ICON 5 July 2-5, 2008, NYC

ICON5 will be held in New York City at the historic Roosevelt Hotel in midtown Manhattan. This year's theme, The Big Picture, is more than a slogan, it is the perspective through which we see our future – a future of limitless possibilities for illustrators as thinkers, story tellers and providers of creative content. The conference promises to examine and discuss the current creative and economic forces that our industry faces today.

ICON continues to gather the industry's best and brightest talent to present and talk about their work, their business, their lives, and their passion for illustration. Our conferences have also grown to include inspiring, informative and topical pre-conference tours and workshops. ICON5 is going a step further with ambitious attendance goals, increased global involvement and more pre-conference events to make the ICON5 experience a must-do for 2008.

bright skies

Here is a scan of Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur --its a big pdf file that is 260MB but worth it as it really gives a view into Ernst Haeckel's mind, aesthetic and scientific understanding. It's interesting as his name keeps popping up on websites that validate Genesis--anti-Darwin thinking which is curious as Haeckel, after reading Darwin's treatise On the Origin of Species viewed his work as a confirmation of this theory. He proceeded to send a copy of his book, Monograph on Radiolarians when it was published in 1862 to Darwin. Darwin was apparently delighted "The images were the most magnificent works which I have ever seen, & am proud to possess a copy from the author" he wrote.

There is a recent film, Proteus, a Nineteenth Century Vision (a film by David Lebrun) that showcases Ernst Haeckel and his little sea organism, the radiolarian. Haeckel discovered, described, classified and painted four thousand species of these one celled creatures. They are among the earliest forms of life. In their intricate geometric skeletons, Haeckel saw all the future possibilities of organic and created form. His work influenced not only biology but also movements, thinkers and authors as disparate as Art Nouveau and Surrealism, Sigmund Freud and D.H. Lawrence, Vladimir Lenin and Thomas Edison.

His compositions are packed, like specimen cases of the wonderous. I love how full these compositions are and want to use these layouts as a starting point for my children's book on color. Color is as strong as just the line work. Take a look at the PDF.

Erich out all week. Have a ton of work to move plus a bunch of Hartford Art School stuff hanging so I am feeling a bit at wits end. A. is taking the bus(!) to and fro Basketball Camp at Cornell (I am very proud). R is in NYC for a very important lunch. Our sister in law is leaving us to go back to LA. And lightening and more rain is promised. More later>>

My new man.

"I established the opposite view, that this history of the embryo (ontogeny) must be completed by a second, equally valuable, and closely connected branch of thought - the history of race (phylogeny). Both of these branches of evolutionary science, are, in my opinion, in the closest causal connection; this arises from the reciprocal action of the laws of heredity and adaptation... 'ontogenesis is a brief and rapid recapitulation of phylogenesis, determined by the physiological functions of heredity (generation) and adaptation (maintenance).'"
Haeckel, E. 1899. Riddle of the Universe at the Close of the Nineteenth Century.

My new favorite nut to adore is Ernst Haeckel. From Wiki:

Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (February 16, 1834 — August 9, 1919),[1] also written von Haeckel, was an eminent German biologist, naturalist, philosopher, physician, professor and artist who discovered, described and named thousands of new species, mapped a genealogical tree relating all life forms, and coined many terms in biology, including phylum, phylogeny, ecology and the kingdom Protista. Haeckel promoted Charles Darwin's work in Germany and developed the controversial recapitulation theory ("ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny") claiming that an individual organism's biological development, or ontogeny, parallels and summarizes its species' entire evolutionary development, or phylogeny.

The published artwork of Haeckel includes over 100 detailed, multi-colour illustrations of animals and sea creatures (see: Kunstformen der Natur, "Artforms of Nature"). As a philosopher, Ernst Haeckel wrote Die Welträthsel (1895-1899, in English, The Riddle of the Universe, 1901), the genesis for the term "world riddle" (Welträthsel); and Freedom in Science and Teaching[2] to support teaching evolution.

In the United States, Mount Haeckel, a 13,418 ft (4,090 m) summit in the Eastern Sierra Nevada, overlooking the Evolution Basin, is named in his honor, as are another Mount Haeckel, a 2,941 m (9,650 ft) summit in New Zealand; and the asteroid 12323 Häckel.

The Ernst Haeckel house ("Villa Medusa") in Jena, Germany contains a historic library.

I love these amalgam, in your face compositions with out of this world insane color palettes. Even a duotone--no not black and a color, green and red...without going to brown as an option. And who knows how much of this stuff is real and how much a product of an active imagination? Maybe a trip to Cornell's Kroch Library to see if they have the original books? I am charged about this work. He is a treaure.

looks like rain, again.

Yesterday was a whirlwind. We packed the wonderbus with the stuff for 2 high school girls with all of us, A and the dog and drove 3.5 hrs each way to take the girls to their month encampment at SUNY Fredonia. To be honest, my expectations for the place were not high. Brockport was a great experience for K but the place was a bit run down and not special though their studios and art building were functional and a good working environment (better than SU). Well, we were BLOWN AWAY with Fredonia. First, it was the SUNY look and feel..small treelined towns that are pretty much of the industry driven by the college. With the proximity to the lake, at one point there must have been some wealth in this tiny town--so high victoriana was the reigning vernacular.Within a mile or less from the school, a little downtown thrives(complete with a pair of two parks with golden fountains in the middle, with the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker (and a vintage clothing store and tattoo parlour to complete the program). Dunkirk was a hop and skip away with a harbor that reminded me of Redondo Beach only cleaner and better laid out. But the school. Its beautiful with well considered architecture, nicer dorms, a beautiful, real world arts complex with multiple theatres. The arts center feels very IM Pei-ish in it's design, the spaces and the way it opens to a green space (very Johnson Museum at Cornell). A brick building with classical details with two adjoining recital halls for the music program. The twelve over twelve windows were open with music swelling. There was sculpture everywhere. There is a student union with a Starbucks with outside seating and a bookstore that rivaled Syracuses only a bit smaller and much nicer and better laid out. Lots of pretty places to sit with pretty things to sit on. The gym seems new along with a swimming pool that is impressive. I know the NYSSSA program is fabulous--so combined with enhanced facilities, it should be a wonderful time for K. We were tearful (a bit) but not worried like last year as she said good bye with a song in her heart and not the agitation and worry last year.

We came back through Ovid. Did a bit of grocery shopping and then back to Sheldrake. We got into the frozen lake and paddled around a bit guaranteeing good sleep.

I am looking at a pair of bunnies outside the window chase each other. Somehow something crazy happened this year and the sheer number of rabbits we have have gone from rare to commonplace. There they go, chasing each other, round and round. Now look, there is a squirrel. The bunnies think he's a bunny too. Join us! Join Us! in the roundabout, run around, run run run. Wait! What happened to your tail? It's not like ours. Roundabout, run around, run run run. wait!

IF: Fierce (fear)

To fear death, my friends, is only to think ourselves wise, without being wise: for it is to think that we know what we do not know. For anything that men can tell, death may be the greatest good that can happen to them: but they fear it as if they knew quite well that it was the greatest of evils. And what is this but that shameful ignorance of thinking that we know what we do not know?
Socrates (469–399 B.C.), Greek philosopher. quoted in Plato, Apology, sct. 29.

juicy tidbit

Imagine this (from inventors.about.com):

Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier, paper mill owners, were trying to float bags made of paper and fabric. When the brothers held a flame near the opening at the bottom, the bag (called a balon) expanded with hot air and floated upward. The Montgolfier brothers built a larger paper-lined silk balloon and demonstrated it on June 4, 1783, in the marketplace at Annonay. Their balloon (called a Montgolfiere) lifted 6,562 feet into the air.

First Passengers
On September 19, 1783, in Versailles, a Montgolfiere hot air balloon carrying a sheep, a rooster, and a duck flew for eight minutes in front of Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and the French court.

I see a picture. Do YOU? Whoopie!

On Marie Antoinette:

It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."
–Edmund Burke, October 1793

busy and wet

The illustration shown is a sketch for the Marie Antoinette cow picture. I was working with the cow and thought to use a bucolic basket as a frame for this picture. The frame thing integrated into the picture is very interesting. I could go with inspiration from silhouettes or from the shape becoming the frame--lots of ways to go. The cow was looking flat, so I created the whole thing on a series of tissues that I scanned (and in the case of the background of the cow, reversed the texture and dropped it into (paste into, in photoshop) into the background. So, three tissues merged. Fast sketch. Would like to fiddle more with the flowers (a la Dutch paintings) adding butterflies and bugs. Three down, three (or four) to go).

Raining today. More fun at the house of health...with new torture machines to make me fall down and breathe deeply. Last day of school for the Middle School. We have the moving up ceremonies with the handing out of the silver bowls for the A students (we are not in that group), the band playing marvelous, hopefully tuneful music, and some droning on of the school management team. A can't wait for it to be over. There is the celebrated eighth grade dance from 8:30 until 11 for the mover uppers...and I was drafted to be a chaperone so that they could open the gym doors as its going to be humid and hot in the gym. A. was disappointed I was coming as I think he had some antics planned. Oh well...

K solved her AP History course issues yesterday before she goes off to Fredonia for the month of art. I am thrilled she did this all by herself--and that the reading and work for this course will be exciting and fun for her. We have a non-fiction book on the Salem Witch Trials she was interested in reading as part of the homework (book, text book reading and a critical essay).

We had 9 seventh and eighth graders in A's room yesterday "listening to vinyl". They all bring their parents' "old school" albums and sit and listen very intently to the music. And then, they discuss it. Intently. We had 2 jumping on A's bed that I had to go and be the "management" and tell them (no asking) to knock it off. Their choices are to be civil and gentlemenly or to leave. A was thrilled (imagine!) that I broke it up. Next time, I told him to text me...and I would be more than happy to oblige. I am often reluctant to be the pain in the ass parent as some acting up is okay. It would have helped my childhood if I felt I could push the envelope a bit.

Tim Dietrich is here setting up scaffolding to begin to repair and paint the rest of the monster trim on this monster house. This, THIS is very exciting. Progress.

Working on quotes, finalizing projects and prepping for the week Erich has off. He handles a ton of details, I am going to need to get my head into this prior to his departure--or just flub and fumble for the week he is away. Maybe I will have time to throw 90% of the crap on my desk away (if there is time).

More later

deep breath

"Kintaro and Carp in a Waterfall," created ca. 1820 by Japanese artist Totoya Hokkei. The carp climbing a waterfall represents development and success, and the boy, Kintaro, in hanging on, is fighting for growth.

New glasses...the world spins a bit. But tons sharper with my screen and reading. Maybe now I can see what I am drawing. Maybe? Spent the better part of the morning watching the eighth grade prize ceremony for 125 kids. Very exciting. Thank goodness that the humidity and heat were mild. Then, back to the drawing board. Slugging it out with the Baker Institute book. Please, lets hope we get this finished up.

Great meeting at the Johnson Museum yesterday. Possibility of a big catalog (170pps. +/-) a second show on Surimono prints, collectible japanese prints with short poems that are absolutely scrumptious. Cornell had a show in Jan/2006 with another Surimono prints with interest developed for this future show (Nov.2008). Apparently, these prints (which are pretty small) were commissioned by poetry clubs and sold/collected. Cornell's Observer says:

Surimono, which can be translated as "printed thing," were privately produced, limited-edition prints commissioned by poetry groups to be distributed among friends for special occasions, often for the lunar New Year. The artwork and poetry on the prints were the result of unique collaborations among poets, artists, calligraphers and printers. Clever integrations of text and image were combined with the most advanced printing techniques available to produce deluxe presentation sheets for a sophisticated and highly literate audience.There are a range of images from portraits to stil lifes to landscapes.

Some of the poems are introspective and a few very cute and fun. Some prints have one poem and some as many as four. So from a design standpoint one has text, headline, image tombstone copy, japanese poem and the translation, sometimes notes. So there is a real typographic hierarchy that needs to be set up to get the layout right. A multi layer grid works...many columns over single columns. A variety of type treatments to match the hierachy of content. Big puzzle will be to find a font that has Hepburn Romanji punctuations/marks. We have been using the international keyboard here on the world of macs, and seeing which fonts can work.

YASHIMA GAKUTEI (active 1815-1852)
Carp Climbing a Waterfall, ca. 1827-1828
Signature: Gakutei Artist's seal
Yashima color woodblock print with silver, gold, and brass
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Gift of Caroline and Jarred Morse

more later>>

a jewel

found this in the NYPL digital library. Its a cigarette card. What is today's cigarette card--a printed thing that tells you how to do important things like get flies out of your eye?

More rain. I am afraid the plants will begin to get gummy and moldy. Hey...but the raspberries will be unbelievable. And, if it continues this way and dries up and is hot for the last half of August and into September, the wine grapes will be stellar. School is tailing out. K took the Pre PSAT yesterday with better understanding now about what these tests are all about. A. is moving up into High School on Thursday with the eighth grade award ceremony tomorrow...(need to pencil it in).

Have a meeting this afternoon with a museum that is interested in my work and what we can do. Should be interesting. We have done quite a bit of Museum work--a range from promotional stuff (profane) and the academic stuff (sacred).So there is some nice synergy there. Just rooted around the boxes to see what was there to get a nice selection of work and uncovered a dozen different Christmas cards we have done over the course of the last 3-4 years. Amazing how one forgets about these trials.

The eight man shells, all bright red, were skimming over the inlet this morning with all of the young men pulling in sync, gracefully moving back and forth, pulling their single oar up, over, in, back. Beautiful and inspiring. I wonder if they row all summer outside of school in prep for the fall? or maybe for summer games that go beyond the school year. The energetic lady next to me had her treadmill absolutely vertical (beyond the 15 level) and she was walking amazingly fast. Made this snail feel positively small...but with inspiration like that I could not afford not to speed up and climb a smaller hill. Phew!

Slugging away on Marie Antoinette. R. saw the sketches and said in addition to the sheep for the shepardesses, I needed to do a cow. Now that I have permission, I am thrilled. I am sketching "Let Them Eat Cake" with the cake being a hair decoration. Could be fun!

Dancing shoes

R back from Portland with visits to Tacoma and Seattle. We visited Smith Woods yesterday afternoon. Smith Woods is a true jewel, a fairyland of old growth trees, perfect undergrowth with streams of golden light penetrating the places the old trees have died with the new trees growing. On the web, Smith Woods is described by Marvin Pritts as:

Smith Woods, an old-growth forest next to the village of Trumansburg, now has a trail that allows visitors to access the woods to view the enormous trees that it contains. One trail runs through the middle of the woods and another traverses the perimeter. The combined distance is only one mile, but what a spectacular mile it is! Some sections of the trail are a little wet, especially the eastern side of the woods. Because the trail is new, the paths are not worn so follow the red or yellow ribbons. The trail is mostly flat and easy to walk. The easiest access point is by the Smith Woods sign along Rt. 96 by the ShurSave, across from the Fairgrounds.

Why do you think this walk or trail is special and why would others also enjoy it?
Only 0.6% of forests in the East can be categorized as "old growth" - most forests have been heavily logged in the past. Smith Woods is a prime example of a forest that has been minimally disturbed by human activities. As a result, some trees live hundreds of years and die of old age. A recently fallen hemlock was aged to 1663. The Cayuga Nature Center now manages the woods and established the trail in early 2006. Twenty-three species of trees are labeled and the birthdates of several are included. Along the trail are yellow poplars 130 feet tall, red oaks 10 ft in circumference, and a rare cucumber magnolia that is approximately 100 feet tall. This is a very special trail because it allows visitors to see what forests would have looked like when Europeans first visited North America, and one can also learn to identify trees from their bark in winter. The trail is also easily walked by young children and is very accessible.

Cayuga Nature Center beautifullly describes this lovely place>>

Monkeying with the Hartford Blog. Close. Maybe by end of day tomorrow. Looking good. I am really fired up by the opportunities available with blogging on the Word Press platform. The customizable choices of pre-designed templates for plain blogs up to blogs that resemble complex websites. At what point does a blog touch websites?

I have some Christmas projects on deck! Now we know that I am not crazy when July rolls around and the pen starts scribing angels, santas and wreaths. Maybe I should change my thesis to Christmas Crap. An illustrator could work all day and night , 365 days a year and make a viable living being the king/queen of Christmas. There's a thought. I would rather consider other options (like driving a school bus or working in a school cafeteria).

July 1st is a week away!

Here is another of the Marie Antoinette sketches. The heart shape works as a frame and device to develop the images in. I am thinking that the heart is used in 3 of the images having to do with her/her hair/ her person and a shield shape would be used for the other three. Gives a nice rhythm to the collection.

I've been messing around with the drawings in my sketchbook. Some of them I have scanned, brought into photoshop,amended, saved and brought into Illustrator. In Illustrator, I have used the demon tool, live trace, and then amended that image with cutting away and adding. Makes a pretty cool thing to happen. Refinements can happen live. The other thing is that I took the scan into Illustrator directly, and then totally redrw the image to good result too. Lots of editing at that level too. This line drawing thing is interesting as i can begin to apply some of the Memento Mori, Andy Warhol inspired coloration to this as see where it could go. I wonder if it would be okay (why shouldnt it) for me to take the 6 Marie Antoinette images and render them differently--some vector, some hand drawn, some a combo...and see what could evolve from this. It is a fluid working environment that could allow me to experiment with the imagery and the hand. I am feeling no confidence in both...so being able to mess with both imagery and rendering would be good. A protected playground...? This is where I need confidence so I can continue to do this outside of the world of academia.

Am printing 75 Chokers posters for July. Tweaking the colors rather hard to get more vibrancy than the original starting point. It has a granny smith apple background with some green and red hanging lanterns that need to pop. I think there might be three times through with the color on the Epson before we nail it. Speaking of Chokers, the Choker poster is coming back from the Society (had a very positive and happy exchange with Kate from the Society who was tremendously helpful and "can do").

Was googling my name to see where it popped up (which can always be curious)and found it on Zina Saunders page on Drawger. She mentioned the two people that shared her spread in Communications Arts. Her work is beautiful, luscious and very well crafted. I like her portraits and how she seems to capture the moment with the person she is depicting. Her use of unusual color, sometimes way too hot for the place she applies it...but it works is inspiring. Her writing is good, engrossing and also captures the beat, the moment of the picture.

It was so nice to be in such good company. The only troubling thing for me was the endless backslapping and praise that always happens with the Drawger posts. It is just so self feeding which as an illustrator I find amusing but insular and extremely clannish. As a graphic designer, I find repellent as it seems they all need each other, like self-help groups, to support their work. It does not communicate confidence or a level of professionalism. It seems so inside and so precious. I think I am just jealous of the folks on Drawger and how they are the "popular people" in our class of illustrators. I don't need to think. I am jealous. I really should be cool about this. Make a note: work on being cool. Oh, and did I say it? keep working and pushing it. This Communications Arts entry is the kick in the booty. Pretty select group.

Maybe my new eyes coming in this week. I wish this allergic, headachy lethargy would go away. Threatening more rain. its nice and cool. The grass is singing. It is perfect weather to grow.

bright morning

The Queem of the Barnyard is one of the sketches for Marie Antoinette. The six are Marie Antoinette, Let the Eat Cake, Queen of the Barnyard (Le Petit Hameau de la Reine), Holding the Rose, Last Chapter, Dancing Parties. The Queen of the Barnyard sketch represents the "pampered farm animals that she and her fellow "shepardesses" (MA referred to her attendants as Shepardesses when they were in the mock farm at Versailles). As an aside, I was googling Le Hameau and was dumbstruck with the sheer 1780's version of the Enchanted Kingdom at Disneyland. It truly is designed as a fab confab with all sorts of experiences all mooshed togethere in one structure.

Wiki says:
The petit hameau was small, a rustic but in essence ersatz farm (or ferme ornee) meant to evoke a peasant village in Normandy, built on the far side of a landscaped pond.[1] Created in 1783, to designs of the Queen's favoured architect, Richard Mique, the hamlet was complete with farmhouse, dairy, and mill. Here, it was said, the Queen and her attendants would dress as shepherdesses and milkmaids. Particularly docile, hand-picked cows would be cleaned. These cows would be milked by the ladies, with porcelain milk churns painted to imitate wood specially made by the royal porcelain manufactory at Sèvres. These churns and pails featured the Queen's monogram. The simple and rustic ambiance at the petit hameau has been evoked in paintings by Fragonard; however, inside the farmhouse, the rooms were far from simple, featuring the luxury and comfort to which Marie Antoinette and her ladies were accustomed. Yet, the rooms at the petit hameau allowed for more intimacy than the grand salons at Versailles, or at the Petit Trianon itself. Such model farms operating under principles espoused by the Physiocrats, were fashionable among the French aristocracy at the time, and one primary purpose of the hameau was to add to the ambiance of the Petit Trianon, giving the illusion that the Trianon itself was deep in the countryside rather than within the confines of Versailles.

Maybe we should set up some little fun spot like this in the backyard? Unfortunately, for us, it would not be an escape from anything...just plain more work!

Got the WordPress machine going yesterday--learning incrementally what it takes to put up a WordPress blog, the themes available for free or for pay (there are some spectacular "magazine" formats for $79. which would take hours to program and minutes to customize the colors, fonts, headers). Picked a simple layout and put up all the links (will edit as I put some silly ones up too) for the Hartford blog. Once we get rolling, it'll be great and hopefully, I can lean on some other students to add to the content veruse having this as another full time tssk for me. You can backup a blogger page (like this) and reflow it innto a free or paid theme (which the magazine format is ticking my fancy) which is going to happen for this site as it will allow me a bit more creative freedom, allow me to set up all sorts of pages for my projects and allow me a chance to backup and save the work as I go versus being dependant on Google Blogger which is a tremendous, simple resource that promotes blogging for all. After all, isn't that what this is all about? Blogging, writing, putting out content!

Got a preview copy of Communications Arts Illustration Annual (due out in July) with work from Scott Bakal (UH 2007), Greg Newbold (UH 2009), Mark Bender (SU 2006) and yours truly (UH 2009) in the ranks. Interesting group and selection. Check it out on the newsstands soon.

R. still in Portland. K and A and I will go to Smith Woods this morning and then off to complete the shopping/phone exchange that needs to happen prior to K going to Fredonia, me to Hartford and the day we get back, A goes to Cornell. So, box fans, phones, underwear. Done. Would love to get to Munson Rd Amish Farmer's Market and to the lake today. The celestial faucet has stopped for now. The grass is radiant. The nicotiana needs to dry out as do the geraniums. Monarda is tall (36") and ready to blow.

More later

IF: Hoard

One of the few things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now.
Annie Dillard (b. 1945), U.S. author. The Writing Life, ch. 5 (1989).

I like what fellow Pittsburgher, Annie Dillard says about writing. I think it pertains to anything you do in life. So,in that spirit, here is a picture I am working on from my hoard of sketchbooks and drawings. Its a little thoughtful armadillo thinking about his place on this planet as the only surviving species in the Dasypodidae family. His name in Spanish means "little armored one" which aptly describes the tender being wrapped in this wonderful shell.

Taschen Warehouse Sales

The best and affordable art books, Taschen--is having a series of sales:

TASCHEN Warehouse SALE
Thousands of slightly damaged and display copies on sale at bargain basement prices, 50-75% off.

TASCHEN Cologne
June 19 - 21, 2008
Thursday to Saturday 10:00 am to 8:00 pm

TASCHEN Store Paris
June 19 - 21, 2008
Thursday 11:00 am to 10:00 pm,
Friday and Saturday 11:00 am to midnight

TASCHEN Store Beverly Hills
June 20 - 22, 2008
Friday, Saturday 10:00 am to 7:00 pm
Sunday 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm

TASCHEN Store Hollywood
June 20 - 22, 2008
Friday 9:00 am to 9:00 pm
Saturday 9:00 am to 8:00 pm
Sunday 10:00 am to 7:00 pm

TASCHEN Store New York
June 20 - 22, 2008
Friday, Saturday 11:00 am to 8:00 pm
Sunday 12:00 to 7:00 pm

Winding up

Allergies and a nasty dry cough is keeping me down. I feel a tiny bit terrible...but not enough to send me to the land of horozontality...just bad enough to make the day to day hurt. Urg.

Last night's concert was good. Lots of singing and playing (2 hours worth) with lots of smaller groups, lots of solos, lots of kids--all of them bigger than the last year--amazing to see the change.We came home and discussed the concert and all the social dynamics of the eighth graders, boy/girl interaction and the whole pack think that goes with the eight grade girls. It is fascinating to get my head into the whole middle school thing that has been decades past. It is interesting to try to walk in the eighth grade shoes--without the erosion that goes with age, time and experience.

I am back on with Marie Antoinette. I started reworking some of the ideas I had, thinking about frames, shapes, layouts and the way they all play together along with the color, pattern and line I want to work in. I pushed the original picture of her peeking out from behind a fan into a heart shape(I love valentines and thought I would like to do a group of valentines at some point) and the shoe could be captured into a group of 3 ovals...so the shapes could be a driver to these images to add another aspect. I am tracing the original drawings (working 2"x3" or so) and continuing to trace the tracing...and think that refinement will happen but still be rough for the first presentation of the 6 Dream Project images.

Finished up the Grassroots poster for the Chokers. Just need dates and times --and it will be done. Finishing up the buffalo and started the grackle (see above) for another Texas picture. The grackle and a prickly pear cactus...with a beautiful prickly pear blossom. It is a slightly different layout than the usual. Got 6 new big frames in prep for the new big images for the Art Trail. Once again, I know October is months away...but it feels like it's right in front of us and need to put some new images up to seem like something has changed in the last year. I will need to get into this soon-- as it is something I am not going to want to deal with October 1.

More later>>

wheeeee!

Pushing on getting the little stuff done. Toivo, done and out. Carol Elizabeth, done and out. Hartford slide show, done and out. Chokers at Grassroots poster (2008) in process. Tweaking my buffalo picture. Adding a frilly funniness to make it seem more like a bandana/vintage tablecloth...that feels so much like that area and the styling there. Black/white/grey and yellow: reduced palette. I walked away from this image for a while...and it feels far more like its gelling. Plus, redid aspects of the eyes, and reduced the color further.

The image above is from Calico, the Wonder Horse written and illustrated by Virginia Lee Burton (of Saturday's post). This piece shows off her linoleum cutting--but what I love is the explosion shape that she captures the bucking horse in response to her studying comic books at the time. This device really works for me. This sort of energy is great...I wonder if current comic books have this sort of inspiration. Maybe a trip online? or down to Ithaca?

Am developing a table to capture the things and quotes for my color book. Look at this cuteness...I looooooove this-- this is a benchmark of fabulousity:

What Is Pink?
Christina Rossetti

What is pink? a rose is pink
By the fountain’s brink.
What is red? a poppy’s red
In its barley bed.
What is blue? the sky is blue
Where the clouds float thro’.
What is white? a swan is white
Sailing in the light.
What is yellow? pears are yellow,
Rich and ripe and mellow.
What is green? the grass is green,
With small flowers between.
What is violet? clouds are violet
In the summer twilight.
What is orange? why, an orange,
Just an orange!

The Ispot contacted me as they are posting a story about the SILA winners and will post the submission/image. When I get a link, I will post for you.

Concert tonight. K has exams at noon. Cold and humid so the plants are happy and the grass seed, ecstatic.

brrrrrrrr.........

I apologize for not even a tiny note yesterday. The day just got in my way. Plowed through all the images from the Hartford illustration students and set it up into an introductory slide show complete with seques and music. This was long work...not hard work...but long. It was illuminating as I got a handle on the class and how skilled so many of the students are, who I would like to learn something from and who could learn from me. Then, it was the aspect of pacing and music...and the music I thought would be perfect turned out to be tedious...so I picked a Michael Jackson classic and even my picky son, exclaimed (exclaimed!) is was perfect. Now, I have done the progression from Powerpoint to Keynote and added the music. Now how to take to a portable medium and not lose the smooth seques. The Quicktime solution is rugged. Now wait. Can I open it into IDvd and add music? and burn to DVD? I think so... This might be donezomatic. Not so easy...but I have a little time.

Today is the redo, do of old projects. R. is in Portland at the Glass Arts Society Conference (GAS). K is noted for Kudos in the local paper recognizing her getting into NYSSSA...which is nice. A. is done with classes...bring on the tests. A. is anxious for the summer to begin. Cold here. Blankets back out. Wet. The beautiful spanish lavendar I bought is in ecstacy.

Am thinking a lot about the way Virginia Lee Burton uses shapes to build her compositions...by taking a similar shape for a body of work and then cutting into it for each illustration. Interesting...and not a formal "frame". Need to sketch a few ideas against that. Ordered a Robin Hood book by Burton and two books by Wanda Ga'g from the used folks out there. Should see those soon. I am feeling very wiggly piggly.

Spent the night at the lake...snuggling with our hot cats and the big cat (our dog)--tonight we are in Tburg and tomorrow as we have another concert and chorus event. More later