Inspired by Girard

The Nativity, Alexander Girard

 Art is only art when it is synonymous with living.               -Alexander Girard

I am going to be Alexander Girard’s red headed stepchild. I mean, I want to be Alexander Girard’s stylistic red headed stepchild. I want to be him so much, and feel that there is enough Girard (1907-1993) DNA (illustration and graphic design DNA, that is) in me, that I cannot suppress it any longer. I do not know why I have been so reluctant to be this stylistic person, but I have. Maybe because its too easy. Waaaay too easy. But others with the same coding do not have the hangups (maybe I had to get over that I can “be all that I can be” versus paint with oils and be Norman Rockwell).

But hey. Look at this angel to the left. I have been there and back. Just need to give myself permission to go more graphic. I can do more graphic. I do it every stinking day for pay. I can do simple. I can do flat planes of color. And the whole negative/positive thing I eat and drink. There is a sheer happiness with his work that has become renewed in me, and want to take inspiration from him, from similar reference and stylistic sources that he did…and see where it goes.  His collection of folk art, toys, and objects were established as part of the Girard Foundation (at the Museum of International Folk Art) which will be a new go to for me. Sanna Annukka , the wonderful English/Finnish illustrator has taken Girard’s work and embraced it and made it hers. Why can’t I?

Toys represent a microcosm of man’s world and dreams. They exhibit fantasy, imagination, humor and love. They are an invaluable record and expression of man’s ingenious unsophisticated imagination.  -Alexander Girard

I mean, I am there, right? Erzegebirge. Dresden Scrap. Folk art. Lubok/ lubki. Fraktur. Polish Folk art. Mexican folk art. Engravings. Mexican Engravings. Indian art. Hindu folk art. Colonial art. Colonial Gravestones…..my world of influences. Girard is speaking my language, loves the things I love, uses a palette that I am comfortable in. He is a teacher and an inspiration. I need to go with this.

Dresden Scrap

Rooster sketch, Q. Cassetti, 2010, digitalWe saw “Inception” last night to Alex’s delight. It was good, but not the work of art that Alex and Erich claim it to be…but I guess as I am “not the audience” as Erich tells me, it doesnt matter what I think. Alex has been talking about this incessantly since the viewing—smiling and talking…delightedly. We had dinner at Maxi’s late and turned back home for a late night.

Today is a beautiful day…all the heat and humidity washed out  to clear and clean. We have the team working on the pumphouse restoration. Nigel is back to making beautiful with the yard. Kitty is working in the makeup factory in the Masonic Temple (for real). Alex is off playing golf as he has dishes later. Chet the Lawnmower man has come and gone…so the green stuff has been groomed and is gorgeous.

I was googling those wonderful cut out pages (from my SCORE at Sauders) and discovered that they are called either Victorian or German Scrap. The metallic version of Victorian or German Scrap is called Dresden Scrap, Dresden Foil or Dresden Foil Scrap. My mother has taken elements of Dresden Scrap and turned them into pins. There is other Dresden scrap that are these elaborate, paper candy cups or frames for pictures. High end party goods and high end scrap for scrapbooks or for valentines or for me, to scan and party with. Some of the holiday stuff (the big paper santas) I have seen iced to the top of gingerbread cookies or the little hearts attached to candy or gingerbread for valentines day. Linked to all of this old fashioned holiday stuff from Germany (like my favorite Erzegebirge stuff), paper mache eggs and holiday decorations figure into this mix as well. I remember our buying them as a kid , I think at Mr. Marioni’s store on Walnut Street in Pittsburgh along with old things my mother and grandmothers had—combined with funny old fashioned postcards and other ephemera they would toss between the families. I guess this is where my craziness comes from.

Here are some resources: Victorian Scrapworks>> Blumchen & Company>> AlphaStamps>> Your ATCstore>> Collage Closet>> There are lovely things to work with. Inspiring ephemera to collage, scan or use in fun ways. I am cooking on this idea.

more brand thinking...outloud, that is.

Rooster, Q. Cassetti, 2010, Adobe Illustrator, digital.So, The happiness parade continues on my desktop. I am backing into a new mark for the bakery and am making lots of pictures that may or may not work as a mark. But, we have moved off the corporate and staid, and more into tangible and fun. The more I think about it, the more I need to find models that are more reflective of the spirit of the work/ the brand that needs to be conveyed.

As much as I do not love this brand as it does not speak directly to me, the“Life is Good” folks manage to do a nice job of presenting a kind of hippie message in a very friendly, non-threatening way. I mean, what is not to agree with “Life is Good” when you are powering around in your minivan going to the soccer game? Life may not be so good for those inner city moms climbing out of the subway trying to find peace in their lives. But “Life is Good ” is not their brand. Its for those minivan moms…. not the medicated freaks like me— or the hard-working single moms that don’t have the time to reflect on whether life is good or not. But what is not to fight with the look and feel and what it means to those who sport this gear. I mean, they call their damned baseball caps “chill caps”. Where is the vomitorium? However, the spirit of friendly and nonthreatening, I can handle. Its taking it to the enth degree with the “chill caps” and the feel good tote bags. Even your dog can feel good (let it be a golden retriever, please dear god>)Puhlease. But lesson received re the feel good.

On the other hand, you have Stonewall Kitchen. They have a very buttoned up identity that has a nice script handwriting/font that compliments the logotype in simple, shadowed Copperplate Gothic/ all caps. They have a very simple color scheme (a bit dated, but still fresh and recognized). They represent excellent, a bit pricey, but good goods in prepackaged sauces, mixes, jams/jellies etc. They also are from New England (as is “Life is Good”) but they lean on that a bit more. Stonewall tells you it was established in 1991 but feels much the way many of the foods we bought with my grandmother (Crosse and Blackwell being the one that comes to mind)—that they have been around since the mid 1800s like Heinz. Stonewall has established an established look that rests on trust and quality without much fun, though their offerings are imaginative and smart. They rely on whitespace and on hand lettering to “friendly” up the image that could go stuffy if they let it.

Dean & DeLuca and Stonewall have similar design programs though D&D have opted to be more urbane and pulled in as their line expands whereas Stonewall softens their approach. I love D&D’s alternative and smart packaging. They are far more giftable (particularly as a corporate gift)…where the Stonewall products feel more hostess gifty. Stonewall you will find at TJMaxx. D&D does not go outside their network.

There is Le Pain Quotidien, a wonderful bread franchise we have seen/eaten at in NYC. Their hook is fresh bread served in a very honest way with butter/cheese/jam/ soft boiled eggs, as sandwiches etc. in a very fresh, open manner with big tables that you may be seated with other folks you may not know. There is a country honesty in their food, their presentation and the shops. Their mark (which they downplay on their site) is at left with a focus on baguettes with a flash presentation on the top of it for the site.  Nice and discreet use of social networking symbols on their site…but not much of a definitive brand. They let the locations (and the bread) do the talking and making memorable. As an aside, if you have a chance to have breakfast at one, I highly recommend the experience. And, the bread is wonderful.

MOre later. The phone just rang and I need to pick up the little chicks at the park.

Back to the future

Antique Victorian scrapbooking materialIt was a perfect summer day yesterday. We got going on the early side to go get granola fixings, candy (for Nigel), and all sorts of John Martin meats (sausage and lunch meat) for the office and for dinner at our favorite store in Seneca Falls, Sauders. We were heading out of Seneca Falls on the way back, I was reciting the pizza recipe from King Arthur to my friend to discover she missed getting the “optional” dough relaxer (which really makes the recipe). So, in my new cool way, I suggested we head back and get it. She dove into the flour aisle and I went in search of cookie cutters as she had recited her sugar cookie recipe (something I never have made…) and feel that it would be fun to do. I found the cutters I wanted  (a hand, a heart and a daisy)and Kitty and I were loitering in the Mennonite gift and bookshop at Sauders. We were walking down one aisle and came upon a steel cabinet with shallow drawers. Kitty opened one of the drawers and I FLIPPED out. There, in the center of Sauders, they had sheets upon sheets of German scrapbook stickers that I have adored since a child. We used to buy them in Pittsburgh, and I had collected antique ones…but they had them for $.89 a piece as I gasped with delight in finding this sort of wonderful oddity available as an everyday thing to this community of people.  I selected one of each style from a sailboat with flowers, to shoes filled with flowers to some pretty funny/ditsy cats. The best was a picture of a pair of victorian fuzzy chicks, pecking away at a LOBSTER. huh? The best.

Sauders bookstore has odd Mennonite hard bound genealogy books, directories of the various Mennonite communities, amazing old fashioned genealogy charts (ready to fill in ), and local maps with names written in red locating the members of the various familes in each geographic “ward” of the Old School Mennonites (Amish). I had to buy a map too. More from the bookstore. I am seeing Christmas written all over this place.

On the way back, steaming down 414 in Romulus, we stopped on the segment of the road that we refer to as the “Amish Main Street” and bought white corn and a big basket of tomato “seconds” which filled a huge plastic bag for $5. We got peaches and fresh apricots too. A haul for less than $12.

We swam in the afternoon after doing some driving. Alex, Kitty and I played scrabble and we made an early night of it.

Let the Sun Shine

Sun illustrations by Alexander Girard.Sometimes the best stuff is the stuff you do when you back into it. I mean design/illustration work. Not, the car. I have parking lot and driveway accidents all the time (read, bang into stuff when you back into it…a millstone, a tree, you get the idea)—but I prefer to bang into stuff when I cannot figure it out. Case in point. I have been mullling over this image for a really wonderful company to be. Its a wood fired artisan bakery that will be using Farmer Ground Organic Flour to produce bread and pasta. The concept is way beyond just the food, but the community of supporters, believers and consumers in a socio-political way with the community driving the food and the food driving the community. I have been looking at type lockups with images and its clean and nice…but its bleh. However, after working on their website, thinking about content and grid, copy and images, this goes here, that goes there (the laundry sorting of content) within the context of a fairly tight grid….it came to me that I should make the mark more fun. It should have a “hand” that feels like a linoleum cut…with a more fun font…and then applied in a very clean, organized way. 

Thus, the inspiration for me goes in the way back machine to Alexander Girard, graphic designer illustrator for Herman Miller. Early in my career, I was inspired and bitten by Girard but had to put that passion in the back of my corporate mind. But now that I have been reborn as another person, my old friends can come to the fore especially now that the Eames and Girard are fashionable again. Out with austere, in with decorative! Yay and Yay again! House Industries has Girard inspired fonts (just purchased). I may buy the Eames collection too…as it really floats my boat. Saracen (a latin font) along with Acropolis and Knockout have been my go tos…and thanks to my mentor, Murray Tinkelman, I am thinking about what used to be called “display fonts” in a different way. I plan on using the blob brush/eraser/path tool to make a cruder version of what Girard did. Should be fun.

Summertime

Messing around inspired by Alexander Girard, Q. Cassetti, 2010, digitalReally going deep on a project I have wanted to resolve— and now, I see the light at the end of the tunnel. Thought out enough to show—with some ideas roughed out on a grid with black and white to color rollovers, using the standard html font I like the best (Georgia)—a website layout designed to be implemented in Drupal using the grid system that “Blueprint” offers. So, with this gridded approach, my publications background really is holding me in good stead. Not a lot of fancy schmancy, but simple is elegant. This design is a little black dress. I think I may have to be the photographer on this job with my point and shoot…but I enjoy that, so no biggie.

Fixed the Farmers Market graphic from yesterday. tweaked a few things along with adding and subtracting (digital plakat) with the eraser and blob brush. Then. did the little doodle diddle to the left just messing around with those same tools. It was fun, quick and I like how rough it is. Need to work on more rough stuff. I would love to work up a little linoleum block look for fun.

Got Alex rolling and scheduled for the PSAT prep. He is surprising all of us by willingly picking up books and The New Yorker and reading them. Happily. If you wanted to know what I wanted for my birthday, I have already gotten it. I never thought I would see the day that my dear boy would actively engage in reading willingly…and happily. Now, as his reading coach and librarian, I need to put my head around what is next? John Krakauer’s Into Thin Air? Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential? Albert Goldman’s Elvis? Need to worry this. Any suggestions? Its gotta be good and engaging. He is reading Neverland by Neil Gaiman, a very interesting, simply written, visual book about an alternative world. Love Neil Gaiman. We could try William Gibsons Idoru.

It’s 7:30 and it’s getting darker. Imagine. We are on the downside of the bright side of the year. Rolling into August is just plain shocking. Christmas design work and Christmas presents are on the list of things to do. I am def. going to do a letterpress valentine. I think the Luckystone card is going to be derivative of the Advent calendar work from last December. Likely nutcrackers.

Off to the Pourhouse to buy teeshirts!

to a "T"

Redraw of the Farmers Market Weathervane, inspired by Durand Van Doren’s workBeautiful weather here. The Farmers Market Building moved yesterday from the fairgrounds to the Market Site. We got shots of Durand’s weathervane, and I asked him if I could generate a flat illustration from his work to make a shirt/graphic from. Here is my shot of the thing from his metal illustration. It was kind of cool as I took Rob’s photo of the weathervane against the sky, translated it via photoshop to a high contrast black and white image. I selected the darks and created a workpath that I imported to illustrator to work on. Cool. I think this will be converted into white on black for a teeshirt to give to the guys that worked on the creation of the bandstand during Grassroots. Need to price that one out. Alex’s shirts turned out nicely and inexpensively.

I was given next year’s Hangar’s productions (shhhh) and need to start mulling over what the images need to be for the posters/advertising etc. I would love to have this all in hand by the end of October/first of November. It would really give us the jump on getting in front of this for next year. I also committed to doing the graphics for next year’s Ithaca Triathlon. I didnt do this year as it was getting a bit tedious, so the break gives me a bit fresher look at the design/illustration problem. We will see. That too, has a near and dear expectation too.

Speaking of local projects, look what just arrived today! A tee for the Pourhouse! So, get yourself down toTburg’s very own funspot and get a shirt (guys or gals) to show your civic support. Limited edition.

Someone has posted a request for a Hangar Poster to frame. I am thinking that there might be something in having this stuff early to send out for prints. Also, the new thinking is the $2. gumball art thought. Which is, that people have no problem plunking down a buck or two for a button, a sticker, or a tattoo. They do not even need to think about it. NO problem whatsoever. So, what if I were to create a cool point of purchase, hippie display that gives the person a choice of buttons, stickers, postcards, tattoos…at a good price with the price getting better and better as one nears $10. and $20 a shot. This would be put in places that Q. has relationships with (Grassroots, The Hangar, a gallery, chez Camp, or any of the restaurants etc that I do gratis work for). Build the local brand in a very local way. Adding value  and allowing the individual to take a little bit (bitte ein bit) of Q home with them…priming the pump (?) for an incremental build of sales. That’s today’s thinking.

Just started reading The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo. Delicious summer readling! 

Farmers' Market

Photo montage, 07.26.2010Trumansburg’s Farmers Market got a brand spanking new bandstand today. It was built by a team of wonderful volunteers who donated their time and expertise to design, build and then MOVE this wonderful building from Grassroots (where it served as a play place for kids) to its final home at our new Farmers Market to house the live music we have weekly on Wednesdays.

One more

from 07/25/2010Phew. Its over. Grassroots was wonderful this year with music and friends, and new friends, and music, and dance and delicious food, and big ideas to keep this small head whirring. But too much of a good thing is too much.

I walked over yesterday a bit after noon to find that the clouds and drizzle had cleared and we were to have a perfect blue sky afternoon. Heard the Chokers. Perfect show. A lot of nice new twists to the music, and happier band members made for good music and happy karma for those of us who know a few. We heard Hee Haw Nightmare, didnt love, but the crowd did. Toivo, as Rob said “went electric” with children running in circles and people waltzing and dancing happily in the afternoon. Preston and Keith Frank played the Dance Tent for the Tea Dance segment with the crowd happily dancing and not totally overwhelmed by the heat (like Friday when many of us wanted to lie down and faint from the humidity).

We got home on the early side after just enough and I surfaced that I wanted a scooter, a vespa to be specific. Rob surprisingly perked up about that (and Indian one please as the design was frozen mid seventies with the ferring and design I love). Now the question is which color and could I get vinyl cut to put bumble bees all over it?

I also am going to make a piece of art starting with the new weathervane on our new Tburg bandstand as reference. I think something solid and one color might be a nice thing to have to output on canvas and donate to the events I donate things to, and to create some tees (from my new cheap resource) to give to the men and women who built the bandstand as a thank you for their hard work, determination and wit to make something so outstanding for our little town. We are so so lucky to have such a committed group of people give and give and give to us, to Grassroots, to the general wonder and quality of life I hope none of us take this spirit of giving for granted. My belief in everyone giving a little bit (an hour a week at least) to your closest in community will yield in the Catherine Wheel tradition of bringing back energy to not only yourself but others is constantly proven in this small place of perfection we call home. And the wheel keeps turning and turning and turning.

The puzzle, challenge and amazing opportunity is thinking about the possibilities of what’s next?

Must go now to pick up my stuff at the art barn. Sold buttons and postcards with low expections. Lets see if I am happily delighted?

Link to Sunday’s pix on Flickr>>

Pictures to the left include (at top): Charlotte Senders, actress extrodinaire and cool Tburger, (next row left to right) Peter H., Meryl Young, Rob Cassetti, (Third Row down) The Chicken Chokers performing, (Fourth Row Down) Timmie Dietrich talking to me, (Bottom photo) camping in the center of the racetrack.

Breather

Study, Q. Cassetti, 2010, pen and ink, Adobe lIlustrator.I didnt go to the festival yesterday. Just too much. So, there was a swim, a nap, some cooking (note: whenever they suggest or put “optional” in a recipe, use it), and a bit of reading and thinking (lots of that). The Grassroots experience is, for me, very provocative from the music standpoint, but the sheer energy from the people, the community, the connections and connections to be made from that moment, and the opportunities have my head spinning off my body. It is still a brew of ideas with a few coming more to the fore (which I am pricing or planning) and others I will patiently wait for them to form. Kitty and Alex are on overdrive (coming in around 3 a.m. with Rob and Bruce). We will have our morning recap with the pound of bacon ends I need to put on the griddle before they come down. Maybe pancakes?

I just wanted to weigh in before more coffee, bacon and thoughts. You will hear the ideas as they form, and you know I want your ideas and input before I launch blindly forward. There is the festival today with the beloved Chokers, The Thins, Donna the Buffalo and more. Rob is thrilled about Toivo in the Cabaret (or as Bruce calls it, the Cabernet).

More later. 

[Totally off topic, but to my delight, the Hartford MFA blog that I conceived of, do some of the writing, all of the architecture  and maintain (as a gift to the program) has been recognized by Learn-o-Rama as one of the “Top 50 Blogs by Masters Students”. This stuff does work…just keep it focused and interesting enough that even you, the creator want to visit, More here>>]

Humidifier

Snippets from Grassroots: 07.23.2010, Q. Cassetti, 2010It was wet in the air and hot, and still. Nothing moved except the papers to curl into themselves. None of the puddles dried up. And even in the tents, my glasses fogged up. It was a humidifier all day combined with the amazing Preston Frank and thousands of steaming topless bodies, the sights and heightened smells added to the flavor of Grassroots. Heat was also in the music. So, worth it all the way.

Preston Frank in a big tent with a very appreciative audience was a shot in the arm. Hypercharged Zydeco. We danced a bit until my face was streaming and we needed water. It was great hearing Preston do some of my favorite Boozoo Chavis songs…albeit he did not sing my favorite, “You will look like a Monkey when you get old” (a loving tune about his WIFE).

After that, we heard Mountainheart, an amazing string band that segued into rock and roll covers and back out again, seamlessly. The crowd was electric—so as you can see from the top picture, the band had a throughly good time as well. They have tremendous presence and worked very much as an organic group, one instrument, with all the various musicians handing off to the other either instrumentally or vocally. They also loved the audience, and the audience loved them right back.

We hung out with some old friends and then heard the end of the Sim Redmond Band at the Grandstand. G oodness, the level of production is really up, with the lighting and stage dressing at a far higher, far less shaggy approach that  it was a tremendous show with Sim and group as tight and good as ever.

On the way out, we stopped at the dance tent and were delighted with Jsan and the Analog Sons. High energy, driving reggae, great show, great horns and an amazing keyboardist who we see pop up locally.

We got home around midnight. Alex around 3 a.m. and Kitty spent the night. Another day starts. We will swim the vast Cayuga and feed the cats before going back for more music. The buttons are selling at the Art Barn. I have found my price point. Ideas are hatching as we speak.

Friday: Grassroots week

Zydeco Trail Riders, Main Street, Trumansburg, Q. Cassetti, 2010To the left are the Zydeco Trail Riders. They wanted their picture snapped after their fun performance Wednesday night at the Rongo. So obliged. To see more of the Trail Rider photos>> There is a workable one in there. They were very cute and chatty (as you can see) with Sally laughing and making the boys laugh along with her. They were great, high spirited and fun. Wednesday night was fun with dining and dancing with Kitty and Laura shaking their wild thing like the Drama Club regulars they are.. Rob and Bruce saw Keith Frank on the Commons and the All American Hell Drivers late at Barangus.

Friday at Grassroots (an edited collection of images from yesterday’s fun at Flickr)>>

Grassroots opened to a bluesky wonderful day. I went to the festival around two with Rob and Alex and was presented to our tent, chairs and little encampment surrounded by lots of people I already knew. I wandered over to the Art Barn to take my little things to sell (buttons, stickers, tattoos). I made up two little cigar boxes with nice labels on them for the stuff and put the buttons (as groups) on ribbons.

Then, Rob and I wandered over to see what was happening in the dance tent to find Mac Benford and crew playing stellar old time music. Mac is sort of the gran ddaddy  to the local old time music scene and he and they were def. on their game. Peter was there (designating that this was the place to be) complete with his brand new antique electric tricycle complete with cooler and a yellow fringed awning, prominently visual and the making, for me, of what Grassroots is. Small Town, Community, and the Church of Whats Happening Now. The cloggers were there along with our wonderful Professor Margery, Zydeco dancer to the stars. We wandered over to the new Cabaret Hall to hear Pat Burke, and then back to the  Mac and company.

Top: The Grady Girls, Bottom left, Harley Campbell and Mac Benford, Bottom right top: art barn sign, bottom right bottom, Eric AcetoI volunteered to work at the Art Barn as they needed extra coverage and am happy I did. The people loved the work and it was interesting to take money for my stuff and hear what they said about why that button or sticker. Instant feedback. I am seriously thinking of seeing if I can do a tent and do a “Hodge Podge Lodge” or “Q Brand” for the event. I think it would go…shirts etc. This is different than the Art Trail and for the same investment of time and effort, along with an understanding of what the local market wants to pay for stuff, seems doable. I want to sell penny candy too. There is too much easy stuff out there to do.  It is fascinating because there is a ton of interest in how I do my work along with a different respect for the work being printed on canvas versus framed with glass and mats. Seems more real/more accessible I think. My brain is whirring.

I was enchanted with the Grady Girls, sisters and cousins playing traditional Irish reels, jigs and waltzes along with family members from parents and aunts to little step dancing girls leaping and kicking to their hearts delight. The Girls are lovely in fresh cotton sundresses and the requisite cowboy boots, tight in their music and openly loving being part of this whirl they create. Rob is hopeful to get them for the Saint Patrick’s Day 2300˚—which would be terrific.

Djug Django was sublime with the poetic Eric Aceto leading the music with his violin sound bringing pathos and sweetness to a really amazing group of musicians. I have to say, each of the performances from Hip Hop (GunPoets), to Irish (Grady Girls), to Old Time (Mac Benford) to County/Rockabilly Swing (Kelley and the Cowboys)—everything we heard was top shelf excellent. The smaller groups put the “Big Name” (Merle Haggard) to shame in their ernest professionalism and high quality performances. What an honor to have these artists come to our little Tburg….(and many hail from here!).

It promises thunder today. I do not know how I feel about that and the mud. Time will tell.

IF: Double

Sweet Twins, Q. Cassetti, 2010, pen and ink/digitalInspired by the British portrait of two sisters married on the same day, and bearing children on the same day, The Cholmondeley Ladies (c.1600). My beekeeping sisters live here in Central New York, maintaining their hives, and keeping their world buzzing with activity.

 

The Cholmondeley Ladies
circa 1600-10 
Oil on wood support: 
886 x 1723 mm frame: 
1074 x 1914 x 100 mm painting Presented anonymously 1955 T00069 
Tate Britain, London

24 hours and counting

Lubok Shout, Q. Cassetti,2010 pen and ink, digital, Grassroots eve. Tburg’s alternative Christmas! The music is ramping up. The tents are being pitched. The crowd at Gimme! Coffee has some new faces. Rabbit Run is filling up with the future campers patiently waiting in line to get in. Rob is mustering the teen forces to work more. They limply complain but follow. New friends await.  For Rob, the thrill of working with an onsite sawyer—creating slabs of wood to spec. It was like heaven to get what you want, when you want it, accurately. Old technology is wonderful.

And Rob performed magic at the end of the workday by buying the ultimate deal ($9. for a box of 30 iced cream sandwiches at the Byrne) and tossing them to the workers, moms, kids. The candy man! He was thrilled to delight the crowd in such a simple way.

So the riches abound. The Tburg Farmers Market has music, then the Rongo with the Zydeco Trail Riders. After that, Preston Frank down on the Commons. And then, the All American Helldrivers at Barangus to close out the night. Ramped and amped.

I will be shooting pictures all weekend. That is my fun project.

The rooster is a new approach with illustrator brushes and big thick markers. QUUUUIIICCCK. Will be doing some more animals just to learn this approach. Maybe a chinese zodiac? Lots of animals there.

Rob visited wonderful Joe Seppi, owner of Pioneer Printing in Interlaken, and a lead type, letterpress afficianado. I am so taken with Joe’s work (and prices) that I am seriously thinking of doing a single letterpress holiday card. Elegant and many of my illustrations will work for that type of thing. Same for Valentine. I bought a stack of Cranes cards with matching envelopes that he could imprint the address/and the card. Come to think of it, if I do that, I could have them set up type for the message and change it out and offer it to my friend with just a slug change. Could be soooo easy. There’s a thought.

Doing a little more validation searching for my big client. Interesting 4 hour meeting yesterday. I managed to chop up our content and detail it with sketches to drag the monster consulting firm to better understanding the thinking we need to see. This consultant is treating this work topically not fully understanding or searching for the scope of the work and making uneducated dictates ie ” you may not use red”. Huh? Why not? Maybe we need to find the right red? Right?

Whoa. I am sounding like a fogey.

Monkeys on the Brain.

Musical Knights, Q. Cassetti, 2010, pen and ink.Sorry for the delay. I thought I would get to a blog posting yesterday…but, thinking is not doing. So, please forgive me.

Sunday was filled with getting people places and then having a moment to swim and in my case finish the picture to the left. Lubki inspired, three musicians on a horse riding to who knows where. That’s it, plain and simple. I have a rooster to celebrate tomorrow that takes the Lubki idea once step further which is to hand draw the main lines and then scan it into photoshop (b+w at 600 dpi). Then I exported a workpath from photoshop into illustrator and filled it…giving me nice fat objects to work into. From that I have developed (and continue to do so) a series of tapered brushes (art and pattern brushes) that I use to make up the pattern and texture I have to restrain myself from doing. However, it comes up with a very interesting and energetic effect that I think I am on to something. You can judge for yourself tomorrow.

Speaking of Lubki, hear me out on this one. Just to set the stage, Lubok or Lubki (plural) is a Russian illustration style that depicts Russian folk tales and mythology (as one of the channels of how the work is carved up). Okay. Point two, I love that wild work that the Russian artist did with Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings etc. Right?

I love popular culture, the wierder the better. And, to take that out a bit further, that becomes, to some degree, another type of current mythology storytelling that we, and the New York Post seem to glom onto. So, with that in mind, I am thinking of doing a few lubok illustrations around “The Tales of Travis, a Connecticut Monkey”. Remember Travis? The chardonnay swilling, lawnmower driving chimp who seemed to be game for anything? Xanax? Sleeping in beds? Working the television? Hot tub soaking? Plant watering? Teeth Brushing? Wearing clothes? Car Driving?  Being a child to a lonely woman who needed a special friend. Travis was for me, one of the Red Rose Tea Monkeys come to life! And HE LIVED IN CONNECTICUT! Not the forests? Not the zoos? No. Suburbia. Bliss! Now, play that through the Russian Folklore lens…and you get the idea. Fun! Unfortunately the Travis story ends sadly…which I do not think I will touch…but the description of this chimp and his owner is enough to make a few pictures to test the waters.

Grassroots in in full swing. Rob and Alex have been wielding hammers while Kitty was pressganged into helping decorate the new Cabaret Hall. Surprisingly, everyone is happy and very engaged. Rob just took two of my pieces down for the Art Barn (my beehive valentine/big, and the Forever Valentine (smaller) as we think that might make someone happy. They are for sale— and we will see if anyone comes to the table on them . I doubt it as they are priced to replace the printing and a little more but the Grassrootsers are not there to buy art. They are there to buy CDs, iced tea and eat. But we will see. You never know who might be needing to decorate their tents?

Beautful clear day. Hope the trend continues.

a lovely long morning.

http://nnm.ru/blogs/redfox11/andrej_kuznecov_lubki_na_sovremennye_syuzhety/There is an amazingly funny and skilled illustrator working in the lubki style and fusing it with modern folklore, just as his lubki predecessors used tales to make their russian stories. I am still puzzling over translation programs, but if you want to see a body of work and his interpretation of these modern folktales (yes, from films like Harry Potter, Spiderman, and Frodo/Golum from the Lord of the Rings) you might want to click over here>> Doesnt this guy totally nail it? and he hasnt gone overboard with the shading etc. Need to puzzle over this. The cats encourage overebellishent, but these little comicbook frames demand less to tell their snapshot stories. Hmm.

The picnic yesterday was fun. We met all sorts of new people, new ideas and a request for my bee art at a local shop. Maybe some bee tote bags? 
And some preframed gliclees. I need to darken their door to figure this one out. The dish to pass table groaned with the clutter of dishes. And you know, I brought a wooden salad bowl filled with tabouli and a heaping platter of this wierd but great watermelon salad (watermelon, salt, pepper, onion and mint). And dang, if it wasnt vacuumed up in no time. And I swore, last year that I would bring enough. Need to think this one out. Something portioned (like a golf ball shape)—falafel? So you can make a heap of whatever—but maybe vacuum is what happens…and I just need to make MORE of the stuff I am bringing and call it a day. Simpler is better actually.

I had a nice chat with Tracy Craig who runs the Nonesuch Radio, a museum writer and the producer of Rutabega Boogie Productions (bringing musical acts to town) about her world, her adorable dog, and the potential of “what ifs”. Inspired and inspiring. I would like to get to know her better. Some lovely art people I know want to hang out. I need to make that happen. What is it about the Ithaca Trumansburg people that make me feel so embraced and included? I am so so lucky.

Shady Grove made friends with big and little. Kitty found her circle. And Rob was mixing up like crazy—and making ideas and contacts real. The sky was painted in golds and blue with clouds that Maxfield Parrish would have quivered over. We scooted when the electricity in the sky threatened. Off to the Pourhouse to hear the Rocking Steady Family Band…which was delightful. All in all a very fun day complete with swimming in beautiful Cayuga. Maybe some swimming today—but from my breezy perch surrounded by sleeping pets with their fur ruffled by the wind, it might have to be pretty convincing.

 

Salad Days

The Fellows Derring-Do and Good Fighters Too is just an illustration of a popular “open” wrestling match in which the winner gets a prize: two soft-boiled eggs. Such matches often took place during the celebrations of Maslenitsa (Shrovetide) and Semik. New cat illustration up in the Atelier “Lubki Inspired” section. Not great illo but inspiring. I built it using the blob brush and building individual brushes in illustrator. With all the antics trying to do a Lubki Cat with all the texture that is dug into those pictures, it really gave me a better shot at looking at artistic brushes versus pattern brushes (which make borders and corners and the like). These artistic brushes really have got the calligrapher in me excited…and learning how to freehand draw the vectors versus point and drag which is my safe go to…is great.

However, learning to make and use these tapered brushes (on both ends) and seeing what happens when the splines/ paths get longer or shorter, and the  power of these brushes to save time and, when thought out, present something that is still “handmade” in look and feel. I am doing to do a few roosters or chickens to accompany the big cats before I try a few silly people pictures. I am going to draw the lines in my book, maybe do the complete rough in ink, and embellish the drawing with these tapered and textured brushes. Too, too, cool. The other thing I keep doing which takes time, but is worth it, is converting the brushes to paths and merging them all together as a single layer of color. This technique should be interesting in the next go round of the work for the Hangar as the images may be more hand drawn next season. Maybe. the vector images really did work this season. And big! You know how I feel about large scale vector work!

Everyone went out with friends last night but me. I came up to the breezy lake and sat on the porch and did something novel—I streamed “play now” movies on R’s iPad which was amazing. It was so fast, no hiccups, good overall. I watched two indy movies, one in the mode of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” only it was Jewish/Muslim and the other, a documentary called “Jesus Camp”—startling and yet, believable. It was really nice. The fridge decided to die again…so there wasnt much fun with that.

This morning, Kit and I went up to Sauders for semolina (read, more spinach and feta pizzas), bulgar wheat (tabouli) and other odds and ends including my favorite present—full sized gummy fried eggs and full sized gummy chicken feet. Who wouldnt be thrilled with that sort of gift. This afternoon is a dish to pass at the “Annual Mammal Roast” extravaganza. I have salads to make (tabouli and a minted watermelon salad) which should be fun. Alex is working. Kitty is engaged with friends. Bruce, Rob and I will have dinner at the Pourhouse to hear the “Rockin’ Steady” Family Band (Reidys and Stockings). Such a creative group…it will be amazing. 

Grassroots is four days and counting. The tents are being put up. The portapotties are dotting the landscape. The portable stage has arrived. There are some campers on the site. Great excitement in the Burg over this holiday of sorts for the community. They are building the wall of beer. Nuf said.