On to the next

Prom goers, 2012On to the week. Prom, as usual was great. The kids were excited and glamorous—with all of us drab stringers, happily snapping pictures and wishing them well. From our report, it was the best prom ever…loving the dining out, loving the limo ride, loving the picture taking. The girls were beautiful with Kyra in purple and Elly in gold. Kyra had a wonderful hair design with feathers. Elly posed with her hawk who thankfully wasnt grumpy—just confused with who this glittering creature was that came to get him.

Alex and Sevi were gentlemen (with a little reminding)… and all was good. We went to the Rongo to hear Long John and the Tights and mix it up with our friends from around here…old time music afficiandos who turn out for LJ and Tights. A quiet weekend for all of us. Just some shopping, some groceries and a nice chance to just be in the moment.

This week promises all sorts of things from work and project completion to Farmers Market needle moving. There is hope to do a project with the Farmers Market and the community build this summer at Grassroots, so I need to honcho this…or get some help with someone else honchoing it…Perhaps a glorious, eccentric Market Manager office with a bulletin board, a place to hold a Gott cooler for water, a clock, a brochure rack, and a place to sell our bags and do the food stamp/chit exchange. I want it to be really fun and perhaps be a campanile with awnings? a two storied lemonade stand? I want weathervanes and whirlie gigs. You get the idea. Now, I just need to muscle the people to make it happen. Time is awasting.

Had a good chat with Kitty. She is in the throes of final projects— and she is busy signing up for classes for next semester, and putting her plans in place for the summer. She will be with us mid May until the end. And then she has May> August in NYC to study sewing, draping and pattern design at FIT with her weekends working for the Governor’s Island installation of the Hot Glass Show with the Museum of Glass. This will be really electric for her…and then she starts mid August for a few weeks to help catalog costumes at Smith College with her wonderful teacher. All in all, reinforcing her path of costume design…and I think it will be a remarkable time of learning and growing.

As you know, Alex is to be Ike Skidmore in Oklahoma along with piano lessons and working for me doing social networking and brochure distribution for the Farmers Market. It is going to be a fast slide from the end of school to the beginning of college.  And, as I have not mentioned it, Alex has chosen Hofstra as his college. He got into every school he applied to…and with the knowledge of his learning issues combined with his desire to delve into music composition as soon as possible, Hofstra will give him that along with access to the city, access to prime internships, and a supportive learning environment. I think it will be great.

On to the paying work.

It's Here!

Gorgeous Roses from Vinegarden Florists of Trumansburg!Prom day 2012! Alex is going to the prom with Kyra. Sevi is going to the prom with Miss Eleanor Ann. There will be the traditional photo taking chez Camp (yay yay yay)…and then the traditional “Falls” photograph that every junior at Charles O. Dickerson HS needs to have in their memory book. I take my child’s picture and everyone elses as they are so darned cute…and are such big kids from the little we had just seconds ago. What an exciting time! So this year there is a limo, dinner in Watkins Glen at a hotel, and then the prom itself. Alex has a tuxedo (yay me for being smart last year and buying one online for boy wonder). He cannot find his cummerbund…and he has decided to bag it as he thinks they are stupid. Interesting from someone who is so about social protocol.

I had my delight this morning, going to the florist to pick up the corsages and as tradition has it, taking as many pictures as I can of the spectacular art Marcia has made with flowers. There they are in the cooler—organized according to last name and then numbered. Marcia has a point of pride in creating each corsage to being different and as she admitted, this year was tough as everyone was wearing purple or blue…and you know what the purple and blue offerings in flowers are. Few and far between…but with different ribbons, glitter and rheinstones, Marsha goes for broke and I get ramped up just from her ability to do variation on a theme so completely. Marsha was a complete doll letting me poke in her coolers to take pix (reference for the new Dutch Flowers series) and even boldly going behind the counter to take pix of the cream and cranberry tiny carnations. Prom Prom Prom. It is so much better to live the prom through one’s children than the reality of what that even was as a prom attendee (ho hum boring). And the clothes are so much better than when I went to the prom. Girls have the chance of actually looking beautiful…versus the nasty mid seventies everyone regardless of looks, looked terrible.

I better go wake up Prince Dauntless as his guests will be here in a half hour.

progress

Just finished up ordering a collection of things for our friends at Redbyrd. Postcards, business cards, custom glasses. I discovered a cool resource for affordable, digitally output bumperstickers and banners: Stickersbanners.com. I think I will order a few things from these guys before I start raving as I do about my new favorite resources online.

Its exciting to have these Redbyrd pieces coming…along with a new label for a new product that these two cool people dreamed up…and they like that too! Yikes. Too much fun.

The Distillery is getting close. Cool on that too.

Alex found out that he was cast as Ike Ketchum, cowboy, in Oklahoma last night. There is a bounce in his step and a happiness that I hadn’t anticipated. I love the idea of my boy in pearlie snaps, chaps and a gigantic cowboy hat. He regaled me about his Handel piece he is singing at school to build his chops…pulling out the sheet music and singing along with the notes to point out the range and craziness of this Baroque piece. My little baroque cowboy.Maybe he could learn to yodel too!

I am going a bit crazy about Dutch flower paintings again. I would like to try to do a very bold, graphic approach—using the layouts, the blocking and suggested palettes as a place to start. I plan on tacking this on to the farmers market vegetable imagery. You will see what will happen as it will be posted as we go.

Rob is home tonight. It will be great to have him back.

April Snow

Inspired by Dutch Painting, Q. Cassetti, 2012, Adobe Illustrator CS5I woke up at around 3 a.m. and peered near sightedly out the window to see that yes, there was snow…and quite a bit of it to burden the trees—that spring snow that breaks branches. The snow is out of sync with the season like everything else. So though it was weird and sad, it was not inconsistent with the winter we have had this past year. I can only whisper small prayers about the fruit and flowers, the plants, the asparagus, the leeks and potatoes, the buds and blossoms. My poor farmer friends. I would be ripping my hair out by the roots…and threatening to raise critters only. Wild.

Alex was delighted though, that we had a snow day today. So he has been downstairs screaming with happiness with his friends—playing games and snacking on this and that.

Alex had a great audition yesterday for Oklahoma…Singing and reciting from “Once Upon a Mattress” and trying hard with the dance aspect of the audition. So, now we hurry up and wait to see if our 6’2” Prince could become a cowboy. We can only hope. It is a week and counting on college decision time. It is five days and counting on the prom event…with yours truly throwing the pre-prom dinner for 6 or 8. I will need to raid the freezer to see what delicious bits I have squirreled away for this festivity.

Rob is at the Museum in Conversation Seminar in Albany. I sent 15 giclees of the fruit project with Rob for their silent auction. It appears they sold and sold well. So I have tasked poor Rob is see which images sold well and those that sold in a lesser way.Lets learn something from this.

I had a really nice conversation with Redbyrd Orchard Cider yesterday. I love their thinking, their confidence and their product which they are really doing right. It is so amazing to watch them lean into this new business and the potential it can have. I am enjoying our relationship and am buckling up to watch their success which to me feels like it could really rocket. I need to jump off right now and prep their files as we are working against a deadline and need to get cards, postcards etc. ready for this event.

Break time

Mothers Day for Peace Poster, Q. Cassetti, 2012, Adobe Illlustrator CS5Trying to keep up with the work as its very fluid here…and though there are the solid rocks that keep needing to be done, there are the emergencies that are thrown in to the mix. I had a double page ad to do by tomorrow a.m (got all the stuff by 3:30 today). Some rush rush branding stuff and a pile of “turn this powerpoint slide into a word doc” type of mojo. Lots of it. Piles.

Am wrapping up the liquor labelling. Got the illos done yesterday and reworked the size of the label and the typography as I didnt like how the bigger label was communicating. Too much information out of the line of sight.

This floral explosion is my response to the third annual Mothers Day for Peace event we have here at the Rongo. I have done little ladies in the past and wanted to do an homage to the gorgeous dutch floral painting only on crack. A friend took a look at this and wanted to know what happened as the palette is so insane (for me).

Need to wrap it up. I have been at my desk for 11 hrs. Time for a break.

 

going local

Tomatoes, Q. Cassetti, 2012, Adobe Illustrator CS5I am having some mandatory stuff done to the car, so I am sitting in the fabulous Maguire waiting room with the light streaming in the windows with wifi and all sorts of “we love our customers” amenities getting ready to dive on the pile of email. So, to delay that inevitability, I figured a quick entry would be in order.

I am heads down on a bunch of branding related projects for my big client with some coming easily and others, not so…It is so hard to think about regulating certain design elements/ treatments for really trained designers and quite another for a less sophisticated group that is often the group my client likes to hire. This same group needs to be “creative” for the sake of creativity and not to better reinforce the messaging and desires of the client. This type of creative agency feels that their voice leads the conversation versus reflects that of the desires of the entity hiring them…and maybe because of untrained people on the client’s end, they can easily assume this position. However, it hurts me as the end product, the image of the company is often dinged and damaged because of all this maverick creativity—without any respect to the big horizon. So should we cramp the style and creativity of the lesser designers to try and corral them into a standard…or respect them to follow the current standards (which they do not) and have to wrestle them to  comply each and every project they are involved in? If I ruled the universe, this particular universe, I would have a few good agencies—ones that know what is needed , who do follow standards and understand their import. I would have a very tight standard (IBM of the 70s, Siemens, Apple Computer) and with very tight grids, image direction, type sizes and standards. I would regulate and reinforce. This is not impossible…but sometimes things have to be autocratic in order to create a unified vision. But this is the ideal condition.

Myer Farm Distillers sign, Q. Cassetti, 2012I am finishing up the Myer Farm Distillers labelling as part of the branding we are doing.Myer Farm is quite an operation as its field to flask. This family farm grows organic grain and have been for quite a while—and have been selling it to the first local distillery, Finger Lakes Distilling and has broken ground, ordered the equipment from Europe and is going into business themselves. I presented a series of approaches to their brand and was surprised and pleased that they picked an approach that I think of as Scandanavian (though where that comes from is beyond me). It is a sheaf of barley drawn simply/ with a bow to woodcut images of grain with the head of the grain, and a dagger-y calligraphic stem. The font is Futura because of the beautiful sharp M-s and the nice weight shift. The colors are taken from the design of their building. The labels have illustrations referencing the main ingredient of the liquor—and a strong, consistent type treatment that is differentiated by colorway. The client selected some really great bottle profiles…so as this comes to the close for now, I am getting pretty psyched as it will look great. What a nice add to the wine region and the “beer trail” in these robust Finger Lakes.

Next on the horizon is a farm who has been an organic farm since the 70s making all sorts of pickles and the like.They have a fabulous reputation and they got ‘the goods”. So being able to package a great product should be excellent. I am busy looking at labels and gathering some competititive information to start our adventure too.

Meet some of the competition:

Brooklyn Brine Company> 
McClure Pickles 
Sarabeth’s Jams 
Hawthorn Farms 
Blue Hill Farm
Rick’s Picks 

NYTimes: “Don’t Mock the Artisanal Pickle Makers” by /Adam Davidson, 02/15/2012

Apt. 11D: “Katherine Boo and Artisanal Pickle Makers”

The Pickle Freak Blog

I am fascinated by the whole local foods movement here, but as a point/counterpoint to the wild activity in the local foods movement in Brooklyn. I am constantly stunned when visiting NYC or shopping the foody day on Fab.com to see the pickles, jams, coffee, cheese etc. that are being elegantly produced and sold from folks packed in on Long Island. Surely we could take this on with our access to space, to amazing produce and people who know how to do this sort of thing. Surely, this is a way to use the produce as it ripens and is picked in addition to putting it fresh on people’s plates around here. We can drive people to our farmers markets, to the farm stands, to the CSAs but there are only so many people here (even if we trained them up to like veggies)—that after market products seem like a great way to add money to the farmer’s pockets while producing high quality organic canned produce.

Crooked Carrot is doing this on a small scale. I fully applaud their work and food. But we need more…and we need a way to help Crooked Carrot scale up (if they want to do that) in a way that they can be successful.  I like how imaginative Crooked Carrot is—and by being a share holder, I am given things I might not buy on my own (pickled Kohlrabi as one which we finished off in two sittings). It is a luxury to try these things, but I cannot be helpful to anyone if I am not educated about the CSA, CSK, CSG models. Clever and resourceful Melissa Madden of Good Life Farm has a gorgeous spring CSA that is a delight. The focus of her CSA are greens—cooking greens, raw greens etc. which depending on the part of the less than dependable Spring, she supplements with canned goods from her farm (canned and preserved by Crooked Carrot) and or amazing sprouts (I never thought I would say that) from Dancing Turtle. Melissa uses the produce from the summer before the add to her unpredictable mix..and as a recipient, every CSA pick-up is Christmas morning as I never fully grasp what she has told us was coming each week until it is put in my bag!

So, where is all of this chatty meandering going? Its all about taking in the horizon of the local foods scene and better understanding it and how I can help move the needle for the farmers, for the region, for the eaters out there. If the NYTimes is on it…we need to be ahead of it.  It’s fun to participate as its part of the education—both as an illustrator/designer but also in my role with the Trumansburg Farmers Market where we circle on details I never had thought about…but trying to keep in balance the desires of the farmers and the hopes of the consumers. Very thin blade there.

break time.

Witness Marks, Northampton MA, Q . Cassetti, 2012Gotta make it quick. We are having a dinner at Hazelnut Cafe in a few minutes and I wanted to login to let you know that we are still at it.

We got back late on Friday—so that it was a quick dinner at the local eatery, and then a blissful heads down for the night.

Yesterday was a day of small projects, office catch up, talking and the annual Fire Company/EMT dinner at the American Legion with my husband, the Fire Commissioner. Wow. The Fire Company and EMT in Trumansburg is a truly amazing, awesome, noble and selfless group of individuals who should be recognized more broadly for the tremendous service, the training, the hours upon hours of calls helping others (many of these folks are volunteers). It is such an honor to see them recognize each other from the rookies through an individual who has been with the company for 40 years (and whose grandson was the leader in calls responded to (233). There are husbands and wives, complete families with grandparents all who give in this amazing way to our community. There they were, some proud in their uniforms, some more relaxed—reviewing the past through their chief’s presentation of data, some looking ahead. It was great to see such an amazing mix of folks of many ages involved in this work. I wish there could be a positive way to bring attention to such impressive, giving, civic people. Another group that is the pride of Trumansburg.

Today, it was catching up with some project work. I started and finished a way trashy dystopic book. I baked  five dozen meatballs (frozen when they were prepped) made from water buffalo, sausage, ground pork, parm and panko. Now they are packed up in bags of 12 ready for dinners or sandwiches for Mr. Starving, my son. I think I might kill some leftovers tomorrow and make some soup for the troops for the work week ahead. I need to check the thawing of the Wolftree Farms chicken in my sink for more fun this coming week.

Alex is making music and playing the drums in the air….surrounded by fuzzy hot cats, and a conked out black dog at his feet. The cold from our drizzle spurred Rob to make us a nice fire in the stove—so we can look out over the grass (needing a second cut thank you) and enjoy the green and the few plants the deer have left behind.

Need to prod Miss Kitty about the summer. It will be a great one if she plans ahead with me.

homeward

Eggplant, Q. Cassetti, 2012, Adobe Illustrator CS5

We jumped in the wonderbus yesterday afternoon and made our way to New York City. I do not understand what got into me, but I was exhausted beyond belief. So upon our arrival, I settled in for an amazing nap (we stayed at the nice Hampton Inn on Peck Slip) and the boys took a remarkable walk, filled with man too man talk. We then had beer at Jeremy’s—a regular place with bras all over the ceiling, beer in plastic cups and a vocal bouncer who practically sang out who got the cheeseburgers on the floppy paper plates. We had snacks across the street at Keg 229, and finally dinner at a neighborhood place called Cowgiirl Mermaid which we were reluctant about (but all of our first and second choices were at least an hour late). but were pleased with our dinner and the closeness to the soft beds that none of us had any problems with.

This morning Rob had a meeting with an architect, so Alex and I zipped over to Century 21 to see what there was for the next few months of senior parties and events. We were not disappointed with shirts and a jacket and adorable ties. Alex delighted in the men that we asked for measurements—their brusque and chic way of selling. Alex practically danced with delight. As we had tiime, we walked back noting that there is a TKTS booth down in the Seaport area, and a remarkable Indian restaurant with several sparkling tandourris out in the dining space where they were ding kabobs and bread. We met up with Rob and he suggested as part of our brutalism tour of architecture, we would take a gander at the High Line and the new Standard Hotel (you know, my absolute favorite) in the Meatpacking district.

If you are familiar with the Meatpacking District, it is not, not not what it used to be. It now is a fun haven with locavore food, cool shops, places you want to hang out and soak in the rays along with the new unbelieveable High Line park. When we were living in NYC, the Meatpacking District was scary, threatening and very much a place you tried not to go to, especially in the evening and night. But the Standard built this amazing high rise with styling from the mid seventies—that celebrates meat (themes) in all the restaurants, and celebrates seventies urban glamour. I will not go on and on right now about every little detail (as I am want to do), but as usual, The Standard is a paradigm shifter and was the force to transition this dicey area into the chic-est of the chic. And FUN (all caps). Then Rob coaxed me onto the bridge park, the High Line, which was formerly the elevated railroad for the west side of town—and now is a planted park with all sorts of amazing moves (my favorite being an amphitheater that has raked seats spanning the middle of a street, with the “show” being the street. There was a water area where all sorts of little people skiddled through the water. There was an area with sunning benches with people eating lunch and soaking in the vitamin d. There are public and private spaces—with some open to the passagiata, and others screened by light trees and recessed into the architecture…but all of them nice and a tempting way to just spend the day on a brilliant spring Friday.

If that wasnt enough, there was a Dolce and Gabbana sample sale which I dragged the boys to. Some amazing things…and Alex humored me by letting me by him a silver/pearl velvet jacket that just plain shiimmers. He danced a little when he tried it on….so I knew he loved it. How New York is that…a fab sample sale to booooot=!

Then it was off to Chelsea Market, which i dont have the patience to get into…but it is the indoors farmers market for NYC with a thrust around locavore, local meats, local milk, local produce with everything from seafood to pastrami all available to eat in a very steam punky great interior. I will talk more when I can share my pix with you.

Now we are on the way home with the sun setting. There is a salsa type jazz thing on the radio—and we have finally broken out of the pack of folks leaving NY NJ.

Tomorrow my friends. Tonight its home and our snuggliness…

boneweary

Eggplant Wreath, Q. Cassetti, 2012 Adobe Illustrator CS5

We have been in Amherst for a day with visits to the music department and special services at Hampshire. We have eaten and coffeed. We have endlessly been turning over the what if, why and hows…trying to help Alex make his college decision that needs to be made. We have walked the campus, viewed the tennis courts, driven through all the other campuses. We have toured the music and drama facilities of Smith, Amherst College, University of Massachusetts Amherst and Hampshire. I read the five college consortium offerings for music out loud as we drove early yesterday. We have read bulletin boards in all schools learning about drumming opportunities, piano and bass lessons and the endless choral groups from Madrigal choirs to Mens Glee Clubs. We visited both UMass and Amherst’s rowing facilities on the Connecticut River—marvelling at the sheer wealth of shells (and opportunities to row) that is offered here in the Pioneer Valley.

We are all positively exhausted from all of this. I do not think its a physical thing, but more that we are all feeling like this is the end of the road…that feeling of exhaustion from the process to get us to this decision that descends like a velvet hammer and knocks us all to the ground. This is an exhaustion that endless cups of tea and coffee cannot really help. It is a boneweariness from the entire process of change and discussion for over a year and a half. It has evolved from tests and testing to really delving into the types of programs, the type of learning, the type of people and the type of musical experience Alex wants and can flourish in. Alex’s college choice is a decision that is the beginning of a path and journey—and it may be the path that Alex stays on, or derivates from…but it is a point of beginning. None of these decisions are sure bets—like we would all wish they could be—but a measured choice that we have to have confidence will manifest change and happiness for our boy and allow him to grow. Perhaps part of that growing may be changing institutions, but we are ready for that. Action is going to be translated to change….and with that more decisions.

I know its a wretched thing for parents to compare which I will not do. But reflecting on our girl two years ago was in this same place, Alex is more focused, more directed and more confident than she was. He doesnt have to see the students passing by to understand his place—and his participation in a tonal theory class was affirming and positive for him. And to see the transformation that Kitty has experienced in the last 10 months in this type of program gives my heart hope and confidence that this will be similar for our boy should he lean towards Hampshire.
We have done the diligence. Time for some decisions. The drive home is going to be interesting.

Kitty is really rocking. She is building a head of steam around costume design—regaling us with fascinating factoids I could hear all day. She is focused on the work and really is identifying with all she is learning. There is hope that she will spend both summer sessions at FIT this summer taking some sewing, draping and garment design related courses. She is planning and taking it all in…to our delight. She also has started writing a blog, The Girl in the Newspaper Dress (on Tumblr) http://girlinthenewspaperdress.tumblr.com/ which should be great to see what she is relating to, connecting with, inspired by and her funny insights around the world as it spins around her.

Changing topics. I am going to ramp up the research on seeing if I can do some licensing. I think that a lot of my work…and the bodies of work I can do quickly could have traction in the licensing arena—so I plan on a few phone calls and maybe a trip to NYC to walk the floor of the licensing show to learn a bit about the business and begin to make inroads into this world. This should be interesting, and I will certainly keep you abreast of that.

Out like a Lion

Honey Mushrooms, Q . Cassetti, 2012, Adobe Illustrator CS5Today is catch up and then tomorrow its an early launch to drive to Amherst for a 1 p.m. meeting for Alex. I am blasting through a bunch of stuff and figured I would say hi for today.

There is a new addition to the Farmers Market images to the left…and a wreath to go with it. I just printed about a dozen of these Farmers Market images to be given as a donation to Museumwise, the fabulous folks that bring us the Museum Institute at Sagamore and that expands so many horizons for many museum professionals in NY State. Museumwise makes me proud to be a New Yorker. The small staff and board of Museumwise are interesting, smart, and really quite “startup” in their actions and thinking. They are try-ers and do-ers. They embrace and help. They build community through active networking. They are professional but open and engaged. They inspire me with their energy and desire to move the needle in the Museum and History Museums throughout our big state.

I am also offering up for their auction the design services for a logo or logotype for a museum event or show. I figure it would drive a little more  money than the prints and would maybe give me a chance help out another institution. So I need to bag this stuff up with business cards, stickers and tattoos and see what happens. Rob will be my spy to see who wins the stuff, and what it went for. These are for an auction to support the Institute at Sagamore’s scholarships —worth every minute of time from this end.

I have been thinking of putting my name in the hat for a booth at the Saturday markets this summer to sell my stuff…prints, buttons, bags, a teeshirts and a snappy tote bag with Trumansburg (and bees!) on it. It would be a good way to sense the market and at the same time see how I can build t his little table business. Could be cool. I could also sell off my yarn stash too! What do you think? Should I give it a go?

The lake was splendid last night. Sad note was our arctic willow tree (which the former owners took and trimmed into a tree but its really a shrub) lost half its limbs in some big blow…So we will need to saw off the piece and hope (know) that the tree will regenerate (which it does amazingly). There was wind and a bit of rain, but we all had a peaceful and very restful evening with our Easter Lamb on the grill and music by Bill Evan (who Alex  has discovered). Cool.

So, onward to standards writing and organizing.

 

Hopeful

Asparagus Love, Q. Cassetti, 2012, Adobe Illustrator CS5“In those vernal seasons of the year, when the air is calm and pleasant, it were an injury and sullenness against Nature not to go out and see her riches, and partake in her rejoicing with heaven and earth.”

John Milton,(1608-1674)
Tracate of Education

It is the time while the sun shines, the grass greens, and the little buds are pushing their way towards the heat and rain, to be hopeful. It is this holiday celebrating for some, the aspect of sudden death being passed over —the community saved and protected by their God.  For others, it is an aspect of death being overcome by life through the belief of a forgiving God. For me, it is the time to be hopeful, joyful and anticipatory of all things new once again. The cycle of our lives continue in this season of blossoms and green, of renewal and knowledge of what is next…from what blooms in our gardens to the projects we do, to the growth and change of the people we love. It is that spirit of continual growth and change yet the solid understanding that life springs once again from the sleeping frozen world to that buzzing with bees laden with nectar from the new plants growing and stretching.

“Spring in the world!
And all things are made new!”

Richard Hovey. (1864–1900)

It is also a season of creative renewal for me. Does this happen for you? Are you affected by the change in seasons, the glorious shift of light and color that happens with those shoulder times? it does for me…just the light and color ramps up my internal happy meter—and with that comes wonderful ideas to think on, to try to evolve and to change. This is the seasonal push that happens most seasons which I always forget about and am delighted that yes, this is happening again. There is more to sink into and to touch on in the dark night…when anything pleasant and happy can take you back to sleep with ideas that will spin and evolve unconsciously. 

We dropped Alex off in Ithaca yesterday morning to see the rowers racing in their shells. He has a friend who rows for one of the big schools, so it was extra fun to really see the rowing community at work from the ground up. We met him at the Ithaca Farmers Market which was open (day one!). I was blown away as if I had never been there before..looking with new eyes, new Tburg Eyes to see what there was to learn, to understand, to see…and did I mention the food which was curated beautifully. The farmers had tons of greens, little plants, lots of new cheese producers, and many selling CSAs. There were bouquets of spring flowers (along with black pussy willow!), flowering branches, and anenome with their rich black stamen, dumping black pollen onto the brilliant purple, red or fuscia petals. Some notes (to myself):

- Lots of new cheese producers.
- Lots of local meat with many of the producers having     lamb, beef, and chicken at good prices
- If we start loading up with the craft folks, we will need to be more careful and /or juried. It seems overwhelming     that the proportion of food and Ag seems lower than those of the apron and mug makers.
- We can post our fliers at the Ithaca Market next to the   office. Same at Red Feet Wines.
- Having an office for the manager/team is important. Creates a “place” that indicates the market it not random and is run by someone.
-The need for our Saturday market to have a good breakfast offering—and stuff to offer the tourists to buy. (Read, Q. may be selling some stuff)
- We need to get our rack cards into all the local bed and breakfasts as something to do. 

We also bought some wine at Red Feet before attending the market. The owner of the market is a very astute, tuned in, and cool person who had some very interesting observations on our little Tburg Market, what could change, what she liked about the market and how she views it. She likes the Wednesday slot as she can make an evening of it with her young son and buy the groceries she needs for the entertaining she does during the week and in anticipation of the weekend. Kind of a stock up and roll into entertaining thing. She also feels that this appeal of something fun to do with a younger child really works (read, we need to get onto some of the mom network/ playgroup emails which she volunteered to send along). She was also very positive about the Saturday market idea. Her observations of the tourists in town on Saturday a.m. is that they are looking for a place to have breakfast and buy stuff to take home with them. Thus the jugs of honey and maple syrup, boxes of peaches and hand made stuff might really fit the bill. She also felt that if there was a good breakfast offering (smoothies, coffee etc).  it would be the temptation that she would bring her child for another stop and stock up for the weekend. So snacks and dining are the hooks to get the consumers to the market .Then we need to have the food/produce to  get then to buy again. I think if we are clever, we can have a market two days a week with some tweaks to make one different from the other. We will just need to anticipate a few things.

As you can see from above, Melissa Madden and Garrett Miller are throwing Asparaganza, an event to celebrate asparagus. Should be fun. Pencil it in!

We are off on Tuesday to Amherst and then to Hempstead to do the review of Alex’s top two schools to see where it is we will be taking him next September. So, hopefully, we will have the college search complete. Then, we will just have to monitor his progress to make sure he is doing the right thing, and if the fit is there.

On to get checks for the bank tomorrow and act like a grown up. We will be at the lake this p.m. getting things ready for weekends overlooking Cayuga.

Quick

Garlicscape Symphony, Q. Cassetti, 2012, Adobe Illustrator CS5.1Gotta make it quick. I have to run in fifteen to have the April Tburg Farmers Market meeting. Lots lots lots to talk about in an hour and a half, so I should pump up the caffeine to run not walk through the notes. There are banners, advertising, policies, approaches. There is scheduling and events and and and. And in an hour and a half, it will be done again.

Busy here. Lots of running around and picking up and delivering. Tomorrow mail and bill paying along with catching up with Museum work and that of the big client that steadily marches on. Only downside is that some of the stuff we have been seeing with our reviewing hats on, is so bad..and submitted by,yes “designers” that its appalling (what with extensive guidelines etc). We submit very extensive corrective/directive notes that then we are greeted with the arms akimbo, “we are not doing it”. What is the point of standards if no one chooses or is held to following them?

We are going to do the final College Lap to make the decision come Sunday through mid next week. Hampshire and Hofstra. I think we are all ready to commit, but just one last do diligence before I write the check and we sign up for housing etc. What a journey its been to get here…and now that we are at a decision point, what a journey it will be!. The best, we can only hope.

Mr. White is conked out, snoring in his throaty feline, stuffy nosed way. Shady is curled up with her other mother, Gloria. It is really hard to believe that here we are in April, poised to spring into and through Spring—the kooky winter has not helped the time passing whatsover.

Cloudcover

Cherrywood wreath, Q. Cassetti, 2012, Adobe Illustrator CS 5.1Its gone from brilliant to overcast, but that is Spring for you. David and John are monkeying around with the fuse box so they have chased me to my laptop to talk to you while fun with electricity is happening here at 2 Camp Street. I had a great meeting about the Farmers’ Market and how we can work better with the Youth Bureau—getting some help for us on the Board and our wonderful manager, Avi. There is a likelihood that we can get support of two kids each market (July and August) to do some of the detail work like trash, composting, etc. We need the help and they have the manpower.

The Youth Bureau have been involved in the 4-5 movie nights in town and their leader had ideas on how we could really layer on some cool stuff to take the movies and popcorn to another place. Something that builds on the theme of the movie, some fun food offerings? What about stuff you can do with flashlights?. All seems possible and fun. Love that: possible and fun versus a lot of life which seems to seem impossible and hard/ or unfun. So more to do in the next few weeks so we can schedule the movies and promote..if anything…the dates. And it gets  us talking earlier, planning earlier so the normal sweat that happens maybe can be reduced by better planning and teamwork. I am looking forward to working with the wonderful, inspired women from the Youth Commission.

Did I mention I have a new favorite place in the most perfect hamlet on earth? Good To Go! Good to Go is my new Go To these days. It is a wonderful family owned grocery store and take out deli with great organic foods, locally made food and inspired takeout from Carrot/beet burgers to a massaged kale salad that made me want to pass out for the sheer simplicity and perfection of it. Nana Monaco and her mother bring style and friendliness to this warm and inviting space where you can get take out, buy a sandwich or meet a friend for lunch or a meeting. It is another happy place we should not take for granted in our neighborhood.

I was working on cherries yesterday…bold, no gradient, shape-y and then spun the branches into this wooden wreath which I like. Feels very woody and out of doorsy to my happiness. It also has a very gouache feeling versus digital which is good as the real illustrators out there have no patience with this digital nonsense. There are more berries on the horizon as well as hops, beans and peas. Maybe another foray into asparagas.

I just entered Creative Quarterly 28—a bunch of hairhoppers and a pile of the Farmers Market Fruit and Veggies illos plus the Dominic Labino portrait from the Museum. We will see if anything strikes the jury’s fancy.

Onward into the day.

 

Springing

Onion love, Q. Cassetti, 2012, Adobe Illustrator CS5Brilliant cool spring day today. We are back to semi-normalacy as the weather is acting like it should this time of the year. I am looking over at the back forty, blown away by the sheer green of everything. Both Alex and I are feeling that Spring surge of getting our creative mojo back—and we are both relishing it. What is it about the change in season that always flicks a switch and away you go (creatively). I always respond to the change in light…the longer days, the brighter time…but maybe its just that its the change. I find myself doing the same thing when its longer nights and darker days just as instead of opening up, the delight is the hunkering down.

I must admit, that this fruit and veggie thing is still going…and I am loving the response I am getting to this much more graphic work than I normally do. I am thnking more colorfields, simpler, more graphic… As you can see from this work, there is very little shading/ tiger toothing— but more solid shapes intersecting solid shapes, and it still comes off as believeable. Plus, this work is distinctly my own. I don’t  have reference around me from Alexander Girard, the Provensens, Matisse, Milton Avery to goad me into being true to the graphic aspect of this work…it just is flowing. And, I am drawing these things on paper—not using blue line to make the original drawing something that becomes central to the illustratration, but parker pen on bond paper. I am designing these things prior to picking up the wacom pen to see what can happen. And, though they are designed, they always evolve, like magic when I am working them out in illustrator.  So, I cannot wait to get the pen moving to see how the image will resolve itself during the rendering process. I know it’s simple,  but it delights me to no end to see how the head and hand unconsiously resolves these things, and the bodily me just moves the hand and eyes…and drinks in the image.

New thing I am delighted in: Craftsy.

Thanks to Laura Nelkin, local knitter, beader, teacher, world celebrity, and really on the cusp of internet cool, I discovered Craftsy as Laura is doing a class on knitting with beads. What is Craftsy? It is s site you can sign up for online classes and workshops from knitting to giftwrapping, to even illustration and tailoring. The classes are longer than the workshops, but there are videos, access to the professionals, and patterns to learn a technique (like the fancy knitting I want to learn like Entrelac) to soapmaking to sugar flowers. It is very much in the mode of Lynda.com (for those of us obsessed with our computer applications) but friendlier, shorter and more can do. What a great idea—craft classes you can take at home on your own time. One could plan a crafts vacation for a day or so and go wild making lip gloss and crocheted baby hats (take a look at this one…the crocodile stitch floral baby hat>>). Not that any of us have a ton of free time, but a rainy Sunday afternoon and Craftsy could be trouble (if you get my meaning!).

Gotta go. The day awaits as does Yearbook.

Such happy energy.

Pear Wreath 2, Q. Cassetti, 2012Oh my goodness.

The Great Local Foods Network event was unbelievable. Beyond awesome, beyond marvellous. It was what this blissful area is the best at…gathering like people and giving them the environment to enjoy each other, the art and music of the area and valuing everyone in the room. I met a ton of new and exciting people, caught up with others and the time flew by. It took a good day to really come off the amazing energy that was in that space on Saturday.

We arrived around 4 to find a packed house with cars parked all over the place. We were greeted at the door with an energetic group of people making woodfired pizza and another grilling loads of chicken. Inside, there was a long white, table stretched from one end of the warehouse to the next, with bouquets of forsythia and people sitting, eating , chock a block, talking and laughing, welcoming those they knew and engaging in the activities of the afternoon. By the time we had reached the back of the Regional Access warehouse, we hit this oasis of amazingly delicious, and beautifully presented food…salads, enormous wheels of cheese, bread by the basketload, pasta, spreads, dips and dessert representing every color and flavor on the color and taste wheel. There was the silent auction room filled with things to bid on from jewelry to accupuncture, from bags of beans to cases of wine…even some of my prints (as singletons) were to be auctioned. A set of 8 of the fruit and veggie pix were auctioned off at a nice price with the owner delightfully telling me how happy she was (that is payment alone! right!).

So, it was perfection and we all cannot wait until the  next one (if there will be one)…to raise more money for our friends the new farmers and their activities—and have a chance on a dreary day to be transported to another place with friends and the energy they bring.

For some traditional Q. out of focus snapshots to get the jist of the event: here>>

I am off to a meeting (for the Farmers Market) to talk about the Community Yard Sale. So, I have to book…but just wanted to let you  know that I am still drawing breath…and am on a pink cloud.

Water cooler

Peach tile, Q. Cassetti, Adboe Illustrator CS5I am taking a little break as the big machine is getting an Adobe Creative Suite upgrade (5.5) and as the computer whirrs and rattles, the blue band advances, I can chat a bit with you…an electronic coffee break.

I sit here in my tower, looking out over the back forty with brilliant green grass, forsythia and frosty daffodils. The stinky allium were horizontal and frozen the other day, and this morning, they were standing tall and back in order. We can only hope for moderate cold. How crazy is this weather? The deer are back in force.

Its been busy here with work work, Farmers Market work and my farmers work. I am always reluctant to talk about work/
work as its not right…but the other two, I am happy to chat a bit about.

The Trumansburg Farmers Market. We need to boost awareness, build excitement and get more people coming to the market. That is the “this year” challenge (and ongoing). Granted, we have limited funds, but I am the queen of getting a ton for your money. So, in that spirit, we are going to start to advertise in local journals and summertime rags Thank you Amelia (she found the typo!)(advertising is really inexpensive). Additionally, we are going to have a rack card that hopefully we will put in backpacks prior to school letting out ($110 for 5M pieces from BargainBasementPrinting.com). This rack card is going to promote the market along with the free live music that is offered for a fun summer night out on the town for the family. For a wider distribution, we are going to work with an artist who is very affordable and does distribution of her own rack cards, and for a fee will take ours around to wineries etc. where our summer visitors might be. Then there is the local distribution that I think we can, as board members, put out the cards. I am ordering PET recycled tote bags from Bulletin Bag (and, she says proudly, got a community/ non profit price on them) with our summertime slogan (yes, created by M. E….”Omnivore, Herbivore, Carnivore, Localvore! More for ‘Vors at the Trumansburg Farmers Market” Big/brassy and bold. We plan on selling the price with a bit of a markup, but also giving a bunch away (a drawing every farmers market, a drawing at the local foods lectures at the Library etc.). I am looking into small banners for Main Street. And then, we might be having a few Saturday Markets (to test the concept and maybe switch out the rules a bit to give the smaller/newer farmers a shot at selling some stuff). We are going to have a pumpkin event in October, maybe a Thanksgiving market as well as a Holiday market. So…lots to plan and promote.

Then there are my farmers. Love them. Love their independence and spirit. Love how their work, growing food delights them. I am within eyeshot of two of these new logotypes being completed. Another has a few more turns. And the cidery is having the work approved by the TTB. So…a few things on the horizon for now. I would love to share the process but I can only do that after their marks have been approved by them.

I am still making Farmers Market images of fruit and vegetables…making stand alone images and then wreaths and tiles from those elements…creating little collections of things.  I modified my asparagas image to show to Good Life Farm for their asparaganza (an event in May celebrating their enormous aparagas crop)—and I blundered by putting a grasshopper in the picture (fyi. as adorable as grasshoppers are, the Farmers can’t like t hem…at all…think the Bible and swarms of locusts). However, I picked up a few more tricks with warping text (never did that before) and using all the path offset, and path options in my new fave, the “appearance” panel. I am becoming a pretty good intermediate user….

There will be a set of 8 prints auctioned tomorrow at the Great Local Foods Network event at Regional Access in addition to those same 8 auctioned (probably silent) as separate images, and some Q. goody bags of stickers, tattoos, postcards and the like. Should be a fun event with music, raffles, and tons of great people.

The whirring has stopped. The disk is being ejected. Time to get back to the paying work.

noodgy

Peach, Q. Cassetti, 2012, Adobe Illustrator CS5Winter is back with us…after the faux spring forced our forsythia, all our daffodils and the big fat magnolia blossoms to pop. Now we have window shaking winds with wool tee shirts and extra sweaters which would have been ridiculous last week at the same time.

I met with a bunch of local foods people yesterday—our market manager at the Tburg Market, and wonderful Melissa from Good Life Farm. I also had a interesting meeting with members of the Chamber of Commerce—to figure out how the Tburg Farmers Market could figure into the Community Yard Sale (05.12). Thankfully, we got a little thinking about it earlier in the morning so I could be a bit more responsive than my normal dead wood between the ears self. I also had a nice chat with Mary Ellen Salmon, Salmon Pottery about her work, her marketing etc. Mary Ellen does beautifully textured work on simple and elegant forms….with all sorts of texture on texture/ color on color things.  The image below is a detail of a piece she did using buttons to press into the ceramics and then highlighting them with glaze. Pretty! Like little gems, little candies, little magical dreams. So I am charged up.

Detail of a pot from Mary Ellen Salmon, Trumansburg, NYDon’t mind me. I am just feeling a little cranky given all the noodgy people I have given information and direction to more than once who today, requested the same information and duplication of all the stuff I gave em before. I am not chilling on this and frankly wish sometimes, people could hold on, and be a bit more mature than what I am seeing. I am bored with redoing others work and nipping at others heels to get the stuff done I asked for once twice, three times. Tedium times ten. Okay. That’s off my chest. Sorry for that station break.

Today’s illustration breaks some of my rules…and am using gradients for my peach illustration, part of the Farmers market illustrations. There are more in the hopper…some beets, and a fennel illo.