Jim O'Brien at the Republican National Convention

From his email:

Hey everyone,
The Republican Convention is happening in my backyard (I'm a short walk from downtown) so I'm documenting the local neighborhood transition during this historic event (or annoyance depending on your point of view).

The clampdown has begun. There is a red zone inaccessible by pedestrians close to the Excel Arena and a Yellow zone that we can wander through (as long as we are willing to id ourselves if asked, not be on bikes, and what-have-you).

CNN has taken over a couple of local bars, Budweiser nabbed another. My Starbucks in open from 4am to Midnight (I'm there!). Metal gates and fences galore (is this a great country or what!).

Big clampdowns on protesters, see here (http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/30/rnc.protest/index.html) and here (http://tc.indymedia.org/).

I proposed a blog to NYTimes about this but the editor said they had already shot their budget but she was interested. So I'm working on spec a bit, still just interested in documenting this for myself.

Check him out>>

I love Jim's perspective on everything and his sharp eyes on the Republicans should be the right kind of news, from my perch. Thank you, Jim for giving us a good lens on this world.

A perfect day in the sun


Our terrific neighbor took K and A to learn or attempt to waterski in his cute little boat. It was a good start. K said that she thought she at least "got the feeling" which is great. Lots of fumbling and tumbling.

We had a lovely afternoon at Wells College yesterday really surprised and delighted by the scale and beauty of the campus, the science building (posh seating areas, cool specimens on display, big and clean labs). We toured Main Street and bought some vintage costume jewelry at the Antique stop in town. And our great excitement, we visited the new and not so eccentric MacKenzie Childs. K and I went on a photoshoot...and I will post the images. Pleasant Rowland drew out all of the eccentricity--so the shop is very elegant and high end department store in feel. More later on that.

More later>>

Bizzy Buzz Buzz




The bees (above) were photographed at the lovely farm wedding we attended a few weekends past. I was charmed with the hive surrounded by queen anne's lace and grasses along with the actual bees--flying towards their home, ignoring us and happy to amongst themselves. I am a bee lover from way back...I love the way they look, the simplicity of keeping bees, and the symbolic aspect of bees. Napoleon represented himself with a bee as did royals. The bee is used by the mormons as a representative of their productivity and community with one of Brigham Young's houses called the Beehive. A member of the Freemasons in Mill Valley wrote a wonderful paper on bees and what they mean here>> Dig this:
"...the emblem of the bee hive is found in an Irish expose called The Early Masonic Catechisms printed in 1724:

"A bee has in all Ages and Nations been the Grand Hierogliphick of Masonry, because it excells all other living Creatures in the Contrivance and Commodiousness of its Habitation or combe; … nay Masonry or Building seems to be of the very Essence or Nature of the Bee, for her Building not the ordinary Way of all other living Creatures, is the Generative Cause which produces the Young ones. (you know I suppose that Bees are of Neither Sex.)

For this Reason the Kings of France both Pagans and Christians, always Eminent Free-Masons, carried three Bees for their Arms.

What Modern Masons call a Lodge was for the above Reasons by Antiquity call'd a HIVE of Free-Masons, and for the same Reasons when a Dissention happens in a Lodge the going off and forming another Lodge is to this Day call'd SWARMING. (wording and spelling of 1724)" (Roberts, The Craft and Its Symbols, p. 73)

I was at our local Farmers Market and found the Bee man, Mr. Waid from Interlaken who had big beeswax pillar candles and bee pollen for sale. Of course, I had to buy it...and spent some time talking bees with him. He and his wife told me that they rent their bees to farmers for $70. Mr. Waid puts them in his truck (?moving the hive?) and takes them gently down the road. Unloads them and allows them to help pollinate the farmer's field and then, brings them back to his place. Then they exolled the virtues and values of bee pollen when you ingest it...preventing or mollifying allergens in the air. Local pollen and honey> Local bees> Local environment that we are part of . Nice understandable cycle that makes sense to me. Anything to reduce the need for seldane or any of the other magic drugs that are almost necessary on the shoulder seasons.

So, bees are deep, cool and beautiful. Hold that thought for some pictures.

I am very pleased to have gotten 12 pieces out to the Society of Illustrators LA show yesterday. It takes a bit of time to get the files all right and tight. I had a nice chat with Alice from SILA who was helpful in explaining work arounds in getting the files to them for the show. Its a bit hinky with their new tool, but the thought and intent is good. It will be better, I am sure, next year. But hey you guys, if you are entering, the last day is September 19th....and we should know who is in, and who isn't by Thanksgiving! SOI NYC is coming up too, so the SILA prep will get you ready for the New York show.

Murray pulled me out of the mud yesterday...pointing, nudging and guiding. He was talking about the topic of Adam and Eve/Garden of Eden saying that this here was something to get my teeth into. He thought the monkeys needed a rest. He suggested I look at Today's Inspiration for the new writing and images of Jan Balet.


Jan Balet from Today's Inspiration
Also to read up on Doris Lee, her husband Arnold Blanch, Milton Avery and others who really set the stage for some of the storybookartists such as the Provensens. There is a lovely exhibit of Doris Lee's work at the D. Wigmore Fine Art site>> Okay, Murray--I am beginning to see it...

Doris Lee (1905-1983)
Woman in a Garden
20 x 29 7/8 inches, gouache and watercolor on board, signed lower right

I got off the phone feeling the rock off my shoulders and fired up to learn about these artists and two, to get going on some pictures to do with the Garden Story. I am shifting gears and will present this as a slick cover for a children's religious magazine..or myths and legends thing. Murray suggested (as I will chase this for my thesis) that this become a children's book. As usual, I was negative, but after a night's sleep and a bit of thinking...this is probably a good idea. I think I do not worry about making is super sweet...just in doing a bang up job. Maybe R. can help me with the simplifying of the story. This is great. Simply great. I can draw this stuff for a year, no problem.

We also talked about drawing and the computer. My thinking is that the computer freezes an illustrator because making perfect curves and flat shapes has a draw for an artist as the appeal for perfect is alluring. I have been sucked in by this. However in losing the drawn line, the quirkiness of the hand of the illustrator, the errors and wobbles, the life is gone from the drawing and becomes perfect shapes, logotypes without a soul. I think if I can come up with a working method paralleling the Ron Mazellen approach, where the computer helps to refine, becomes a method of hastening the mid steps and becoming invisable in the final product this shold be my goal. I know in the vector approach I started at Syracuse, there is the intent to have the work look like screenprints and actually reduced the process down to working in vectors and the pathfinder tools to hasten the process along. Only flat color (like screen prints) reduced palette (the now thinking) and shape reduction...breaking it out like circus posters or prints...that the imprint of the computer was diminished. Now the challenge is to do the same with the hand drawn image. I think there are some tricks here....

Gotta go. Like I said the other day, there may be a trip to Aurora today! I'll take my picture machine! More later.

Boat Trip!


Aurora by boat is the way to go. The new public dock for the Aurora was beautiful...with a path going from the dock to the top of the hill, overlooking two gardens, one more wonderful than the next. We had an absolutely delicious dinner at the Fargo, across the street from the Aurora Inn. The Fargo is totally cute with my favorite, big red woodtype signs (historic) extolling the local baseball team and some other activity Aurora boasted of in the past. Total class. And, the food was great...with terrific soups (which I agree with my friend Maura, are unbeatable), great sandwiches and burgers an a price tag that didn't sting at all. Plus, the sheer perfection of the "new and improved" Aurora beckoned. "New and improved" are the amazing improvements funded, directed and inspired by Pleasant Rowland, creator of the American Girl Doll, and a Wells College Alumnae. Pleasant, upon her sale of American Girl to Mattel, turned her attention to Aurora, a sleepy, slightly shabby town (with jewel potential as Pleasant understood), home of her college and home to MacKenzie Childs, a boutique, eccentric tabletop/lifestyle company she purchased from the original owners in a hostile (or so it is said) take over.Ms Rowland took what she knew of telling stories, creating dreams and building a business around it (remember American Girl Dolls? Remember American Girl Place? Remember the American Girl Revue?)--with panache and a great deal of taste and focused it on this little gem of a town. Around 5 years later--the town has been transformed---with many of the locals kicking and screaming. Ms. Rowland should have been extolled for her gift to Aurora, to Wells and frankly to the rest of us in the Ithaca Area in giving us a lovely place to visit, to shop, to while away a summer evening. Prior to her work, the town didnt even have a dock. Now, there even is a cute florist, an ice cream store, a kids toy store, a wine store, a few clothing and gift stores and the jewel in the crown is the Aurora Inn. No, I am not being paid by the Chamber of Commerce...I am just enthused (as always) by a project or a concept that is done right. No compromise. Right and dead on. And Ms. Rowland's efforts personify that.It's a shame that she is no longer engaged in Aurora and MacKenzie Childs as her level of expectation, excellence and clear vision could drive more innovation and design in this little place on Cayuga Lake (and Ithaca/Tburg too!)

Maybe this weekend we will take another spin over for the fun!

Flaming Swords


Cooler night, cooler day. Saw the swan constellation last night. The sisters showed it to K and she showed it to me. Roof work continues. Small bathroom painted. Lots of hands on board today. Lots of lunch to provide.

A man just walked off the street, in the front door without knocking, and handed me his business card for washing windows. Huh.

A. has a swollen ankle, so he is training on his bike. He was fearing a huge uphill ride, essentially the Rim Trail of Taughannock Park which will burn. But, we'll see.

K has more reading.

I need to get to the Society of Illustrators LA show entries, 2 Christmas cards, more on the Glittering Tradition (refinements), a logo for 2300 degrees at 2300 hours, and two more related holiday designs. I am off the hook with the Tsunami project. I think my nice (not mean, really!) bullet pointed note about what we needed to do to get this job done may have moved it. And, the really nice thing is that I am still on their dancecard for other opportunities. So, I am very relieved as Project Atlas is moving forward with their own deadlines and expectations.

Thinking about The Garden of Eden. Another treasure trove of content...and reference beyond the elegant Bible story. A lot of artists have been inspired by it...so what's one more? I mean, hey, the garden sports beautiful trees, the most spectacular being the TREE of LIFE? from which that fruit, the apple (representing knowledge) grew. HUGE. This is big. Wiki says:

In the Garden of Eden story of the Biblical book of Genesis (Gen 2:4-3:26), God molds Adam from the dust of the Earth, then forms Eve from Adam's "side" (rib in the King James Version), and places them both in the garden, eastward in Eden. "Male and female he created them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, ... " (Genesis 5:2) It may be allegorical, in as much as "Adam" may be a general term, like "Man" and refers to the whole of humankind.

God charges Adam to tend the garden in which they live, and specifically commands Adam not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Eve is quizzed by the serpent why she avoids eating off this tree. In the dialogue between the two, Eve elaborates on the commandment not to eat of its fruit. She says that even if she touches the tree she will die. The serpent responds that she will not die, rather she would become like a god, knowing good and evil and persuades Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil then Adam eats from it too. Then they become aware. God finds them, confronts them, and judges them for disobeying; it is also widely believed that the snake was the devil in disguise.

It is at this point that 'God expels them from Eden', to keep Adam and Eve from partaking of the Tree of Life. The story says that God placed cherubim with an omnidirectional "flaming sword" to guard against any future entrance into the garden.

In the account, the garden is planted "eastward, in Eden," and accordingly "Eden" properly denotes the larger territory which contains the garden, rather than being the name of the garden itself: it is, thus, the garden located in Eden. The Talmud also states (Brachos 34b) that the Garden is distinct from Eden.

Did I hear right? Omnidirectional Flaming Swords?

Need to pick up A.

Later

The Garden


Crazy day--not worth getting into the details, but really crazy on the family front. We had a ton of roofing materials and sheet rock delivered for the next phase of finishing up projects happens. R. is here, focusing, talking, engaged and interested in all the doings--so work is closing at a great rate and change is happening as well. Visible change not like electric or plumbing work, but change in the way we will live and inhabit, interface and address this big house. Our boy is training hard for XC and I am on the hook for a teeshirt for the TBXC Deadman's Mile (a race the High Schoolers do through our older cemetery). Another use for the every productive Memento Mori drawings!!
K. is studying and reading. Its hard for her...and she is feeling very pushed...which is hard on all of us.

I woke up early and solved the world's problems or at least came up with some approaches to some work I have on the table. I was also thinking about my thesis a bit and got very excited about the Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden story. I had initially thought that I would use the concept of Visions of Paradise as an content piece for my thesis but the more I peeled away at just the Garden of Eden, the more excited I got about this. Perfection and fall from it. The temptation, the guile and gullibility,the state of grace and transition from simple beings to those in possession of knowledge. The symbols, the animals, the plants and the tree...Plenty there. And there is plenty written about it. Remember Joni Mitchell, "and we have to get ourselves back to the garden" almost as the place we return to upon our physical death. Interesting. And, I havent even gotten going.

Have to go. Its late. Tomorrow.

bright and early


Rained all night with lots of electricity and lightning. We swam in the late afternoon and was attempting another shot around 8 and with the flickering white and sometimes yellow sky, we got out knowing the minute we decided to stay, we would be electrified. It was a nice attempt, though. I have a ton of food to take to the team chez Camp for lunches this week. I have a little personal goal to try to get lunchmeat out of the central position for the team, which means making bigger portions of the family stuff and serving it up for lunch. The other food goal is to try to eat close to the source--taking carbon and big farming out of the mix. In addition to that, I would like to strip out the layers of processed anything, and work only with fresh or frozen--bags of rice etc. Will take a bit more labor, but we will know what we eat...fully. Its better from a health standpoint and from a worry standpoint. Plus, with teenagers, its good training for the rest of their lives. Or at least I think so.

In the Wonderbus, ready for the trek: I have the wonderful gazpacho I made which I plan to extend a bit and the Camp House Soup (a basic tomato based soup with pasta, beans, zucchini...that evolves as our leftovers do. Just added finely cut steamed green beans.May add some hominy. Cans and leftovers...and the gang eats it all up!) Also a big plate of cut up fruit. Should so it.

Today, its work with a nice business lunch for me. I will need to redo Ornamentapalooza ...which is okay as I showed the John Alcorn silhouttes to the client, and they loved it...style wise that is. It will be mine, but the blocking of the shapes, the "packing the suitcase" design and the wit of the negative and positives will be inspired by the man of the moment, John Alcorn.

R has the week off to review the site, work with the team. K needs to read a big book she hasn't cracked. And A has training at Taughannock. I do not have the week off...but maybe we will knock off early on Friday just because. Maybe.

The alarm is ringing for A. Need to hop>>

Late August detail

A day of entertaining. We said goodbye to the beautiful sisters, K's friends, the triplets--who we adored having over...It was like a sixties movie with sunglasses and bikinis. We shopped at TJ Maxx and frankly, I was unaware of the Pandora's box I unleased. The dressing room beaconed along with the swapping of each article of clothing and the show and tell. It could have been a moment in purgatory for Rob, and I was losing patience. They are all smart, dear girls who we love...so it all worked out. They are a sheer delight with tons of please and thankyous...lots of helping. No burden guests, my favorite.


We had R's first cousin , children and friends and father for lunch which evolved to dinner too with lots of family gossip, swimming and fossil finding. Poor K was melting down from all of the tidbits. A. had to sleep. I made a great gazpacho ( an amended recipe with lots of hand chopping) to highlight a full vegetarian lunch. It worked for the whole crowd...and I folded a ton of left overs into a very presentable lunch. Dinner was a pick up game...

We are having a downpour now. The dog is sleeping. The cats have scattered and the third load of dishes are in it's cycle.

More later>>

Dazed and Confused


Lori Ann Levy-Holm, 3D illustrator and someone who takes on the big jobs and winds up producing amazing, startling and provocative work that is distinct and original, sent me the beginnings of her Vin De Fate project. She is rolling...and its going to be spectacular despite her note saying she is "wanting to throw this new method out the frickin window. " I think not--its going to be great.

Chad Grohman, another ambitious student has already gotten his color comps done and is whaling on two different pieces...To not put too fine a point on this, I am jealous of Chad. He always hits homers. Never a base or a steal.

Paul Z in on the path towards success>> and is close. He has great research and a good idea...

I am worried. I am doing a decorative thing. You all have seen the attempts. But no cigar. I am wheels deep in mud..the wheels are spinning .and am afraid. Tomorrow, thumbnails...

A Pearl





My mentor, Murray, took me aside to reassure me that it was okay to be a decorative illustrator, after all he was. Join the club. When I was busy comparing myself to the sea of some of the most excellent non-flat people, he suggested I look at the work of John Alcorn (1935-1992). As usual, these little, well conceived kernels, as pearls amongst pigs, are chock full of information and learning that this smart man never has to teach...he just needs to point. And if a pig, decides to pick up the pearls and see what's there, it can be elucidating and sometimes a spur to change and grow. So, this pig amongst the pearls, quickly googled Alcorn while in Hartford and was knocked off her stool...but making a note to re look at this later.


This morning was the later. This Alcorn! This is an obsessive decorator. Little scenes on little paper doll stages. This is a man that is flat, lives in his own style, and creates images that sometimes, just sometimes are (god forbid) SPOTS! And though the work is old, its as fresh as it came off his sharp pen.

Wow. He can do so much, so many styles, forceful strong design, a conscious approach to his word so type does not seem imposed but graceful. Here is the wikipedia entry on him>>He was one of the Pushpin Studio guys, doing a lot of illustration in publishing for Rizzoli, Montadori, Longanesi & Co and in children's books. He is a designer's illustrator and a designing illustrator with a sensitivity and understanding of graphic design that may have come from his training at Cooper Union. His son, Stephen Alcorn, also a highly accomplished illustrator in his biography of his father says:

Alcorn's power and charm as illustrator is so pervasive that it often threatens to eclipse his identity as designer and problem solver. It is his immaculate sense of concept and message that gives his pictorial solutions a sense of absolute inevitability.

This totally resonates with me. Decorate or problem solve. Or both. And look at the skill Alcorn does it. Like a pirouette on point, he makes it look so easy. Its not.

Stephen Alcorn gives us another gift by posting 300 images John Alcorn presented in a slide lecture given at the Puck Building in New York City in the Fall of 1991. The presentation is called Evolution by Design, and it is a luscious group of images that inspire, provoke and prod me in my progression towards an identity as a decorative illustrator. He, like the Provensens, have me in their grip.

More to come on him in the future. Alcorn is key.

>John Alcorn's obituary in the New York Times>>

IF: Routine [for August]


Yes, Christmas does come early to the good girls! In order to be good holidayizers, all Christmas stuff needs to happen in the summer with the end being the middle of September for all images, cards etc. because of printing and prep....my clients just need the time. So, HO Ho Ho. Here's a break from the routine!




It was a perfect evening with a sunset blazing and turning the water from a tropical blue to purple all in the span of about an hour. Fireworks to celebrate K.'s foot surgery which was done and over to all of our happiness.

I am getting fired up to be Manhattan Q.--take no prisoners, drill with constant phone calls--push,push, push. Need to. Being nice--you get 5 strikes before this clicks in. So, hello me, meet the tough me.

I spent a little time this morning with my Dover book on Kay Nielsen and feel that I will probably have that at my elbow, hoping if my brain can't absorb it, my elbow can. I love this guy. Talk about obsessive decoration...whimsy. And interestingly enough, from a theatrical family so I like to put that lens on looking at his work...because it makes more sense. I love the way Nielsen describes his foreground/ background as they are rendered as the layers or scenic flats are on a traditional stage. He will use drapery in the foreground to draw your eye, or just a a little detail to say, "I am the top of this illustration". The top illustration is one that we saw at the Eric Carle Museum's show "Flights of Fancy". This was a confection (in real life) of delicate color (which the photographic images lose to just gain color on press), tiny pen and brush work, an oriental rug of color, linework and pattern and the sheer imagination in creating such a work. The central female is exquisite..with her face overwhelmed by the design of her hair, her dress, her environment. An amusement, take a look at her foot, his foot and the Oriental man to the far right...check out their sizes...! And the black and white line image below is beautiful in it's restraint in the line and pattern. Almost a point/counterpoint to the image at the top. I am showing the king below for its symmetry, the use of black and the candles. Love the candles.

More great illustration news:
A wonderful story on Murray Tinkelman will be in the next http://www.illustration-magazine.com/http://www.illustration-magazine.com/ (Issue 23). You can see thumbnails of the publication in advance>>. I am subscribing today. Put it off for some reason, but now reason to get back into that.

The wonderbus is ready to go. K is out of bed and is clunking down the stairs.

Gotta go.

late summer morning



Beautiful morning. The day cleared yesterday from a stormy morning to a perfect day. I would say more of that today. It is cool..verging on cold and the light has shifted from that of summer to the redder light, lower on the horizon. The fragrant hosta in the front of the Luckystone is beginning to open up...large, white trumpets from which a high floral scent lingers on the cool air. This is always our September treat. I always forget they bloom and then, boom...a heavenly scent and bunches of white flowers. The leaves are going from green to olive...so we all know what is coming.

I cooked up another soup for today...leeks, new potatoes, cucumbers and a spare zucchini for fun. It is a simple vicysoisse that I will add a little whole milk/ no fat half and half for the team for lunch. They will be thrilled...they love soup when we have it. Considering the price of everything...Spending a little time peeling and coarsely chopping the night before, and pureeing in the morning makes a delicious lunch at a significantly lower price. I will need to think of rice dishes and the like for this winter as we are going to have 5-7 lunchers until January.

It was a hard day with all sorts of college tutors and college advisors yesterday. My head is spinning. I need a day or so to collect myself before I dive into the pile of books I was encouraged to buy from a directory of schools, to creative schools, to a vocabulary listing to prep for the PSAT tests. I need to get into the head of my girl maybe with some help from the school psychologist so I can sync better and not feel so off around her. I am a student too...but one that understands time and schedules...and honestly, fitting assignments into my life is not a biggie. But, this is not all about me.

Today, on to some illustration including the two holiday cards that have come to the fore. The Tsunami project is still not negotiated or handed over despite my efforts. A more strategic approach on my part to either have them engage or not might have to happen...I may need to force their hand as the sheer volume of work on top of the standard workload needs to be managed. My contacts are nonplussed, but saying stuff like "if this job doesnt deliver, I lose my job". Imagine where this puts me..new client that my work is well suited for, but put in a situation to deliver a credible job in an amazing time frame which was insane to begin with. Now, take two weeks out of that schedule. I think the boom is coming down today/tomorrow. If we cant have this that and the other thing by end of day tomorrow, we cannot do the job. There is too much in jeopardy relative to my reputation and the work we produce. I am not going to be put into this sort of situation. There is a lot of benefit insofar as having lots of road time because I have walked from bigger jobs/contracts and I know the repercussions in not delivering perfection despite the schedule and client fumblings. It is money that is a bitter pill.

More later. I hope to have a minute to draw a bit for me...? One can hope...

Preik!

interesting....
I was looking at my hits on Q. Cassetti illustraton and found a few coming from this site: Preik, which calls itself a "design aggregator"--culling work from all sorts of design and illustration sites in the world...They tapped LCSV4 (Little Chimp Society) and pulled my new entry over. Wow. When it's out there, it's out there.