Monday update

Chequered Bunny, Q. Cassetti, 2011, pen and ink, colored in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop CS5Monday. Things have changed. We have two kids in the house with a summer guest in the offing. Today is Rob’s birthday! We will hopefully have dinner out at our nice restaurant a block from here. There is an awards ceremony we need to attend…so maybe a late dinner.

We had a nice evening with all sorts of “Facebook Stalking” (Alex’s phrase) with the review of all the prom pictures (which is almost as much fun as the prom)—the dresses, the hairdos, the white dinner jackets etc. Kitty and our friend Thea were very consumed by looking at all these pictures—sort of a yearbook of some sort. Shoes and hairdos took the lead insofar as conversation. 

Interesting. Behance Network, a free, social networking page for visual people is a terrific resource to share (and get interesting feedback) where you can post projects and follow others. I have gotten some interesting leads on work from folks that have seen my work on Behance, so I cannot say enough about it. Also, Behance and LinkedIn, have an app. that allows you to post Behance projects (known as portfolios) to LinkedIn as soon as its posted. So, that is a nice extra to make your content get out there, easily. Now they are doing a Beta on easy up personal websites that parse the same projects/portfolios to a central page with a series of simple but really nice skins to show your work. One has choices in background, background color, font selections etc. This is something I may look into because of the reach, simplicity and to better understand what these two social networking sites can do with/for each other.

Wow. Look at this! You can flow the Behance stuff to your Facebook page! I need to try this out! I guess it pays to wander a bit on Monday morning! You never know what you will find! From the Behance Blog>>

Beautiful

Work beckons. There are a bunch of little projects gathering around my ankles…and should get them moving.

It is so so great that it is cooler and raining as it is changing the high pollen content here. Everything has been coated with chartreuse pollen from the walks to the cars, to even our furniture inside as it wafts in through the screens and windows. Shady is snoring.

A day later

Preprom Alex, Q. Cassetti, May 14, 2011My little one knows how to humor me. I tweaked and ironed, hemmed and picked up…and then he did as I asked and posed for me. We both acknowledged there might be a “senior picture” in the mix, and he did as I asked, moving a little here, hand there, turn your head a bit more and the like. I got quite a few shots, but this one seems to size up his calm prior to the party. If you want to see more pix, go here for the requisite posing for the parents and the insanity at the falls>>

We had had such a nice day together getting up to do errands from visiting a sale (the famed Flax Sale) to getting his glasses fixed, to breakfast at Hal’s Deli and then off to Maines to get granola fixings. He was kind and chatty and the time just sped by. Then home to have him nap while I hemmed his pants and put a roast in the oven for him to take slices of for the dish to pass dinner he was invited to. Time sped by then…and then he let me tweak and help him with the cummerbund and cuffs, the studs and shoes.

Alex and Ellie 05.14.2011We went to get Ellie, his date, who was perfectly perfect and rolled with all of the flutter and fuss.  She was elegant in a simple sapphire dress with a simple glittering necklace and equally simple, glittering shoes (which she told us she practiced wearing around the house in her sweat pants). She has a lively little pin (you can see in the picture to the right on her hip). Elegant and understated. Alex was proud of how great she looked.

I havent told you about Ellie, but she is a wonderful, cute person who will be catching a hawk to train to hunt this fall. So, she is actively interested in building the hawk house and preparing for the big event. She is interested in going to Europe to learn how to work with Golden Eagles who can take a deer down. Not your average missy miss. She is great and really game. We think she’s terrific.

We got the food together and then went via the falls for “the shot”. I will back up a bit to explain. Trumansburg has a very tall, and at this time of the year, very impressive waterfall “Taughannock Falls” right in our backyard. Rob tells me that Taughannock is taller than Niagara Falls, which is impressive but not quite the theatre that Niagara is. However, the WPA did their number on our park, and carved out all sorts of wonderful trails with overlooks complete with beautiful stone steps and walls. The tradition around here is to have one’s wedding or prom picture taken at the falls overlook which we didnt do for Kitty…but hey, last night it was on our way. So as we pulled into the parking lot, we all screamed with delight as there were two enormous white stretch limos (which we posed in front of) and the promsters got in line with all the others to have their pictures taken. It was the scene, with all of the parents I know from sports and drama, along with all of the gorgeous kids who we have seen in all sorts of states…all dressed up with someplace to go. It was a wonderful and jolly moment for all. So here are some shots (taken from WWWWAAAY Back) to capture the moment!

Then, if all the prom stuff wasnt exciting enough, Kitty arrived home bouncing and talking and happy.

It was a great night.

My portait of Margaret Drabble in The New Yorker this week!

Portrait of Margaret Drabble for The New Yorker, Q. Cassetti, 2011I have been quiet on this…and now I can tell you! I got a note a few Fridays ago, asking me to do a portrait for an article by Joyce Carol Oates (!!). They included reference and the portrait I had done of Kitty and that is where we started. I submitted sketches by Monday and then finished work was due Thursday (all within the same week).

Starry Crowns

Who will wear the starry crown? v 2, Q. Cassetti,2011, pen and inkThe big pine trees by the driveway are laden with little tiny pink baby pinecones. I threw a cone up in the branches during our morning constitutional coney time with Shady, and great wafts of pollen clouded the air from the same little cones.

Checkerboard

Harlequin Bunny, Q. Cassetti, 2011, pen and inkAnother perfect day. A bit overcast…but brilliant green popping out. TJ is sitting on my office window sill, watching the birds from our higher perch while giving himself a bath.

Apropos of nothing, IIsabella Blow was inspired by yesterday’s nugget. I learned about Philip Treacy, the imaginative milliner who created many of the hats we saw at the Royal Wedding (Princess Beatrice’s beige wreath and ribbons as the most noteworthy). Check out the hats, gallery on his site. Treacy uses the head as just an element in his scupture using felt, straw, and fabric. His work is elegant and yet can be outlandishly Grace Jonesy…Theatrical but still in the zone of fashion versus costume. Just take a little tour on his site, and you will see what I mean.

In addition to learning about Treacy, I found out about his muse, Isabella  Blow (1958-2007), English magazine editor and “international style icon”. (Interesting article from The Daily Mail written by her ex-husband).

“If you don’t wear lipstick, I can’t talk to you.”
— Isabella Blow

Isabella Blow spurred some of the most interesting British fashion….Wonderful…even down to her funeral complete with a willow casket with over the top white roses, millinery ribbon and a black hat perched on top of the whole shebang. Her casket was taken to the cemetery  in a victorian glass hearse- very Edward Gorey-eque. If you search it, Treacy designed very beautiful ostrich plumes for the horses that pulled the hearse….totally stylish.

Onward to the ordinary.

Racing Bunny in Technicolor, Q. Cassetti, 2011, pen and ink, colored in Adobe Photoshop CS5Beautiful spring morning. I just got back from the Shure Save—getting basics and the requisite case of “sports drink” that I was informed we needed to provide tomorrow for the day long tennis tournament that Boy Wonder will be participating in. What a nice respite from school work and testing for Alex.

Alex will be going to an amusement park as a Physics field trip in the next few weeks which I think combines fun with teaching. Good for Mr. Flood (Alex’s Physics Teacher) for being so clever. This sort of demonstrating the concepts day is the teaching that will really stick with our student. See it, experience it, remember it.

Today is more to do…with banking, phone calls, some little webbie things to be designed, amending a brochure (I am sure) and a list of lots of little things. I have a field trip this afternoon with a client to do a look see at the market.

The tuxedo came (without the shirt) and it fits and looks great. Alex keeps trying to shove the pants way way down below his hips—so we will need to amend this. I will need to hem the pants in the next few days (and then we will take them to a real live tailor post fact to have them really hemmed and cuffed (?). Perhaps a double breasted vest Morning Coat-itisso as to emulate the Windsor Family. Look at the boys in their soft colored double breasted vest. And Charles’ lovely blue vest with something else (white) peaking underneath before the blue shirt happens. I guess I am a sucker for a morning coats Need to research this. Not that Alex gives two hoots, but somehow I am bitten with this one. Beyond that, the sheer Englishness of doing it so right, so bespoke. Those of us in the colonies do not have this proper dna encoded in our makeup. Prom pictures will be coming…if you get my gist. Orange vests, white suits and glossy satin orange ties….and so on. Oh my, look at this, a combo of my favorites: a camo tux. Nuf Said.

Gotta go.

Awake and bitters

Racing Bunny, Q. Cassetti, 2011, pen and inkBeautiful, budding day. Green carpets, blue sky…and the magnolia are on the downside of their glory. Cherry buds, apple buds and the red fingered peonies are unfurling. The deer continue to eat anything in their path. Next person in their path is me with a frying pan and something sharp.

Moving more work…today its tradeshow graphics, a masthead, something for an intranet site, and I hope amending some illos etc. Finished up the reconfiguration of a brochure for an event opening next week as well as a complementary sandwich board. Will be going on the road with a new client to do a little competititve research and talk. Should be fun. This project is something I can get my teeth into.

Interesting discovery. I love aromatic bitters. How would you know that? I love how they can change the flavors of things along with just a dash in selzer water makes a tasty, astringent drink…brisk and delicious. Big kids’ sodie pop. No sugar, no junk and yet a bit of a move off of just plain water. So back to bitters.  I was talking to a friend who makes her own (!) and I remembered something from one of those esoteric sites I get notices from. They had a collection of artisan bitters which tempted me to no end…So I searched last night thinking I would find it. No soap, however…I discovered something equally as interesting. There is a company in Rochester (yes! Rochester, NY!), The Fee Brothers>>

“Fee Brothers is a four generation old manufacturer of top quality Cocktail Mixes, Bitters, Flavoring Syrups, Iced Cappuccino Mix and other beverage ingredients. Some of the products we manufacture are very hard to find anywhere else. We are sure you will find our old family recipes second to none.”

They have orange, cherry, grapefruit, peach, mint, lemon, rhubarb, and whiskey aged bitters. More than the regular angostura. And, they have a collection of bitters (12 of them “the spice rack for your bar) which include chocolate,  celery, cranberrry, and plum). From that, I learned bout this amazing site called “KegWorks” which showcased floral waters from Fee Brothers too (lavender, orange water, rose flower, hibiscus waters)

It seems the Bitters Business is an interesting one. There is The Bitter End Company (Jamaican Jerk, Mexican Mole, Thai, Memphis Barbecue to name a few). There is Bittermens ( hopped Grapefruit, Xocolatl Mole, Elemakule Tiki, Boston Bittahs, Burlesque). Dr Adam Elmegirab has a “Boker” bitter, a spanish cocktail bitter and a dandilion and burdock bitter. Bittercube (with a $48. gift pakc with all sorts of exotica).

Seems like there is a small batch bitters revolution and we didnt know it was happening! Check out Cocktail Kingdom who touts their business as Barware, Books, Bitters.

That is now something to ponder!

Moving Forward

Double Bunny, Q. Cassetti, 2011, pen and inkWow. The Mothers Day for Peace event at the Rongo was amazing. Heather Hallagan transformed the space with cherry boughs and flowers, a big table of baked goods for sale and lots of touches that took the event to another level.The music lineup and performances were outstanding…with each group hitting the mark incredibly. The music alone was worth going…but then there was the tribe! Wonderful group of people were there with lots to talk about, learn, encourage and cheer on. I met the wonderful Greg Kops principal of Mouselink Media , who from a pretty quick sketch of a web page created the great MamasforPeace.com. Greg and his partners are moving into a new space so as to be able to do more, teach, expand their thinking around the internet, social media etc. Greg is a total inspiration and force to be reckoned with in our little town. I cannot wait to see what’s next. There were a slew of others I had a chance to really talk with and catch up. It was great.

I caught up (kinda sorta) Saturday! and feel like a rock has rolled off my back. There is more ahead, but it all feels significantly more manageable. Amazing. As an aside, I rediscovered my wonderful rotring sketch pen…and cleaned it up…and now I am back pushing luscious puddles of black ink around into shapes. How meditative and delightful. (Jerrysartarma.com has a good price)

Hopefully, the tuxedo delivers today. What with the crush of tests Alex has had (SAT and today an AP) this is something he is happily anxious about. I am so into men’s formal clothing that I have been focused (what with the royal wedding) on the royals and their dress. I was delighted to see Prince Charles in a cut away with a boutonniere being a single hellebore (Lenten Rose). No crass big rosebud…but a lovely outdoor flower…no hybrid…just perfect. So, I was tromping around the backyard with Shady Grove this morning looking for the two hellebore I put in last year (and there they were) so that my stylish boy can have a boutonniere like the Duke of Windsor. I think the plants might need a bit of manure as they seem a tad scrawny….but they survived the winter (just like another bane, the GARLIC MUSTARD—which I was ripping out by the handfuls). If only the damned deer ate garlic mustard…..hmmmmm.

Onward! The week awaits!

 

Sunny with a chance of Spring

Twinnies, Q. Cassetti, 2011, pen and inkSunny with a chance of spring. Lawnmowers mowing. A Zillion chicken bbqs roadside this morning. Alex up and early for the SATs…girded for battle with his batteries, pencils, pencil sharpener and peanut butter sandwich. We had breakfast and more coffee at Ithaca Bakery (always a big treat to see what yummy they have concocted for all of us using the best of local, local, local). After buying a few loaves of bread and a dog biscuit for our black friend in the car (Shady Grove) we cruised up to Pesco’s Barber Shop for Rob to get a haircut and catch up with Ed, Brian and  Mr. Pesco.

It is a bit stunning that our boy is taking his SATs and that senior year and colleges are not much far behind. What happened to the 17 years of time we have had together? It is shocking.

It was a late night last night working on the chicken boy. Need to get the stripes  in his shirt and a delineation of his short short crewcut a la tigertooth versus the workpaths brought into illustrator from photoshop. Long work…but I am making a bunch of brushes that may make the work convincing, a little easier to do, and a bit more like drawing than vectorizing. The recent job (to be announced soon!) had hair that needed to do more than what my hands could do given the time constraints…so brushes were made for that.

Brushes here> here> here> here>

Brushes are the max. I had an illustration for the Museum for a show they are mounting on Mt. Washington and Pairpoint Glass. The trick to this illustration is that it is a pointillist illo to reflect the peachblow decorated glass (see to the left) that is going to be cut out of signage vinyl and applied to a 72” x 72” glass panel. So, I drew the shapes with vectors and manipulated the shapes to make them nice and regular.  I then applied a dot pattern to the line and released them to stand alone objects. Then, once each petal was complete, I saved them as symbol files, and then rotated them behind the center so though there were a lot of dots, there were not a total zillion to do. I used the blob brush sized to match the dots that make up the brush. So the prompt from Nancy Stahl and Jean Tuttle at Hartford to learn more about brushes truly have merged with my work.

Speaking of Hartford, I was thinking this morning that I should review my business plan and revise it. I first wrote it for Syracuse, updated in 09 for Hartford….and it feels like its time again. Funny…but true.

Gotta go…a linear crew cut awaits.

There's the Sun!

Bunny Matchup, 2011, Q. Cassetti, pen and inkMore tedious drawings of bunnies manipulated in photoshop. I am coloring this one as I like the rope heart and the challenge of pastels. I need to better understand this lighter palette and thus the coloring. Black to grey or tan, no white…less harsh.

The Yearbooks are done! Hangar is back with changes…so that gets fit in by end of day today. I have a brochure that is a field guide to glass patterns and some illustration for the big client (a continuous line illo which can be hard to do, but entertaining in the puzzle like aspect. There are lots of random thises and thats, alterations of the food illustration and others. Need to start setting up appointments for Kitty and Alex this summer…check ups and dentals.

Nice chat with Kitty last evening. She has her birthday to look forward to—with contradancing as the cupcake with candles for her. I put her little somthingsomthins in the mail…which should make the day a bit brighter. Her first birthday away from us. Another first.

But, she is worrying her classes, full on angst and sadness around what she didnt get out of an art class…full of anger and misunderstanding that this emotion is actually part of the learning. Learning comes in all ways…and she seems to have learned a lot about what she doesnt like. We will have a lot of talking to do over the summer.

Alex and I figured out the tuxedo dilemma. We measured him according to the directions we found on the web, consulted all the sizing on the site and then printed the buy button.  Its a simple tuxedo with notched lapels, and plain (not pleated) pants. Alex gravitated to the style along with picking out a cotton pique, wing collared shirt. No cummerbund. Black silk bow tie. He will be perfect (at least to his mother’s satisfaction and his…I hope). We should have it by Monday.

There's the Sun!

Bunny Matchup, 2011, Q. Cassetti, pen and inkMore tedious drawings of bunnies manipulated in photoshop. I am coloring this one as I like the rope heart and the challenge of pastels. I need to better understand this lighter palette and thus the coloring. Black to grey or tan, no white…less harsh.

The Yearbooks are done! Hangar is back with changes…so that gets fit in by end of day today. I have a brochure that is a field guide to glass patterns and some illustration for the big client (a continuous line illo which can be hard to do, but entertaining in the puzzle like aspect. There are alterations to the food illustrations (adding stripes and manipulating the hair drawing to make it more part of the illustration). I need to reconfigure the supergraphic and add color with means deconstructing the image….ah well.

Nice chat with Kitty last evening. Kitty has a lot of emotion around the classes she took this semester. She was angry (to the point of tears) about what she didnt learn in her painting class (which means she learned that she didnt like certain things and wanted to learn more about other things). She enjoyed her other classes…fanning the flames. She has also discovered she wants to spread her wings a bit more…making some new friends to her happiness (and mine too). She has her birthday to look forward to—with contradancing as the cupcake with candles for her. I put her little somthingsomthins in the mail…which should make the day a bit brighter. Her first birthday away from us. Another first.

Alex and I figured out the tuxedo dilemma. We measured him according to the directions we found on the web, consulted all the sizing on the site and then printed the buy button.  Its a simple tuxedo with notched lapels, and plain (not pleated) pants. Alex gravitated to the style along with picking out a cotton pique, wing collared shirt. No cummerbund. Black silk bow tie. He will be perfect (at least to his mother’s satisfaction and his…I hope). We should have it by Monday.

Buzz

Bunny Buzz, Q. Cassetti, 2011, pen and inkBuilding an ark is an opportunity here. The lake is full and cresting over many people’s docks. And the rain continues. It is cold and damp…right to the bone with the humidity being so high. 

The weekend has lapped into the week. Yearbook gets released today. I created a cute little brownie inspired by Palmer Cox’s brownie…but making it a bit more woodcutty…and colored. Also worked on an illustration for the upcoming Mt.Washington and Pairpoint show at the Corning Museum of Glass. Interestingly, it is a supergraphic illustration that is going on a 72” x 72” panel…vector/cut vinyl.

The food project is almost complete. We are getting the big pubs moving though I got three new things yesterday. So it just keeps coming. The nice thing was last night for the first time since before Christmas, we had a simple dinner and watched a bit of t.v. which was such an amazing thing. I cannot wait for our lives to settle down a bit to have more quiet time as a group. It was great.

I am working on bunnies as I am just plain stale. The addage, “All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy.” works for me. I am hoping that something will arise and be interesting…but now its just a movement of pen…and a chance to make pictures of sweet, fuzzy creatures.

This weekend is the Mothers Day for Peace gig at the Rongo on Sunday along with everyone on Main Street doing chicken barbeques on Saturday and Sunday. Alex has the SATs on Saturday.

Friday, we need to go see which old car owner will take Alex and his date to the prom (!). A local antique car group volunteered to take couples to the prom! How great is that? We are ordering a tuxedo from an online resource, (the name will not surprise you): Buy4LessTuxedo.com. You can rent online at TuxShip.com for signifcantly less than the scary Mens Wearhouse. However, we are buying as it is an investment. Alex and I have our eye(s) on something simple and elegant with a pique shirt (wing collar he nominated). The corsage is ordered with the specificity of something that smells nice like either a gardenia or freesia….their call. We may do a nice dinner for 12 before the event. It is all coming up so fast! Tick tock.

Off to the post office and bank.

Under the sign of the bunny

Bunnycrest, Q. Cassetti, 2011, sharpiesjust a little hi and hello. Its half past seven…and I have been in front of the monitor since eight a.m and Alex is anxious for a nice dinner to be put in front of him when he comes home…so I think a little fun with the pressure cooker needs to be pulled out. Rob is at a village meeting and will be home later this evening too.

I just completed two other illustrations on the docket and feel I can nail another small project tomorrow. I AM clocking them down. Hurray!

I do not know where these illustrations are going…the pen isjust moving. I am not in love with these. But, as you know, the longer the pen moves, the brain moves and the work wills itself onward.

I bought some interesting brushes and tones today. Some “Guilloche” which Wikipedia proclaims:

Guilloché

(Guilloche) is a decorative engravingpattern or design is mechanically engraved into an underlying material with fine detail. Specifically, it involves a technique of engine turning, called guilloché in French after the French engineer “Guillot”, who invented a machine “that could scratch fine patterns and designs on metallic surfaces”.[citation needed] The machine improved upon the more time-consuming practice of making similar designs by hand, allowing for greater delicacy, precision, and closeness of the line, as well as greater speed. technique in which a very precise intricate repetitive

Another account gives the credit of inventing this method to Hans Schwanhardt (- 1621) and the spreading of it, to his son-in-law Jacob Heppner (1645).[citation needed]

Yet another account is that it derives from the French word for an engraving tool, not the engine turning machine.[citation needed]

A guilloche is a repetitive architectural pattern used in classical Greece and Rome, and neo-classical architecture as well as medieval Cosmatesque stone inlay work, of two ribbons winding around a series of regular central points. These central points are often blank, but may contain a figure, such as a rose. Guilloche is a back-formation from guilloché, so called because the architectural motif resembles the designs produced by Guilloche techniques.”

Coolness personified. I can pretend I am a hipster and make some art with it.

Big news here. Alex has a brand new, used stand up base which he is plunking away on…and we need to find someone to give him some direction and help in figuring it out. Saturday was a full day in front of the computer with the yearbook being 98% finished (the 2% finished today). Today there were phone calls to the technical folks at the yearbook company and I seem to have much of the same right.

I hear the pressure cooker calling.

Later

 

Lapine Heraldry?

Lapine Heraldry, Q. Cassetti, 2011, pen and ink (sharpies)Inspired by the golden stump work, the red gold jackets with bumblebee stripes on the footmen, the hats, the heraldry, the flowers, union jack, golden stripes, satin rosettes, and high stepping glossy horses— I rolled through yesterday indulged in all things British—inspired by the full visual splendor that the English excell at. Did you see all the tassels on belts, on ties, on bunting, with draperies? Golden tassels shining in the sunshine. I loved all the carved crowns and laurel wreathes, the top of Charles and Camilla’s carriage—a mass of golden sculpture, the pristine courtyards and the politesse of the admiring crowds (albeit dressed and painted as it it was Super Bowl Sunday). It makes me want to go all Anglophile and whip out italic handwriting with heraldic gouache paintings.However, in the interest of my time being consumed by the yearbook, you get the dashed out picture of heraldic bunnies which I think may evolve a bit more. It think they are funny. Now the big question is what goes in the shield. Carrots? a chick? chicken? eggs? Or perhaps a beehive? or a house in the country or even a leaping rabbit (a  la stag leaping)? I love all this stuff. Now the question is how to take it to the country? or the barnyard to make it a fusion.

I am five pages away from being done with the yearbook. Divine. I am chugging away on the chicken illustration (held by a little boy) and a limited (truly limited…4 shades of grey including black as one of them). The little boy has a very tricky patterned shirt and a crew cut which the tigerteeth could not really capture. So, thanks the tricks my friend Chad Grohman taught me about work paths, I was able to fuse photographic with handdrawn. As an aside, take a look at what Chad is working on these days. This guy is soooooo excellent and inspiring. I want to be as good as Chad when I grow up.

I have a few illos for the Museum of Glass and find myself doing illustration for the big client too!

Tomorrow, we go to Rochester to look for evening clothes for the younger Mr. Cassetti. I actually cooked last night (knocked off at 8:30) making 2 quiche and a big batch of granola that the boss said was a good one, a batch that confirmed I had lost my mojo. The work has just been so tremendous, I am sad to say that cooking and  house related work has fallen by the wayside. Soon…I hope…soon.

Big Air

Perplexed Rabbits, Q. Cassetti, 2011, pen and ink.Alex and I huddled in the basement last night (and identified new things to be fixed!) for the 15 minutes that the big Tornado was supposed to whirl through Tburg. Rob got our neighbors to move into their laundry room (no windows). I couldn’t find our flashlights in prep (along with filling water bottles) so off I went to the dollar store to see what there was to add to the collection. Now we have an extrodinary collection along with batteries to boot. The lightening was brilliant blue white without any thunder, just barometric rage, wind and persistent rain.

Lots of rain so the the buds on the trees are really coming on. My lovely $5. rosebushes from the drugstore are leggy with greenery. Tons of things to do outside too from raking to planting, pruning (my fave). Speaking of my fave, Mr. Hair is coming today to do a walkthrough with me around all the downed trees, things in need of help etc. Time spent with Mr. Hair (along with $) gives us the wonder of going through these big windy storms without a big tree across the road or  on the house. Time well spent.

The work list continues. Lots of thises and thats along with some leviathan scaled projects that are all ticking against the same “need it tomorrow” deadline. Looks like Saturday is a workday.

I plan on a royal bunny to celebrate the wedding tomorrow. I got up for Diana..but these two do not rock my world though the horses (plumed destriers) might prompt me to plunk myself in front of the tube. We’ll see.

Green world.

Sprung, Q. Cassetti, 2011 pen and ink, finished in Adobe Photoshop CS5Perfection. The heavy duty rains have created this green world with brilliant grass promising the season that is here and to come. The trees are budding. The tree peonies are waving their little fingered red hands at me. Mr White and the Greys are in and out all day so much so that I have flung the doors open and propped them so that I am not running to help them out. The world is so full of promise, of renewal, of another chance. My office windows are open as I cannot get enough of this cool humidity. I hope I can be productive with all this hope burgeoning outside of my window.

Alex is busy being freaked out about his Music AP (with ear training which he is not feeling overly comfortable with). Rob is busy with work (big project on the verge of happening…and all the business surrounding the liftoff ) and with the village business (EMS on the forefront of the issues). I am closing out the Yearbook, finishing up an illo for NYFoods, lots of new design for the big client and details (for others). So, nothing has quieted down.

Mothers Day for Peace (an event next Sunday at the Rongo from 2-8) with Richie Stearns, Jennie Lowe Stearns, The Double E, Long John and the Tights, Uniit, The Blind Spots)) need more posters (!). So, I need to get going to get the printer printing and the saving machine (me) to get jpgs to the new web group who are posting a site for women “mamas” to speak about peace.

More of nothing

eBunny, Q. Cassetti, 2011, pen and ink, color and image manipulation, Adobe Photoshop CS5Big rain and thunder promised today. It is lovely and humid. My sour cherry tree saplings showed up and are lying on the back porch waiting to be planted. There should be some leek seedlings/stock coming too. I figured the stinking deer would run from the leeks. I just hope that the leeks dont drive these deer towards the tree peonies and hosta. Yikes!

Mother’s Day poster is done and gone. Stupid me, I printed a slew of them with the wrong year…so I reprinted and now they are out in the world. I may be making little jpgs to help their website look a bit fresher.

Am working on an illo of a child holding a chicken for a project. It is a fast deadline (which I think all illustration…snap snap, snap!). Its coming along pretty will albeit the child has a striped shirt which I rezed up in photoshop and brought into illustrator as a workpath which I used the eraser on to get rid of all sorts of detail etc. Looks great. As this illo is not being used terribly big, I am working to size or a bit smaller to keep the tigerteeth big enough to  read at this smaller size. This is something I need to get better at.

Additionally, we are rolling into the new branding stuff…trying to really exercise these standards— and finding out what is missing. If only there was time to beta test this stuff…but I guess (as this is another try) that the whole strategy around refreshing or establishing branding is a changing tires while the car rolls activity. Finding new bumps, seeing what works/doesnt is part of the challenge because if we are being stumped, then what about the less sophisticated teams that often do not deal with their creativity being directed? Interestingly interesting.

May is just around the corner (has time flown? or what?)! Kitty’s birthday and her finals, Rob’s birthday, the prom, AP tests, SAT tests….and more. So much surrounds each of those bullets, I need to get rolling. Wasn’t it Christmas yesterday?