finally

We arrived at the airport on time yesterday a.m. to find that yes, we could get to Philly, but not to LA.We might be able to get on by the 24th. I was prepared to pack it in, go home to Shady and try again a few days later. R. mentioned first class, and our ticketing agent hear another ticketing agent say Dulles...and we were off to the races without much time to spare. So, this great guy rescheduled us through Washington DC via United--with an upgrade (albeit later) to First Class from DC to LA. So, there was a bit of frustration in the waiting (combined with K already losing her new itouch at Dulles--count it, one day). We were tired, but R. insisted we look at Dulles terminal (designed by Saarinin), ride the rooms on wheels and go to the remote Smithsonian Exhibit on flight. The latter was bagged as the wind was bitter and we didnt really have the bundling necessary to wait (albeit we did) for the badly marked bus location/bus to take us to the exhibit. However, the Saarinin building was magnificent. Perfect in its perfection, in the spaces, in the actual design and thinking that this space represented. It was also great that somehow (either budget or otherwise) they hadnt gummed up the design by retrofit or changes. The graphic treatment, the counters are all consistent with the original. Apparently, the design was concieved that one would go to check in, and then be ushered to these room buses which were very "Disneyland of Tomorrow" feeling (old Disneyland exhibits with manikins who were animated at the waist to move from left to right wearing "space suits". Then this room with wheels would drive you out to your plane. Interesting concept. But doesnt work a lick.

It was Obama mania in Dulles with a ton of "Inauguration Centers" that sold no end to stuff with Obama's image and the presidential seal..very English in the plethora of stuff (maybe no teacups or collectible spoons that the English are so fond of). Everything was very tempting (it is Christmas) and a white hoodie with the presidential seal with Obama's head photoshopped into the whole mess was glorious.It was sad (there has to be a story here) that the remarkable Fairey image was not used on the cover of the magazines, nor any of this merchandise. Instead, he is very ripped off (enough changes to stand up in front of a judge as diffrent) and the knock off work is blinding. Did Shepard Fairey want too much money for uses? To think that you are ripped off for Time(not sure the banner) and you wouldnt cave for that instance (and charge a bit less) for the exposure? Makes a girl curious.

I was charmed by United's hook to use beautiful and whimsical illustration to depict their upgrades, products, services. The sheer body of illustration they are buying (almost in the mode of children's illustration) is huge with some of them being animated for inflight program advertising. There is an illustrator I am going to need to google shortly who's work I saw on the subway in NYC ( a subway poster of people having fun at Coney Island with a short poem..I think). United had commissioned him/her to do a big illustration of Dubai which they used it its entirety and then snippets from it for other details of describing their program. The work could be paint or hard pastel pencils..a very Wanda G'ag style (Millions of Cats) with mounding trees etc, very stylish/deco inspired work using floral motifs in funny cute ways. His radiating skies are great. I love the way he transitions color from an object to the sky using a feathering, hard edged shape (in a color).

The flight was uneventful. The chairs were delightful as was the extra space, the continual flowing of water, and the nice people (even the yelping kids) were good. I made some little origami things to amuse the kids, (which it did) and knitted a hat(completely)--down to icord trim and pigtails.

Thought about next steps to move this illustration work forward. Thumbnails! I need to do a pile of them and from that select 4-6 images to do for SF. I will then have the "thesis" albeit, that would not be the end of the work. Kitty's portrait is half done...and want to do one of Alex, Mandy and Mabin. I also have the butterfly girl to paint and amendments to hands etc. I have a few months to get busy.

We are staying on Wilshire Avenue at the Kimpton, Paloma hotel. Very nice and designy...with all the wall sockets in the right places, the beds comfortable and the staff very accomodating. WE will be here for two nights...with Westwood to explore. The Armand Hammer museum will be a def. And, a huge show on Klimpt on the roster. You can get my updates on Facebook as it is a quick note taking way of staying current...so check that out too. Cool. We can see the ocean from our room with the famous Westwood movie theatre and the new LDS temple in full view.

More later

Getting ready

Tons of laundry and putting away. Sadness with the pets, they somehow know we are am=scraying--and are not too pleased. The itouches were given. Lukewarm for one recipient, HOTHOT for the other. They are right now, in the groove...and the less pleased is growing more and more engaged and happy.The thinking was internet connections and calendars Maybe technology will help them get their stuff together.. Rooms for the first two nights( Kimpton Hotel in Westwood), booked. Car, booked. Xmas eve and Day, booked( old favorite, Hermosa Beach Hotel). Bags--packed. Ready for heat, cold, wet and dry. Cameras. Loaded and charged. All liquids etc.--packed. All we have to conquer is the snow.Dinner on the table. Need to go. Just wanted to say, I will do something tomorrow a.m. on the phone. Steady as they go.

white and quiet


Mr. Cranky (Cat #1:otherwise known as TJ --Turbo, junior) is doing the thing that drives me nuts (and would probably make a good children's book) which is knock on the big window in front of my computer. He gets up on the big stone sill, and leans against the window, swiping it with his nasty little scratchy paws up and down, screechy little chalkboard scratches...incessant until he "gets my attention". I threw hm out in the snow this morning as he was loudly suggesting he spend some time in the basement (and this is not to chase the mice and the voles, the groundhogs and anyother creature that has decided that they, too, need to live with us) to spend it in substitute to time in the litter box. No no no. Out he went into the beautiful, silent snow. He and his foster sister, Mei Mei have lovely long grey coats..so outside of no boots, they have the gear for the weather. Cats! Shady Grove, dog extrodinaire is accomodated for our trip--and she will be spending time with Mandy, Jill of all trades, this holiday. Shady has been very lovey recently, climbing up into our laps (she is a 55 lb dog that thinks she is tiny), leaning her head on our knees or on our shoulders and in the case of a cold room, fills the heat gap quite nicely.

There he goes again, the grumpy Mr. Cranky, knocking at the window. Enjoy the sill, Mr. Boy. You need to chill (both ways). And so. You. Will.

The cake was eaten and remarked upon. A. had a delicate first slice and then upon discovering it was chocolate, zoned in on a enormous one which reassures me that today, the leftovers will be a concept. We had a nice gathering with the eighty plus year old birthday boy--with all sorts of talk about technology etc ( he is fond of apple computers and equipment). Speaking of equipment, take a look at this>> Drobo is a nice little mini rack that you can buy huge amound of memory (which we seem to go through like nobody's business) that backs itself up along with backing your computer up. This is what we have been looking for since I bagged the expensive tape drive system we were using and have both gotten big LaCie drives along with some cockamamie thing E. does with Amazon...Affordable. Back up of the back up. Need to do a deep dive on this.

We go to LA tomorrow. Need to ready the troops and pack. Shouldn't be bad. LA promises to be on the cool side, so jackets are in order.

Working on some patterns, decorative backgrounds--and need to review the good sketches to best understand what my mentor, Murray, sent via email. Then I need to call. I think I get it...the convention of NO WHITE LINES, and the idea that one can open up a hand...as it is a representational image, albeit not a rendering, and make the fingers have joints and bones unlike the rubber gloves I drew in my notebook. Need to look a bit more. I totally agree with his assessment. Now the call, now the redraw.

Wintery thoughts




My glasses are found at the grocery store. I finally was able to get into the College Board website and finally, finally registered K for a specialty SAT in French for January. Made the amazing cake Hazelnut/chocolate torte (made with pecans though...and it totally works) last night, iced it this morning. Made a half a flap hat...and tried it on (while it was still on the needles) and found that it might fit an ogre and not a normal person or teenager. So, I ripped it out to the earflaps and have it back to where it was, 2.5" less wide overall. These hats are crankable (created the pattern from a hat A. has) with nicer finish work...maybe tassels?

K was over at her friends, the identical triplets house for the snow in and then overnight. It was very fun for her as the stove of the house had a "sabbath" mode for folks to set so as not to allow them to cook over the sabbath. Apparently, someone had set the stove for sabbath, so there was no cooking until they could get a hold of a customer service person who happened to be snowed in (like most of the poeple I called yesterday). So, they cranked up the woodstove and cooked and heated on the stove. Then off to the fields with the dogs and their imaginations where they made up ideas and talked about them as a group (these are high school seniors and juniors, mind you!). Then back to the house for pyjamas and chick flicks. This morning, when R went to pick K up, there was the beaming (he always shines...its just his glowy personality) dad, with a two man sleigh (rough and ready...a working sleigh) hitched up to a very shaggy caramel horse with bells. No, not colonial Williamsburg, not a Christmas Card, just more farm tools with tremendous style. Just hearing this made my day. It was a Jan Brett moment. The Jan Brett books are so holiday with their tales and pictures of trolls in trouble, or Norwiegan imps and christmas makers with twined branches and porcupines, red wrapping paper and ribbons, handmade presents like mittens and hats--she inspires the best of the holidays (I love her books...sometimes her drawing can be a tad rocky...but cant it be for all of us!). I googled Brett to find out a lot about her inspiration and ideas for books--but on a personal note Scholastic tells us:

"When I was I child, I decided to be an illustrator. I spent many hours reading and drawing. I remember the special quiet of rainy days, when I felt that I could enter the pages of beautiful picture books. Now I try to re-create that feeling of believing that the imaginary place I'm drawing really exists. The detail in my work helps to convince me, and I hope others as well, that such places might be real.

As a student at the Museum School in Boston, I spent hours in the Museum of Fine Arts. It was overwhelming to see room-size landscapes and towering stone sculptures, and then moments later to refocus on delicately embroidered kimonos and ancient porcelain. I'm delighted and surprised when fragments of these beautiful images come back to me in my painting.

Illustrating children's books always seems like a big adventure because as an artist I must explore and give thought to my subject — an artist needs to know everything about their subject. I try to get a feel for the country and times my characters live in, and I get many ideas from traveling to different countries, where I research the architecture and costumes that appear in my work. After a trip to Norway, I was inspired to write three books! I've found that the details and the odd little things one notices help make a story convincing. In my mind, the story comes alive. And for me, the best part about telling a story is drawing the pictures.

Jan Brett lives in a seacoast town in Massachusetts with her husband, who is a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Buffy, her pet hedgehog. To find out more about Jan Brett, visit her Web site. Meet some of her charming characters, and enjoy all her wonderful online and offline activities."

and the snow continues to fall.

R. just came back with my specs and a Christmas tree for his parents (who live with us in an apartment within the house). They are entertaining and being entertained during the holiday, so it just seemed like the right thing to do. R. is busy thinking about design ideas to move the rennovation further next summer with this house which should be great... and we huddle next to the cricket (our tiny log wood Jotul stove previously mentioned Feb 2008). That little baby can crank some btus and with the rooms of this big house (the one's not closed for the winter) it can be a bit breezy that layers and hats are def in order. I even have fingerless gloves (very stylish) that I have made to help keep in the heat.

Must go clean off the dining room table (from last week's deluge) and prep for the prepping of the suitcases.

More later.

heart in hand.


They are promising inches (maybe even feet) of snow today. There was a buzz at the grocery store (where I might have lost my short vision glasses) this morning as the school (one of a few)had classes with an early dismissal as the afternoon promised the big hit. We will see. Here it is ten,, and it is steadily beginning to come down. We do have milk, eggs, herkimer bread and something for dinner for two nights in hand. Plus, we have birthday cake makings for one of our newest favorite people who is turning 83 tomorrow...and we all have been invited to his party!

Continuing to strike things off my list. Presents gone, cards gone. Guilt is not gone, ah well. Now with my glasses lost, another thing goes on the list. Right now, I have two pairs of speccio on my nose...a real nod to being older...but hey, I can see!. Got the iphoto backed up and have taken enough stuff off the travel computer that we will be okay on the road. Plans for LA shaping up to blocking out our time into thirds--so we are not spending our time traversing the city in a car, not seeing anything. First third Pasadena/Universal City, second third, Hermosa Beach, and final third, Westwood (maybe with a bit in Santa Monica at the end). I am thinking no Huntington Beach this trip. Great for gear and extreme clothing...and really beautiful...but a bit of a trek when northern aspects of the city we have missed in the travel we have had with the kids.

Am working on some leaf shapes with my lovely pens. Murray was right about how I love just the doing of the work. It truly is like going to the mental spa. I love putting the ink down, the blackness, the movement of the ink, and how magically, an image appears all the while I am thinking about the next image or how to add/subtract to the current image to take it further. Should it have color? Not? Reversed? Mashing a reverse and a positive together. Though it feels meditative, it is work--working the ink, working the line, refining as I draw and finally changing the inked piece in the computer by adding color, subtracting lines and overdraws. It is all pleasure because it is me, talking to me about something that is coming from my head, my hand, my heart. I find it hard to want to do anything else (at least in my spare time).

Have wound some Noro (japanese, hand dyed yarn) to make andean inspired ski hats on the plane. Those are the kind that have the ear flaps and machine knit are expensive. This Noro is a silk/wool blend that gradiates in color from a yellow brown to magenta and orange with a brown twist that is consistent throughout the fiber. Should be very cool and handmade looking...and becoming with the skin tones of the people I am making them for. I havent told you about my hats, they are somewhat of a novelty and a thing of desire of the locals. I made a bunch of these Afghan inspired (straight sided) hats with a series of different colorways for a few Christmases and gave them to people who are near (living with me (relatives and friends)) and or dear. One fellow wears his hat from the time the weather gets cool here through the end of April. Every day. He may switch my hat out for another hat I made for him...but its a Q. So, the plane is a good place to listen to tapes and knit...(now that we are not going to hijack the plane with our needles) as I need to spread out a bit to draw (the tray table isnt a great place...what with bumps and jiggles...that doesnt help either.

Gotta go. Things are piling up and the snow has arrived. E. is having car trouble so we need to close out the time for this week.

Handy!


These hands have nothing to do with Christmas. Just trying to work off a bit of steam from my love of all things indian. Saw some amazing ceramics at Art Basel/ Design Miami of objects inspired by things asian. They had an enormous, silk covered box with those lovely ivory sliders (the sort of box that you might get a very special doll, or vase or something packaged in as a gift (the object is made specifically to be a gift)--Well, this box was a zillion times bigger (5 ft tall), and it was opened and had drawers and shelves inside with these amazing, ornate and detailed white (must have been porcelain given the detail and finish) objects--one a dragon, another a little building etc. Surrounding this box on shelves around the walls were more ceramic objects with my favorites (if I had to pick) being a hand (about 14" wide) and the others being these very delicate coffee cups with eensie weensie hands that were massed together as the saucers (very Kali, hindu goddess of death and destruction...love her with her skirt made of arms, her long and scary tongue....I digress). Anyway, love the hands in the miniatures that I have been staring at in the evenings in the bathtub (seems to do the trick as I have not needed to solve the world's problems recently, but maybe because that is why Obama got the job, not me!)



These are snapshots from Design Miami. Thought you might enjoy. I love em. These little twiddles are getting my head back in the game. I need to put a lot of ink down on the paper before the picture making vibe happens. Until then, these little spots.

We had the annual holiday band and chorus concert at the school last night. Nary a sour note nor off key straggler. Very good, actually with great energy and spirit. High Schoolers are almost grownups....so its not quite the clap and sway/ herding of cats program the Middle School is. It was great to see A. so engaged. Two more days to finish up what needs to be finished up along with shepherding the organization and change of the present closet apres the weekend deluge due to the toilet running over. All is dry and seemingly back to normal...except for the closet where I cache all sorts of stuff I collect over the year to "give to people" which has, lately, gotten a bit out of hand. Now, thanks to the flood, I know what is in there, what I can give away and what is just not making it. Onward!

Snow is being announced for tomorrow. Southern Tier of New York (Corning/Elmira) getting the brunt of the storm (15" or so)--so we will definitely be part of that mix. I sent all the packages of little things to go to school with K in the expectation that Christmas break may actually have one more day in it this year. That would be great as the team can convene at the walkable pizza shop and while the day away with pals. Isn't that what High School is about...? Plus all of last year's seniors are back, so there is lots of exclamation and hugging and catching up that could happen. I think I might, like K does, wear my pyjamas inside out to will the snow day to happen.

What do you think?

let me off this merry go round!


Ordering a bunch of imprinted envelopes from Action. A bright pink one (maybe) for the valentine we will do and a pea green one for shipping. Also just ordered ink for next year and a trial balloon on the Arches Infinity cold press for the Epson (on sale) through Digital Art Supplies in California. They have great prices, always have things in stock and if you order enough, they have levels of buyers/deeper discounts. Love them. Will get the envelopes from Action (see sidebar) as they will imprint and its relatively cheap. And, did I say this was EASY?

Talked with our accountant yesterday re where the business is at year end, and the roll in with the first quarter next year to take out the surprises, if we can. Its manic getting all this business stuff put to bed with work on the table as well. Please understand its not you, its me--and that is why our little exchanges have been maybe a bit terse, or written or linked to others.

My powerbook is gasping for air. Iphoto is choking it...so its time to upload and save out the images as it is gobbling 44 GB on a portable machine. Man, does this take time and makes you itchy. And, the internet connection was misbehaving and not connecting today. Urg. Tie my hands, will you?

Am planning for the packing for LA. Need to check the weather as it can be cold/hot, breezy/still and everything in between. It is the same rush to the plane with packing, washing, thinking out what we will need, what we won't. But this is tomorrow tomorrows event.

Tonight is the band/choral concert at the High School. Seven o'clock start, so sandwiches need to be plied by 6 (at latest), to get the team there by their time of 6:30 and get the seats etc. Will be running until then.

More later

Winter Solstice Coming

On the night of winter solstice, as seen from a northern sky, the three stars in Orion's Belt align with the brightest star in the eastern sky Sirius to show where the Sun will rise in the morning after winter solstice. Until this time, the Sun has exhibited since summer solstice a decreasing arc across the Southern sky. On winter solstice, the Sun ceases to decline in the sky and the length of daylight reaches its minimum for three days, during which the sun does not move on the horizon. After such a time, the Sun begins its ascent into the northern sky and days grow longer. Thus the interpretation by many cultures of a sun reborn and a return to light. This return to light is again celebrated at the vernal equinox, when the length of day equals that of night.

The fellow nested in the text is an altar dating to 1800 BCE within an astronomically aligned Monte Alto complex in Guatemala.

There are many ceremonies and holidays that concur with the Winter Solstice, with Christmas being the one that comes to mind for many of us in the western world.

Here are a few that caught my fancy from Wiki>>

n late seventh century Japan, festivities were held to celebrate the reemergence of Amaterasu or Amateras, the sun goddess of Japanese mythology, from her seclusion in a cave. Tricked by the other gods with a loud celebration, she peeks out to look and finds the image of herself in a mirror and is convinced by the other gods to return, bringing sunlight back to the universe. Requiems for the dead were held and Manzai and Shishimai were performed throughout the night, awaiting the sunrise. Aspects of this tradition have continued to this day on New Years.[6]

The Inti Raymi or Festival of the Sun was a religious ceremony of the Inca Empire in honor of the sun god Inti. It also marked the winter solstice and a new year in the Andes of the Southern Hemisphere. One ceremony performed by the Inca priests was the tying of the sun. In Machu Picchu there is still a large column of stone called an Intihuatana, meaning "hitching post of the sun" or literally for tying the sun. The ceremony to tie the sun to the stone was to prevent the sun from escaping. The Spanish conquest, never finding Machu Picchu, destroyed all the other intihuatana, extinguishing the sun tying practice. The Catholic Church managed to suppress all Inti festivals and ceremonies by 1572. Since 1944 a theatrical representation of the Inti Raymi has been taking place at Sacsayhuamán (two km. from Cusco) on June 24 of each year, attracting thousands of local visitors and tourists. The Monte Alto culture may have also had a similar tradition.

Makara Sankranti, celebrated at the beginning of Uttarayana, is the only Hindu festival which is based on the celestial calendar rather than the lunar calendar. The zodiac having drifted from the solar calendar has caused the festival to now occur in mid-January (see precession of equinoxes). In Tamil Nadu it is celebrated as the festival of Pongal. The day before Pongal, the last day of the previous year, they celebrate Bhogi. In Assam it is called Magh Bihu (the First day of Magh), in Punjab Lohri and in Maharshtra it is called Makar Sankranti and is celebrated by exchanging balls of sesame candy (Til Gul) and requesting each other to be as sweet as the candy balls for the next year. It is called Makara Sankrant because the sun enters the zodiacal sign of Capricorn on 14th January (Makar meaning Capricorn). It is celebrated with much pomp in Andhra Pradesh, where the festival is celebrated for three days and is more of a cultural festival than an auspicious day as in other parts of India. In some parts of India, the festival is celebrated by taking dips in the Ganga or another river and offering water to the Sun god. The dip is said to purify the self and bestow punya. In many countries, mainly in Gujarat, families fly kites from their roofs all day and into the night. It is a form of celebrating and welcoming the longer days. In a symbolic way, thousands of kites with different colors flying in the sky give us a feeling of the earth welcoming the brighter, warmer sky. It is also very common to feed gras to the cows on this day. In Assam on Bihu Eve or Uruka families build house-like structures called bhelaghar and separate large bhelaghar are built by the community as a whole. Different sorts of twine are tied around fruit trees. Traditionally, fuel is stolen for the final ceremony, when all the bhelaghar are burned. Their remains are then placed at the fruit trees. Special puja is offered as a thanksgiving for good harvest. Since the festival is celebrated in midwinter, the foods prepared for this festival are such that they keep the body warm and give high energy. Laddu of til made with jaggery is specialty of the festival.

Mummer's Day, or "Darkie Day" as it is sometimes known, is an ancient Cornish midwinter celebration that occurs every year on December 26 and New Year's Day in Padstow, Cornwall. It was originally part of the 'pagan' heritage of midwinter celebrations that were regularly celebrated all over Cornwall where people would guise dance and disguise themselves by blackening up their faces or wearing masks.

Early Germans (c.500-1000) considered the Norse goddess, Hertha or Bertha to be the goddess of light, domesticity and the home. They baked yeast cakes shaped like shoes, which were called Hertha's slippers, and filled with gifts. "During the Winter Solstice houses were decked with fir and evergreens to welcome her coming. When the family and serfs were gathered to dine, a great altar of flat stones was erected and here a fire of fir boughs was laid. Hertha descended through the smoke, guiding those who were wise in saga lore to foretell the fortunes of those persons at the feast".[25] There are also darker versions of Perchta which terrorize children along with Krampus. Many cities had practices of dramatizing the gods as characters roaming the streets. These traditions have continued in the rural regions of the Alps, and various similar traditions, such as Wren day, survived in the Celtic nations until recently.

I love this stuff.

Upcoming 3x3 Shows

Note on the Student Shows>>Hey Hartford Pals: This means us!

3x3 Student Show
As always this show is open to all undergraduate and graduate students in all art schools, colleges and universities around the globe. Work must have been completed in calendar year 2008. A partial list of this year's judges include illustrators/educators Alexandra Kardinar, Germany; Gary Embury, United Kingdom; Clemente Botelho, Canada and Martha Rich, John Hendrix, Nora Krug of the US. Rounding out the judges is artist representative Pat Lindgren, Lindgren & Smith.
Entry deadline: February 14, 2009

3x3 ProShow
Open to all art directors, editors, designers and illustrators. Categories include: Advertising, Animation, Books, Editorial, Fashion, Gallery, Institutional, Self-Promotion, Sequential, Three-Dimensional and Unpublished. Our judges to date include art directors Alexandre Lagoet, Amsterdam, Raban Ruddigkeit, Germany and SooJin Buzelli and Darlene Simidian, the US as well as illustrators Roman Klonek and Monika Aichele, Germany, Marco Ventura, Italy and Yuko Shimizu, the US.
Entry deadline: March 14, 2009

3x3 Children's Book Show
Open to all art directors, editors, authors, designers and illustrators from around the world. All published and unpublished children's books completed in 2008 are eligible. We are in the process of naming our judges for this year's show.
Entry Deadline: April 14. 2009

We will begin accepting entries on January 5 but full details are available online at 3x3mag.com, Shows. All entries must be either uploaded or received by the deadline. Winners will be featured in the 3x3 Illustration Annual No. 6 coming out in late 2009.

keeping up--or at least trying to.


New list. New Week. Gotta get going. Lots of pick ups and deliveries. Lots of trips to the post office. New graphics for 2300 degrees at the Museum. Just found this amazing YouTube video of the 2300˚ event which, I must admit, was created at my kitchen table with my hubbie and me just jawboning about "what if"...and all the postcards you see on this film were designed and executed by me. There have been close to 10 years of 2300˚ events with one better than the next--increasing attendance, attention and ability for the Museum of Glass. Plus, they have managed to crash through the age barrier getting the younger executives to engage...and plan their social life around the third Thursday of the month starting at the Museum. There are far more images...one for each and every event (one even got into 3x3's annual show)--so seeing this all jelled is quite amusing, and amazing. But as you know, ideas are cheap--(and plentiful) it is the action, activity and effort that takes jawboning and ideas and makes it real. If it weren't for the amazing team at the museum, it might have stayed an idea. It is their taste, energy, humor and insistence in the event getting better and better which has driven this success. I feel a bit like a proud parent!

another find

Have you ever had the problem sending a web address to someone and its huge and gets all bolluxed up, broken, unfunctional? If so: go to Tiny URL>> Its a freebie...and highly functional. The Twitterers dig it and alway reference tinyurls as part of their shorty messages. Give it a spin.

Tony Hsieh, CEO, Zappos.com on Twitter

So first of all, what is Twitter? The best analogy I can think of is that it's like CB radio, but for text messaging. You basically answer the question "What are you doing right now?" at different times throughout the day, and the messages that you send have to be short -- 140 characters or less. So some examples of what you might say are:

Having drinks at the Horseshoe Bar with my co-workers.
zappos 2 minutes ago
or

Eating sushi.
zappos 1 minute ago
or

About to fly to New York from Vegas.
zappos less than a minute ago

You send an SMS text message to Twitter with your note, and your message will be automatically broadcast (like CB radio) to whoever is choosing to follow you (your friends). If people don't care what you're doing, they won't follow you, so don't worry about sending out trivial messages.

At first, it will seem really weird and unnatural for you to do this, but just trust me on this one. You will find that it's actually a really good way to stay in touch with all your friends and know what's going on in their lives.
___
Tony really explains what Twitter is...and how to go about doing it. Check it out here>>

Done

Hartford paper, done. Did the proper attributions to the images, attributed other stuff too. Long and winding road--but I learned quite a bit in the writing-- I took the approach that we all have opportunities that arise in our lives that sometimes we just don't see. But there are those that have these situations that arise and they see them and are changed either professionally, personally or otherwise by rising to the challenge, taking the risk, and hopefully reaping the rewards. I cited the Dillons, Walt Reed as two examples with a more granular look at Zina Saunders, illlustrator and individual extrordinaire. I tried to limit the run on sentences. I edited. I chopped sentences in pieces and knit them back together. I strung ideas together. I found pull quotes. i dug deep into Saunders' blog and actually could track the progression of an idea, of her political pieces. Interesting. To think that the blog is more than just an idea dumping ground. It is an actual historical, first hand piece of information that is dated and time stamped. Think of the world in 10 years, 25 years, 50 years with all this first hand information.

In the spirit of the web, I am diving a bit in Facebook and Twitter. I joined Facebook initially to see what my kids were experiencing (I joined MySpace for the same reason and really had a great deal of hesitation and distaste for that environment). I think that Facebook is fairly benign and less of a public urinal that MySpace is. It is a social site, where I have found old friends, met new ones...actually got a bite on a job. I have posted photos, illustrations and just generally made one or two little notes daily as it takes little to no time. There is an instant message feature which is nice--and their inside applications are great. I can port my blog over (not too successfully) and bring my 'tweets" over from Twitter. Now, Twitter I joined because i figured if Obama was using it during his election, there was something there. Twitter is essentially an open text message you post to a broad world that can be winnowed down to who is following your "tweets" or whose "tweets you are following. Starbucks posts on Twitter as does my favorite Twitterer, the CEO of Zappos who, last week, told us about how he was heating up cold pizza in a hotel room on his iron-- and today about someone who hurled a "size 10" at the President. Tony, the Zappos CEO is funny, and fun--its is great to travel with him and get his jokes, note his observations, and get inside the head of a fairly normal human being. Makes me love Zappos even more. Starbucks is a little harder to get my head wrapped around what they are about...but I have only been at it for 3 days. I think it is curious the way these communications vehicles all twine with each other (if you know how to do it)--I cannot even begin to imagine how to promote these synergistic elements...and when they are all done, to what end. I guess I just need to do this to figure it out.

Our brand new toilet in the upstairs new bathroom overflowed this p.m. with Alex coming into my studio asking me to come into the summer living room. " I couldn't understand why it was raining, inside" he said as we discovered what the rain actually was. It was a crummy moment, but with two teens and two grownups leaning into it...we got this thing under control quickly with lots of towels and dish cloths.

Gotta go.

Waiting

Here at Satori waiting for team teen to get their six week beauty do-- sitting among the piles of Aveda holiday sets (very tempting) and thinking about illustration. my thesis.and where things could go. I've started to worry versus being relaxed about the end product. This is so wrong as I believe that the journey is more important than the end work as the end project should be the beginning of the next learning experience and not a termination.

I have the genesis work. I have the butterfly girl. I have the portraits that are vector but really showcase my being a designer and my love of the graphic like Ludwig Hohlwein, Matisse, and the decorative portraitists. There is work I want to do with silhouettes as well.so I just need the time to buckle down and work on all of it and see where the most immediate energy is-- and go for it. I am torn but also jazzed as the vector work has gotten some traction in some shows-- and now with the willowhead from Memento Mori getting into the Society of Illustrators show ( it got into American Illustration last winter) it begins to validate the hand drawn image.

I began to freak about this willowhead as the Society wants the original in the show. It's a page from my sketchbook-- a loose and fast image that isn't a perfect, refined piece. I have cleaned up in photoshop-- but they don't want that. I guess there is teaching in it's simplicity.
Another test is that I ordered a black wood frame with these carved half rounds as a nubbily pattern. I looked to buy a tramp art frame on eBay -- but the price was a bit over the top. But, note to self, eyes peeled for this sort of thing in the future. Key to coolness.

Busy

Back from lunch with K, the triplets and their fun and busy mom. We had Thai food with lots of pad Thai for all. We talked about college, art, portfolios and dogs that fart. It was fun and a tradition we plan on starting as the first group of true friends are graduating in June. I am a big believer in making your own memories and traditions and this the need to start thinking some up before time catches us unaware.

Gotta go for now-- more appointments.

Fairfield Porter ((June 10, 1907 - September 18, 1975)



"The presence in a painting.. is like the presence a child feels and recognizes in things and the way they relate, like a doorknob, the slant of a roof or its flatness, or the personality of a tool. Art does not succeed by compelling you to like it, but by making you feel this presence in it. Is someone there? This someone can be impersonal." Fairfield Porter.

An older artist than either Pearlstein or Welliver, Fairfield Porter was a more reticent realist, and with no link to Abstract Expressionism. He was largely self-taught. From the mid-1950s on he stayed away from Manhattan, preferring to paint on Long Island and on Great Spruce Head Island in Maine, which his family owned. This didn't put him out of touch with "the scene" - Porter was a gifted and lucid art critic as well as a painter - but he needed to be in constant touch with his motifs, especially American light and the still expanses of coastal field and sea. Porter rejected the piety that the empirically painted figure or landscape was dead. It simply didn't accord with his deepest convictions about how art relates to experience and conveys its "density" - a favorite word of his. from artchive>>

Wayne White





We saw Wayne White's work at the Western Project Gallery at Aqua in Miami. Just a little share with you. He is a smartie. Love him.

From Trendy DNA:
Wayne White, a Chattanooga-born artist living and working in Los Angeles, buys mass-produced thrift-store/garage-sale lithographs and paints amazing 3D word-art onto them. His use of typography is stunning, reminiscent of Chris Ware’s Acme Novelty Library covers.

In his professional life, he’s an acclaimed commercial artist, famously known as the art director for Peter Gabriel’s “Big Time,” the Smashing Pumpkins’ “Tonight Tonight,” and the Snapple bottle puppet commercials. He was also the voice of Mr. Kite and Randy on Pee Wee’s Playhouse, where he was a set designer and puppet maker. ArtForum reviewed his artwork in late 2002. More information, including more images and a bio, is available at the Western Project.

WIKI says>>