Live from a bit off center

Anatomical Venus image from Morbidanatomy.blogspot.comI have been researching antique human anatomy models and illustrations/engravings on the web in response to a poem I read and wanted to depict about bees making a hive in the heart/ creating honey from past deeds or something to that effect. Loved the poem. Loved the possibilities of the imagery. So Google google google away. 

I found interesting cuts that worked for my reference, but even more stunning were these 18th C.  wax females called "Anatomical Venus". One is depicted to the left. These Venus figures are shown with a covering that makes her complete, as a nude figure, and then that covering may be removed for this sort of display.  An article on 18th C. Florentine, human anatomical models as an inspiration for Italian Horror mentions these figures in the article "Surprising Origins" by Annette Burfoot on the website Kinoeye!:

 "La Specola has always been open to the public, and to all classes thereof, so long as they were clean and presentable. As such, this museum in particular, but also the emerging visual culture of modern science in general, opened up the new empirical world to venues beyond the traditional closed doors of its courtly and priestly patrons. Following the practice of dramatic display of dissection (performed in semi-public "theatres"), these models can be read as a type of contemporary popular culture. And one of the display's main draws was the journey into the mysterious terrain of the body's interior, with the most exciting scene of all in the gynaecological room. This is the spectacle of horror that we will now examine.


The eight anatomical rooms are designed to be walked thorough in a certain order: from the outward and visual manifestations of the human body (muscles and skeleton) to the inside and functional aspects (circulatory and nervous systems, organs, and reproduction). Besides establishing a persistent distinction between form and function in modern medicine, this set-up draws significantly on dualistic gendered assumptions regarding life and death, rationality and carnality, fear and desire. It also presages Freud and Lacan's interpretation of the primal scene that underlies so much interpretation of the horror scene as psychic catharsis.

Almost everyone walking into the first room of models (skeletal and muscle systems) recoils at the hyper-realism of the "skinned" figures that surround and fill the area. Skulls sit perched atop rather elegant figures that assume upright and animated postures. Other figures lounge horizontally in large glass cabinets, skinned faces resting on bony and sinewy hands and arms. The carefully crafted and coloured wax reveals every anatomical detail and provides a constant reminder of how time will treat our bodies the same way as death and decay will strip our mortality, layer by layer, to the bare bones.

But these early models of the skeleton-as-gentleman are replaced by more horrific dissections that follow. Ironically these later models have "more to them" in the sense that they display the circulatory, nervous and endocrine systems, thus enabling one to see the skeletal and muscular base covered with veins and arteries, glands and nerves. Although this additional anatomical detail and more precise dissection draws us nearer to the moment of violation or the cutting into the body, these figures remain more mechanistic than organismic.

In contrast, a sense of edging towards the abyss and the horrific is heightened as you move into the next room, where three female models lie prostrate in their respective glass cases. Up to now, no full figure has much in the way of skin or hair, thus appearing rather unbelievable as humans and more like some form of organic robot or cyborg. Inversely, the female figures have plenty of signs of what we hold to be human.

Designed to exhibit the internal organs and the digestive system, the models of the young beautiful women with long plaited hair lie with their torsos cut from clavicle to pubis and the innards pulled out and draped over both sides of nubile torsos. Their heads are tilted backwards exposing the neck and inviting the viewer in, as if in a scene that crosses between Dracula and Jack the Ripper. The female models' faces are masks of a sort of drugged rapture, their lips partially open and their beautiful but unfocused eyes gazing into the distance. Their hands are gracefully poised by their sides, with one of the figures holding her own plait.

This visual feast of gore and the erotic continues. Down the corridor from this large room is a much smaller room on the way out of the museum (resonating with the Bataillian notion of the dreaded lower half of the body as fecal exit, among other things[7]). It is the gynecological room containing "decomposable" or modular female figure: "the doll." This is a hands-on model that is designed to have the front panel of the torso removed to reveal four successive levels of dissection until reaching the deepest level that includes an opened uterus with a five-month fetus inside.

The model in its "closed" form is remarkably worked in terms of rendering a beautiful and erotic female figure. The likeness is of a young woman, again supine with her head tiled back and slightly to one side as if in some state of sexual ecstasy. Her young firm breasts sport erect nipples, her lips are slightly parted and she stares dreamily off into the distance. One leg is slightly bent allowing us to look directly at her external genitals (rendered complete with pubic hair). This model is normally displayed closed.

This "Medical Venus" is surrounded by full-sized models of the female uterus (heavily pregnant in most cases), with large amputated thigh stumps framing the external genitalia and the dissected womb. Skin, fat and muscle are peeled back like a huge orange to reveal either a distended pregnant uterus or a well-developed fetuses or fetuses inside. There are also cabinets containing a large collection of fetuses in all stages of gestation (although the earlier models illustrate homonculism—fully formed miniature humans—rather than embryology as it is understood today).

There are also a choir of dissected newborns, almost all male and positioned in a baby Christ-like pose with little arms reaching outwards to embrace and bless and a slightly tilted head gazing down knowingly and forgivingly on the observer and the doll. Within this womb-like, small and packed room, anatomical femininity is completely exposed—there are no surprises left and the mystery of life itself glows softly in a waxy realism that both shocks and delights. And off in a corner of the gynaecological room is a beribboned phallus—a large penis separate from any other part of the male genitalia with a little bow wrapped around its base. It lies at the foot-end of the doll, near her genitalia, and serves as a phallic pointer within a patriarchal display of curiosity and fetish.

The "Little Venus," created at the same time as the Medical Venus, is at the Museum of the Poggi Palace in Bologna. With La Specola's doll, these two decomposable (as translated literally from the Italian "scomponibile") figures are both female, young and beautiful, and form elegant and erotic presents or packages. Psychoanalytic and feminist film scholar Laura Mulvey analyses the metaphoric implications of Pandora's box in terms of Pandora-as-box. She describes Pandora, along the lines of Creed's all-defining archaic mother, as the "mythic origin of surface/secret and interior/exterior topography."[8] Mulvey uses the myth to illustrate femininity-as-fetish—the psychoanalytical reaction to profound and primordial fears—and draws parallels to Trojan horses (the Christian myth of woman as the origin of betrayal and knowledge), as well as to modern robots and cyborgs (often beautifully feminine and bearing dangerous knowledge as technology-gone-amok).

The female wax figures of La Specola deserve to be included on the list. Their exterior exquisite beauty-as-femininity draws the eye into the terrifying interior of, literally, spilled guts. The mysterious lack, the womb, the vagina are all laid out for rational comprehension and celebration over dark, dangerous, chaotic nature. These models are the "final girl" of the material (disease and early death) and metaphorical (femininity as mysterious betrayer and site of origin) horrors of 18th-century Europe. They are embodiments of our fears of body-based fragility and mortality, yet they bring these same bodies into the ordered world of modern scientific rationalism.

La Specola, who would have known that across the street from the Pitti in Florence is this! Reason to go back soon! Additionally, in this odd search, I found a blog ,Morbid Anatomy.com written by an inspired writer, visual artist, graphic designer, photographer and community builder, Joanna Ebenstein. Ms. Ebenstein is tuned into a wonderful world of study (she runs a public study hall at the Morbid Anatomy Library in Brooklyn), community and thought. I have pegged her blog for a RSS feed as her ideas, images and blog is truly an inspiration. Take a look.

 

And it continues, right? Yesterday was a gorgeous day filled with a trip to Sauders in Seneca Falls and lots of Alex Cassetti practicing driving (!). I bought a mess of stuff from durum flour, and dough conditioner to chocolate chips and the lovely local vanilla yogurt that now is a basic around here. I am cooking for the week today with a "big pot of sauce" (not the traditional kind though, sausage, turkey, leeks, basil and porcini mushrooms), bagels (new mixer = new projects), a double order of peanut butter cookies (1/2 for the play practice) and probably King Arthur's Chicken Pie recipe (which AQC said that "YES" he would like it). Rob is making a fire in our new wood fired stove just to see how it pulls as its nippy here but not desperately so--to try it out. Another agenda (for me) for Rob to make fires in this flue is that the damned birds were inside the channel this week making a racket banging around and singing as if they had discovered heaven itself. My flue is not heaven, nor is it a place to make a nest and settle in and poop in. For Get It.

Almost Scammed!

Okay, okay. So, I love shopping online. I am an ebayer from way back and have had my moments with them. But, given the casual bump in the road, I am pretty good with this sort of thing. I have bought inexpensive things through to some fairly pricey things without any issues. Good transactions, good auctions, good buy it nows, etc. I have been though it. 

I have also been hounded by scammers who claimed I owed money on some credit card or the like and tracked it down to the scam, the lying about checque numbers and the discovery through Google that this institution had a track record of doing this sort of thing and I made it stop. This sort of party has happened at least twice.

So, as you know, I cook on a 1940's stove that looks like a car. Electric. And it has been doing some fairly scary things recently like making a loud and visual pop, blowing the breaker in the basement. More than a few times. So, it feels like the stove that is a car is on it's last legs for this cook. I have been cruising Craig's List for a stove, looking and hoping something really good would pop  up. And it did>> A 48" Dual Fuel Viking for $2600. with delivery thrown in. Oh my, I gasped. This has got to be mine! So, I wrote this note saying "Tell me more" and a note from an individual, "Chesty Restiva" came back. And this is what she said:

"This is a perfect viking range no damage, no scratches or dents, no hidden defects period, it's in immaculate condition, never used, source: GAS, Dual Fuel.
Dual Fuel, Stainless Steel, 4 Sealed Burners.
Oven Capacity:
Right: 4.1 Cubic Ft
Left: 2.5 Cubic ft
Overall dimensions: 47-7/8"W x 27-1/8"D x 33-1/2".
The price i asked for is $2.600.00 with shipping inclided. The stove is already packed and ready for ship from Houston. The transaction will be completed by ebay. If you are still interested, please email me back and i will send you more info about the transaction. "

Wow! "Tell me more" was my next note.  I started googling the model number to find out that this very same stove was being offered on ebay for $7600.--confirming my expectation that yes, albeit a discontinued model, a very good price. Chesty returned my email saying:

Here is the steps:
To complete payment i´ll like to use eBay Purchase Protection program, you will pay the range at eBay agent assigned for our transaction.this way we are both protected.
 
I have briefly described the eBay transaction steps below:
1. Buyer, seller reach an agreement (price and delivery conditions)
2. Buyer sends money to eBay.
3. eBay confirms to seller that the amount has been received.
4. Seller performs the required services (shipping, insurance).
5. Buyer accepts delivery and informs eBay about the acceptance.
6. eBay releases the money to seller.
As you can see, you will receive the range BEFORE any money is released to me from eBay's account.
You will get the chance to inspect it, test it and everything you like while your money is still safely held in eBay's account.
ONLY after you confirm to eBay that you agree with the range, they will release the money to me.
If, for some reason, you disagree with the range(I assure you that is NOT going to happen
since my range is in immaculate condition) it will be shipped back to me on my expense
and you will receive your money back.
 
If you wish to proceed further, do not forget to email me
YOUR FULL NAME, SHIPPING ADDRESS  and a CONTACT NUMBER,
so I can start the transaction with eBay's Purchase Protection program.
Thank you 

Hmmm. Ebay makes it right. This agent thing protects me....I can use paypal...this totally protects me. Or at least that was thinking. The IS in the first sentence should have been the give away. But hey, this person is named Chesty, right? So, I sent her my name and phone (office) and said, "I'm on" and this is the stuff I got back with a false ebay (you could tell by the wrong typography and the Moneygram focus): 
Congratulations, You have been approved to buy this Item - Please pay now!

                                                          Transaction ID: 00116866722
...the seller Chesty Randiva started the transaction with eBay protection program.
In order to complete this transaction you have to submit the payment Via Money Gram to an eBay Agent. Payment must be submitted by Money Gram Wire Transfer directly from your local Money Gram office. Submit payment using eBay Representative's details from the Invoice we have sent you. You can find a MoneyGram near you here: 500 S MEADOW ST, ITHACA, NY 14850-5317, Mon-Sun 07:00-21:00 You can also send the money online (www.moneygram.com) using your credit card. If you choose to send the payment online you have to send 3 transfers: A. 899.00 USD, B. 899.00 USD, C. 802USD => 899+899+802 =$2600.00. As long as the transaction is made through eBay and not directly with the seller everything is safe and VERY WELL PROTECTED.
- The Seller has 5 business days to send to the Buyer and eBay Customer Support the tracking number of the shipment. If no tracking number is provided, a full refund is immediately sent to the Buyer. The Buyer receives the Item and has 5 business days to inspect it. If it is complete and as described, the Buyer should accept the Item. If he refuses the Item, the Buyer must ship it back to the Seller within 5 business days. After the inspection period is over, the Buyer must contact eBay Customer Support with the result of the inspection. If the Buyer refuses the item, the refund will be sent to the Buyer after the tracking number for the returned shipment is verified. If the Item is accepted, eBay Financial Department submits the payment directly to the Seller within 3 business days.
  All the transaction, payment and personal information is considered confidential and will not be released under any circumstances.
 Our main and constant priority is the safety of our customers..
 Next you can observe exactly the eBay Representative's details and customers:
 Contact Seller at: chestyrand@hotmail.com to confirm you got the payment invoice.

Congratulations, You have been approved to buy this Item - Please pay now!

Full Name:   Jonathan Anthon

Address: 3640 Gardendale

City/State: Houston / Texas

** Most of the Money Gram office's are not aware of our eBay privacy and policy so to achieve a smooth and pleasant transaction we suggest you to send the money for a personal business ( a friend, relative etc ).

Payment Instructions: You must complete the payment in 2 working days after the invoice with our Agent details was sent to you. The Item will be delivered after the payment was cleared.

 1. Make the payment in cash using our eBay agent details.

 2. Fax us a scanned copy of the transfer receipt at:

- Fax Number: +1 (251) 252-3537

-  Send us the payment information at:

- Email:  aw-confirm@reply6-myebay.com

 If you use MoneyGram Online transfer, you have to send us the 8 Digits reference numbers (3).

*Please do not make any marks on the transfer copy.

*The following information must be readable.

*Pay Via Money Gram Wire Transfer -

*Is the fast, easy and secure way to pay on eBay.

So, the tip off was MoneyGram (not Paypal), the myebay.com address (not real) and an ebay transaction number that when typed into Ebay manifested nothing. So, I called ebay, and while waiting wrote Chesty one more note saying I preferred PayPal to Moneygram and she responeded immediately saying "The transaction is now set for paypal. Let me know after you have sent the money." Oh, and send it to the reply6@ myebay.com . I was on the phone to Ebay to confirm my suspicions. Turns out, I was right. The MoneyGram was the tip off, but this sort of phishing goes on all the time....and I was right to scratch my head and do some research before moving on doing business with this individual. So, new plans around Craigs List. If we cannot drive down and pick something up and hand the check over, we do not even think about this sort of thing.

So, the moral of this story is, 

If something seems too good to be true, it's likely that it is.


Thursday afternoon.

Where has the week gone?

It feels like Thursday from last week...only what happened to the seven days inbetween? The seven wake ups, the seven lights out, the seven sunrises and sunsets? It's all a blur. Can we just just stop the time a bit so we can savor these longer days?

I love the Hangar Theatre. Love, love, love. Lots of great energy and not enough time (yet) to put forth the story of what the Hangar is completely about. Affordable professsional theatre in your own backyard. Equity actors directed by celebrated directors right on Lake Cayuga. Original writing. National, professional shows tailored for local audiences. Affordable excellence. Stay local, engage nationally.  Left foot, right foot. I will be helping them get a lot of print out the door in the next few weeks. We will be having a meeting in the next week or so to get into the details.

Am working on some graphics for the Museum of Glass and their show for the West Bridge this fall. Its fun as it's Sabon and it's ligatures. So, I need to do some applications for that today along with moving and grooving with some publication work. The pace continues albeit I am still managing to keep my head above water. Need to clear the desk once the freebies start hitting as I am going to be very busy for the month of April just with that work.

BIG NEWS

F L A X  B A R N  S A L E  2 0 1 0

Friday, April 23,2010 10 am-7 pm
Saturday, April 24, 2010 9 am- 5 pm
Sunday, April 25, 2010 11 am-4 pm

Tops Plaza, 725 South Meadow Street, Ithaca, NY (RT 13) in the former Office Depot.
For more information or to learn about Flax>> 

__________________________________________________________________________ 

More later>>

Spring back again

Bee Goddess Melissa inspired by Early Greek Jewellery from the Rhodes Necropolis , Q. Cassetti, 2010, pen and ink.Its been pedal to the metal here. Lots of rush turn-arounds from doing some pretty obtuse image research (on my subscription rights free photography site, which is a bit thin on the obtuse), to corrections, publications and revisions. Not to mention new work. I am saddling up all the horses and teaching people new stuff to help move the work forward.

I've been reading a great Dover book on bees:  The Sacred Bee in Ancient Times and Folklore (Dover Books on Anthropology and Folklore) which details how bees are part of many/all cultures, language and lifestyle. It is wonderous how intertwined traditions and language are inspired by bees, the hive, the community, honey, wax and all that can come from these creatures. 

"Go to the bee, and learn how diligent she is, and what noble work she produces, whose labours kings and private men use for their use, she is desired and honored by all, and though weak in strength she values wisdom and prevails."    from the Old Testament

Mead, honey as food and the centers for honey and wax making seems to be popping up in the little bit I am perusing in the Slavic and German areas of Europe. I am loving the hive and the houses that people make for the bees from logs, to logs with thatched roofs to the wonderful portable buildings (like yesterday). There were some great paintings from these bee box ends that either refers to local stories, biblical stories or antics with bees and bThis little picture today is inspired by an early greek medallion that is posted widely on the web. I like it that she has an Egyptian headdress which references the skep so happily. I am working in the color in photoshop and then illustrator trying out some new things. I should have the colored one done soon.

The daffodils are telling us its spring. A spring cold is sweeping the house, so chicken soup is on the stove. I made some nice pizza (crust) yesterday thanks to the great King Arthur.  It is double baked and the amount of semolina really puts it in another place. It was so good, the home team suggested I do it again (and simpler the better...forget the chirzo next time). I await my new mixer (stripped the gears of my nice big Kitchen Aid) and have  a 1000 watt Viking on the way. Hopefully a trip to Sauders this weekend will be in the plans. We actually are running out of stuff. Imagine!

 

Sweet architecture

Slovenian Bee Shed, Lenny Taylor, Smugmug.com"Slovenian bee-houses are unique phenomenon with their high roofs and special forms, which express a particular care and liking for the bees of our beekeepers...""...the reasons [for using these houses] were extremely demanding and quickly changeable climate conditions, short, although sometimes abundant pastures, relief features, small space, tradition, necessity of transports to pastures and other reasons."
Franc Šivic, vice-president of the Bee-keepers’ Association of Slovenia

" They were decorating the small front boards over the gullet with different little pictures depictings Saints, people and animals and especially from everyfay life. The contents of the pictures on the beehive box ends are sometimes religious, sometimes educational but evry often also both humoristic and satirical.

Today we cannot define exactly when the first beehive endings were made and we can only guess as to the cause of such a sort of paintings. We do know that the first dated beehive ending origantes from the year 1758. Unfortunately most of them in the passage of time were lost, partly beacuse people did not know to appreciate their historical and documentary value"

Virtual Beekeepers Services

Here is a lovely depiction of some of the box lids of more Slovenian Bee Sheds.

The Virtual Ranger has two nice articles on the same here>> and here>> The ranger also points us to this very impressive page >> (www.pcela.co.yu) that gets into a great deal of the history and style of the Slovenian beekeepers.

Check it out.

Skepping

Hive Pattern, Q. Cassetti, 2010, pen and inkDid some shopping at Green Star and came back here withour bags of beans, seeds, and olive oil. Its always an adventure from the things that are offered to the ecclectic crew that works and shops there. Fun. Kitty and Alex were busy with the school play all afternoon, so shopping and lazing was in order for the few of us left behind. Today promises more of the same I hope.

I have been reading about bees, beekeeping and other stuff around that topic. Seems that the skep, or the hay container that is woven for bees can take on many different shapes and sizes. There is one that is pointy, another pointy that twists, and the classic skep we know. There are square and rectangular ones. And the Lithuanians hollow out trees and place them horizontally on legs with a little thatched roof that is placed on top. The Lituanians also have  vertical wooden enclosurs as well. It seems the Lithuanians really are the group to go to in the traditions that surround bees as they keep them live even today.

I have a pizza rustica to get going as R and I have been invited to an early dinner and need to leave the children to fend for themselves...Thus, the Pizza Rustica.

Should go...but just wanted to say hi.

Day half gone.

Colored.Perfect spring day. No coats could happen. I am looking at all the dead leaves and flora debris on the beds and thinking if I get the steam up, it would be great to rake the beds sometime this weekend. Granola making on the horizon along with granola bars. Would be cool if we could take the buying of granola bars out of our loop of things to buy..but make. So, a trip to Green Star is in order.

We lose a houseguest today. Its been fun having him, but he needs to move on, and we need a bit more space. So, we hope he comes back soon as its great fun for all of us and his views on cars, music, movies and the like amuse and amaze us all (including AQC).

We went to the Pourhouse last night to see El Caminos (The Sound of Hector TSOH) and on the way stopped at an informal gathering at the amazingly wonderfully new and improved Rongovian Embassy which has lost none of its charm but a lot of its dirt. There is a new stage, new floor cleaning, paint and new organization. There was the  Tom and his wife, the new happy owners with lots of little ones running about.  The adorable Rongovian classics were there in force so we had a wonderful time mixing it up with the Otts, Peter and Peggy, Jim and Becky, Walt and Jaimie. Another good thing happening here in the most perfect village in the world, Trumansburg NY.

Must go. The day awaits and I feel a bit like there is not much to say. I have posted a new Bee Goddess colored...and I am intrigued by where the color and approach (with illustrator) is taking me. More later, my friends.

IF: [Winter has] Expired

Bee Goddess in my Backyard, Q. Cassetti, 2010, pen and inkDictionary.com defines Expire this way:

ex·pire
[ik-spahyuhr]  Show IPA verb,-pired, -pir·ing.
–verb (used without object)
1.to come to an end; terminate, as a contract, guarantee, or offer.
2.to emit the last breath; die.
3.to breathe out.
4.to die out, as a fire.–verb (used with object)
5.to breathe out; emit (air) from the lungs.
6.Archaic. to give off, emit, or eject.

Origin:
1375–1425; late ME < L ex(s)pīrāre to breathe out, equiv. to ex- ex-1 + spīrāre to breathe

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.

I say the Winter has Expired! Long live spring!

Bee Maidens

Queen Bee, Q. Cassetti, 2010. pen and inkIt really is Spring. The daffodils (at least the ones that have not been eaten by the deer) ar 4" tall and the little clusters of snowdrops are up and blooming. There are some lovely spongey masses of moss dotting the side yard with long thick tendrils that once Chad the Lawnmover man starts his annual clipping will go by the wayside. I love touring the spaces--no leaves to obscure the view--so as to better figure out which limbs go away, which view is obscured, the raspberries that are beautiful and pink canes that bite you all summer can go away. Once much of this stuff is cleared out, then the lawnmower landscape changer can do its job and we begin to tame this wilderness. Kitty says the Turkey vultures are back. I have seen bluebirds and jays along with heard the hammering of the woodpeckers. Soon there will be peepers, the happy little singers in the night time. Everything seems possible today.

I meet with the team from the Hangar today about the posters and some ideas I have for them to polish up their image a teensy bit...and how I can help them get there. I hope if there is time today, I will have a chance to hammer a bit more on my friend's project as I would really like to lift that off the ground. And, free myself up from the land of the gratis...so I can read and draw more about the bees.

From Andrew Gough's Arcadia website article The Bee: Bewildered: The title Melissaios - or Bee-man, has a feminine counterpart in Mediterranean cultures called Melissa, of which Hilda Ransome informs us; “The title Melissa, the Bee, is a very ancient one; it constantly occurs in Greek Myths, meaning sometimes a priestess, sometimes a nymph.” This is an important observation, for the tradition of dancing Bee goddesses appears to have been preserved in a form of Bee maidens known as Melissa’s – or nymphs, and Greek deities such as Rhea and Demeter were widely known to have held the title. Additionally, the Greeks frequently referred to ‘Bee-Souls’ and bestowed the title of ‘Melissa’ on unborn souls. The 3rd century Greek philosopher and mathematician Porphyry of Tyre believed that souls arrived on earth in the form of Bees, having descended from the moon goddess Artemis, and that they were lured to terrestrial life by the promise of earthly delights, such as honey. Ironically, honey was also a symbol of death and was frequently used as an offering to the gods. The dualistic quality of honey is no coincidence, as the nectar and its maker – the Bee, appear to represent the very cycle of existence. One could say that as the Bee returns to its hive, so the Melissa returns to its god in the afterlife; the beginning is the end and the end is the beginning.

Love this stuff. Uncovered a bunch of intereresting things on bee skep, their history, their shape. So more to share with you. Walk in the sunlight today.

Queen Bee, Q. Cassetti, 2010, pen and ink

Brilliant Day

Cybele, Q. Cassetti, 2010, pen and inkAnother beautiful day.  Bright blue skies, peachy dawn, and clear as a bell. How can we not be exhilerated by the change in seasons, the  change in time, the whiff of promise that this jolt into the season of the sun brings us. Nuf said.Its all just plain wonderful.

I am still reeling from LibertyFest yesterday. I am dreaming of patterns, floral patterns, all swirly and wonderful with my ink pen automatically drawing and drawing and drawing. However, there are pop up displays to design along with photoshopping everything for a publication we are working on, so the dreamy buzzy haze that I am in, needs to evaporate so as to talk about these things, testing for cancer and all sorts of "get real" topics are happening as we speak.

More on the bees.
There is a Lithuanian Bee Goddess, Austja, who is celebrated with feasts, dancing bees and the like. This is from www.thebeegoddess.com:

AUSTEJA (Austheia) is the Lithuanian Bee Goddess with whom some interesting rituals are connected. It was believed that bees chose their own homes according to how generous the farmer was; when a queen hived off, the people followed until she set up a new location, after which the two families were considered linked through "biciulyste", a kind of kinship-via-bee. Neither bees nor honey could be bought or sold, because they were gifts, not products. 
The Lithuanian language hd several wrds for "death", one of which was used for both bees and people, other words for oher beiings. If a dead bee was found, it was buried in the Earth, not left unburied. 
Austeja's feast was iin August, and the festivities were believed attended by dancing bees. 
Bring back biciulyste!

There is a Lithuanian museum: The Museum of Ancient Beekeeping which features:

The farmstead of the museum spreads on the hill at the Tauragnėlė Rill.

The Museum was set up in 1984 by the initiative of Bronius Kazlas.
Wooden sculptures around the museum tell the history of beekeeping in Lithuania. Their creator is carver Teofilis Patiejūnas.

In the museum you can learn about the protection of bee-hollows from bears and about different kinds of beehives, made of the trunks. Beehives of this kind were used in Lithuani from the 15th until the beginning of the 20th century. Some sculptures are beehives themselves: the God of bees Babilas and the goddess Austėja are representatives from Lithuanian mythology.

The main building was constructed in a traditional way. The beekeeping equipment and tools are presented here. The photographs will explain how to climb the tree to reach the bee hollow. Here you will find a beehive made of straw and many more interesting things. In the next building, which by its architectural style represents a granary, you will learn about melliferous herbs and bee products. In the barn you will find the tools which were used to make beehives.
Across the Tauragnėlė Rill you will arrive into the world of old myths. The wooden sculptures illustrate the origin of the bee in mythology of different cultures: Egyptians, American Indians and Lithuanians.
The Museum is departmental. Its holder is the Aukštaitija National Park.

So more to think about with pictures. This is a very lively topic.

Glorious Day!

Liberty of London at Target NOW!I gave myself a hugeamongus treat today. I went to Target to breath the fresh spring air that Liberty of London has brought to their store. Not only was it prints galore and prints that are kicking this booty to get going, but patterns on top of patterns that makes the decorative illustrator (remember, we like to decorate) repress a shout and scream of joy in the exhuberance of color and riot of illustration decorating all manner of things from clothes to boxes, to lovely papergoods, to cachepots and garden gloves. My favorite of all are the patterned bicycles (for less than $175.) with Liberty prints. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Plus, the patterns that Target is showing are very "Liberty" but very American in the strong colorways, and bold patterning together. I love the English palette, in it's genteel and watercolory calmness but here in the land of the big bam boom, it would be misunderstood and passed over. So, good for Target for marrying the two.


From the SF Gate/SF Chronicle on a story "And Liberty (not for all) at Target:

Although Liberty of London may not enjoy the name recognition of other Target collaborators, it nonetheless managed to draw enough interest to result in near-empty endcaps by 9 a.m. Sunday, the day the collection went on sale. A pop-up shop in Manhattan last week had closed up early after 6,000 people cleaned it out in record time

I managed to find the mens stuff they had sold out of, a sundress for Kitty, some pillows (for me) and some nice covered boxes all on the endcaps. The children's clothes were lovely in all cotton...with matching hairbands, bathing suits, the whole shot. Lots of the china was snapped up, albeit, it was much cuter in the photographs but for the price ( $16. for a ceramic cannister) it made my inner William Morris thrill to the possibility to take it home.

More later. Work awaits from my bad hookie playing this morning. Wow, Welcome SPRING!

" It is not the destination that counts, it’s the journey"

From Bill Moyers interview with Joseph Campbell>>
MOYERS: And yet we all have lived a life that had a purpose. Do you believe that? 
CAMPBELL: Wait a minute. Just sheer life cannot be said to have a purpose, because look at all the different purposes it has all over the place. But each incarnation, you might say, has a potentiality, and the mission of life is to live that potentiality. How do you do it,’ My answer is, "Follow your bliss." There’s something inside you that knows when you’re in the center, that knows when you’re on the beam or off the beam, And if you get off the beam to earn money, you’ve lost your life. And if you stay in the center and don’t get any money, you still have your bliss.
MOYERS: I like the idea that it is not the destination that counts, it’s the journey.
CAMPBELL: Yes. As Karlfried Graf Durckheim says, "When you’re on a journey, and the end keeps getting further and further away, then you realize that the real end is the journey."The Navaho have that wonderful image of what they call the pollen path. Pollen is the life source, The pollen path is the path to the center. The Navaho say, "Oh, beauty before me, beauty behind me, beauty to the right of me, beauty to the left of me, beauty above me, beauty below me, I’m on the pollen path,"
MOYERS: Eden was not, Eden will be.

CAMPBELL: Eden is. "The kingdom of the Father is spread upon the earth, and men do not see it."
MOYERS: Eden is – in this world of pain and suffering and death and violence?
CAMPBELL: That is the way it feels, but this is it, this is Eden. When you see the kingdom spread upon the earth, the old way of living in the world is annihilated. That is the end of the world, The end of the world is not an event to come, it is an event of psychological transformation, of visionary transformation. You see not the world of solid things but a world of radiance. 

Vitamin D Day

A House You Can Eat, Q . Cassetti, 2010, pen and inkWhoa. Dreary. Right? Need to pop those Ds to keep the happy factor going.... What a weekend. Friday night was Pourhouse with the Yardvarks. Last night it was rocking with the Zydeco Trail Riders. They were very good with many in the room jumping up to dance with each other. Quite fun, quite convivial.

Today we stay home and celebrate Saint Patricks Day with the crew (all 6 of us) and the neighbors and their friends. So, 10 for dinner. We are boiling up slabs of corned beef with a Pizza Rustica for those that cannot fathom or stand the corned beef. I bought a cabbage and a bag of potatoes that are going into the pot after the meat stews. I have been blowing the fuse of the electric range (my Fridgidaire circa 1942, complete with the frightening Thermonizer (which, to the uninitiated is an integrated aluminum stock pot taking up the 4th burner on the top)--with great scary pops and lights. I am a bit frayed from that so I am writing you and planning my next attack. Additionally, I busted (sounds like I stripped the gears) of my Kitchen Aid mixer making bread, so I ordered a new powertool, a Viking 7 quart, 1000 watt machine. The bread baking continues as does making granola. Next trick is the granola bar as we spend a fortune on them and they seem to be predominantly corn syrup.

These gingerbread houses are running their course for now. I need to take them further with pix of the kids, the witch, the mom etc. but I am done with it. I have exhausted my sketchbook, so I am changing channels and going back to a smaller book with watercolor paper just for a break. The bees are on the horizon for the next few weeks. Then, per the 3x3 entries, I need to rap out a bunch of portraits as I am missing doing them and they get me a bunch of traction (or at least they have been). The key learning with the gingerbread houses is that in Adobe illustrator, (I was drawing the images in ink, scanning them and then reversing them in photoshop--and then bringing the image into illustrator to color them (new approach for me)-- I am using the multiply function to get the color in...laying on layers and layers of color. But the new thing is the sensational blob brush (shift+ B) as a drawing tool and also, that the eraser (shift+e) can be used to erase spots out of established objects or shapes. Small stuff, but very cool as a pair of tools go. Feeling charged with my new tricks.

Gotta make this short as there is amendment with the Hangar Theatre posters that needs to happen this p.m.Then on to finalizing the dinner.

Vitamin D Day

Whoa. Dreary. Right? Need to pop those Ds to keep the happy factor going.... What a weekend. Friday night was Pourhouse with the Yardvarks. Last night it was rocking with the Zydeco Trail Riders. Today we stay home and celebrate Saint Patricks day with the crew (all 6 of us) and the neighbors and their friends. So, 10 for dinner. We are boiling up slabs of corned beef with a Pizza Rustica for those that cannot fathom or stand the corned beef. I bought a cabbage and a bag of potatoes that are going into the pot after the meat stews. I have been blowing the fuse of the electric range (my Fridgidaire circa 1942, complete with the frightening Therminizer)