ginger as well. Yes, this work is a bit design-y but as I am not shrugging off that mantle too…it makes me happy. After looking at last years veggie pix, I think there is a lot of room to continue to develop this little body of work for fun. Plus,  with all the localvoria (as you can see from the new Great Foods Network graphics/poster) there may be some use beyond my personal fun. I am learning a few more tools…focusing on zig zag, on gradients, and brushes. My lovely symbols and brushes palettes are in use too.  What fun. I need to learn more about textured brushes. I think there is some space here. Love my tools.

This little exercise is another excuse to touch tools I am not familiar with as well as build on the tools I currently know. Case in point, to work in illustrator is to use the “Path” tool—creating lines from dots/points and handles…not the most intuitive. I have used the paths exclusively—however using the “outline” and “offset” path pulldowns have given me more room to work faster and more accurately. Additionally, I am trialing “Vector Scribe”, a bolt on to Illustrator that allows “enhanced vector creation and editing”…we will see.

Need to get on it. I have the Great Foods dudes coming today for lunch. Carrot Ginger Soup (little cumin) and the usual offerings to make sandwiches with. Cheers.

Sturm und drang

Asparagus, Q. Cassetti, 2012, vectorIf tomorrow is Super Tuesday, does this make it Super Monday? I am loving the sturm und drang of the Republicans—all of it comic and ridiculous with the current apex of insanity being el Rushbo nationally calling out a 23 year old law student calling her a prostitute. El Rushbo is a rude, arrogant brute who vascillates between being sewn onto the coat of Republican party and denying his engagement in this group. He is a vicious man with a bully pulpit that speaks to the tremendously vocal minority. I used to think he was funny in his insanity, but this recent episode has eliminated all the funny this ass espouses. I hope that the bile splashback onto the Republican party is significant and lasting. It is alarming to me that to  the Republicans, contraception is more imporant than world affairs, more important thans olvency, more important than energy, pollution, education, the future. What does the consititutional right of religion have to do with each and every individual woman making independent and personal decisions about her own health and body? What is about bringing contraception into the office and allowing one’s boss to decide who gets it covered or not (Blunt Rubio amendment).

There is a right and wrong in this matter. It is an individual decision…the right of the individual versus a societal one. Why is it that these men have any, ANY say in this matter? What is with this nasty vaginal probe requirement in Virginia? Each and every legislator who votes for this should have to experience it before voting (and be FORCED to see  the monitor). No one can make decisions about  other people’s bodies particularly the “weaker” sex. I hope someone is doing some pretty intense pollling just to confirm that the Republicans do not care for the women’s vote as they have, to my thinking, cast it right in the garbage. Say good bye to 50.8% of the votes. Enough for my angry, mismatched ramblings…it just obscene that we are focusing on things that isnt a group decision but that of an individual. There is so much more to talk about and resolve to make the world a better place.

Thank you for your patience today. Just had to say it.

 

Melon Foundation

Floral Watermelon Valentine, Q. Cassetti, 2012, vectorIts been a ginger weekend. Ginger and lemon. Ginger and carrot. Ginger and vinegar (3 different ones). I made a lemon ginger marmalade, a ginger and carrot pickle and a pickled ginger (gari). I have plans for a straight up ginger marmalade, a grapefruit/orange and ginger marmalade, and a cranberry/pear/ ginger chutney. Ginger beer is in the works too. I just need to free up a bit of fridge space to try this out. Alex and I were at the local asian grocery store and purchased an interesting asian honey ginger (for tea). Its a big clear jar filled with thick amber honey with big hunks of peeled ginger in it along with some sugar. I bought it inspired by reading about ginger in Wikipedia:

“In China, ginger is included in several traditional preparations. A drink made with sliced ginger cooked in water with brown sugar or a cola is used as a folk medicine for the common cold.[29]”

I have discovered by working with this interesting rhyzome that there is a distinct grain to it…and that the way to cut it is to go with the grain…and surprisingly, a potato peel is a great way to shave/prepare the herb. Additionally, the gari recipe had me boiling water and essentially pulling from the fruit a bitterness or spice prior to preparation. Another recipe had me salting the fruit—and rinsing it off prior to final preparation. Thinner the fruit the better. And…not to forget that the ginger is the big flavor that doesnt need the standard mis en place that I usually go to.

This is the new path, this discovery of ginger…which hopefullly will help new friends begin to understand the lovely plants they grow and perhaps how to develop added value yummies to help pay their bills and move their farms forward. I can act as a creative director not only as a designer illustrator/ but also as a cook and foodie.

As you can see, there is a new beginning for this near spring, that of Farmers Market imagery. I did a small body of work on this last year which morphed into a series of rabbit illustrations. My head is in a different place what with the farmers market, the new Local Foods Network and with best of all, my new farmers. So, I am looking at this same topic in a new and more emotional way. The image above has popped up. New for me…and yet so part of what I do. I am excited by where this could go.

IF: Intention

Hairhopper, Q. Cassetti, 2012 pen and inkIntention

Men’s minds are as variant as their faces. Where the motives of their actions are pure, the operation of the former is no more to be imputed to them as a crime, than the appearance of the latter; for both, being the work of nature, are alike unavoidable.


George Washington
Social Maxims. Difference of Opinion no Crime.

First day in March

Radish, Q. Cassetti, 2011, vector.Wow. Its a rainy day, but the sun shines in my heart. What a meeting for the Trumansburg Farmers Market we had last night! We had happy people who brought food, and all ate, talked and mixed it up.  We had couples, individuals and families with little people as well. Avi, our new market manager was amazing as was the board…being engaging, chatty, open with the response from our vendors being equally so. We had older farmers, flower farmers, younger farmers, Crooked  Carrot (the new CSK: Community Supported Kitchen), my friends from TreeGate Farm and more. I had the best chat with Mr. Wayne Waid and his wife Wanda about beekeeping and how he got involved. Mr. Waid used to work for a local printer and was printing a series of books for the experts at Cornell on beekeeping. He started reading the books…and it all came together after that. He told me about the Finger Lakes Beekeepers who have communal/teaching hives and they would welcome new members. HELLO….!. Think of all the talent, expertise and time we had in that room. Nothing seems impossible. It was positively energizing and exciting. We had such a great vibe that the new season is going to be fabulous.

Another fabulous thing just came to me from JetPens. You remember JetPens, right? the  pen company with lots of asian art supplies, office supplies, cool pens. To a gal like me, its a veritable candy shop. So, the new candy came in the mail, and I am over the moon with these two pens.

First one: Tachikawa Linemarker 0.5 mm: This is a manga/anime inspired fountain pen that is smooth, inky and lovely. Works like a charm on watercolor paper. A nice ink liner that is smoother than Rotring—and more fluid. Not scratchy whatsoever. Refillable and not too expensive.

Second: an amazing multipen(!)  The Pilot Hi-Tec (I have the 0.3mm but there is 0.5 and 0.7)/ One buys an empty body and can customize the ink cartridges (gel pens) that go into the body. There are bodies that can accomodate 2, 3, 4 and even 5 different colors (and or/ mechanical pen as well). The colors are outstanding (apricot and orange…bright green and dark green….lots of choices). It is a smooth, gliding line…and its click click click and you can move from my absolute, shout it from the hilltops favorite, “clear blue” (read non repro photo blue ink) to red to black. The soft blue transcends the verithin pencil as duh, you dont have to sharpen it, it doesnt dig into the paper, and best of all, its not waxy at all, so the ink doesnt bead up on the sketch lines. I am thrilled.

I have to run to turn off my vegetable stock. Gotta go.

Outing myself.

Wednesday! Whoa! Salad for dish to pass tonight done. Trash on the curb. Prince Dauntless at school. Cats fed and angry.There is banking to do, key to pick up and some publication design. The Cidery is well on the way. We are closing in on the labels. Delighted and Delightful!.

I have a crazy secret to share with you. You know I listen to talk radio, and Howard Stern. I listen to political radio, Rachel Maddow, Amy Goodman, NPR, Terri Gross, and Meet the Press. I listen to books on tape from Audible. I love listening to chatter when I work.

Well, I have been listening to trash Tv, yes, the trashiest in the world, The Bachelor. OMG. What an amazingly profitable and formula driven show complete with individuals who are essentially cast in roles that happen season after season. There is the dullard, body building “hunk”(?) Bachelor…with a Zack, Jake, type of name. He is thuggy, not very original, and always is exclaiming about his inner, dull feelings of love, of the girls “opening up to him”, and of the possibility of “my wife is in this room”. He is always driving hot cars and “planning dates” (read the t.v. producers are planning, staging and making them happen and putting the words in Zack/Jake’s mouth). Then you have the girls. You have the beautiful bad girl who is guaranteed to take her top off. The good girl who lost a spouse or boyfriend in some awful accident (generally an airplane). You have the girls that might engage in cat fights. You have the yappy, maudlin one. There is always a super kookie one who is off her meds. And there is always one that reminds me of my favorite, most favorite internet personality>>Miss Teen USA (2007). These gals have given up their jobs (no one is very high management types.. and I am always trying to figure out how they pay the bills) to be on the show. They have suspended their lives to live in a group house with nice public spaces. When they give us little peeks into their bedrooms—it is not the lap of luxury. When they are not out of the fantabulous dates with Zack (either “one on ones” or a group date) they are busy waiting at the dream house eating frozen food. If they get through the immediate eliminations, there is a chance to travel around the world “finding love”. Oy.

The dates are a formula too. There is always the Barbie Dream Date ( the gal gets a shopping spree to buy a party dress, the loaner big hunk of jewelry, the private plane flight to Las Vegas, the private concert by some musical group, the tete a tete dinner in an exotic location where she and Zack can “open up to each other”. There is always a date where the pair either bungie jumps, tight rope walk, jump off a cliff together to get closer. There is the group date where there is “acting” and Zack has lots of kissing scenes with all eight gals. I could go on and on. This is so absolutely mindnumbing, yet fascinating.

And then there is the Fantasy Suite (generally in Tahiti) where they get “permission” to sleep together. The Fantasy Suite is totally Barbie with a pool, hot tub, tall tubs of champagne and satin on the bed. They like it nice and obvious (and Barbie Styled Tacky). I could go on and on about this. America sees these dates and women being eliminated after being considered  by Zack over the course of 8 or so episodes with these polygamous style dates…to the point that there is the meeting of family at the “hometowns”. The climax of the show is the elimination of one gal and keeping the last by offering her an engagement ring. Yep, two dream dates, a lot of groping and discussion about “opening up”, with sidebar video of each chick talking about her love for Zack. And surprisingly, it rarely lasts after the trips, the evening dresses and roses, and fantasy.

The next Bachelor or Bachelorette is selected from the prior year’s show—so there is a ton of back story and communal love for the perky or beautiful girl with lots of sass and “reality” or the strong, sensitive Zack-to-be.

And we all are delighted and amused like children as we know what is coming season after season.  We know about all the types of dates, the types of dinners, the infighting, the factions style conflict, the rich (not) and a meaningful conversations (not), and all the opening up (there is always a build when the widowed gal has to tell Zack about her child and loss of her love in an accident). Such edgy stuff. Makes the Kardashians seem like Fullbright scholars.

More often than not, the happy couple break up withing seconds of reality hitting (no more fantasy dates, the underwear on the floor, the philandering that Zach may be involved in)—and their “love” cannot survive.

There have been 16 bachelors, 16 Zacks… and they keep coming. I pity the folks that actually think that this is the way things should be. No wonder its hard for college kids to date. This bizarre show of competitive dating has changed things…not good. Not good at all. Now its time to go back to sleep in my Rumplestiltskin mode…and stay away from this crap.

More later.

 

Breathe

Q. Cassetti, 2011, pen and ink. Cover of 3x3 Magazine recently accepted into Applied Arts Magazine, submitted by Hively Design.Its seven fifteen and finally, finally, I have a little window to say hi. I have some chicken I just put in the oven. Rob isnt home and Alex just was dropped off to be Prince Dauntless. It was a busy day today with all sorts of finishing and starting.

My big client got four projects done. The new cidery got finished label sketches. I ordered some sample nonstem wineglasses for that project from Discount Mugs. They have really affordable drinkware which you can easily get printed or laser engraved (affordable) which along with coasters would set this new cidery up nice and right for the soon to be launch at some of the better bars and restaurants in the area. This project is wonderful as are the smart and engaged couple who are focused on this segment of the local food future.

The adorable couple who farm with draft horses like the new direction having to do with their totem animals (a bear and a bee)… They like the typographic slug…So that will be fun to blowout. Plus, I may be helping them with tattoos for their wedding. They are going to give their tattoo artist another shot at it…and if they do not love it, I am on. Fun. Though I must admit, the new temporary tattoos are terrific (a bird and a heart).

The new project, The Great Local Foods Network now have a poster, a call for Auction donations publication, a website (from Squarespace), a brand spanking new url from register.com,  a postcard (printed at the old standby, BargainBasementPrinting.com The Great Local Foods Network is sponsoring a fundraising event with music, food, silent and live auctions to raise money for the first project, the Bakemobile. The Bakemobile is a mobile, woodfired, bake oven that can be used to cater events, do demonstrations, create an outreach for local food in Central New York. All of this done on Sunday pm and Monday. Busy…as it was design, illustration and some cheesy, written by a designer copy writing by yours truly.

It is remarkable how my farm collection is growing. One restaurant. One distillery. One Cidery. One Bakery. One Mill. The local foods network and 3 farms! Beginning to sound like something.

Tomorrow is the first annual meeting of our vendors at the Tburg Farmers Market. New board, new direction, new market manager, and a tweak in our focus. Should be interesting. I should write some notes as I am the leader of this pack, and should have my scattered wits about me.

I just heard Rob. Time to go.

Hairhopper, Q. Cassetti, 2012, pen and inkA little snow this morning to remind us that it is winter. I am just back from showing another new producer a logotype exploration. They were happy and actually picked one! YAY! And, they picked one of the good ones! So, all is on the up and up there. Next step, designing some labels, working with them on packaging, website, etc. etc. It should be great. Working with these thoughtful, creative people has been beyond fun.

Lots of excitement around the up and coming Farmers Market Vendor Meeting on Wednesday, Feb, 29, 2012—from 6-8 p.m. with a dish to pass supper, rules, guidelines, applications and the like. Timing is around the seed starting time of the season…so it feels right too. Time to nail down the music, the programming, and the extras (stuff for kids, maybe a Holiday Market etc) so as to have an implementable plan by April. Also, we need a rack card to do a bit more promotion in and about the area.

Rob is busy on work stuff. Alex is hanging out with friends. I am talking to you and then plan on doing a bit of quiet reading and thinking. I am surprisingly tired…and would like a bit of tranquility.

Back from a whirlwind.

It was a wild week. We left last Sunday to go into the city to visit Hofstra on Monday and for Alex and me to have a day on Tuesday (Rob had a big project meeting) and then to go to Philadelphia to see another school. The drive down was fun…and we loved driving through New Jersey with Alex exclaiming over the landscape, the sheer metal quality of that dystopic environment. It was beautiful to hear him process all that he was seeing, and see that world in a new way. We ended up down by the South Street Seaport (Peck Slip) at a Best Western hotel (very affordable) within walking distance to a slew of nice restaurants and stores…not the mall thing that the Seaport promises. It was great.

Monday, we got up and out to Hempstead, LI to find Hofstra, an oasis among the over signed stores, the tire companies and the sheer chock a block activity that Hempstead turnpike holds. Hofstra is a campus that is an arboretium—beautifully groomed with lots of quads filled with nice sculpture and brick buildings that are very low scaled —no skyscrapers.  One side of the campus is the academic world, the other, on the other side of the highway (spanned by three well designed bridges that integrates one side with the other without the hassle of traffic) is the housing/sports etc. Food was good as we had lunch the two days we were on campus  (Monday and Wednesday).

There is a busy, can do quality to this school with a diverse student body, Div. 1  Sports, and a music program that has an undergraduate degree in Music Composition. We visited the Music School (when we returned on Wednesday versus going to Philadelphia) and Alex was able to interview the professor of compostion/theory who writes film scores and uses students to help him. We is a bushy tailed, interesting, lively person who has great chemistry…and Alex was appropriately intimidated and stimulated at the same time.  Last year the professor created 12 scores. The campus abbuts the Nassau Colliseum with the school bus taking kids there, the bus, the mall, and the Mineola train station to make it easier for the students to get around and about. Plus, the draw of NYC and the same with Jones Beach is amazing. I mean, all the culture and fun of the city with white beaches ten minutes away. He will have many, many options for fun and to learn.

There isn’t one particular type of Hofstra student…the thing that makes them consistent is an attitude, a reality, and excitement about the campus and what they are doing. We met with the group that offers support to students with learning disabilities—-and once again, we saw can do, no problem, no evidence that anything changes but help (scheduled) for the student…to help success to happen. It is not about short buses or being set apart. Alex was beaming after his interview as he loved the director of this program and her straight up, straight forward, clear way of communicating and not making him “special”. Alex started talking about possibilities that he didnt have to invent (like other programs), about internships, about how he can dive into his passion. Next step is an audition to see if he can pursue a BS in Music Composition (vs. a BA). What with the practice around NYSSMA, he will have a chance to use that work twice. My heart is lighter. I feel like there is hope for happiness and success.

Must go as its a late one…right now. More tomorrow.

cruising

Hairhoppers, Q. Cassetti, 2012, pen and inkIts been heads down on this presentation I am working on. Delighted with the process and the solutions. I have a few more things and then it will be ready to be shown (I hope tomorrow). I did a little font shopping (something I havent done forever and forever. I forgot how fun that is—and found some fonts that jive with my illustration style and speaks to handmade a bit more than the corporate fonts that I use in the publication work I do. I have been taking these fonts out for a testdrive and am delighted. My heart leaps a bit. I find the fusion of my graphics and my illustration coming together with these projects which is really making my brain work. I know its all good as it is all coming way to easy.

Interestingly, I am finding that I am loving creating these happy brands…things more consumery,more upscale and I wonder how I can do more.

Another cool thing that I have been paying attention to is Pinterest. Pinterest is a visual social networking site that one can “pin” images to virtual boards (or files). One of my new friends used this site to create a clip sheet of what she likes/loves for a project we are working on. And just for that, I thought, wow…this is a cool tool I can take beyond the icing recipes and girlie girl cred that this site has. So, in that spirit, I have launched into pinning…and find that it has far, far more value than Tumblr for me. It is a teaching tool to teach myself, to be a place to reflect on what is hitting me -so I am getting a bit more coming back to me than other social sites. I have posted some illustrations and find a great place to keep my reference materials. I find the posting of new content is far more interesting than repinning/reposting others content. If you want to see what I am pinning, you can follow me here>>

Oh! I got some stickers back from the Sticker Guy. If you would like me to send you a set, send me or post your snail mail address and I will pop them in the mail to you with my compliments! Tattoos on the way.

Happy Dance

I am still alive. Really. But it has been the dance jam, meeting with the cutest little future cidery, meeting with one farmer and then another and then work work work. However, great work is happening. Not to sound too proud, but I am loving what is coming out of the pen. The new Tree Gate Farm is to the left.

What has been interesting in the development of the Tree Gate mark is that it isn’t about the pork and eggs they produce (along with flowers and soap and) but about the spirit and happiness of the animals and their farmers. It is about the positive spirit, the joy in the farm, in the land, and the aesthetic that stems from this profession and lifestyle. This is a big new idea for me. I need to find something that people can link to emotionally, and create a brand for these wonderful producers that distinguish them from each other, while at the same time, generate a connection between the consumer and the farm. This happy pig and his passenger suggest the happy blog entries that one of the farmers cheers us with, speaking to the delight his pigs have in the wonderful summer mornings sunning in the field, chasing luscious apples and living the life on Tree Gate Farm.

I have also discovered that taking a more lyrical, folkloric approach to the illustrations in these logotypes—creating logos that are driven out of illustration versus graphic design (pictures versus typography) shifts the feeling of my my logo designs—really speak to my desire to create farm signatures which emotionally connects people with these farms and farmers. Exciting—which is driving me forward to get these complete for myself as well as for my farmers as this is the season for seed starting and planning for planting. Wouldn’t a new logotype and brand be doing the same?

As you know, I engage in Illustration Friday occasionally as it gets the work out there, and I want to support the good work of Penelope Dullaghan. Illustration Friday posts a topic each week and encourages artists/illustrators to submit images that speak to the topic. The artist posts the image to their personal site, and IF then links the images to  their page…building traffic and exposure for the artist. There is a nice exchange and sometimes comments left about the artwork.

In the same spirit of Illustration Friday, I discovered a page called Illustration Rally. I believe that Illustartion Rally is out of the UK— and that they create these rallies where folks submit work on a topic, and they will post it with links to website/blog etc. Seems like I got the last entry for Valentines day>> which is very nice. Plus, they do some nice tweeting too. Get the work out, get the work out.

Time for a double study hall at the HS for Yearbook.

 

Tattoo You

Tattoo You, Q. Cassetti, 2012, black and whiteNew tattoo. I am having two done…one of this lovely swallow (pretty big, 2”x2”) and a heart one that is about the size of a business card. Psyched. One more in the works, a bee… 1.5” x 1.5” that can be applied as a singleton or as a group. Next stop is a coaster or two to make sets, and maybe sell them. What with the raft of weddings and parties for all these wonderful women I know, coasters and tattoos will be nice adds to the offerings. Maybe a button too?

I have been cruising on a design/illustration time. I have been really hunkering down on a few projects and enjoying the focus and flow of the work. Plus, it is all for people who will like this work (or so I feel it in my bones). I have a bit more to do in the next few days…and then it will be a wrap.

Tonight is DJAQ’s Dance Jam. We are expecting around 60. Alex says the only offering should be water, however, thanks to Nick (a friend) we will need to have snacks—so I plan on getting to the store to buy out the chips and nibbles. Rob will be working on paperwork, so I will do the same with Farmers Market fun.

This blog is going to take on a few more links, tweaks and changes. Keep your eyes open.

Cheers.