quick snap


Lots of stuff on the plate for today. Should be busy between my various clients, the finishing up of the second shot of a 90 pp book for Big Red, and the volunteer stuff (which I am always surprised is so time dependent). But if I chip away at the new stuff...at least there will be movement and I will begin to feel better about this stuff.

Community Dance this Sunday near the old telephone company building. Local bands and chicken barbeque promised. More later. I am up against it with our friend Mr. Time.

New spot above working the skull vegetation thing.

mid-week progress

Took poor Shady Grove to the vet to find out that she had broken a toe...and needed to have a splint for a month. So, now she is a three legged dog with a turquoise cast that she is trying to make the best of...albeit squirrels and blue jays are out of the picture for the meanwhile. She is very limpy and sad...but trying to put her sweet self into making us not feel so bad about her hurt. We all ache for her attempt to be jaunty albeit on three legs.

Beautiful day here on the plateau. Trees are promising to change though they havent. We have teensy yellow mushrooms growing in the hosta bed. The lawn is lush. Trees are still green. Perennial grasses also still green. Corn and tomatoes still abound. Bricks from the facade fell off of the Hazelnut Kitchen fascia. Tough going on this topic. Book sale coming up next week I think. The running race to celebrate the local inspired teacher and coach coming along. Society of Illustrators application coming on.

A. came in second in his first cross country meet. Big things there.

Actually did thumbnails for the new memento mori images. Still on the sinuous and florid. On fire about that. Too bad I need to work.

Back to square one on holiday cards for a client. I have big hours into this...and here we are again. Need to move on it. FIrst I need to sleep on it.

Later.

Inspiration


Working away on a bunch of images with skulls and flowers. On a roll. A very florid, flourishy look to these illos. The image (above) is from Shebbear (Devon, England) and is the spark for this new series of pictures. The ink keeps flowing--and I find that these images are contained decorative pieces that look to the work of the Mexican graphic/ comic artist, Jose Guadalupe Posada. Posada's work is far edgier and far more socio-political than the stuff that is flowing off my pen. But I do love his pen work, his thicks and thins, the whimsy his work embraces. The holy card with the wack typography makes me laugh.

A little on Posada:
José Guadalupe Posada was born in Aguascalientes, Mexico in 1851. He studied lihography in Trinidad Pedroso's Workshop of Popular Graphics, and became a contributor to the magazine El Jicote in 1871. He soon developed his famous sarcastic style, and it is possible that he was forced to move to Léon, Guanjato, where he taught lithography at a high school. In 1888, he moved to Mexico City, where his career as an illustrator really took off. He contributed his political drawings to numerous newspapers and magazines. He was especially known for his satires of the regime of dictator Porfirio Díaz, but he also created the famous "calaveras", the skeletons. Drawing on the Mexican cultural myth of the celebration of death, he depicted several stereotypes as skeletons, giving his work a sarcastic, joking touch.

Etching of St. Juan Diego by Jose Guadalupe Posada.
A calavera, which means "skull" in Spanish, is a type of traditional Latin American ornament or treat used on the Dia de Los Muertos ("Day of the Dead"). They are primarily made of sugar and are shaped in the image of skulls–usually with colorful designs. Many families have their own traditions in the calaveras. For example, in Mexican and Mexican American families it is traditional for each member of the family to have a sugar calavera with their name in it.

As I said before, no shortage of inspiration. To think it comes out of the kitchen too!

Start of a new week


Lots of little things to do today, do this week, tidy up the head, the piles of junk/papers and books, get the SOI entries done. K starts a pottery class today. A has his first cross country meet tomorrow. The Chris Bond image needs to be finalized. R. suggested the shoe was a bit morbid (with or without wings) and that maybe we should look at a "compass rose" approach instead...more about positive directions...and not about a fallen soldier.

Working with a nice piece of reference of a skull with flowers twining with the eye sockets. It is a bas relief, but feels very Will Bradley, William Morris-y. The idea of a floral image juxatosed with the skull is good...and evocative. Adams skull at the base of the cross. Growth from death. Regeneration kind of thing. There is a nice, huge thistle in the reference too...maybe I can work one in in the group that comes from this.

Work beckons. More later

Image above is one of yesterday's sketchbook pages. Corner skull is going to morph into a frame. the silhouettes of the urns are going to morp into a spread of sihouettes and also serve as photoshop fodder.

Sunday Sunday


We were invited to a lovely fall picnic complete with roasting pigs, delicious food, a gorgeous fire with a perfect stone fire circle, an interesting group of smart and cool people and then totally artful fireworks. The fireworks were designed and ignited by friends of one of our hostesses--IT/ Computer Science guys who are entertained by this in their spare time. There were screaming squiggles, large evocative puffs that hung in the air and the absolute best, a silver waterfall over a tall stone wall that R claimed all we needed was a heavy metal group to play along with it. Wagging tails and friendly dogs abounded--many of them grinning in their happiness. K. was delighted by the sheer biology and anatomical aspects of the pigs. She marveled at the beasts--pleased by the kidneys, of all things. And she is still happily a carnivore. We were honored to be included in the group as it was a fun time, beautiful time and a chance to be outside in the cold air.

R to paint the outline of the soon to be new driveway. A playing basketball with friends. More laundry to beat the band. I have groceries and cooking and getting ready for next week as my musts.

Memento mori continues. Everlife Memorials gets into the easy listening interpretation of symbols here>> with my favorite reference to dogs saying: "Modern dogs only imply that the master was worth loving." Sad. Nothing more to say about the deceased but that they were worth loving. Pathetic. It is nice that those colonial Americans didn't need to be marketed to. You had some choices, but simple ones unless you were very well to do, and could afford a portrait or something way over the top like the Susanna Jayne headstone/ footstone extravaganza in Marblehead. This baby is a total symbol blowout with a skeleton bust crowned with a laurel wreath, cupids, bats, hourglass and bones, and the cosmic sun and moon. And this is just the headstone. Whoa. The images are whimsical in their expression...friendly and very inviting. Not scary in the least bit. I love the abbreviation of the ribcage and spine...gets the point across without over complicating things.

Worked yesterday on the MM book--socking in copy, modifying some of the spreads. Looking with new eyes at some of the work. Am anxious to work on some frames and borders along with working more closely with the reference as the work is getting a little out there and losing some of the tightness that the earlier stuff had. Am also interested in working on some frames and borders using the imagery and meld it with my impression of hobo art/antiques. The thick shapes might be fun to mix in with it. Also need to cut some more paper. Is a great starting point with the slash interpretations coming out of the cannon.

Colorguard was selling chicken barbeque today with a few girls standing by the road doing cartwheels and twirling their white "guns". Feels like fall. The weatherman suggests there might be frost tonight. Seems a bit early. I hope not.

Notes to me


I was thinking about illustration--hand-drawn, computer generated pros and cons...where they bump up next to each other, where they don't and ways to make the hand-drawn maintain it's integrity once the rigors of the computer bumps up next to it. Arnold Bank's words of advice to keep one's illustration in the same hand and tool as the letterform still holds true--but against the idea that if you draw on paper with a brush, use those same brushes to amend the image in the computer (or at least where it is visible). It's okay to erase, clean up and fiddle with the contast in the computer, but if adding highlights, or adding detail, try and draw them, scan them in and sock them in where you need them because they just won't look or seem natural. The same idea holds when rendering (in my case) in illustrator--you can not comfortably (though with work I think this could be achieved) add a pencil drawing or some inky squiggle and have it work harmoniously in the image. Though for effect, this is a whole different thing. Case in point: I spent some time yesterday creating a track shoe in illustrator. Reduction illustration ( one color, plenty of tiger teeth, plenty of detail left out). Looks fine. However, the wings I want to attach look wierd as they are hand drawn--so the intent will be to bring the sketch into illustrator, render them in the same mode, add tiger teeth for highlight and see what happens. I am sure this is the solution. Another wing approach might be a calligraphic inspired set drawn on tissue, scanned in and then redrawn with the same illustrator tools. We'll see. Tuesday (the deadline) approaches.

I was also thinking about the Memento Mori work. I seem to be getting 3-4 images a day to add to the book. I have since last Monday, been adding them sequentially to the piece as it shows a train of thinking that may be only understood by me, but that works as the end purpose of this sketch process is to create 2-3 volumes that become the platform from which the HAS (Hartford Art School) thesis will be based. I've got 60 pps in the can and figure that we will be closer to 84 or so for the first blush of the first volume. It is strictly images right now...but I am thinking that since I have been writing stream of conscious stuff about my understanding about the topic, the images, technique, conversations with friends, I might cull aspects of the dated writing and cut them into the book as notes etc. Again, more part of the self-discussion--and there might be more there that I cannot see right now that either another reader or me with more time will see. Along with the images and copy, any patterns, shapes, bookplates, dingbats etc that are generated from the sketchbooks will be shoehorned in to add to the dimension. Right now, the process is draw all day, scan at five, sock it into the publicaton at 5:30 and if there is any time, work with the illustrations as scrap to create more images in the formerly "slash" style. So the work begets more work. The spinning prayer wheel of time. The willow sending out more shoots. Ad infinitum. Or at least until I get bored.

I particularly like the willow head of two days ago. I think I may translate it to a piece of crewel work at the same size as the picture. I think the whole texture that the shiny embroidery silks would do something interesting...and we could see if it takes the idea anywhere. Worth the try.

Another idea I need to put down is the lock of hair, hair jewelry and hair art that the victorians created as a way to memorializing those that had gone on. For me, the texture of hair and braids woven(urg) into the work is another element that could evolve with this work. I have been musing about frames and strands either as linear work or in the tigerteeth, lady and skull mode only more formalized. We'll see. I am just putting this down for the minute the well seems to run dry. Also, the brass rubbings have not been fully investigated.

The sketches are also a wonderful wealth of scrap for me. I used two of the illustrations (changed a bit) for wine label proposals for a client. Looks cool...and kind of new for me. I wonder where this illustrator came from?

High on the Plateau


I am "taken" with the willow during the past day. More to come. The willow skull was last night's picture. The willow and urn this morning. Plans to create a bunch of background patterns with the same willow--along with building some more pictures with this linear pattern to fill the space. Plus, I can use the jaggity pattern I used as the main pattern in avian flu as part of the roots... I love the willow as it's florid, leafy and linear and can be rendered graphically in a bunch of ways juxtposed to the root system which can be the counterpoint to what is above ground. I will be socking these into the Lulu book which now verges on 60 pages (not the assigned 8-12 pps). Oops! I cant be flunked for trying a litttle.

Working on some wine labels today. Also, some Cornell thises and thats. Got the LA illos out. Getting NYC out tomorrow (with some printing today). Perfect day. Cool and crisp. Blue skies, olive green leaves and lush grass. More rain expected.

Our friend and neighbor, Joel came over yesterday to tell me about this 5K race the Tburg Rotary is running on October 21st. He (along with those who knew, learned or loved) was mourning the passing of a significant community member, Chris Bond. Chris was a physics teacher in our high school, affecting many, many students--many moving on in their education becoming physicists and scientists due to the teaching, passion and interest their teacher sparked in them. He was instrumental in the soccer program touching other communities of students who might not have been the science types. When people talk about him, they begin to wax about his gifts and spirit in a poetic way.

Christopher H. Bond Obituary from the Ithaca Journal>>

Many tears have been shed as Chris has died from cancer. His memorial service will be at the High School on Saturday.It promised to be another sad day--yet in the same way enlightening as the community really turns out for these services--and the community embrace is something I have never experienced before. It is spiritual in the power of the love and care of our little town and village. To get back to Joel, his race has been renamed and dedicated to Chris Bond--by making it the Chris Bond Tburg Rotary, 5K Run and they need a mark/tee shirt graphic. No problem. Just a question of what. We are on a tight deadline...but that shouldn't stand in the way of getting something good. Happy. Not in the grim mode I am working in.

More later>>

High blue sky


Beautiful, cool, bluesky day. K. had a snow jacket and hat on that I had to coax her not to tote to school as it will hopefully warm up a bit. Spending time prepping my files and filling in paperwork for the Society of Illustrators Annual Show (due 10.01) and the Society of Illustrators/ Los Angeles Show (due 09.17). Chokers CD, new Baker dog card, and some burka pieces are going out. Maybe the new logotype for the Museum of Glass (the Myers Weinstein logotype) or the pumpkin>? Dunno. I like having a little window of time to think about it instead of the traditional throw it out the door.

Epson was funky and not laying the color down...everything looking chalky. So, after a bunch of powercleaning, a turning the paper and checking regularly, I was able to get that right and tight. My powerbook was freaking out--that we couldnt fix with the folks online--so Apple is sending me a box to ship it off to the big repair studio in the sky. All their expense. Thank goodness for Apple Care. The first time pays for the entire subscription. If you don't have it, I swear that though it's a pinch when you buy the equipment--which you do not remember when the computer freaks and misbehaves. So, the powerbook goes on vacation for ten days or so.

New wine opportunities with Juice Box Wines. New varietals soon to come (yeah!). Last year's issues have been resolved and paid for and we truly move forward. I am excited about the future for this little company.

Working on more Memento Mori pix. Working on some half rounds like at the top, some skull/willow combos, and some women/skull or urn combos. Pulled a few images into photoshop and did some little mixes a la the slash stuff in black and white. Will post a few later just to keep you posted. I am socking these images into an InDesign book as we go--looking at the spreads and tones. Am up to 60 pps...and if this continues through the end of October, this will be quite a volume. As it goes, I will put them into spreads sequentially--mixing stuff into other spreads as it goes. Burning through pentel cartridges.

Chet the lawnmower man hard at work given the buckets of rain (weathermen called it a "soak") we have had. Computer to go out. Bags to Sals. Bags of books to the library for the Fall sale.

Gotta go.

Memento: Remember


Another milestone year. It feels like yesterday that the horrors of 9/11 happened and yet, where are we as a people, as individuals as a country? Not much has changed except we are hemorrhaging money in the Middle East with no end in sight, not building better countries but acting the know-it-all bullies who have something to prove, some mission to be carried out,under the banner of "God is on our side". And this all needs to stop.

Have we "gotten even" with the terrorists? Have we gotten "the bad guys"? And what does all of this effort have to do with the fantasy proclamation of the "War on Terror"? I think we are the lead terrorists.

I don't need to hear some hopeful crumbs from an ambassador or general to know this is going nowhere. It has been going nowhere since we sent bombers instead of talkers over to Afghanistan way back when and it hasn't improved since. This is not an issue of whether we like our troops or not, it is a question of leadership and all that entails. It means having a vision, a creative approach to achieving the vision and teamwork at the highest levels to accomplish the layers of goals in cooperation with those receiving the "gifts" of our attention. It means being a role model--a vision of what true democracy looks like, smells like and acts like versus the autocratic mess we are in--with every decision not weighed and measured but directed in a singular, confrontational way.

Who knows if our losses and expenditures are a "gift"? to these people? Who knows if anyone wanted to be a democracy? Who knows if it is a solution versus an imposition? It smacks of the Spanish missionaries and military coming to Mexico and bringing the "wisdom" and mission of the church in exchange for ruling this people and inevitably bringing the gift of disease and death (which to some of these native people might have been a blessing to get away from this cultural imposition). Is God really just on our side? And to further the idea of the Spanish missionaries--it is interesting to think that once again it is religion and might linked together to somehow justify a horrifying consequence such as the situation we are in.

And what are the solutions? What are the plans for the future? And what are the pullout plans that were not defined prior to going into this mess? And what are the plans and actions in place beyond the talk to support our troops, truly support them when they come back? Are there plans? Who is accountable? Or is the machine so large that no one can own the problem or solve the problem or get in front of these significant issues? Or is stupidity a thick slice down the middle...and everyone hides under their desks and points to the next guy?

I cannot even fathom who our next leader will be as it is the same group of faceless talkers, all with no vision, all with no planning, all with covert teams of spinmeisters and pundits truly not caring but looking real good on tv. We are not any better than we were six years ago with no end in sight.

We need to remember the dead. We need to remember our innocence in pretending that no foreign agency could attack us on our big island. We need to remember our childhood of wanting the best for all people and working in partnerships with others.

Is there any hope? Is there any vision or high point we can see a better world?

Dreary Monday


K told me that today is "national hug day". Essentially, it is always the day before 9/11 and everyone hugs as much as possible. Where she got this nugget is beyond me, nonetheless, she is celebrating it today.

Cranked out around ten pictures this weekend (and had time for other stuff) using our small salad plates at the lake as a circle template for fun. While I was musing on what was evolving...I thought of other things that work in this vocabulary beyond the colonial tombstones (still my favorite driver), the wings and simplicity of bas relief and paintings from the Byzantine empire to another old favorite...english brass and incised panel rubbings. So, I buzzed around the web and found some nice brass rubbing imagery to stick in my files for reference--along with some fairly wonderful and poinant text from these antique memorials. Will surface some images for you to give you some context later today.

Just discovered this cool site "The Farber Gravestone Collection" from the American Antiquariean Society that will prove to be a great resource. Check it out.

My current thinking on this Memento Mori project is the following:

>Sketch until October 30. Create the initial book to have to Lulu by Friday of the first week of November. Get a copy to Whitney for the SU work. Refine the book and finalize. Reprint a few more for files. Continue sketching.

> Continue drawing from October 30- February 28. Create a second volume of sketches.
See what happens. See if there are legs to this work. If so, begin to build a book strictly of references. Print both at Lulu.

> Take this sketch process and begin to think about applications/ finalizing 12-18 pieces. This would be the basis of the thesis for the HAS "Dream Project" or the children's book project. Evolve both?

> Go to HAS with 3 finished Lulu sketch books filled with my drawings, my reference etc and really customize those books into something special. This prework becomes part of the bigger thesis which would make the prework as part of the final resolution and definition.

> Continue to work in theses styles creating simple illustration, typography,borders and frames. Begin to start integrating these elements when it feels right. Continue to research different fields of reference

Dreary Sunday


Tuned to you tube last night. Bruce took me on a tour of old Beatles videos, tribute videos, videos of friends of his that are artists, and videos of folks like Patti Smith, Billy Preston, George Harrrison. A great survey I might not have tapped. I can see how K and A are into it. Its TV without tv.

Bruce is doing some interesting things--like supporting a bunch of designers in his studio building in Baltimore. He is doing nice web work working with the same designers and others. He is developing a former classmate who lives down south to use him as a support service (I mean, we all can live in one place and work in others!! what with fed ex, web ex, faxes, emails etc--anything is possible!). I am impressed with his viewpoint on all of this and his ambition to make all of these plates spin harmoniously. I am inspired.

Plans for illustration, track shoes and prepping for next week for K and A today. Rainy here. I am sitting on the porch with the rain, drinking in the high hosta, lily scent. We saw a pair of hummingbirds up close yesterday. We also have had a big collection of "leaf" bugs this fall. I hope we can swim next weekend.

>>Later>>
Absolute downpour this afternoon. We have two new pairs of high top, Converse Chuck Taylors, several pairs of no see-em socks, a sweater, some boys underwear and a pair of puma track shoes everyone is simply delighted with. We also bought some plain colored english teapots and three cup/and teapot singletons for giving away for Christmas.Goal again for this year is Christmas done by 11/11 and wrapped and boxed for shipping by Thanksgiving. This is very achievable.

Back chez Camp for drawing, signing papers for school, packing lunches and making dinner in a civilized fashion in prep for the first full week of school. Oh, and did I say listmaking? Listmaking, too.

The folly above is constructed from drawing and rough inking a quarter of the image. Might make an interesting bookplate or even frame to hold an illustration. Time to expand this idea. It "goes" with a pattern I worked up in the Moleskine...I dont know how truly Memento Mori it is...but spiritually it is as it is part of the flow of work. I need to get the scanner cranked up as there are some nice images from yesterday. more for this week. I am still loving this stuff.

Up, Up and Away!


R. is speeding towards France as we speak. Boissbuchet awaits along with cheese, lavender and art. I am a tad bit jealous. We are lakeside with the wind whipping the water up (thankfully we had our paddling twice before). A front is moving in...and the humidity is going down. Spent some time looking at my big book on Byzantine art...which is a nice reinforcement to the Marblehead images for the sketch process for Memento Mori. They have simplified things in a very similar way...I found a tremendous lion and doubleheaded eagle bas reliefs that are good reference with semi-nutty faces and nice simple wingsl Still doing 3 plus images a day. The evolution has been interesting.

I am working exclusively with a fine pitt pen and a pentel pocket brush pens on a bristol board which takes the ink gorgeously.
Matte, black. One shot. I just seem to be burning through the cartridges. Perhaps tomorrow, I will open a bottle of the star matte and see what I can do with a real brush.

Tomorrow we get track shoes for A. He is digging being a member of the cross country team (it's co-ed!). We have our friend Bruce here. It is nice to have a chance to talk with him about our respective aging, his continual love of eccentric cars, his fondness for photos and music. Plenty to talk about...plus, he wants to save the world like we all do. His strategies are enlightening.

We miss R. already.

IF: Momentum (on Memento Mori)


This is the recent illustration that is part of a larger body of work that celebrates the concept of Memento Mori ("Remember your Death" or "Remember your Mortality"). This is a two and a half month sketch process to see what evolves in my sketchbook. From that collection, I am producing a lulu book to celebrate the ideas...and then start anew with the same topic for another 4 months. I am using images from the Old Burial Grounds in Marblehead, Massachusetts as puritanical and colonial prompts when things get slow.There is a real wealth of historic reference (visual, text, music etc) that are goads that many of us like to spin on this topic.

click on the image for a bigger view>>