quiet day


Red beans and rice on the stove for the team (we will have 8 or so today) for lunch. I am thrilled with the Indian food section at Wegmans, the Museum of Food as I have started buying basics from...like big bags of basmati rice, spices, garlic and ginger paste, and indian cooking sauces. Of course, how could I forget the jars (multiple) of coriander chutney that is consumed in massive quanitities between the team, the teens and others...dumped in soups, spread on sandwiches, eaten with rice and tzaziki. So I bow to the Museum of Food and the new adds to helping cook dinners and lunches week in, week out.

Pinned two teens into togas before 7:45 a.m. It was a bit of a time push...but they both were respectable toga teens for Pep Week at Trumansburg Central School's Charles O. Dickerson HS. Homecoming week. The expectations of bonfires, pranks, the big game and the top of the pyramid, the big dance. We looove the dances. Whoa. Thank goodness I could put my hands on a box of safety pins or we would have been in trouble with the bed sheets.

Plugging away on projects, mailings, work for Hartford and getting ready for people descending on my in laws this week (need to prep a guest room). Back at the House of Health. Loving getting back into the schedule of the walking and biking machines. Am listening to a book about one of of Brigham Young's wives, the 19th wife, and her disallusionment and leaving the church. Good stuff. Keeps the left foot, right foot continue and eyes on the inlet with the graceful rowers and teams. I have been looking at the foliage and pretending I am an indian miniature painter...and trying to see the stylization.

Very exciting news. One of the Tree of Life illustrations have been accepted by one client for their holiday card for this year. They print well over sixty thousand pieces...! Getting the work out there.

More later.

Whhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Well, gravity took hold today in the market. Freaking sleigh ride on rails, greased rails...and its not done. Love it that the Republicans couldnt deliver the votes...a short fall of around 20 votes (or less) that the soon to be candidates couldn't stomach taking home to Ohio or Kansas or Nebraska...and thus throwing Mr. Henry Paulson's rescue plan (with many top men exempted from the salary/ golden parachute exemption) keeping many of the crooks ensconced complete with big salaries and fat packages. Crooks, Liars, Cheats. It needed to be voted down. Why couldn't this bill be a pure, unsullied one versus another polluted, partisan platform. Enough all ready.

Nice chat with Murray and Carol. More to do on the Eden piece. Was messing around with the splitting of the firmaments. No where near finished...but just wanted to get the vibe down. There will be around one or two million sketches to make this right...but I am liking where this is going.

"6And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

7And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

8And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day."

If only we had it so easy! Was at the House of Health today...getting back into the swing of things...from the rapid walking on the machina di passigiare to the bicycling machine (complete with silent t.v.s showing us the wonders of Sarah Palin without the sound...and to absolutely no sacrifice to the message)!

Took poor Ms. Shady Grove to her doctor appointment which they poked and prodded her to see if they could draw blood. After around 10 tries out of legs, jugular vein and back legs, with her looking at me saying, "please, lets not do this any more...I have almost, just almost, lost patience with you and these clumsy ladies>" After 3 shots and lots of snacks...it was time to go. She was truly a miracle dog, sweet as sugar candy. I am lucky to have such a wonderful pal.

late night. gotta go.

Attention!


Finished up the redo of the illustration above. Brightened the colors (slightly), redrew the entire thing (by half) and merged and added via photoshop (the floral border of the tree was absurd and needed to redraw along with skinnying down the trunk of the tree...and then fused with the new half/flop). I am pleased with where this has gone.I may try stripping in some light texture or putting on an antique paper to see if this might give it a bit more UMPH. Who knows.

Bought new spikes, compression shorts and tee shirt for the Cross Country guy. It was a great day filled with subway tile(five boxes...and lots of hassling the Lowes guys to do their jobs...), eating burritos, and laughing a lot with teenagers yesterday. Today evolved into more laughter, pancakes (with peaches bought from Rick at the top of the hill along with tomatoes, red peppers (I've roasted), zucchini and a melon), homework (me and the littles....I got some pagination work done on my book for HAS--promising).Lots of mist and rain, particularly to Kitty's delight. A. ran with a friend. R. drew moulding profiles and K and I delivered my buffalo to the State of the Art Gallery for the Art Trail show and finished the afternoon off at the Museum of Food, Wegmans. We had a wonderful time from admiring the russian tea cakes, taking pictures of the octopus, buying pesto and tzaziki, greek yogurt (a new favorite) and salmon...and touring the organic products exclaiming over what was there and the packaging pros and cons. We went wild in the indian food department (as usual) and got very into the interesting smells and the prepackaged naan offered.

Poor Shady Grove was a bit under the weather yesterday. As R and I admired the brilliantly streaked sky over the lake, suspended over beautifully clear water and still winds, Shady looked to find refuge under our legs to the produce the goods. After R didn't even miss a beat, the dock was clear of poor Miss Grove's woopsie--and we went about checking her out. She had a dry nose and a bit of heat. After giving her a bit of couscous and treating her gently, she was back in the game today-- chasing balls, and finding the worst place to be and spreading out in it. Thank goodness...she had us going. Evidence was that she inhaled the salmon skin this evening and was looking for more. Upset stomach be damned!

Now for the political moment:

The Orphan Works Bill is something we need to rally around. Everyone!
Let your voice be heard...it is immanent...and will affect your work, your world and your legacy you leave your children or inheritors. Brad Holland in a succinct article says:

Proposed US Legislation Could Orphan Copyrights

by Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner

From Illustrators’ Partnership

Proposed US Legislation Could Orphan Copyrights
February 20, 2006

The US Orphan Works Report: On January 23 the U.S. Copyright Office issued their Orphan Works Report, outlining a proposed amendment to the 1976 Copyright Act. It defines an “orphan work” as any work where the author is unidentifiable or unlocatable, and applies to both published and unpublished works, US and foreign, regardless of age. The legislation would be retroactive. http://www.copyright.gov/orphan/orphan-report-full.pdf

The proposal would not re-impose formalities, but would penalize artists who didn’t re-impose formalities on themselves. The strategy is to “limit remedies” for infringement in any case where an illustration or photograph was published without “relevant information” on the picture itself - or where relevant information has been removed:

“For authors and copyright owners, marking copies of their works with identifying information is likely the most significant step they can take to avoid the work falling into the orphan works category. This is particularly true for works of visual art, like photographs and illustrations, that otherwise do not contain text or other information that a user can rely on to help determine the identity of the copyright owner. Nothing in the Office’s recommendation would make such markings mandatory...Nevertheless, the presence and quality of the information on particular copies will be a highly relevant fact as to whether a reasonable search will find the copyright owner.” (p. 9, emphasis added)

continued>>

Check out this mental paper from the Register of Copyrights, Mary Beth Peters>>

this we lift from Flickr>> Who, I think synthesizes it beautifully>>

no news doesn't mean good news. pay attention:

orphanworks.blogspot.com/

www.nikondigital.org/dps/dps-v-4-08.htm

www.tomrichmond.com/blog/?tag=orphan-works-act

www.sellyourtvconceptnow.com/orphan.html

"Photos on the internet could be orphaned. With tens of millions of photos shared online with services like Flickr, Shutterfly and Snapfish, there is a huge opportunity for unauthorized use of your photos... legally.

You could see photos you take of your family and kids, or of a family vacation, used in a magazine or newspaper without your permission or payment to you. You would have to pay to register your photos, all of them, in every new registry in order to protect them. Say the average person takes 300 photos per year (I take a lot more than that). If a registry only charges $5 per image, that is a whopping $1,500 to protect your photos that are protected automatically under the current laws. If there are three registries, protecting your images could cost an amazing $4,500. Not to mention the time it would take to register every photo you take. Plus, you will also have to place your copyright sign on every photo.

That's not including all your art, sketches, paintings, 3D models, animations, etc. Do you really have all that extra time and money? Plus, even if you do register, the people stealing your work can still claim it was orphaned and, unless you fight them, they win. Even if you win, you may not make back your legal fees.

It gets even better. Anyone can submit images, including your images. They would then be excused from any liability for infringement (also known as THEFT) unless the legitimate rights owner (you) responds within a certain period of time to grant or deny permission to use your work.

That means you will also have to look through every image in every registry all the time to make sure someone is not stealing and registering your art. You could actually end up illegally using your own artwork if someone else registers it. DOES ANYONE SEE A PROBLEM WITH THIS?"

With the god damned melee happening in Washington, this baby has been slipped in and approved by the Senate. It is not about retouching pictures of grandpa. Its about our work, our sketches, our intellectual property and art as illustrators. Please, let your voice be heard. It is critical. Please engage wheither you are an illustrator, artist, or someone interested in the arts. It is the rug being pulled out from under us in a world filled with people who believe every image on google images are royalty free from family photographs, to corporate images, to illustrations the neighbor next door put on Deviant Art to share with their friends. The time is now to Act. Please consider this.

From the pews of the Church of What's Happening Now

Man. The debate was wearing. And, with Obama depicting the virtual financial apocalypse that is eminent, the absolute need to do something versus hurry up and wait became foremost for me. However, with the image of Mr. Paulson on his knees in front of the cozy group at the White House, Mr. Obama, Mr. McCain, the President and various and sundry other important thought leaders, is so abhorent I cannot stand it. First off, lets remember that Mr. Paulson and Mr. Bernanke are Wall Street insiders who are begging for hand outs to help their friends maintain their quality of life and to validate the unsanctioned, (almost?) criminal behavior that have run rampant with this threatening world collapse-- Why can't this be a loan? or Money parsed out as the story unveils itself? Isn't that what you would do for friends, or family or children? If your kids ask you for a thousand bucks, would you just dumbly hand it over and ask for some sort of accounting later. NO. This is the same "take no prisoners" crap that was handed to us with the funding of this expensive and stupid war. Where is the non partisan Leadership here? Where is the touted MBA President (Major Bullshit Artist?) in this time of crisis and psychological shakiness? Do we really need to blindly hand over cash without any strings, oversight or guidance? Where are all of our friends? Where is Alan Greenspan? I like the idea of Warren Buffett buying a stake of one of these failing companies and then putting his brain, his experience and his strategies to bear on this rogue institution. I wish we would have the time to allow this sort of trickle down to happen to really see capitalism move and change with the shift of money and interest. If we get out or over this thing, I truly hope that big changes beyond the bank, big cultural changes will occur. At least I can hope--though we Americans don't really like any change beyond what is on the TV. Dancing with the Stars? Who Wants to be a Millionaire? or American Financial Idol?

Gotta go.

country haiku


I picked up my apples this morning from the refrigerator at the Black Diamond Farm and was entertained by the little note clipped to the handle of the paper bag that held this weeks cache.

"What's in the bag?

Liberty
Sansa
McIntosh
Zabergau Reinette
Cox's Orange Pippin
Gala
Honeycrisp"

Just the list sounds biteable? Right? Kind of country haiku. It is creeping towards fall...with temperatures in the mid seventies and forties in the night. Everything is holding on to it's greenery as long as it can with the rain that we have had. Mandy and I have seen the two piliated woodpeckers next door. Man, those birds are huge and very primordial in their sharp red heads and the odd way they cling to the tree vertically...getting ready to hammer on its bark. We should see the return of the stamping, meat headed turkey vultures and of course, the flocks of turkeys are quite visable these days.

Everything seems to be on slippery rails these days. A. was caught cheating on his homework paper yesterday, so we are dealing with that here...along with managing it on the school side. He was shocked...and it has been a major learning thing for him..that maybe his pushing the envelope has landed him squarely back in the zone again. It seems that this is the month for him and his friends to push the bounderies from school work to smoking just to see what they can get away with. Makes me want to scream...but hey, I am a minor player on this stage. K is forgetting a bunch of things that really need to happen and I am afraid that my patience has become impatient with her slacking off. I really am worried and nothing seems to trickle into that head of hers. When she is on, she is on...and when she shuts down...she stubbornly doesnt budge. Lots to do on the work front, the Art Trail Front, the house and and parties thrown in. I need to finish up the invitations today and get them in the mail.

The world is also getting on my nerves. The repurposing of this financial "crisis" which has been brewing for well over a year now into something that is politicized--having the candidates sit with the president to work out a plan (who is the financial expert in this group? the MBA President?) is ridiculous and frankly, tragic, given the fact that many americans actually believe that these shills, in their daddy roles, can put a financial band aid on the boo boo and the poof! it goes away. Lets say it once and have it done with...there is no Poof! to this program. More like Ouch! or Thud! It also points up that the dems have absolutely no strategy or tactical saavy relative to all of this. If McCain decides he has to skip the debate, then why isn't the Homecoming Queen, a heartbeat from the President allowed to debate Obama. Or to make it fair, Biden. Have you been listening to her responses she has been permitted to make to softball questioners like Katy Couric? How can anyone take her seriously for Governor let alone Vice President? The dems have got to stop being defensive and grab the reins and start driving the messaging, image and impression of themselves and their opponents. It blows my mind that with the pathetic ratings the president has, the republicans even have a chance. And they do...So someone better snap out of it and get on with it. We are talking less than 8 weeks.

spinning off the axis


Clocking em down. Peacock not quite refined..but on its way. Need to work the spokes back in color (quiet them down so the head pops), equalize the thinness of the legs...refine..Got the Deadman's Mile volunteer school graphics done. Got the initial pops on the holiday card done and in FedEx. Feeling like anything is possible.

Was working with the vectorization of drawings yesterday and I feel that this could happen. I am sure with more crunching on it, it could become more automatic. Am going to redraw the Vin piece for the slick cover of Eden...and see what I can do. Its a draw half, flip it, correct and erase it and then turn into workpaths all in photoshop. Then its save the workpaths to illustrator and see what happens. Then, its resaving the illustrator file and importing those paths back into photoshop to add highlights and burn and dodge areas to see what sort of magic I can get. And, the last thing is to have it look like I did the whole thing on my art table and not with the wacom.

Just got some beautiful frames with thick and generous mats (Nielson Bainbridge) with plexi (not glass) from Dick Blick today. Plan on filling them up for the Art Trail. Will need to get an image down to the State of the Art Gallery this Sunday for the preshow for the Trail. I think the buffalo is going to be the "one" to be framed. I love the Nielson Bainbridge frames. Look really good and have all the stuff in one place (and if you shop the sales you are not bankrupt framing your work). I think Christmas may have some framed pieces given to family members and friends.

Speaking of Christmas, I don't know about you, but the world has become a pretty scary place and I worry about December as god knows what is going to be happening with wars, the economy, the state of the state. I hate all this paternalistic crap that is dished out about how the "American Public doesn't have to worry or be responsible for the bad debt and and foreclosures" going down. This is a real problem. We all must be responsible for our mortgages...not big brother or the government. If you sign on the line, you are responsible. If you cannot make the payment, you move on. Yes, the banks were going to town giving people ideas about what they could afford. But don't you, as an individual have the responsibility for understanding your min/max and not exceeding what you can afford? The growth of the plastic sided mcMansions did not grow in accordance with people's incomes skyrocketing in the double digits. And, with people plugging so much of their own wealth into these "homes", with the market and the projected resale taking a downward turn, so do many people's retirement income et cetera. Additionally, even these overpriced mcMansions were stupidly built (ie we saw thousands of houses (abandoned and not even sided) outside of San Diego, built on these dirt hillsides that looked like one false move and the entire group would slide down the hill. They were crummy construction and were scheduled to sell in the MILLIONS), stupidly sited and badly detailed with cheap materials. So, in the quick break to make a huge buck--quality, design and location were all severely compromised.We all are responsible for this home craze...the growth of the pretend market of pretend houses that the owners cannot even afford. Its is the Walmart headset of everything we as an american populace expect-- more is better than good. Cheap is better than quality and well made. Leveraging everything for image transcends the reasonable-ness of paying off the credit cards and being liquid. Television reinforces this...but it has rooted in the American consciousness....How can we change this lack of thought, this disrespect of liquidity, this inability to say No or "we cannot afford it". We need to honor responsibility before image.

And the banks-- the bonuses must stop. The outrageous salaries must stop. Investment banking must align with the rest of world--and if the US is going to own these institutions...business cannot continue in this fricking dreamworld they live in. Lets just remember, bankers do not make ANYTHING. There is nothing tangible that a banker makes and can hold in their hands and say "facit" (latin for I made it). The layer cake of deals leveraged on deals on top of deals that teetered on selling debt etc. was irrational and stupid--as stupid as the deregulation that happened. People need controls as greed and passion can override intelligence and forward thinking--and need a governor to keep them in line. I do not see either party responding to this nightmare that we now have to shoulder along with debt from this war, and no end to debt from Katrina and 9/11 and other national needs...nor does it seem there is an easy way out. So regardless of how we vote, schools will continue to be underfunded, we will not be able to send our kids to college affordably, healthcare will go unresolved etc. Imagine rolling $700,000 Billion into healthcare? or to split hairs healthcare, education and innovation?

What a waste.

daily note


....turns out that Queen Juana would travel around the countryside with the corpse of Philip the (not so) Handsome in a lead lined box...with her opening the coffin and kissing him publicly. Prior to being put in the coffin, Philip was made to sit upright with jewelry and crown and Juana would sit at his feet and talk to him. Now, we are getting the low down on how how the English King decided that yes, though Juana was certifiable, at least she was fertile and brought a large part of Spain with her. Juana made up her own version of a nun's habit, with a cowl hood that she would shrink back into. She stopped eating and shrunk down to nothing... So, nutty and hungry which is almost a cyclical thing. All of this is driving us to the negotiated deal allowing Henry VIII to marry Katherine of Aragon, Queen Juana's more sober and sadder sister. Katherine really wasnt given many breaks in her relatives, her parents, her husbands and her sad life after she couldn't present Henry a son. Sad all around. Katherine's symbol/ cipher was a pomegranate. Love that.

On the hook for the holiday cards going out tomorrow so the peacock may be close, but still needing a little tweaking prior to final. Working on a bunch of stuff for the Corning Museum of Glass..getting closer, I hope.

Chet the Lawnman has just come for his money. He is off to the adirondacks to take in some fishing and hunting(?) and camp. Next time, he promises there will be leaves galore.

I ordered a ton of bulbs from Van Engelen. A naturalizing mix of narcissus (350 bulbs), 15 Frittilaria Imperialis (red) and 50 Fritillaria Persica (in deep purple). This will give A. and his pal Chris a busy day to make a little cash. It all seems so silly to do every fall, and I forget by spring and we have these wonderful surprises of color and scent. If we just keep plugging away on the planting, it will begin to take on a momentum that we are just beginning to see every year. Van Engelen is wonderful. Their bulb quality is great, prices excellent--the only downside is that you have to buy fairly large quantities as that is their focus. You can buy the same material at smaller quantites at John Scheepers. No time like the present to think of handfuls of flowers in April and May.

Visited with some of R's family last night. We had at the table a retired architect, a retired pathologist and a retired NASA engineer/scientist (he plotted the trajectory of one of the early missions (all with a slide rule!)). The conversation ranged from the political to grandchildren and ancestors, to the Civil War and the improvements made at the Gettysburg National Battlefield. It was pretty much full bore and exciting until it got to Obama or McCain. At that point, both kids stood up, said their goodbyes and am-scrayed as fast as their little feet would carry them. I should have taken their clue.

A. runs in Watkins Glen tonight. It's a perfect day (high mid 70s) with a blue sky and trees trying to think about changing color. Crisp and brilliant. I hope he does well.

Gotta go. Work awaits.

La Loca, ME.


Rushing around like a nut. Got back to the House of Health today--and am climbing the eternal mountain at a set speed. Listening to a biography on Katherine of Aragon and her crazy sister Queen Juana of Spain. I am feeling a bit like Queen Juana, who was wierdly obsessive...and was going to be shut away by her husband, Philip the Fair (a Hapsburg..read that key-razy chin) until Philip dropped dead. I feel more like the wild and obsessive Queen Juana...no need to imprison, quite yet. It was great looking out the window over the inlet, with the still green trees, mounding into shapes I am trying to press into my brain, looking at the color variation and how tree next to tree renders itself different and distinct from its neighbor.

Philip the Handsome (left), Juana La Loca (right)

Got more work to do on the posted Peacock. Murray and Paul Z. weighed in on the big feet/leg thing. Murray wants the tail to connect to the bird. Can do. Also have a few Museum projects on deck and some identity work for other clients. Need to nail down some of the Christmas cards. Also, need to get the company card done and printed (simple cards) so we can generate lists/output labels and get them done and ready for November 1.

Slow Sunday.

Baldwinsville is a for real little Upstate Canal town with a vital main street and nice residences. The Central School is beautiful, huge and well maintained (making me a bit jealous)with a nice cross country trail. The day was perfect--blue skies, low humidity, sun with green grass, and lots of all different teams, runners and individuals in multicolored uniforms eating apples and stretching. We had a chance to see A. run...very well to our thinking as part of the Junior Varsity team. He was pleased with his time. Being part of the pack, the team was equally pleasant as they all took naps together waiting for their race. The Tburg team in general, given their small size as a group, but their big heart did quite well. I cannot say enough of the camaraderie and spirit this group has...and how it has so wonderfully swept Alex into its wake. An absolute highlight of his new freshmanhood.

K, R and I went to the Home Despot to buy fixures and sinks for the emerging two bathrooms. Turns out, the sale bins really paid out. Our favorite sink we put into the Luckystone was well over half off and we found some european fixures which were simple and elegant, not a gorped up interpretation of vintage hardware--that were cheap...(also on a sale shelf). It was a haul, but a good one.

Then it was home to drawing, reading, and of course, making dinner. It was an early night and a slightly later morning with pancakes and invitations to address.

I hope to put some time into drawing for my holiday pictures. Additionally, I have Art Trail coming up and need to put some thought around how to configure the house, what to sell etc.

More later.

getting ready for Baldwinsville


Hand drawn peacock. Tail was flipped. Modified neck in the computer to correct the drawing. Did the Chad> res it up bigtime, select the image, save as workpath> export to illustrator> open in illustrator and then, where the hang up is--anything that knocks out of the single shape, needs to be reknocked out as paths as the counter/ or the white space within the shape will fill if you change the colors around. Another thought is that in photoshop, you can make a bunch of different selections either with color range (the big blunt tool) or by drawing paths, for different colorways etc. and save each one of those out (a la different screens for each color in screenprinting) as a workpath and bring into photoshop. My little brain is ticking away on this technique...it opens up new possibilities with hand drawn images while getting them in a scaleable place.

I am starting to look at oriental carpets and china design as well as Indian paintings. I started paginating the book...really not a problem in the beginning as God did some big stuff for the first 7 days. Then, when Adam and the Troublesome one, Eve, come on the scene, the sense of time melts away. However, in the Book of Jubilee, everything is essentially, time, date, length of time...Whoever put this gem in place Looooved numbers.

"These four great works God created on the third day. And on the fourth day He created the sun and the moon and the stars, and set them in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon all the earth, and to rule over the day and the night, and divide the light from the darkness."

"And in the first week of the first jubilee, [1-7 A.M.] Adam and his wife were in the garden of Eden for seven years tilling and keeping it, and we gave him work and we instructed him to do everything that is suitable for tillage. And he tilled (the garden), and was naked and knew it not, and was not ashamed, and he protected the garden from the birds and beasts and cattle, and gathered its fruit, and eat, and put aside the residue for himself and for his wife [and put aside that which was being kept].And after the completion of the seven years, which he had completed there, seven years exactly, [8 A.M.] and in the second month, on the seventeenth day (of the month), the serpent came and approached the woman, and the serpent said to the woman, 'Hath God commanded you, saying, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?'"


This stuff is so specific, I have to believe law was written from this book. To see more on the books of the Pseudepigrapha and the Apocrypha of the Old Testament>> I have always loved the odd extras that the Apocrypha put out there, and now to think there is more extra odd stuff with the Pseudepigrapha,  I am thrilled. Not exactly the trite, night night reading I really want to do, but boy howdy, perfect for sitting in the doctor's office or the airport for that little bit of focus before you have to unfocus again. I think there is plenty to work with (and edit, to my thinking) for this thesis project.

I was having illustration fun on ebay, typing in illustrators names and seeing what popped up. Mary Blair, I discovered, not only has a ton of books that are real movers on the site, also designed and illustrated printed hankerchiefs. The Provensens are there in force --books and prints. Jan Balet has prints. And our very own mentor mio, Mr. Tinkelman has a books up for sale>> Punky the Mouse, Aesops Fables and the Rodeo book to name a few. So, for amusement, type in an illustrator you know or want to see work of, and see what happens. Its very fun.

Off to Baldwinsville (north of Syracuse) for the Cross Country Invitational. A is grumpy these days, shrugged into his new royal blue sweats like a monk with attitude. I hope a bit of running with help him to snap out of it. K. has a little infection and needs to take some pills to bring her around. We have an invitation guest list to generate today for the big party we are throwing dovetailing with the second weekend of the Ithaca Art Trail. Need to do some thinking around what we are going to offer to eat and drink. I'm thinking something totally old fashioned and totally do aheadable and delicious>:> Chex mix! or maybe Cheesy Ranch Chex Mix! I def know I will be buying some tubs of stuff from the Regional, making salsa and cutting crudites. Baby Gloria and Cousin Lisa (might) will be here from SoCal, and Bruce will be here from Maryland. I need to think about who they would like to meet. Members of the band, Toivo, sweetly came up to us at the Pourhouse and told us how pleased they were to do the gig. We are blessed to live in such a wonderful place. Should be fun.

Need to think holiday card for the office. Cannot let this become the shoemakers children. I do have quite a few holiday trees floating around....and if Simple cards can do a 4 panel/ 4 color, we can fill it up with illustration to beat the band. Now, I am getting some wind on this one. Next Week, or else!

Gotta go. Time progresses.

Mums



The day is almost done, and I feel horrible that I havent put up a post yet. However, now is the time. Spent a bit of time with Chad Grohman on IM with him giving me a teensy tutorial on how to take my inked drawings into illustrator as vectors without having to use the magic instant tracing tool that gives the images a ton of chatter etc. This method isnt perfect, but as you use huge files to create work paths from and then exporting those work paths to illustrator--gives you more points and more of chance for the image to be slightly smoother. This is very cool, and Chad was/is a prince to have spent the time patiently getting me to better understand this interesting process. Its great to spend a little typing time with Chad as his energy and sharp mind are inspiring..nothing gets past him. Plus, he has this wider life view that seems to open up the windows and let the cool air in. He has a good sense about what is important, and what isn't. He is another reason I am happy I am doing the Hartford MFA right now. And, there are about another solid 50 reasons why as well...but today,Chad gets the gold ring.



I am enjoying making these patterns (above) just for the sake of making more patterns inspired by Indian painting styles for their vegetation. There are a few more techniques that they use that I need to get comfortable with too, as they take me places beyond the illustrations at hand. To be honest, these sketch processes spin pictures (soon to be more real, more environmental than before) and patterns that could be applied to a lot of things. These vegetative patterns would be great on high end papergoods (like Caspari) --plates, napkins, towels etc. Perhaps the merchandising trip would work. Maybe I should just chase down Caspari and Cranes and see how one can submit designs for consideration. I also really want to begin to internalize an Indian inspired palette beyond curry and orange...but dirty light blues, pinks, mauves, tans etc.Its not a mainstream palette that I find beautiful and very sophisticated. As an aside, we had dinner last night at friends of my in laws, both language professors from Cornell. One of the professors' expertise is in Sri Lankan languages..and their lovely house was laden with books, hindu carvings and magical persian miniatures. Amazing what those miniaturists could pack into a tight two inch square. Makes my eyes hurt.



Working on peacocks like I had mentioned in previous post. The Baha'i use a peacock as their symbol and have spoken of the broad symbolic appeal. They say on their website:



The peacock is an ancient symbol found in many cultures throughout the world. The richness of meanings attributed to it matches the ornate beauty of its plumage. The peacock is often depicted in Hindu mythology as a steed of the gods and is considered sacred. It is associated with Japanese and Chinese goddesses of mercy. In the Buddhist tradition, the peacock’s ability to eat poisonous snakes can be understood as a symbol of the transmutation of evil into good. In some Islamic traditions, it has been portrayed as the greeter at the gates of paradise. In ancient Persian texts the peacock represented eternal life. The early Christians praised the many “eyes” in its feathers as signs of the all-seeing God. Though for later Christians the peacock came to be regarded as a symbol of vanity, they found its usefulness in the idea that just as the beautiful peacock considers its own feet ugly humans should take note and lament their own imperfections no matter how great their worldly glory.



Later depictions of the peacock continued to attribute to it spiritual significance. In his poem, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, the mystic poet William Blake wrote: “The pride of the peacock is the glory of God.” Given its enduring symbolism, the peacock was seen as an appropriate decoration by Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, who used it as a motif at various Bahá’í settings.



In his Spiritual Couplets, the famous Sufi poet Maulana Jalalu-'D-Din Muhammad Rumi tells the following tale:



A sage went out to till his field, and saw a peacock busily engaged in destroying his own plumage with his beak. At seeing this insane self-destruction the sage could not refrain himself, but cried out to the peacock to forbear from mutilating himself and spoiling his beauty in so wanton a manner. The peacock then explained to him that the bright plumage which he admired so much was a fruitful source of danger to its unfortunate owner, as it led to his being constantly pursued by hunters, whom he had no strength to contend against; and he had accordingly decided on ridding himself of it with his own beak, and making himself so ugly that no hunter would in future care to molest him. The poet proceeds to point out that worldly cleverness and accomplishments and wealth endanger man's spiritual life, like the peacock's plumage; but, nevertheless, they are appointed for our probation, and without such trials there can be no virtue.



Masnavi e Ma’navi, Book V, Story III (E. H. Whinfield, tr.)



so get ready. They are coming. Plus, they will maybe be figures in our Genesis story.I was musing over the possible spreads and am getting excited over the entire project as I will have to work at a bunch of images I have little confidence in doing. Nothing a few zillion gallons of Noodler's Heart of Darkness"> won't hurt.



Speaking of paper goods....I am going to have a party with a big guest list in the next month or so. I was taken, at the wedding in the field last month, that the caterer had paper plates, plastic flatware and cups that was all going into the compost pile. I loved it...and still do. So, in my Mrs. Party Planner mode, I googled away for compostable, affordable paper, plastic and cups and this is what I found>> The plates are all made of a biocompostable fiber from Bagasse, a form of sugar cane. The flatware is made from 80% non GMO corn starch resin and 20%"biodegradable fillers". The cups and glasses are polylactic acid (PLA), which is derived from corn grown in the USA. So, we can have paper and compost it versus dumping it to have it act as more landfill. I am thrilled about this source and hope you are too!



I am still reeling from the sheer energy of these High School runners. If they could bottle the vibrancy, the focused power, the zone these guys get into, it would the the fountain of youth. Plus, the way they look, young Davids, oblivious of how they look, their look, their passion, dumbfounds me. No folks, no one is in middle school any more. If only they weren't so clueless (forgetting my dinner! what me, holding on to this one?,forgetting whats in their lockers etc.)--they would be the final level of cheribim on earth. But, they are flawed angels.



The exterminator came to check out the bees in between the walls in the kitchen. They have been entering and exiting a hole under the windowsill...and we really do need to solve it because if you don't, they end up somewhere else (perhaps swarming over you while you sleep) and can be very unpleasant. We will wait to see what happens.



The cat is lying on my wacom. Holy territory. I think this cat wants to fly a bit. What do you think?

smell the flowers

New News! Modern Postcard has a new option called Simple Card.
Simple card is in place to print small volume, inexpensive postcards and greeting cards from Modern Postcard, the granddaddy of the instie postcards at the best quality. (29 dollars for 25 cards and envelopes up to 500 cards max.). After that, its the bigger quantities that Modern Postcard offers. Essentially, this allows Modern Postcard to go after the short short run work that PSPrint and others offer. So, nice option.

Tburg mens track was amazing. I was ready for another Middle School event but it wasn't. These high school guys are monsters--all brawn and fresh energy that is restorative even from the sidelines. I posted some pictures here>>

Just got a rush rush rush over the internet for me to do. More later. I will post yesterday's quicky ink drawings later. I will be doing some pictures of peacocks in the near future (not for the thesis but good practice)--but for the holidays! Yeay!

More later, I apologize.

reworkin', oh girl!


Changed the lips and nose of the above Eve image per great input from Murray. We went through all of the current sketches on the garden of eden with Murray giving me very valuable insights, amendments and ideas. I have my work cut out for me just in the amendments...but its all great and I am feeling that I am beginning to get into a bit more of a groove. Murray was talking about illustration conventions--and I wish I knew them... Is there a book out there. I need to not kick myself as I am, at this time, a 28 year graphic designer and a 3 year old illustrator which would make me a college junior on a good day. We talked about sources of inspiration: Barry Zeid, Rousseau, Matisse, Arnold Blanch, the Pushpin geniuses with highlights around Milton Glaser, Seymour Cwast, John Alcorn. Murray got into Roussseau's influence on Paul Davis, well known for his Three Penny Opera poster. A prompt again to look at Paul Davis' work and look at what I found on Detour, the Moleskine City Notebook Experience>>

One of Paul Davis' sketchbooks. Wow. I can mimic that....I may already do that but maybe not to this level. Wow. Need to start painting in my notebook. I need to get messier. As usual, it was wonderful with Murray and I look forward to more input from him. Also sent links to my thesis advisor, Doug Andersen, who had some great insights and prods to get a storyboard going...and to work with some figures. Murray said the same. Okay. I will get some of the amendments going, finish the Vin assignment and then get going on that.

Cornell card to complete today. Lots for the medical company. Lots of phone calls. I wish SOI would post their application for the annual show (still not on the web)--am itchy to get that done and out. Got Family Knife (band that is a subset from Plastic Nebraska without Gabe) to do. Finished the Five at Two party invitation out and to PSPrinting. Thinking about Art Trail a lot.

A. has a cross country event this p.m. I should get their tee shirt designed to take with me. Hope it doesnt rain. It looks like rain now...urg.

Gotta go.

darkening skies



Yesterday was hot. In the nineties hot. So swimming was in order, twice...at the lake. It was glorious. And when we weren't swimmning, we sat on the end of the dock and watched the big, black striped perch hide in the grasses--silent. Or the micro patterns that evolved on the breathing water. It was great. The whole day was swimming, drawing, and making a nice lunch and dinner. The wind whipped up and moved the warm weather out of here giving us an overcast day with lots of of big branches and twigs on the ground. Over on Washington Street, a seemingly healthy tree snapped in half to find out it was hollow and on it's last legs, in the road. The temperature dropped another 20˚--so to put it simply, the weather is changeable and getting colder.

I got my illustration to Vin Di Fate with a lovely note back encouraging me to look at the illustrator, Joseph Mugnaini who was an influence on Edward Gorey. Vin sites the Halloween Tree book jacket cover...which is a jewel. Mugnaini's line work has a whole different look and feel. I love the Halloween tree (above) with the intertwining fields, the layers of information, the mushrooms at the bottom with checkered skirt and a series of characters that make up the front of the skull. Beautiful. Now I need to redraw my picture. Recolor and rego.

Have a call with Murray today to see where to go next. Checked on the work from Barry Zaid, another illustrator from the Pushpin Studios that Murray recommended. From a thesis standpoint, I need to break out the story for the book on Creation and figure out what the pictures should be and thumbnail the book. Then I have have a little 8 month illustration party on these images and see where it goes. I am beginning to get into the outer reaches of the zone...and the sooner I get there, the sooner I will become obsessed which is a delightful place to be.

twirly



They forgot. They all forgot. No one from the cross country team showed up. Two pans of lasagne, fruit, cut veggies, fresh salsa and two pound cakes all sitting there ready to go. The plates were up, everything arranged and ready. No one. So. K got on the horn and invited some friends over. A. had some of the eighth grade pals come over to listen to vinyl so instead of the projected 15 runners, we had 12 random folks who consumed a great portion of what was there. Lesson: Create handouts.

Working more on the style/look for the thesis work. Fiddling with pomegranates and trees. Hope to paginate the story today...just to move the needle a bit further with very tactical work. Want to work on some other images for the thesis...even if its down to the thumbnail level just to take a look. Also want to pull some palettes to see what goes. Also, hope to send some emails to get the ball rollling insofar as future projects that may loll unless prompted.