Sent out a ton of loose ends...and with the fed ex packages went cds of data for these folks I am giving the work to...to send to their vendors to get done. I am tired of the late night "wha...wha...what....?!" Now, its tag, your are it. Two down. One more to go. Have rescheduled all the mobile dates in early July to August where we have a bit more time to stretch out and relax versus two trips to Corning in one day before Hartford was happening. So..the last two weeks are not glutted with doctor appointments, in office surgeries and plans. Too much. August is relaxed compared to the beginning of a schedule we are roughing in...which is this side of paralyzing.

Its midnight and I need to sleep. I am a dull person.

Solstice.






Slow going today. Yesterday we were in Ithaca doing what Kitty and Alex and I adore...shopping for toilets. It is wonderful comedy...from the flushing of buckets of golf balls, to more "technical" aspects of the toilet (ie bowl shape to height). The amazing thing about toilets as objects is that they are slip cast ceramic units (3, the tank, the bottom and the tank top)....kind of a big sculpture...that in itself is impressive. Sad part is that they could be so much more fun with decals etc. etc. but it must be a tiny cost bump that people are not willing to pay for...or at least at Home Depot. We also shopped at the local craft store (bursting with scrapbooking stuff for Father's Day and Graduation (from Kindergarten, HS and College) for paper for me and findings for K as she is hot on wire jewelry theses days. We rolled back into Tburg and I spent the better half of printing and assembling my thesis paper copies (which I am just this close to completing). A few more hours and a trip to Staples for binding and I will be done. The prints came Friday and they are great! Big, bold, high saturation. As good or better than anticipated.

I am working on a sketch of PT Barnum in a very inspired by Circus posters manner. Barnum is being portrayed in my picture as being a whiteface clown--with circus inspired lettering for his name...as if its a poster promoting him. All taken from clues from the research. What I like about this is that a midtone grey or greyblue can draw the face, the creases and shaping, and then having the opportunity to go in with a color (using my new and exclusive filter, multiply) to sock in the red/ face paint so the man still reads through the decoration. He will have a ruff...either tight or loose (the Barnum Posters show loose)--I would really like to do the work just with the computer as it would be faster...But I will puzzle over it with trace and see what happens. This is due Wednesday and I have a good chance of making this deadline.

I would like to do this project in three ways...one line and tone, one calligraphic> just black, red and tan...and the third, really simplified down (much like the Czech clowns). But, I have time for one...so one it is.

We are chez lake. It has decided to give us a bit of a respite from the rain...though we are wearing jackets and layers as it is decidedly cool. All the pruning is adding up--as the trees and vines in their newly tamed state are nice and shapey. The deer do not eat the hosta here (unlike at the Headquarters...where I am going to get out the great guns (read, Irish Spring Soap) and go after those buggers. The work done to the back of the house where we had frozen pipe tragedies is wrapping up...So, onward. It is nice being here as this is the signal that summer has begun. Tonight is the Summer Solstice. Hopefully, the clouds will clear and we will be able to enjoy the longest day --admiring the sun. One can hope?

Kitty is busy making an origami menagerie. Alex and Rob are visiting and I am writing you and thinking about my picture...I just finished figuring out how to put a password on our wireless network to shut off the wireless hogs that encroach on our hospitality in the summer. Remember last summer and my rage/rants. (and more)Problem> solution...And maybe they will not be sitting in our yard with their notebooks doing their email. If they want a signal, they can buy it themselves...or surf off of someone else....You know, just re reading the raging from last summer really is whipping me up. But, nothing to get whipped up about...the giant firewall has been erected...and the antics of the handwringing when we unplugged the airport before we left the house everyday or the sheer in your face about our network being down has been eliminated. If there had been a conversation about paying for parts of the month, there may have been another solution. But hey....Our smart other neighbors did the same thing... Password please!

Reallly should wrap it up. Any suggestions on summer reading. Somehow I need to think about "literature" and all I can imagine is mental candy.

Weekend opener


Paris in Paris. From 7:30 a.m- 8:30 a.m. Paris was a request from Alex. I like asking for assignments from the home team for this portrait exercise. I like this fast work. Makes me think. Not that I think too much, but think to weed and edit. Its funny, despite the fact that Ms. Hilton is a bit of a dope (when we were in NYC, Paris and her sister had a PR rep to position them at the right parties etc. prior to Paris' propulsion into the tabloids)--she is quite pretty and delicate which this picture really shows...You would hardly know she is a bit of flaky, shakey, flooze. Working on finalizing the thesis. Am going to retweak the coloration of Double Happiness. Its getting a bit more elegant with the color refinement. It works blue on blue, but seems to be given another life with the new color/ palette. Need to take a look at the quantity of paper I ordered from Staples to get enough for 10 copies. I think Harford needs 4 or 5. I want 2-3 and then one for my mother and one for the portfolio.

Worked until midnight last night. Up at 5. So, this pace is keeping me in my chair...working. When not working, I am driving kids around, cooling a lot of one off lunches and dinners. Tonight we have the Hangar Theatre and maybe sushi. We may be moving for our summer to the lake this weekend...when the deadlines and life gets a bit easier...turning the evenings and down time to being on vacation.

Need to get rolling. Its nine...and the clock is on. More later .

a jewel


This is a likeness of Boston based artist,Eilen Jewell, a wonderful musician who we in Trumansburg love as she comes regularly to the Rongo and Grassroots Festival. I started with the highlights...cutting them out of a form for the head and found as I started layering more tone on top of the original-that I was losing the monumental aspect of this person. So, I figured in my less than 2 hour requirement, that this would be the way to go with this image. I may take it further to see what happens. Maybe.

We have gotten a ton of rain today. Everything has gone from crispy to green...and lush. Kitty and Alex are not having exams today, so maybe a movie in the afternoon. R. is working late--so correcting the thesis will be in order. I am a bit anxious about the output getting here...and making sure it looks right. Want to get this thesis work out of the way--and done. These shortie portraits are a goad to keep moving. Also,looking forward to my work with Jean and Nancy. Would like a minute to get that sketched and figured out. Maybe this weekend.

Gotta go.

You might catch flies!


Not a homerun, but a picture a day I committed to--so a picture a day you get. This is from a shot I took of Chad C. singing with the Chokers at Felicias. Not a great shot..and anyone with their mouth open like this may look silly. But...moving forward. Start with a good image.

Am running the shuttlebus for K and A. Exams and parties is what is doing here. I am wishing for rain. Am looking forward to an evening open (tomorrow) to finalize my thesis. Then on to the work for Jean and Nancy due later this week...

Got a pair of my shoes in from Keds. Kay Yute. Totally. The black looks more like indigo (which isnt too bad as indigo is a remarkable color). Am forging ahead with finality. Need to get Doug Andersen some type for the show....

need to work now...whoa. Its piling up....I may not be able to breathe.

royalty


Portrait a day. The guy is Jeb Puryear, musical royalty in the Ithaca/Tburg area.Jeb is one of the moving forces behind the Trumansburg Grassroots Festival and one of the leads for the band, Donna the Buffalo. Rob and I were talking this morning about who he would like to see me work on as this portrait a day(if I can keep up with it) project progresses. Liza from last night needs some tweaks (Rob had opinions I do not disagree with--to move that illo further). This is an interesting process as it takes 2 hrs. to do versus the fancier, more in depth portraits that take around 25 hrs. to do (far more detail, far more granular). Faster, more shorthand in these images may be the trick to learn. Faster I need to work, the quicker I can get to the final.

Hartford schedules and information came last night to my delight. Wow. Too soon. I will need to spend some time in the next few days on the printed thesis. Peter Hoover did a magnificent job of editing. I am so lucky.

Kitty is taking exams. Alex is prepping. Rob has 8 at the lake for an offsite that Barbara Bold catered. I have work and a pot of stock on the stove. My shoes are coming this week as are the biggie outputs!.

More later when I have time.

promises...of rain.


Little Richard for you today. Instead of buying baby music for my children, I bought them tapes of Little Richard....and they loved it. So, I guess this picture could be a bow to a childhood delight! I really enjoyed the doing of this...editing the shadows to do different things, taking the cues from Little Richard's eyes and making them little sharp suns. I was going to do more on the mouth/teeth/tongue but you know, with his hair and signature pencil moustache, thats all you need to identify him. So...lesson, Get the signature stuff and be selective about the other details. Focus on that. The squiggles of color was fun...need to be more deliberate about that.

Yesterday was a quiet day with many of the hometeam catching up on sleep and syncing with the rest of the world. I potted up some annuals, bought a hanging basket from Brownies and made some lunch/dinner. Chatted with R. about my octopus picture which I just dont seem to be getting much energy to finish. He has given me permission (I guess I needed it) to move forward with the knowledge that I can redo it...but that my heart is somewhere else...(read these quicky portraits I am doing). Peter Hoover got me my paper finalized...So, I need to tweak and print this week.

Chet the lawnmower man is here getting the lawn taken care of before our next downpour. We need the rain as everything was verging on brown/burn out...so a big dose of rain to plump everything up before July would be great. It has been unseasonably cool (down comforters in the night)--so the spring has lasted a bit longer with the peonies and iris being weeks instead of the days in the hot weather.

Put a face on it.

Well. I have totally gone of the tracks. The train is still moving, god knows where, how and when--but I am in a portrait automatic writing moment. And, with Rob gone, I have an hour or two to knock these babies out. Quick is the theme...not over articulating things (like the portrait of Kitty or the black and whites of the glass artists I have done)--but quick, deliberate and yet not abstracted. Yet. That's the next step. I need to eat and drink portraits--which is what the two weeks at The Hartford Art School promises with one week on a digital project with Jean Tuttle and Nancy Stahl, the other with Gary Kelley and CF Payne. My teachers from the web, from books and from the current world of illustration include the wonderful and inspiring Pablo Lopado from Argentina; Philip Burke--neighborly from Buffalo; The remarkable portraits of Holbein; the same from Hirschfield and Steve Brodner. This is just the front of the work. I want to start stretching the drawing...the color, the simplicity. Who knows where this path will take me. I am hoping to do one portrait a day to push the speed, the brevity, and making it a more natural experience. Somehow I am loving glamourpus gals...Diana Ross, Twiggy...maybe Jean Shrimpton and Sophia Loren. They are all eyes and teeth. And, lets not forget about the hair.
Moving.

Kitty and I had a time in the Trader K basement getting some sundresses...amazingly pretty things for pocket change. Alex and she are going to a party tonight..."come dressed as someone from Fiction. Kitty is going as the Great Gatsby's Daisy. We bought Alex a remarkable double breasted suit that fits him to the tee...cuffs, length--whole shot from Petrune, a vintage store on the Ithaca Commons that Dominica Brockman and her totally smart and stylish husband run, buy for, inspire. Dominica liked Kitty's ripped tee (with a heart ripped on the back)--and was interested in carrying Kitty's work. She also loved Kitty's necklace. I don't know how to kick K in the behind...cause its fashion, its creative and her work. I would be SO charged. She is pretty nonplussed. Oy.

Alex is set. He is going as Gatsby. We saw new Cole Haan loafers (his size, NEW, and black) at Trader Ks ($18.), they fit...and he POOHpoohed them. Bring on the flip flops or the ripped converse sneakers.

We sat outside and had a very grown up sushi lunch (which K and A adored) after picking Kitty up from the ACT test. This was very positive for K after two shots at the SATS. We will see.

Rob is busy being a leader of the Glass conference in Corning. Too bad the weather is not cooperating (rainy now).

More later.

Thursday!


Geisha coming on. Almost done. Working on a Diana Ross distill for Jean and Nancy Stahl...with the distill to see where I can take this image. Tracing on the computer pretty fast...and its beginning to look like the first step. Its fun though. I think the summer of portraits is really great. It will be a good idea to see where this can go.

I was googling Pablo Lopato and ran into a Communications Arts Magazine brief interview with him. He cited his inspirations, which for me, has become a primary interest as it gives me a window on the work...what did the illustrator see/glean/gain from his inspiration's work. Lopato referenced this interesting Argentinian cubist, Emilio PettorutiWiki says:



"Emilio Pettoruti was an Argentine painter, who caused a scandal with his avant-garde cubist exhibition in 1924 in Buenos Aires. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Buenos Aires was a city full of artistic development. Pettoruti's career was thriving during the 1920s when "Argentina witnessed a decade of dynamic artistic activity; it was an era of euphoria, a time when the definition of modernity was developed."[1] Previously, he had been awarded, in 1912, a traveling scholarship to Italy, where he met the Futurist artists, and also exhibited at Herwarth Walden's "Der Sturm Gallery" in Berlin. In Paris, he met Juan Gris, who influenced him to paint in a cubist style. While Pettoruti was influenced by cubism, futurism, constructivism, and abstraction, he did not claim to paint in any of those styles in particular. Exhibiting all over Europe and Argentina, Emilio Pettoruti is remembered as one of the most influential artists in Argentina in the 20th century for his unique style and vision."


I love this.  Mr. Lopato lives in a world I know nothing about...Nothing. There are a rich vein of illustrators and artists from South America that we know nothing of. I want to chase down his other influences and see what there is so see. I love the color and the more obvious cubism that Pettoruci shows...breaking the image down to basics but keeping it a bit more decorative than Juan Gris and Braque (poor, drab Braque). Picasso keeps his humor in his cubist work...using shape and line in a way that I would like to better understand. Hmmm.

Gotta go. There are 17 packages of postcards going to my Hartford class for promotional cards for our show and 3 boxes to go filled with programs and pencils. Wrapping this up. Now, I wonder where my output is? Peter H. is almost done with the lovely editing he is doing to the masterwork paper (not)...and very sweet about how fun it has been to do!  And, need to get on fixing the octopus. Have put a bit of time into it...but have been lured by the siren of our geisha girl and now Diana Ross. Bad Girls!

cool day


Continuing work on the Utamaro inspired illustrator in SF. Like what's happening. Sent a note off to CF Payne about the portrait project to get some guidance and thought. It dawned on me that the Jean Tuttle/ Nancy Stahl project was boring me to death...not jazzy enough so maybe I will do a portrait of Diana Ross (from Connecticut) and push it a bit a la Risko/ and the South American Pablo Lobato. Feeling better about this. Boredom really sticks you in neutral.

I am fiddling with our little dharma pal. funnzies. Not much to look at yet.

Cooked down a mess of chicken bones from my new favorite from the grocery store, antibiotic free, natural chickens (rotisserie style) without the terrible quicky mart seasoning and stink. Its quite delicious and it is prime for making this great new thai chicken salad that the home team have been loving (even demanding!) in this month's Martha Stewart Good Eats magazine (the small magazine at the grocery store). One of my favorite magazines cause the recipes are dumb, quick and delicious... Back to the bones, I made wonderful stock from these bones before (the best this year), so I am def. in the recycling mode with these small chickens. This robust stock may come from a robust quantity of bones. So, remind me, but next winter I am for certain going to buy the box of backs and bones they sell for $10. at the Regional Access.

The Van Engelen catalog came yesterday. With this cool humid weather, it is obvious to think about piles of bulbs--affordable piles of bulbs, more more and more. They had 250 daffodils for $74, all excellent quality, with a ton of choices from iris, peonies, frittilaria, allium. You hear me talking about these things...This is the place to buy them. Paired with teen labor...1000 daffs are going in this fall. More frittilaria maximus and allium gigantium. Do you see a trend? Maximus and Gigantium.

Its been very cool here. Maybe teen girl squad (my Wednesday teen employees) will fold things for Hartford and then outside to prune more twigs and sticks, and kill all privet. More later

picture above is work in progress...(click to see bigger)

Tuesday late night


Am all tumbled and jumbled. I figured I would just make some SF pictures to maybe right myself. These portraits are getting me all worried and confused.So as a bit of medicine, I figured I would research lovely asian ideas and art. Utamaro is a long time favorite--so the incomplete image above is a bow and wave to him. The stick in her hand will either become a brush or a pencil...perhaps a SF skyline hair ornament...And A golden gate bridge pattern in her dress. I am editing the crap out of this thing...reducing line and color which I think looks pretty good. The hair has been fun..so I am charged despite my personal confusion.

I also ran across the idea of the Hariko and the daruma doll. Daruma or Dharma Dolls are:

Daruma dolls (達磨 daruma?), also known as dharma dolls, are hollow and round Japanese wish dolls with no arms or legs, modeled after Bodhidharma, the founder and first patriarch of Zen.[1] Typical colors are red (most common), yellow, green, and white. The doll has a face with a mustache and beard, but its eyes only contain the color white. Using black ink, one fills in a single circular eye while thinking of a wish. Should the wish later come true, the second eye is filled in. It is traditional to fill in the right eye first; the left eye is left blank until the wish is fulfilled.

Many of the Daruma dolls are male but there is a female daruma doll. It is called hime daruma or "princess daruma."

The Canon Creative Park page said about Dharma dolls: (they also have cool pdf files of Dharma dolls you can print out and assemble in a range of color!)

"The first Dharma dolls are said to have been made some 300 years ago at the Sorensen Dharma Temple in Takasaki City in Gunma Prefecture, modeled after the Zen monk, Bodhidharma. The eyebrows and beard represent the crane and the turtle, long considered symbols of longevity in Japan, and the dolls are popular as good luck charms. It is traditional to paint in the left pupil (the right one facing you) when you make a wish, and then paint in the right pupil when the wish comes true. Also, it is said to be most lucky to place the doll so that it faces south. In Japan, red and white are considered lucky and these are the usual colors for a Dharma doll. There are other dolls with different colors, based on oriental astrology, so you can select the color of the doll based on the nature of your wish and your lucky color, increasing the fun and perhaps the efficacy of the charm. "

Chad mentioned that part of the Daruma doll concept was to hold the pure idea of the Daruma and draw it without looking. He said: "I really like the darumas. They represent Bohodidarma who founded Zen Buddhism and is credited with creating martial arts. When you do it, try and detach yourself from it and create it with a pure mind free from opinion of self. It is an amazing exercise. Really, try it." "so express from your heart and let the pen do the work. Its all about sincerity and intention." So, I am fascinated with a mini sketch process of these little wonders that promise action, a journey, a wish. There is something truly wonderful in these personal commitments, reminders of promises. I seem to be fascinated by asian good luck symbols--from the Daruma and the Happy or Lucky Cat and the various Hariko figures. Maybe some simple fun illos of these guys before I get with the portraits...?

This google article from the illustrated encylopedia of Zen Buddhism gets into the story, the symbols and imagery...why no arms and legs, and why they are early weebles...that wobble... take a look>>

Back to work. R. should be home in an hour or so.

slow Monday


Messing around. Need to do some publication design today. Am thinking portraits re Hartford and need to finalize one more drawing for the thesis. Shouldnt be a biggie. Rob is out for a series of evenings this week...so I will have a window to finish that up. Also, need to get the show publications completed for the thesis exhibition. I have teenagers coming this week to fold and collate the program and notes. Postcard should be on its way too.

Rob is taking his parents to NYC today (a down and back) for some medical consultation. Poor guy...he is having an amazing work week..But, we had lots of nature with tree pruning galore yesterday. Rob took on the privet hedges while i clipped the wisteria and box hedge. Next shot, we are attacking more of the invasive shubbery that seem to take over. We have woodpeckers loving our new bird seed mix...Lovely red heads with way pointy beaks. I love woodpeckers--I dont love what they are doing to our fringe tree (now proclaimed by visitors as a jasmine).

I had two bags accepted on Bagstab . Take a look and cast a vote for my Wood Duck or Willow Skull. Bagstab is a site that you can upload art for tote bags, messenger bags or backpacks. Voting determines which products go further (with royalties to the illustrator). So, help me out and vote for one or both! Its nice to see my work in the context of what is being shown. Big stuff.