New 3x3

I just got the most recent 3x3, cracked open the magazine and found my SPREAD!! Then, on to the web to give you a link>> and dang! Charles Hively posted my sweeter than saccharine picture of a Papillion avec papillons! I am thrilled to bits. From what is shown in the magazine, I definely do not look like little miss country mouse! Wow!

Syracuse Poster Project


I forgot that I have been selected with Don Kilpatrick (SU, ISDP MA, Illustration 2006) to participate in the Syracuse Poster Project. The committee selected two images from my body of work. There are poems written (haiku for my pieces) and then they are produced as posters and as kiosks to promote the arts in Syracuse. You can see more about the project here>>. Don's work is beautiful and poetic. Mine is from my original "slash" illustrations (name coined by John Thompson) with the baseball catcher for our Baseball project and the guy on the stoop for one of my body of New York City images. Got the haiku yesterday and had to flip the mechanicals as they of course need them the week we are away in New York.

Hope

The good thing about having an hour drive to go to the dentist is the opportunity to let your mind wander and think. This is a momentous time. A time that will be pivotal to our future as a nation and a people. After the tragedies, thoughtlessness, and automatonic state we have lived in--many living on financial ruin unknowingly, many living a life without ever having to say no and wait.

We have seen cities trashed by by local, state and national government's inaction and callous disregard. We have been dragged into a cluster of wars without a say--with surges becoming mainstream and the aspect of money, riches and our people never being discussed. Always more, never weighing the options, never truly problem solving...staying on a task that might not be the right one...doggedly worrying it without asking why? or are there other approaches. Not only has the national leadership from the President down to the mouths in the House and Senate but also down to those who deem themselves "right" and those of us who are labeled "unpatriotic" therefore, wrong. We cannot educate our children--nor to those in power, education is something you just do...it just happens and it is not the organic plant that grows and flourishes and brings us all together fostering that ability to ask why? how? or challenge the assumptions. Education gives us the right to state the truth without repercussions. We are told to open wide and gulp when more filth and lies and greed by our leadership is presented as commonplace--with the expectation that we all do as they say, not as they do.

It is a time where we as a people are humilated, poor and embarassed to be Americans. We have been represented by people who have no sense of appropriate behavior, who have taken an imperious stance with the rest of the world that does drive off of listening and collaboration but by a dictatorial command. We are financially beholden to those who hold our extrodinary debt with god knows what sort of unholy promises made to keep those debts in hand. We do not spend money on the things we are good at : ideas, innovation, the future--but that of guns and investment bankers. I am stunned that this so called bail out has still permitted these skanks of bankers and dealmakers to continue to take home the astronomical salaries and bonuses now supported by everyman USA. Does Joe the Plumber understand that? And, is there any plan to regulate in the future? Is there anything that we as co-owners in these establshments have to dictate change inside the business and as a chance to change and teach each other financial health and behavior?

I know this diatribe is unhealthy and frankly, something we all know. But here is something new for me at least. I feel hopeful. Cynical old me, I feel that with this new man, this thoughtful and articulate man, we can ask why. We can engage in a national conversation. I feel that maybe with Mr. Obama, a sense of intelligence and dignity will be assigned to this engaged person to bring respect back to the office of President, and indirectly to our image of ourselves as Americans. I believe we are capable of so much, and the last eight years have suppressed thought, innovation, and excellence for a private agenda of a minority, headed up by a man of clay--a man who believes that Armegeddon is within his reach and his final days prior to being elevated to heaven will realize the word of God. I believe we live those words which can be summed up by the simple phrase " to love thy neighbor", which I believe is the key to many of the issues we have. If only we could reach across and talk with each other, to listen and engage, to share and not demand. Imagine the world we could have. Mr. Obama represents that hope that yes, in 4 years things could be better. I think we should all give him that chance.

Vote tomorrow for the future and for all of us.

Sunday

Its been a whirl since Halloween what with the pumpkins, the lumieres, the overbuying of candy (always afraid to run out) and the this kid is doing this, that kid is doing that...with the week ahead's expectations and deadlines (as expected) expanding and changing that it made this poor girl's head expand and expand and expand. I am finally deflated and can talk again. We have been going getting this person here, that person there, and the chores in between...so we approach the new work week with at least an attempt at trying to stay on keel. R goes to Miami for 3 days. I get out of here Sunday for 10 days...and have as usual, a road block of work with more piled on top (..."here is a website we need immediately, our objectives and raises are all built on the success of the job...")with all sorts of guilt and agendas built upon the brick (or lack thereof) in the thinking. So, I work weekends and nights to get this done when they have had ( lemme think...eleven months! to get this accomplished. Sorry to be so sour, its just that I hate the pressure combined with Christmas crap that still seems to be recycling. Oh, and did I mention, we might have guests? I hope we can move that needle as I do not have the time for them. I am planning on the time R is out of the house to work until midnight to get the work done. The logo (we cannot miss a month, so we need it a month earlier), a new publication, the website "how boutsomething Retro ?" (can anyone out there in the Real World tell me what Retro means...I know what it means to me, which is def. WRONG)??

Need to put my head down. Getting cranky. Have been dreaming about illustration (which is the magic these programs give you..the ability to go into pre- REM thinking about lines and weight, sketching pictures in your head, progressions, ideas, influences...a really wonderful pink cloud to float on when this real stuff gets, well...

too real.

The photograph bought on eBay by Zeke Schein, who believes it depicts Robert Johnson, left, and fellow bluesman Johnny Shines. © 2007 Claud Johnson.
ps. Read the new Vanity Fair's article on Robert Johnson, the inspiration of the book by Gary Kelley, Black Cat Bone and book, Me + the Devil by Scott Bakal. It's an interesting tale of the acquisition of an image from ebay that is thought to be the third recognized image of Johnson. There is a lot of history and his story to make Kelley's and Bakal's work resonate with history, music and the grounding that Johnson provided to today's musicians. Take a look.

IF: Vacant [gaze]


Memento Mori moment: October 31, 2008:

Everyone Tarrou set eyes on had that vacant gaze, and was visibly suffering from the complete break with all that life had meant to him. And since they could not be thinking of their death all the time, they thought of nothing... “For really to think about someone means thinking about that person every minute of the day, without letting one’s thoughts be diverted by anything; by meals, by a fly that settles on someone’s cheek, by household duties, or by a sudden itch somewhere. But there are always flies and itches. That’s why life is difficult to live.”

Albert Camus (1913–1960)
Algerian-born French journalist, writer.
Tarrou, in The Plague,
part 4, ch. 5, p. 197, trans. by Stuart Gilbert
Penguin Modern Classics (1948).

Waiting here with mini me and my distance glasses on...so trouble could definitely ensue. These early morning flights can work your nerves such that though the alarm is set for 4 a.m., I wake up at 2:30 and flip until four. There is a nice thing about having done this once or twice--I am consistent. Off for a round trip to see my clients in New Jersey which I hope will be fun and informative. ITs a good thing to check in though I dont do it as much as I should...and from a Rip Van Winkle standpoint, I need to get off my plateau and get out of my corner a bit. Going to central PA has been fun, informative and has given me a connection with a part of the world that is our neighbor that I haven't had any inkling of what it was all about. So, though I know New Jersey, this should be the same.

3B


When stuck, change channels. Use trace or change from bluepencil and ink to a trusty 3B pencil and a pink pearl. To confirm this sketch technique, I bought a can of Aqua net as fix...so I have $1.99 into the deal. The 3B is so friendly and gorgeous. It really doesnt like to be too sharp, slightly rounded but it will give you nice solids pretty quickly. Its a fast tool that if you don't watch it, it will fly off your page. it also does stuff that the fabulous Mr. Noodlers will not do beyond its expediency, it will chew up paper and do layouts that are rough and get the ideas going. So, I think this new/ old pal will be in this fist for a few days until I snap out of it...or maybe it even becomes part of the mix.

It's funny, this changeover, that is, from making digital pictures to making real live Q pictures that then is monkeyed in the computer (erased, colored). It is harder. My head hurts. It isn't as fluid, nor am I more confident in this arena. The design is harder, more critical. Overlaps and levels of interest are important. The relationships of objects have to have tension and work together. Much, much more complexity. Maybe more interest too? However, I am learning about levels of finish that I want to take things to. After spending around five hours on the newest Garden of Eden redo this weekend...taking the inked drawing into photoshop and erasing like crazy all the unfinished hangy things, sharpening up points, essentially drawing with the eraser and toggling to the brush if I miss. The piece still looks handdrawn, but its cleaner and sharper. My classmates and Mentor can tell me otherwise...wheither the level of finish is enough--but this is taking the work further in having to resolve the details.

Resolved the costs associated with Hartford and have a better idea of where we are next summer. So, going into 2009 knowing what better to expect than the open ended financial aspect of the program feeling like I am on a slippery slope without anything to hang on to. Phew.

Need to resolve a few preliminary things to talk with my clients about tomorrow. Road warrior day tomorrow. Up at 4 a.m, to the airport by 5:30 a.m. Plane takes off at 6:30 a.m. and at Newark by 7:55 a.m. To the office by 9 a.m. Meetings et cetera until 4:30 p.m. and home by 10. Taking Mini Me to try it out along with a sketchbook to force me back to paper on a logotype I am working on. If the ole 3B comes out, I probably can get someplace faster than pushing the vectors around. Then, I can get back into the vectors and churn out 4-6 presentable ideas by Wednesday. We will see.

Halloween is Friday. No candy yet. Gotta get on that.

More later>>

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A Corner of the Garden


Snow. Freaking snow projected for today/tonight. At least two inches here. Over towards Cooperstown, the Central New York locus for snow, there are 10 inches planned with many of the schools in that area, calling a snow day for today! So, snow on the halloween pumpkin. The saddest picture for me are the little children in their special sparkly costumes that often they have to zip snow jackets on top of accompanied by rubber boots versus light little slippers. Really, the only costumes should be made to make the littles look like stuffed animals (with plush material) so a down coat could be stuffed inside...and a little tiger with boots is cute versus Cinderella in snow treads. Have to get the candy and cat litter. No, we do not give out cat litter. We fill lunchbags with an inch of cat litter and put candles in them (making a country lumiere) and have fifty of them line our front walk. Normally we have tons of carved pumpkins but time is short this year so four will have to do. We play spooky music and if the weather is nice, we have drinks and drinks to offer (this year we have a ton of left over cheese and crackers too) so the grownups often come and visit a bit before they go on their way. Its really fun and very Tburg. Many of our neighbors are convivial like this too, so its an open house throughout town.

Little visit to the House of Health today. Worth it. Lots of folks there--the black and red lady, the energetic lady who is one of the water walkers and the persistent lady who spends tons of time on the elliptical by the window where she camps out with food, drink, towels. She is totally set up. I enjoyed my time and feel stretched and more flexible.

Trying to get the numbers and charges from Hartford straight. Spent some time with their IT folks and managed to get all the email addresses, logins, and passwords straight. I know where to go for the finances and where to go for the email etc. Our faculty doesnt use Blackboard--they use OIL Paint instead. Speaking of computers, the MINI ME showed up on the front porch. It is a PC which makes it hard but its a SWEETHEART. I got the black one...not the pink, bronze or light blue one...but it is a real computer, has MSword (urg) and I can download mozilla and a itunes for travel. Its about as big as a National Geographic and about 2.5 x as thick. Lightweight and will do the email without a problem. It already has the wireless card integrated into the package so its pretty close to plug and play despite its right and left clickness I need to get used to. So, instead of writing blog entries on my phone (which I have done and will continue to do) I will be able to use a complete keyboard and not have to parse the blab that comes out of my mouth.

I was up early and thought about Adam and Eve and how Eve was derived from Adam. Adam's rib, Adam derivative...I also thought about how in Christian symbols, Adam is represented in Crucifixion scenes by a skull or partial skull at the foot of the cross. This depiction represented Adams fall from grace (as it is said) or fall into grace (I say) in his acquisition of knowledge. Why is it that knowledge is a sin? Yes, Adam and Eve did not do as they were told in 1)touching the tree of knowledge of good and evil and 2) eating the fruit of the said tree. To plead their case, if they were pure--God commanded them not to do these things and they readily accepted. They didn't even know they could choose. They could say no. They could have an opinion. They could act independently from their creator and maybe, jailer? Beyond the encouragement by the snake,what spurred them to act? They made the choice to disobey--and out of this disobedience they became more godlike in their ability to choose and their acquisition of knowledge of good and evil. I guess that is why they were locked out of the Garden to keep them away from the Tree of Life which would have given them immortality. I love it that Eve came from Adam's rib. Eve and Adam's dna must have been the same. How did God manifest this change. The book tells us that Adam took a nap, and the procedure to make Eve happened. Were there stitches? Did poor Adam hurt? Was it like looking in a mirror? If they were as uninformed (or simple) prior to their gaining knowledge, was it like my pets TJ and Mei Mei regarding each other, tolerating each other, coming up with ways to co-exist? I don't understand why knowledge was a bad thing for these elementary beings?

Squashathon


Squash bake off here. Two pumpkins, a spaghetti squash and two butternut squashes roasting up a storm in our fifties electric stove cranking out a pretty autumnal scent. Plans are to roast and scoop and freeze for soups later. While the squash is cheap, I should make hay as the beta carotine is great in these veggies and is good and happy making in the dark winter. I have another cookie sheet of butternut squashes in the oven to bag and freeze later this afternoon. They are predicting snow tomorrow. Imagine.

Am fooling around in my sketch book. Nothing gelling. Need to get back to looking and thumbnailing things for November and Hartford. I think the figures need to be seriously looked at, and tracing is in order. I am getting tool locked up in the details to really envision the image which will have details as this is part of the stretch this MFA should be doing. I could keep doing the vector thing (big bold,no context, no environment) which is okay, but making full fledged pictures is a whole nother thing.

Need to work on grown up stuff like contracts and flow charts. Also have a booklet and a logotype to finish by the end of next week. Crash and burn once the grownup stuff is done. One more holiday card too.

Need to look at clothes for NYC and for the Celebrity Naming Cruise that is on the horizon. Shoes? Passports? End of year stuff? Dramamine. Funny compression bracelets. Maybe the man who runs the art galleries on these ships will be there? or at least someone I can talk to?

fall back is next weekend.


The above obsessed picture inspired by the wonderful Chad Grohman's inspired illustrations in his moleskines>> He blows my mind....He is an extrordinary talent, wit and hand. Check him out>> Last night, R and our pal Bruce went down to see Eilen Jewell (a real favorite amongst all of us natives), K went to a party, A was recovering from a race and I dove into my illustration with a happy abandon as the congestion from the month had cleared. I have a few weeks until the Hartford Tribe meets again, and I wanted selfishly to have some time to craft and tweak my Vin illustration which has morphed (and to all my art directors around here, bettered) and begin to work with the figures...which my thesis advisor advised. On it. Maybe not great. But, on it. Was working on some patterny things which surprisingly felt emotionally pretty hollow compared to the pictures I have been working on. I am back on studying the Indian painting book. Am intrigued by the symmetry of their images and the simple faces and figures they have. I was going Leger on myself and reminded myself of the illustration conventions and figured I would go Indian again to see where it could go. The Indian paintings are not about personalities (though there are some remarkable portraits of Princes and well to do men) but more about the patterny rug of flora and fauna, layers of forground, foreground and foreground, and the sheer, unabashed delight in flat color. Forget the shading. So, more to study even before the pencil hits the paper.

Yesterday was rain. Today was perfect. Made a few apple crisps and slid them into the fridge. Yesterday, I cooked with everything on the edge making an impromptu, vegetarian mushroom soup, a pasta dish, a cranberry salad. Today, the impromptu began with the crisp and now I have another potato soup on the stove for the week (or better, tomorrow). We bought 2 pie pumpkins, a bag of butternut squashes, a spaghetti squash, 3 delicato squashes, and a box of fresh potatoes while we visited Sheldrake for the afternoon, the sun and the fall colors. It was perfect in Sheldrake with sapphire water, and trees on fire. The osage orange (monkey brains) has been dropping fruit so we had a nice time filling a wheel barrow with the fruit or lobbing it at Shady Grove.

This week promises a bit more sanity.

rainy day


Rainy like crazy here. Poor A. had a cross country event in Marathon which turns out to be the same (miserable weather as last year)--with A pushing hard during his XC event with the end being heroic (tossing cookies) with the steady,cold weather. I am setting them up and knocking them down-- with hard work on Friday and then continuing today with prints of images for my clients, polishing up images for Hartford, contract writing and basic writing assignments.

K cleaned her closets today with the payout being invited to a party tonight. R and our guest are off to see Eilen Jewell at Castaways and last night, Toivo at Felicias. I was working.

I was a wild girl yesterday and after thinking about all the hopping around that I am going to be doing, I bought a $300 mini laptop (pc) with a 8.5" screen (ACER from New Egg) for the internet-ability. I love my iPhone, but beyond the prefunctory "I have your email messages", the communications gets a bit tough. And, I figured for 2 lbs. and the inexpensive price I could download word and pdf reader, I could at least have a blogging machine for you all, and a place to really better see the files I need to see and not feel guilty that I am not taking my 17" Powerbook. It has a 6 hour battery, some power and the only downside is that it get a bit hot on the lap (as does my wonderful Apple powerbook). We will see. Amazon and New Egg customers raved about this product. We will see! I will be able to walk all over NYC with this in the bag and a camera versus the camera, the backpack etc. with the rigamarole on planes etc. It is too much.

Started working on some figures for Adam and Eve. I know the two illustration conventions I need to know. One, women do not have big honking noses or bottom lips. There is a shorthand to drawing women. The other is that things that move away from trunks (bodies, trees) taper. Hands taper from arms, feet taper from legs, snakes taper. Need to proceed and amend accordingly. Think mirrored images. Think flat. Have done two eden pix for Vin. Have started some figures to just begin. Wow. do I have work to do.

I have, unfortunately been looking at Leger for figures and he doesnt work in the illustration conventions for his figures. Big noses that have lines on either sides. Bottom and top lips. Muscles and not shy with big, massive hands. I also have been looking at Hicks (as you know) and the wonderful Hirshfield with his wacky naive figures with short foreheads and stiff bodies.

Need to get going as A has outdoors club which starts early (another early a.m.--the whole weekend early a.m. for the past month both Sat and Sun). Need to think about Christmas now. Cards, more cards and starting to wrap what I have. Urg. It is December 1 before we know it.

Bulbs in the ground


Put 20 of the red plant, FRITILLARIA imperialis Prolifera (Double Crown) which grows way tall (around 40") and its primordial partner, Fritillaria Persica (the purple picture) which is slightly smaller--but we planted 50 instead of the mere 20. Also, planted 350 daffodils --one a mix of bulbs and a 100 of a fragrant white narcissus which is a pinch from mother nature that yes, yes indeed, spring is here. This is my little treat to me and mine, and those who stroll down Camp Street, that color happens early, unexpectedly and happily. If we keep putting these truckloads of bulbs in every year, there will, after a decade, be a significant show for all (and flowers for vases too!). Nothing skimpy.

For those of you desirous of big quantities of bulbs, these guys are the place:
Van Engelen>>

And may the snow now fall. We had some slushy rain. So, know it, its coming.

Monkey Brains.


This is Shady Grove and her prized toy, an Osage Orange otherwise referred to by those of us who collect them as Monkey Brains. It is a fascinating fruit that are softball sized (during normal years of normal precipitation) but this year are more cannonball sized which Shady has problems with gripping between her teeth. The Monkey Brain is Shady's favorite autumn toys to chase and bring back to us in the throwing fest. The great thing about the Brains as they are heavy, and upon being thrown,they gain in momentum as they roll and roll and roll giving our doggie girl a great run and scramble for her fun. They fall on the ground and if they arent picked up over the course of the winter they become blackened and skanky looking. I love the way the Monkey Brains look in bowls or wire baskets outside with pumpkins for the oncoming halloween holiday. Note: get pumpkins this weekend and if we have a chance, carve them. As an aside, don't you love how Shady Grove becomes purple in the context of the green grass? She sometimes becomes our plum colored dog.

Have been rereading To the Scaffold by Carolley Erickson--a great biography about the life and end of Marie Antoinette by one of my favorite biographers. Erickson tells a great story with the right embellishment,tone and social history. Its been a pleasure and a break from the regular--a chance to take my mind off of all the craziness at the office. If you like history, Ms. Erickson is a treat. She's covered all the tutors, Catherine the Great, Josephine and many more. As she puts them out, I buy them, read them and shelve them and then read them again. She has also written some fun historically based novels like The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette where she uses her broad historical skills and weaves engaging stories that make for a cozy read.

Work Stuff: One holiday card to print today! Yeah.

And one more to go. Had a lovely chat with the Executive Director of the Hangar Theatre this morning. There are big things planned for our Hangar from an expansion and improvement of the facility along with more programming and outreach. I might be able to help them with posters and images after my thesis is done next year. Could make a nice body of work that could work for shows for me, and image building for them.

Another work idea is that cases of GlimmerGlass are here to sell. Tom has a case shipped to us>> and who knows, there are sales opportunities on the horizon that could get the product moving and make us a bit of money. I have a little glimmer of hope that this might evolve into a little tiny profit center. No plans for big. Just enough.

Need to jump up and get some rice going for dinner. More later.

rushed

Got a haircut today. Took a bit of time...but am delighted with the results. We have guests for this week so I need to be a bit more on my game> breakfast, lunch, dinner and the office thing.Am going a bit crazy as I just keep throwing work out the door, doing travel arrangements, holiday planning, and OMG here comes Xmas! I really want a span of meditative drawing and planning as the last three weekends and weeks have been solid work with no ease in there. I hope this weekend will give me a bit of tranquility and time to draw. Am suffering with a logotype...P and D with innocuous imagery as the work is hard to depict. Out come the tiger stripe. Out come the poking in and poking out of the letterforms. Overlapping, redefining and juxtaposing. Dinner is ready to be served. Must cut it quick tonight. Tomorrow is soon.

please hold


Running a freaking travel agency here. Remember the good old days of sitting with a lady behind a beige selectrics typewriter who would quiz you about your favorite things, your seat preference, food, and so on. You would spend time travelling the world in your imagination with this person who somehow knew about hotels and how those bulky card decks of tickets worked and the money you will need. Now, it's figure it out yourself baby. So, I decided today, I would cash in a ton of miles. I scheduled a RT to San Francisco (first class as its the same mileage as coach...as coach is never available) for March, and a bunch of one ways from Miami in the next month. Now, all I will need to do is go to Hotwire for hotel rooms in Miami when we aren't covered by expenses. Closer to the date is better. I have gotten four star hotels for $100 a night in Miami before. We'll see with the economy tanking. It feels great to get this planning off the table. I think I can do a round trip to NJ in one day and save myself two hotel rooms and incidentals that I might need to incur with the alternative way I was going to use to get there. Plus, I get two full days of work versus 2 halves and the day away.

I have more holiday cards, a booklet, and a logotype to design. Need to get going. Soon, I will have to have a scanathon with the ink drawings I have in my notebook. Need to change out the Vin picture this weekend for NYC in a few weeks.

More later.