Pencil it in! Girl Power at CMoG

March’s 2300˚ is all girl, all the time with the wonderful Grady Girls bringing irish music to us all. This is what the Rongo says about them:

“A Quartet of fiddles, flute, and bodhran played by a pair of sisters and their two cousins, the Grady Girls gracefully combine the pulsing melodies of slides and polkas (that they picked up in the southwest of Ireland), with more widely known dance tunes such as jigs and reels. Proudly carrying on the musical traditions of their forefathers and foremothers, the lovely young Gradys will sing, fiddle, and step-dance their way into your hearts, much as they entered ours from the first time we met them.”

The Grady Girls’ MySpace>>

Rumor has it that Ephemera, a vocal improv group may sing too!

Neck Cat

After Ganga Devi, Q. Cassetti, 2011, sharpies, pitt pen and moleskineBoys are doing a round trip to NYC today to get a family member to a medical specialist for an annual. Just called, and things are good. Thank goodness. They have blue skies and melting snow versus rain and sleet and snow. Shady is laid out in sunshine on the green floor. Mr. White, my new patient, is receptive to his treatment (eyedrops) and cookies that go with his good behavior. The vet tech said that they identify cats just their color and markings. Mr. White fits into a category as a “neck cat”. Neck cats climb up you, and will sit on your shoulders and around your neck like a fashion accessory. And believe it or not, Mr. White was doing that yesterday for comfort. Made wearing a thick wool jacket (like I am) a wonderful foil for the claws—creating a positive velcro environment for the big guy. Now, like a baby, he climbs up and sits on my shoulder after he gets his eyedrops looking for a little sympathy. He is a squinty pirate, and I guess I am the new pirate ship for his captaincy. I am not a big fan of cats, but Mr. White is alright. We have a week of eyedrops and then another trip to the vet for a confirmation.

I have been at the office since a quarter to 7 a.m. Getting a bunch of things done. Uploaded a brochure and two big sized business cards to Bargain Basement Printing with the cards being (500 pcs. for $14) and the brochure equally inexpensive. So, in a week or so, we will be able to kvell or cry about the quality/price. I hope I am going to be delighted. There isn’t much flexibility around this printer (thus the price), and the file requirements are touchy, but I made it work after a while, and am heartened.

A person I met at The Museum Institute at Sagamore contacted me to see if we could repurpose my valentine for a wedding “Save the date” card. I am flattered, and we have Joe Sepi at Pioneer rolling on the reconfigured redo. What a nice idea!

Next stop, cheap stickers!

Got a poster done for the HS play (on the edge time), got some memos done, paperwork filled out and done, and started some trial-ing the specs….and surfacing more stuff. That hurts. But, if we do not check the work, we will be working and justifying and trying to figure out the specs after the fact. It hurts to have to bounce the stuff back…but better now than later. We still have time to make it work.

Need to go.

 

Quick quick

Many Birds inspired by Ganga Devi, Q. Cassetti, 2011, sharpies, Pitt Pen and moleskineNeed to make this quick. Mr. White is going to be found, bundled up and taken to the doctor as he is very squinty and cranky. I had enough of watching him hurt and made an appointment for him to be poked and prodded.

Its a blue sky day. Brilliant sky, blue shadows and the promise of Spring in the offing.

Go need to get the lariat to round em up.

A presidential celebration!

India Inspired Sirin v.2, Q.Cassetti, 2011, moleskine and sharpiesBoys have the day off. I have charged Alex with filling bags with the clothes he will not wear so there will be room for the things he does wear. Rob is writing things for work and I am looking down the long line of projects that need to be done with emails that need to accompany them with questions, responses etc.

I was working yesterday on looking at possible covers for 3x3. There are some maybes…but there are some ideas of doing something new for it…(a squirrel with a nut?). Also jumped on some of the work for my big client…checking on some guidelines by actually haveing to apply them, finding some big gaps that we will need to put to order before we roll it out. I am worrying about these guidelines as we will be involved in implementing them, and finding some big nuggets that are missing is a bit concerning. Need to dig in.

I am listening to books on tape for the last few weeks and have been feeling very indulged—enjoying the tales and the coziness that a story can inspire…a cuddly hunkering down that is inspiring work and focus. Now, if only the books were more than lightweight trash, it would be terrific. But baby steps first. Ah.

Brilliant Shadows

India inspired Sirin, Q. Cassetti, 2011, sharpies on moleskineBrilliant Shadows, blue on the snow in the bright light. It is quiet and mild (unlike last night when the light snow continued apace). The weather rumors say that we are up for a big snow tonight through Tuesday, so we will see. We have plenty of coffee and milk, so we can hole in for a few days.

Just got off the phone with my little glimmer of light, Kitty. She is in fine form thrilled with everything, her social life, her studies and the new add to her whirl, contra dancing. She is charmed (and I am sure charming). We went through the people, places and things…and things have changed a bit to make her happier as there is more fun in her life. As I am her mom, I want the best for her and from her…and I hope she is keeping pointed in the right directions and stays on center for her work, her studies, her self discovery.

We had overnight guests which was fun. I made some quiche and we hung out and talked. Rob and group went to Ithaca for the Chili cook off—and have gracefully left me to write, layout my new cover for 3x3, and get more branding work done for our client (all due 4/6).

I am a bit panic’ed so….

Need to get rolling.

momento

Talking to the Messengers, Q. Cassetti, 2011, sharpies on moleskineIt is a wonder that this weekend is not scheduled— no big parties, no killer extra projects, no big sports, no early morning or late night pick ups or deliveries. No complaints about the former, but a wide expanse of time to drink coffee and think a bit broader about things, about ideas,about plans for Alex, about the summer. Time to really vegetate, and decompress, to float spiritually in a Florida pool… Is not on the horizon, but a respite is welcome to give perspective on things. It has been a bit like I have been living on greased rails with no beginning or end— just the expanse of track and the sheer steel of trying to stay on and continue at that speed.

Phew.

New picture from the automatic writing series where I can pretend to be Ganga Devi. Its line lines lines….and I am now thinking about how to add color to these things. I think that the added reversed areas and tone help to punch up the pictures and it is interesting to watch the progression from January>

I am working on a Sirin picture (remember Lubki? Half woman, half bird….but its got the indian spin too.

Am working on thinking around the cover for 3x3 that I have been asked to do. I am so flattered to have this opportunity—and the bar is very high. I am thinking bees…

Its been steadily snowing all day…just a light powder that persistently keeps on and on. I swept the porch at noon, and by 3 p.m, Rob did the same. Amazing what a steady pace of fallilng can do. All the ice (or much of it) melted and the winds blew and blew last night. Rob and I always have a post mortem after these big blows to see if the arborial care here has prevented big branches and trees coming down. Nothing but branches in obvious site, but as I meandered down Camp Street to go to the dairy, I noticed one of the old, hole riddled trees that the woodpeckers love hit the ground in the blow. Thankfully, it is in the clearing and not in the road.

vernal snowy day

Inspired by Ganga Devi, Q. Cassetti, 2011, sharpies and moleskine40 degrees and melting. Mild. Feels like Spring. The birds think its coming. Shady doesnt care as the top surface of the snow is icy and hard…her favorite for the wiggle dance she does in the snow spa jiggling and twitching, licking the snow and snapping up little crunchy cold bits. There will be ice chopping after lunch today to get the big chunks under the eaves broken up to melt (with a little salt to help).

Baked up a mess of granola last night. The sight of an empty granola cannister is enough to bring me to tears as this is the “go to” for the boys for late night, after school etc. No granola is another sign of my crummy mother and wifedom. We are back in business today, thank goodness. We whip through oatmeal like nobody’s business. I am always surprised by the sheer volume of this stuff and how it goes.

Things are setting down to ramp up at work…with new learning and quizzing about image bank services our client has, and how to tag, set up folders and the like. We are going to run at this…the kind of project management which is one step at a time. I can still breathe, but it feels like we could have some “moments” between now and the end of March.

Had a nice chat with two of the NYFood partners, Dan and Dean. They are so fabulous. I love this alternative, localvore, meet the farmer life….it really connects so much for me. I am always inspired by their concerns, interests, and work. To hear them talk about the farms, the earth, their families, their animals—it is a poem of love and of live. Each one has a different poem, but the tone and messages are always the same. It is a rich thing.

Great news. Did I mention that Charles Hively is putting me in his next 3x3 with an article, pictures, and of course illustrations. Ursula Roma wrote an amazing piece with Jason Koski doing the photography. I am filling in details with the photos…and am finalizing now. Charles asked if I would do the cover! So, wow. Am a bit stunned by that….now the question is what! I got a sneak peek of the Computer Arts article (UK magazine) on folk art and several illustrators who work in this mode. Tremendous!

Has anyone out there used TAXI? Looks good. However, the recent new folks I am working with came from a  search of the illustrator /designer, Alexander Girard.  Remember my phase last summer with Christmas angels, doves and the like? That was the work that the wonderful googlebot found, ranked and hooked me up with this good design firm in NYC.

The other is just a recommend. So, what help are all these random portfolio sites? How many do I need to have, to update etc? Behance has been great for waving the flag to say to the world, hey, I am here….but do I need more than the Directory of Illustration, Behance, my own sites, Society of Illustrators LA? Any ideas, insights?

Winter Bear

Winter Bear, Q. Cassetti, 2011, digital, vectorLittle messing around with simple shapes working with my new favorite tools  (shift W: which monkeys with line widths and shift M which can join shapes —additive and subractive). I love messing around in the land of vectors so I can make little ditties like the bear to the left. Key learning from this rush job is that believe it or not, if I draw my designs, scan them in and then have them as guidelines underneath the vector work, the images are better, happen faster and are more designed than just randomly drawing on the tablet without a plan. No duh. But hey, that’s why I had to go to graduate school was to have my mentor, Murray, surface these things because the basic stuff is something we forget. Sketch first, finish last. So my desktop is littered with thick trace with tons of line drawings waiting to turn into vector shapes.

Another thrill is that I am building a wonderful library (in the symbols library in Illustrator) of all these critters and shapes. I need to draw some racoons, squirrels, bears, deer…woodland animals as they have a place far beyond the zoo/tropical animals. I have also made some way cool brushes (thanks to the prodding of Jean Tuttle) of vegetation, leaves, holly….So the toolbox expands and I am building my own version of Design Elements.

Love the Ultimate Symbol and its CDs. Check em out. They are such a wonderful tool to help get the jobs done. Check em out. New to the collection is a rights free disk set of Seymour Chwast illustrations. Interesting that Chwast has gone into business with Ultimate Symbol (which I think is a remarkable and very design forward organization) to get a library of his illustration back into circulation. For me, this moves the needle significantly in the world of rights free illustration. What is your thinking?

I am beginning to get that frisson of excitement around just doing illustration and graphics. I feel a wave is coming.  A sunami. Yea! Its about time.

We had a great chat en famille last night with Kitty—a virtual valentine for all of us. She was in good spirits mixing it up with a new group of friends referred to as “Skull Cave”. These are interesting folks who are not as crazed as others with World of Warcraft and other consuming electronic games. There is a high zombie factor with students studying and then spending a lot of their spare time playing these games.She was in great shape, centered, happy….laughing. I miss her so much.

<3

Valentine, Q. Cassetti, 2009, digitalHappy Valentines Day to all my friends and followers.May there be treats, cards and hugs to all…and know that this day is just one that we should tell each other how much we value and love each other. Just one day out of 365—we should all try for the next 364. 

I am sitting here, listening to the wind whistle as the weather is warm and feels like a barometric shift is in the works. Its water and ice on the driveway so going down was “thrilling” but coming up the same was questionable as there is no traction. I just hope it dries out before it freezes (not leaving us with an inch and a half of ice).

I am worn out from the weekend. It has been a two week blur of work and not much quiet time. Work continues apace—not to my complaint, but it is more than usual, and the stress of the deadlines is not my favorite thing. Its got to switch out. We do not have a double header next weekend. Though the boys are booked through 9 p.m. tonight…So, I will need to get a good dinner for them late. Rob will be burning the afterwork time 4-5 days this week.

Just found a great new resource. Yes, I will need to print something to see the quality etc, but check out the prices: www.bargainbasementprinting.com. I mean, 500 postcards printed both /full color is $26. 500 trifold brochures, $78. It takes 5-7 business days to print…but hey. For that price, how bad can it be? For my friends in small businesses or for quick projects, how sweet is this?

Also, the Sticker Guy is back up and running, . Again, great prices and a huge promotional opportunity for those of us in small businesses that need to get our name and image out there.

Valentine's Day Eve

Inspired by Ganga Devi, Q. Cassetti, 2011, sharpies on MoleskineIts been busy here. Late nights and then yesterday the prep and provisioning for our Pourhouse Anniversary Party. I got off to the store to buy all sorts of this and that for the party with my dish to pass be 50 hot dogs (which were very well received by the crowd). Rob and team built a bar out of parts from around here—wood and saw horses along with a back bar and a monitor on the fireplace for the unbelieveable slide presentation that Jim Reidy prepared for the event. We had tons of people and it was tremendous fun. I met all sorts of Trumansburg and Ithaca celebrities who are all personalities with opinions, interests and ideas. To put it mildly, lots to talk about with lots of very cool people. Our friends brought dishes to share from a turkey (! perfection), to salad, lots of beautiful bread and oil, cheese and spreads, and some gorgeous desserts. And my hotdogs (which is a great dish to pass…note to remember). The band, Boots and Shorts were great…and not too loud so the music suited the house. Our final guests left at 2:30 a.m. with my getting up at 7 to get Alex to the ski bus for another Sunday of ski club.

I got home and had a nice chat with one of our guests (whose family spent the night here) about food and all things culinary as he is a remarkable chef. At 12:30, I got to work on my rush project which fell into line unlike last weekend. We are all looking at another long week maybe a little less nuts because at least the big party is not on the horizon for this week.

I am very tired, so an early night night is in order.

Oy.

At the wheel first thing this morning. Got the valentines (stamped last night in front of a way junky movie) to the post office. Would love to do more with the valentine thing, but there just isn’t time. I need to find some goodies in the present closet and put bows on things to hand out.

Reread my email to find out that yes, yes in indeedie, its another full tilt work weekend. Amendments to a job by Monday. Need to get some clarification of what, how etc is needed as tomorrow is the Pourhouse celebration here….and I have car chores to do with some provisioning and moving stuff around. Plain and simple, Saturday is out. Sunday, is a full work…but ouch. I am strung out with working late all week and weekend before.

I have been using my new found knowledge of new tools and techniques from Adobe Illustrator CS5 . I am using brushes (newies) and making symbol libraries to put together quick layouts (forgot about the wonder of symbols)—and am feeling pretty glib with these skills.

Gotta go. Have to get ready for a meeting.

 

churning away

Q. Cassetti, 2011, vectorMaking a bunch of vector pix—one after the next…churning away and away. The squirrel to the left is one of the critters coming off the vector pen. I like the way this guy is looking.

Valentines day is on us. I have the envelopes stuffed. Mandy will help sealing them today and I will label and stamp tonight. Joe Sepi did a great job and now that I have lived with the sweetness, I am liking the way these are looking.

Shady is outside celebrating the snow with her friend, the border collie, Elsa. They are romping and rolling…just absorbing the cold, the crispiness, and the sheer wonder of it being morning. Just watching her taking in the moment, makes my heart leap a bit…as she is just happy, genuinely happy taking it all in. So, grey skies go away….and bring Shady more fluffy whiteness to roll and delight in.

I had a wonderful surprise meeting yesterday with a new best friend, Joe  Myer to hear about this new enterprise that is going to happen on our lake. Joe is a member of a family that has been farming the same place for seven generations and who have roots back to the land grant time.  There may be a logo, some packaging and image making with this entity which fits with my love of the localvore, supporting the businesses here, and projecting a world vision on a local level. And Joe is the rennaissance person who paints, is a musician, a cow milker dairyman, and interested in everything who can make this happen. Isn’t it great when you meet someone who shimmers with possibilities? Joe is one of those people. I hope there will be more here for us to share.

Alex is working until 6 on the play. Rob has civic duties until 9. So, I have an evening to get stuff done….and maybe watch a bit of tube. What a treat.

 

Divine Devi

Ganga Devi, Museum of New Delhi, 1989, muralCow work yesterday. We had a mini SooperBowl party with all sorts of junky food, teenaged boys jumping up and shaking their fists at the tv screen, great ads and fun. Everyone stayed until around 10:30 when it was time to turn off the tube and quiet down for the night.
It was cows yesterday and the other project Saturday….Did a little somethin’ sompthin’ to the Squint blog yesterday to tie the headers more closely to the new website to be launched in April. Need to get work done today along with finalizing the panels for the Library exhibit.

Ganga Devi drawingDon’t you love this picture from my new Ganga Devi book to the left? (Ganga Devi, Tradition and Expression in Mithila Painting by Jyotindra Jain). This image is a detail of wall paintings of kohbar-ghar  (marriage ritual in Madhubari). Look at the color, the floral/lotus trim, the curlydoodles on the edge of her veil? And then to remind us that its a Mithila/Madhubani painting, there are fish and birds (parrots) even in the brilliant yellow fabric of her sari. And what about the image on the right with the fish, turtles, crab, frog and snail…with the swirly water… Another poem to nature from that wonderful Ms. Devi.

 

Mooving

Happy Holstein, Q. Cassetti, 2011, Adobe Illustrator CS5Working along on this cow for a potential client. Keeping it to a black, a midtone and white as this will be printed in a limited palette for packaging… I poked it in this frame to bring to you all, but the Art Director has other plans for this. I originally started this at 400% of the size—and as I began to get into it, I found I was losing detail and then, duh…I realized that the work should be done close to 100% to be able to realize the detail…which even at this size might be too fine… and so it goes.

I was on the boards designing yesterday from 10 a.m. until 7. We had dinner at Dorothy’s Music Room to try out the new venue. The music was good. The food was good and the drink selection was good and the pours generous. It is a quieter place…a bit less “scary” seems to be attracting a slightly older group. There were people dancing to the group.  It is a place that one can talk over the music. It is not the Pourhouse, but a more grown up place that has a place here in Tburg.

Tonight is the Superbowl. I will be making pizzas out of garlic bread, putting some shrimp out and making a salad for Alex, his german friends, Bruce, and Rob. Poor Alex, exhausted from the track meet and the dance at the school, was anticipating eating granola for breakfast prior to the ski bus…to find out that we were totally out of this cereal and bread. So, I will be baking another batch of granola for the week ahead.

I am going to tweak this cow for the next half hour before putting it away for today.  There are the valentines to stuff (finalize) so I can have them assessed for postage  and finalize the labelling. And then, I need to ship the projects out to the foks that had me hopping for the past few days.

TCB

Inspired by Ganga Devi, Q. Cassetti,2011, moleskine and sharpies.\I love it that Elvis gave his band members his favorite insider initials: TCB (taking care of business) belt buckles and all sorts of other stuff with those initials on it. Today is a TCB day. We were up early to get Alex to the bus for a track meet. Then it was getting to the desk (for me) to kick it into gear for this new small client, fast job. I am a bit paniced (like I normally am with someone I do not know)… but what is coming off the wacom is good… solid… not high risk, but easily something to show to a client pretty immediately.

As an interesting aside, this client was googling Alexander Girard and found me in that search online. Remember the Girard jag for a short time last summer. I guess these sidebar jags are not a waste of time as sometimes they are beckons for new work. I love the way this cyber info world works.

Another something to better understand is Dribbble (three bs please). You know that I am a fan of Behance as it is a visual arts networking site where one can post portfolios, projects etc and get direct feedback. Behance has gotten me in front of all sorts of people who might not run across my work. It has gotten me noticed and recognition has come my way from that. Dribbble is another site I think that has promise. Dribbble says this about themselves” “Dribbble is show and tell for creatives. Designers, developers and other creatives shareshots—small screenshots of the designs and applications they are working on.” You are nominated to be a player on Dribbble by either other players or by one’s involvement with the site. I like it that its simple onesie screen shots…and a way to share. Cool. I hope I can become a player (for real)….Take a look. Your thinking?

My valentines showed up from the wonderful Pioneer Printing (Lodi). I have a gold foil stamped smooth card (one side) with a kraft envelope with teensy bodoni centered on the square flap. Rob wanted to know what I thought of my card, curious as this one is a bit sweeter than I usually do. I will be curious to know from those of you on my list, as to whether it is too sweet or not… I am pleased with the stamping, but this job points up the need to do much simpler work, or even smaller on the page as the foil really is quite commanding. I stuffed some of them last night with more tonight, and then labelling during the Superior Bowl. I guess I will not be cooking but ordering a pizza for the boys to keep pup with the stuff that needs to be done.

Tonight is the Snowball at the High School. Alex and date are going to dinner (we pick up and deliver)..and then the dance. Tomorrow Alex has skiing. Rob has work. I have more design work…dig in…and get in front of it for the next week.

More later, I hope.

IF: [Postitive +] Reverse

Positive and Reverse, from the body of work inspired by Ganga Devi, Q. Cassetti, moleskine and sharpies, 2011This is a line drawing from my notebook. It is inspired by the Madhubani artist, Ganga Devi, her work, her use of line, and her strong design use of black and white. This was drawn in verithin blue line, then inked in with a sharpie pen on the large format Moleskine book. Then, it is scanned into the computer (600 dpi) and manipulated in photoshop with chunks of reversed out art slid into replacing the positive spaces with dark/reversed shapes.

Yin/Yang

Positive/Reverse

Black/White

Sun Day

Study after Ganga Devi, Q. Cassetti, 2011, sharpies on MoleskineBrilliant day. Cold blue sky with brilliant bounce off the snow with the spiky walnut trees reaching up with dark fingers into the cloudless above. Just looking out the window has made me run to my pocketbook and pull out my camera and pop off some shots as the shadows are truly bright purple and rich lavenders combined with edges of cream. I never believed that shadows could really be purple and blue until living here on our plateau, and there they are…not obsured as they were in the valleys, but out there for all to see. I can be an Upstate impressionist—or at least pretend to be.

The roads are clear so errands will not be frightening as they were the other days. New wonderwagon does not have snowtires…so snow is a bit risky. I should get snowtires as they give me more comfort than not having them.

I had half the panels designed for the Library display and then my illustrator CRASHED. So, hopefully today, I can rejigger and get out as they need to be in the curator’s hands by the 21st. Not a ton of time, but enough for output/mounting and fasteners.

Interesting news….and a reminder that all this social media, networking, Behance etc. pays off. I posted all my vital info (learned from a Twitter colleague) on about.me.com. A little advertisement about.me (here is my page>>). About me is sort of a web business card. It links the viewer to all the outlets you post work/ network/etc. Plus, it has an email button without one having to post your email. So, it makes you accessible without putting all the details really “out there”. Well, back to my story…. I got a note from about me from a really good designer who wants me to work on a really cool project with them…something really up my alley. I am so psyched. I hope this works out. Too cool for school.

Speaking of Behance, I posted a  bunch of these odd illustrations I am doing yesterday calling the body, Embroidered Line. I really do not know where these images are coming from, they are streaming…fed by the work of Ganga Devi. I am surprised by the oddness…weirdness, creepiness…but am just going to let the hand hit the paper to see what happens.

More later.

snowday

Study after Ganga Devi, Q. Cassetti, 2011, sharpies on Moleskine.I do not know where these pictures are coming from. Automatic writing these days. Yes, the trigger was fusing Laylah Ali with the work and spirit of Ganga Devi and this wigged stuff is just emerging. The mean little teeth, the skeptical bigger figure, and the fawning little figures. Looks to me that I need more medication and counseling. What is this all about? I like the pattern, the big shapes, and the grouping of the the heads. So, as my hand keeps moving and I keep making these automatic drawings, we will see what happens. I must admit, once the drawings are done, I do splice pieces of a reversed image of the drawing into the line drawing (in Photoshop) to give the image more weight and interest. I have posted both the plain image and the enhanced here>> So, keep posted. There is more.

Just finished posting work to the 3x3 Professional Show (due March). We will see what happens. I sent a collection of Advent images, Home Sweet Home, a collection of Bees, and some singletons. Now, I need to finalize the article/images etc. for the 3x3 article. I should enter the next Creative Quarterly. I have gotten out of the habit of applying…and its such a beautiful book.

Things are heating up on a big project for my client. We have deadlines within sight..and its getting scary and exciting all at the same time.

Oh, here’s something else. Sticker Guy, is an amazing resource I found in Los Angeles (reading the stickers on dumpsters, no kidding)—as they have really great inexpensive black and white/ or black white and red stickers that the extreme guys use (surf companies, skateboard companies etc) to make a zillion simple stickers to tag the world with. I got their recent offerings and pricing and was blown off my chair. Here it is if you need/want that sort of thing>>

Alex and Rob are home. The whitestuff didn’t drop the way we expected though there is ice and not nice roads. So, we will have a crowd for lunch today.