Atop our plateau early fall. It has gotten chilly and I am glad a little time was put into cutting the iris down and pulling weeds as the work is going to incrementally increase as the weather gets colder and colder. Working on the medical test project today--not much fun in that vein. Took Shady out after disposing of Mei Mei's grand gift (a perfectly intact squirrel left outside the back door)--a beautiful creature. We were looking for mushrooms to no avail. But, we did see lots of color, asters and leaves. Pilated woodpecker siting yesterday.Need to buckle down and finish the paper started last week (albeit weak)...and start the next. I have a ton of illustration that must get done and I havent had a block of time to dig in...life somehow has gotten in the way. We did some work for Steuben last night that have some promise, particularly some really cute ideas R has put forth. He is a very good designer!
happy birthday to me!
Today, today's my birthday! Full spectrum of weather--rain, overcast, bright blue high skies, clouds, brilliant sunshine. Nothing much happening here. Working on glass design and decoration that are moving forward. Ordered a kazillion bulbs for planting this fall and for giving this winter. Need to think about how we package the paperwhites this holiday. The fam gave me a birdfeeder and an iron arm that holds it. Also, some "brit clogs" from muck boots. We also bought some half off Russian sage, sedum, tree peony (for $12.), and a big, luscious lavender. Now time to sock them in for eye candy next spring and summer. Exciting!
the travels of Rip Van Winkle
Everyone in New Jersey have perfect haircuts, new shoes, pressed shirts...clean and straight. A little undoing for their perfection. Today, I go back to our plateau and normalacy. It rained last night and my hope is the little plane is not diverted to Morristown but here in the North Terminal of Newark Airport.
My birthday is coming up!
Mick at the Meadowlands
The lobby of the Sheraton Meadowlands was a buzz last night as the Rolling Stones were playing at the Meadowlands. Lots of talk about parking and shuttlebuses. From what I overheard, it's quite a scene...not really about music but more about the thrill of logistics. There were lots of yellow haired grandmothers and grandfathers with matching clothes getting ready to rock out with the stones. Funny times...For me the beacon of the Sheraton and their promise of soft beds had me planning my sleep.
However, I did start (not silly start, but seriously start) one of the papers for Syracuse's Aesthetics course. I will be using Susan Sontag's "Against Interpretation" essay as my starting point. Take a look. Her writing is succinct, her concepts are tangible and discussable unlike that freakin' Clement Greenberg who is mired in dense omphalos--navel gazing and assumes the reader is right with him. I am a pretty dull bird who reads a lot, but with Greenberg, I really just want to put the book down. I agree with Sontag when it comes to discussions of aesthetics and "smarty pants"critics and curators--just move on. Let the work speak for itself. If the content means something to the viewer then, so be it. If the viewer just sees a beautiful image, so be it. Why does the visual world need an umpire to make the calls on beauty and it's value? Why does the artist need an intercessor to explain meaning when "what you see is what you get" (WYSIWYG)? No cultural intrepration, no contextural interpretation, no explanation that the artist had braces when he was 11 years old and has been drawing gleaming gums on his figures in direct response to that experience. From my limited perch, the critics should get some real jobs/. Like writing good books middle schoolers would like to read.
I now will step down from my soapbox.
Cardinal is another in the holiday/non-holiday ideas.
more on the holidays, less time for me!
A bit rushed today as I had a quick request to am-scray down to Tboro, NJ to meet with my great client. Not much here. Tired...got up at 2:30 a.m. and didn't go back to sleep but churned through a nice little process document about how one makes a publication or a graphic design...approvals,changes, reviews,etc. Am psyched that I have that insto-chango "Dryel" to do a little home drycleaning in the dryer (if you don't have this stuff, its a must...albeit it is so "magic" that i am fearful it will at some point give you a dreadful and fatal disease) to be partially presentable. Maybe I'll even brush my hair. Working up on our little plateau with the tribe of Rainbow beings and shaggies, one forgets to pull it together and look like a person.
The ornament is another non-holiday, holiday card with a "global" theme. I am fearful that it is too Christmassy as it is an ornament...so likely to be dinged.
final pumpkin
Glorious blue sky, puffy white clouds, brilliant light day on our little plateau. The weekend sported some pretty amazing storms coming in from the west that kicked up for real whitecaps on Cayuga Lake. Pretty quiet here--clients sending us a lot of work work work...to turn pretty fast. No news on the holiday cards. Or the PC holiday, nonholiday cards...whichever is picked. The bulb company (!!click here) called the other day to confirm my ginormous order of way over 500 narcissus bulbs that I ordered in the bliss of spring--anticipating the next. We are getting narcissus, daffodils and those lovely stinky allium to naturalize. I think I am going to hire the local population of 14 year olds to lean into it with me. Your thinking?
The pumpkin/ Harvest graphic is for the October 19th 2300˚ event at the Corning Museum of Glass. 2300˚ is an event filled with daring do with hot glass, a cool (more often than not) local group of musicians and sometimes a show opening or special hands on thing for people to partake in. The 2300˚ events have been featured as a significant, local "thing to do" and well worth the trip if you are nearby. You never know what is going to happen. Learn more>
work in progress for SU
This makes it all make sense
I love this stuff and thought you might enjoy the read too. I believe this really speaks for itself. Some of the descriptions and nomenclature is positively hilarious and quite Victorian. What is Odzee?
University of North Carolina Press Summary of the text:
Despite its widespread popularity in antebellum America, phrenology has rarely been taken seriously as a cultural phenomenon. Charles Colbert seeks to redress this neglect by demonstrating the important contributions the theory made to artistic developments in the period. He goes on to reveal the links between the tenets of phrenology and the cultural ideals of Jacksonian democracy.
Learn more>
Find out what PHILOPROGENITIVENESS is. Find these:INHABITIVENESS,ADHESIVENESS, ALIMENITIVENESS,VITATIVENESS. Lovely words with a large, eighteenth century flourish.
Not much here. Slugging away on thises and thats...plugged into left wing political talk podcasts--getting my blood pressure up about the state of the world and George Allen of Virginia. I hope we see some change in November. We all sure need it.
Image from S. Wells, New Physiognomy, or Signs of Character..., NY, 1871. Copy is from a Boston College Phrenology and Fine Arts page for our education, edification and most of all, entertainment!
Pumpkin Leaf
As you can see, I have been monkeying around with a single color job (or two) with pumpkins. Interesting investigation. Need to do more. Dreary today. Lots of exclaiming in the paper about the extent of our rain...(lots). The apple harvest will be bumper. Am churning away on illustration and assignments for SU. Also did some research on nailing down the possibility of offering CPR to any high school student (costs etc) all seems very do-able. Need to move that forward a peg today.
Found a really nice history of illustration blog (beyond the fantabulous Leif Peng's Today's Inspiration--truly an inspiration--the ideas, the writing and Leif's great collection of images from all sorts of sources from ebay to yard sales):
100 Years of Illustration from Paul Giambarba, a former art director with Polaroid. This blog shows a selection of beautiful images--trending towards painting and art. It is a sweet oasis. Paul also has a cool blog about the branding of Polaroid from 1957-1977. Nice. He talks about this process in a nice and personal way--bringing the personal light that is often lost in discussions about branding etc. Take a look.
Shady was chasing cherry tomatoes yesterday. The progression from pinecones > buckeyes > acorns > and now tomatoes is pretty amazing.The only thing she doesnt eat completely is the pinecone. All else are snacks.
It is impressive to see the cherry tomatoes bounce bounce bounce down our big flagstone walks with this black shot springing behind it. Maybe more of this fun today.
which one is poison?
Some of the pictures of the local fungi right on our property. There were puffballs and little strandy things that I think would evolve into the frilly mushroom shown first. The tall mushroom my friend, Steve claims is some sort of shaggy mushroom one can eat. The yellow mushroom was electric yellow...brilliant color, the kind that shouts. Steve recommends definitely not even think of eating that! No kidding! It was cool and humid going to warm and damp..the kind of weather that makes your skin feel good...and helps the mushrooms to grow and grow until the lawnmower finds them. More antics with buckeyes and pinecones with brave Shady. Pumpkin pictures for CMoG for their 2300 degrees even. You will get a dose. Will look about tomorrow for more.
To come up with a good idea, you need a lot of ideas.
I just discovered this cool new online product that looks like a toy we might have to try out. Go to Visual Thesaurus. It is a crazy cool way to wordmap your way into new names (for products, companies etc.) plus (they don't say this) have a pretty entertaining time of it. Kind of "Six Degrees of Separation". Was working on my bird paper and learned a lot about the symbology of eagles, ravens, chickens and doves. I was thinking of playing it out further in the paper, but just with eagles alone, I hit a veritable jackpot--and could actually write the paper just on that topic. Phew! Eagles are all over the place with Garuda, the Hindu/Buddist God, with John the Evangelist represented by an eagle to the Greeks using an eagle linking with Jupiter--representing the god of moral law and order, protector of suppliants and punisher of the guilty. The eagle was the symbol of their Supreme Being. Okay. Now we have the big God involved, do we need to go any further?
I do like this stuff:
For the Central Asian Turks, the eagle was regarded as a holy bird, a protective spirit and the guardian of heaven. It was a symbol of potency and fertility. Eagles on tombstones reflected the Shamanistic belief that the souls of the dead rose up to Heaven in the form of birds or were accompanied and protected by the eagle while traveling in the underworld and the sky. Eagle also was believed to be a carrier of prayers to the sky.
Carriers of prayers, guides to heaven. Love it.
Then we have all the American power and glory stuff. Learned this:
Since June 20, 1782 The Bald Eagle was adopted as the national emblem of the United States.
Pretty new on the scene for a symbol, that is. But on everything from pudding mixes to our money...with tanks and federal buildings and lunar landers, eagles are american personified.
I surfed around and learned a lot about Ravens. Yep, they are pals with Saint Benedict and the Norse myths have quite a few, but to my delight, the Inuit have the raven as a big god--a trickster god--who has all sorts of amusing, almost fable type stories about him.
So, I did run into some inuit art...
Attached is:
Curious Owl
Mikkigak, Oqutaq
Cape Dorset, 2003
Stonecut/ Stencil
The quote/entry headline is from Linus Pauling, Nobel Prize Winner, Chemistry.
keep 'em coming
Too much liberal talk radio will make a girl act out...even if it's in the privacy of her own blog. As to speaking out, even though speaking discreetly bespeaks a lack of patriotism...so be it. This is a work in progress. Will keep you abreast of the doings...as you are well aware.
more fall
Michael Bergt show at the Arnot Art Museum is a beauty. I recommend you go...see the work, the paintings, the drawings,and the sculpture. John O'Hearn and Michael started the exhibit in 1979 with Michael's watercolors through to the current work...showing threads of ideas, techniques and thinking. Michael works in egg tempera--and seeing his sure hand at work up close is quite extrodinary--so tight and so beautifully rendered...almost like looking at engravings. He has recently done a poster for the Santa fe (I think) opera that he strongly reference Islamic manuscripts (and Sienese painting) in it's layout, color, design and construction that is a new direction both John O'Hearn and I are anxious to see go somewhere. Michael is the genuine thing...and someone we should expect to see more and wonderful things in the second half of his career.
You can see more of Michael's work at the John Pence Gallery.
The Arnot restaged a lot of work in the other galleries to make room for Michael's show. The curating of the work is wonderful, inspiring and the juxtaposition of the work has humor and charm. Worth visiting to get a new perspective of portraits, realism and landscapes.
Grey stuff here. Twinkles of red in the trees. Am working on another eagle... we'll see!
they're here!
As you all know, it has been dreary, grey, humid and coolish recently. Do you know that weather is rolling out that meteological red carpet for mushrooms. Camp Street is a wooded street with lots of dead trees and branches which also is a beacon for these wonderful fungi. It is all misty and cool but warm/humid...filled with opportunity for things like spores and sprouts, mosses and mushrooms. Kind of fairyland in a not cute way.
Lots of seventh grade excitement with A. possibly being moved into the uppergrade jazz chorus and the "mens" acapella group (they are tres cool!). K. is anxiously anticipating the homecoming football game with her marching with the sit down band playing and carrying her big bass clarinet. Big dance afterwards. Its a whirl until about midnight. Who knows what the weekend will bring.
Buckeyes
The Ispot volunteered to look at my listing and give me a critique on what was working and what wasn't. I got this great document yesterday with all sorts of good input relative to changing keywords, changing out images etc. It was very helpful...let's see if anything comes of it. You can check it out at the ispot. Need to jump on the holidays...am feeling rather lax..and need to whale on a bunch of extras. Went to the Ispot and downloaded a bunch of stock holiday images as options to my stuff. I don't know if any of this will make them happy. Rather grey day. In the sixties. Was listening to Devo this morning just like it was yesterday. Wasn't it?
FreeRange dudes full of beans and plans. Talking to a bunch of "state store" type states about carrying them. Pennsylvania's inital order shipping. Possibly pressplay in Boston soon (television) which should help recognition at the store--and drive more demand from the end consumer and hopefully the liquor, wine stores into carrying it.
Shadow dog is reacting to the buckeyes falling out of the tree as if God was sending her something as wonderful as squirrels to chase--only the buckeyes give her a chance. Small joys in her life.
Study Hall Day
Made some soup this morning. It is terribly grey and rainy...promises to be this way for two days. I have a quiet stretch of time to snuggle down with coffee and all of my friends on podcasts to entertain me--to work on more holiday stuff, packaging for medical tests and take a break with the birds...either a paper or another go round with eagles. I think there is quite a body of work with just eagles. Matter of fact, I think that there are a bunch of bodies of work that will jump off of this main one for the thesis. I was wandering through the land of pictures and found a bunch of pretty hysterical pictures of ostriches...Man. Are they wierd and great. Big pink beaks, and magenta purple eyelids...with a real Sesame Street wackiness. Need to find a reason to do one or ten. Need to find out what they "mean". Later.
holiday thinking
This paperwhite is in process for the December holiday cards. More coming. Some of the trees are turning red here. The air is laden with all sorts of allergens--making my throat scratchy and sniffly. Am mentally working around the aesthetics ideas--forming things up, firming things up, writing notes at 2 a.m. No sleep must mean that I am making some sort of progress. Big opening this week for Michael Bergt at the Arnot Art Museum. Michael's work is beautiful. He works in egg tempera--with big and simply designed fields...working realistically and boldly. Is he an artist or an illustrator? (http://www.mbergt.com/). Check him out.
ongoing blind freedom
