Springlike

Braids 2, Q. Cassetti, 2011, Parker refillable pen with Itoya gel pen refill.Feels like a day in early early spring. The light is low and golden, casting shadows through the trees. As we got the buckets and barrels of recycling down to the curb, the cold air felt great, invigorating, and what with the lovely light filled sky, nothing seems impossible today.

Rob is coming back from NYC after a nice dinner with some old friends from the first renovation of the Museum project. His emails were sunny and chatty. They had a really nice time.

Good news for the Museum of Glass adding more work on Rob. It has been announced the the Museum will be undergoing a $64 million for a new wing at the Museum. They will be working with architect, Thomas Pfifer and Partners NYC. Excerpts from the Evening Tribune article:

”..the project will include a new Contemporary Glass Gallery and a new Hot Glass Stage, the amphitheater-style space where glass artists give demonstrations to tourists and also during events such as 2300 Degrees.”

“…the expansion and renovation will blend with the rest of the CMoG campus and will keep much of the historic Steuben Glass plant’s footprint intact. For example, the plant’s iconic Robertson Ventilator – the strange black structure that towers above the roof – will become part of the future Hot Glass Stage.

Also as part of the project, the area just north of Steuben Glass will add green space and a promenade. The parking lot for CMoG tour buses will be moved to the main lot just off Interstate 86, and a new drop-off area will bring tour buses right to the main entrance.

From there, new circulation flows on the museum floor will bring visitors into the new wing.”

So, you can see, there is plenty to do around these plans…and Rob is one of the players in this scenario. I am very proud of my hubby who has been dogging this for the past six years and finallly got great results and an opportunity to really boost the offering of this amazing museum for all of us who love museums and all they offer. More on this…as the world finds out.

Jacob and E. leave us today. Alex C. has another evening being a star. Alex is to be Prince Dauntless in “Once Upon a Mattress”.  He is as happy as can be. We are delighted for him. We listened to his songs last night on youTube. He has some nice pieces,with nice solos that will push his singing and push his beginning physical comedy.

I got word that I got work into the winner category of Creative Quarterly 26! When I went to the website to see where I fit in, etc. I was stunned (and excited) to see that I also got work into the winner categories for both graphic design and illustration. Feeling much better. The no show this year with the Society (NYC) was disappointing, but these other shows are affirming to keep swinging, and trying for base hits. Fellow Hartfordian, Amy DeVoogd also is in the winner illustration category (Yay!) and Fello Syracuse alum, Mark Bender, amazing Pittsburgh illustrator is in the runners-up category. Congratulations to all. I need to find out which images get in (and I will post) along with getting  a portrait shot. Ey yi yi.

Detail galore

Walled City, Q. Cassetti, 2012,pen and inkYesterday was a day of brewing vegetables. Alex went off to ski—and I started chopping. All sorts of bits and stuff from the vegetable drawer from the ends of parsley to peelings of parsnips to a small frozen bag of cherry tomatoes from the summer went into the pot after roasting with carrots, turnips, celery root, ends of leeks, scallions having frozen in the drawer and onions. It smelled great roasting…and then into the pot with tons of water to let it infuse into a lovely and majorly tasty vegetable stock. I did it! The key is in the roasting—per the boneyard, and not overdoing it with water in the infusion. Keep it less…so the broth takes on all the flavor in a more concentrated way. Fabulous.

Also in the spirit of emptying the fridge, I made a double of carrot soup (frozen already),  cooked and peeled 3 gigantic beets (ready for a salad) and a double of the wonderful King Arthur Baking Cookbook’s make now/later pizza crust for dinner. I have a double of split pea soup in the slow cooker…so we are set for soup and soup this week for lunches.

Am reading a very evocative and visual book referred to by one reviewer as a “pop culture cocktail” which it definitively is:

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World: A Novel (Vintage International) by Haruki Murakami.

I cannot even begin to describe the dreaminess, odd juxtapostions and images that Murakami introduces into this gift which transports me to this alternative space during those quiet moments when I can revv up the IPad to dive in. If you can handle science fiction/ alternative fiction ( I have friends who cannot go there) but if you can…I highly recommend this book and author. It is so exciting to have  new author I can whip through this season. Dreamy.

Okay: Resource idea of the day: Skazkodrom.com

Skazkodrom – is your one stop workshop for unique custom made plush toys. We sew customized soft toys based on your photos, images or prototypes.

For those of you scribblers who have a character or two in your pen, this is an opportunity for you. This is a Russian prototyping company that will take your sketch and develop a stuffed character toy for you to show possible  clients, to show in licensing presentations, or to honor someone for a special birthday. Think about being 7 years old and having your drawing of a favorite pet or invisible friend that you have drawn, turned into something you can hug. What we would have done 20 yrs. ago for this type of prototyping when I was at Estee Lauder. No end to fun. Its not free, but its concievable pricewise ($250.) and takes the better part of 2 weeks to sew.

Gotta get hopping.

update

from Scherenschnitte. Q. Cassetti, 2011 pen and ink.Thanks to the wonders of Facebook, I found that Communication Arts Magazine’s annual was due yesterday (though they have slacker time…) So, I got my collection of images together and hope that maybe this year, I can get something into that esteemed show/publication. There is American Illustration which I need to enter and maybe Spectrum this year. Spectrum is a show that is devoted to science fiction/ fantasy (read imaginary worlds and friends) which I have a bit of.

I am sort of charged up from the Society of Illustrators LA, Illustration West pieces…most particularly the crazy line piece (with the birds). That image (and many more) came from the work I did inspired by Ganga Devi, an Indian artist who continued the Mithali tradition of women painters/illustrators who created works for bridal chambers. This Madhubani work was specific insofar a topics, and the approach is very linear and colorful. However what Ganga Devi did was to go beyond that prescribed palette of content and started to interpret Hindu stories to finally depicting the images of her life and travels. Her illustrations of her cancer treatment and that of her visiting a city, riding in an elevator, riding on a bus and subway are sublime innocent refections of her world…and I was right there with her. Her use of line inspired me to go from images that were derived from Madhubani work to finally plying them to the crackpot stuff rattling around in my brain. So, refreshed, I think I may go back to that linear approach, switch out sketchbooks from watercolor paper to smooth and see what evolves.

Other news. I am possessed by coasters. Right…coasters. The lovely thick stock, letterpressed coasters. I am seriously thinking of getting some made for presents, to sell here in Itown and at Etsy, and just because, because. The world of coaster production is fascinating…and you can get anything from really cheap four color two sided coasters to the thick and chewy ones I love. So watch out. Coasters are coming on for 2012.

Here are some of the options I am looking at:

The Cranky Pressman (!)

Absorbent, Ink 

Norman’s Printery

Boxcar Press

Mercurio Brothers Printing (since 1946)

And then, there is my secret weapon, Pioneer Printing, Lodi, NY. I will price it out with him too. My guess is that he will want to involve foil stamping as well…But the Mercurio Brothers is simple in their presentation that they have not been tainted by good design. Fun fun fun.

I got my valentine off to the printer yesterday. Trying out a new online source that is affordable and happily offers all sorts of cool stock, foil stamping, die cutting and raised UV for a seriously nominal price. My programming as a designer illustrator is to stick to one or two color jobs, and never introduce anything like the aforementioned processes into a design as it is soo expensive to do. NOT NOW. Keep your pants on…things are going to get interesting (or at least, I hope).  That resource I will share …reluctantly, but we all need a new cool place to go and fantasize. DGI>> Their samples were delicious.

 

Society of Illustrators Los Angeles: Illustration West 50, Accepted!

I was delighted to see that no, I hadn’t missed this one…and that the pieces above and to the right have been accepted into the Society of Illustrators Los Angeles Illustration West 50 Show. The portrait is of Domenic Labino for the Corning Museum of Glass’ Masters of Studio Glass Exhibition for Labino. Top beehive is a personal image. The Wheatman is from my Greenman series. The image to the right is from my Ganga Devi inspired whimsical illustrations (yay!).

I am delighted with this selection as it is a push to keep going. Each of these images talk to a different hand I have been working on, and two of them representative of two of my little imaginary worlds I find myself floating in.

Thank you Society of Illustrators LA and the judges that selected these images. You make today an even sunnier one!

New Year, new day.

Sketch, Q. Cassetti, 2012We are back from a lengthened trip to take Kitty back to Hampshire for Jan Term. We swung by Mass Moca with a treat (staying at The Porches Inn) complete with a little sleep, a lot of art and some swimming in the pool and hot tubbing outside in the cold New England air. We had a great time with Kitty and Alex— lots of talking, laughing and really enjoying being in each other’s company. Alex regaled us with his impromptu interpretation of the the horrible books they read in middle school… causing us practically to wreck the car with his funny insights and focus. Kitty wanted to talk about how she is changing/growing and how that could fit into her education and what she is discovering that she may want. What an evolution from the girl we looked at colleges with.

We drove down to Hampshire on Monday on the most spectacular road…taking in the sights of the Mohawk Trail….the mountains, the valleys, the hairpin turns, the goofy souvenir stands (selling moccasins!) (the best being one with an enormous polychromed native american chief to beckon you in for a treat). It was great just getting a dose of new terrain, new places—without having a definite deadline against it. All of my “vacation time” (and Robs) have been involved in looking at colleges, going on college tours and going to and from college as part of the shuttle bus. It was nice to have this as an option (along with our mini trip to Miami) just to change the channels. Would love a week of that. Love.

I kind of hit the wall with teenaged and college aged boys late last week. It started with one of them eating all the homemade breadcrumbs for Christmas eve prep for dinner and climaxed with eight guys lurking around my kitchen all day eating anything within eyeshot and then leaving all their detrius…moving on to more and more and more. I was overwhelmed after working and confronting this wall of masticating men…I immediately became dehumorized and needed to shut down. Unfortunately, with all of this pre Christmas, post Christmas gathering of the “Bros”, it took the quiet time we normally have together and tossed it out the window. I gotta make some plans to make sure this doesnt happen at such volume next December. I can appreciate the need to gather, to eat, to bro-it-up….but starting at 11 a.m. and then finishing at 3 a.m. with heaps of sleeping men for days…is just a bit overwhelming. Yes, I did approve this all…but it then took on a momentum I didnt anticipate.

We have the ACT done. We have the Hampshire application done. We have interviews at Hampshire and Landmark scheduled. We will have the Landmark application done this week. Alex is commited to change with Landmark and wants to sharpen up his skills to let him succeed in a four year program and is articulating why he is looing forward to Landmark and then the next chapter once he has gotten his chops sharpened up. He is a remarkable person…so self aware. He is a solid, centered person that I adore and want the best for.

The New Year has clicked into that of 2012. So much happening from a few graduations, a few weddings, a prom(!), travel for us and the kids (together and separate), and change galore. I do not feel that happy anticipation of the year ahead…and need to get my head there. I want a creative shot…and something I can run with… I hope the New Year will inspire that. 

and now the day begins. Work waits.