" Praise song for walking forward into that light"


I was teary first thing this morning at the House of Health, not because my muscles were burning but from the visuals of waiting and watching for Barak and Michelle Obama to get into their car to go to church for prayer and reflection prior to taking the mantle of responsibility and power in this new job. It struck me as remarkable--a quiet waiting time, a time we have experienced with family and self, of waiting for the bride. Waiting for her moment before she goes to the church to make vows--leaving her old life , and contracting with her partner to make a new life..joining forces, joining families, joining with her beloved. Obama is our bride. Obama has married us--and has taken on new forces, new families and is forging his own future with ours. His gravitas and sobriety in his demeanor and speech is steadying and affirming. I love it that Obama has had dinners with his former foes (that with John McCain), that he is attempting to bridge and bring some maturing and new life into this role. It is a new day to see GW Bush get on the plane and go back to Texas and Dick Cheney get wheeled out of town. We need this change. We need a focus and positive motion around our lives as Americans that speaks to personal responsibilty, to service to the common good. Now the work begins.


Frosty here. Beginning to engage in how to fix the Luckystone. Calls in to the right people. Small steps, small tactical steps.

Gig at the Rongovian Embassy tonight. There is an inaugural ball (as an aside, the Rongovian Embassy has been known for these sorts of escapades in the past):

Plans are finalized for an evening of solemnity and hilarity -- a little schizophrenic, but that's how things go in Rongovia. The band's tuning up, official visas have been produced and certified, the Chorus of Greater Rongovia has sprayed their collective uvulae with Fingerlakes Lite Toothwash and Tonsil Oil in preparation for the singing of "God Bless Rongovia," and sundry public and not-so-public officials, including Mayor Marty Petrovic, Ulysses Town Councilwoman Liz Thomas, and the Grand Poobah of Rongovia, Larry Reverby, will be offering greetings from their respective republics and duchies. If you miss the inauguration (some of us DO have jobs) there'll be nearly instant replay on the huge RONGOTRON. In an effort to maintain a semblance of order, the Royal Court has appointed Dan Burgevin Herald and Master of Ceremonies. Bring your republic's greetings.

The Rongovian Mixologist General has devised an addition to the Bastard menu -- come and toast change with a Departing Bastard. Need proof you were there? Have your photo taken with a full-sized cardboard cutout of Barack Obama.
Plans are finalized for an evening of solemnity and hilarity -- a little schizophrenic, but that's how things go in Rongovia. The band's tuning up, official visas have been produced and certified, the Chorus of Greater Rongovia has sprayed their collective uvulae with Fingerlakes Lite Toothwash and Tonsil Oil in preparation for the singing of "God Bless Rongovia," and sundry public and not-so-public officials, including Mayor Marty Petrovic, Ulysses Town Councilwoman Liz Thomas, and the Grand Poobah of Rongovia, Larry Reverby, will be offering greetings from their respective republics and duchies. If you miss the inauguration (some of us DO have jobs) there'll be nearly instant replay on the huge RONGOTRON. In an effort to maintain a semblance of order, the Royal Court has appointed Dan Burgevin Herald and Master of Ceremonies. Bring your republic's greetings.

The Rongovian Mixologist General has devised an addition to the Bastard menu -- come and toast change with a Departing Bastard. Need proof you were there? Have your photo taken with a full-sized cardboard cutout of Barack Obama.


Note: The Bastard Menu is a drink menu of punch type drinks from 14850 dining:"I highly recommend the series of bastard drinks, properly consumed in order... the suffering bastard, dying bastard, and dead bastard. These insidious libations have a little bite, a little sweetness, and a little fruitiness, and each drink in the series adds one more ingredient." To think there is now a new drink, the Departing Bastard. Cin Cin to that!

quiet day.

Sunday, ski bus day. So, up and at em. Skibus study hall, or at least a partial study hall is on my agenda. Will be working on more illustration, perhaps coloring some of the inked drawings to see where they go with the Murray Tinkleman 80//20 warm/cool attempt. I am excited to see if I am academic about this...so see the results (as will you in the valentine month of images!).

The trip for beauty and clothes was a huge success. Kitty got a very cute dress for the Snow ball ($10.) with never been worn shoes ($8)--black platforms, ankle strap, flower on the toe. We couldnt resist as there was this perfect dress (for prom) that makes K look like a zillion buck (cost $49.) that is a solid bead and sequin dresss (read dark blue sequins and dark grey beads) that looks like a gem encrusted midnight blue overall. The dress is single shoulder (which normally I hate...but works here), a straight sheath that is fairly modest until she turns around and the back is a basketweave with the open space being just Kitty in the dark grey beads. The dress is slit to 12 below the hip (minidress height). With the shoes, Kitty looks like Motown Barbie...totally glamourous and not Prommmy poof. But chic. Chic for 17 but also chic for 27. We are thrilled. We got Alex 2 wool blazers (each $15) which we both screamed when we saw him try on . With the new spiky hair and the chalk stripe blazer (dark blue) with a black buttondown he was already wearing, he looked right off the Burberry's ads. So we took home a haul for $100.with a lot of laughs and fun. It was great.

The week promises lots of opportunities to be productive and get a lot of things done...or at least moving. R. is going out of town for the Museum to go to the opening of the Winter Antiques Show where the Museum is the featured institution.

Got a turkey carcass with a load of back of the refrigerator vegetables and two leeks roasting which I will make into a soup later today. Pretty domestic scene.

Maybe more later when my head engages.

Panoply



Colder than cold. All the pipes at the Lake froze solid with even the drips of water frozen in place. Apparently, the gas man decided not (and stated so) to deliver the propane gas we were on order to get--and allowed the tanks to run dry. The furnace is trashed, all the copper frozen and all the steam heat radiatiors (we hope not) shot. Lets just put it this way. Hell hath no fury...

Back to happier topics. Getting teen haircuts today along with a trip to the everfabulous, Trader Ks for some "Snow Ball" attire. Trader K is a consignment store and what with the happily charging Cornell students, there are no end to garments still with the tags or worn once. Kitty's delight is the entire basement is filled with prom and formal dresses and shoes that she and her friends use as their dressup spot...and place to buy a formal dress for $20., look like a million and not have your mom stress over where the next meal is coming from. Who knows how Alex is going to deal...but maybe there will be that perfect crushed velvet or plaid suit to sport. It should be fun. I hope I can be patient.

Valentines are still plugging away. I had forgotten about Sailor's Valentines. (from Wiki)

Sailor Valentines are a type of antique souvenir, or sentimental gift originally brought home from a sailor's voyage at sea for his loved one during the early 1800s. Sailor Valentines are octagonal, glass fronted, hinged wooden boxes ranging from 8" to 15" in width, displaying intricate symmetrical designs composed entirely of small sea shells of various colors glued onto a backing. Traditional shell designs often feature a centerpiece such as a compass rose or a heart design, and in some cases the small shells are used to spell out a sentimental message.

Although the name seems to suggest that the sailors themselves made these objects, a large number of Sailors' Valentines originated in the island of Barbados, which was an important seaport during this period. Historians believe that the women on Barbados made the Sailors' Valentines with local shells, or in some cases with shells which had been brought to Barbados from Indonesia, and then the finished products were sold to the sailors.[1]

It has been concluded by John Fondas in his Book Sailors' Valentines, that the primary source for Sailors' Valentines was The Old Curiosity Shop, located in Barbados, and a popular place in the 1800s for sailors to purchase souvenirs. John's research tells of a sailors' valentine reconstruction, where the reconstructing artist found pieces of a Barbados newspaper inside the backing.

Today, antique "Sailor's Valentines" are once again in demand for their beauty and unusual qualities. Interest has sparked a resurgence in this art form[2]. Many Sailors' Valentines, both new and old, can be found on the Island of Nantucket, Massachusetts.

The Baileys-Matthew Shell Museum [1] has an extensive online exhibit of this art form.

Plus, with Murray's suggestion of how creatures help an image--I am actively reading the Audubon Guide to North American Insects with great happiness and planning. Hello bugs. Also drew a miserable frog yesterday but see how he is so inviting, I will need to get him more right before prime time.

Off to the frozen cold, beauty and hair and of course, Prom dresses.

brrrrr


House of Health visit this morning. On the treadmill like all the rest of the gym rats moving towards health nirvana. It was a bright and frigid drive down and back. Clear and cold with a beautiful sky.Lunch with a client. Lots to talk about from holiday card successes to a new, zine inspired approach to the Annual Report looking original and inexpensive. I think we are going back into a design cycle that things are measured against things looking "expensive" (ie lots of color, coated paper, multiple varnishes, high production which, to you who know, often costs the same or less if you are clever) but need to communicate affordable (and now green can figure into this piece too!). This was rampant in the mid to late eighties in particular--so I feel smug that I have this experience from "way back".

Lots of junkie television last night--with drawing. I need to find some reference of flying birds to begin to sample some images.I need to pull the gardening catalogs filled with pictures of flowers and grasses. I need to think parts and pieces as Chad suggested, two parts making three...thinking complexity, thinking diversity in the images and content. Fuse them in photoshop. I think this Sunday studyhall will be coloring and tinting. Seeing where it goes. Balancing 80/20 color, line, spirit and density. Client valentine went to PSPrint today.

Started a group on Facebook for Hartford.New experience. Easy to use. Very effective. Love the twitter/tweeter feature/app on Facebook and the fluidity that you can effect change in both social sites. Learning how each work is very interesting. The more I use them, the more valid this Web 2.0 for numbskulls becomes. Maybe no "direct" successes, but lots of building a brand, promoting an idea/viewpoint, or a message. I think after 6 mos, I might really be able to talk about this.

Just got a book on Mendez (a follower of Posada). More to read.

I have a brilliant mentor.

Had a great chat with Murray. I sent him a handful of the sketches I was working on looking for pointed input and editorial. He was wonderful. More decorative illustration milestone conventions for me to integrate into my thinking while I work. I started talking color and Murray said that the black and white hangs together and I could leave it at that. We then talked about color just to see where he sat on it..I mentioned the hot/cool thinking that many of my real live illustration friends use (particularly those that were trained as real illustrators)--the whole red/blue, orange/turquoise, hot/cold thinking as a way to think of coloring an image. I thought that maybe Murray would expound on this convention...and instead, I got something bigger. A big handle to individually assess my work as I am going. What I needed to do is broadly think about the balance of the picture--and that balance needed to be either 80%/20%, 75%/25%-- something more than 50/50 from the color (warm/cool), the contast balance (dark/light), the balance of the family of shapes (sharp/soft, ambiguous/defined))--It is, as Murray said, a checklist of how to review the work-- I love this thing. His input on the bees, the birds, the details, definition of the heads--all good. More to do, more bugs to draw.
Onward to the month of love.

cold here


Just bundled up a few confabs of bits and pieces. I figure if today is mid January and Valentines Day is mid Feb, another week of whaling on love et cetera is okay. I do have a printer deadline to meet...so one more week and then I need to choose and go. I was, in my dreamy haze, thinking about type, about type bars integrated with images that could be a nice part to go with these pictures. I def have a bee one. Want to do another that really focuses on the skep. I would like to do a bird one and another a rabbit one. Am getting pretty excited by the methodology that evolving from the inked drawings to scan. Then, the scan becomes scrap, like chapbook scrap that I can monkey with> clip from> add to and recreate new imagery from. Plus, as it is all out of my hand, it all goes together. I have been pouring over floral catalogs and thinking about how that integrates with my valentines.

Need to get on some logo designs that a client needs in another week or so. Need to get some kid work done (scheduling, research etc). Things are slowly winding up--and by the end of the month, we will be in full swing.

Got a great book on Jose Guadalupe Posada ( Jose Guadalupe Posada, Ilustrador de Cuadernos Populares) from Alibris yesterday. First off, I have discovered this new art publisher in Mexico who puts out extrordinary books with beautiful production (Editorial RM, Mexico). The style and level reminds me of the old beauty, FMR (Franco Maria Ricci) my absolute favorite mid nineties magazine from Italy with wonderful eccentric content, all beautifully printed, designed and written. Many of the images are silhouetted on a matte black field so the extrodinary nature of the images, the objects are showcased. This is a little book that focuses on Posada's non political work, his more domestic, softer content--chapbooks, songbooks, advertisements. As it says in the translated Introduction:

"In fact, we preserve a more initimate Jose Guadalupe Posada, a master illustrator concerned witht he commercial appeal of this covers, a skilled publicist and forerunners of Mexican graphic design, who took pains to win overe a broad sectior of the population and made it possilbe to acquire a beautiful engraving for a few centavos".

With all the significant writing translated for us--I look forward to absorbing this in the next week or so. Time is moving fast. Need to go.

arctic blast, not a wintery mix


I love these euphemistic words that the weather folk come up with to get us all thinking and understanding future weather.Wintery mix is a optional mix of snow, wind, cold and any and all inbetween. Arctic blast is not a new flavor of chewing gum, its coldcold cold. Arctic Blast is planned for tomorrow. More socks than you can count. Hats, multiple layers and even the fingerless gloves. Final step is the laprobe while I work...we will wait and see.

Went to the House of Health again today. Wonderfully pleasant. A zillion people there striving for health and strength. Then came back and bought some cat food to keep the damned cats from clawing me to pieces (they snag their pesky little claws in your pants to remind you they are hungry and mad at you) or starting their amazingly humorous little trick of pooping in the tub. Surprise! We are pissed at you. So, cat crisis averted. Got a bunch of projects off the desk to all clients...moving and grooving today/ tomorrow. Need to reschedule some doctors stuff as my client wants to have a meeting with a consultant they are possibly hiring to talk about "look and feel".

Working on valentines. Have about 4 in the works...some frames, some pieces, some complete ones that need to be flopped and pieces added to it in photoshop. More to come.
You will see the stuff as we go...just more mileage with the pieces. I have a ton of energy around it.

for Pauliez


Tipperary: Beekeeper Philip McCabe attempts to break the world record for a ‘beard of bees’ in a field near Cahir, Co Tipperary, Ireland. The current record of 350,000 bees weighing 87.5lb was set in 1998 in California. ap

Bees


Bees on my brain. Finally. Did a bunch of sketches which were big messes to have one gel this a.m. on the phone with a client who was talking about the bad state of things at her job (dependent on a trust set up to run the entity she works for) and what the concerns for the next year was. I tried to be sympathetic (which I was) despite the fact I was hitting with a sketch thatt might go somewhere with the bees. Will need to do a few more to see how this could go...but I am onto it. Did a few images yesterday during study hall. One is of a bird singing with love confetti coming out of it's beak. Another is a lady (in the line drawing mode) that has a hat that evolved into her nose that is made up of love confetti with a plume in the shape of a heart too. Corny and maybe too cute. Then, I did two "frames"--decorated frame areas leaving a blank heart negative to build a picture inside. Now this bee thing that started as a tree frame and now is a real illustration versus a damned "spot" (out out, damned spot) with a ground and a sky and a bug and flowers and a skep. Love the imagery. Need to blow it out. Saving all of this heart stuff you you guys in February. Fourteen Days of LOVE. I will give you pieces until theen.

Also output a bunch of things to tint with watercolor. Small steps, but I am getting there. I am just loving the ink right now...so I will get to the watercolor when I get to it.

House of Health was fun. Back on the machines with everyone in the universe. It felt good to be up high, looking over the inlet all white and covered with ice and snow, listening to a book, looking at the shapes of the trees. It is a good thing to do. Need to schedule a flu shot (school nurse said it wasnt too late). Also, need to start shaking the trees at the school re some not so good teaching. Need to get Alex tutoring mid year to keep up with what isn't being conveyed in school. Gotta go, the day is speeding by.

I can hear the snow plow

He is here. Churning up the driveway. We got a big dump last night. And more planned today (not quite the inches but more nonetheless). Ski club happened with all the gleeful teenagers piling on the schoolbuses with all their new ski pants and equipment...all plugged in, ready to go. No one was listening to opera.

Today is a day for me (I hope) with work on the thesis and drawing. I think I will look at the paper requirements just to familiarize myself with the who what when and my favorite, t he how. How to caption, how to bibliograph, how to flow the content (that is, if I can find the outline Doug Andersen gave us last July). If not, hey, there's drawing.

am valentining. Must go. Also, may correct a few images and do some output as well. Time's a wasting.

snowing like it means it.


We just got back from taking Kitty to the Metropolitan Opera at the movie theatre. We saw Puccini's La Rondine with all of us loving every minute of it. Lets just say, we are going to see all of them. Not only did our 16 yr old love it, she cheered and squealed with delight over the comedy, the costumes, the sets and the behind the scenes antics that this HD broadcast provided. Plus, we got a peek at a movie about young opera singers and she is mad to see it. So, I think we will have a wonderful winter of seeing this at Regal. Plus, if you go to the Met site>> you will see that you can view older presentations (as rentals) which looks fabulous and a good way for those interested in learning about Opera to get a low risk dose. Hmm, Aida tonight or the Magic Flute? This is brilliant thinking on the part of the Met as it extends their reach into our living rooms, makes opera less "special" and more accessible to everyone and develops a new audience (which from glancing around the theatre--we were all the "young ones" not just Kitty). Good thinking all the way around. Plus, it is quality production and thinking in the HD piece, so the Met brand is solid and continues to be singular in its presentation wheither you are at Lincoln Center or Lincoln Center via the Mall.

We got out of the theatre and it was snowing to beat the band. Snowing so much that I wonder if Ski club will happen as they are promising 10" to 12". Yikes!

I am working on a sidebar series of illustrations around valentines day. One with birds, done. I am working on one with a bee skep and bees that could be sweet too. What has been interesting is taking these spots and plunking them into a rectangle and blowing it out a bit more. Over the top decorative...and after seeing what is happening, I want to take this approach out a bit as the decorative obsessiveness (as Murray frames up an aspect of decorative illos) is wild. A few little spots that have emerged would be perfect to propose to Steuben, which we might, pending the process. I would rather put the work out as an offer versus responding to less than strong direction. More "this is what we have, interested?". I have come to understand that this is the way I want to work. My problem stems from art direction. I am a pretty good one myself, so to take direction from someone not on my level is galling...so the project needs to be fat financially or a treat in order for me to have patience for that sort of thing. My work with the Museum is directed, but I am good with that as I know the players and do other work for them beyond illustration.

Must go and make some dinner. Its late and we didnt eat lunch. We just wallowed in italian music with the conclusion of the opera being the love interest leaving her boyfriend because his mother "wouldn't understand". And if the mother was angry, who would make the sauce?

IF: Contained

You cannot contain song and the freedom it brings to all of us.

It is cruel, you know, that music should be so beautiful. It has the beauty of loneliness & of pain: of strength & freedom. The beauty of disappointment & never-satisfied love. The cruel beauty of nature, & everlasting beauty of monotony.

Benjamin Britten (1913–1976), British composer.

Thursday's happenings

School happened today. Just snow. Ice has moved on. Got a few appointments today, so it should be on/break/appointment/break/ back to work/ break/ appointment/ break/ back to work...You get the idea. The portrait below is the starting point for an illustration for the Corning Museum of Glass Studio Masters series of shows. I decided to do something methodical this time. So, I am starting with cutting the mid tones, then the two darker and then more highlights. On the side, I am working on a William Morris-y, leafy valentine and a few "parts", birds, flowers, "piece" leaves, a strawberry flower. These spots are quite inspiring as it gives me a chance to doodle around and give me some traction and confidence to do another "official" piece. This morris thing I thought would be a single color thing, but as I get into it, I am def going to render it in color. Albeit, it is not Garden of Eden directly, I may tag it into the work to show to Doug and Murray in March. That's an idea....just do good stuff and maybe it will all hang together. Better to have positive momentum and see where things morph. Now my bright pink valentine is off the table and on to something more modified. Maybe some bright highlights?

Will be working on some small sparrows, songbirds. Love how cute they are. The vector birds are more emblematic/ iconic. These hand drawn, decorative illustration will be more whimsical.

We have been having really nice dinners with the home team. I think it's because Alex has been playing us music he likes and talks about it. And then we are all allowed to chime in and or change the playlist. Last night was Nine Inch Nails and an epic Pink Floyd song. I wonder what tonight's antics will be about.

New in the world of art supplies. If you are a lover (as I am) of the Pitt Pen (as a gal from the 'burg, I always want to spell it Pitt Penn), there is a new add to that offering. The Pitt Pen is a nice portable, no leak, india ink pen. They now have an extra extra fine, and a big fat fill pen (Each Big Brush pen contains four times the amount of ink found in regular Pitt Artist Pens).

Wegmans to offer free antibiotic prescriptions

Wegmans Food Markets Inc. announced that effective Wednesday, there will be no charge for generic oral antibiotic prescriptions for people with a Shoppers Club card during the months when usage peaks, beginning Wednesday and ending March 31.
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Wegmans estimates that the program has the potential to save its customers in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia and Maryland approximately $1 million.

Kitchen Sink


Looking at William Morris' Strawberry Thief and reveling in the design, the pattern, the spirit of the illustration. Am getting myself back into thesis mode by doing some warm up type pictures--some valentines for February. I plan on printing one either in a zine format (no binding/four pager printed one side or going to PSPrint and getting a color one done/printed/delivered with no significant input other than the fun work on this end. I am working on some layered leaves with some of the leaves being positive, the othere negative and figuring out how to handle the overlap without white lines which is a good mental problem. Also have a bird or two on the board, decorative birds (thus the Thief) and have been enjoying being somewhat liberated from reference which was for a bit tying up my head.I am working patterning into patterns and trying to keep it black and white as it looks stronger when you bring it into a colorway. Plus, now that I am evolving into a retromexican, black and white is the world we live in...Note to self: Remember, Murray says color is what clients want...and he is always right...so consider that. What I know--though, is that if it stands up in black and white, color can only help it.

Had a great conversation with a friend who is also a curator about art, stuff we love and share interest in (Lilydale, Masons, La Luz de Jesus, Huntington) and it was good to get our heads together as its always sixty miles an hour on the phone with her and when you hang up...I am always ready to dive back in. She is fabulous. And, handed over a new job, a portrait for the Masters of Studio Glass logotypes (which change as the artists change...this one is #3). Exciting. And, the reference looks good. Maybe all this skitzing around with Kitty's portrait will have some positive spin insofar as what I need to look at/edit out etc.

Got a mystery email from someone from the Administrative Office of the US Courts (very brief, very obtuse, very "is this something for real or is it a foreign entity that wants to get into my checking account" type of thing). I googled the persons name and yes, its for real. I plan on making a call and seeing what is up with that.

I got to get moving on the Society Show framing. Ordered a frame from this site I had hesitations from but figured I would take a small risk and see what the quality etc. was. Turns out, the mat was cut right, the framing kit was right, but the 16" x 20" frame was delivered as a 12" x 24". I called the company with reciept in hand and PO on the website and they immediately made it right. The frame itself was good quality so here is a link: Pictureframes.com. Next stop is a sample from the fab frame place: JFM>>. I love the off the shelf Nielsen Bainbridge frames, but sometimes something fluffy or gold is a must, so I need this in my back pocket.

Also need to get the files to Illustration West. It is so nice that the GlimmerGlass labels got in for the Juicebox boys--and from a personal standpoint. Plus, I did a bit of research for Hartford this week for the shows that we need to get entries into...:

Creative Quarterly 15: Call for Entries: Deadline: January 30, 2009

Communication Arts>

Illustration Annual - Deadline: March 6, 2009
Hundreds of beautiful illustrations used for editorial, institutional and advertising are selected for their creative excellence by a jury of designers and art directors. We include a complete index and addresses of the selected illustrators.

Design Annual - Deadline: June 1, 2009
Juried by nine top designers and attracting entries from the USA, Canada, England and 40 other countries, the Design Annual features the best posters, brochures, packaging, trademarks, corporate identity, annual reports, catalogs, letterheads and signage, and is fully indexed for reference. Only 2% of the work entered is selected for the annual. Detailed captions provide the reader with an explanation of the project's scope, the concept and solution.

Advertising Annual - Deadline: June 1, 2009
Juried by leading creative directors, art directors and writers, the Advertising Annual displays the best in consumer and institutional print ads along with posters, broadcast and new media. Everything is reproduced so you can actually read the fine print. The broadcast scripts are included for every television and radio commercial and, for quick reference, a complete index helps the reader find an agency, client or individual.

American Illustration 28, Deadline February 20, 2009

3x3 Professional Show : Deadline March 14, 2009

3x3 Children's Book Show: Deadline April 14, 2009

Print Regional Design Annual: Deadline March 2, 2009

this and that.


Digital Art Supplies, my choice for Epson inks, and their remarkable DAS branded paper and their clearance stuff is having some impressive sales on their papers this next week with different things offered daily. They have some nice little watercolor/print paper that might make a great promotion piece (4"x6"). I am also onboard with some printmaking supplies suggested by the saavy art teacher at Penninsula High School (Palos Verdes, CA) who established a glass program for his students. If that isn't enough, he is really plugged in--and is working on a very interesting project for his MFA in Humanitites that connects his ceramic work with Pray for Surf/ and Buddhist prayer wheels. So, we were yacking away and he suggests I think about printmaking using this buttery easy to cut plastic (like the schaedler stuff) Blick Soft-Kut. He said he has a friend who uses this stuff exclusively--for his art work thats in very hot in the extreme market. So, some is on order for me.

The day has gotten out of hand and now its dinner time (or at least time to make it). Wintery Mix expected here (with or without peanuts?). There is lots of hope here (maybe even the wearing of pyjamas backwards and inside out to see what can happen if we will it