tick tock

Inspired by a Massachusetts Headstone 2, Q. Cassetti, 2011, pen and ink, digitalMust make this quick. Have a two hour stint at the HS to work with wonderful Marc on the Yearbook and the software we have decided to use. So I will have to make tracks.

Got the cow picture squared away along with some doodads requested by the amazing art director I am working with . I got the cow picture (with a farmer) reduced down to black and three greys which is pretty good getting another color to hand back to the designer to weave back into the package graphic. Hangar is coming along…maybe by end of this week. A girl can hope. Some big pubs (brand new) are coming on the horizon…so cleaning up the little stuff will be key.

Mr. White is still suffering although he is walking better and eating like the good old days of robusto. Kitty is a bit topsy turvy…that back from college, trying to make sense of the at home thing and the college thing. She is tired and feeling stressed, but we see tremendous growth. Change can hurt…and I think she is feeling it a bit.

“Lurking on the Railroad” is the play Alex is in at the High School. They are working late each night with opening night being Thursday (through Saturday) and we will have hot dogs and the cast party here. No biggie since the last extravaganza (Pourhouse).

Need to go…the clocks are all chiming to say “get going!”.

Ciao.

Onward

Inspired by a Massachusetts Headstone, Q. Cassetti, 2011, pen and inkOnward! It was a quiet day yesterday with projects and nonpaying jobs. I worked on the Hangar work and Rob worked on the bathroom imaginings. Kitty slept and relaxed. Alex visited with friends. I got a little bit ahead, but now, back to the drawing board with late late thinking and amendments.

The snow is melting…as we continue to get icy flurries that dust the mud piles. We are looking at the season of mud in front of us…We all just hope that we can move forward with the brighter and longer days. We have had enough of the miasma of mud and ice.

Thanks to the intellectual salad bar that the iPad provides at quiet time, trolling or shopping for cool ideas surface things that are out there that are wonderful, interesting, useful and thought provoking. Here are some new cool discoveries:

In the tradition of Rip Van Winkle, I always find myself shaking my head and feeling like somehow I missed it again…and this emerging approach to type for the web and mobile devices (the WOFF Standard). The blog, “all Blogging Stuff” highlights some of these changes and resources for Web Typography in their entry (03/12/2011) “8 Essential Web Typography Resources.”

I also found this wonderful website: The Grid System, a resource and forum for grid systems. I love grids and the way it formats and puts bones into any publication or design program. And with a  Josef Muller-Brockman quote to open this site (I mean, he is the MAN)—how could any girl resist?

“The grid system is an aid, not a guarantee. It permits a number of possible uses and each designer can look for a solution appropriate to his personal style. But one must learn how to use the grid; it is an art that requires practice. ”   Josef Müller-Brockmann

83 Awesome Links for Cartography Geeks>>

Teehan+Lax speaks about “Designing faster with a baseline grid” by Pierre Marly and even provide a grid to download (a 960px grid system designed by Nathan Smith) as tryout.

Love the writing and simplicity of Graphic Mac/ Smart Typography Tips A terrific starting place. I wish I  had written this.

And, totally off topic, but part of the salad bar concept (this is the pudding next to the vinigrette), The Digital Atlas of Roman and Medieval Civilizations from DARMC/ Harvard.

And now, to move onward to cook dinner.

Shopping!

Easter presents: ordered! One of my favorite insane asian stores is

bestofferbuy.com who carry the ever popular sushi flash drive (I bought a bacon one this time around), flashing LED dog collar pendants, amazing (and I mean amazingly out there) ladies watches (can you say asian and rhinestones all in one glittery mass), and my new favorite for the low, low price of $2.90 (“free shipping”) “novel solar powered cockroach (black). The sole review says from Mr. Clayton Freeland: NICE LITTLE BUG REALLY BUZZES AND HOPS IN A HOT PU BED HERE IN DEATH VALLY”. Say no more. Guess what is going in our little easter baskets? Their flash drives do rock…and the prices do too… However, if cockroaches are your thing, Etsy has a cockroach USB flash drive to accompany your solar one!

They support the bacon flash drive with this sort of copy: ” Realistic Food Bacon USB Flash Drive Make Memory More Meaty”. Perfection. If your Saturday is lagging, thumb through these flash drives, I am sure there will be one with your name on it….  They have sushi pens, crosissant pens, pickle pens, and the great little asian erasers that look like food. I wish I had known about these erasers when Kitty and Alex were busy with their stuffed puppies and the dinner parties they would throw. The Easter Bunny never had it so good!

OMG. I totally missed this one, the Waving Chairman Mao watch for $7.60 (free shipping!)

Kitty is home, relaxed and happy. She has grown in spirit and confidence…and its great to have her here. Rob and I went off to the dump this morning along with returning a rental car, going to Home Depot and Lowes for the thises and thats for our bathroom, and then to Greenstar to buy Miso. Who would have known that miso comes in so many shapes and sizes, organic, smoked and many of the colors of the rainbow. This need for miso comes from our devouring the ginger miso dressing sold at Greenstar. I figure, how hard is that to make? so now, the race is on! The more ginger miso we make, the more veggies we will eat!

I picked up Mr. Winky White at the doctors today. He is a wreck…with a nasty cone around his head and his shaved face…pooor dear. He is in his room now, with water, a litterbox and some nice wet food—which seemed to rock his world. I was hoping we could give him a little time in the main house, but he is still a bit rocky. Day one…

 

Kick off to Lent

Flippity Flop 4: color, Q. Cassetti, 2011, pen and ink, digital colorationFirst day of Lent. Thinking about the things I am going to give up. I have a list. It’s all doable , the right thing to do. It’s nice to have a reason to give something up. The question is how many things to give up so that it feels like something. and I can do some preemptive mental spring cleaning on M. E.

Poor Mr. White. I took him to the wonderful vet clinic, ARC. They immediately scheduled him for surgery tomorrow and decided to keep him until then. I guess Mr. Cranky and Mr. White mixed it up again, and his eye was severely damaged such that they are going to remove the eye and sew up the lids. Lets just say it has me shaken. Robbie has been nice to suggest that Mr. White finally has earned a new name, Winky. Mr. Winky White… David suggests a tiger’s eye eye versus the sewn up thing. A patch would be dapper.  He is so sweet but eggs Mr. Cranky on.. So he will become my studio cat during the unmanaged time of the day—so that they will not have unsupervised time. The kind vet basically outlined that these feline behaviors cannot be modified. 

New news aggregator, Zite, recommended by Walt Mossberg just launced on iTunes today (free) . Just downloaded it. Love Flipboard and Pulse. I know this is going to be great! Katie Boehret at All things Digital explains:

“Zite, by a Vancouver company of the same name, crawls over half a million Web domains to find specific reading material that would be of interest to you, according to your social network and/or online reading behavior. It evaluates this potential content by tracking signals (like tweets, comments, tags and sharing) from stories that indicate a certain level of social interest and momentum in the story. The result is a personalized magazine that gets more accurately targeted toward its reader the more it’s used.”

“Zite isn’t just a mirror of your social-networking account. It figures out what you consider interesting according to your Twitter or Google Reader accounts, then fills your magazine with stories about similar topics.

It also tracks and learns from user behavior as people open stories (or don’t), so if users just read a story on Zite, its personalization still works. With each story a user reads, he or she can opt to indicate they like a story, want to see more of one or all of the individual topics covered in that story, or want to see more from the source of that story. Zite then makes suggestions according to that knowledge. So your Zite magazine will never be exactly like mine.”

Another highlight of this morning’s news and article grazing was this gem to help lay people work with type (from Jim Dempsey at the Graphicmac.com). Dempsey simply outlines “tips that can make your next printed piece more professional”. I think I may ask Jim Dempsey if we can copy this as a document to add to our tools to help our big client’s employees work with type in a better way. 

Speaking of Dropbox, we are going the next step with it. I am loving what it can do for me.

Fat Tuesday

Mardi Gras Memento, Q. Cassetti, 2011. Pitt pen, ultra sharpie pen on moleskine We had a magical dinner at Hazelnut Kitchen last night…me and the boys. Alex was courtly and funny, amusing us with his insights and observations which are rational, succinct and quite wise for someone so young. I am so proud of him, his view of the world, and the world that continues to unveil one more interesting thing after the next for him. And our dinners were delicious, beautifully presented and imaginatively put together. They are doing wonderful things there.

Mardi Gras is today. They are eating pancakes in Pittsburgh and boudin in Lafayette LA. Revelry with feathers and music, high jinx and frivolity. The last of the king cake will be consumed because tomorrow, the period of remorse and sadness begins.

Need to get into that spirit.

What to give up for lent? Hmmm… I have a few ideas. Humor? Trying to be nice? I think I will give up being a grown up! Yeah….that feels right.

Interesting how change evokes change. With the snow, I opened a dropbox.com account. Dropbox is cool…as it is a sync’ed file that you can access via the web, via your computer, cellphone and ipad. You are given 2 GB of space for free…and can pay for more…so its not pricey to back up to dropbox to have your files available immediately, anywhere you want…plus, you can set up folders for clients etc. etc. I may even get one just for my personal work…so the work and the play can be separate. Hmmm. Works like a charm. Installs easily. Syncs with the iPad, powerbooks and desktop beautifully. Simply explained and a snap to engage.

Need to get rolling on an illustration. Awaiting the  Hangar materials (a bit late)…as there is a ton to do.

Later baby.

Wintery Mix

Mardi Gras Mix, Q. Cassetti, 2011, Pitt Pen, Ultra Sharpie on MoleskineMardi Gras is tomorrow. Our friends Peter and Peggy are in Lafayette listening and playing with some of the best Louisiana can offer along with participitating in la vrai Mardi Gras, Cajun style. Lots of activity with music, asking door to door for things to add to the stew, and of course, the annual pole shinny for chickens and the like. And, and, and there are costumes and great hilarity. So, to honor Peter and Peggy’s sojourn, I have a few Mardi Gras pix (today and tomorrow). Tried adding to color to this…and yup, flat tire. Need to try with the tones like last week…

Have been listening to our new radio station 90.1 that has been talking a lot about cajun music—and music of the various New Orleans Social Clubs…the Prince of Wales Social and Pleasure Club, in particular.(another link to photos>>)I need to understand how these clubs work. They feel much like the social clubs in Phillie (Mummers!) and to some degree, the contrada clubs in Siena where it is  neighborhood, intergenerational thing…that goes way beyond their events, but to a lifestyle that is engrained in the local fabric. I need to read up…there is something wonderful here.

You probably dont know that I am huge Mummer fan…the whole insanity of their stut, the concept of hundreds of men dressed in feathers and glitter playing BANJOS in unison. I mean, doesnt get much better than that. We went to see them at an indoors extravaganza when we were living in Philadelphia (this is why I am married to the most wonderful and patient man!) and it was wild. The sheer din of the wockawocka of the banjos…and the out there traditions these clubs espoused. We need some of this here in the Burg. Hmmm.

We got the snow. About ten inches…and we got the snow day. I clocked down a bunch of work…Alex hung out, and was forced out of the house with a shovel to help. Rob was busy.

I think we may go out for dinner! 

flying lines

Flippity Flop 4 in grisaille, Q. Cassetti, 2011Snow fall. Solidly falling all day that the promise of 10 inches by tomorrow morning seems like a high probability. Soft, heavy and quiet. Silent and persistent whiteness. I ran off early on to buy milk and chickens to roast. Rob and I put some time into reconstruct Kitty’s room which was filled with dust from the great bathroom redo. It’s pretty luxe…and I think it will please her a great deal.

The day has gotten in front of me…with cups of tea, bags of groceries, sorting the small pieces of this and that, from orderly to disorderly.

More tomorrow.

Luscious Linoleum

flippity flop 3, in grisaille, Q. Cassetti, 2011

So working on the technique of these things. The bolder the lines, I find it getting harder to make them interesting in color, but the grisaille works (at least for me). I could color this. These images are different than the memento mori images, using techniques from the Home Sweet Home body of work last year around this time. As always, color stumps me, so doing it is pushing the old girl along to see if the images evolve and snap more with the color than just plain black and white which is my “go to” and safe place. The original line drawing (bottom) is where I started, took it to color (I’ll post, but am not thrilled with it), back to reworking in greys (top). The image is drawn in my moleskine (A4), with sharpie pens, and new copic brush pen (nice).  Original sketch done in verithin photoblue pencil. Verysharp please. Then, I scan it in, retouch the half and then flop. Then I make another one, (negative) on another field…and cut and paste between the two. Pretty crafty…all we need is the virtual gluestick.

I am pondering….”Is it better to get an undergraduate degree in art/visual art from a liberal arts school if you know you want art? or is it better to go to a for real Art School?”. I have landed on the side of get the liberal arts education and draw like no one’s business. Learn to write. Learn some skills directly related to art, but also develop interests that are the sources for content, for inspiration, for further learning. Learn to learn. Get the spark. Focus happens for us all…why cramp your style by focusing down so quickly? Why get stuck in a groove too quickly. You might create a hybrid that can change you and or the world. You could find content in DNA and it can inform your art, your films, your stories.  You never know. Mark Zuckerberg did not go to school to create Facebook. He learned to learn….and with the climate today with what a job, what work is— who knows if you can learn how to be something when the terraine is shifting in such wonderful and interesting ways. What with Etsy and the money one can make at short pops during the year…making a living is not limited to a nine to five at a Fortune 100 with your “work/life/balance” defined, and your personality questioned insofar as wheither you are good or bad. There is so much out there in this wide world, focusing down is safe insofar as the “job”, but isnt your time on this plain so, so much more?

I need to get on the ball and look at summer programs for the babies. It would be great to find something for Mr. Boy that might be related to photography or something else. Kitty, art. Maybe Illustration Academy (did you know its not in Florida anymore?). Here is what they say:

“The Illustration Academy’s 2011 summer program will be held in one location, Kansas City, MO. The Illustration Academy is now operating as a Special Program within The Art Department’s (TAD) Illustration Major. The 2011 Illustration Academy will be held in the TAD studios (Pods) that have been developed to accommodate the immersion component of TAD.

The Illustration Academy will begin June 12th and run through July 8th. The same stellar professionals will make up The Illustration Academy Faculty. It is a major advantage to have the Academy in our own space once again. We are presently speaking with a major convention hotel about housing for the Academy students and instructors. “

I have sauce bubbling away while two testosterone filled juniors bellow and moan over this shoot em up game they are playing on the t.v. There was drum music for about an hour and now we have breaktime with chocolate milk and gunplay. Alex had the school play practice today. Skiing (in the rain?) tomorrow.

Rob and I came back from trolling the big box stores for bathroom light fixtures and sinks. We were amazed by the sheet flooring that is out today that mimic the real thing wonderfully amazingly. I have a hankering for a deep brown parquet…which is really, really convincing though the cork was pretty spectacular too. We are finishing up Kitty’s bathroom and the yellow bathroom (one of the original 3) is having all the acid yellow tile ripped off the walls (this is an amazing acid yellow as nothing “went with it”—-we tested colors galore to a big bad yuck) and the dropped ceiling trashed. It is quite spectacular. All the fixures stay (except the cheap vanity) and we are looking at linoleum as we really do not want to have to shim all the plumbing  to raise it for tile (as well as the thresholds and the contact with the tub). So, its a refit…and this luscious, believable, chocolate parquet would make it a stage set for glamour. We are thinking of moving one of the chandeliers (the house came with three yucky ones) into the space as we have the headroom…and it would be great. Only problem as I can see it, is that one chandelier is just not enough. Three? Five? At different heights? Now we are talking.

Mardi Gras illustrations fill my thin skull. I think I need to move towards doing a few.

Later.

Tease

Flippity Flop 2 with tone, Q. Cassetti, 2011, pen and ink on moleskine (A3), digital toneAnother tease from Spring. Blue skies, blue shadows, and bright light. The snow is still on the ground but the little flirt, Spring, is waving us on with the birds cheering time on and inspiring us that change is in front of us. I am anxious to buy some montmorcy cherry trees so make those little promises even more tempting. Lets see if the 4 hellebore I put in last spring (inspired by the few hellebore that Rebe left us) bloom and tempt.

Crazy today. Phone calls galore. Work galore. Track dish to pass at six promptly. Am worn out before we even get started. Not much time to chat….but figured I would post the newest with tone for your amusement…and say hi.

Hi!

Segue

Flippity Flop 2, Q. Cassetti, 2011, pen and ink on moleskineLooks like Spring is peeking out. The sun is shining and bouncing off the snow. Shady is passed out on the floor. Mei Mei is sitting on my windowsill surveying the scene outside. Mr. White continues to be quiet and in hiding. I hope he mellows out. He still keeps picking fights with Mr. Grumpy…and now that he only has one operative eye, its is a lost cause.I wish he would figure that out.

Got my printing back from BargainBasementPrinting.com. The brochures were a tad hot (colorwise) but not bad, and for $78. it is better than anything that Kinkos can do. Business cards were the same. However, quick turn around….and prices that are good. Plus, guess where my boxes shipped from? Rochester! So nearby and neighborly. Right? Minimum quantities are 500…but for a cheap mailing?

Need to get the ad for Illustration Directory done as well as the magazine cover I have on the horizon. Gotta finalize the Hangar stuff (they are running behind) along with a few other projects. Looks like a pretty open day….can get a mess done.

I had my hair changed yesterday. I have been evolving to grey. My wonderful Demetra decided I needed to do it boldly, so she created some bold platinum stripes in the grey…and its kind of Cruella Deville but white…cool. Demetra mentioned that the hipsters are coming into the salon to get their hair dyed grey! So…its not so bad segue-ing into that aging thing.

glimmer

Flippity Flop color, Q. Cassetti, 2011, pen and ink, digitalSo, a new technique is emerging. Not exactly new…but taking these detailled black and white line drawings beyond black and white. I add tone via Photoshop (see yesterday’s image) using postitive and negative aspects of the original line work along with tone added via brush and eraser. Then, the toned piece is the base for the coloring (see above). I am thrilled with the way this is looking. lots of detail, and it is working as a color piece too. So, now onward to working with it. I do not know why Memento Mori images popped back up, but they have and I am looking at Mexican Sugar Skulls again with happiness in my head and pen.

Speaking of pens, do you know about the refillable Copic SP Multiliner pens? There is a wide wide range of widths along with a brush that is permanent. Sweet. Jet Pens have them…. and of course, they have wild and wonderful Japanese office supplies.

I am a bit nuts as a bunch of rushes were plopped inbetween me and the preexisting work that will keep me in my chair until at least 8 tonight. I would like to be able to leave before 7 on a more regular basis. It gets a bit tedious, but books on tape keep me wanting to work to stay with the story (thank goodness!).

Gotta go.

Double Trouble, Q. Cassetti, 2011

Chocolate Chip Painting

Sirin 2 colored, Q. Cassetti, 2011, pen and ink, digitalI was purusing my Painter Wow book. Painter is a program I know a bit and feel that there would be a lot there, but it just seems so filled with bells and whistles that it becomes a struggle to do something tasteful. I think its great for me to add surface texture, create masks, and create swatches. As I was saying, the Painter Wow book was talking (and showing) these brushes made from a photo of chocolate chips….thats a WOW for me. Imagine, painting with chocolate chips…? What if Rembrandt or Picasso had these tools? Would their work be any better? any more original? or would it settle into the realm of mall art that much of this Painter stuff looks like. But, I need to remember, the tool is a tool, its the hand (and head) attached to the tools that are making the taste judgements.

Was fiddling with tinting these line drawings (as shown to the left). I took the line drawing and dropped in grey tones (like real painters) and then went in with color to get where we are now. I am not sure of it…but figured its work, and work in progress…

Am working on a portrait (saved it out yesterday) in a line drawing approach. I have saved it to vectors as it will go up in size, and i think we are close on that.

small plans, big ideas

Lots going on between the ears and not a ton planned today. There is catching up from the recent spate of solid weekends.There is laundry, groceries(basics), and a few design things, and a few illustration things. Alex is practicing for the HS play. Rob needs a haircut which gets rolled into a visit to Greenstar and the hardware store. Mr. White, neckcat, is progressing. I need to finish the layout for the cover of a magazine I am being featured in. There is going to be a big black crow head on the nice, matte laminated white cover. Big and bright. Poster on the magazine rack.

Am puzzling over a picture with figs thanks to Hartford Illustration (MFA) blog’s post on an illustration challenge from The Fig Board to illustrate a recipe( theirs or your own) with figs. Hmmmmm.

Totally a winter storm yesterday with solid snow from wakeup time until sleeping. Light powder, quietly..softly, constantly. I sat at the monitor and cranked through a mark for the Corning Museum of Glass, fixing a few big books for Cornell, putting fires out for the big client,and digging into a pile we need to finish for the first week of April. Shady lay on her side, snoring and running in her sleep. She will be running today in her waking— along with the snow spa and required cone (pine) hunt. No end to fun (at least for her)!

IF: Swarm

From the series, ‘In Pursuit of the Hive, Q. Cassetti, 2010

“What is not good for the swarm is not good for the bee.”

Marcus Aurelius
Roman emperor, best known for his Meditations on Stoic philosophy, AD 121-180