Promises of Blustery

Promises of blustery weather today. High winds, cold. I guess winter has arrived. It is a beautiful morning with Maxfield Parrish skies, and branches reaching heavenward. Shady and I both have sniffles. I have a headache, and cannot vouch for my dog. So, that is where we are.

We have Bruce here--full of ideas, conversations and insights. He is a great guest and we always love having him. Mandy is due here in a week or so for a month's stay and possibly doing a bit of work for us which could be fabulous. So, its a full house this holiday which makes me pleased as I can cook the way I know how, for thousands, and know that it will be consumed. As much as I am really going to hear about it, we are having turkey again tonight with the lovely opportunity of stock, tomorrow.

I finished another pink wreath (much like the one posted yesterday) and refined the green and patterned one I first posted. I am stringing the beads for the next one, all white and yellow as the theme I am building the strands on--so by the end of the weekend, I should have a half dozen to give as presents. Should be nice. These are presents I hadn't counted on having, so I can give them freely as there is no plan around them. I cannot let this wreath making cut into my advent calendar picture making which, until now, it hasn't. Just need to stay disciplined on that. But, I am seriously thinking of the whole Etsy thing and may set up a business that I will have Kitty and Alex work as the fulfillment office for. There seems to be interest and momentum, and it could be a good lesson in "if you can't find a job that works for you, make a job up" thinking that I believe in. Plus, you can run a fulfillment business in front of the television which makes the work oh so much more entertaining.

I am reading Twitter tweets, blogs and Facebook notations that my Hartford friends are really feeling the pinch these days. The combination of papers, theme project and the looming thesis can be intense but doable if one sticks to a rigor of getting one thing done and moving to the next. I think this pressure is a good thing as it is training to continue to multitask post graduate and helps (along with the pure exercise of writing) you to define what is important. Specifically, what is important to you....and to use your time wisely so as to get to the meat of what makes you tick. My feeling in the graduate school scenario, the pain is what forces growth. But then again, isn't that how we push forward in life?

I need a push to start reading Dante. It seems that Dante is one of those authors that people who go to prestigious schools read in their teenagedom. I have not cracked it open and will. I was totally inspired by a show we saw at Mass MOCA with an artist doing their extrodinary dioramas/ vignettes of people in everyday lives interpreeted from Dante quotes. There was such a lovely richness to the language and the ideas that I am taken with the bits I have read and want to continue with it. I just need to get the steam up from the less than smart books I am reading, to move to this classic. I dont know if there is a cuddliness that is needed in the late hours in Dante's work--so I will need to start it with the early morning coffee and gauge how I am going to attack it.

Onward to felt balls, ink pens, credit cards and the concept of "Smokin' Hot".

Wintery Mix

Bruce rolled in here last night after we consumed vast quantities of leftovers and I started my second felt ball wreath. I have the technique nailed. Instead of sewing each ball individually, I have learned to string them and then whip stitch them into place. Quicker, less ponderous and same results. With that in mind, I am almost done with the third wreath at 9 a.m with details to refine, but that's it. So I hope to post(may even be this post) the picture of the second one to evince progress and evolution. We got a bit of snow last night, enough to postpone school for two hours to our delight. Kitty was trying hard for a snow day (wearing your pajamas inside out and flushing ice down the toilet) to no significant results. Heavy wet stuff is on the ground with promises of rain and more snow. It is beautiful, with the blue sky poking through the clouds. And the light this morning! It was absolutely brilliantly blue...a bright copenhagen blue radiating through the windows which stunned me. I love the odd and unexpected color palette that winter brings us. I have postcards to design today for CMoG and some big company stuff having to do with logistics and logo usage. Need to focus on this and the non-paying work. That is equally important, and equally challenging. More later as the day progresses>>

Trying out my iPhone before the changeover

I found out that I had a hair appointment before work started this morning. I had a really nice drive down to Ithaca and around the lake-- listening to classical music and letting my mind wander from illustration to graphic design to little side projects to cooking. I was musing over the book I am reading about the Hemmings at Monticello and the history of slavery. The author sets the stage by describing a conference she was attending about a new body of information that was presented about the slave trade and how the shipping/import of slaves happened. The author was stunned by the way the slaves, these people, we presented as a metric but not as individuals with names, history, place of origin. She was stunned by this revelation-- that these people were still, today, dehumanized by the sheer lack of information and identification. The Hemmings family is a slave family whose identity is interwoven since their arrival in the America colonies with that of the family of Thomas Jefferson's wife and then with Jefferson -- so there is written history, names, dates, locales, that can be linked with this family and the individuals associated with them. This should be an interesting foray for this winter.

Waiting for snow

I am learning more than I care to about the way one can lock oneself down from harassers. The aspect of being a sitting duck to other people's paranoia and rage is a frightening thing...and combining it with eh "holiday spirit" really makes uncomfortable mincemeat in the soul. There is no right or wrong in this situation but more reason and unreasonable, passionate and rational, or enraged and engaged. I am fearful in my own house....trying to protect myself and my own, against the sporadic rage of someone losing control. So, we have locked the doors, alerted everyone about the status, trying to change all points of communications. Now all we do is wait, assume a "calm" and "normal" demeanor, and hope that this blows over for today. Makes me so thankful that I have a wonderful husband, kind and funny kids and a situation that just keeps becoming more and more rich and positive. Not the spiraling selfishness and rage that my friend is subjected to.

Lots of little stuff on the desk for today. We plan to release a 48 pp book to the printer tomorrow with presstime tentatively scheduled for Christmas week. Totally makes sense...its always when you don't want it...but hey.

Am sewing my second wool ball wreath. It is turning out even nicer than the first--and what with the exclamations of joy in the waiting room at the dentist, I am seriously thinking of buying these balls and selling them on esty.com perhaps evolving it into a wreath pattern/kit. This is something I will need teenaged assistance with, but as I have the lead on this with the home team, it should be great. Need to assess the scene with Esty prior to launching headlong into this activity. Esty has been quite profitable (a salary and then some) for some local folks here in Tburg, and I am intrigued by the opportunities it offers. A friend of mine surfaced that he thought it was the new ebay. You know, I think he is on to something. If you are not familiar with Etsy.com give it a click>> Something to think about. I am having mini frissons of ideas on this one. Need to stop sewing these wreaths and get back into the advent calendar which I am enjoying as well. So much fun. Matter of fact, fun is where its at.

Second Monday in December

Rob is home today. I pick him up at the airport around noon. Then we have the trip to Corning at 3:30 for the team to get their teeth cleaned/observed. So, its an out and about day. I really finished up the export stuff for Christmas yesterday. Got it all boxed up with some odds and ends outstanding, but thats it. Hurray. Worked on today's advent calendar picture, a donkey with gifts that often accompanies St.Nicholas in Europe. I should have tucked St. Nicholas into the picture, but just dashed this off for fun. Maybe one with the old man is in order later. I have how many more days? Let me think...25 minus 7 is 18. Eighteen more illustrations.

Speaking of Christmas, I was just musing out loud about the Sound of Music and the Von Trapp Family. For my generation, the Von Trapp Family Austrian Antics were ingrained in our thinking and consciousness. Boiled wool, Austrian Hats with "shaving brush" decorations, dirdls, cuckoo clocks and the perky singing of all those matching children was something to aspire to, and for me, something that was distinctly very "holiday". It surprises me that the Von Trapps have lived their lives running their hotel in the east without really being grabbed by a huge marketing machine and having the Disney Von Trapp Xmas, or Von Trapp authorized perfect holiday stuff. The Martha Stewarts of Christmas. There is an opportunity there, but somehow, I think that the Von Trapps perhaps are too smart for those sorts of shenanigans. I still think there is a huge opportunity there. Their wonderful website points up that no, they do not need Disney to market them. They are doing just fine, thankyou. Von Trapp Family Lodge>>

I just saw a bunch of illustrations done by Maxfield Parrish, the advertising work he had done for Jello, and was comforted and amused by their assymetrical qualities and how this flippy work I have been doing is part of that family. Now, I do not even begin to stand in the shadow of this amazing illustrator, but knowing that he lives in this space is reassuring for me. I have been just toodling along on this stuff writing it off as "illegitimate" and "sketches". To know that this Parrish fiddled around with the same stuff is remarkable and reassuring.

Work abounds. More from the Hangar. More with a fashion designer mark. More with Quest Diagnostics, and more with the Museum. And, the artisan bread logotype for their farm. It goes and goes. But this is happy work. Looks like more snow.

 

First Sunday in December

Just wrote a nice journal entry and due to my flakiness, lost it. I guess it will be better writing and more concise thinking today (or at least you can hope). Yesterday was highly productive. I met with the Director of the Hangar Theatre to talk about my posters and to do a little blue sky thinking about the promise of the Hangar. I am not a "theatre" person but really love the artistic passion and thinking that goes on around putting a production together--which is the same passion around the single person "sports" like illustration and art. The ability to drive excitement and dreaming, the thoughtfulness of how to render a story can change someone's thinking for a minute, an hour, a day, a lifetime. The moment one shares with actors becomes a personal experience that can move you to change, to evolve, to reflect. It is more than an amusement, but a way to communicate broadly about ideas and interaction that no other media directly touches on, without disrespect to the audience as well as the ideas of the writers, actors, directors. It is that generous artistic spirit that really is quite intoxicating. I find it curious that I had to get out of my zone and get this degree to embrace this so fully now.

Alex and Kitty and I did some shopping at Urban Outfitters and then taking on the Mall. The people were not out in force though the sales were good and very tantalizing. Secretly, it makes me happy that I have done most of my shopping from the comfort of my keyboard and monitor, because the random this and that that gets tossed into the shopping cart is significantly reduced so that the presents can actually be a little nicer, and the random quelques chose isnt puzzled over, "now who can I give this to". Online shopping is a time and temptation saver. We got home after doing the rounds (to our dismay, none of the Vans that Alex Cassetti was fixed on worked, so a trip to Zappos will be in order today).

I bought a few wreath forms. Wire ones to make these wreathes (sewn) out of wool balls (purchased from felt and crafts a company in Nepal that sells great Sari fibers but also felt balls (I have the tie dyed ones, the solid colored ones and the swirly balls). The other wreath we saw in a magazine made of marshmallows poked into a form base, and designed in it's white density, and pattern of the large and small white forms. Really cute, particularly with a big silver bow. So, tonight, we are going to watch TV and make these things. Might make Alex choke (the big smell of marshmallows abounding) but he will just have to put up with it. Kitty and I also made some bar cookies, and today we are eating down the oatmeal by making a mess of oatmeal cookies. We got a little bit of snow to all of our delight.

So, plans are coming together for the teen Holiday Fest. I am thinking after 6:30 (no dinner), with a Yankee Swap (more detail from Tom yesterday and perhaps the dress is to come "Naughty or Nice"--bring your own impression of that. Could be fun. Lemonade and seltzer, cookies and Kitty requests some "salty" which I think I can accomodate. The request has surfaced that we do a Facebook Invitation which worked so well with the Sausage Fest, that this will be a no brainer. Today. Def. Along with the wrapping and the boxing that you, my friends, are keeping me from! More later

A Day to Watch Out

December 5th is a day that many European children hide and tremble. Diving under their beds,  hiding in the closets, nervously casting glances at the front door. Is he here? Is he coming? Have I been thaaaat naughty? Or will Saint Nicholas cut me a break? Wikipedia reminds us in the entry "Companions of St. Nicholas":

In parts of Austria, Krampus is a scary figure, most probably originating in the Pre-Christian Alpine traditions. Local tradition typically portrays these figures as children of poor families, roaming the streets and sledding hills during the holiday festival. They wore black rags and masks, dragging chains behind them, and occasionally hurling them towards children in their way. These Krampusumzüge (Krampus runs) still exist, although perhaps less violent than in the past.

Today, in Schladming, a town in Styria, over 1200 "Krampus" gather from all over Austria wearing goat-hair costumes and carved masks, carrying bundles of sticks used as switches, and swinging cowbells to warn of their approach. They are typically males in their teens and early twenties, and often get very drunk. They roam the streets of this typically quiet town and hit people with their switches. It is not considered wise for young women to go out on this night, as they are popular targets.

In many parts of Croatia, Krampus is described as a devil, wearing chains around his neck, ankles and wrists, and wearing a cloth sack around his waist. As a part of a tradition, when a child receives a gift from St. Nicolas he is given a golden branch to represent his/hers good deeds throughout the year; however, if the child has misbehaved, Krampus will take the gifts for himself and leave only a silver branch to represent the child's bad acts. Children are commonly scared into sleeping during the time St. Nicolas brings gifts by being told that if they are awake, Krampus will think they have been bad, and will take them away in his sack. In Hungary, the Krampusz is often portrayed as mischievous rather than evil devil, wearing a black suit, a long red tongue, with a tail and little red horns that are funny rather than frightening. The Krampusz wields a Virgács, which is a bunch of golden coloured twigs bound together. Hungarian parents often frighten children with getting a Virgács instead of presents, if they do not behave. By the end of November, you can buy all kinds of Virgács on the streets, usually painted gold, bound by a red ribbon. Getting a Virgács is rather more fun than frightening, and is usually given to all children, along with presents to make them behave.

___

So, that is the good news for today. Tomorrow, I start of Père Fouettard (the whipfather), the French slice of Holiday Terror for the naughty. Naughty or nice always was pretty softball with our Santa Claus. But these european fellows really make you think.

This morning,  I have a meeting about some work and then shopping with K and A. There are new shoes to get and thises and thats for Christmas gifts. I am at the thises and thats level of finality. Then, we will need to post a Facebook invitation up for our party for the youngers...which will include the wonderfully suggested (Thank you Tom!) Yankee Swap. I will detail that more later.

Check out the growing advent calendar here>>

IF: Crunchy

Krampus Taking Away the Bad Children on December 5th, © Q. CassettiKrampus comes on December the fifth, little children are fearful of the crunch sounds underfoot. He has come to take away the bad little children or birch them with branches for all their misbehavior during the year. So, watch out. Krampus is coming.

Advent of the Advent Calendar

As you know, I have been working on pictures of St. Nicholas, Krampus, and reading and enjoying all the fru fru around the legends and tales of these characters. I was looking at Paul O. Zelinsky's Hansel and Gretel, and musing over the tremendously beautiful wooden/printed advent calendars I saw at Gillinghams. And bingo bango bam! I thought...25 days, 25 treats> why don't I post my holiday visual musings as an advent calendar! Why the heck not? So, today of days,(albeit three days into December), I start this journey with you. And, as a plus, I get you going to the new home (as of January 1) of the Rongovian Academy of Fine Arts.

 

The Advent Calendar is here>>

Might have an interesting food related product branding and packaging on the horizon. Need to write a proposal to the nice guy I spoke to on the phone. Plain speaking with some excitement around building a brand, a new product that is excellent in a very established niche. Expectations to sell at Walmart and Amazon. Now that I am writing this, I think I will propose doing this project for a percentage versus fees. There may be more here than what meets the eye. Hmmmm.

We had a trashy t.v. night last night from watching one of our all time favorite eighties movies: Sixteen Candles...with all of us (including Alex) sighing and laughing along with Mollie Ringwald and Michael Anthony Hall. And, quizzing each other on what ever happened to a lot of the actors in this movie who never were seen again...? Do you know? Then, after Alex went to dreamland, the night owl and I watched a movie about extreme plastic surgery from people that needed it to get through their day to people with body alteration (putting metal horns on their heads) to transgender changes. Whooweeee. Made the illustration a nice place to intellectually rest.

Glorious Morning

 Rob is off to New York for a meeting and then to Miami tomorrow morning for meetings and a little look at Art Basil Miami. Lucky duck. Its a beautiful sunrise--a gradient orange to peach to taupe to blue after a huge full moon shining like a star over the dark landscape. There is something lovely about getting up with Rob when he travels as it is such a quiet and still moment. I am working on some holiday pictures around St. Nicholas (his birthday is 12/06), and his companions. Am working on a face of Krampus--and will do some Krampus pix of the stealing of the children. Its a nice little respite. I was thinking of patterns and a star made of pinecones, a star made of St. Nicholas, a star made of candy...I know, I know, sappy stuff...but that is what is rolling out of this head. I got my order from felt and crafts (Nepal) with a few bags of these big felt balls (all different colors). I took a small grouping to Vermont, as we made Christmas tree garlands by stringing them. I am seriously thinking of trying to find a wreathe form to sew these fun little colored balls to....and make a door decoration this weekend. I am going to goad Kitty into finishing up her applications (Hampshire and 4 others got in under the wire for Early Action yesterday).So, plenty in plan to do in the next few days.

Tuesday musings.


I'm multitasking these days. Last week, I opened a Squarespace.com account to migrate my blog from Blogspot to a more flexible format that I can grab the entire blog over...and have it in a more controlled way. So, I am messing around with this site--learning all the new tricks, the WYSIWYG tools...and without being the Dreamweaver queen. I learned how to migrate my tweets last night along with one by one, moving my links over. Take a look>> a work in progress but something that I will move to on January first. Blogspot has been great and I highly recommend it to someone who wants to fiddle with a blog with no commitments--but I feel now I need to better grab ahold of my content (1750 entries), my images and maybe fuse it with my illustration and graphic work. I work better in a simple format that I can control--but that I can keep fresh and interesting. Erich had heard about Squarespace from his tech podcasts (which I should do as well)--and it was praise all around. I must admit, with the easy interface (very intuitive), married with a strong tutorial/support section and an affordable price all makes Squarespace very appealing.

I met with my friend today about his enterprise we spoke about yesterday. He had quite a few viable names with a few I want to hug...they are so great. He highly recommended the Small Farmer's Journalas a philosophical place to go re localvore culture, local farming and the integrated life/farm/animals/cycle and stream. He also recommended I read some books from Wendell Berry particularly The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture. San Francisco: Sierra Club, 1977; Avon Books, 1978; Sierra Club, 1986; and the more poetic, Jayber Crow. Washington, D.C.: Counterpoint, 2000. Seems like I have my work cut out.

back in the saddle.


Stephen Huneck
Lend a Helping Hand
Image size: 6" x 7"
Paper size: 8 1/2" x 11"

So, I have been thinking about a lot of stuff. First off, a name for a friend's new business. He has been giving it a lot of thought and has some possibilities--but after having a dose of Vermont and the naming that goes on there, I think this could go further. I am intrigued by the name/word "Vermont" and how that has come to mean pure, good, wholesome, farm grown--excellent, though reading the labels might dissuade you from buying the entire package. However it really works. There is Vermont Butter and Cheese, Vermont Smoke and Cure. There is Vermont Maple Syrup (with no other brand than that). Vermont Cheddar and Vermont Cheese (though Cabot Creamery might be the big owner there). Ben and Jerry's is identified with Vermont. You get the Idea. I was tickled to see that there is a Vermont Mystic Pie Company who is using Stephen Huneck to design and illustrate their packages for pie. The look is distinct and frankly very "Vermont". That is one train of thought. What makes Vermont, Vermonty? What is it about Vermont that embues all of this expectation and promise for pure excellence? Do we even have glimmers of that here?

Then there is the approach with getting a bigger name, a wider reach. What I mean is that if my friend is going to make one thing, but possibly blow that channel out a bit, or have other offerings that complement the product he is focusing on, how do we name that entity that has all that the word "Vermont" offers, and yet keeps it broad enough to embrace more. "Vermont" interestingly is a place, a location, a specificity that adds the novel "localvore" connotation as it is to those who can buy those Vermont brands,something desired, something special. So, place is part of the equation, a locality, a pinpointable place. Could that place be even more local? A farm? a street? a town, a village? a hamlet? That resonates for me as the place is the source, the lodestone from which all this goodness, this thinking, this approach comes from...Of course, it comes from the people, but the product is an outflow from the place. So, a place name makes sense with a describing word that situates it like farm, street, ville or burg, hill or river, stream or bend. That can help our name.

That's the thinking now.

Rob is off to Cooperstown and back for an interesting board meeting. Kitty is nursing a sore throat and Alex is nose to the grindstone. I am looking at my list of dos and redos and know that things are going to crank up. Ahhh. More holiday shopping online as today is Cyber Monday? and we all must spend all of our holiday money online as fast as we can. And did I mention holiday cards! Yikes.

Back from Vermont






Just got back from Thanksgiving in Vermont. It was filled with family and food...very nice and just right. There was hope that we would have snow for the holiday, but didnt. My sister in law knocked herself out with delicious food, comfortable beds, pleasant talk, plenty of tea and coffee and space to stretch out and talk with all the sisters, brothers, cousins and inlaws, outlaws etc. There were dogs to play with, apples to see, wonderful blue hills, and high skies. Our hostess created a list of tasks around Thanksgiving from cooking to tablesetting that we were all encouraged to sign up for which made it really fun with our assignments and an opportunity to work with everyone. This is well worth remembering as it works for everyone including the hostess...and gives us all a chance to help in a defined way. My brother supervised apple wood cutting and the smoker so we could have two different birds--a roasted one and a smoked one.

We had a little tour of Woodstock on Friday with a chance to go to Gillinghams (R. bought a shovel and I bought dish soap and bath soap). They had a remarkable selection of things (as usual) with the Christmas things (gorgeous advent calendars, bright red wool bags, ornaments, bottle brush ornaments, papergoods, bay candles,) being showcased and a glorious, perfect collection. Hammonds candycanes and candies abounded in millefiore confection. Each store was filled with glorious things from felted enormous mushrooms surrounding the clothes for your little ones for the holidays, wooden scenes of animals and creches, lovely little playhouses to go over card tables with embroidery and beautiful workmanship. We went to the holiday fair at the Woodstock Inn with a very nice collection of handmade things-- I bought a few things for friends and was tempted by quite a bit. I revelled in the amazing wreathes and swags, and holiday decor available at the Woodstock Farmers Market. Pepperberries, Juniper berries, giant sugarpine cones abounded. And it all smelled heavenly.