From the Sketchbook Project Sketchbook 10/2010

From the Sketchbook Project Sketchbook 10/2010

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars from King Arthur Flour.com

No time to make everyone's favorite, chocolate chip cookies? This
dough comes together in a flash—just spread it in a pan and bake; no
need to shape individual cookies.

2 3/4 cups (11 1/2 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup (10 2/3 tablespoons, 5 1/4 ounces) butter
2 1/4 cups (18 ounces) firmly packed brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups (16 to 18 ounces) chocolate chips
1 cup (4 ounces) chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9 x 13-inch pan.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set
aside.

Melt the butter, and add the brown sugar, stirring until smooth. Allow
the mixture to cool slightly. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well
after each addition, then stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture,
then the chocolate chips and nuts. Scoop the batter into the prepared
pan.

Bake the bars for 30 to 35 minutes, until their top is shiny and
golden. Don't overbake, or the bars will be dry; a cake tester
inserted in the center will not come out clean. Remove the bars from
the oven, and allow them to cool to room temperature before cutting.
Yield: 24 bars.

Variation: Use a mixture of your favorite flavored chips: chocolate,
white chocolate, cinnamon, cappuccino, etc.

My idea

Grady Girl Performance Tonight at the Pourhouse!

Let the Sunshine In

Phoenix rising from the flames, Q. Cassetti, digitalRefinement coming on with this bird. Not finished yet. Some of the shapes are not working…and need a bit of the retouching white out and some reshaping. Rob thinks he looks cranky. Cranky works for me. Rising from the flames takes determination and crankiness. So there.
More birds planned for this project. Only, instead of them being the whimsical birds, they will be fauxcuts like this. Getting my reference for the trip next week so as to focus on the Hangar illos. I hope this can gel. It would be great to nail this stuff early. 

The back hallway sketch (placing windows in place, working with the open area) is getting interesting and real. I will cut in a picture so you can see what is happening on the construction front. I have been cooking down pork in a crockpot to make pulled pork (which is absolutely the easiest, nicest way to slow cook the meat…and to that, cheaper than cold cuts for the crowd I am feeding everyday. We have David and John and their new team member and wonderfully interesting Henry. There isBruce and Erich and sometimes a few more depending on who is on site to work on the project. So, fast, hot lunches are my expertise. I will make a gigantic pot of soup and have it drained by the end of lunch. With it getting colder, the hot things will be more and more important. Note the new roof. and the pulled back dimensions. Also, you can see the rubble and the gigunda dumpster (second one) to just clear out the crap that has been bolted on, taped to and retrofitted to this hallway which,, now we are back to the original dimensions and roofline, we are getting tons of light in the first floor of the house. The Cave has gone. Let there be light…and there was light (after a big hot lunch of pulled pork).

Henry is interested in all sorts of things…permaculture in particular. There is a permaculture expert here in the Tburg environs who takes on apprentices to teach them about permaculture practices, and putting those practices into use. Wikipedia describes Permaculture in a clear way that even weak minds can grasp (like mine):
Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that mimic the relationships found in natural ecologies.
Permaculture is sustainable land use design. This is based on ecological and biological principles, often using patterns that occur in nature to maximise effect and minimise work. Permaculture aims to create stable, productive systems that provide for human needs, harmoniously integrating the land with its inhabitants. The ecological processes of plants, animals, their nutrient cycles, climatic factors and weather cycles are all part of the picture. Inhabitants' needs are provided for using proven technologies for food, energy, shelter and infrastructure. Elements in a system are viewed in relationship to other elements, where the outputs of one element become the inputs of another. Within a Permaculture system, work is minimised, "wastes" become resources, productivity and yields increase, and environments are restored. Permaculture principles can be applied to any environment, at any scale from dense urban settlements to individual homes, from farms to entire regions.

The first recorded modern practice of permaculture as a systematic method was by Austrian farmer Sepp Holzer in the 1960s, but the method was scientifically developed by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren and their associates during the 1970s in a series of publications.
The word permaculture is described by Mollison as a portmanteau of permanent agriculture, and permanent culture. 

The intent is that, by training individuals in a core set of design principles, those individuals can design their own environments and build increasingly self-sufficient human settlements — ones that reduce society's reliance on industrial systems of production and distribution that Mollison identified as fundamentally and systematically destroying Earth's ecosystems.
While originating as an agro-ecological design theory, permaculture has developed a large international following. This "permaculture community" continues to expand on the original ideas, integrating a range of ideas of alternative culture, through a network of publications, permaculture gardens, intentional communities, training programs, and internet forums. In this way, permaculture has become a form of architecture of nature and ecology as well as an informal institution of alternative social ideals.
Here is the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute >>
Certainly something to think about.

Early Start

Rain at the Sagamore, Q. Cassetti, 2010

 Yearbook this a.m. I have "sales tools" created for the team to use to sell books right out of the gate. We have pricing, examples and the works….so maybe we can generate a bit more interest while parents and students are focused on writing checks and getting things done for the seniors before the crush of college applications happen.

Alex needs to be dropped off at 7:15 for the second half of his music theory class. So, we have been rolling since the early side of things this a.m. Rob got up in the middle of the night to the clanking of the radiators which had heated up to winter strength due to one of the back doors blowing open and changing the heat in the house. Shady got a midnight break to do her business too…So its been an up and down sort of morning.
I have a massive hunk of pork crockpotting and the soup is ready for the team (prepped last night). I got all of Alex's paperwork done (school pictures and a sheet with phone numbers and the like). So, at least I am not starting the day at a deficit like some days.
I need to get my stuff together for next week's Adirondack charette. I have my new beautiful (and amazing battery life) powerbook, I have my mini scanner (size of a piece of paper and about 1/2" thick) and my wacom that all fit into a totebag. I am planning on illustration illustration and illustration along with some walks in nature. I have a little stack of electronic reference…and am getting excited about vectorizing a bit…along with sketching. I have a few books on the Kindle and need to check to see if my audible collecction is up to snuff. Will be listening to books on tape as I work (which I love to do). There is an internet connection at the public library outside of the confines of the Camp, so I will be making trips to see what is boiling here…and whether phone calls need to be made, or projects to be amended.
The Society of Illustrators Show submissions opened this week along with those for Society of Illustrators LA. I think there will be some of the Hangar Posters (def. The Man of La Mancha), a cat, and some of the decorative stuff (home sweet home, nutcrackers, and one or two of the fraktur inspired pieces). Feeling less than confident these days, so we will see.
Gotta go to class…and more coffee…

All Creative Work Is Derivative

Nina Paley, author, animator, creative director of the wonderful movie, Sita Sings the Blues, brings us this look on content, reference, inspiration. Nuf said.

Momento! Memento!

Kitty before the Prom, Q. Cassetti, 2010

It’s funny that life is this long strand of time that sometimes just keeps going on it’s own without a definite time or date to tag things around. There are dates that are significant that one really doesn’t have any control over.Your birth and death happen outside of your control. But some you can impact and fix a time and date to. The day you enter college and graduate. The day you got your first apartment. The day you were engaged. The day you were married. The day you gave birth. The day your child went to school. Every Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter and birthday. Each date a thread that twined with the next to infuse the continuum with color and note, annual comparisons but blending with the main thread and becoming one with it.

Then there are the times that things change significantly. Deaths change lives of those left behind for good or bad. Births do the same by changing the family dynamic through causing everyone to budge up and make room (in their time, pocketbooks and attention) for the new member. This new one, a child leaving home has for me, caused the clock to stand still. She is gone from us. Not for summer camp but has crossed the threshold into her own life independent of us. Sure, she will always be our daughter and one of our most amazing God-given treasures , but she will not be late for breakfast every morning or floating in the bathtub late at night. She will not be singing at the top of her lungs as she walks the dog at night. She will not be here every day to tease the cats and cheer her brother. The wild,extreme outfits and hairdos every morning and the wonderful, kind humor every night. Her insights and observations, her ability to see the good and obvious, her delight in everything and everyone is no longer here. Our dancing girl, our laughing princess, our gentle girl has gone to grow and expand. She has moved forward to be her own person and to infect the world with her kind, rational spirit—and we have been bumped out of her direct sphere of life to another ecliptic path that has the occasion to be in her vicinity versus daily or hourly to monthly to an occasional week here and there. We have to share now, whether we like it or not…there is no choice in this matter.

We can fix a date to this change (09/02/2010) which none of us saw coming. No preparation, no warning but this sort of thing can creep up on you. And it did.

And left us all winded as our light moves on.

Group Hug

Kitty at the Parade, Q. Cassetti, 2010

Wow. What a last few days. I do not think I will not run down the blow by blow as it seems irrelevant other than we got to Amherst, stayed at a Holiday Inn Express (thankfully with comfy beds and air-conditioning), and were embraced by the spirit and community of Hampshire College, its friends, families, faculty, staff and the blooms of this wild rose, the lovely, bushy tailed students.

It was hot going—with the temperatures in the mid to high nineties. But, as we approached Kitty’s dorm, a swarm of black shirted orientation guides, surrounded the car and deftly made light work of getting her stuff to the second floor of her dorm in short order. Then it was the fam doing the furniture re-arrangement, making of the beds, identifying the things to buy, and buying them, and finally leaving Kitty to empty her totes and really settle. She was worried and fretful, anticipating failure (my daughter, entirely). However, after the speechifying, the clapping and nice dinner under the big white tents in the central quadrangle (lets not forget the biodegradable corn starch cups filled with frosty water), and before her first floor meeting, we said goodbye and watched her introduce herself to a pair of women sitting outside who were formerly being chatted up by Mr. Younger Brother. After that, the texts got better and since then, silence. So, silence is good. I know she is happy and having a ton of fun.She might even have a few friends (do you think>?) and maybe not have to move out of her dorm (that was in the last hour of our visit). My guess is no change will be necessary.

 There were apple trees all over campus. Many dropping big red orbs (so early) that were rotting which scented the air from a sweet apple-y smell to the pungent reminder of vinegar…not all together unpleasant, but memorable. Many of the buildings and grounds had facelifts since the spring, so the property seemed really nice and tidy…a little less ramshackle and far more presentable if physical plant was key in the decision-making of future students and their parents. However, the spirit of the place was the same.

 There is something about the Hampshire Community, which I now feel fully entitled to talk about as I am now part of it. There is this ephemeral essence of smart, questioning, embracing and empowering. There is a push pull of ideas which can be (I am sure) strident (as with new ideas) to skills…and the approach that why not “try it”. Try philosophy, try rock climbing, try dance, try joke writing, try astrophysics, try it all, taste it all, question it all…and its all okay. There is no right way, its all right. There are no grades, but evaluations which can give you better feedback because it’s not about competition. The race is all between you and you (something I wish I had known sooner) and that the person you should concern yourself with is you. What makes you happy? What makes you think? What makes you expansive? What kind of person are you? How are you going to engage in your community and make a difference? This is what the Hampshire students learn along with the nuts and bolts of how to learn things, try things, grow and grow and learn until you are no longer. And these simple things are for me, a hallmark of an educated person. Empowered, confident, engaged in one’s community, growing personally, spiritually, physically and contributing with a happy heart—would be real lessons (the one’s without grades) that I would hope my children could learn and exemplify in their lives.

Kitty and Robbie, Q. Cassetti, 2010

There is this embrace, as we experienced this weekend of students with students, faculty with students, staff with students, staff with faculty, parents with students with faculty and so on… which outwardly was expressed by the speeches and generous and thoughtful gestures on move in day. They had watercoolers in the quads and piles for paper recycling mid hallway for pick up. There were the onslaught of troops of happy helping new friends. We had visits from bouncy students just coming in to say hello and remark on something nice in Kitty’s room. We  met the new hallmates (kindred spirits to Kitty) and more upperclassmen who confirmed that this was her tribe. We were delighted by the details from the regular, vegetarian and vegan options for the nice lunches and dinners offered to the completed ID badge, kit and key that was easily handed over to Kitty hour one. The new president was enthusiastic as a new president and parent of a Hampshire student as well. Her remarks were thoughtful and meaningful. And no one felt the need to be a JK Rowling character from the Harry Potter books (thank goodness).

The next day was the beginning of orientation for the students and a full day orientation for families. I had signed us up “to be responsible parents”—and it turned out to be a pleasure without the least bit of pain And Mr. Younger Brother sat through the whole thing and was thrilled. So, much so, that he could easily see this sort of program for himself…so he can study music composition, film, and run cross country for the school. I think it def could be in the future mix too. He was on fire…and wanted to enroll for January term. I wish it could be that simple.

The family program had open panels on topics such as the program of study, of life beyond the classroom, of the dorm/dorm issues which were lead beautifully by members of the faculty with lots of question and answers with the parents. The families weren’t slouches with good questions (there were a few nervous nellies getting into the details of the bus routes etc as a for instance). We had a nice time during the lunch time meeting other parents and learning about their students (that’s what we call our kids)—their interests, backgrounds and where we all sit on the alternative scale. We are pretty mainstream/mild compared with the range. We will see these folks again in October and so on until graduation, so I know there might be some new friends in the bunch. If Hampshire pushes community, then we are there to embrace the whole thing.
 I just wish I could do it all over again on this campus, sitting between grain fields and the beautiful bowl of mountains that surround the school. The gold and pink, green, purple and blue were quite breathtaking now at the height of the season. I know October will be wonderful as will the cool winter. The opportunities and friends abound.

Prep

> Holiday illo, Q. Cassetti, 2010, digital
>

> The wheels are in motion. Granola is baking for Kitty to take to
> school. Kittyn gets dried cherry, Robbie gets golden raisin. The
> totes are lined up in the hallway. The new bedding is in it's
> packaging ready to be carried off to Amherst. Kitty has finally
> completed the reading required for Orientation (I have been on her
> all summer…and need to learn that she operates at the last minute to
> my frustration….all the haranguing just does not work). All the
> bathroom stuff is jammed into a waste paper basket. Shady Grove has
> been planned, walking scheduled, food figured out. The cats have
> moved back to chez Camp and are now snarling and fighting in the
> backyard over who is the King of the Cat Empire.
>
> Now, I am wrangling the printer to get our hot wire reservations off
> it, print the schedules and parking stuff for our tour for Alex of U
> Mass Amherst in preparation of round two, college visits with Boy
> Wonder. Rolling from getting one settled to the next in the waiting
> line to launch off to the next iteration of education. It should be
> a new adventure not of biology and art, bad haircuts, and cute guys
> to music theory, club scene, bromance, cross country and team
> sports. We hear there are a bunch of unclaimed golf scholarships out
> there. I think, as I am sure you do to, that Alex C. may be on the
> golf team next spring. Running and Golf, drama and music theory.
> Large School feeling, small school intimacy. Oy.
>
> The destruction back of the house has been completed. Bathroom with
> all water and electricity gone. Rob and Nigel emptied the closets
> yesterday along with the tool and household fixings gone— either
> organized or bagged for Salvation Army. Team David Burke will be
> here soon to begin to get it back in order, take the sheetrock off
> the ceiling to the studs, so that a brand new metal roof, all nice
> and clean and grey, to be put in place on the new/old roof.
>
>
>

It's more about messy drawing

>
> This new graphic approach is more about drawing, and lots of working
> over shapes to get the forms and curves right along with making them
> fit with more detail, flowers, fauna, bunnies and birds. I am back
> to pencils and eraser— working from light blue to indigo. None of
> this body of work is final but more the blueprints (scanned in as
> low res, rgb, PDFs )— not the black and white, min 600 dpi scans.
> Feels more loose and fast.
>
> I started the illustrator symbols library yesterday. Colorforms for
> Q. More parts, more to play with. It somehow seems odd that I liken
> my "art" to play, my "art" to toys and not to big ideas and deep
> thoughts. However, that is play is intrinsic for now…an
> investigation of taking this apart and then putting it back together
> and having things that are recognizable and interesting. The next
> step will be to find a concept around which to test this idea,
> approach. I am thinking either old Noye's Fludde, or taking a clue
> from Edward Hick's peaceable kingdom…perhaps doing one for this
> neighborhood in North America, but then a tropical one, a frosty
> one, a deep sea one? More to ponder.
>
>
>

The Museum of Glass with Rob Cassetti by the Smithsonian

Norwegian Stockings to Knit - Knitting Daily

Norwegian Stockings to Knit - Knitting Daily

Moving Announcement

Just to reiterate the blab from yesterday, The Academy has officially moved. You can find us at:

http://qcassetti.squarespace.com

Adieu for now Blogger

Today is a momentous day. Yes, its 2010 and the first day of it. But even better. Even better than the snow blanketing our streets. Even better than Shady Grove eating half the rolls I had rising in the kitchen. Even better than the promises and opportunities a new year presents. Well, all of this is better for me...and for you, you may have to change a bookmark or a pulldown. Today, January 1, 2010 is the first day of a new decade, a first day for the Rongovian Academy of Fine Arts to move to more sumptuous quarters. After one thousand, seven hundred and sixty one posts thanks to the graciousness of the Google Nation, we have sucked all the content for the Academy and for the Traditional Rongovian Cuisine to a new place at Squarespace. Squarespace gives me more flexibilty including a lovely gallery feature that gives me quick and easy posting of whats doing in the sketch book. Squarespace also gives me better data on who is visiting, who is downloading, who is looking and where. And, with all the mobility that Squarespace offers, this new home for The Rongovian Academy of Fine Arts can grow and develop and change while giving me more content management and a bit more flexibility without having to learn code.

To praise Google's Blogspot would be the right thing to do now. Blogger or Blogspot is a tremendous tool. It has taught me the power of blogging, the power and pride I should take in my ramblings, and has taught me many lessons on content, audience, advertising and promotion and what I really need to have an effective online presence. Blogger was the absolute perfect place to start as it gave me an easy forum to post with no nonsense tools. I cannot recommend it enough to a person interested in content only. But, for those of us who have aesthetics as part of our DNA, Blogger can be happily plain--but for 1700 entries, plain is somehow not growing with us.

So, nothing is forever--and Blogger is near and dear for new projects. However, I would like to invite you to visit us now at our new address:

http://qcassetti.squarespace.com

I look forward to continuing our journey together in 2010.

Eve Song

Today is the day before the future Tomorrow, a new year filled with change, new opportunities, a new spring, a new summer, a new autumn and then the winter, just like today--begins again. It is snowing this morning in a steady stream of the white stuff that sticks. Somehow it seems right--a quiet day with the beautiful pearly grey sky, muted warm grey trees and the thread of snow building up around us. Of course, my mommy head is filled with "is there enough milk in the house?" and "what to eat if we are stuck"--but the girl inside me thrills to the cuddly day with pictures and tea, lazy reading and the radiant, hot wood stove.

This angel suggests the hope and light in the New Year for all of us. She is the brightness in the dark. The warm center that I hope for all of you. May your new Year radiate with love, friends, new ideas and opportunities in health, happiness and joy.

I am crazily obsessed with wooden nutcrackers and angels. I had forgotten the angels I bought a few years back--and the nutcrackers were something we bought one of each year to add to the collection which a very young, old fashioned boy, Alexander, thought was just fine. In getting back to all the holiday tchotchkes, I am humored to find a thread of love...those wooden, German holiday decorations that I have not until now, realized has a place in my heart. They are so stiff and frightening that I am charmed by their unfriendliness and have started drawing them. I am also possessed by rocking horses, tin soldiers etc. these days and feel that I may let this thread go a bit before I bang into something else. It seems a bit after the fact, but as in my musings above, they are just around the corner for 2010.

Work on amending the Hangar work continues. I am working on perking up the Man of LaMancha (adding more eye detail and a windmill). Completed the Spelling Bee changes and helped Penelope.
I added her love interest (Odysseus in army gear)...and added a texture of army camo to the background which surprisingly looks like peeling paint. As an aside, I had the best time researching the Army Uniform to find out the pros and cons of the new uniforms along with something tremendous, a whole deep dive on camo patterns. More on that later.

Time is wasting...so more later...Hopefully before the New Year!

New Resolutions

The patients are one day more in the sickroom...or at least thats how it feels right now. They have been nursing their aching jaws with "popcorn bags" which I quizzed the nurse about. Essentially they are any dried bean or popcorn in a beanbag kind of thing. You tie them off and then microwave them for around 2 minutes to create this lasting heat that is not too much. We had some old red toe/heel socks that I made a set out of the toe/foot part and dang, if it didnt look like Ms. Martha Stewart came in to make them! But, these bags of beans work and thats all that matters. There they are, the patients with two beanbags pressed to their chins...Kitty rigs her bags in a teatowel and wraps the whole thing around her head like some scary Dickens character. What a scene.

Rob and Mandy with Jamie, the electrician extrodinaire, turned the kitchen around...moving counters, stoves etc. and it really works so much better.

Goodness knows what this team is on for today.

I got a $26. check from Zazzle for some teeshirts and shoe sales. It's not like I am going to make a fortune with this online stuff...but hey,at least Zazzle is yielding something. Bagstab--zip. I may sell prints on Etsy and or the felt balls I have coming from Nepal. We will see.

I need to start researching summer canoe opportunities for Alex in January as well as starting the Financial thing for Kitty. Yikes. Expertise in something that is beyond my comprehension right now.

As of January 1st, I will be posting only on the new squarespace page for the Rongovian Academy of Fine Arts. I am committing to Squarespace as it gives me a bit more control and they have the gallery features which are very nice and works for my illustration and design work (see the Atelier Section). So, for resolutions, I resolve to migrate to Squarespace, try out Etsy and continue to pursue new avenues in illustration, art and graphic design. Something new should happen out of that resove? Eh?

Wow! A week later

Wow! A week later and here I am. Time just seemed to take over--and somehow getting in here to write a bit seemed something difficult to do. The week held Christmas, Christmas Eve and oral surgery for both Kitty and Alex (two complete sets of Wisdom Teeth). As you can imagine--it was filled with holiday activity, cooking, nursing and for me, a bit of reading. So, its been pleasant, productive and quiet. I guess this is something we have all needed--having to wind down a bit-- and focus on ourselves as a group.

Amanda and Sonata are here for a month. Amanda is terrific and got engaged for Christmas. She has a beautiful ring of entwined twigs (in white gold) with yellow diamonds that is just perfect for her...and she is delighted in her situation. Sonata, her red heeler dog, is as cute and vocal as usual and has been herding us. I guess we have behaved properly as she has calmed down and follows her older sister Shady, peacefully. Amanda, Rob and the electrician extrordinaire, Jamie Z. are rewiring parts of the kitchen to allow us to begin to rearrange things to accomodate the wood cookstove that we have in the barn that is awaiting installation. So the stove is moving as is half of the cabinetry. The floor has a chunk of the 1940s linoleum cut out of it, so a chunk will be put in to make sure the locals do not trip. And so it goes.

Kitty and Alex were troopers with the teeth-- all four wisdoms each--with laughing gas and the whole works. It was ice packs and popcicles yesterday until dinner when they lapped down big bowls of cheese grits to their contentment. I mad a few hot packs (dried beans in tube socks) and microwaved them up for the heat treatment today. They seem much more chipper and game...and the medications have definitely worn off. So, they are back in more action today--and I predict before tomorrow, we will see even more gains.

Chad G., one of my friends and illustration inspirations, turned me on to Glossom yesterday. Glossom is another design/illustration/fashion etc. social site. I took a little time to put some work on Glossom--and we will see what happens. Behance has been a good place to post work and with Chad's positive input about Glossom, I hope it will be the same. I got the fun british project from Behance--so maybe something with Glossom...it really comes down to how many electronic fires you want to start and feed. I have this blog (my fave), Facebook which I have linked to Twitter, Linked in which is also linked to Twitter, Little Chimp, Behance, Figdig (which Chad has ditched and maybe I will too), and now Glossom. I also have a website and representation on the Society of Illustrators LA page as well. So, exposurewise, I have a few irons in the fire, but nothing that has yielded much but a happy "I'm out here" with not much payout. We will see. Vital few is important. The big question is which ones are the vital few?

Gotta get some work done on the Hangar Posters. I know this is immediate and I have a window of time to get them done. Some are overhauls (major) some tweaks...but January 1st in the offing along with FASFA work for Kitty and Financial aid forms for the schools she is most serious about. Yikes.

Tuesday before Christmas

I was perusing my visitors and discovered someone visited my site from the Looky Blog. I noted the author pointed up a link I had to a wonderful Finnish illustrator, Sanna Annukka. Looky's author has a site that is chock full of beautiful, graphic illustrators that prompts this graphic design/illustrator to scratch her head and think that maybe a foray down this channel for a while might be amusing and fun. Looky's author pointed up another inspired Finn, Sanna Paananen, whose's whok is whos work is shown above. Love the clean color, the inspired/retro shapes and the sheer design of this illustration. The blog Grain Edit, has a page on Paananen>>. And, Paananen is represented by a truly inspired rep, Pekka>>. Sanna Mander's work at Pekka is also a kick in the pants. Love it.

So, wheels turning--I need to direct my thinking to fixing a fashion designers image, the logotype for an artisan bakery and finishing up the Hangar work. What with these exciting Finns, I might not be able to do anything today but cruise the internet and pretend I am one of them. My Tribe!

Lunch at the Heights today with the home team. Maybe Erich will figure out how to do more with this Squarespace page (Link Within)as well as moving more copy on to the top of the page. I am going to post live graphic work as well as the live illustration work to depict the work in progress. I think that will be a good exercise for myself.