Otherworldly and wierd

Warrior Crabs, Q. Cassetti, 2012, Pen and InkI am inspired by all things Japan. A J thing. I am all caught up in reading and studying about Yokai, which according to Wikipedia is:

“Yōkai (妖怪?, ghost, phantom, strange apparition) are a class of supernatural monsters in Japanese folklore. The word yōkai is made up of the kanji for “otherworldly” and “weird”.[1] Yōkai range eclectically from the malevolent to the mischievous, or occasionally bring good fortune to those who encounter them. Often they possess animal features (such as the Kappa, which is similar to a turtle, or the Tengu which has wings), other times they can appear mostly human, some look like inanimate objects and others have no discernible shape. Yōkai usually have a spiritual supernatural power, with shapeshifting being one of the most common. Yōkai that have the ability to shapeshift are called obake.

Japanese folklorists and historians use yōkai as “supernatural or unaccountable phenomena to their informants”. In the Edo period, many artists, such as Toriyama Sekien, created yōkai inspired by folklore or their own ideas, and in the present, several yōkai created by them (e.g. Kameosa and Amikiri, see below) are wrongly considered as being of legendary origin.[2]”

All of this aligns perfectly as cultural inspiration from which Pokemon, the work of director, Hayao Miyazaki (“Princess Mononoke” and “Spirited Away”)—Yokai has been a bubbling undercurrent—explaining the unexplainable, giving personalities to unwanted or forgotten objects or just plain to be scary and dark. I am reading a series of wonderful books butterfly style …flitting from one to the other, and many of them I highly recommend, to best grasp (as best I can as a Westerner) the basis and the lyricism of this profoundly Japanese mythology.

Samuri Crab, H. Japonica

The Warrior Crabs, or Heikegani, are part of the Yokai stories. Wikipedia tells the story better than I. The Heikegani:

“Heikegani (平家蟹, ヘイケガニ) (Heikeopsis japonica) is a species of crab native to Japan, with a shell that bears a pattern resembling a human face. It is locally believed that these crabs are reincarnations of the spirits of the Heike warriors defeated at the Battle of Dan-no-ura as told in The Tale of the Heike.

From Arthropoda.wordpress.com

“Popular legend alleges that, following the battle Dan-no-ura, the souls of drowning Heike samurai warriors were transformed into crabs. These crabs are distinguished by having the faces of the fallen samurai on their backs. To this day the Heike crabs roam the depths of the oceans around Japan, searching for the lost heirlooms of their empire.”

There truly are crabs in Japan with faces on their backs, and so this tale emerges to explain this phenomenon, making magic for me, and for many others to best remember and honor the memories of ancient Japanese warriors.

The ghost of the Heike general Taira no Tomomori (bottom left) at the bottom of the ocean with the anchor he used to drown himself following defeat at Dan-no-ura. He is joined by Heike crabs bearing the faces and souls of his comrades. By artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 17th century.

IF: Intention

Hairhopper, Q. Cassetti, 2012 pen and inkIntention

Men’s minds are as variant as their faces. Where the motives of their actions are pure, the operation of the former is no more to be imputed to them as a crime, than the appearance of the latter; for both, being the work of nature, are alike unavoidable.


George Washington
Social Maxims. Difference of Opinion no Crime.

Not too fascinating

Hairhopper, Q. Cassetti, 2012, pen and inkRaining today. Our little piles of snow are melting to Alex’s chagrin and sadness. We are both praying for another freeze and flakes to help the ski club investment make sense. Just as soon as we think we are good to go, then the rain starts and away we go. Oy.

However, the rain is better to travel in than snow and wind sheers…so we will have Rob home safely (we hope) from Florida via NYC tonight. He is going to be whipped. It will be good to have him home in the frozen north. Next trip is in two weeks to interview at  Landmark College and Hampshire College. Rob is identifying some cool places to stay (one has a salt water lap pool, an outdoor heated (winter) pool and other cool treats like that.

I am having to write a bio for myself which is puzzling. I have been reading the existing bios and getting a feeling for what works, what doesn’ t, but my story is a bit different, and I do not want to  be odd. I think I need to call my contact and suss out better what they are looking for (character count) and in the case of the portrait (urg) file type etc.

Onward.

I have my valentine coming via mail (just checked this a.m)—complete with spot uv. and full color on what is promised to be an interesting board stock. We will see! Also ordered a bunch of tattoo-ey ink drawings as stickers on vinyl from The Sticker Guy—my source where I can pretend I am a radical extreme illustrator/designer and be able to make cool stuff for a low price. I am planning on making sticker sets to sell (Etsy and Grassroots) as well as to send to a select group just to say hi and hello. Coasters will be next on the roster.

I got all my entries submitted to American Illustration (AI) yesterday. Goodness, that takes quite a bit of time—but it is a good show and I am always surprised when I get something in…and those things selected are always the least predictable of the shows I enter. I find that AI can point the way towards work that others may not have paid attention to…and they do. Interesting. I may enter the next Creative Quarterly just for kicks. You never know until you enter!

This is the time of the year for taxes and accounting, contracts and paperwork, files and all things paper. I find myself throwing all sorts of that stuff off. Time consuming and not overly fascinating. I guess the fascinating is in February.

Detail galore

Walled City, Q. Cassetti, 2012,pen and inkYesterday was a day of brewing vegetables. Alex went off to ski—and I started chopping. All sorts of bits and stuff from the vegetable drawer from the ends of parsley to peelings of parsnips to a small frozen bag of cherry tomatoes from the summer went into the pot after roasting with carrots, turnips, celery root, ends of leeks, scallions having frozen in the drawer and onions. It smelled great roasting…and then into the pot with tons of water to let it infuse into a lovely and majorly tasty vegetable stock. I did it! The key is in the roasting—per the boneyard, and not overdoing it with water in the infusion. Keep it less…so the broth takes on all the flavor in a more concentrated way. Fabulous.

Also in the spirit of emptying the fridge, I made a double of carrot soup (frozen already),  cooked and peeled 3 gigantic beets (ready for a salad) and a double of the wonderful King Arthur Baking Cookbook’s make now/later pizza crust for dinner. I have a double of split pea soup in the slow cooker…so we are set for soup and soup this week for lunches.

Am reading a very evocative and visual book referred to by one reviewer as a “pop culture cocktail” which it definitively is:

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World: A Novel (Vintage International) by Haruki Murakami.

I cannot even begin to describe the dreaminess, odd juxtapostions and images that Murakami introduces into this gift which transports me to this alternative space during those quiet moments when I can revv up the IPad to dive in. If you can handle science fiction/ alternative fiction ( I have friends who cannot go there) but if you can…I highly recommend this book and author. It is so exciting to have  new author I can whip through this season. Dreamy.

Okay: Resource idea of the day: Skazkodrom.com

Skazkodrom – is your one stop workshop for unique custom made plush toys. We sew customized soft toys based on your photos, images or prototypes.

For those of you scribblers who have a character or two in your pen, this is an opportunity for you. This is a Russian prototyping company that will take your sketch and develop a stuffed character toy for you to show possible  clients, to show in licensing presentations, or to honor someone for a special birthday. Think about being 7 years old and having your drawing of a favorite pet or invisible friend that you have drawn, turned into something you can hug. What we would have done 20 yrs. ago for this type of prototyping when I was at Estee Lauder. No end to fun. Its not free, but its concievable pricewise ($250.) and takes the better part of 2 weeks to sew.

Gotta get hopping.

Advent Day Fifteen, 2011

Advent Day fifteen, Q. Cassetti, 2011, pen and ink.Holiday party. Done! It was a lovely event with Robbie telling lots of funny tales and kind people. It was a crazy dark drive with rain combined with an NPR story on the costs of college… enough to make me drive off the side of the road. Tonight is a concert at the school. Tomorrow is a community concert.

More projects keep coming. Just when I thought I had caught up, it continues. On and on…

I am often struck with how things happen. Either it is fate, or divinely orchestrated—but sometimes the alignment of events are just so neatly planned even before they happen that I often scratch my head and take a minute to think and wonder.

One door closes and another one opens. The great step onto another plane—is at once confounding, scary and wonderful. I am inspired by Steve Job’s last words of “Oh, wow!” or a friend who left us after battling AIDS, who sat up in his bed with his face radiant and brilliant welcoming the next chapter. The second birth.

It is this time of hope to welcome God as man…the advent of this time when God was born as a tiny baby that these passings of men seem more poignant, more poetic, more hopeful of the promise this tiny baby represents. Forget the manmade frivolity and focus on this amazing symbol of hope, of energy, of life, and of the renewal of all of these things. This is the gift we are presented with every day to own and embrace.

Advent Day Eleven, 2011

 

Advent Day Eleven, 2011, Q. Casseti, pen and ink“In life, there will always be many paths to follow; I hope you always choose the right one…If you give a part of yourself to life, the part you receive back will be so much greater. Never regret the past, but learn by it. Never lose sight of your dreams; a person who can dream will always have hope.

Believe in yourself; if you do, everyone else will. You have the ability to accomplish anything, but never do it at someone else’s expense. If you can go through life loving others, you will have achieved the greatest success of all.”

Judy Bourgeault, Blue Mtn. Arts

 

Advent Day Five

 

Scherinschnitte 8, Q. Cassetti, 2011, pen and ink“Advent is concerned with that very connection between memory and hope which is so necessary to man. Advent’s intention is to awaken the most profound and basic emotional memory within us, namely, the memory of the God who became a child. This is a healing memory; it brings hope. The purpose of the Church’s year is continually to rehearse her great history of memories, to awaken the heart’s memory so that it can discern the star of hope.…

It is the beautiful task of Advent to awaken in all of us memories of goodness and thus to open doors of hope.”

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Seek That Which Is Above,1986

 

Advent Day Four, 2011

Scherenschnitte, Advent Day Four 2011, Q. Cassetti, pen and ink, colored in Adobe Photoshop CS5“We thank you for this place in which we dwell,
for the love that unites us, 
for the peace accorded us this day,
for the hope with which we expect the morrow,
for the work, the health, the food
and bright skies which make our lives delightful for our friends in all parts of the earth.”


Robert Louis Stevenson
from A Christmas Prayer 

Advent Day Two, 2011

Scherenschnitte 3, Advent Day Two, Q. Cassetti, 2011, pen and ink on watercolor paper “Advent is the perfect time to clear and prepare the Way. Advent is a winter training camp for those who desire peace. By reflection and prayer, by reading and meditation, we can make our hearts a place where a blessing of peace would desire to abide and where the birth of the Prince of Peace might take place.”


Edward Hays
A Pilgrim’s Almanac

Spinning Plates.

Scherenschnitte 3, Q. Cassetti, 2011, pen and inkWild wrapping and drawing. All the plates are spinning. And, just as things start whomping up, my computer decides to go finicky in the email department. Jeez.

There are pubs to be corrected. Pubs to be laid out. I love the work these days—because production methods drive the design. So many publications I am working on these days are output to pdf or even (god forbid) word docs that are sent to individuals to output to their little pokey desk printers. Will our local offset printers become rarer and rarer with this type of work just being printed locally—and the idea of bleeds and delicate tints thrown out the window with the blunt tool of the cheap desk printer. Will excellent printing go the way of jobbing out typesetting (with all the kerning and proofing that the old typesetters used to do)? Is the graphic designer now just going to be the technology arbetor?

As you can see, I am bitten by the land of scherenschnitte…only my ink version of it. There are many miles in these pix, and they will evolve as my advent project in black and white—with maybe a half dozen of them in color. I like taking this up again as the images are a bit better designed…and I can bring animals and flora into the images to make it more mine. However, I love these Swiss trees, and want to imprint it on my brain and hand. Squirrels, raccoons, bear and deer. Leaping cats and daffodils. The little Swiss cottages need to change to Greek Revival farm houses with fences and chimneys. Someone commented on the Home Sweet Home images wanted to know why the windows were light versus dark… worth looking into. Maybe some musical instruments too?

I got 4 boxes out yesterday with another 3 filled, wrapped and addressed (ready to go). I dawdled with this stuff until around nine last night. I only need brown paper to get the other significant things out. And then, cards…and chez Camp presents. Need to get going. December is two and a half quick weeks. Yikes.

Cyber Monday with my Etsy stuff (we knocked 25% off everything) yielded someone buying a stack of tattoos. Jeez. I did mine with Etsy (something for Kitty and something for a resident of Camp Camp this summer). The dachshund card, however, is blowing out this year. We are selling multiple packs of cards at a clip. Also, big Cyber news, Fat quarters on Spoonflower is a great price (twofers) this week. Could be cool if I had a minute to spare. I want to make some Qillos pillows.

A charmer

Jean Tuttle is a charmer, an inspiration. She is a lovely person inside and out and an illustrator—and her grace and wit spills into the work happily. I love her professional work. Hope Katz Gibbs writes about her on her “Truly Amazing Women who are changing the world and how you can, too!” site, here> but just getting to know her and see how she brings her sense of fun, imagination and thinking of others into her life with images —weaving them into her day to day. Jean has done the most thoughtful thing and is sharing it with all  of her fans (moi included)—which is that she leaves her dad a picture at the breakfast table every morning featuring their three cats engaged in some cute thing having to do with current family life. The cats raising an alarm that there wasn’t much to eat in the kitchen and that Jean should get to the store is here>> The cats and mice going on vacation>>  Every detail is smart and fun—from the personalities of the individual cats (Charlotte in her Ralph Lauren coat—all fashion forward) to Blackie taking charge), to the little greek chorus of mice who fill in the story, add flourishes to the story (the way Jean does visually) and little cute quips and sidebars. Such loving, sweet images that just make my day (and I am sure Jean’s dad)—that burst with cleverness. It would be great if this impromptu work could suggest a book (which I would be first in line for). I thought you would enjoy Jean, her imagination and how she shares her talent with all of us.

Fatline Experiments, Q .Cassetti, 2011 pen and inkI am still on the fatline project. The notebooks are too small for the line width, so the sketchbook is going up in size to see how this evolves. I spent some time this weekend reading one of my great Fraktur books, Bucks County Fraktur from the Pennsylvania German Society, edited by Cory M. Amsler (1999). I love how the neighborhood, the itinerant schoolmasters, the religious and musical culture were so prescribed, and yet drove this remarkable body of original work. Many of the bookplates and hymnbook covers were done essentially as Pennsylvania German “atta boys” for students that performed or who helped tutor the less strong students. The Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates were a way for these artist teachers to make a little extra money on the side— Many of these itinerant artists were first or second generation German (with German being their main language), bringing over German/Bavarian inspiration and visual language, combined with visual reference being woodcuts (many very primitive). Throw all of that in an active mind in the countryside…churn and see what evolves. Many of these works on paper were created with blank spaces designed into the piece so they could be filled out on the fly as they were peddled from door to door.

Am busy with interesting work on my desktop.  The art folks have their deck. I need to get on the Museum for their projects. There were some nice name progression projects. I am close on a few…the horizon is something I can see.

There is some nice traction around the Library poster (to the right)  and the nice event planned for this Saturday. Heather H. has worked her magic and pulled her props (candy store, lemonade stand), ordered cakes, called musicians. There was talk of theatricals (which I think didn’t make it) but perhaps an impromptu tableau vivant? Two hundred years of books is quite an accomplishment for our little village. There is a lot to toast!

It is dreary and raining though the trees are gold. Gold and grey. The trees are beginning to dump their leaves a bit so that wonderful fall light can dapple and change our environment as the season begins to move into full fledged autumn.

I was on Trend Hunter.

Fatline Experiments, Q. Cassetti, 2011, pen and ink, white out.I was googling myself the other day to find out that my Green Man illustrations (from Behance) was highlighted in “TrendHunter” (08/18/2011) which then spun all sorts of others doing the same…Vital Signs Report>  Rowanberry> and others. I am happy that the work got some traction, however, it would have been appropriate for the editor, Leslie Chen, who surfaced my work, to communicate to me that this was going live, and was it okay for her to post the work. Trend Hunter is a for real, legit aggregator—and thus, my expectations for more above board, more appropriate editorial behavior…but hey. What fantasyland am I pretending to live in?This gives me a bit of a boost re the Green Man imagery. So, I am entering a few of them into the Society of Illustrators NY and the same for LA. Those entries are coming due (LA yesterday, NY a month from yesterday). It is always a good thing to see what pops up out of the blurr of the web, the fuzz of pages of googling. You just never, ever know what will hit—and who will pick that up and where you will end up.

I am working with heavy lines and whiteout these days using medieval woodcuts as the reference. It is another look at the same thing…but bolder, faster, blunter, and more primitive. I do not know where this will go, but it should be fun to do a little deep dive into the medieval, it’s people, greenery, landscape, magic, alchemy. Playing Cards. Holbein. Lines and flatness.

Tomorrow is our Thank You for the Farmers Market. Just checking out what the weather looks like—-dismal and sad…cold and rainy. Yuck. We will be there with cider and pound cake, bread and cheese….and I hope we get one or two people If not, we can pack it all in….and do it again…Maybe.

Today is my Birthday. A quiet, dark, cold day. I was sent some flowers by a friend, a plant from a family member and a hug from my son. We went to the lake to see the work done on the attic. I cut chicken and prepped leeks, celery and soup. Non eventful….another day.

Laboring Days

Owl Study, Q. Cassetti, 2011Last day before we load up the wonderbus and take Kitty back to the Pioneer Valley and happiness amongst her friends, her soon to be new friends, contradancing and new studies and focus.

Its all ramping up for the schoolyear here. Yearbook has been scheduled. Alex’s classes are good. Rob has been remarkable, coaching Alex to be a better and more focused writing. This writing process has been quite remarkable to watch. Cross Country is in full bore with breakfast for 30 for next Saturday. I think I will make yogurt and granola and fruit sundaes with bagels and juice.  Sounds like granola batching this week. Then the next due date is my Sagamore presentation that I need to get charged about. We are having a group here this Wednesday for a project we are calling the Tripych.

Essentially, the Triptych project is going to be a topic we as a group will pick (the group is comprised of writers, visual artists, musicians)…and brainstorm. The next time we meet, we will all have 3 “takes” on the topic using the same media or different, same channel or mixing writing and drawing or writing and photography, photography and drawing….you get the idea. This is a group of great people who have a high quality level, and thinkers. Should be fun doing the work and getting to know the group. If we all agree, we will post a “carnival”(according to Amelia) which is that each of us post a list of links of all the respective participants.

I am chugging away on a publications project that is a stopper in the works. I figured if I would free up the space, things will flow more smoothly….next week—the short week. So onward from dawdling with you.

Shaking

Greek Owl, Q. Cassetti, 2011, pen and ink on watercolor moleskine notebookI got up early to get Alex to his preseason training at the Falls overlook this morning. There I was at 8 a.m. with a beautiful morning in front of me and a hour to do anything in the whole wide world I wanted to do. So, it dawned on me that I could go pick more roma tomatoes at Sweetland CSA and cook them down today/ tomorrow. Additionally, tomorrow is my in-laws’ 55th wedding anniversary, so I could get some zinnias to put in a Corning Studio Glass vase. And so, I did just that and was home before nine bells.  A bunch of gorgeous pink and pink/purple zinnias went into a Bill Gutenrath inspired clear vase with a cobalt lip wrap and a striped ribbon to sparkle up the mix. I washed the tomatoes and they are cooking down as we speak. I will need to remember my foley foodmill tomorrow to get the sauce to sauce—and separate all the skins and seeds for compost. What a wonderful, beautiful thing to do before work.

My thinking on the CSA has changed from just a pick up thing to my surrogate backyard for the you pick stuff when I want to pick it (in the morning when its cool and I am feeling in fine feather). I love being out with the bees, surrounded by color and nature, fruit and flowers. Being among the tomato vines this morning was a quiet whisper of the summer. A memorable time and a celebration of this robust time of the year. I think a winter share will be in order for soup and sides. Bring on the celeriac and leeks!

I am SOOOO happy. Baka Micro took the Tower of Power away and called yesterday with solutions—not problems! And, they have thinking and planning around protecting my data and really maximizing my computer with components that are part of the system that I havent put into action (mirroring program for one). So, I am getting my computer back, fixed and ready to roll along with new systems in place and someone at my back that I have never had as the princess of Luckystone—and it is something quite affirming and amazing to finally have.

Around lunch yesterday, I was at my desk when I was wondering why a big truck was outside my window I couldnt see…the windows shook, and shook. I looked out the window to see that it wasnt the weather. The trees were quiet. And then, to find out that indeed, it was the earthquake that was felt on the east coast. I wasnt afraid…it was just something I couldn’t figure out. Thanks to Twitter, I had it figured out in seconds.

Part of the summer tribe departs today. Sad….though we hadn’t planned on the tribe of men we had here since mid July, it has been energetic and active with lots of music, talk and opinions which was fun. Plus, as a person who likes to cook, a pleasure to deliver to a happy audience.

Onward.