Mentor Murray will be presenting a few talks on decorative illustration which I am totally and entirely excited about. To be honest, I have been trying to put myself in some kind of category to begin to gauge my work and give it a home, some friends, a context versus the scary, on the end of the diving board, this is my work. I know that this vector work which is getting some attention and I think has value as it looks good, is fun to do (a puzzle for me with the reduction and drawing that goes into it) and is very strong and stands apart. This new memento mori ink look and the line work that is in development live somewhere else. But, I would like to understand where they live too. I keep poking around the web to try to get a handle of that world. All I can find is Walter Crane's book on Decorative Illustration for Books (Walter Crane is an illustrator I grew up with as we had a songbook of his on the piano that had dreadful songs but lovely illustrations--illustration of the lady and her pig "honey, said she.. is from that very book"). Aubrey Beardsley and Kate Greenaway's names pop up..but no clear "this is what it is" to my chagrin. Maybe it's the illustration's detail. Maybe it's application on things beyond being in books? Maybe it's just plain line dominant with color adding to the image...but not dependant on it? I wonder if I can write a paper on this versus one of the speakers for the week we will have a paper due? I think I will ask. It is something I am interested in.

gotta go wake up the sleeping giant. Basketball awaits.