November 1


Okay. Bring on the Christmas decorations. Even though Christmas has oozed into October, it somehow seems almost legitimate to have twinking lights, christmas trees, and blow up santas and snowballs now that the pumpkins have been carved, lit and kicked by the wicked "children" who left a trick. We handed out about 500 pieces of candy. Lit and placed over 55 votives in paperbags with kitty litter in the bottom. Seven pumpkins and lots of visits by our friends, children and the community in general. It rained lightly, and then, miraculously dried up.

November brings the SU NYC Trip (11/13-17), Thanksgiving and all the december holiday presents wrapped and shipped. Am crashing on getting the SU stuff done. Somehow this bookjacket cover is tough business...and it just needs to get done. Am looking forward to a little time to "do my own thing" albeit right now everything I touch turns to poop...so I need to stick with my work and maybe pick up a paintbrush to get the gears going.I plan to take the bus to NYC (new for me)--its cheaper and just as quick as flying. Would like to see the Neue Galerie. A show on Josef Hoffman opens today! Also the Met. Need to find out what they are up to.

Have a new client at Cornell, The Baker Institute of Animal Research. They do basic research for dogs, horses and camelids and have been recognized for their work and immunizations. The project should be a lot of fun...and we and really take it somewhere. They are lovely people who are impassioned about the work they do and the world they live in. Should be a good journey. Learned a lot about the Cornell identity and logotype yesterday. Lots of mobility/flexibility in the program...very limited rule...but they live by the three or four musts.

Discovered a new poster artist who did some terrific work in the 1940s--and forward. He has some nice Mary Blair-eque animals...and a poster about holidays in Switzerland I will post as its cute as pie...and very sweet. Make me want to buy a ticket!

Apples in the front hallway.

IF:Windy

The wind flapped loose, the wind was still,
Shaken out dead from tree and hill:
I had walked on at the wind’s will,—
I sat now, for the wind was still.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882)
British poet. The Woodspurge (l. 1–4). . .

Oxford Book of English Verse, The, 1250–1918. Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. (New ed., rev. and enl., 1939) Oxford University Press.

This exercise gave me a chance to fiddle around with screens and rasters and the pathfinder tools. Blow wind of inspiration!

Field Trip!


Thanks to the Tiny Showcase--for sending us on this wonderful field (and stream) trip. They highlighted this site by saying:

"The Scandinavian Fishing Year Book wall charts and mini wall charts. Greatest Holiday gift idea I've ever given you? Without a doubt! The Guardian has been including free versions of the charts in their weekend editions but they haven't been available in the U.S."

Check it out>

This forced me out into the web for find these lovely illustrations of fish by Kumataro Ito He has contributed to the perfectly named "The Division of Fishes". Very pretty stuff. I really need to pursue the history of the fish prints in New York State....I have a spotty knowledge of this and will, should I unearth anything interesting, talk about it.

I agree with the perfect holiday gift idea.

Another gift is the fabulous finum/ aromatreu "fill your own" teabags...with the best earl grey tea from Harneys. It really is the best...very fragrant and delicious....makes the blogging go quicker!

Musings


The very idea of a bird is a symbol
and a suggestion to the poet.
A bird seems to be at the top of the scale,
so vehement and intense his life. . . .
The beautiful vagabonds, endowed
with every grace, masters of all climes,
and knowing no bounds how many
human aspirations are realised
in their free, holiday-lives
and how many suggestions to
the poet in their flight and song!

John Burroughs (1837 - 1921)
Birds and Poets, 1887

Still on the bird paper. Slow going. How to handle sources? reference? ey yi yi. It is no way going to be perfect (let alone right). But I have to get this thing done. Have been reading about angels and the Angelic Choir. The Angelic Choir is a medieval method of ordering angels according to their jobs/roles and proximity to God. Cool. Wonderfully obtuse and thick...perfect for those with time and silence on hand...needing something very embroidered to ponder. Also learned a bit about those terrific winged Assyrians (good examples at the Met) and their roles as protectors. They often carry the bucket and cone? Bucket and cone? you ask? The great purifying tools for the Assyrians. Wow. Out there. I think I might be an assyrian protector with a bucket and cone for halloween. No one would guess!

Back to my ring of hell(sources,etc.).

Signal vs. Noise


This blog opens with this description:

This is Signal vs. Noise, a weblog by 37signals about entrepreneurship, design, experience, simplicity, constraints, pop culture, our products, products we like, and more. Established 1999 in Chicago.

This is a site worth digging into. It is filled with inspiration, good writing and cool technology that is perceivable even for the weakest of minds (speaking for myself). Even I get it. I particularly like the "inspiration is magical" discussion by Jason as he really frames up inspiration for me. It is a productivity multiplier.The other one that is pertainant these days is the Adscapes article for the newspaper advertising. I am a believer. We just did a funny shaped ad for the FreeRangers for the Boston Globe this Wednesday, and the long skinny shape (3" x 11.625") was tough to work in....but we feel will get noticed for the bold graphic treatment. I would like to advance the adscape idea to the FreeRangers as it might work with the product and it's profile.

Thought the holiday card was done and finalized. We are seconds from releasing to the printer--and we now have a new party weighing in with new requirements. Deep breath.

Chugging away on the paper on Birds. Am within eyeshot of done-ness, but am a bit like the deer in the headlights on the MLA stuff and sources. Will need to get serious with that. The picture above is Arthur Mackmurdo
Wren’s City Churches I talk a little about how feathers work and it migrates into a chat about feathers reflecting the spirit of Art Nouveau (flowing and sinuous lines) and being a strong theme in that work (Beardsley, Liberty of London, Louis Comfort Tiffany). Need to work on the same idea with wings/flight and weave in Icarus, Angels, Assyrian art...the like. Not poetry from this flat footed one.

Crystal cupcakes on the drawing table.

Unlike Father Unlike Son


Three generations of Crawhalls produced images in a diverse styles. The grandson, Joseph Crawhall (1861-1913)was painter, watercolorist with a very distinct approach. In the 1880s and 1890s, his work became associated with the Glasgow Boys. He was strongly influenced by the Impressionists, and, like them, his work was rejected by the Establishment, in his case in the form of the Royal Scottish Academy. He is most recognized for his animal pictures. The image above is The White Drake, 1895, National Gallery of Scotland.

The father, Joseph Crawhall(1821-1896), helped to run the family ropery along with making and designing his woodcuts and book production. He also had a great interest in music, landscape painting and fishing. This is shown by the first ever book he produced in 1859, 'The compleatest angling booke that euer was writ' which he illustrated and printed himself. His work was an inspiration to William Nicholson, one of the fantabulous Beggarstaff Brothers. Dover has a good collection of Crawhall's engravings which is on top of the pile on my desk. Like the Beggarstaffs, I think there is something in this to learn and emulate. More on Joseph Crawhill, the elder is here>
It is interesting that the son totally overshadows the father who has equal talents, just directed in a different way.

The Beggarstaff Brothers Pryde & Nicholson
Lyceum Don Quixote (from Maitres de l'affiche), 1897
11.375" x 15.75"
Lithograph

Sing along!

This ashtray is part of my collection of funny heads. If you are smoking, you rest the cigarette in his twisty lips and smoke comes out of his ears. I have match to Sweet Adelaide that maybe I will run by you later. I often feel like this guy.

Isn't he funny?

Running flat out today. More holiday cards to be generated. More stuff on the poop test design. News on the FreeRange world: Whole Foods is being shown it...and a big wine publication is showing interest. Yay. Dark and dreary.

dodo work


Setting 'em up, knocking 'em down. Took a break and started this. No way close to being done.

For all you Pittsburghers out there, or folks in the Pittsburgh know, here is a funny blog that puts the world in a burgh perspective...which sometimes is the attitude adjustment we all need. Check it aut>

He's the Man

I love Hans Holbein, the younger. Love. I picked up a nice skinny little book from Tachen (thanks to my friend Richard, I am really tuned into the world of Tachen art books and what good resources they are for a good price) from the Strand Bookstore
stall on the corner of 60th and Fifth Avenue at the bottom of Central Park (one of my favorite places to while away days like today...high blue skies, a little nip in the air, and the trees ablaze). The book is Holbein by Norbert Wolfe. It is well written, easy to dive into and a chance to learn about his artist. What I find amazing about Holbein is his absolute simplicity in everything he does. He is a great designer who uses his canvas to focus in on the person. His Jane Seymour, the third wife of Henry VIII, a homely girl by all accounts--and adorned her as a queen, using the plain grey background and shadow to set the figure off the canvas...and all of the detail and color only emphasizes her humility, piousness (she seems more than a little righteous)and plainess is deft. The picture above is one of a few of Holbein's rich commissions of people. I love her birdhouse ermine hat and the animals in the picture. The blue background is bold. Wolfe tells us that during that time people kept squirrels as pets. She may keep it as a pet, but from the looks of things, not much love lost.

Churning away on the paper. Anxious to do some illustration.

Portrait of a Lady with Squirrel and Starling
c. 1527/28
Oil on Wood
London, The National Gallery

Stuff and non-sense


John Maeda is a professor at MIT Media Laboratory. He is a thought-provoking person who doesnt suffer the pride of academia..but shares his zeal for ideas, the world, his students, and the future. Simplicity is just one of his blogs. His September 6th entry resonates particularly:

Younger Older

For my talk at the recent Ars Electronica symposium I tried to simplify my philosophy towards life as:

When you're younger: Do More. Think Less.

When you're older: Do Less. Think More.

Some younger students, I find, tend to think too much and it sort of paralyzes them. Thus my usual advice to them is to think less. For older students, sometimes they get too caught up in the act of making, and fail to find a moment of reflection. To them, I say do less. Perhaps the superior model is the hybrid approach where you do both and engage in thoughtful doing or doing thoughtfully. I think I kn ow what I'm doing. But maybe I shouldn't.

Book(mark)'em Dano.

Another idea:

Clipmarks

Do you know about them?
Essentially its about your mother. Does your mom comb the paper for obtuse articles, obituaries,pictures, recipes etc. and stuff them in an envelope with some sort of admonition to get yourself together, start being a good mother and other fun commentary. The clips are random and if I am in a good place, I will try and look at them globally to see what the big message is. Clipmarks is a function through Mozilla that you can literally "clip" web information, websites, pictures etc. and post them at the clipmarks site. Folks who read/like the clip can "pop" it as a way to rank them. There are significant "clippers" who are featured. Its tres cool. We are newbies here...and plan to watch it for a while and then stick our toes into this world.

Nice blog on clipmarks>

Brilliant day that became rainy and then back to brilliant. We are laking it tonight. Was trying to identify the mushrooms I am finding with some result. Am "on" the second paper for Syracuse. Am feeling a bit optimistic about getting into it.

Illustration Friday is driving a ton of traffic to my pictures. Got 105 hits yesterday from around the world. If I were running the world, I would make the ISDP students do Illustration Friday as its a quicky deadline, you get good input and without much effort your work is seen by a lot of people. Now to revise the luckystone website so I can link to Illustration Mundo. They will not link to a blog or any URL that has a backslash.

I like hiding behind the backslash. Guess its time to get in front of it.

more work on this piece

shading on the cheeks is new. working on the ear...(to discover from my sketch that I dont need the damned ear). Recolored the skin for the third time...just wasn't working. Hope to get some traction with this over the weekend.

High skies. No clouds. This might be the big blaze weekend here with the trees. Need to really buckle down and get the Society of Illustrations and 100 Steps show submissions done and out. I still have the time. Just.

Put the puggie into the Illustration Friday request for images that speak to "Smitten". I have a devil with a valentine I would like to do for it too...maybe later this week.

New things

Just signed up to show a portfolio at portfolios.com--so see how it runs against the ispot. Both have value. One is more expensive than the other...and it seems that portfolio.com might have a few more bells and whistles that could sweeten the deal. We will see. Got a phonecall literally out of the blue today for a nice job at the big educational institution nearby...but I will not jinx it..but, fingers crossed, it could be cool. I think Erich and I are up to it.

Did I tell you about Erich's blog? He is doing it with his very funny friend Dave. There are several story lines going along with comic strips and my favorite, the "Million Dollar Ideas". Check out the unicorn!

Itchy to get this paper done -- the last one, that is. It's supposed to be on something that inspires you. I am going with Birds. Must show images. Did a sweeping surf and got all sorts of gems and quotes...so I have some of it holding...just need a thumbnail outline and go! l try to engage today. It was time consuming doing the portfolios work which isn't adding up to moving the ball forward re the Syracuse work. Hopefully..

Check out his fun project> Inspiring submissions!

they say SNOW on Friday

Discovered a new illustator yesterday. He is Ronald Kurniawan. His work is wonderful, combining letters and symbols with these surrealistic backgrounds in a dreamy and thought provoking way. Expert in jumblessums it all up. Take a look. I love the way letterforms pop up--either 2 dimensionally or 3 dimensionally--merging with the picture or overwhelming the image as if they are transformers or science fiction leviatians. His palette is very somber and sophisticated. His drawings are lovely and expressive with fish and octopus, boats and letterforms.

Mr. Kurniawan cites the Tiny Showcase under his friends section. Take a look at their goals, art and artists. Very cool idea.

Can you imagine snow? Halloween has yet to happen...and the poor little children with their snow boots and flying slush does not a magical halloween make. Figured out the bluetooth configurations on this computer yesterday to my delight (and frustration). It is stunning how macintosh computers are sold with not much more than the cords you need to plug the machine in with. Instructions? Thank goodness for the help buttons and all the data on the web to walk you through the possible channels and problems out there.

Busy fighting the fight today--trying to smother the feelings of stupidity and frustration I am experiencing from the state of the world. Now we have nuclear bombs. If it was bad before, now we have bombs, propositions to boys, failing economy, education for the rich,no healthcare and this fruitless war. Things must change.

Influences Start With A Letter

Ronald Kurniawan
Oil and acrylic on wood
24" x 36"

From Nucleus Gallery, 30 West Main Street, Alhambra, CA 91801

Meet Tommy Kane

I just did. Wow. Wow. Wow. Check him out!He is truly inspired as a designer, art director and to my thinking, an illustrator/artist. His journals are sublime (look out art crawl folks!)--My favorite being the one with the Obey Giant on the cover filled with wonderful likenesses and funny/insightful copy to accompany it. His blog is filled with knock-out sketches that are forceful, direct and humorous as I am sure Tommy is himself.He makes me want to whip open that moleskine and get drawing.What do you think?

Illustration Friday

Penelope Dullaghan is the creator of this good idea. Each Friday, a topic is posted and the IF community posts their answer to the topic--with lots of talk between the participants. I think this is a brilliant idea as it puts a little pressure on illustrators to produce and think even when there isn't a client. Plus, generating the Web 2.0 community of illustrators and people interested in pictures is a definite add with many of us solo in the studio with the need to reach out. Penelope also has a fun halloween show, Black and Orangethat encourages artists to post images in black and orange to her Black and Orange site. She even has judges! Nigel(my high school pal who is doing a little independent study with me...poor soul!) and I are going to submit to this show as part of our project. Should be fun. I may try to get on board with Illustration friday to drive more pictures and thinking.

Frost warnings for this morning.