"key learnings"

* You probably didn't know I have a thing for corporate speak. I adore it. Collect it and whenever possible, use it. The phrase "Key Learnings" came from one of my corporate jobs where essentially, one used this phrase in place of "In Summary" or as a "recap". One might have one of many meetings, and at the end of the meeting, "key learnings" would be bulleted on a flip chart. This entry is about yesterday's "key learnings".

Art Trail was slow yesterday...with lots of interest and for me emotion over the imposition of certain people on my attempts to show the work and welcome my visitors. It really upset me...and got me off my game. I know it's very petty of me, but this Art Trail takes time, effort and work to make happen, and I do not approach my work, my self promotion lightly. So, as it's my gig, control is important to me. Funny thing, as I had mentioned before, the Art Trail experiences forces me to actually think about what I want to do, really want to do, and how I feel about myself, my work etc. What I discovered is:

> If I am doing pro bono work for ANYONE, its my rules, my design, my work. No second guessing, no criteria, no politics, no showing it to a zillion people for input. If it's pro bono, its a gift from me to the recipient and as with gifts, the giver picks it out. Gives me something back in better work, fun work and work that can be shown on a national level.

> Showing my work in a local dark space as a "payback" for possible probono work to "promote myself" is not something I value. Surprisingly, my work has had local recognition and I guess for me more celebrated national venues also have recognized my work. Some pokey little poke poke space to the side of a main venue (that is not a visual arts venue) to show my work to an audience of non-buyers, non-specifiers is work for me with not much emotional/professional payback. Not worth the time.

> I am not starting my career. I have got some miles on me, so my work needs to be seen on a much bigger platform/stage which the Society, 3x3, Communication Arts, Print Magazine will do. Web presence...in a bunch of places. A more focused approach. More national approach. Do the work that will be seen at that level. That is the playing field that is important to me. I have moved beyond the local status in my head.

> Sure, its nice to do this thing to let people know that we have a concentration of people in Tburg, but I am not the Chamber of Commerce...and I could do a more focused Open House and accomplish much the same thing on a nicer level, even tagged into the Holiday Festival here. Still nice, but not 4 full days with very little to speak of-- which feels like work.

> I am losing confidence in my hand drawn work. I am worried.

> To confirm it one more time, I have no patience for fools. Absolutely none.

Off this topic and on to the week. Things to do (tons), prep for next week's Art Trail and party for 150 (the regional truck comes!), teeth for K and A in Corning, 2 guests coming, and prep for a client visit. Of course, there is project work to whale on.

On a nicer note, we heard an owl in the darkness last night, hooting, and hooting with a remarkable little trill occasionally at the end of his cries. He sounded as if he was almost on my shoulder he was so close in the darkness. It was a quiet way to end our otherwise wild weekend.

Sunday's news

The sky is clear with a brilliant array of stars ( and probably
planets) as I wait for the grill to heat up for dinner. The Trail
started slowly with intermitent traffic until it was closing time. And
then in the last hour and hour past closing time, we were busy. Again,
even at my yard sale pricing, no one was freely parting with their
cash but happily eating snacks and spending time. So, I need to chalk
this all up to exposure and in a funny way, to community service as it
gets folk to Tburg to eat lunch, ice cream and antiques if the art is
too much to consider.

It is going to be hard to go to work tomorrow as I have been at work
all weekend and I do feel that I will need to plan in a break to just
get some air.

Ithaca Art Trail: Week One: Day One

None of us wanted to get up. We shirked our work last night to eat dinner and go to bed at a reasonable time. So, up we got to hang, clean, dust and stuff our trash bags with ancillary paperwork and trash. Now, the junk is not on our desktops, but in the bin. Yay. Frames are put on new work and you know, I like black and white more for the Garden of Eden  than the color. The color sucks some of the whammy out of the image. My new reduced palette work is together...and suggesting I do a few more to really have it function as a body of work. So, a woodpecker is in  line and a cat (big shape with the face really worked out) and perhaps a deer head (another request) which could be great silhouetted letting the antlers go a bit wild.

We got a steady stream of people throughout the day. The new pricing strategy (lower) is working a bit, but folks are not parting with their cash happily--but we are still moving stuff, talking to people, talking about art, their passions. A form of encouragement for me...a form of counseling for them. The chex mix and puppy chow (chex with chocolate and peanut butter that is shaken in a mountain of powdered sugar) was a hit. Interest by a lot of the local professional bird people that perhaps there is a link up with the Lab of Ornithology (at Cornell, referred to casually as "the lab of O"). What do you think of Q. at the O.?  Lots of interest in the birds, the dogs (if you have the breeds I have images of) and nature oriented stuff). I am thinking that there is more to the wildlife and solidly designing some new images not only to push the single color work which is really working in frames etc), allow me to really get my eye tuned into what is working and what isn't.Perfect Forget Me Not blue skies. The trees are peak. Golden and red.Twirling leaves. Green green grass. Grey mists, blue lake, purple hillsides.

More later>> people on the porch

From Punky, Mouse for a Day illustrated by Murray Tinkelman






I got home early (getting on the road at 6:00 a.m.) and to my delight, my ebay purchase of Punky, Mouse for a Day written by John Moreton and illustrated by Murray Tinkelman (sited that this was his 6th children's book in the credits) was awaiting me in it's bubble wrap on the dining room table. I was thrilled to crack it open (it was formerly of the Plains Library in Plains, Montana) to find Mr. Rapidiograph Crosshatch himself whimsically presenting us a tale of a magical, transforming mouse named Punky. You can click on these images and they will enlarge as the scans are at 100%. Murray is also Mr. Black+White, to my delight--with the designs/compositions being strong and elegant, the detail insightful and funny and his lettering (see the squirrel illustration) being sensational. I am charmed. I hope you are too. More later as there is a peacock and a sea monster and a few others I would like to share with you. Time's a wasting! >> I need to get rolling.

long day, long drive, short meeting


It was a long day with an early drive that started a bit late as I was slow getting my wits about me. Northern Pennsylvania was brilliant, with red and yellow trees, pumpkins galore, inexpensive mums, and low hanging clouds, puffy and suspended in the valleys. I listened to a book on tape--so though the time seemed to drag a bit until I started timing milestone to milestone of the trip. Our meeting was beyond positive--with terrific results allowing me to move quicker on the design work...pushing the work ahead a month or so to everyone's pleasure. So all on the up and up.

I hope to get to bed early to be back in the office by 10:30- 11 a.m. I am meeting with a member of Toivo to see where they want to set up next week for our gathering after work. There is more stuff to do for the Art Trail from getting signs up (which they want us to put balloons around ( I cannot handle that) or ribbons or more stuff) to more framing, to creating and cutting the tags/price tags (and pricing! OUCH). We have change, a reciept book, envelopes, and the basic doing business stuff. Then, of course, we have coffee cakes to make to offer....I don't know when, but its on the list unless I buy a few boxes of donut holes and stack them into pyramids. I have to order the food that Barb and I planned from the Regional Access and then generate a list for the other stuff that we need to chop and bag (crudites etc). How much seltzer, how much lemonade, how much wine? beer? We are expecting a TON of people. Yikes.

Head down time.

whoa! stop!


Look at the time! I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Too much in compressed time. Did get to the House of Health and went into the "girls only" weight room which was quite fun after walking fast and listening to books. Then, back in the saddle here and it was full steam until I got to a computer failure and I had to slow down. The printer has been having (I think issues with paper because of the low humidity)--a moment which makes things going out the window a concept worth considering.

Revisions of illustrations needed chop chop. Am figuring out how to work fast...might not be the ultimate scaleable work as the vectorization takes big time...but am chopping in amendments, adding and cutting to change the art without constantly having to redraw. Though, tonight I have a redraw for a client...which hopefully will go on the board during the debate.

Called K's art teacher to talk about whether I needed to drive to Ovid and back to get a package to Indiana so K's postcards would get to her friend and back by Friday. K missed the date, its due Thursday. And, the cards should have been at the postoffice by the end of September. So, the first date was missed and we dawdled until the wee last moment. I am losing patience. I guess I need to read her planner each night as she is not keeping track of her work...and I am going to lose sleep over this. Not K...there is something wrong here.

Barbara made me a belated birthday lunch (all cooked on her grill) of a autumn squash lasagne with hot italian sausage, and a Erich made a salad. She also made a cheesecake (on her grill!). Brilliant....and delicious. I was touched. We put our heads together and made a list for the Regional to order later this week...Good stuff....and a nice range from crackers, cheese, bread sticks, olives, pate, smoked trout and grape leaves. We will need to do a bit of a fill in with Wegmans--but we will have it covered. I am feeling a bit better.

Tomorrow, I have a trip to Pennsylvania for a naming session. Should be interesting...and beautiful with the pumpkins and mums. Hopefully I can pick some good stuff up on the way down/back.

on it


It was a very wierd and enlightening moment yesterday. I had several of my pieces, hand drawn, and vector all on my computer screen all about the same small size. And surprisingly, they all seemed to come from the same place, not that there was this type of work, and that type of work. Somehow this blew me off my chair. I really do not have to differentiate my vector work from the hand drawn thing...they def live in the same space...albeit one from in between my ears, the other inspired by manipulated photographs etc. Same look and feel. May not be able to live on the exact page but sure can sit on the same wall next to each other.

Yesterday it was a day of groceries and walking around Ithaca Commons. We had a great time at Petrune--a vintage clothing store that we can take our own Ken and Barbie and make them try on things. The best were these Saville Row, handmade grey pinstripe suits that fit A. as if they were made for him to the tune of $75- $80 a pop. Gorgeous english tweed jackets. We got a very cute late fifies dress (stiff, pleated, full taffeta skirt in steel grey with thin pink horozontal stripes with a chocolate brown velvet waistband (tall) with a brown wool bodice (knit) with little knit tied bows on the short sleeves and at the back neck). Then, off to the used record store to buy The Who's Quadraphenia for A. and his passion for older music in very out formats. Next will have to be Quadraphonic, eight track in his pad.

Early out this a.m. with a trip to the House of Health. It was great. I am beginning to like it more again. Lots to do...more later.

wake up!


You know, as I get close to another idiotic, self imposed deadline I mutter about my own stupidity etc. etc. but find that in this time of crunch and focusing down, I discover stuff about my work. What I have been discovering in the framing and making sense of the illustrations from Memento Mori and now the sketches/illustrations from the Garden of Eden are the following things:


> I have changed and improved since last October when the original roll on Memento Mori happened. The design is better, tighter, and the hand is surer. The black and white patterning is more deliberate and considered.

> Since Hartford, the work has gotten better, tighter and more graphic. Versus fighting it...I am giving it a bit of head...and trying to really work with it. R. says to the better. Yes, there is a place for my obsession with detail and twiddly stuff...but to have some restraint versus binging in every image with pattern, line and swirl.

> This decorative, hand drawn work, I felt was weaker and not at strong as the vector work. Well, when printing it out bigger than usual, matting it and treating it with a bit more respect than a wiggly ink drawing in my sketchbook--these babies can stand up as well as the vector work with a bit more whimsey and imagination than the original group that comprised my Syracuse thesis. To my great surprise and astonishment. Hurray for the Art Trail...new views.

> The new vector studies (something I want to tune my hand and eye do do)--essentially limiting the palette to maximum 2 greys, black, white and a single color) really sing. I hadn't really finished one up until yesterday and they are really going some place. So, new goal in place (which I was mouthing but not believing) is that I need to do a few more of these (maybe with the city pictures) to build that work out as well. This minimal vector approach was inspired by the first one of the series, the Chicken Chokers logo/illustration which was/is harder than it looks...but with it's success...these images have potential insofar as shows, but also in the world of graphic design as logos, images, symbols beyond the usual cutting into letterforms, spinning shapes etc. that often become rote. Acceptable and to many companies, well worth the investment...but not putting more me,, more humor, more touch to their marks. I am hoping that the logo I may be working on soon (this week we work on names) may have some of this illustration assigned to the process. Plus, the portraits I have done for the Masters of Studio Glass.

Recycled soup is on the stove. A gargantuan lasagne using up all sorts of bits and pieces from the refrigerator is done and ready for this evening. K R and I have bets on how many sittings this monster will last...I have it that it will be gone by tomorrow dinner ( size: 4" tall, 16" x 20"). Wow.

Gotta go now.

Saturday mix


There's all sorts of activity afoot here. My mother in law is having 25 for drinks and a buffet, so there is lots of thinking around where to park, moving of furniture et cetera. I am printing small things to go into 3.75" x 5.75" windows in these rich mats from Nielsen Bainbridge and measuring the other pre-cut mats to see which sizes are needed to scale the work accordingly. Next Saturday is the first Ithaca Art Trail Weekend, and my hope is to get the work ready and/or framed so we can hang the work next week/ next Friday and price. Last year I went a bit nuts offering all sorts of stuff...and giclees in tons of sizes, two types of holiday cards in boxes, boxed notecards, Memento Mori books, folded mantle art (dogs and death), Ithaca Trail Mix in a cute kraft paper box, collections of postcards for a buck... etc. It was a wealth, or even an explosion of what was available. This year, no explosion. I am offering what I am offering...with some (underline some) random giclees. The majority of the offering will be framed (which will take the per piece price up...but selling in a more distinct and frankly more finished way). If the Ithaca buyer winces at $75. for a matted and framed illustration and that same buyer hesitates at a $20 print in a sleeve...then that buyer is just not buying. I do not need to underprice myself to move prints...undervaluing the work,, but to offer up what I have and if I do not ring the cash register, I do not ring the cash register. It might have been too many choices combined with basically  a cheap audience that uses the Art Trail opportunity to nose into people's houses and studios with no need to pay anything. What with the free cake we are encouraged to provide etc. why should you do anything but eat and meddle. So, with that thinking, why am I going greyer  on this one? Plus, with the added insanity of having a party the first night of the second week...and truly, expecting 200 people, I need my planning and thinking to get through this one.

The illustration above was a floral study done for a client with their logo to be inserted into the picture. This was rejected in place of the sun and moon put up on Thursday. I was looking at this floral against what I drew last spring (08) and I have definitely come someplace with the random drawing and sketching I am doing with the HAS Garden of Eden. I am not patterning everything...and am letting the balance of black and white relax a bit which is nice. I am doing a bunch of pictures of Genesis 2 (Day two) with a series of books on japanese illustration at my elbow. The temptation is to mimic the wonderful Hiroshige Wave when working on water...but it is so singular and doesnt sit nicely with the hand I am working in...that it seems out of sorts. Clouds are another thing...and you know, in real life (outside of reflection) they often resemble each other.

I am listening to this great book, The 19th Wife, which weaves a fictional story of the 19th wife of Brigham Young (this expose that this wife wrote, blew the doors off of the image of early Mormons and polygamy--such that the Church represesses all the original writing etc>played against a tale of murder set within a Mormon sect/cult modelled on my favorite, Uncle Rulon and Warren Jeff's own FLDS Church in Bountiful, Utah. The book makes the time with the printer far more fun than imagined. I love having a subscription to Audible--and all the books that await listening to. Vincent Bugliosi's book on how George Bush is a criminal and needs to go to jail is next. I hope I can listen to this without throwing my iPhone out the window. Speaking of the iPhone, Wordpress has an iPhone application that I want to use on my phone...because it will allow me to blog (to a wordpress blog I will link to when I am not close to my computer). More on that...I am a bit fearful as the typing on the phone is slow, and cumbersome...so those entries will be short and garbled. But, maybe that is all you all are used to anyway.

Another exciting thing is that my big bottle (twice normal size) of the Heart of Darkness is almost a half done. Thanks to the plunger/converter with my fab Sailor pen, I am cranking through the ink (my notebooks will attest to this) and am not throwing away cartridges...so eco-illustrators unite~!

Gotta go. More on the table to do.

IF: Sugary


I figured I would try and make some sweetsie pie pictures to see if I could...so this image Papillon Avec Les Papillons happened. And sweetsiepieness occurred.

There is no sugar cane that is sweet at both ends.
Chinese proverb.


The phone rings, I pick it up. New project, 2 hour turn around. Okay. Push the other work aside, work for two hours, the next two hours and then amend for two hours. Get the pushed aside work, back in front, and try to get my head into it. Back into it. The phone rings, another new project, 2 hour turn around. Okay, Push the old work to the side, get this one done. And so on. That is how the last two days have gone. I think I have gotten the rushes off my plate and then can move forward. Then, its the changing thinking of some clients...so the original thought (which has been sketched and designed) is tossed for another take and they are not going to pay for two go rounds with the "creative brief" shifting like quicksand. Oy. Its work, its paying and I need to get with the program. Forgive my bleeting.

Am doing a lot of "quick"illustrations for the Museum and my New Jersey clients. It is taking some time working in ink, cleaning them up and translating them to vectors...which I am getting the hang of (thank you so much, Chad...you are so right about it being a great way to work). I am working on a floral, a tree of life, an equinox image that with the conventions I am learning taking hold, and my new understanding of editing in photoshop is making things quite exciting.

One more year




Today is my birthday. One more year. Three hundred and sixty five days to make pictures, read books, make lunch, shepherd teens, sleep deep sleeps, swim among the clouds. Three hundred and sixty five opportunities to change, evolve, and try to keep things interesting for myself and others. Three hundred and sixty five wishes and lists. Three hundred and sixty five (plus or minus) blog entries for us to share. And so it goes. Keeping the wheels spinning. Maybe more hair dye?

No plans here. Need to get ready for Art Trail and for my mother in law's guests coming in this weekend. Bathroom needs to be tidy, bed and towels new and clean. Grass seed replanted where the wonderful Dare Daniels dug up the stuff we planted this spring (which really fully integrated (complete with the crab grass and plantain weeds) and looked just like it had been there forever.

Working on a bunch of approaches to Genesis 2--the separation of the firmament. But need to also do a Winter Solstice picture for the Museum, recolor the Tree of Knowledge for my client to use for a holiday card. Found these images from the New York Public Library Digital Archives. Love the bony Adam and Eves with with skinny dumb tree with the crowned snnake tempting them. Such a sad little scene, a bit of knowledge of good and evil looked pretty good. So somber and sad. And the miniature painting in a psalter of Adam and Eve being expelled by a bronzed angel is the polar opposite.

More later>>


I was twiddling around on Wiki to find out there is an egg in Israel called the "Bereshit Aleph' or the first chapter of Genesis, which is written on an egg and kept at the Israel Museum. Wiki sez:

Bereishit (parsha)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bereishit, Bereshit, Bereishis, B'reshith, Beresheet, or Bereshees (בראשית — Hebrew for "in beginning,” the first word in the parshah) is the first weekly Torah portion (parshah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. Jews in the Diaspora read it the first Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in October.
The parshah consists of Genesis 1:1–6:8. In the parshah, God creates the world, and Adam and Eve. They commit the first sin, however, and God expels them from the Garden of Eden. One of their sons, Cain, becomes the first murderer by killing his brother Abel out of jealousy. Adam and Eve also have other children, whose descendants populate the Earth, but each generation becomes more and more degenerate until God, despairing, decides to destroy humanity. Only one man, Noah, finds grace in the eyes of God.


Also from Wiki
Creation
When God began creation, the earth was unformed and void, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and God’s wind swept over the water. (Gen. 1:1:2.)
God spoke and created in six days:
First day: God separated light from darkness. (Gen. 1:3–5.)
Second day: God separated the waters, creating sky. (Gen. 1:6–8.)
Third day: God gathered the water below the sky, creating land and sea, and God caused vegetation to sprout from the land. (Gen. 1:9–13.)
Fourth day: God set lights in the sky to separate days and years, creating the sun, the moon, and the stars. (Gen. 1:14–19.)
Fifth day: God had the waters bring forth living creatures, and blessed them to be fruitful and multiply. (Gen. 1:20–23.)
Sixth day: God had the earth bring forth living creatures, and made man in God’s image, male and female, giving man dominion over the animals and the earth, and blessed man to be fruitful and multiply. (Gen. 1:24–28.) God gave vegetation to man and to the animals for food. (Gen. 1:29–30.)
Seventh day: God ceased work and blessed the seventh day, declaring it holy. (Gen. 2:1–3.)

Genesis Chapter Two


Day Two. Separate those firmaments. Sketch from the wirebound book. Today, in the cracks of time of the day.

quiet day


Red beans and rice on the stove for the team (we will have 8 or so today) for lunch. I am thrilled with the Indian food section at Wegmans, the Museum of Food as I have started buying basics from...like big bags of basmati rice, spices, garlic and ginger paste, and indian cooking sauces. Of course, how could I forget the jars (multiple) of coriander chutney that is consumed in massive quanitities between the team, the teens and others...dumped in soups, spread on sandwiches, eaten with rice and tzaziki. So I bow to the Museum of Food and the new adds to helping cook dinners and lunches week in, week out.

Pinned two teens into togas before 7:45 a.m. It was a bit of a time push...but they both were respectable toga teens for Pep Week at Trumansburg Central School's Charles O. Dickerson HS. Homecoming week. The expectations of bonfires, pranks, the big game and the top of the pyramid, the big dance. We looove the dances. Whoa. Thank goodness I could put my hands on a box of safety pins or we would have been in trouble with the bed sheets.

Plugging away on projects, mailings, work for Hartford and getting ready for people descending on my in laws this week (need to prep a guest room). Back at the House of Health. Loving getting back into the schedule of the walking and biking machines. Am listening to a book about one of of Brigham Young's wives, the 19th wife, and her disallusionment and leaving the church. Good stuff. Keeps the left foot, right foot continue and eyes on the inlet with the graceful rowers and teams. I have been looking at the foliage and pretending I am an indian miniature painter...and trying to see the stylization.

Very exciting news. One of the Tree of Life illustrations have been accepted by one client for their holiday card for this year. They print well over sixty thousand pieces...! Getting the work out there.

More later.

Whhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Well, gravity took hold today in the market. Freaking sleigh ride on rails, greased rails...and its not done. Love it that the Republicans couldnt deliver the votes...a short fall of around 20 votes (or less) that the soon to be candidates couldn't stomach taking home to Ohio or Kansas or Nebraska...and thus throwing Mr. Henry Paulson's rescue plan (with many top men exempted from the salary/ golden parachute exemption) keeping many of the crooks ensconced complete with big salaries and fat packages. Crooks, Liars, Cheats. It needed to be voted down. Why couldn't this bill be a pure, unsullied one versus another polluted, partisan platform. Enough all ready.

Nice chat with Murray and Carol. More to do on the Eden piece. Was messing around with the splitting of the firmaments. No where near finished...but just wanted to get the vibe down. There will be around one or two million sketches to make this right...but I am liking where this is going.

"6And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

7And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

8And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day."

If only we had it so easy! Was at the House of Health today...getting back into the swing of things...from the rapid walking on the machina di passigiare to the bicycling machine (complete with silent t.v.s showing us the wonders of Sarah Palin without the sound...and to absolutely no sacrifice to the message)!

Took poor Ms. Shady Grove to her doctor appointment which they poked and prodded her to see if they could draw blood. After around 10 tries out of legs, jugular vein and back legs, with her looking at me saying, "please, lets not do this any more...I have almost, just almost, lost patience with you and these clumsy ladies>" After 3 shots and lots of snacks...it was time to go. She was truly a miracle dog, sweet as sugar candy. I am lucky to have such a wonderful pal.

late night. gotta go.

Attention!


Finished up the redo of the illustration above. Brightened the colors (slightly), redrew the entire thing (by half) and merged and added via photoshop (the floral border of the tree was absurd and needed to redraw along with skinnying down the trunk of the tree...and then fused with the new half/flop). I am pleased with where this has gone.I may try stripping in some light texture or putting on an antique paper to see if this might give it a bit more UMPH. Who knows.

Bought new spikes, compression shorts and tee shirt for the Cross Country guy. It was a great day filled with subway tile(five boxes...and lots of hassling the Lowes guys to do their jobs...), eating burritos, and laughing a lot with teenagers yesterday. Today evolved into more laughter, pancakes (with peaches bought from Rick at the top of the hill along with tomatoes, red peppers (I've roasted), zucchini and a melon), homework (me and the littles....I got some pagination work done on my book for HAS--promising).Lots of mist and rain, particularly to Kitty's delight. A. ran with a friend. R. drew moulding profiles and K and I delivered my buffalo to the State of the Art Gallery for the Art Trail show and finished the afternoon off at the Museum of Food, Wegmans. We had a wonderful time from admiring the russian tea cakes, taking pictures of the octopus, buying pesto and tzaziki, greek yogurt (a new favorite) and salmon...and touring the organic products exclaiming over what was there and the packaging pros and cons. We went wild in the indian food department (as usual) and got very into the interesting smells and the prepackaged naan offered.

Poor Shady Grove was a bit under the weather yesterday. As R and I admired the brilliantly streaked sky over the lake, suspended over beautifully clear water and still winds, Shady looked to find refuge under our legs to the produce the goods. After R didn't even miss a beat, the dock was clear of poor Miss Grove's woopsie--and we went about checking her out. She had a dry nose and a bit of heat. After giving her a bit of couscous and treating her gently, she was back in the game today-- chasing balls, and finding the worst place to be and spreading out in it. Thank goodness...she had us going. Evidence was that she inhaled the salmon skin this evening and was looking for more. Upset stomach be damned!

Now for the political moment:

The Orphan Works Bill is something we need to rally around. Everyone!
Let your voice be heard...it is immanent...and will affect your work, your world and your legacy you leave your children or inheritors. Brad Holland in a succinct article says:

Proposed US Legislation Could Orphan Copyrights

by Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner

From Illustrators’ Partnership

Proposed US Legislation Could Orphan Copyrights
February 20, 2006

The US Orphan Works Report: On January 23 the U.S. Copyright Office issued their Orphan Works Report, outlining a proposed amendment to the 1976 Copyright Act. It defines an “orphan work” as any work where the author is unidentifiable or unlocatable, and applies to both published and unpublished works, US and foreign, regardless of age. The legislation would be retroactive. http://www.copyright.gov/orphan/orphan-report-full.pdf

The proposal would not re-impose formalities, but would penalize artists who didn’t re-impose formalities on themselves. The strategy is to “limit remedies” for infringement in any case where an illustration or photograph was published without “relevant information” on the picture itself - or where relevant information has been removed:

“For authors and copyright owners, marking copies of their works with identifying information is likely the most significant step they can take to avoid the work falling into the orphan works category. This is particularly true for works of visual art, like photographs and illustrations, that otherwise do not contain text or other information that a user can rely on to help determine the identity of the copyright owner. Nothing in the Office’s recommendation would make such markings mandatory...Nevertheless, the presence and quality of the information on particular copies will be a highly relevant fact as to whether a reasonable search will find the copyright owner.” (p. 9, emphasis added)

continued>>

Check out this mental paper from the Register of Copyrights, Mary Beth Peters>>

this we lift from Flickr>> Who, I think synthesizes it beautifully>>

no news doesn't mean good news. pay attention:

orphanworks.blogspot.com/

www.nikondigital.org/dps/dps-v-4-08.htm

www.tomrichmond.com/blog/?tag=orphan-works-act

www.sellyourtvconceptnow.com/orphan.html

"Photos on the internet could be orphaned. With tens of millions of photos shared online with services like Flickr, Shutterfly and Snapfish, there is a huge opportunity for unauthorized use of your photos... legally.

You could see photos you take of your family and kids, or of a family vacation, used in a magazine or newspaper without your permission or payment to you. You would have to pay to register your photos, all of them, in every new registry in order to protect them. Say the average person takes 300 photos per year (I take a lot more than that). If a registry only charges $5 per image, that is a whopping $1,500 to protect your photos that are protected automatically under the current laws. If there are three registries, protecting your images could cost an amazing $4,500. Not to mention the time it would take to register every photo you take. Plus, you will also have to place your copyright sign on every photo.

That's not including all your art, sketches, paintings, 3D models, animations, etc. Do you really have all that extra time and money? Plus, even if you do register, the people stealing your work can still claim it was orphaned and, unless you fight them, they win. Even if you win, you may not make back your legal fees.

It gets even better. Anyone can submit images, including your images. They would then be excused from any liability for infringement (also known as THEFT) unless the legitimate rights owner (you) responds within a certain period of time to grant or deny permission to use your work.

That means you will also have to look through every image in every registry all the time to make sure someone is not stealing and registering your art. You could actually end up illegally using your own artwork if someone else registers it. DOES ANYONE SEE A PROBLEM WITH THIS?"

With the god damned melee happening in Washington, this baby has been slipped in and approved by the Senate. It is not about retouching pictures of grandpa. Its about our work, our sketches, our intellectual property and art as illustrators. Please, let your voice be heard. It is critical. Please engage wheither you are an illustrator, artist, or someone interested in the arts. It is the rug being pulled out from under us in a world filled with people who believe every image on google images are royalty free from family photographs, to corporate images, to illustrations the neighbor next door put on Deviant Art to share with their friends. The time is now to Act. Please consider this.

From the pews of the Church of What's Happening Now

Man. The debate was wearing. And, with Obama depicting the virtual financial apocalypse that is eminent, the absolute need to do something versus hurry up and wait became foremost for me. However, with the image of Mr. Paulson on his knees in front of the cozy group at the White House, Mr. Obama, Mr. McCain, the President and various and sundry other important thought leaders, is so abhorent I cannot stand it. First off, lets remember that Mr. Paulson and Mr. Bernanke are Wall Street insiders who are begging for hand outs to help their friends maintain their quality of life and to validate the unsanctioned, (almost?) criminal behavior that have run rampant with this threatening world collapse-- Why can't this be a loan? or Money parsed out as the story unveils itself? Isn't that what you would do for friends, or family or children? If your kids ask you for a thousand bucks, would you just dumbly hand it over and ask for some sort of accounting later. NO. This is the same "take no prisoners" crap that was handed to us with the funding of this expensive and stupid war. Where is the non partisan Leadership here? Where is the touted MBA President (Major Bullshit Artist?) in this time of crisis and psychological shakiness? Do we really need to blindly hand over cash without any strings, oversight or guidance? Where are all of our friends? Where is Alan Greenspan? I like the idea of Warren Buffett buying a stake of one of these failing companies and then putting his brain, his experience and his strategies to bear on this rogue institution. I wish we would have the time to allow this sort of trickle down to happen to really see capitalism move and change with the shift of money and interest. If we get out or over this thing, I truly hope that big changes beyond the bank, big cultural changes will occur. At least I can hope--though we Americans don't really like any change beyond what is on the TV. Dancing with the Stars? Who Wants to be a Millionaire? or American Financial Idol?

Gotta go.