IF: Winter [Baking]

Gingerbread Wreath, Q. Cassetti, 2010, sharpies, from the Second Advent Calendar project A Merry Christmas to all. May your holidays be filled with family, friends, pets and of course, gingerbread! For the complete (to date) Advent Calendar for this year, please go here>>

Advent Calendar Day 22: Closing in

Gingerbread Wreath, Q. Cassetti, 2010, sharpies, from the Second Advent Calendar ProjectThis illustration is inspired by this children’s book I grew up with. Unfortunately, I do not remember the title or even the story, but it was in black and white and was supposed to get little people’s juices going about the tantalizing cookies, cupcakes and candy were supposed to trigger. I was fascinated by these memorable illustrations, not drooling but oddly creeped out…and so this is a bow to that image. No, the cookies do not look luscious and amazing. They just look as odd as they do.  The neat thing about this image is that it was constructed in two parts. The wreath was drawn (in half) and I had an odd side border which frankly stunk. So the next page in the book I drew the border which was a cinch with the wreath on the page before. The Moleskine Volant pages are so thin and easy to see through, so they fit pretty perfectly.

Today its buying the turkey and the pesto (Ludgates and Regional). Kitty is home. Alex is in school doing penance. Rob is busy organizing and making sense of the house, the closets, the stuff with Mandy.

We are wrapping some stuff off. I am giving E. some time off (tomorrow/Monday) as running the clock all the way to Christmas seemed a bit inhumane…I will work a bit as a bit needs to be done…but he should have holiday time.

Compliment returned: Etnodizajn Festival

Adwent, czyli przejście, przybycie, nadejście. Dla starożytnych Rzymian słowoadventus oznaczało oficjalny przyjazd Cezara. W kościele katolickim to okres oczekiwania na narodziny Jezusa. To czas związany z przygotowaniami i odliczaniem kolejnych grudniowych dni.
 
Amerykańska projektantka Q. Cassettiv połączyła z tym okresem własną pracę. Każdego dnia tworzy jedną ilustrację, która nawiązuje do ikonografii, a poprzez współczesną kreskę i zabawę motywami, stanowi jednocześnie komentarz do rzeczywistości. Q. Cassettiv to ilustratorka z blisko dwudziestopięcioletnim doświadczeniem w branży graficznej. Na co dzień współpracuje z amerykańskimi magazynami i galeriami, głównie w Nowym Jorku i Los Angeles. Jej prace były wystawiane także w Londynie.
 
Ilustracje składające się na adwentowy kalendarz można oglądać na stronie autorki:www.qcassetti.squarespace.com
How nice! Right! To go to this page>>

Advent Calendar Day 21: Notarians of the Universe

The Strength of Lions, Q. Cassetti, 2010, sharpies, from the Second Advent Calendar ProjectGoing to trot off to the notary this morning to get a bunch of papers notarized. I found out that one can have a business account at the Corning Credit Union, so I am opening one as we speak. I had to find all sorts of papers and numbers and stuff to get this stuff done, but I think this will be a good go to for loans etc should I need them as they are familiar with the familial stuff. Check off the list.

It sounds like insane squirrels are loose upstairs with the tipping and tapping going on to get Kitty’s soon to be bathroom ready. I wonder what the lunch bunch will be today…on the large size is my guess.

We are correcting and finalizing all sorts of design stuff from a brochure for Ithaca College to some approvals, edits and design for the big client, to finalizing a calendar for the Museum of Glass, to noodling in changes to two books for Cornell’s Vet School. Plenty to keep us busy. My hope over this quiet time is to get the Hangar work done and resolved by January 11th as there are steep deadlines that are needed to be met. I hope things dont get too prickly. I am thinking of taking a few long weekends for the break…Friday and Monday of this week…and maybe Thursday and Friday of the next. We will need to make plans to get Kitty back to school as well. So, plenty of calls to make.

Must go. The Notarians await!

Advent Calendar Day 21: electronic backslaps

Lion Nutcracker, Q. Cassetti, 2010, sharpies and pentel pocket brush pen, Holiday countdown. Rob is in a removeable cast for a broken toe and pretty nasty sprain. Alex is anxious to be done with school. Kitty is in the college student veg out process. I think she may be doing some work for me today.

The Behance exposure continues today. My web traffic has boosted and this line art is really getting some traction. I am surprised, but for all those things that I have stored in the back of my conceptual closet, when I dust them off and roll them in front of this new receptive audience, I am surprised that they are not “bad” and that people actually like them. The Russians are sending me lots of electronic backslaps for the matryoshka dolls that I am having some fun with. I am also interested in the frames incorporated into some of these drawings and plan to develop that idea…maybe even tinting them back or reversing them out and then tinting them back as options. The idea of the “Radiant Baby” is also very appealing and have a new one in the sketchbook as the glowing Christ Child, his mystery, his potential, his almost Eastern quality intrigues.

Need to get going on a bunch of design work. There will be some pick up and deliveries in the next few days along with the peanutbutter dog biscuits (tonight?) that could be fun. Will catch up later, I hope.

Advent Calendar Day 20: You never know

Holiday Cookie, Q. Cassetti, 2010, sharpies, from the Second Advent Calendar ProjecdFunny how things happen. I posted a collection of these “pretty and creepy” drawings to Behance, the social networking site for artists/illustrators/photographers/ graphic designers just to see what the reaction would be. Turns out, I was notified that this little set was featured today (meaning, it is culled out of the mix and highlighted which has happened twice before for me). What happens is a lot of traffic is generated, nice comments (particularly in the Russian artists noticing that some of these illos feature the Russian Nesting Doll idea) and thats that. More traffic and more response than I ever got for my $700 on the iSpot. And candidly, more actionable response (two jobs already). Interestingly, I got an email this a.m. from an art director in Dubai interested in my quoting on a job from them (from the Behance exposure)….So, hip hip hurray! and if you are an illustrator and not on Behance, I highly recommend it. It’s free and you never know who or what will strike people’s fancy.

I guess this line stuff has some legs too. Didnt think it would…as it isn’t as bold/strong as the other line work with the tiger teeth….but it seems to strike a chord with some. We will see what happens.

Got the holiday cards in the mail this a.m. I have a meeting with the Hangar Team this a.m. and then back to see what we can do about this car and the financing.

Kitty is free, so I plan on her doing a little office work for me (to make some mooohla). Mandy, David B and John, Rob are all here. So I need to add some water to the soup pot and see what kind of left overs I can dump in the crock pot for lunch for the team.

Rob is off to have his foot xrayed. I hope that they can make him feel a bit better. He is hobbling around and it doesnt look very comfortable.  More later.

Advent Calendar Day 19: Progress on all fronts

Holiday makers, Q. Cassetti, 2010, sharpies, moleskine, from the Second Advent Calendar ProjectNot much of an entry yesterday. My apologies. It was just enough to begin to get the house back to living. Wonderful David is here getting all the salt off the wooden floors which we both were shaking our heads over, but better salty floors than people falling down. It was an amazing event on Friday. We had a zillion (more like 350 people) come here to sing, gather and eat the piles of cookies that crowded our dining room table. The house looked great and really showcased Rob’s and my skill at display. Way back when, before I got a full time job in New York City, I styled the Steuben Glass showroom for Christmas (I made gingerbread houses and glued them together with hot melt. We rented fireplaces and an enormous “groaning board” that we filled with glass and fruit and cookies etc. The whole thing almost prepared us for this styling except, we hired a doorman (before the doorman thing became what everyone did) and a jazz pianist who played on an enormous baby grand (black, rented from Steinway) to set the tone for our un-named theme (but the theme we made decisions against) ” Holiday open house”. Well, it was a Holiday Open House here, for real with every shape and size, old and young coming to gather, to sing to commune.

I held court in the kitchen as I tended to the hot crockpots (and keeping them full) of mulled cider. I had a lovely group of friends and we chatted the night away until “the public” left and then it was our event. I pulled out jars of french olives and cheese (from the regional). Stefan brought the fruits of his first bake which we pressed on everyone. And, there were new and old friends with everyone laughing and having a great time. I must admit, public parties that you see who shows up is really great. We should model the Pourhouse gig on this one.

Another thought is to do this when I open the gallery. Yes, I am opening a gallery here in the Camp House to showcase my work and the cards etc. I have for sale. I may buy things to go with this work and make it available (like the felt balls etc). This is where we are going. We may have shows, we may use the space for community things, for parties etc. Rob is 200 percent behind this…and as I engage in the idea, I am warming too. More on that soon.

Yesterday, we picked up and went to Ithaca to pick out tile and a tub for the next rennovation project, the new bathroom off Kitty’s room. There were decisions made—and it was fun to be the four of us all over again. We had a great lunch at Taste of Thai Express with everyone (but me ) having something duck. As there were some “fatty bits” we gathered them up and I, the mom, was supposed to carry them out of the restaurant in a lettuce leaf for Shady Grove. Well, I had an envelope in my pocketbook, so we stuffed the bits and the lettuce in the envelope and marked it Special Delivery for Shady….and took it out neatly, sealed to see what she did. Oh, she was so polite (in front of us…but lets remember her gently pulling out every piece of plastic wrap from the cookies out of the trash and leaving them on the floor for us to discover her sweet iindulgence). But, as soon as I nicked a bit of the envelope open, she was all over it. Manners indeed!

Today, I made granola, the gravy for Saturday and found the recipe for the peanutbutter dog biscuits I plan on making for friends’ dogs. We do not need the cookies, but the dogs do! I wrapped a few more presents and am planning the week of work, wrapping and cooking without rush. Much like the choral event, if much of the work is done in advance, I can enjoy it so much more and not feel bludgeoned on the day of the event. I loved how it all worked out on Thanksgiving…so a bit a bit a bit.

Kitty stamped all the holiday cards. Done. All packages in the mail. Done. Phew.

Tonight we are TJ Maxxing to buy a nutcracker for our collection. Alex actually asked if we could do that. He is a boy that loves tradition….and so, we will oblige.

I start a new moleskine with this Advent Calendar Project on Day 19—with several more days to go… and then on to the next. As I mentioned, “pretty and creepy” delighted me but I am puzzling about what is it about these images that are creepy? can you or someone out there in readership land tell me how they interpret it. I will not be insulted. I genuinely want to understand this….to either play it up or see where it can go…Creepy is what makes it distinct. There is a lot of pretty. Edward Gorey was creepy. Tattoo artists are creepy…is this where I am? Can we put some language around this?

Advent Calendar Day 18: Pretty and Creepy = Pretty Creepy?

Two Gingerbread folk, Q. Cassetti, 2010, pen and ink, from the Second Advent Calendar ProjectAm up against it timewise and will dive into this later, but in a nutshell:

• House looked Great

• Choral event went off without a hitch, a trip and fall, or the police being called

• Rob projects (and he is good with this sort of data) that we easily had 350 folk come through

• A good time was had by all (including me! even on the cider patrol).

More later, Home Despot awaits (oh right, Depot).

 

Advent Calendar Day 17 (bonus): Good and Interesting News!

Run, Run, as fast as you can, you can’t catch me! I’m the Gingerbread Man!, Q. Cassetti, 2010, sharpies, from the Second Advent Calendar Project

We are in full prep, full holiday mode. Instead of ribbons and bows last night, I addresses and sealed all my holiday cards while watching junky teevee. This morning, I finished the wrapping and got two boxes in the mail, got the envelope weighed and bought the stamps for the cards. Then, down to the Regional to pick up the lovely sourdough loaves I ordered (along with some goodies from the little cantina). Then back to the house to neaten, compile, compost and recycle. Now we are into the afternoon. Kitty is decorating the tree. I am decorating wreaths and the chandeliers. Next step, the weeding and sorting of the bitsy bits in the singing room along with the great posting of paper.Two nice things happened re illustration yesterday. First off, I was noticed (via Behance) by the design blog, “OK Great”. I adore the editorial: “I love these illustrations from Q. Cassetti’s 2010 Advent Calendar. They strike a perfect balance of pretty & creepy.” PRETTY and CREEPY. Wow. I am thrilled. That is exactly the box I want to be in, and I am not even trying to be there! Yay. OKgreat seems really nice…and wide ranging. Interestingly, I have only posted these images (outside of my blog) to Behance which is nice as it confirms this simple line approach (inspired by the Lubki—and their simple lines).

The second surprise came from Charles Hively from 3x3 Magazine. He inquired if I would like to be featured in the next issue…and need to supply links to imagery, a short article and pix.  How nice! 3x3 is a gorgeous magazine—and smart…national publication.  Here’s how they describe themselves:

“3x3 is the first magazine devoted entirely to the art of contemporary illustration and the only one published in the United States. Twice a year we take an in-depth look at art and environment of three illustrators. We explore their influences. How they work with clients. How they got their first big break. Each article is written by a fellow illustrator who knows exactly what our audience wants to hear. From the U.S. to Europe, Asia, or wherever, we’ll stay tuned to what’s going on the world of illustration.

We’ll feature four or more new talents in every issue, they might be right out of school or are just now beginning to make a name for themselves or illustrators we find that have a truly unique take on the art of illustration. 

Plus we’ll showcase the recent work of as many as sixteen of the best illustrators in every issue. Selection will be by invitation only. All in all it’s eighty-plus pages of the best illustration has to offer, including guest articles by artist reps Vicki Morgan and Gail Gaynin, a feature on a living artist who has made and impact on the industry, an in-depth look at a recent advertising campaign that has successfully used illustration, a profile of a leading art director and an ongoing feature where we ask our featured artists the same twenty questions.”

I am simply thrilled. More on this as we move forward on this. Need to get going on CA…and see if there are more grants I can apply for.

 

 

Advent Calendar Day 16: Wreathed in Happiness

Holiday Wreath, Q. Cassetti,2010, sharpies, from the Second Advent Calendar ProjectSo, there are wreathes now to add to the russian dolls and nutcrackers. I am working on some new little sillies of gingerbread people> I know, I know…sappy stuff…but hey, this is how I am feeling. I am “loving the line” these days, and any opportunity to bat off something holiday is an excuse for fun. You have figured out that I am big, fat cheater, and this wreath didn’t take days to draw (it took about a half hour) as It was only a quarter. I stuck the bow in the diagonal…and there was very little cheating when I pieced it together for this. In the tradition of John Alcorn, I should print this in grey on some nice watercolor paper and see what develops. Some lovely, watery washes of soft pinks and sage green might work with some gold accents? These wreaths have a little more mileage than the holiday (imagine it stamped in a matte silver on a cream card? or a pearl on matte paper? Oooooh. Fun!

Kitty is home after a long ride. It is great to have her back. She is in good spirits albeit she is still coughing…and the three weeks of rest, food and friends is really in order. We decorated for the big sing last night (Rob put up a lovely tree) with all the mantlepieces with little holiday vignettes. One is about nutcrackers with a wreath decorated in nutcrackers and stuffed gingerbread people. Another is a pair of artificial topiaries with a green swag with lights and silver balls. I filled up some colored drinking glasses with tiny colored balls like little glass fizzy drinks. I decorated the chandeliers with mardi gras swag and ornaments. Today, I will move furniture and get the remaining packages in the mail. Holiday, what Holiday? It is WORK and has been good as we have had focus on it…

I am going to try to get out to go to the store for a few more silver balls…and fairydust.

Some nice things have been happening. My work was highlighted again in the Featured section on Behance. I am waiting to hear from the Society of Illustrators Illustration West show. Need to get the work out to Communication Arts for January. Got my work back from Picture Salon for the Society of Illustration Show this January and February. I feel like I am making some headway on the Hangar and ideas around that.

I was searching/ researching  August Wilson’s ” The Gem of the Ocean” play to seek out something to hang the illustration/graphics on. Wilson’s plays are multilayered, multigenerational thing that I feel need something symbolic as the complexity of the play cannot truly be captured in a snapshot of an illustration. So, finding that the Gem of the Ocean is really a slave ship, I started to search out graphics for that to find that the NYPL digital library has a few really evocative maps/ functional illustrations of the layouts of the slave ships and how to fit people on this ship (much like the image above… which is spurring me to think about the slave, the person entrapped/ boxed in. I am also thinking of a style that evokes African maps…That’s where I am now on this. I need to put my head on “Ragtime” too. I would love to have a sketch for Monday (my meeting with the team). I need to let my brain relax to see what pops up. I am pleased that reseach has driven this break through.

Busy day. Hope it is busy and fun for you too.

Advent Calendar Day 15

A visit from the three kings, Q. Cassetti, 2010, sharpies, from the SEcond Advent Calendar ProjectKitty comes home today on the bus. I am manning the phones to make sure the connections are made and reassurance is there. We rehearsed where to go, where the stop is, what she needs to do, the time she has between buses. So, we will see. She is not top of her game (still ill) and needs some time off to rest and get her stuff together. I might call the doctor so she can be seen on Monday.

Tonight is prep night for the party. Hopefully, we will see Mandy today/tomorrow. We have a tree to decorate, ornaments to hang. We have things to move and store in the upstairs rooms. Its going to be a rush after 4 and tomorrow afternoon.

Lots of phone calls and busyness yesterday. I snuck in a quick illo for my meeting with the Hangar next week. It was a curious approach as I was using a picture and cut out a few layers of color and used the blob brush and eraser to do the heavy lifting. I like what is happening (see here) with the image of Tim Curry which I found to be more disturbing than the clownish tranny pix that are out there. It seems a tad bit darker…which I like.

Need to crunch on finalizing some of these projects.  Hopefully more Hangar stuff next week. Would love to get the broad images done before January 3.

Advent Calendar Day 14: sampler

Santa Nutcracker, Q. Cassetti, 2010, pen and ink, from the Second Advent CalendarColder than cold. Freezing nose. Freezing toes. Shady loves it (this is her season) and the cats have all searched out all the hotspots on the floor and are perched on top of them, soaking in the heat. Rumor is talking lots of snow today/tonight…upwards to 8” for us. There is lots of buzz around that. I walked home from Yearbook class and relished the sharp sparkle of the cold and the astringent quality of just being in the moment.

I think that Mr. Mel is coming today to sweep the stovepipe on the little cricket stove (cricket on the hearth) so we can ramp up two stoves in the kitchen/ t.v. room. Additionally, we are going to see the piano tuner, Eileen, to tune the Hermon Camp piano in the hallway for the Sing. So, we will def have our stuff in gear at the end of today.

We scaled the mountain of work yesterday…to my delight as there was a ton to do..lots of think stuff which is rough on this girl. Hate thinking. Love slothfulness. Need my teenagers to help me with the office holiday cards….and need to get the final box of stuff out in the mail. I sense everyone else is as bogged down in details as I am. There is more for today along with some fun sidebars such as entering the Communication Arts show (due 1/07), get the images to the Society of Illustrators for the opening and get the paperwork together to start thinking about refinancing the house. So, plenty to do.

We are swinging into the season of the Hangar soon. We are meeting on Monday with the communications team and wonderful Peter to make plans around what needs to be done, when. I am looking forward to having some time around the holidays to get the art done for these posters….Five or six pix. Quite a bit. There is a brochure, posters, handbills. I hope we can get it organized so as not to be the insane thing it was last spring. I am pulling some of the images out of the archive…and need to do some that are big, bold and graphic…and everything does not have to be the hour upon hour of doing the vectorizing that the portrait work demands. The simpler the better. Looks so good and strong on the banners etc. I have two in the can….and am thinking that Ragtime might want to be a line drawing. Rocky Horror will be a graphic close up of a face…very Liza Minelli simple. Maybe I should give myself an hour to do that to cut to the chase? You know, that sounds like an idea.

Thinking some more about portly Mr. Penn. Noble and humble, honest and true, Mr. Penn. This could be a very silly little exercise. A colonial fantasy and fairy tale.

Advent Calendar Day 13: William Penn contemplates Christmas

A puzzled William Penn (in his skinny youth) contemplates Christmas in a very Pennsylvania Way, Q. Cassetti, 2010, sharpie on moleskine, from the Second Advent Calendar ProjectI doubled up and didnt give you a 13. So here is an odd 13 that came off the pen unbidden. The real 14 will happen after yearbook later this morning. Cheers!

Advent Calendar Day 12

Angels of Light, Q. Cassetti, 2010, sharpies, from the Second Advent Calendar ProjectHoliday fun. Rob worked on decorating yesterday (I did a little but mainly cooked and fretted). Rob was far more productive. The whole staircase has fresh swags and lights, we have two wreathes trimmed a bit more, the chandeliers are trimmed and decorated (nutty)….(I used red Mardi gras beads which surprisingly looks good despite the garishness). So, we are working against Friday being the big concert here chez Camp….with Kitty and Mandy under the roof too.

Today its work work work and get the financing on the car squared away. Its that time of the year to account for one’s accomplishments and time, so Erich and I are reviewing all the file folders we have and personally, I am seeing where all the time went. Wow. busy.

As I keep working on this advent calendar project, old nuggets seem to surface with some odd ones right out the blue. So, with this frantic drawing project, I have found two subjects I want to settle down with in January and work out. The first one you know about, the Green Man. The second, truly just slammed me in the head, was a fantasy interpretation (based on Fraktur, on colonial illustration, on the Lubok style and of course, dear dear Edward Hicks)…but a series of fantasy pictures (and stories) around Mr. William Penn. Penn was essentially, the landlord for Britain with this state filled with heathens and savages (I am sure that was the British thinking)…and Penn, the Quaker, had to manage and secure this little kingdom…which he did.  My perception of that ideal kingdom is where the imagery could go…an American Garden of Eden would be great…along the lines of Hicks’ depiction of this perfect native world.

I almost laughed out loud when I really focused on Penn in one of the many Hicks’ illustrations of Penn making Treaties with the Native Americans, to find out that he was not portrayed as a heroic, handsome man, but a lumpy, real man who honestly tried to do his best to create harmony in the New World.

 

Advent Calendar Day 11

Santa v2. colored, Q. Cassetti, 2010, pen and ink/colored digitally, from the second Advent Calendar Project.Copy to come. Lots of planning and busyness as we speak. 

Met with Alice about the concert on Friday and walked through the where and whos, how and whatnots re the details of everything from food (cider and cookies), to where the performance would happen, and where the singing would happen, to all the ootses like parking and seating. I got up making lists as did Rob, and I think we are in a better place.

I made some granola, some creamed chicken, the stuff from whence stuffing is made (everything but the bread), and picked a chicken. So, I have a pile of bones for this week with a few more feast day foods in the freeze. Rob and Alex put the swags up around the bannisters and front door. I decorated a few wreathes (from Sams). We are migrating stuff that has been just hanging around….so there is progress on that front.

While waiting for Alex (midnight) Rob and I watched “White Christmas”. I was struck by the graphic quality of the visuals and the insultingly dumb roles that everyone had, but most particularly, the women. Only job was to have a trim little figure, a head of blonde hair, a willingness to break into song at any moment or be swept off her feet in dance. These gals were a “laugh a minute” but smart ( “Smith Girls” were cited)…and would make one of the gents a great person to bear and rear the next generation. These women were not thought of beyond arm candy…even the smart ones….who were, not the slutty ones, but the ones you married. I was also struck that this type of film was something one went to theatre to see…not in the living room, but the real theatre…and probably got dressed up to see it. A time within our reach, but beyond most peoples comprehension. All very curious…and odd. I mean the premise was to drive traffic to an old friend’s ski resort in Vermont through putting on a “show” in a barn bigger than the Hangar Theatre. Of course the other reason for the men to go through these hoops was to hang out with the smart babes, drink buttermilk and discuss sandwiches (with picks and olives on the top), and woo them (maybe with a song or two). it was rife with emotion around the war, and the gathering of the old group to celebrate Christmas as they all had projected when they were in the Army together. Again, beyond our understanding….

Wow.

Time machine…and I am in it.

Advent Calendar Day 10

Holiday wreath, Q. Cassetti, 2010, sharpie, from t he Second Advent Calendar ProjectChit chat later. Just wanted to get our picture up.

2:51 p.m Back from a productive trip to Ithaca:

We went to the dump and had a truly enlightening and simple experience taking care of the tons of recycling we had tout suite! It was great.  A happy maker. Then, Rob dropped me off at Maine Source and he got his haircut. I got granola fixings, some cheese, some stuff to cook to prep the Christmas Turkey event on the early side and freeze. All in all, good shop complete with two bags of salt for the snow and the annual windshield ice scraper.

We headed to Lowes and bought a new dishwasher (current one has failed)—a floor model that we got an extra 10% on top of. Loaded it into the Wonderbus and rumor has it that Dave and Rob will install tomorrow.

Swinging by Lowes, Rob suggested we look at cars (remember the year end car thing…we always look at cars at year end…and its torture as it is car shopping with a deadline of December 31. Also, remember our searching for cars last spring summer? And Rob was shopping for “my” car. Well, this girl got a bit huffy about someone picking out her car (that she was going to pay for) and said that I would make that decision…which I did…today! We are getting a 2011 Jetta TD wagon. Cute and fun to drive. Snappy…good ergonomics, all that great german styling and engineering. Couldnt be happier. Love Maguire and their non negiotiation/best price deal…the price is the price. So, now all I need to do is figure out how  I will structure the money! And,  no more car torture whatsoever! Might need to get some snow tires for this thing! (oh, its grey with a black interior for those who care). And the sunroof!!

Enough retail. I think we single handedly jump started the economy today. It is so curious…we always do these master blasts on one day ( one occasion was a big sofa and a car and something else)… So, the car and dishwasher totally fits.

We are off to a track meet (SUNY Cortland) later this p.m. as Alex is running the first heat and we will go and cheer him on. He has been twitchy (poor guy) and nervous.

Advent Day 8: Santa Too

Santa Doll 2, Q. Cassetti, 2010, pen and ink from the second Advent Calendar project.Working on some aircraft graphics that just doesnt seem to want to go away. Also have some retouching to do around the  work that needs to be printed for the Society of Illustrators Show. That has to happen today. 

Looking at Edward Hicks pix for some lions, some peaceable kingdom ideas. Love his work. Odd, but love. Am also reading a bit on the spiritual illustrations/ pictures from the Shakers. Simple line illustrations. Very symbolic and lyrical line work. I have a new book from a show put on by the Drawing Institute and the Hammer Museum in LA. The Hammer always surprises… and really puts on shows that delight me….and I am sure others. The show catalog is lovely, well written and has a pile of these very rare documents—

I have to go. Am coughing up a storm and need to get some stuff out.