Day One: Huntington Beach


Woke up in one place and went to bed in paradise. It was a long day travelling yesterday--with delays in NYC and a puking kid in the row in front of us, spewing onto K.'s brand new shop coat. However, the JetBlue experience was wonderful, timely and what with endless TV, I spent the time prepping for Southern California by watching non-stop Orange County Housewives complete with their endless facelifts, drunken escapades, blonde confidence, heaving bosoms, lives and behaviors modelled on total fantasy and wild, emulating children. I pity all the husbands and boyfriends for their perfidy and falsehoods. It was delightful. And, totally alien to this country mouse from her frosty plateau. Totally holiday fun!

We rolled into Long Beach--strolling into the sunshine--down the ramp into perfection. We rented a really nice Saturn. Bags were quick and we were on our way to the Huntington Beach Hyatt, which, before I go any further, is amazing. It is a rambling big, resort hotel with a heated pool outside and a multitude of little hot tubs sprinkled around the property all facing the water. Birds of Paradise, Clematis (planted in red and white stripes), and a big koi pond along with huge, terra cotta pots with plants are all over the place. There is a holiday image we will post tomorrow as it is so perfect for the 25th. There is a lovely bridge that takes you to Huntington Beach (which we walked down) which, in the early evening, people make these big bonfires to cook and sit by. Bonfires and Southern California makes one pause--but its just me. I'll get over it. The passagiata by the beach was remarkable...with the sunset and all the outside activity that seemed very calm and "safe" compared to the nuttiness that happens on Venice Beach and Santa Monica.

We arrived at the crossroads of surf and skate frenzy with Johns Surf and the Hurley store. A. and K went wild. Tons of their look, long boards, longer boards and longest boards along with surf boards and gear. Tons of stripes, graphics with a sprayed texture added in, more sticker than you know what to do with, colorways are all brown/black/beige and rusty, and more brands than you know what to do with. The big surprise for me was the "Obey" line of skateware by none other than our old pal, Shepherd Fairey. Teeshirts and hoodies using his poster imagery --and of course, the Andre the Giant/ Obey the Giant star. I hope to snap some shots to better understand what he is doing. It feels as if the art is driving the skate stuff...and some throw ins (like black jeans etc.) Aunty Baby proclaimed rightfully, that all the stuff in those stores were made "right here"--and if you go to certain taco establishments, the stars of these businesses will be found there. We hope to get an eyeball of that. As we strolled, there were more and more skate and surf stores along with these cute, blimpy bikes that are stretched out and very comfy looking. Lots of funny surf and skate related holiday stuff (iie a fake Christmas tree decorated with cruising board wheels) or bright red feather wreathes decorated with logo stuff from the industry. Great. Eyepopping. We settled on dinner at a mesquite/mexican place where we all dove into big plates of mexican food...getting us ready for a mexican breakfast this coming morning.

And there will be lots, tons, of picture taking today. I guarantee there will be some money spent today.

Jet Blue Terminal: 10:50 a.m.

Flight was early this morning. We took Shady over to her grandparents and she quickly jumped into bed with GranMary and snored away. We had a little delay getting into our gate as there were small snarls around 8:55 a.m. We found out that our flight to Long Beach was pushed out about an hour as the plane from Ft. Myers was delayed. Best that we are on the front end of today versus the end. We are surrounded by women on cell phones working on issues over the phone with their families. Lots of boots and hip huggers here. Hots of gorgeousity. We wanted breakfast and got sandwiches (Kitty had Pad Thai in a plastic box). There is a lady with a tiny, foxy dog in her carry-on. There is a lovely, white standard poodle with a red pinny that R. took a picture of (I will upload as soon as I am in happier, more plugged in circumstances). To while away the time, I have been messing with iWeb (on the the new OS) which promises to be very beautiful and simple. I may put my own graphic design site up as an iweb project to see if I can make it more vital than the dumb thing I have now.

Gotta go>>

Briar Press--New Resource


Briar Press>>
Briar Press refers to itself as "a letterpress community"-- and it is. They have cuts and caps scans of ornaments and initials from old specimen books converted to Postscript files. Nice selection...not overly wide, but perfect if you are in need of that sort of thing. And free unless its commercial work. Then,its a pittance to use.They have Yellow Pages of letterpress, die cutting machinery and classes and Classified where you can find a press in your area. Boxcar Press, per my friends at Syracuse is a wonder. Our local letterpress/stamping shop is Pioneer Press owned and operated by the impassioned and inspired Joe Seppi--a tremendous resource in Interlaken NY. However, the other offerings from all over the world (even a cool one in Siena Italy) gives one a happy lens through which to view the world. The discussion area is lively and very educational...so I feel that I may be peeking in regularly to see what happens.

More later>>

More work on the fish


Did a little more work on the fish. Emptied the thanksgiving leftovers from the refrigerator and scooped all the scientific experiments into the trash. There has been a great deal of stone gathering and moving for the mason, Mr. Dare Daniels (real name, fabulous mason referred to by our main contractor as "the country gentleman"). Now, for real, I need to pack.

Later.

All sorts of whatnot


This fish is work in progress for Steuben for a project that may be 6-12 skus with the need for 6-12 illustrations relating to nature, animals etc. on a hexagonal shape. What seems to be emerging is the work that I am doing in black and white is splashing into this more formal/reduction style and this fish is an example of where it could go. As clear glass is colorless, the engraving or monairing process renders black and white cleanly. To get a grey, thin texture must happen for it to be successful. The trout will be in water (white) with maybe some cattails, and the fish will be glass (shiny). I am hoping this project happens (albeit it is always in a crunch situation and not much development time) as I am learning a lot about the process, what style of illustration works and working one color is cool and interesting and has "legs" in the work and in logo work for the design business. I am liking what I see and want to share the progress with you.

There is a slight possibility some of my dog images may be used in a waiting room --big scale. Would do some new images in color for a horse, a llama, a beagle, a lab and a cat which may morph into the Baker Annual Report for this year. It would be cool if these pictures could be used as murals or a hook for this waiting space. Great recognition and would really look original. Crossed fingers.

Packing and parceling today. Prep for our trip (LA) along with the charging of phones, ipods, computers etc. for the day on the plane Reference materials and project lists are printed so some work can be focused. Should be fun. R. set up my new artograph superprism opaque projector which promises to be a lot of fun in the new year. Money is in hand. Extra bags of dog and cat food acquired and ready to go.
The weather is in the high or low sixties out there...so what to take to wear is a little dumbfounding...so I need to go and figure this out.

More later>>

IF: [beyond] the Horizon


Seeing death as the end of life is like seeing the horizon as the end of the ocean.
David Searls

With that happy insight, I wish you all the vision to see beyond the horizon and aspire to new and interesting things in the New Year. The end is sometimes just the beginning, and if we limit ourselves to the bookends of start and finish, the journey from one point to the other is lost. Give yourself permission to smell the roses, bask in the sunshine and hear the wind while you traverse this earthly plain.

whoooowheeeeee


Pile it on. We are all going to be out of the office, but somehow no one seems to understand that despite my clarity on our time off next week. Illustrations, business pubs, logos just walking in the door today...yayyee. So, my head is spinning on my body..but I have been very grown up and have been stating the start date of when the work begins again. No, I will not be taking a portable studio with me etc. Somehow people seem to think that as you are an "artist" artists work anywhere and anyplace--impulsively creating for their clients. Nope. Doesnt work that way. I have Memento Mori work to do on vacation. There is hope for them to have 4-6 sketches to sell in the viability of doing a program for a big casino. My feeling is that we do not need to show our entire hand prior to having an agreement to doing the project. I hopefully have been getting through by coaching directly insofar as what works/what doesnt relative to the promise of what the client can do, create, or project to the end client. Steep slope.

More people interested in buying gliclees. Small jobs on a regular basis. Slow but sure.

Magic opaque projector just arrived along with a stack of trace. Yeay!

Its late, Ive got to wrap it up.

Figdig.com

I was invited to join Figdig.com, a free, "high res" creative site that one is given 8 frames to fill of your work. Very easy interface and simple to use (though not too detailed) key words to describe your work/piece. I am impressed with the ease of use, the good looking page unlike the screaming green at Portfolios.com which fights with the work), and the frames that are set up for copy. They have a nice space that you can upload a pdf file "a profile" which I guess could be a spec/sell sheet of your work. They also have nice profile keywords that better help to slot what you do. Take a look at my page>> For free, it is a deal...and for pay there seems to be more on the page for the viewer than other sites. Plus, when you click on the image, the image comes up much bigger (12" wide) so the detail that is often lost with the web, can be seen.

Check it out.

I give up.

I find this very frightening. Actually, more frightening than pretty much anything I have experienced in the recent past:

www.logocare.com

This is how they sum themselves up:

An effective logo should stand out above those of your competitors and bring you in thousands of unexpected dollars.

We are masters of logo design and know precisely what it takes to design an attention-grabbing custom logo in as fast as one business day. A team of 5 top in-house logo designers will work on your logo for a very small fraction of what large corporations pay - Just $259.

Yep. While you wait. Logos... and if you need to move fast, you can get their platinum service for only $99 bucks extra and have 3 more top designers added to the mix. Imagine.

I give up. Next step, Microsoft creates logodesign as part of their MSOffice suite.

However, look at the Logoloft Not only is it scaled according to how many artists and how many designs...but how you load the job much like the chinese menu offered to you for school pictures. They even provide printing, in house design and dedicated phone support.But, this is not $259. that the Logocare folks offer.

More later.

Meet Louis Olson


Meet Louis Olson, glass artist, glassblower, batch engineer and marketer, annealer maker and marketer and all round the most energetic person I have met in recent past. Louis is Noslo Glass. Louis was with the GlassLab in Miami--working with the celebrated designers to help them work out their designs and realize their design intentions. And, I had a chance to talk with him over a few dinners and lunches, poolside and on his birthday. If we weren't talking to Louis directly, we were talking (with amazement) about Louis. He runs his own glass business, didnt like the glass batch offered in the market so he started to make his own. Now he does that in addition to glassmaking-- he makes and sells batch and also annealers (the GlassLab has one of Louis' and it is excellent according to the team). When he isn't working, he is playing equally hard. When we were all snug in our beds, Louis found the hottest spot in Miami and was entertained by salsa dancers on the bar and the scene. He got into his snug bed around 3 a.m. to be fresh and ready to go when the rest of us, the slug a beds were rousing. He is an inspiration and a good sport. Whenever we went out with him, we made every night his birthday...and he played along...to our howls of laughter. Louis is amazing, intuitive and inventive. Plus, Louis has some very good ideas and concepts. His brain is always working.

Why do I introduce you to Louis? Louis saw my Memento Mori notebook while we were in Miami and suggested we get together and make some forms in black glass and sandblast the illustrations (probably reversed--per my new knowledge from Steuben) into the glass. That would make the whites matte and white and depressed into the glass (slightly) and the blacks shiny and slightly raised. Or, what if you worked in clear glass (say a flat bottle) with the front plane and back plane interacting in an interesting way? I think that is a very cool idea and plan to pursue this. Why not? Matt Haber (of the other night's conversation about Mark Murphy) has bottles ( Lambrusco or some cheap stock bottle) painted. I can design the bottle or vessel, do the move (that is 3 D art direction with a glass team) and provide illustration etc. Maybe introduce some sewn or woven neck treatment in the case of a bottle. Or maybe, to keep it simple, just huge spun out platters/rondelles to get the illustration up big? I could see what happens. If good things happen, do more-- and maybe enter them into New Glass Review (remember, get the work out there?)...and work until it gets boring...or too much time/money is burned in the experience. I think there could be a market for this stuff (even for the Ithaca Art Trail etc.). New Year promises new avenues.

What do you think?

A blue pill for the Holidays?


Another mental holiday image. Maybe I do need sedatives. Not exactly the happiness of the season...no kookie skulls with christmas trees and lights. I am focused on the temporal and spiritual. I am working with brains and spirit effigies to see if I can get something going. Right now, everything looks like a puddle of black ink...but some clarity is coming out of the mess. But, to be honest, I am a bit dispirited with the work coming out the pen (my temporal brain is in freefall). So, maybe I just should take a little Memento Mori holiday and not push things too much and work on skulls like the above--a bit of decorating and no story/or symbol work. A bit of mental eggnog.

I think I have chugged through Graven (Allen Ludwig) by reading back and forth, top and bottom given the density of the work. No linear reading of that book. I love it..but when you begin to get deep into Puritan beliefs in angelography...whoa. I am now re-reading things I have read before--so I am seeing this as progress. Now, I need to give that a break...unless I read a bit about the various identified carvers. I am fascinated with the stone carvers who sign their stones, and often may do as many as 70 stones in a year...and some move to a different place and take their style which is so keenly identified with a locale...and it migrates. John Bull and the Stevens family (father, son and grandson) are some of my favorites.

Going to get a little chunk of cash out before the end of the week to the U of Hartford to begin to pay for future fun and degrees. I have been really impressed with the smart, can-do attitude that comes across the phone with Hartford. I figure if the "back up band" (the admins) are great...imagine the lead act! This all is very promising after the shoddy scene with the Orange. Need to close out whatever we need to before the end of the week with the business as there are quite a few things outstanding that could end us up to our knees in unhappiness if we don't resolve or at least come up with a strategy to do so. I am wondering if I have the time for the House of Health tomorrow as time is tight...and the people are all in one place tomorrow morning. Right now, I am thinking not...but we will see.

We have a concert at the High School this evening. One for the Middle School on Thursday. Luckystone is going to lunch at Dijon (a break from our tradition at the Heights Cafe) and then back to the grind.

Then laundry, packing and more laundry. What is Christmas? and When is it? In three weeks or a month? (I wish.)

Damien Hirst's diamond encrusted skull

My friend Tina mentioned the Hirst skull when we were last having a gab fest...so I googled it. And here it is for you.

From Boingboing.net:

Damien Hirst's latest artwork is this life-size platinum skull encrusted with 8,601 fine diamonds. The sculpture, titled "For The Love of God," will likely sell for as much as $100 million, making it the priciest contemporary artwork ever made. White Cube gallery is selling several limited edition silkscreen prints of the work, priced from £900 to £10,000, for one sprinkled with diamond dust. The title of the piece comes from Hirst's mother who asked her son, “For the love of God, what are you going to do next?” From the New York Times:
For Hirst, famous pickler of sharks and bovine bisector, all his art is about death. This piece, which was cast from an 18th-century skull he bought in London, was influenced by Mexican skulls encrusted in turquoise. “I remember thinking it would be great to do a diamond one — but just prohibitively expensive,” he recalls. “Then I started to think — maybe that’s why it is a good thing to do. Death is such a heavy subject, it would be good to make something that laughed in the face of it.”

Hirst, who financed the piece himself, watched for months as the price of international diamonds rose while the Bond Street gem dealer Bentley & Skinner tried to corner the market for the artist’s benefit. Given the ongoing controversy over blood diamonds from Africa, “For the Love of God” now has the potential to be about death in a more literal way.

“That’s when you stop laughing,” Hirst says. “You might have created something that people might die because of. I guess I felt like Oppenheimer or something. What have I done? Because it’s going to need high security all its life.”

New York Times says on June 3, 2007>>

Hirst is quoted on is it bling or not:
“I was very worried for a while, because if it looked like bling — tacky, garish and over the top — we would have failed. But I’m very pleased with the end result. I think it’s ethereal and timeless.”

He is selling screenprints of the same image for 810. pounds  for the edition of 1700 pieces. There are other images of the same skull with editions of 250 prints at 10,000 pounds per print from White Cube>> Hmmmm.

Memento mori with tude.

Holiday doings


Amendments to the poochy yum yums (dog biscuits)  posted yesterday:


--use a full cup of parsley and 2 tbsp. italian seasoning instead of the parsley mint combo
--use a mixer instead of the food processer--makes a more textured, more "healthy" cookie
--the mixer blends the herbs in...no need to knead as much. Just roll and cut. Keep em 1/4" thick..thicker gets gross.
--I used a juice glass to cut them. Made one big star for the top of the box...(chinese food containers)
--measure the dry stuff as the batch bakes so you can keep the trays  and dough rolling through.

I just made about 7 batches. Nice.
Also, made a twenty five pound lasagne for my tiny, baby son. When they started to proclaim that we were getting 10 inches of snow, a girl starts worrying about how to feed the children. Lasagne seemed to be the thing that popped into my head. Now we have enough for a football team anticipating the end of the world.

Planning around our trip to LA. Hopes to see lots of mexican stuff, skate and surf stuff, and find those magic screenprinters and sticker makers that the skate and surf guys use. We are looking forward to mexican food, japanese food, passion fruit iced tea, fresh rosemary growing in the parks by the seaside. Swimming and maybe a little relaxing.

Chokers are playing with a musician, Spider John Koerner at Castaways in Ithaca on Thursday, January 10, 2008. From the Castaways site, Bonnie Raitt is quoted saying:

He has a real unique style of guitar playing & a great talking blues style of delivery. They just don’t make anybody like Spider John Koerner. They broke the mold. As all great originators, like Woody Guthrie or Bob Dylan, anybody else who tries to imitate them would just look like that, an imitator. I do "I Ain’t Blue" in my shows and recorded it on my first album. It’s one of my favorite songs of John’s, but his other songs I love to play just for my own enjoyment; but I can never come close to playing them as well as he does."


Bonnie Raitt ~ NPR's Morning Edition

So, I have a poster to make for the Chokers with a spider. Fun...but need to gun it out tonight. My pictures taken in the blue alley at Felicias on Flickr is on the Castaways site is also now on the Felicia's site. I guess this is a prompt to keep taking snapshots as there is a need for that sort of thing.

All the packages are in the mail. Now I just have to remember who I forgot...there may be some outstanding cards...I think the labels may have gotten mixed up...but I have Wednesday with my girl Friday to change that out. We leave on Sunday at the crack of dawn...so lots to do between now and then.

Another possible customer at Cornell for a holiday card (2008) based on the work I did this year for the Baker. You know, one could make a bit of money just doing holiday cards....hmmmm.

more later>>

Mark Murphy, designer, illustrator and entrepeneur


We met Mark Murphy at the Art Now Show (Claremont Hotel) during Art Basel Miami. The Art Now space was very run down and worn out (much like old college dormitories) with long, unbroken, dark hallways without windows and with steel doors. The place seemed dirty and haphazard. So, we followed the breadcrumbs and found Mark in a sparkling and bright corner space (he admitted that he cleaned and cleaned the space to the shock and surprise of the cleaning staff that his space never looked this good). His work was beautiful and presented in a very methodical way--with a bookshelf of his self published publications, his Known show (as promoted on his blog) and his big,smart and happy personality filling the space. Mark told us all about his books and love of doing it right--all archival and well designed. Mark is proud of his relationships with his illustrator friends and encourages them to take their work as far as it could go--and it shows in the beautiful, case bound books that he produces.

I was taken by Matt Haber's delicate head (see above), Marc Burckhardt's Harlot, Cathy Bleck's inspiring scratchboard illustrations and the animal head from A. J. Fosik which was well crafted and had a great design and color sense. For collectors, Mark Murphy's little gem of a space within the dingy confines of the Claremont is the ticket. One can pick up gorgeous originals from celebrated illustrator/artists on the upswing of their careers. If one had $20M to spend, you could buy yourself a collection with Mr. Murphy along with starting a little limited edition library as well (more on the books here>>).


I am so taken with Cathy Bleck's work, I have pulled out my scratchboard tools and may start scribing some black boards tomorrow. Lets see if it's fun, it works, and if it's quicker than ink.
Mark Murphy says she is now creating her own boards along with rubbing pigment into the coating. I think I would opt for photoshop helping our with the color and image manipulation.

Mark is a very strong and positive force for illustrators, designers and the space in between. He has a great design sense and passion for everything he does--and I admire his energy, personal mission, sense of quality, drive for excellent art and production and love for his work. It is a remarkable thing. It has rubbed off a bit on this person.

You go, Mark!

From Mark's blog on the image above: Matt Haber celebrates the narrative tradition of cartons and comic books. Matt’s character-driven works and doll-like characters are small pawns in his constantly evolving storybook. Mr. Haber has worked as a Disney animator in the past and currently works for Fox animation studios, working experiences that has evolved his love for rich storytelling. You can see his latest painting, entitled, “Mask,” at www.glassesareshields.com

Amazon's Christmas Gift to all of Us


Amazon, the retailer for everything, the cyberdepartment store bought the copy of JK Rowling's The Tales of Beedle the Bard at auction for 1,950,000 pounds that is going to charity. Amazon has set up a page on their site so you can see the book and begin to hear about the stories that Ms. Rowling has hand scribed and illustrated. There are reviews of two of the five tales...so pour yourself a cup of tea and dig in.

From the Larder: Canine Christmas Cookies

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups whole-wheat flour
1 1/4 cups cornmeal
1 1/4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon water
1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
1 large egg

Special equipment: a pastry or bench scraper; a dog-biscuit cookie cutter

Pulse flours, cornmeal, oats, wheat germ, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt in a food processor until combined. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal with pea-size butter lumps. Add 1 cup water and pulse until a coarse, dense dough forms.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead in parsley and mint until well distributed. Gather, then halve dough with scraper. Form into 2 balls and flatten each into a 6-inch disk.

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 2 large baking sheets.

Roll out 1 disk of dough into a round (1/3 inch thick) on a well-floured surface with a well-floured rolling pin. (If dough becomes too soft to roll out, wrap in plastic and chill until firm.) Cut out as many biscuits as possible and arrange about 1/4 inch apart on 1 baking sheet.

Gather scraps and reroll, then cut out more biscuits. Repeat with remaining dough, using other baking sheet.

Whisk together egg and 1 tablespoon water. Brush biscuits with egg wash and bake, switching position of sheets halfway through, until tops are golden brown, about 35 minutes total. Turn off oven and dry biscuits in oven overnight.

Cooks' note:
Biscuits keep, layered between sheets of wax paper or parchment, in an airtight container at room temperature 1 month.

Servings: Makes about 5 dozen biscuits.

Gourmet 2005

from the drawing board.


Two day turn around for a comp to show a potential customer for my client. The trick I have learned is to work the illustration in positive and then give them art reversed which allows the black things to read in the glass as dark...and the light stuff gets the texture and whiteness. If this goes, there are either 6 or 12 illustrations that will be needed lickety split. Hello another stream of income from illustration through the business. Plus, I am digging the treee and think that a piece with a bunch of trees at different planes in the glass might make a nice piece...R. thinks that this technique might suit an ice skater with NYC in the background (hello cash machine)--So, this might have some legs.

Off to the grocery store to provision and to the post office for the final packages...
We are going to get snow like no ones business tomorrow and Monday. The closings are being planned as we speak.

K and I are making our traditional Christmas dog biscuits for fun.

More later

IF:Little Things


Little things about the Puritans from Graven Images by Allen Ludwig:

"It can be assumed that glorified souls become angelic bodies but they are by no means the equals of the created angels. Sometimes the two can be distingusihed from one antoher but more often than not the stones are equivocal. There is not real doubbt that the angels bearing the Antram soul to heaven are not representations of glorifed souls but created angels performing their proper duties."
Allen Ludwig

"Consider, if we fear God, the Angels will not forsake us at death. They will be with us all our lives long; uea, and at and after death too; when we must foresake all the world, when our Bodies and Souls must part for a time; when our Souls foreske our Bodies; the blessed Angels will not leave us, until they have brough us into the presence of Christ om Glory... When ye fall, that is, when ye die or cease to be in this world; they may receive you, that is to say that they whose office is to receive you, namely, the Holy Angels, that they may receive your Souls into their Arms, and carry them upon their winges into everlasting Habitations."

Increase Mather,
Boston Minister, author and distinguished angelographer
(1639-1723)