Kitty, Q. Cassetti, 2011Kitty and I drove back to the Luckystone via the Lucas Winery vineyards last night. We had the windows open and what with the slight warmth and the cooling humid day, we were treated to the most sublime fragrance of ripening grapes—floral and fruity capturing the spirit of our evening. The boys were all off having fun with friends or in Rob’s case, doing business, so Kitty and I had a girl date at the Americana Winery’s restaurant—having hamburgers, sitting outside, talking about Kitty’s passion for fashion and watching the big, furry cats groom themselves. It was wonderful. She regaled me with hopes of helping with the Hampshire theatre group on the costuming, the searching and the reason to thrift in the Pioneer Valley. We talked about decorative arts versus fine arts and how its okay to not have something burning to express…but to just go out there and engage. Passion might come later. I believe one needs road time to really develop opinions, passion, beliefs to express. How often can one at 18 have much other than discovery to express. This seemed to concur with Kitty’s thinking—to her newly realized permission to explore. It capped a day of solutions versus problems.
I spent some time with Mike from Apple to try and figure out the crashing I have with my computer. Better but still a bit tenuous. We worked on resetting the RAM and throwing away all the cache files (there were 75,000 files to throw away!). We will see if there is any action here. I have a case number so I can call them back to pick up from where we left off.
Rob thinks I should have two set ups, one for graphics, the other for illustration. I don’t know about this, but will think about it as I need to protect myself from this stuff. Its too bad there isnt a person you can have come every four months to do a clean out, a virtual “oil change” and filter swap on the computer in a preventative mode. I would be one of the first ones to sign up. Would that be too hard, too complicated to do? It would be soooooo worth it.
I had a very fun conversation with a friend of mine from the school. I asked her if she could go with me to the Demolition Derby just so she could fill me in with the whos who, and the whats what around town. Small town doings, and gossip to the max. We have great laughs and I love her. She suggested in jest that we should join a Horseshoe League (!!) at the Falls to really get the low down. Imagine! And think of the horseshoes inspired pictures!. What an American “sport”! Right up there with the dem derby where the sport is a parking lot of cars (only parked on the track at the Fairgrounds)—each car parked close to the next one. Then the sport is to get free of the crowd. So, the only thing the drivers do most of the time is to back up, and then pull forward with as much force as their jalopies can handle. The aesthetic of the demderby is “Mad Max” meets “John Deere” with fabulous paintjobs or lack thereof (my favorites). The crowd loves it as there is smoke, gas fumes and if lucky, something our intrepid firefighters might have to handle. American Gothic meets “Monster Garage”. To heck with the environment! To heck with sustainablity! To heck with conservation! Bring on the pump cheese nachos and the Ulysses Demderby!
Speaking of fun, Sausage Fest 2011 tomorrow. Need to acquire the links.
I was trolling on the web and found Tifani Carter who was trying to copy my work. I found it fascinating to see what she did trying to mimic my Shady Grove images with her own dog and how she interpreted what I did. Interesting how it isnt the technique, but the design that makes the piece. I was particularly intrigued with how she mimicked my swan but had to do all sorts of back flips to make it happen. I mean, I did all the edititing and design….but she still didnt get the technique. Here are her two entries on trying to figure out what I do>> One>> Two>> She did honor quite a few of us with her explorations, so I am complimented to join that group.
Kitty is here so its time to go.