moving forward

R and A jetted off to Miami for a few days of business (with A tagging along). A. just called from the rented Saturn saying they had just landed and they were off to Hollywood Beach for a dip and I am sure a snack or two to fill out that skinny frame. Very exciting. R was sporting his cuban hat. A was in full skater rig with white flip flops. R has an event with Celebrity Cruise Lines (because of the glass shops that are being built on the next generation of ships, The Solstice Class, will be staffed by CMoG glassmakers). First boat launches in November (R mused that maybe I could spend the week for Hartford sleeping on the ship! How princessy and wrong!--but I love it). So, I am free to work until midnight every night in prep for Hartford. Yay. Total exhaustion!

The boys went to Watkins Glen to see the Indy races yesterday. Lots of boy excitement hanging out with friends, watching the television and the race at the same time. Lots of chest thumping, beer drinking and fun in general. To A. it almost is as much fun as golf.

Lucy and Shady are guarding the front steps (there is a clan of groundhogs that live under the front steps) and somehow they feel that if they both bark at them, they will manage the groundhog crisis at hand. Little that they know is that we probably have around 60 of them on the property and also, if one gave them a run for their money--only one of them would know what to do. Shady is too much of a "lover, not a fighter". Lucy would rip it's head off. Bets are on...and if someone bags a few, there might be a steak in it for them. I have hired endless exterminators and mountain men to no avail...so maybe the dogs will do it. Its wild to watch Shady be so interested in the prey. She is really trying to be a dog these days! Chasing rabbits, chasing groundhogs, rolling in dead fish, eating disgusting things (particularly deercicles) and stealing sticks of butter from the counter.

I got the first sketches for Hartford done. May keep slugging on it as there are some ideas I started blue lining. Client called with a 16 pp pub due by the end of the week. Slugging away on the AR for Cornell with hopes to get this out by end of the week to the printer.

Tim and Amanda are pressure washing the roof of the carriage house. Tons of flakes of silver paint litter the ground. More later.

it's almost 9

TJ the cat is carrying a dead bird around in his mouth with great pride. MeiMei, the cat and Shady Grove stood guard as we swam. The water was perfect. Not bone chilling.. No thoughts of death by freezing. None of that. It was the gravitational swim that aligns everything and sends your head into another part of the universe. It is still light out with a pink sunsut and the water pearly to match the sky. Dinner is around the corner...

update

I took some pictures of bugs and bees in amongst the sweet peas that grown with the day lilies. It was great. The wild flax has popped as has our yucca plant which is mainly yucka until the week it holds forth in showy bridal finery. It has been a clear day with mild temperatures and low humidity. We had to buy a brand new pair of scare eyes for the dock. The plastic owl has worked thus far, keeping the pooping by the seagulls to a minimum. But one of the gulls has gotten smart..so the pooping begins again. They hate, really hate the scare eyes..So we are golden. Bought five big astilbes for the Camp House as the deer hate these along with the robust patch of monarda we have going that will need to be split and moved around next year. All good.

Am mulling the children's book. I was doing a ton of research yesterday (have a grid going of the things that could be represented for each color along with quotes, proverbs etc.) and surprisingly, the more I did of the search, the more this idea needed ia twist. It also needed a name. It was hard to name it as it was so bland...It was going stale before I even started to draw. What was it? Hmmm. Then I remembered that Rossetti poem and the whole thing popped into place.I am going the merge the Christina Rosetti poem "What is Pink?" with spreads representing the color she introduces (essentially her poem references pink and is the first spread --then the next spread references a la specimen box, tons of other stuff she missed about pink). Pink, red, yellow, green, red, purple, blue. Then, I am going to render the layouts 3-4 ways--first one vector a la portfolio, second is vector reduced palette a la Chokers, third is Memento mori line/ink technique, and final is no holds barred line work..lots of detail. The layouts will change the various sizes of the designs, will push me with these techniques which I feel I need and work within a format that will be interesting to see what happens. Maybe this could be blown into the thesis. Now I am pumped as it is a tangible project that I get to push myself with technique while designing for the technique in the appropriate shape/size. I think we are to have layouts for the Lewin's to review next July, but maybe I can have one iteration by November? Its worth the shot. I think I can get some traction on this.

I discovered in my research, something that would help to gel the "Dancing Queen" Marie Antoinette picture. I remembered the painting of the young (8 yrs old or so) MA dancing stiffly with her little brother and thought that might be a nice inspiration...or a silhouette or something. So, I googled Marie Antoinette Dancing and up came something better--Dance notation on dance sets of the time. Combine that with some learning from Harry Clarke could be cool. Fun.

morning in Sheldrake on Cayuga

Gotta go. Errands to run. People to see. Just wanted to say good morning...and I will get with you a bit later. Had some good breakthroughs on up and coming projects that I am thrilled about and want to share. Children's book has gone from good to possibly publishable and this is from a nonbiased source! (me).
later> the wonderbus is idling.

IF: Sour

Nothing goes sour more easily than the life of pleasure.

 Mason Cooley (b. 1927),
U.S. aphorist. City Aphorisms, Fourth Selection, New York (1987).<

So, as you pick up your July 4th cupcake and bite in, remember the queen known for her pleasures, and also remembered for phrases she never spoke and think. Think hard of today's pleasures and all that it takes for us to savor them--

Enjoy your american feasts of hot dogs and frothy drinks on this beautiful day.

Dark Clarke

Tales of Mystery and Imagination
by Edgar Allan Poe
Illustrated by Harry Clarke
You can click on these to get a bigger image that can show you how unbelievable the detail is on these pictures. From my Googling, there is a recent irish film on him "Harry Clarke, Darkness into Light"...and they did cite that he is one of the monumental irish artists who is quietly unknown. Not only do I love the detail, the patterning but the powerful compositions he uses to up the ante and draw the viewer in. His work is surprisingly emotional in these Grotesqueries not the candy coated happiness that the fairy tale work communicates. And even that work is not so sweet...

More later, work and coffee await.

Harry Clarke

In the spirit of my puzzling on decorative illustration, I went from Walter Crane, to Kay Nielsen to discovering Harry Clarke, a stained glass designer from the 1880's through to 1931. He is very decorative and is reminiscent of the divine Aubrey Beardsley in his line and spirit. However, Art Nouveau was on the way out when he came on the scene...and maybe we do not know him as well as he was one of those spirits that are lost in-between? I love this work...the patterned black and white, with borders that bleed into the picture, his strong black and white patterning even in the bolder images...and the way his love of line and pattern and border push into his color work...never enough stuff to fit in the frame. Need to learn more about him. Maybe go this noodly for the Marie Antoinette pictures. That would be new...and a bit more of a push? What do you think? This is a gumdrop for you!

Kay Nielsen

Wiki says>>
Interestingly, after his success with children's books, he finished his career at Disney working on aspects of Fantasia and some parts of Little Mermaid. His children's book work is breathtaking.

thinking is scary

Mentor Murray will be presenting a few talks on decorative illustration which I am totally and entirely excited about. To be honest, I have been trying to put myself in some kind of category to begin to gauge my work and give it a home, some friends, a context versus the scary, on the end of the diving board, this is my work. I know that this vector work which is getting some attention and I think has value as it looks good, is fun to do (a puzzle for me with the reduction and drawing that goes into it) and is very strong and stands apart. This new memento mori ink look and the line work that is in development live somewhere else. But, I would like to understand where they live too. I keep poking around the web to try to get a handle of that world. All I can find is Walter Crane's book on Decorative Illustration for Books (Walter Crane is an illustrator I grew up with as we had a songbook of his on the piano that had dreadful songs but lovely illustrations--illustration of the lady and her pig "honey, said she.. is from that very book"). Aubrey Beardsley and Kate Greenaway's names pop up..but no clear "this is what it is" to my chagrin. Maybe it's the illustration's detail. Maybe it's application on things beyond being in books? Maybe it's just plain line dominant with color adding to the image...but not dependant on it? I wonder if I can write a paper on this versus one of the speakers for the week we will have a paper due? I think I will ask. It is something I am interested in.

gotta go wake up the sleeping giant. Basketball awaits.

UCDA Competition: Due July 11: More>>

The University & College Designers Association (UCDA) exists to promote excellence in visual communications for educational institutions.

38TH ANNUAL UCDA DESIGN COMPETITION
The UCDA Design Competition recognizes the best of the exceptional design work done to promote educational institutions (secondary, vocational, or higher education).The 2008 Design Competition is now underway. UCDA is looking for your biggest and best ideas for our annual design competition — whether it be print, electronic, green, and even student work! Enter today!

Enter Your Best Work
• Publications
• Going Green (Sustainable Design)
• Illustration
• Photography
• Electronic Media
• Student Work
• Classroom Work or Assignments

Deadline
Entries must be received by Friday, July 11, 2008. Enter early and avoid the last minute rush to gather, prepare and package your entries. But why wait? Now accepting entries.

Eligibility
Any work designed, published, or used by an educational institution is eligible. Work must have been published between July 1, 2007 and June 30, 2008.

I'm entering. Couldnt hurt. Plus the stuff for the Baker might just get in. The holiday card got into SILA and the Annual Report won a CASE award. This might do it too. Classroom work? Assignments? Huh. Anybody else?

Cake

I am walking around like a zombie. Too much to do, too little time. I know I will get there, in the famous words of the little Engine that Could, "I think I can, I think I can" and he always did. Confidently. No questions. However, I am not so sure..but I sure hope I can, I hope I can...and see what happens. There are jobs to finish and continually update. There are outstanding projects that are half way there...and the anticipation of 2-3 20 pp pubs, and the 170 pp. book that needs to be completed in three weeks. There is the finishing up of the pre-work prior to starting Hartford. After Hartford (1 day back) there is a two day pressrun and then, and there, we are in August. Need to do the homework for Hartford, work and finish the holiday cards, and prep for the Ithaca Art Trail that is the middle two weekends of October. I am beginning to not breathe. I need to change channels. NOW.

Am going to switch over to the elegant new iPhone. I will need to stand in line at the local AT&T or start out early and get one at the Farmington Apple Store over the weekend prior to HAS. I am thrilled as it will link all my calendars, my address book and maybe mail along with my reference images etc. This baby is going to be used. I am not the power user with the phone (unlike A who I would hire as a secretary in a minute--Mr Communications) but semi hate it as it means work or someone telling me what to do. However, the iPhone will be the iSecretary with pictures, camera, addressbook, links to the web, calendar and will protect me with alarms, bells and reminders. It maybe will make me less scattered. Maybe.?

The sketch above is an approach to "let them eat cake" which poor Marie Antoinette was charged with saying but never did. I still love the "urban myth" spin on her and want to make a picture of it. I like the fact that the cake is part of the hairdo...maybe more like the boats and fruitbowls and can become larger and more outrageous. Or, as K proposes...make the cake become the hair (take a slice out of it?). I don't know if I have the skills to pull this off. I am listening to a few biographies of MA as I work (from Audible). One is from Carolly Ericsson (one of my absolute favorite historical biographers) and the other Antonia Fraser. It is great and is filling my empty head with ideas.

More later.

Wahoooooo!

3x3 ProShow Winnners Announced

Congratulations to our winners! The judges have made their decision, the votes have been tallied and the results are in. Out of nearly 4,000 entries we'll have 200 winners exhibited in the annual.

Voting was tough as always but as always the judges were unanimous in their selections for the top winners. To be accepted into the show, your work must have received a majority of the judge's votes. Unlike many shows there were no really poor entries so that made it even tougher for the judges to cast their votes. So if you're one of the winners you should be very proud, if your work didn't make it in this year's show, it's not because it isn't good, it just means it's a tough show.

Thank you to the judges and for all who entered. Medal announcements will be made next week and each winner will be contacted about their winning entry(ies).

And!! Guess who got multiple (MULTIPLE) entries in this show. MEEEEEEEEEE!
Yippeee!

So did Scott Bakal, Jim Cohen, Jim O'Brien, Don Kilpatrick and Greg Newbold! Yay for us all!!

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