Holiday Wreath, Q. Cassetti,2010, sharpies, from the Second Advent Calendar ProjectSo, there are wreathes now to add to the russian dolls and nutcrackers. I am working on some new little sillies of gingerbread people> I know, I know…sappy stuff…but hey, this is how I am feeling. I am “loving the line” these days, and any opportunity to bat off something holiday is an excuse for fun. You have figured out that I am big, fat cheater, and this wreath didn’t take days to draw (it took about a half hour) as It was only a quarter. I stuck the bow in the diagonal…and there was very little cheating when I pieced it together for this. In the tradition of John Alcorn, I should print this in grey on some nice watercolor paper and see what develops. Some lovely, watery washes of soft pinks and sage green might work with some gold accents? These wreaths have a little more mileage than the holiday (imagine it stamped in a matte silver on a cream card? or a pearl on matte paper? Oooooh. Fun!
Kitty is home after a long ride. It is great to have her back. She is in good spirits albeit she is still coughing…and the three weeks of rest, food and friends is really in order. We decorated for the big sing last night (Rob put up a lovely tree) with all the mantlepieces with little holiday vignettes. One is about nutcrackers with a wreath decorated in nutcrackers and stuffed gingerbread people. Another is a pair of artificial topiaries with a green swag with lights and silver balls. I filled up some colored drinking glasses with tiny colored balls like little glass fizzy drinks. I decorated the chandeliers with mardi gras swag and ornaments. Today, I will move furniture and get the remaining packages in the mail. Holiday, what Holiday? It is WORK and has been good as we have had focus on it…
I am going to try to get out to go to the store for a few more silver balls…and fairydust.
Some nice things have been happening. My work was highlighted again in the Featured section on Behance. I am waiting to hear from the Society of Illustrators Illustration West show. Need to get the work out to Communication Arts for January. Got my work back from Picture Salon for the Society of Illustration Show this January and February. I feel like I am making some headway on the Hangar and ideas around that.
I was searching/ researching August Wilson’s ” The Gem of the Ocean” play to seek out something to hang the illustration/graphics on. Wilson’s plays are multilayered, multigenerational thing that I feel need something symbolic as the complexity of the play cannot truly be captured in a snapshot of an illustration. So, finding that the Gem of the Ocean is really a slave ship, I started to search out graphics for that to find that the NYPL digital library has a few really evocative maps/ functional illustrations of the layouts of the slave ships and how to fit people on this ship (much like the image above… which is spurring me to think about the slave, the person entrapped/ boxed in. I am also thinking of a style that evokes African maps…That’s where I am now on this. I need to put my head on “Ragtime” too. I would love to have a sketch for Monday (my meeting with the team). I need to let my brain relax to see what pops up. I am pleased that reseach has driven this break through.
Busy day. Hope it is busy and fun for you too.