Big crowd here last night for dinner. Kitty and Alex seem to love these big Sunday dinners...and what with a lesson on how to make Sunday Red Gravy, I might put a pasta party on the docket each week and see what happens....or at least until the winter ends. Here we are in February. Its speeding by. Time to get the work together for taxes for the FASFA. I had an angel help me with the College Board financial paperwork...seventeen whole pages of it! But more to come.

We went to Target and got some lighting fixtures yesterday. No other splurges....though their entirely pink valentine section was enough to take my breath away!Pink, Pink Pink. And, they had these fun "make your own valentines" kits with Scrabble pieces with reduced sized boards for a message to sit on. They had chocolate cigars and golf balls for the boys. It was totally Love Incorporated.

This week promises lots of work with a trip to NYC for the Society of Illustrators Show and Society of Illustrators Student Show judging. I am taking the bus ($107 RT) and as I do the math, it will take as much time doing that as door to door, waiting in the airport, waiting to take off, waiting to get out of the plane etc. as flying and far cheaper. I have done this twice before, so though I cannot say I am old hat at this, I do have some chops. Next time I am trying the Cornell service called "Campus to Campus" which also is a bus service from Cornell to the Cornell Club in New York for $175. RT but with wireless connection and a bit more luxe. This judging is at least two trips with this weeks being a full day. The second is to review the edited group for the prizes in about a month. I figure I could go down on an afternoon bus on Thursday, and back Friday night on the last shot back. Worth the try at least, right? 

Kitty and Alex are on a weekend camping trip in the snow. We, as usual, just found out...and I placed an order with the discount camping supplier, Campmor, for two zero degrees sleeping bags and two pads. I am delighted with what we got, the great price and the fact we will have it tomorrow...along with the pleasure of not having to trek through Ithaca all day Sunday to locate, price and then finally buy these things. Took the heat off the weekend. They are delighted with the opportunity despite missing skiing which "Rocked".

Working (as you can see) on my pair of Mules for a friend's logotype which is coming along. I felt somewhat stymied by my personal expectation to create this image in two colors and opened up the color range and found this thing was back in action. Am working on a picture of a little town based on the Fraktur images I love from the Philadelphia Free Library Fraktur Collection. About a third of the way done...Rob reminded my of the Shaker drawings of the same thing. Think it should be a good looksee too. Lets see where this goes.

Robins Egg Blue Sky and Book

Another bluesky day. Colder. But beautiful and happy making.

I whimsically opened the robins egg blue covered Martha Stewart cookbook and mixed up the French Bread recipe. Simple. And so, I have little mounds of dough nestled around the radiators during their third rising soon to be baked off. We had no bread---so I figured I would make it versus going to the story to buy the fabulous Herkimer.... My bread doesn't even hold a candle to Herkimer, but its paid for and the challenge of making something you don't want to throw away is still on.

What else? Kitty and Alex are both in the play. Alex is in the chorus and Kitty is in a small ensemble that she is very pleased to be included in. This is an activity Alex is openly stating his pleasure in starting this new path--with Kitty chiming in on how much she loves being in the play or associated with it.

I got the Behance connection and am talking to the contact about the job. Seems like it could be a good fit--and I checked the very small quantity of reference which most of it is covered by the Creative Commons license. Left foot, right foot.... There is plenty to do and to catch up with. But, this is illustration money on the table...and really as a logotype which my vector work is very workable.

The big book for my client continues. Worked with Rob to thumbnail/concept a publication we will need to gun out for a special client. It may be a handmade piece for this initial deal--rolling into something that can be printed, or print on demand (via OFoto, or Kodak--the multipaneled accordian piece they offer). Was a good conversation that got the ideas out and through chewing on them...simplifying them and really being able to articulate the content was refreshing.

As you can see, I am still working on the silhouette pictures. Again, I don't know where this is going...but enjoying the pictures.

More later> Cannot wait to get the details on the IPad.

Blue Skies + Ermine Clouds

Blue sky. Finally! All the snow has gone with the streams swelling and waterfalls storming. There are lower temperatures so at least the bulbs haven't gotten the message to start pushing up.  And, there is talk, I underline talk, of snow later this week. We'll see.

We are waiting to see if any of the home team get places in the school Spring musical. Either way, they both feel that they will be in the chorus, which makes us very pleased. It will be good for Alex to see the team sport ethos in the drama production as this is the environment he loves to be part of. Plus, I think both of the two members of the hometeam have talents and skiills in this arena that they are just beginning to discover.

One instance of that is that Kitty got an A on her final speech in Speech Class on one of her favorite topics, Birds of Paradise. I am sure she rocked...but I am sure she didnt give them the real treat she will give us, the Bird of Paradise mating dance dance she does. Its wonderful. I am so thrilled that she welcomes public speaking and can really go for it...talk about a wonderful skill to have in life. I wish I could say I was envious of her....I am not, though. I am very proud. Perhaps a small maternal bird of paradise dance?

On the live from the internet world front, I got an email from an individual looking do do some illustration work. Behance is the place that has driven this conversation. The other conversation was the poster I did for the Star of Behnel Green for Adam at Bunch in London.  So, the time spent to post images to Behance is worth the time. It's more than all of us looking at each other's work--there are folks out there shopping too. I'll let you know what happens as we go.

I am finalizing this quicky redesign of a booklet for my big client. The internal client used an agency and had been working on this piece since September and it surfaced in the review process. It got a lot of attention and input--and I had Friday-today to finalize for a presentation later this week. It has gone from a "make the existing work" to an entire overhaul, new images from my stock vendor and new copy. I have a cover to redesign as well as the inside front cover. This sort of pedal to the metal approach is a bit wild, but 3 days versus 4 months has raised the image/expectation of the piece. Hopefully, there will be some teaching/learning in this process.  The work from one of this client's international business is getting better and better so I am so happy to redesign/rework their layouts as I have to do less and less every time. I am delighted with this incremental change every time.

Gotta go.

grey Monday.

Sunday was quiet. Kitty stayed home from skiing and collaged and drank tea. Rob cleaned out cabinets in his pursuit of a more orderly kitchen as well as organizing furniture to make the living room more homey. Mandy was in and out. Bruce left us with hope to join us in a month or so. Alex skiied to his delight in the terraine park at Greek Peak--testing his new skiis and seeing if he could do some tricks. I made a chocolate cake, a pan of rolls, a leg of lamb, a pot of soup (leftovers reconfigured), a bread pudding with the left over cinammon buns, a tuna noodle casserole (from the reorganization of the cans courtesy of R) and a mac and cheese for later this week. It was cooking central. The three pots, bread hooks and paddles on the mixer were heavily pressed into action.

The snow has melted and we have a dreary day that would be nice in April (as Kitty said this morning)--but its cold weather time which seems so wrong. The water in Rabbit Run is churned up and very high this morning. I bet Taughannock Falls is raging.

I am still enchanted by these black and white silhouette images. I am going to let this horse run for a while and then pull back and edit out 4-6 pieces to color and see where that goes.

Speaking of color, Steve R. on Facebook, tuned me into this wonderful too that interfaces with Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. This tool is called Kuler, a color picking tool that you can use to create your own palettes, or start with someone elses--and once they are finished you can save down to your programs on the desktop. This will give me a chance to really create strong palettes prior to coloration versus my go to now...which is plinked and planked an plunked around taking a lot of time just to get to thes starting place. So, I am psyched to try this out...and join that coloration to that of Live Paint (a terrific function that Illustration has as part of it's collection of tools that allow quick recoloration and selections). We will see...but good stuff on the horizon.

We lost one guest today...but back soon. We will lose another tomorrow but back soon. Alex has a track meet at Cortland tonight. Kitty a party. Bruce and Mandy went off to Bar Angus and the Woodhouse. I made a ton of cinnamon rolls (not too sweet). All in all it was a peaceful evening. Today laundry and catch up. I do not think I will be making any bread or the like today. Illustration awaits.  

I have busily been looking at silhouettes on Ebay to learn more about the look/feel. Carol and Murray recommended an artist/illustrator, Diana Bryan whose work is silhouetted and very dear--and really references the cut process in the illustrations but also in the cut metal work she has.  She keeps her work simpler than mine (my need to embellish and decorate is a sick thing) down to the features of her faces to the shapes of her forms.

Rob is here ready to go to Ithaca and is inviting me to come.

Gotta go.  

Cinnamon snippets

The boys are coming home from a long week at the office. We have two lovely senior girls who are here for a french movie festival with Kitty. Alex is all over it....trying to be cool....but you know...gorgeous girls can make a young man's head turn. We had a mess of track runners parked in the kitchen talking about books and such. Lots happening in the office. A total redesign of a publication keeping aspects of it.. and then, after throwing my hands up...redesigning and writing as I go. I even found new pictures, did some retouching and background matching for the comp...and DANG. It looked pretty good for being stone soup. Cleaner with some thinking about the hierarchy of headlines, subheads, pullouts etc. And a grid...imagine! A structure to hang this whole magilla off! 

Cinnamon bun making is the bread project for tonight. I made oatmeal bread (on the King Arthur bread flour bag) and folded a bunch of bulgur wheat into it. Didnt puff up like I expected, but its more than edible and with the crew around here, we will devour two loaves in two days. So more learning about yeast and proofing, rising and raising and how long the loaves need to cook to be done but not overdone...Its all a new path that seems to fill in the time between my funny silhouette drawings. These babies are quick...not as much articulation as the others and right now, a welcome change.

It's fun how the current flip mirrors a technique that is all about flipping. I hold the idea of Hans Christian Anderson cutting his wicked little pictures as he spun stories of little mermaids walking on feet that bled or the spinning eyes of the frightening dog that guarded the treasure in the Tinderbox. Cutting and stories, an aesthetic that is shared with Slovenly Peter and the wild haired, wicked heros that have entertained and frightened me since the first hearing. Nice to know that being over 50 and still fearful is a good place to be. Time moves forward and some of us stay locked in the same fears and pleasures as our childhood. And sometimes those fears and pleasures, as in the case of fairy tales, can be the same.

My stamp with the Double Happiness illustration got recognized as a "Best" yesterday. I got a lot of nice kudos from my fellow Zazzle designers along with two sales...(to the tune of $2. profit). However, it is fun to do, and if the illustrations can make me dresser change, then its more dresser change than I had yesterday.

Sparkling blue shadows.

I spent the better part of the day working on a quick logotype for an esteemed laboratory for my big client. It was a bit meditative and I think today there might be more of the same. Its a pretty limited palette of things to work with (predetermined font and color) along with not a very illustrative topic (oh, you could illustrate it, but its not too pretty, whimsical or evocative stuff). So, this is a bit of a linear exercise which I am enjoying as the path is straight, and you can see the next visual step. This sort of progression is a nice break from trying to work with design developed by the unskilled and not visual and being respectful of the work while trying to rescue or resurrect it into something that reflects a Fortune 100 company. Sometimes that is the hat trick.

I have been posting a bunch of things to Zazzle/Artsprojekt with my delight in having postage stamps with my valentine artwork. Jenny M., an old college colleague posted that she thought the Post Office should hire me which tickles me--as that truly would be FUN. However, the Zazzle/ Artsprojekt work is fun and I have made a few sales from posting it to Facebook. I find this cross posting very interesting as it does drive traffic and surprisingly doesn't seem as grasping as I felt would would be. Plus, I get to spread the good news about Zazzle/Artsprojekt to my other illustration friends out there.

I made a nice double recipe of the same cracked wheat topknots yesterday--with a variation in taste, and only a variation in the plain flour I used. I need to stop ranging around with this stuff and stick with a brand of flour and no deviations. I have been happy with King Arthur all purpose and should stick with it.  These rolls are 1/3 wheat flour so I have been happy using the local Farmer's Ground. I will need to get with Stefan and pick his brain as soon as I have something viable as a logotype to show him. I am working on an illustration of two mules which in a single color are looking good. I think it may have to be two color to pop some shadows into the mix....and I should look at how it looks on kraft colored paper to see if the highlights pop enough as I go. There's a thought.

We still have a full house. The little red heeler, Sonata, has totally calmed down and gnaws on bones all day. Shady is very competitive with Sonata, so she is gnawing bones too (an anomaly for her)...pretending to a ferocious dog that she is not. Shady would rather cuddle with a stick of butter in her bed. Please dont let her know you know, okay?

Its a  beautiful frosty morning with long lavendar blue shadows and warm,peachy highlights on the snow. We have a bright blue sky (the first in a long time) and anything seems possible.

Double order

I wrote a post and lost it yesterday--- and unfortunately lost patience with my work and borked it. Sorry for the delay. Technology got in the way of progress.

Am working on logotypes for my big client and for the freebies. Some nice work-- I am enjoying the teasing of type and the back and forth with a symbol. It feels almost like illustration. Surprisingly, I have been thinking more and more of the type of work I love and logos are top of the graphic design heap. I guess the logo process and headset overlaps that of the illustration world which explains my attraction. I also love the whole tinkering with single words or lines of type. Tinkering with line breaks, widows, hyphenation and those tiny details I am less enchanted with.

Had a great meeting with the Museum of Glass yesterday in Corning. We will be tweaking and amending quarterly publications we do--with some good insights and ideas from the client that should help to focus this piece. While I was at the Museum, I had the opportunity to stand in line with the employees to get a swine flu innoculation which was quick, efficient and pretty painless. How nice to get that done. I also toured the shops at the Museum ( a treat in itself) and found a bunch of glass lampworked beaded jewelry at 75% off which I cleaned up on for valentine's day presents for my friends and clients. I also found some adorable, believeable glass candy that I can leave behind on my up and coming trip to New York City. My colleague and fellow Hartford classmate, Jackie Decker and I are on a panel (one of many) to judge the Student Exhibition at the Society of Illustrators. Jackie's Connecticut neighbors have a NYC apartment that we will be able to use when we are there. Thus, the need for something wonderful to leave behind. Thank you Corning Museum of Glass. I am beyond Thrilled.

I have another double recipe of the Cracked Wheat Topknots (see Rongovian Cuisine above) which we are going to overbake to crunchier...Barbara and I are planning the next round which we will freeze (half the recipe) and see how that works. This bread baking is fun and quite productive. I iced the other chocolate cake from the freezer yesterday (per Alex's plaintive plea that he wished we had more cake!) with a coffee based chocolate icing which was pretty much recipe free....and turned out well. I wonder which cake I need to make next. Seems like I am on a cake roll (!) these days.

This illustration is part of the growing group of just black silhouette inspired pictures. Going to see what happens there. More later. Sorry once again for my tardiness.

Foggy bottom.

Yesterday's dinner went without a hitch. The rolls (see the Cuisine button above) were a big hit along with a very rich cake, a bigger than big pork roast. Everything was devoured happily with lots of happy talk and happy people. Must do this again soon.

I was so sidetracked by Ida Bohatta yesterday, that I never had a chance to tell you about Sauders. Sauders is the Mennonite grocery store in Seneca Falls that everyone raves about. And now that I have been there, I have joined the clamor about this great store. First off, everything is neat and tidy. They have produce (I think it is local) with sparkling potatoes and brussel sprouts, apples and the like. Along with that there are aisles upon aisles of bulk food in portioned containers of everything from soup mix and jello to esoteric flour, baking goods, vanilla in every shape and iteration. There literally is an aisle of sprinkles and jimmies.I got deep dark cocoa powder and yeast, bread and normal flour, cinnamon and spices by the big container for pennies on what it is at GreenStar or Weggies. We bought ice cream sandwich cookies (and made them for dinner) along with bread and cheese, meats in quantity and a deli of John Martin cold cuts cut and packaged by beautiful Mennonite girls in blue dresses. More beautiful girls (in pink dresses) at the check out that just made my day. There is a Mennonite bookstore with plain books, cookbooks, children's puzzles and bibles. They also have long wind chimes and dated tea towels (very nice and old fashioned). I was totally charmed and plan on going back as soon as I can sneak out.

We had lunch in Seneca Falls at the new boutique hotel, Hotel Clarence's dining room, Divine Cafe. It was a wonderful menu that was nicely served and delicious. High quality, very affordable. I had a lamb sandwich on flatbread, others had barbeque. Kitty had a BLT with cucumber. I recommend making this part of your Seneca Falls experience.

Kids and Rob are home for Martin Luther King. We have Bruce and two more for the week...so antics will abound. Everyone seems to be having a wonderful time at our unplanned House Party. I feel quite English in saying this.

Ida Bohatta(1900-1992), children's book illustrator, ViennaPrepping right now. Our guest list has expanded and the humongous pork roast that looked like leftovers for days looks just right. We are now at 15. I baked two layer cakes (from the Ghiradelli cocoa container...fab) and froze one of them. The other I split open and iced this morning manifesting itself as a proud and tall, four layer cake. I put pearly decorations on the top so that is ready. We made ice cream sandwiches with the cookes we got yesterday and used up the remaining chocolate icing to make chocolate oreo type cookies to offer around too. There was a great deal of effort put around cleaning out the fridge--from processing stuff to throwing stuff away. I am making an order of whole wheat twists to use up the bulgur wheat that Rob is so interested in my getting rid of. Rob is busy making the table bigger and finding chairs for tonight. Kitty and Alex are skiing and will be back to the full house they seem to be enjoying.

Last night's entertainment was teaching each other how to whistle through our hands and flip bottle caps to shoot them across the room. Great Hilarity. There was dj'ing by the teens with Alex gracefullly dancing for us. I think that boy has dancing genes like Kitty. Tonight there is cake and all sorts of friends from the older ones to peers. So there should be some fun for everyone.

Ida BohattaI was floating around in my illustration haze yesterday and banged into Ida Bohatta through my search for Erzegebirge stuff to draw.  Turns out, Ida Bohatta figured heavily in the illustrations of my childhood in birthday cards and postcards from Mrs Eddy (my grandmother) and later my mother. They were often images of little fairies with bugs, or gnomes at the holidays and the like. And guess what? She too, is part of this charming German tradition that is part of my personal DNA, my illustration mis en place.  Bohatta was born in 1900 and attended German art schools and then on to the Successionist program. The illustration at the top of the page was completed when she was fourteen years old. That training and rigor did not seem to dampen the spirits of this illustrator whose whimsy and world is equal to the Englishwoman, B. Potter but in a different spirit. I need to go further on this...but just wanted to share this new illustrator. I have a bid on a little book she did for my friend , J Decker, who may be inspired by this illustrator who lives in the same charming forest she does.

Have to go. There is bread to punch down and tables to set.

Wiggle in the Snow

Silhouettes on the brain. Have been struck senseless by the funny papercuttings of Hans Christian Andersen and they sheer brutal wit. Plus there is the charmingly romantic work that Rob Ryan has with people wanting to do nothing more than spend time together and live. His messages and illustrations are about living in a state of comfortable being, not necessarily doing anything other than having the company of one's beloved, forever and ever. I have, as you know, been loving antique silhouettes and chinese/ and folkloric papercutting forever, so I am going to make some drawn papercuttings just to pretend I am part of the clan. This image is the first one. Another one is penciled in ( Verithin photo blue) and I am in a silhoutte induced haze...staring into space with black and white figures dancing in my mind. This is a fun diversion? No?

We had a good time last night at the Pourhouse with some funny good music. Mandy and her friend Lainie along with Dave and our whole gang gathered and laughed. Everyone came back to chez Camp to pick at the bread pudding I made the other day (leftover bread mistakes) and chat.

I am planning a dinner to celebrate Mary's birthday on Sunday.  There is the tribe (8) with Mary and Ron, two friends of theirs and a small family of friends (3).to plan for.  A group...! I am pulling out a huge pork roast, going to cut up some potatoes for roasted potatoes, salad, another veggie and a big chocolate layer cake (recipe on the Giradelli cocoa powder box). I may make a foccacia (a la Martha Stewart to round out the mix. Many of our tribe want to do something, so I have indicated that they can make a card or plan something to make Mary the centerpiece of the party. The plan for Sunday is to cook and prep while today we are taking a full Wonderbus up to Seneca Falls to go to Sauders, a big Mennonite grocery store I have been dying to go to.  We have Sauder's pros in the group, so we will have a tourguide to the wonderfulness.

Kitty got into Goucher College yesterday. So we have options with Arcadia, Goucher, Hartwick and Fredonia. There are the favorites outstanding. So, onward.

Gotta go as the day is getting away from me. There are lists to be made and people to be roused. It is warm for winter today with the icicles crashing down and the dogs leaping onto snowbanks for the daily wiggle in the cold. All in all--a perfect day.

IF: Wilderness

Q. Cassetti, 2009, Garden of Eden, mixed media, 9" x 12" Silver medal, Society of Illustrators, Los Angeles, 2010

           And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis, Chapter 2, verses 8-10

Out of the wilderness.. and into the Garden.

Papercutting from Hans Christian Andersen

Bouquet stand and butterfly with dancers. 21 x 17 cm. Cut on Holsteinborg 1874 for Elisabeth Muller, the daughter of the local rural dean F.A.C. Muller: "Hans Christian Andersen and I were at the same time guests on Holsteinborg. One day as we were going to the dinner table he came and gave me a bouquet. - "By rights some flower paper should have been around it" he said, then from his pocket took a scissors and some paper and cut it while I was looking at it. - The summer 74." Garland with men and swans. 23 x 23 cm. Hans Christian Andersen's Paper Cuts in The Royal Library. The Laage Petersen Collection No. 656 Flower man.
18,5 x 26 cm.
Silhouette, given to the botanist J. M. C. Lange during one of Hans Christian Andersen's visits in 1848 to B. S. Ingemann in Sor, at the time when Lange was temporary senior master at the academy. Notice the allusions to botany: head of sunflower, fingers as leaves...


Silhouette with rising figures:
a dancer and a harlequin.
A figure from the neck has been lost.
7 x 11 cm.
Told by Karen Egede Albrecher:
"This silhouette is cut by Hans Christian Andersen and given to my paternal grandmother Misses Sporon, born Bjerregaard, who met Hans Christian Andersen in the home of Governor of the National Bank, Lindemann." 

Black and White

I have been looking at antique silhouettes and Pennsylvania scherenschnitte. I am surprised and happy as they have a relationship to some of the inked flopped illustrations and patterns I have spinning out..and feel that the narrative aspects of this artwork (example above) I can learn from. I am delighted by the rambling lines, the erratic trees and buildings with tons of detail but still staying as bold and graphic that they are. I am thinking of trying to draw some of these (maybe using the example as a place to start). I discovered a few illustrators that seem to be working in this same vein. One, Rob Ryan, who Daniel Schwartz from the illustration program at the University of Hartford pointed me to. I love his whimsey and fun along with incorporating a whackdoodle font/type into his image. Drawn, the illustration and cartooning blog tips their hat to Mr Ryan>> Here's another great one from the blog, "I heart art heart illustration" Ryan has a shop in London of his work>>. The Creativity Blog has a great article (with a picture of Rob Ryan) here>>. I am inspired by him, his work, his vision and his entrepeneurism. Big old kick in the booty for me.

Thrilled. The Hangar likes the posters. One down. Three more volunteer jobs to go. Am making progress on the other images too....it just takes time. Am enjoying the stuff on the desk. The folks at Zazzle's ArtProjekt are developing a new product that I am thrilled about. They contacted a bunch of designers and illustrators to help customize this thing...which was very fun for me (albeit its quick) and I am pumped about. This is going to be a real star. As soon as I can tell you about it, I will as its something we all will want!

More later>>