I got an F

I am getting somewhere with these Stooges....and was thrilled when I posted it to my facebook just to get a reaction that Pablo Lopato (impetus for this new twist) weighed in and said "Nice!". That means, keep going.

Gary Kelley talked about how he developed his books..the thinking, the research, the design that the illustrator engages in the process with the art director having a point of view and placing the type. Very interesting from the standpoint of the designer and from the look of the books...the engagement of the designer. Gary loves the relationship so it works for him. This is a dream situation for Gary as he views it not as the big CaChing! but more that this is another opportunity to do what he loves and develop a complete body of work, essentially, a portfolio to get his work out there. What I love about Gary is that illustration is magic for him. He loves to see the idea bloom into the image from the conception through to the final with every step a juicy morsel to be savored, stressed over and adored. I can so relate to his more art oriented approach--looking for colors and shapes--and allowing measured risks to happen as the color evolves and the design builds off the bones of the sketch. Remarkable and quite inspiring. Gary's two new books, one from Hyperion on Eleanor Roosevelt which pretties her up a bit, but is as compelling visually with the nicely designed images and spreads to the not for little people book on Paganini and his deal with the devil (mirroring his extrodinary book on Robert Johnson done with singular and stunning monoprints). Both worth buying even if its for grown ups.

Gary's vision, his joy in his work, the so called, simple paring down to color and shape is very motivating to me--his artistic ambition to constantly be amused, charmed, inspired, driven by the work of other artists and have it change and effect his work and direction is a gift upon the closure of this chapter to me. Somehow these last weeks are so poignant and so distilling to make the time fly but at the same time stand still when you hear the truths that are being imparted.

C F Payne loves what he does from the abstracting and stretching of the head to the making/doing of his work--but it is somehow less spiritual and brawnier than that of Gary Kelley. Chris is working on a "celebrity" book with Steve Martin--and it seems to be a happy marriage (we hope for this). Everyone worked on their own projects from portraits in either pastel and/or the multiplexed C Payne technique or on thesis work or in my case-- doing some intellectual stretching trying to simplify and abstract heads.

I had my thesis review today. It was Murray Tinkelman, Doug Andersen, Bill Thompson and to my delight, Bunny Carter. They wanted me to recount a bit of what the paper speaks to--and then to talk about my time at Hartford. Bunny was very nice and very positive about the work, where it could go and that the thing I will need to worry about/focus on are more bodies of work like this or like Memento Mori that will drive the style. Murray projected that in the right time (like the sixties) I would have been asked to join the Pushpin Studio (wow...!). Bunny projected that this work was going to get out there--and get published--and that the thing I will need to worry about when I have imitators, was to keep in front of it. Wow. Imagine. Do you think? And, she also said that she was proud of me as a women doing this...and from a goddess of illustration history and a keen observer of people, I am tearing up from that. Now, I just have to dog it to see where we go.

So, I have the F.
The Terminus F. I want to hug the world, hug myself and cry a little bit.

Week One, Day Four: Hartford Art School

Am slugging away on trying to get some motion around my portrait of Curly Joe Howard. I may park it for today and work on Moe. Larry might be toughest...and then come back to Curly Joe. Everyone is either working on portraits or their thesis work. Many people gasping on fumes--once again shocked into change, changing and discovery. This two week boot camp is a shock to our respective systems--and if you want, you can really realize a change, and begin to evolve. Some shrug and fight the direction and only take as much as they can. Others transform.

Murray took us through the marvelous highlights of the thirties in illustration. John Held Jr., and the ever amazing Mr. Leyndecker (note, need to look at him much closer), and the chameleon stylist, La Gotta. How can one resist the trilon and perisphere, Rockefeller Center, woven with women with bows and arrows or women with greyhounds or long necked birds.

Bunny Carter showed us her student's work(San Jose State) which is wonderful, inspired, witty and beautiful. She gave us a little family history...along with announcing that she is now at work on a book on Rockwell Kent. She had just come back from visiting the farm Kent lived on...being allowed to go into his studio which was just as he had left it, with the palettes in place, the blanket on his little nap couch. Imagine! And, think of how wonderful Bunny's book will be--not only the topic (you all know I adore Rockwell) but also in the way Bunny captures our imagination.

Its getting late...time to roll. Maybe a bit of Moe today.

Week One, Day Three: Big shapes, big colors

Chris Payne (left), Gary Kelley (right) demonstrated today. Chris showed us his amazing, multimedia build approach from a lovely sketch in prismacolor through the steps of Prisma on board; flesh colored acrylics (mixed with gesso vs white paint) in the head shape to create a form; then a dark tuscan red laid watercolor wash on top of that color. Clean brush picks out highlights with water --pulling them out of the watercolor. Then fix the entire thing. A mix of purple and green oil paint is applied to the background where clouds were pulled out of the color with a needed eraser. More prisma on the face, More
paint...and so on.We are going to be given a video as I didnt take notes. Chris draws with his paint...really a more draftsman's approach versus paint into paint. But the quick results are spectacular. He talks about templates (your tissue sketch and even templates he creates as guides in pulling the highlights). Lots of learning in the patter around his presentation. He also showed his slides and talked about his work which was interesting and important to see his growth and how he is evolving. I like where its going.

Gary Kelley also did a slide presentation of his work which I had seen before, but with this work--it is amazing and really pushes me to think. His presentation was really illuminating. Yes, I saw him in Syracuse--and maybe I was too balled up in my own insecurities to really see what was going on...but yesterday! WOW. Gary is contantly designing his composition, thinking about art, art history, palettes, form. He is inspired and motivated by shapes and colors--With that knowledge a switch flipped in this dim skulll that I do that too...and that maybe this abstraction thing might be a wonderful pursuit. With his demo, (a pastel (hard, neupastels on a natural colored stonehenge paper), he worked with a very simple design with his tissue sketches as reference. Then, without planning he dives in for the illustration party--and he builds up layer upon layer of pastel (not ground into the surface of the paper, but lightly applied, using his hand to smooth and blend. Gary looks at the edges and plans places where the "history" of the image can happen--that place where you can see how the color was built up..etc. He is working layer upon layer using a workable fix delicately and rarely. The image emerged from the paper with Gary designing and thinking about adjacenies, tangents, darks and lights...etc. This is the stuff a computer does not do...and the spiritual moment with the computer can happen (at least for me) but its hard to get in that cerebral zone where art/design and all the elements just happen.The final palette and coloration became unveils itself to Gary as it goes.... I love that mystical moment with your medium. This is the sweetspot of the job when its you, the paper, and breathing.

Gary showed some spectacular work he did for gratis for local theater companies (one that got a Gold Medal at SOI). He stressed the import for young illustrators in the field to do this sort of work for exposure. He was very direct about no art direction etc. (my intent with the Hangar) as its a gift etc. Nice to have a bit of confirmation in this process.

Both Gary and CF Payne use other art as reference and guidance. Chris says to copy other artists work from the esteemed cartoonist, Jack Davis (a great way to learn exaggeration) to his nose exploration when he copied everyone's noses from Holbein to Bob Peak--until he got it. Good lesson. Note...study this way. Gary uses the inspiration and lessons of palette, composition, styles and styling (not his words) from the inspirations sources of the day. He finds that that group of artists are always evolving and through time and work, his tastes have changed.

I am sorry this is short...but its all good here. The new class is getting slammed (all part of the first year bootcamp)--but all pretty cheery about it. No tears yet. And I get to work on Curly Joe  today. Worth the presentations and the goading to get with it from Chris and Gary.

Day Two, Week One: HAS

Its been a bit hectic as you can imagine...but I am now set up in Hartford thanks to the kind and gentle ministrations of Kitty and Robbie. They were both tremendous in their good humor,encouragement and just plain being there. Saturday, we got up around 4 to drive via a new, gps recommended route to Hartford. We arrived on time (around noon) to have a tour of the campus for perspective students. That was amazing and frankly, I would recommend anyone considering even this MFA program, take the tour as it paints a different institution than their website or even being in the program suggests. My take away was mini Syracuse without the rah rah, but higher quality. Hartford is comprised of bunch of schools with the Hart School (Music and Performance) and Art School being the top of the pyramid. So its really very arts driven--at a high level. Small classes. Beautiful facilities. Enough housing for everyone. Heavy duty rennovations going on. Nice gym, library, classrooms. Pretty sweet. And NICE is the watchword. Everyone is really nice, and helpful.

We started yesterday with the full bore: Murray doing the History of Illustration (somehow feels refreshed...it was great...) and I am in love with Howard Pyle and his line work. Dennis Nolan did his Zero Degrees of Separation slide show...essentially pointing up how teachers teach teachers all the way back to the established artist who began the process, Giotto. Very funny and very illuminating. CF Payne and Gary Kelley were stellar in their critics of the Thesis show...honestly saying things that had meaning...in a very kind and open manner that even if it were pointed, it pointed to change. Nice warm up for the thesis defense for many, I would imagine. They critiqued the second year work--again, encouraging and d

This directing in a nice exchange...with little stories peppered in. Wonderful. Great lead in for today where I am actually looking forward to working after Chris Payne will demonstrate his many layered technique.

I will be brief now as we went to the grocery store last night and really didnt settle in until a bit before eleven. Cannot do that often.

Gotta brush myself and go.

Life is beautiful

Couple of techie things I have discovered. First off, there is this cool new iphone app called Color Expert. Essentially, its a palette creator where you pick colors and them can morph them to either artistic or scientific interpretations of analogous, monochromatic, complementary, split complementary, or triadic combinations. Once you tweak those palettes either starting from scratch or starting from an established "I love this color///base color" then, you can get the cmyk, rgb or even pantone chips that correspond to this combination. You can save the palette to the iphone or send it to yourself, your team etc. to use in projects on the roster. So its a fun little thing that is a color toy which is highly amusing and shows some interesting combinations that ripping a pantone book might not accomplish. Lets see if it yields anything in the future. Color Expert describes itself this way:

Color Expert contains powerful tools to help artists and designers identify, translate, capture and showcase color. Designers know inspiration can come anywhere at anytime. Just look around. Some of the best ideas are waiting for you in the real world away from the studio. Now with Color Expert, you'll have the tools to capture the moment, the moment a color captures you. Look down. See the color of that Pomegranate in your cart? Go get it. It'd be perfect for the project you've been working on. Whip out Color Expert and it tells you that shade is PANTONE® solid coated PANTONE 220 C. The interactive color wheel then finds the perfect color schemes and palettes to match. Now, email that color scheme to your friends or clients. But, you might not want to tell them you're still in the check-out line. Whether designing, decorating or accessorizing, Color Expert is indispensable for anyone working with color. Anywhere. Anytime.

The other cool thing(s) are simple applications to create web pages. One is Squarespace the other is Wix. Squarespace is on my list. I am going to backout all of my web content from this and the other piddly blogs I have going and flow it through Squarespace which I can control on my own servers versus the google one. Don't get me wrong, this blogspot empire is wonderful, simple and it works....but I now have well over 1500 entries, so my investment and actually content is something I want to protect now that I am fully engaged in this enterprise. Plus, I may want to design it a bit (not much) just for kicks. You do n0t need to be web saavy nor a codewriter but just a content person...and its WYSIWYG. I can use existing photo gallery templates for my portfolio and really rethink the blog/website interface...where one could enhance the other versus operate as two separate entities. I like my website,but I cannot futz with it...and the way to keep it fresh is to touch it more often than I am doing. Plus, if I can drive people to my blog...the flow through to the website should be simple and fluid. Right now, its pretty clunky.

Wix is a similar tool except you can create widgets, slide shows, and more flashdriven animated presentations that maybe could dovetail with the Squarespace "meat and potato" approach. I have a problem of animation for animation sake...it becomes trite. But used tactically, as a widget or a popup slide show, this could be great. It's interface is very simple...and you can use it to promote your art/music. You can use a preexisting template or start with a blank piece of electronic paper....Take a look at both. You don't need to hire a codifier, or a web expert. Just will take a little time. Plus, the bait is ...its free to get started. So, build a site in both and see the difference. This sort of small paradigm shift is welcome. No longer do we need some middle man in between us and the web. We can go direct and not worry about someone else filtering our ideas and content. So...sooooo beautiful.

Jiri Harcuba gets the pale green (to reflect his use in clear glass) background. I am going to monkey with the type a bit to punch up the lettering a bit. Kitty needs to clean her room, read her book and do some other projects prior to having a guest for 10 days. Alex is sleeping at a friends house, with the promise of more work in the fields of garlic mustard (ripping it out by the roots). Rob's sister Gloria shows up today from the sunny west Coast for a week +/- of visiting, Grassroots and vacationing. Our friend Bruce is here Monday or so. Kitty's friend on Tuesday. And then, then...big things, big sounds, volunteering. No end to the fun.

I have a bit more packing and thinking and then I will be ready to go tomorrow a.m. We have a walk through and info session at noon for Kitty at Hartford and then with help, I will hang my work... and then, my friends, may the rumpus begin!

PS. My work will be featured in a story about digital art in the Artists Magazine soon (next month)? This is all thanks to Ursula Roma who wrote the article and kindly invited me to submit work for publication. Very exciting news indeed!

Juri part 3

Breakfast with Juan (Gris)

What a great way to get up and greet the morning. Yes, with sunshine! but also with the happy Juan Gris, whose synthetic Cubism makes the world a better place.

I am surrounded by pets. The cats flank either side of this powerbook and the black shadow is lying on my feet. The cats are hungry and know if I succumb to their watching me, there will be extra food. Shadow is just protecting me...(I guess).

Today is lots of business dealings which will be great to get behind us prior to the next two weeks happening. Grassroots is beginning to perc. You can tell that the tribe is beginning to assemble from the hangerouters in front of Gimme! coffee and the stackouts of beer (lovingly referred to by the crowd at the Shure Save as "THE WALL OF BEER"). Wednesday is promising to have great music before the festival with Keith Frank on the Commons, Toivo at the Farmer's Market in Tburg and American Hellcat Drivers at Barangus. Rob has timed it all out with sequencing and drive time all figured in...so what with the volunteering, the hanging out with friends and the guests coming to visit, it should be a wild place here in Trumansburg while I am embracing peace and personal turmoil all on a 8.5"x 11" stack of tracing paper.

I feel that if the last two weeks of Hartford are any match to the last two weeks of Syracuse (which, I thought was going to be a waste of time and it turned out to be the great jettison into my working analog and getting back to my loves)--it should be good. We will be having a group crit a week from Sunday and a week from Saturday, a road trip to the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA. Of course there is our show in the Silpe Gallery and our graduation dinner which the teens and I made favors (stacks of black pencils that said Hartford Art School Illustration MFA 2009 tied with red and white ribbons). I am giving some Luckystone prizes (small stuff...but meaningful to me as I feel we should encourage and support those in the program in small ways. I figure if I can model this behavior and continue to give those prizes after I leave, maybe others will be inspired to do the same). I set up the blog "Squint" for Hartford along with establishing the Facebook Group for the MFA program. I hope others will raise their hands and contibute versus assuming that this stuff just "happens". It saddens me that there are so many that just take and take...and wonder when it stops, why? I saddens me there is no commitment beyond the personal to expand to a commitment to the group. This putting oneself forward should be part of the growth...but you cannot make people reach out when the universe rotates around them. Harumph. Sorry about the rant...(I did clip a bunch out as it got too vitriolic and petty).

With the prizes, I am going to talk about taking trips/journeys and how some people plan and organize while others wing it. Both people come back from their journeys changed, inspired and hopefully open to continue to do this. Our collective shared journeys embrace a desire to go to places that are not commonplace for each one of us. We may physically be in the same place, but every student is on his or her path, some searching, some sharpening-but changing and being open to that change. I am giving out the personal maps for each traveller.... Nuf said. I need to script this thing.

Shady is growling in her throat. I gotta go to the door.

Jiri a few hours later!

Jiri Part 1

Synthetic (cubism, that is)

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I love this period of Mr. P. Picasso's work (admittedly, I like a lot of his periods)--that of synthetic cubism. These little jewels of decorative illustration are happy moments of color, shape, form, found objects and beautiful compositions. I just put these out there as a way to make the day a bit nicer despite the rain (which is making a lot go mouldy these days). There is a lot here to take as inspiration from the palette to the happy wallpaper patterns to the idea of these little domestic scenes that do no more than welcome to to have a cup of tea and contemplate what's next. No one is going to get riled up from this stuff.

Today, finish the Jiri portrait, pack and organize. The money grubbing teens are anxious to get outside to clip and prune more. I wonder if they can make this happen prior to the downpour we are scheduled to get.

Both of the cats are sneezing, a very disturbing sound and experience. MeiMei has the sniffles which adds to the auditory experience. I am happy they can stay here on the porch and nurse their maladies and let me leave them to their illness. Shady is snoring and moaning in her sleep. I am going to get her going to wake up the two under 20.

Need to think about the non Holiday, Holiday card. I am thinking a growing theme a la Craig Frazier. Plants, vines, trees, a natural approach. Maybe how man is represented? or could man and growing be fused? Also, a synthetic cubist image...it just comes down to what. This is going to be a crash and burn as soon as it hits. Feels like the holidays now anyway. Its in the fifties and I am wearing a wool shirt. Thats trouble in July.

Oy. More later.

dinner time.

It's late. Sorry I haven't had a chance to breathe. Its all coming together. Tomorrow, I get the paper to wrap my work. All the prizes are packed. All papers. I need to gather and compile art supplies and the computer stuff. Had a bit of fun making some woodgrain brushes in photoshop. But, there is the wacom, the memory stick, pens, ink, blue pencils, black pencils, erasers, tracing, new notebook, lined notebook, all the printouts of the schedules...the reference all printed out, the SF pix, Chads totem pole totems (flattened and ready to reassemble). Then there are the "which elements of the Quniform do I take?". The Quniform is like cuniform, only it's my garb, my Q-uniform.

A nice possible project came through the door having to do with local music and venues. It is still inception, but maybe some nice local portraits may happen. I think its design and illustration. Was working on a portrait of Jiri Harcuba (a Czech glass artist) for the ongoing series of small shows at the Museum of Glass ("The Masters of Studio Glass") and found the reference wanting. I went to Flickr and found an excellent image with nice features/nice gesture. I wrote the glass artist a note asking permission to use the image (Now, I am acting like a big girl!) and away we go. I am about half done. Its looking nice. Very spare...one color.

My Wood Duck image was accepted at Bagstabfor production. The image that got into the Society show got votes, but was shunned (too edgy? Liza Minella was dumped too). We will see if Little Richard makes it.

Kitty, Alex, Nigel and Mabin were all cutting and pulling, tearing and whacking weeds and wood. The backyard is getting in shape for the second half of the summer which goes from green to greybrown and leggy. Now, there is hope that leggy will be a bit more tailored and elegant. Nothing like 4 people between 15--19 all leaning into it together. Anything is possible. To that, Rick, the veggie stand man at the top of the hill wanted to know if Kitty and Alex wanted to do some farm work with him...and Kitty jumped on it, whipping out a pen with her cell number etc. Wow. Nothing like putting some cash in the bank, eh?

now

Yesterday I finished up putting the cherries in jars and did some cooking. Love the new adds to my mis en place--that being the stuff you keep on hand to cook-- and without these ingredients, it just doesnt happen (olive oil, garlic, leeks, onion, sea salt and pepper, lemon juice, lime juice, scallions, chicken stock). You get the idea. New adds, ginger, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and worcester sauce. I bought black caps, zucchini, new leeks, and hot house tomatoes from Rick's stand at the top of the hill--which was great. Rick and the missus regaled me with tales of all the hard cider, peach brandy and booze that the two of them make on the side. Lots of winking and insights. Very funny. Localvores to the enth degree.

My illustration mis en place has a lot of do with software, ink, brush pens...etc. The pictures above are just sketches from my sketchbook.

Worked the better part of yesterday--building my files of reference etc. for CF Payne and Gary Kelley next week. Need to lean into the file building for the digital class the following week. I boxed up the 8 15"x 20"s. All my prizes are wrapped and in bags. Thesis papers are packed with my shoes to show. Started the pile of clothes and underwear that need to go. My bag of quarters for coffee and laundry is ready. Picture hanging hardware needs to happen. Need to check with Kitty on wheither she wants an interview at Hartford after her tour/ info session.

It's late and I need to roll the hometeam out of their respective racks.

Daruma picture.

working on Barnum sketches still.

More from Mr. Hnizdovsky

Yesterday we got Kitty off to the Adirondacks with her beautiful , blonde triple friends. Alex was off to a party in Geneva, so R. and I had the evening just for us. We found ourselves at Felicia's Atomic Lounge where Paris Texas(a Django Reinhardt inspired trio) was playing. We met up with Peter Hoover who was offering a large plate of dilly beans to all assembled and sharing nips of his Rhubarb Brandy he had recently concocted. The music was great as were Peter's tales of bootlegging, field recording and music and how the two inevitably became/become overlapping. Peter's tales of localvore dining, wine and liquor from the divine peach brandy made from overripe peaches that had wintered in a commercial fridge at a local fruit farm, to the double cherry brandy that he kept folding into the next year...to the beautiful pinkjuice that the rhubarb produces. We talked about his time in Pittsburgh and how he had met Arnold Bank and then, as if it had been planned, I got a Facebook message from a field recorder friend of his who was also a student of Arnold. The message was very nice and saying that he and I had a mutual friend who was in from London....Arnold and Rose's son, Stephen! Another reason to join Facebook!

Must get the loose ends finished up this weekend. Then there is packing for Hartford. I was thrilled to look over my collection of cardboard boxes to find there was a perfect box for all my 15x20 prints. Must go, work awaits.

Oh, and the images above again are from Jacques Hnizdovsky. The beans are a bow to Peter's beans!

Alibris

I was presented with a glistening stainless steel bowl brimming with a stockpot's quantity of translucent, ruby sour cherries. Kitty had climbed the trees with Alex on the ground, working with Peter to gather cherries for his projects and yet some for me and for Peggy. So, I pitted for a bit last night, and an hour or so this morning and now I have a stock pot of cherries in sugar and a bit of lime juice, mascerating prior to cooking up preserves which I will put in jars tomorrow. It was wonderful for Kitty and Alex to spend time with Peter making and picking, talking and learning about his world, and what he loves to do, collect, think about. Plus, the pizza was divine as well. Lucky ducks!

The woodcuts are from the current illustration boyfriend, Jan Hznidovsky. They are bookplates (truly a design, type and illustration project of the past) integrating type and his lovely illustration to powerful results. There is an "englishness" to his approach to these personal tributes that I really love in the integration of type and illustration, the simple framesthat are the glue between the two.Lovely. As bookplates were a pleasure for bibliophiles and necessities for the wealthy patrons in the past, when books were treasured, and libraraies contained in rooms devoted to reading, learning and the sheer physicality of books, what is that moment now? A Kindle with an electronic book? No need for real estate, for book tables and book lights. I even have the 100 classics on my iPhone to browse at will, waiting for kids or in the cracking corners of time we have during the day. And, surprisingly, I like it that I can read in bed with the lights off...with something as small as my hand. But the smell of the ink, new glue and the lovely hand of rich paper is lost. The viseral, the tangible are gone leaving us unadorned content that only our imaginations can embellish. The sensuality of the printed page and speaking as a designer, the wonder of seeing a print piece develop and bloom on press is missing. However, with change comes a new appreciation. I am waiting.

Speaking of books and words, Carol TInkelman forwarded the advance copy of Lisa Cyr's article on the Hartford Art School in the June issue of Communication Arts Magazine (the illustration issue I have my Fort Worth image in). I am briefly noted (and am flattered to no end) and would love to share the article with you>>

There is more work to be done this weekend to get prepped for next Saturday's trip to Hartford. I need to finish my Barnum sketch, gather and output the reference for Gary and Chris Payne, create brushes and type for the Barnum stuff (scrap pile) and pack, wrap the pictures and get my wits clear. Then there is the prep for the guest who Rob will have along with the prep for Erich while I am gone. Holiday weekend, pffft.

More later.

Cherry Picking.

I give you a cabbage from Jacques Hnizdovsky, current illustration boyfriend. Look at this thing...blacks and whites singing together. And yes, its a "spot". What a way to start a rainy day. The way we got going was to take Kitty and Alex at 6 a.m. to meet with Peter Hoover. They were all going off to pick sour and sweet cherries by the gallon and then bring them back t mash up for Peter's cherry homebrew. There was a bit of trepidation as I forced this on them, but as Peter and Peggy are so wonderful and kind, interesting and sharing, I saw my two griffins unfurl their wings, pat their dog and begin to sparkle and smile. Yes, this was going to be just fine...! They are going to be with Peter through the day (despite the rain)--and they should learn quite a bit!

We close on our refinancing of the house (much lower interest rate) later today. And because its that time of the season (the day before a holiday) I expect we will have the phone ringing with immediate needs and requirements that have to happen right now before the individual goes on break. Coffee awaits.

Thanks Peg!

Peg Nocciolino, colleague from Hartford, amazing illustrator and all round go to gal, when seeing my foray into the pen with the sheep prompted me to look at the work of Jacques Hnizdovsky. Wow. Love this stuff. The site I posted has a wonderful collection of his works from lino cuts, woodcuts and prints to paintings and drawings. This black and white work is very much in a hand I would like to develop. Perhaps Mr. Hnizdovsky and the late Leonard Baskin, along with Evelyn Ness can spur me on. This is all a sidebar to the portraits I want to launch into. Its great to have quite a few things to prompt thinking and research.

baaaaa

Am fiddling around with texture and sheep. Yesterday was round one. The other completed last night is doing some things that are amusing. Am planning on more experimentation with sheep and rooster heads. Kitty told me that the background cannot be as textured as seen in this noodle. More graphic... not sure. Insane patterning is fine by me. This lamb can be married with a lion (for a holiday card). Well, and speaking to Holiday cards, they are back on the plate again for one of my clients.

Remember--
• no red no green
• no blue, no silver
• no candles, no wreaths
• no trees
• no snowflakes
• no obvious "holiday stuff"
• no SANTAS, RUDOLFS, STARS
• no doves (we have overused them)
• but keep it professional and personal
• just typography is too boring
• no new year orientation
Yikes.

Alex is playing golf in the rain. Kitty is making jewelry and watching tennis. I am getting them hitched up with a friend who needs cherry pickers for his cherry cordials that he brews with his still. Tall highschoolers are perfect for this thing. I am getting the company in the right spot (payroll etc.) prior to going to Hartford. Need to finish my Barnum picture.

More later>>

Am trying to figure out how to make the slide show from last year's class of 2010 presentation work in a non glitchy way. The new powerpoint and keynote on my new flashy big presentation...makes things easier to work with. Another day of rain here.