Limbs came down last night. More rain expected tonight. The plants are loving it. My 5' monarda (second year) is beginning to blow out...and the astilbe is blissing in the ground. The girls are still engaged in the guarding of the groundhog hole. Its hot here...steamy..and I think a trip to the lake for this evening is in line as I have work for Hartford (tuning some pacing of the slide show) and some graphic work for other clients.
Round two with the Cornell job. Moving forward. There may be a hand drawn holiday card featuring a horse...(I think jumping over a star. Horse may be a swedish horse). So, good progress and closure. The day after I come home from HAS, I have a 2 day pressrun for this book--as its chock a block on one press versus multiples. So, I need to get myself organized for that.
Just got out of the lake all by my lonesome. It was quite extrodinary to be in the water, looking up the lake with no one around. No boats, no sailboats, no people, no kayaks--just me and the girls (Shady Grove and Mei Mei) taking in the quiet, the beautiful monochromatic color and the being one with the water. I have this hypothesis that being in the water does something chemical to you. As we are 90+% water, and being in non treated water without salt...allows the water to go cellular--and that at a moment, I can become one with the water. That is what adds to the lake effect. The only thing I am not with are the fish....and the zebra mussels.
I have (I think) conquered the dragon. I have, step by step--not winging it, brought the Keynote slides (created in powerpoint) into iDVD with all the bells and whistles mac offers, and made it so that I can burn the Hartford show with music...and then have it as a pop and go...and nothing that is dependent on the software, the hardware....all the crap that drives me crazy when all you want to do is be cool, be one with whoever you are talking to, and make the whole conversation be seamless versus the electronic burps and farts that random software/hardware and the humidity, the day of the week, your middle name, when the solstice falls. But, I speak out of turn. I do not want to jinx this...but I did follow the recipe exactly, added the baking powder, and it feels like it might work. I am impressed that you can send slideshows from keynote directly to YouTube...which opens up the possibility of portfolios>? or reference? I might make one up of all the historic Marie Antoinette stuff...and see if it works...could be a cool reference tool... who knows.
Phone rang today from someone I spoke to a couple of weeks ago who does very high end work and subcontacts high end art for huge interiors projects. Elegant, splashy spaces. Art deco was mentioned. We will talk soon. This could be very cool. Illustration/art that is not for the editorial world, the book world, even the design world...another planet...an entirely different world than we normally talk about. We'll see. First glass illustration and work for CDs and now this. Certainly projects I would have NEVER been considered for prior to the illustration mojo. And, a ton more fun!
I am in the 3x3 Showcase which seems (as it is done by a polyglot person--illustrator, designer, manager...what else did I read he has done> photographer, creative director, agency founder....Charles Hively (AIGA has a nice interview with Steve Heller>> and am blowing my annual budget on a spread...and then some...but I think the magazine has merit, reach and the quality that is worth it. Still waiting to hear what got into the show. You will know as soon as I do.
there is a lot of stuff out there, that if it hits, I might have to give up sleep. Might be worth it.
Gotta wrap up this incessant editing of the slides...I am worked up on making it good and more perfect than thrown together--and that take time. Six minutes of grey hair. But, as my brave and valiant husband, the man who the Myers-Briggs has identified as a mystic, a person who can see into the future said..."you need to learn these tools and use them"--and though I fight...he is always, ALWAYS right ( I was right one or two times...but nothing given his batting average).
Gotta sleep. The thing is done.
(picture is Kay Nielsen--a honey--love the texture and the treatment of the ground)