Q. Cassetti, I Love Fu, 2009 Digital and Pen and Ink,Surprises abound. I noticed that Jackie Decker, the tremendous future Beatrix Potter illustrator from Hartford got into the Society of Illustrators LA show (via Facebook, of course). I got twitchy (as usual) and started scanning my email to see if there was a little note for me. I was twitchy because of course, I hadn't gotten in (after submitting an absolute carload of pieces)...and kept at it. There it was! The SILA "You got something in" email. Phew! Twitchiness aside, I got SIX pieces in-- they are the Hartford SF Geisha (which I couldnt show this summer as we could only show one),the Jiri piece that got into SI NYC , I love Fu, Finch Valentine, Bee Mine Valentine, Sweetness Valentine.

We also got the recent copy of Creative Quarterly 17 in the mail and was thrilled to be among some outstanding work in photography, fine arts, graphic design and illustration. Charles Hively's Creative Quarterly publication is well structured, diverse and very interesting from the work shown to the advertising and book reviews that parallel the body of the piece. A portrait, one of my "portrait an hour" done in fear and trepidation of the Gary Kelley/ CF Payne class on portraits along with the Jean Tuttle/ Nancy Stahl digital class (also focusing on portraits). I shouldnt have gotten so worked up, but that is what I do--and interesting things often come out of the fear. Back to Creative Quarterly. There is a magazine which the select of the select are placed (I have one) and then the additional pieces go onto a website that shows those "runner ups" There are five runners up along with the portrait that got in here>>

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Stepping lightly

Plans are afoot to go into town. They have shoveled /plowed the streets so the journey may not be so bad.Winter is really here with enoguht snow (and some to spare) for skiing and other cold fun.

Alex has Lady Gaga on the other computer, so we are getting our energy up to face the cold dry cold. Now, we are tuned into Biggie (who I have discovered I like).

We have Green Star on our list as well as hair cuts for the boys. Maybe a quick tour of Target?

Neti Pots, bulk olive oil, bulk dish soap, the fab new Farmer Ground Flour (local, and from what my friend Stefan says, it takes bread to another place), King Arthur Bread Flour and yeast is on the list for Green Star, ourl ocal Co-op. If you havent gathered whats been going on, Bread, succinctly sums it up. For the past few days, I have been using up leftovers as pizza and foccacia with the help of our new Christmas bread stone and my bread machine--and it works! Combined with the little place next to the woodstove to aid in the rising, well, its a habit I am getting used to doing...and the leftorvers are consumed. So, I am working it. Only downside was with the lovely little rolls had set out by the woodstove to rise were just too tempting for Shady Grove. Before you could say "hot buns", she had scarfed down all but 8 raw dough balls! Thankfully, I had more dough in the kitchen.. Shady was very remorseful (and bloated to my thinking). Lesson Learned.

Kitty and I love the bulk department particularly the rich dark green olive oil they stock as well as the soaps which we noticed the last time we were there. Should be fun.

We are laying low as the teeth still hurt. Quiet and rest is the best thing for all of us.

More later

Adieu for now Blogger

 

Today is a momentous day. Yes, its 2010 and the first day of it. But even better. Even better than the snow blanketing our streets. Even better than Shady Grove eating half the rolls I had rising in the kitchen. Even better than the promises and opportunities a new year presents. Well, all of this is better for me...and for you, you may have to change a bookmark or a pulldown.

Today, January 1, 2010 is the first day of a new decade, a first day for the Rongovian Academy of Fine Arts to move to more sumptuous quarters. After one thousand, seven hundred and sixty one posts thanks to the graciousness of the Google Nation, we have sucked all the content for the Academy and for the Traditional Rongovian Cuisine to a new place at Squarespace.

Squarespace gives me more flexibilty including a lovely gallery feature that gives me quick and easy posting of whats doing in the sketch book. Squarespace also gives me better data on who is visiting, who is downloading, who is looking and where. And, with all the mobility that Squarespace offers, this new home for The Rongovian Academy of Fine Arts can grow and develop and change while giving me more content management and a bit more flexibility without having to learn code. It would be right to praise Blogger now...as it has been a reliable friend and advocate for many years .

Blogger or Blogspot is a tremendous tool. It has taught me the power of blogging, the power and pride I should take in my ramblings, and has taught me many lessons on content, audience, advertising and promotion and what I really need to have an effective online presence. Blogger was the absolute perfect place to start as it gave me an easy forum to post with no nonsense tools. I cannot recommend it enough to a person interested in content only. But, for those of us who have aesthetics as part of our DNA, Blogger can be happily plain--but for 1700 entries, plain is somehow not growing with us.

Nothing is forever--and Blogger is near and dear for new projects.

However, I would like to invite you to visit us now at our new address:

http://qcassetti.squarespace.com

I look forward to continuing our journey together in 2010.