chattering teeth.

Well. Another week begins. Had a great time in the blueness of the Pool of Dilemmas. My muse recommends that I develop the psychotic ideas that spring from the experiences of the Pool of Dilemmas into a graphic novel, per se. I don't know about this-- but think about it as I review old friends and new ones on a daily basis. Perhaps in the CF Payne and wonderful Gary Kelly class at Hartford in 2009. Imagine.I LOVE these guys...tons of talent, even more personality and opinion, gallons of thoughts about illustration. Each one, concentrated illustration bliss. Combined? Yowza. One thing about Mr. Murray. He does some key-razy mix and matching that results in great things for the students (and to be honest, for the teachers too).Murray has this amazing sense of putting chocolate and peanut butter together and making something even better. Its a veritable third sense for him. I am psyched to get a semi-full dose of that versus the self serving BS that the last 18 mos of the orange school provided. Back to Kelley and Payne. Maybe they can help me on some spreads of the Pool of Dilemma. The Naked girl. The pink girl. Women in red caps. Men in caps. Mr. Hip Hugger. and all the other personalities that evolve and develop on a daily basis. Its amazing I get laps in...for all the fun that is there.

The new cricket, the black legged, tiny Jotul stove (Jotul F 602 CB) delivered today. Sweetness. It takes a limited number (say one) of shortie logs...and can crank it up with relatively no problem. My muse is listening (as we speak) to UTube-ulation on Jotul tiny stoves..the wheres and whatfores. It is going to be great. The fantasy side porch is winding down. The capitals were delivered and installed today to our delight.

Steuben job in the last stages. They were so taken by the progress, they moved the meeting from the fourth to the 31st...So finalizing on a little book that I proposed along with the glass designs (maybe letterpress). Need to call around to test feasibility.

Life's So Sweet Chocolates

Life's So Sweet Chocolates cordially invites you to join us for our grand opening on February 1st, 2008.

Online sales will be ready at 11:00 am. At the same time, the doors will open for our retail store, located at 44 W Main St, Trumansburg NY.

If you have the opportunity to visit our store on February 1, we will have free samples to whet your taste buds!

We sincerely appreciate you taking the time to visit our website, and hope that you will be back soon!

Darlynne
"The Chocolatier"

Cold knuckles


Working day with the radiator off. Thank goodness R ran off to the lake cottage for the random electric oil heaters that took the brrrrr....out of the air. It was a hat, 2 scarves, snowboots kind of day in the studio. Busy working out the shell, the sunface and moving towards closure for this phase of the project. There are sketches for the other 7 ideas on the table. Wednesday is the due date on that. Poking along. Everyone seems happy (I might almost say VERY) with the progress, my nailing deadlines etc. Now nailing a cheap fee is another thing. Ouch!

K and A. were on the ski slopes today. Great skiing. Lots of friends wanting to do the same things K and A wanted to do.

R and I talked about the next phase of development of the Camp House (back walkway space--definition, redesign and repurposing). R has some terrific ideas that need to be embellished upon and taken to the next level. We also need to get to more bathrooms and maybe a new kitchen too. However, tomorrow a teensy single log type woodstove will be installed in the old kitchen (in the big, iron backed fireplace with a big mantle and even all the cranes and hooks that might have been used in 1848. The little woodstove will be great. We had put a coal stove in the same place. However, if you are not familiar with coal..this stuff needs to burn at an amazingly hot temperature--so hot that I often feared we would burn down the building. Wood is not that "on.off" as coal. It is far more predictable and manageable (at least for this girl) than the mega burn, mega nuclear fuel that coal is.

This time of the year I covet storm windows and doors, hot radiators and heat in general. Its beautiful to have natural air conditioning (in August)--but people laugh at my get up with the hats and scarves. You might too (if you saw me!). That's why blogging is so darned beautiful--as you can imagine me as the 5'10", blonde with perfect eyesight and teeth...and not the scary, harridan that writes and fumes...in the cold.

Jane Austen awaits...! (I hope you have dialed into this elucidating elucidation with our 1800 galpal?).

Tomorrow. The Pool of Dilemmas awaits (although I am not sure with the hats and scarves...do you think goggles will go with that?). Miami is looking sweet for April.

C-Shell


Just finished up with a group of 15 and 16 yr old girls gathering here for pizza, rice crispy treats, tea and soda and fashionable recycling. We had an event where everyone brought used teeshirts to recycle and reuse in new configurations. There were all sorts of fashionable things happening from someone making a teeshirt tuxedo to slashing the shirts with a pinned underpinning--in the shapes of hearts etc. There were lots of tube tops, mini skirts and everything in between. The ladies were delightful and thrilled to be together to eat and make stuff. It was a big success--and all involved had a great time. We will have to do it again.

Am in the throes of a project--a dozen illustrations in less than a week--with 5- 6 of them finalized by Monday so as to be applied to crystal blanks. Its terrific to illustrate and design a collection of a dozen hexagonal pictures that need to stand on their own merit, work as a group, are totally analog (only black or white--nothing in between). I sold them on the image ideas along with a book that would accompany the work to tell a secondary/poetic story of why these images, why they are part of the group etc. I am thinking of letterpress (with J. Seppi @Pioneer Press in Lodi)--but we will see. They also want the entire program sketched out...and should it be a go...it will be a sizable illos job along with a base/or two and the book to design and illustrate (and probably produce too). It is exciting to pull together some fairly disparate ideas but treat them in a similar hand...making visual sense to something that doesnt happily hang together. More tomorrow. I have the last of the group due Monday p.m. I have done a tree, a stag, snow, a shell, a fish and the worst is yet to come (hardest, that is)--a sun. it cannot be a sun with a "have a nice day" face, nor can it be entirely "symbolic"--so I founder. We will see what will happen with a bit of cooking while sleeping. I was thinking about how to repurpose the images. I have some ideas--working the black and white images with letters and images that twist the straight up image...and takes it some place.

Need to finalize book two of Memento Mori. The work is done and scanned. Really just need to get it bolted down in the InDesign file. Mostly done. But Mostly is not final. Must make that happen before Feb. 1 as the pictures for book three are happening as we speak. Have met a wonderful and interesting new i-friend who can do machine embroidery. Will be turning 1-2 ilos off to her to create a digitized version for embroidery. I am thinking industrial weight, wool felt with this work--to turn into pillowtops, book covers...whatever. Its a bit of an experiment...but could be cool. Could be part of the final thesis research etc. We will see.

It's late. More later. My head is eyeing the horozontality of this tabletop with ideas.

thoughts from the pool of dilemmas


I was musing while I went back and forth in the swishy blueness of the Pool of Dilemma. If your spirit is released from the physical in death, then where does it go? Towards the light? Do they stay here? Do they watch and guide on this level? or do they join the larger energy? If one is deaf and there is birdsong, because one can't hear, does that mean that the birdsong doesn't exist? Or does it only exist to those that can tune into that band? to those with ability or access to that energy? Could the human physicality be the blocker to that other place? It's the same with sight. If you are in an unfamiliar dark room, do the things in the room exist as you cannot see them? or because you can slightly perceive them and understand it with your other senses--are they there? are they shadows of their reality? Is this the way it is with us and other spirits that exist on a parallel plane? Are we more perceptive as children or artists--those that are more accepting of the abstract? Or is it our age and the closest we are to birth and death? In later years, my grandmother was always visiting with her sisters who would perch on the end of her bed to chat about their trips and times they spent together as young women? Or children and their imaginary friends?

Maybe instead of the blue pool, I should consider a blue pill?

a bit of the seventies in California.


Just got loaded up with a pile of pictures. Am busy moving the piles of stuff around the office with one or two of them getting moved onto other desks and offices, finally. Moving and moving. Whirling like a dervish--correcting typos, changing colors, moving pictures, changing ideas, switching programs, yaking on the phone and around and around again.

Saw a few great movies after dinner for the last two nights. I recommend these highly:
Dogtown and Z-Boys


Dogtown is a terrific documentary about the birth of skateboarding in Southern California around 1975. It dives into the Zephyr (Z) team, their style and drive, their pursuit and love of the sport and how this group of kids created an industry. Essentially, if these guys couldn't surf all the time, they would surf on the land. In swimming pools (they borrowed), in the cement byways and streets of LA. They fused as a team and essentially a family under the leadership of Jeff Ho,Skip Engblom and Craig Stecyk . It really painted a great picture of the time, the sheer innovation and energy of these people--which begins to set up and explain the traditions we see in skating today. A perfect California day during this frosty winter eve.

Riding Giants is in the same mode--but all about surfing. Whoa. It is paralyzingly scary but at the same time very dynamic, athletic and surprisingly very spiritual in the way the surfers regard their sport and their waves.

Take a look.

Billion Year Old Carbon


We are stardust
We are golden
We are a billion year old carbon
and We need to get ourselves back to the garden.
Joni Mitchell, Woodstock

Isn't this perfect Memento Mori stuff? I was listening to the radio--and heard this lyric and thought I should capture it now. Love it.Am working away on what does the spirit look like when its released. Does it look like the puritan spirit effigy? does it have a face? wings? Does it fly as in the analogies we hear in literature, in music, in the religious tradition? Can a spirit see? Or does it just exist? Does it leave us? or stay? Do they watch us? guide us? Do they have choices? Are they the spirits that stay your hand or prevents mishaps or hurts? Do they emerge complete or do they evolve, change and grow when they are separated from the physical?

More later>>

Brrrr.


Was feeling a bit rough around the edges yesterday and spent it horizontal. I apologize for no entry--but maybe you wouldn't have wanted one as the cranky level was pretty high. It is frigid here. I have all the studio doors closed and actually turned up (!!) the heat...and honestly, I think the bunnyfur hat with flaps over my earphones is going to have to happen. And the fingerless gloves. It is hugely embarrassing looking..but hey. Its me and the home team and Erich. They have seen it all.

Living in a big old house is always teaching you something. Today's thought is, if you are fantasizing that the folks in 1848 were spending their winters wearing muslin frocks you have another thing coming. This is a big brick house. Should have some insulative qualities. Underline should. Our heating system transcends anything they had. We have brand new storm windows and caulking. We have storm doors and weather breaks. And...there are never too many layers of fleece, hats, scarves. Brr.

Was fascinated to learn about the Sacred Heart which was in the stained glass at the Catholic church along with emblazoned on the plaster statue of Jesus. I always thought it was Latin/Spanish and it isn't. Wiki clarifies:

The Sacred Heart is a religious devotion to Jesus' physical heart as the representation of the divine love for humanity.

This devotion is predominantly used in the Roman Catholic Church and also used in the Anglican Church, particularly among Anglo-Catholics. It also stresses the central Christian concept of loving and adoring Jesus. The origin of this devotion in its modern form is derived from a French Catholic nun Marguerite Marie Alacoque, who said she learned the devotion from Jesus in visions.


The Sacred Heart is often depicted in Christian art as a flaming heart shining with divine light, pierced by the lance-wound, surrounded by a crown of thorns, and bleeding. Sometimes the image is over Jesus' body with his wounded hands pointing at the heart. The wounds and crown of thorns allude to the manner of Jesus' death, while the fire represents love.

I am going to draw a bunch. It is going to fold into Memento Mori. I just need to figure it out. --Love works. Divine love for humanity works. Works outside of the catholic tradition. Actually, Love for Humanity is needed always and forever. However, how are my thoughts of the puritans going to bump up against the papist tradition? Can the baroque coexist with the spartan? Can a tradition that shuns imagery (puritans) bump up against one of the centers/inspiration for imagery and representations? Maybe a little black ink can smudge in the grey areas? What do you think? I don't have any idea. Just like the stuff.

The whole catholic service was so theatrical. So about symbols and explaining with sound, smells and words, those abstractions that one cannot entirely fathom or grasp. Those sounds and smells and words are clues to the ephemeral, spiritual and not understandable. Those are the clues that confirm to those with faith that the transition has happened from one state to the other, confirmation of the tenets of their belief, confirmation of the spiritual. 

I grew up in the Presbyterian church devoid of embellishment in faith. However, the detail added by the architecture, windows and even the vestments transcended that of this simple catholic service. There was far more theatre, but it focused on the works of man and not the bigger picture--those of God. I mean, there was more attention brought to the offering being collected and brought to the altar than that of communion...with 12 deacons of the church dressed in wool cutaways complete with grey pocket squares, who would collect money in sterling silver dishes and walk in six pairs of men, pretty much in lockstep to lay it upon a sacred spot, the place where the sacrement was prepared was pretty obscene. And while the moneychangers were collecting in the temple, the extrordinarily robust pipe organ with pipes in the front of the church and in the back would groan and trumpet, swell and then restrain , incidental music that was either hard to follow or too big for the room...drawing attention to itself versus pushing for an understanding or reflection from the congregation. Phooey. If you like that kind of community, its perfect for you. For me, it doesn't move the needle towards a better relationship with a bigger idea and power. Its more about the coffee break and pagentry.

But isn''t this what most people expect?

Towers of Silence


I was reading about funerary traditions and ran into the Towers of Silence, the way the Zoroastrians dealt with their dead. Wiki says:

Towers of Silence are circular raised structures used by Zoroastrians for exposure of the dead. There is no standard technical name for such a construction. The common dakhma or dokhma (from Middle Persian dakhmag) originally denoted any place for the dead. Similarly, in the medieval texts of Zoroastrian tradition, the word astodan appears, but which today denotes an ossuary. In the Iranian provinces of Yazd and Kerman, the technical term is deme or dema. In India, the term doongerwadi came into use after a tower was constructed on a hill of that name. The word dagdah appears in the texts of both India and Iran, but in 20th century India signified the lowest grade of temple fire (cf. Fire temple).

The term "Tower of Silence" is a neologism attributed to one Robert Murphy, who in 1832 was a translator of the British colonial government in India. It is not the literal meaning of "Avestan (sic) dakhma" as suggested by the Encyclopædia Britannica. While the stem dakhma- does exist in the Avestan language, its meaning there is not conclusively established. The contexts indicate a negative connotation and that it does not signify a construction of any kind.

Totally out of our western context. Fascinating to me.

Saying goodbye.

We had the fortune to attend a friend's father's funeral this morning. It was a very beautiful, pared back catholic service with all the traditions (referred to by my mother as the "bells and smells") highlighting and illuminating the symbolism of the faith, the spiritual and all of those things abstract but tangible during these times. I was very moved to be part of this passage of this quiet man whose strength in his faith, belief in his spiritual journey, a rock for his family and how all of this was celebrated in a manner that honored his life. The priest brought such a focus on the liturgy the way he read and sang it--focusing on the transformation of the wine into blood, and the bread into Christ's body, highlighting the sanctity of using incense and holy water to bless the body and spirit of the man who has gone. The readings were significant as was the homily--with the priest linking the way this man lived his life in his faith to Peter in a reading from the Bible. It was poetic the way he brought the broad and philosophical down to the individual--but did it he did with a gentle grace. I was touched in the almost shaker like simplicity of the service, the absolute heart that was prevalent in the church and the sense of peace in his transition. It was memorable. I am blessed to have been able to be there.

May he rest in peace.

IF: Plain

Works of imagination should be written in very plain language; the more purely imaginative they are the more necessary it is to be plain.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 - 1834)

Keep it simple. Plain. In black and white. And then, in keeping it plain, let the imagination flow. Boundaries are sometimes the best incentive to push your limits and thinking.

Inky Lips Press

About Inky Lips Press

A Texas original, Inky Lips Letterpress is owned and operated by Casey McGarr; steeped in design and love for the smell of ink and the sound of a flatbed letterpress turning over and over. No other press in the Dallas area offers what Inky Lips Press can which is original work hand-carved and cranked out on flatbed letterpresses and spun on the Windmill. Inky Lips Press has been working hard at creating invitations, announcements and posters, but welcome any projects that will keep the dust off the type and the press in motion.

These guys run beautiful split font work. They will carve original lino blocks and they are some of the guys that do printing for the fabulous Hatch Show Prints. Check em out if you are wanting to do something letterpress and funky. Seems they have a handle on that.Hatch Show Print Book at Amazon>>
Blurbism has pictures of Hatch that send shivers down my spine>>

what's happening? is there something in the skies?

Ithaca Journal just sent me a note asking for a portrait (immediately) as they are running a "Local Creators" profile of me for tomorrow's paper. Then, I got this very flattering note from a student at Purdue doing a paper on an illustrator (their teacher told them to go to the Ispot to get them started). My thesis was a good starting point for her. What's happening. The water is moving!

You can click the article to see it a bit bigger>>

Tiki Thursday


Big Tiki party at the Corning Museum of Glass tonight with King Kukulele, Tiki- style glassmaking with FireMonkey Glass (aka Marshall Hyde) and music by Fisherman's Vibraphonic Tiki Orchestra. For a cold day--but inconsequential weather, should be a fun time with a ton of folks. If you are local, its worth the trip.

I am up to my ears in very boring work...and hope to wrap it up. Must go to Corning and back for teeth..so Tiki is out. Twice is too much. And the snooze cruise needs to be finished. So, focus will be needed.

Light in Winter this weekend in Ithaca.At a glance schedule here>>. We may go see Cyro Baptista and Beat the Donkey outside of buying the full passes this year. Unfortunately, the event last year dragged and felt very much like the year before--so we may go a la carte with music and speeches. There is snow and everyone has passes (except me--I have the Pool of Dilemma) so skiing might be an option.

Gotta wrap up these odds and ends. More later>>

Enough of the Yap


A little chat with a relative made me muse in the Pool of Dilemmas about the coulda, shoulda, wouldas. This person was griping that they never had the opportunity to express themselves, to develop themselves creatively. This is a person who spent their life making choices and spending their time developing social opportunities, spending personal and creative capital to be noticed to be invited to the right events to associate with the people they wanted and still want to be friends with. This is a person who uses any opportunity to be the center of attention and whenever the light is pointed on someone else, they throw up a mirror to make the reflection of the other person shine on themselves. You know what I think of this? Action. Action speak louder than the coulda, woulda, shouldas. If you want to express yourself, or to develop yourself--then do it. One word, one sketch, one diary entry at a time. Stop the talk. Start the work. Now. Stop talking about missed opportunities. Start making opportunities..even small ones.

Change is good. Continual change is better. You will have to take risks...even small risks to get the catherine wheel of change to start. With one small risk you can move to greater ones. Soon, you are leaning over the edge, peering into abyss and proceeding with happiness, not fear.

And oh, did I say you are never too old to start? This crap of how "we were never allowed " or "we were never encouraged" has a verb that is past tense. If you want to live in the past, do so...and live with the consequences. Age is no reason to not learn something new, try something new to get out of your box. Stop saying no one let you. You let you. The walls are as high as you want them cause guess what?--you make them (most of the time). If something seems impossible--just chunk it out or change your medium--just keep going. Action. Work begets progress.And progress begets change. Change begets opportunities, new ideas, new friends, new interests. New world. We all change with time (physically, that is). Can't we change emotionally and intellectually in a way that takes on the youth we have lost? I think we should all be "working out" with our brains as well as our brawn. But we all need to be personally responsible for that aspect of our growth. No One is going to do it. The only one is you. Own it but go for it.


You don't even need to leave your desk. You just have to put the key in the ignition. And then, turn it.

Andrew Carnegie's axiom was "My Heart is in the work".  So is mine.

Were you thinking of having your picture painted?


Maopost.com / Chinese propaganda posters

They say about themselves:
Maopost is a site dedicated to China propaganda posters. Created by two enthusiastic collectors, Pierre Lavigne and Pierre Budestschu, it has recently been enhanced with a unique concept: the site commissions personalized oil paintings in which a real person's portrait is seamlessly incorporated into an otherwise faithful reproduction of a classic propaganda poster. Other projects, which endow the propaganda imagery with a humorous and creative twist, are in the pipeline.

Check out the section that is headlined " Your portrait oil painted like a Chinese propaganda poster">>
For as low as $169. bucks you can get your face painted into a preexisting oil painting rendered from propaganda poster art. They come in two sizes-- 24" x 15" for $169 and 32" x 21" for $269. You can select a background from an edited selection or if nothing there appeals to you, you can choose from the entire Mao Collection of 1500 plus posters!

Think of the fun you could have! Or better yet, think of this for a themed Annual Report (put your chairman's picture here?). You could really go nuts for less than $2,000. Or for the holidays? Your thinking?

Not holding my breath


Churning away on the paying work. May have a window of time to do the personal stuff (more Toughcats I think)--tonight as K has play practice until 9 and our poor baby boy has more ELAs tomorrow, which is a trial for him. Got seven logos proposals to the Music Boosters, a parent group at our school. I did these logos as a way to get out from being a member of the food service select (this is the way they raise money)- Makes me itch as there is a chance this little simple project, a bit of do gooding might boomerang. I could end up dazed and confused. We will wait and see. I got a little prickly (thank goodness I had time in the Pool of Dilemmas at the House of Health to work it out prior to picking up the phone. I should assume anything for a group is going to be problematic--and know this is not going to change when I raise my hand and volunteer. I am not going to hold my breath over this one.

I was thinking about the time we spent in California--and the 125 pictures I took each day. You know, that sharpens up what you see--regardless of whether it is a new environment or what we know and love. I was looking at the landscape (which was white and stark today)) and thinking about the way things look. I need to try to take at least 50 shots a day to see my known world a bit differently. At least, I need to try to do this.

Projector is going on now.
More later.