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!

Running at it.

Green Man 18, Q. Cassetti, 2011, pen and inkIt is the beginning of week two—without the major computer in full function. So, I am making due with the powerbook and hoping after Baka picks up the tower of power, I can be fully operational by the end of the week. They are taking it off with them—to run diagnostics—but there might be some hard drive issues that the nice guy on the phone alluded to. Jeez. But, in the tradition of trying to make things work better, I am going to get into a quarterly review of our network, the cpus, back ups etc. with a professional (Baka) and see if we can smooth things out so the guano doesnt hit the fan as amazingly as it does when my system goes south. I find this all so tedious and tortured, I hope I can get into thinking more of my network and digital tools when they are happy and healthy, versus just on the verge of death on a regular basis. Why is it that the most obvious things never seem obvious to me?

We had a quiet day yesterday. I made some tomato sauce from scratch and a gigantic pot of Recycled soup. Bruce came over and we talked about the up and coming CMU Fest this coming weekend— trying to figure out who is coming and where we are going to put them to sleep. I put up a FB event just to plumb for engagement—and we will see if we can rouse the troops this way. We will see.

Kitty is off to her job. Alex is hanging out with Ellie. The boys are off the Unitarian Church $.10 sale. I have a publication to layout—and get some files going on some promotional materials. I am revelling in a new sketchbook (Moleskine A4 watercolor/bound on the top). The blacks are so darned luscious, I could lick the page. So so cool It could only be better if the paper was hotpress with no texture whatsoever. But, hey…its bound, and I cannot be that picky.

I really must go.

IF: [Nature is my] Influence

Greenman, Q .Cassetti, 2011, pen and ink, manipulated in Adobe Photoshp CS5“I trust in Nature for the stable laws
Of beauty and utility. Spring shall plant
And Autumn garner to the end of time.
I trust in God,—the right shall be the right
And other than the wrong, while he endures.
I trust in my own soul, that can perceive
The outward and the inward,—Nature’s good
And God’s.”

Robert Browning

Enough!

Bandstand at the Trumansburg Farmer’s Market, Q; Cassetti, 2011 (08/17/2011)I have had enough. Enough! I have spent the better part of a week, nursing a computer along—redoing work lost etc. and I have had it. I am going to call a technician, regardless of the price and speedy please, to come to my studio and make right all this crap that is going on. I hate not having my tools work, and as I am a digital princess, it is particularly bad when the tool in question is the center of my working universe. Remember the real life scenes of Mary yesterday? They were reinacted in full my your truly yesterday.

Trying to put some perspective on it though, when we have these rough patches, it makes the smooth all so much sweeter. I need to hold that thought and try to keep my patience.

With the computer antics yesterday, I did manage to do quite a bit with the other stuff—the business stuff (mailing and paying, banking and calling and so on) which was quite rewarding.Next added task, refinance our morgage. I am just ready to get back to business.

Oh, and the carrot soup—every last drop devoured. I think I have an idea what teen and college aged boys like to consume. Soup. Today, bean with kielbasi. Cost of pot of soup—around $4.00. Feeds around ten happily. Sounds like a plan. They are whipping through the freezer jam (two jars consumed yesterday). Peach is adored, but the sweet cherry, blueberry, nectarine and lemon is eaten even faster. Even on nasty white bread. So the inspiration to make a peach ginger freezer jam looms on this evening’s roster. Maybe mix some nectarines in to give it a bit of a bite?

I attended the Farmer’s Market last night, a beautiful end of summer evening—and it felt like the best of our little Tburg. Toivo, a Finnish/ Tex Mex band was playing in the bandstand with people dancing, children chasing, people shopping and eating all in rapture over being at the Market, with their friends, savoring the summer evening. Groups of people were chatting like a cocktail party, others were learning about fracking while others sampled natural bug spray or tested the fresh bread for sale. I am so happy that I can be a help here as where is happening now is so lovely and so in tuned with our little town that we can only shine it up, promote it more and think a bit about how to keep it going. Last evening was a glowing pearl on the necklace of summer events.

I put a Facebook page up to begin to extend our communications reach with the Farmer’s Market. We needed one, plus, this is one of the vehicles we  are going to use to get the word out about the Market Manager position (volunteer with a stipend) that is coming up. Its a cool job for someone who likes local food, is interested in community, family, people, music. There is some training as well as some broader course work provided looking at Farmer’s Markets, how they are structured, etc. If you are interested, or know someone, submit a statement of interest to the Board (the FB page will tell you how and when) and we will contact you when the interviews will happen. Could be a great way to be involved in your community and get to know something about local producers, the growing interest in local Farmer’s Markets, and a facet of Trumansburg’s little community. Think about it.

Green Man fever continues. One done yesterday with acorns. Another in the sketchbook with acorns (Kitty approves). More to post to bore you to death.

Kitty has a friend visiting tonight from New Jersey. We have Alex Jacob and maybe Eli. So combined with work, a pickup at the Regional, lunch for 10, and the general day to day—I should pop my gummi vitamin (just discovered them and LOVE them) and get rolling.

A domani.

 

Feels like Fall

Green Man 15, Q. Cassetti, 2011, pen and inkSummer is winding down. Fall is on the horizon. I feel it. It’s not just the weather, it’s going from those indolent days to those that are jammed packed with my own work, other people’s work and needs and then those of the locals who have work and needs. So, I watch these last golden days of summer and reflect on the time, the people and the feeling of those rich days in anticipation and apprehension of the future.

Rob left way too early this morning to catch a plane to spend a day and night in New York on a project. Kitty had a fun day at Petrune modeling clothes for the Etsy website. I will link as soon as it or some of it posts. Alex had meetings and gatherings with friends—playing and listening to music with others. Its great that there is more to do than slothful behavior in the t.v. room. I tidied up some ends, directed few things, made a phone call or three, and started the beginning of a true fall activity, the making of restoration soup.

Restoration soup is soup that is compiled of leftovers that is magically bound by tomatoes and any sort of starch (leftover/ preferably pasta with pesto). All the random little single servings of leftover vegetables are mixed in. Some beans. The odd ear of corn, shucked. Italian Seasoning in the winter. Fresh basil as we speak. Sometimes it goes by Recycled Soup. Others, Garbage Soup. With leftover chicken from the grill, and the random leftover link of sausage I have a terrific starting point for that. Regardless of what goes it, it is surprising that it always turns out well…and is downed immediately while it is cleaning up the clutter in the refrigerator. I also have a pot of carrot soup going…for the ravenous at the lunch table (count ten)…that is on the menu for today’s entertainment and consumption. Kitty, my soup eater, practically dances in anticipation.

Speaking of sausage, Sausage Fest 2011 is planned for Saturday. Sausage Fest is an annual tradition for the Trumansburg Cross Country Team. We invite all the boys and cook sausage. There are tee shirts, games, swimming, and generally bro-ulation. Alex invites the team and many of the Cross Country alumni (that he has run with), so its very convivial and truly is an event that they all look forward to as part of the pre-season entertainment. I don’t know what it is about Cross Country, but it is a sport that is for many, more about the team than it is about the running. Sure, they all run and run hard…but its the cuddly boy thing too. They hug and support each other. It’s very cute and special.

I did something semi intelligent as well. I signed up for a few of the Entourage classes to be better at the Yearbook this year. This is the Last Year of Yearbook—and what with the chops I got with InDesign last year, and hitting the deadlines early, I think it will go swimmingly. Hopefully, we can figure out how to make the technology work so the students can engage more than just taking pictures and retouching them. We have a new powerhouse member of the team who will sell and advertise like no one’s business…so that will be good too. So my goals are—get the work done. Parse it out quickly. Sell the books like crazy. Do not have a big time burden at the end. Hand off the project to either a mom team, the PTA or let the school worry about it. No one seems to care until there are no more books to buy as they did not order them. Time to up the ante.

Good news. Rob has been asked to speak at the Sagamore Museumwise conference too in September. Maybe he can tag team with me? Maybe not. We will be going to Sagamore over a weekend, come back for the only home meet on a Tuesday and then drive back for the remainder of the week. Should be a wild one. It is so beautiful at that time of the year in the Adirondacks and the Museumwise people and participants are so lovely and charged up, that its a treat. I need to get some questions in to better understand my audience. Today.

I entered the current body of Green Men illustration on my Behance page (and Prosite page too)—and was made a featured portfolio on Behance, an editorial decision where they highlight the current images of interest. How nice is that? So I have been getting comments and insights from all over the world—and it is interesting to see what is coming out. Might I consider drawing a tarot deck? This mythological critter thing always has interesting legs. I am not “feeling” the topic as much as others, but it is good to have a process when it is not felt as much just to see if there can be success. Emotional engagement does not have to happen in order to make a picture. Yes, its is more of a personal boost, but certainly not imperative to design and make a good picture. This process has been more about design and figuring out how to do this sort of thing versus the man, the mission, the history, the entity of Green Man-ness.

signs of fall

Green Man 12, Q. Cassetti, 2011, pen and ink.The hosta have their huge white trumpets pointing to the sky, fragrant and rich, ready to beckon autumn. We always have them for Alex’s birthday—just on the front end of school starting.It is hard to imagine that summer is on the downside—and that change is in the air—back to school, back to college, finding colleges, finding programs, Thanksgiving and Columbus Day weekends all in eyeshot. I really just want to freeze this time of cool breezes, dramatic clouds on the horizon, the purple/paines grey and pink evenings, and the mesmerizing sleep we all are granted in our lakeside bower. Doesn’t get much better than this.

It is a quieter week on the work front. My client is taking her well deserved holiday so we have a bit of space to finish up some loose ends. I hope I can break through some of the more rigid things and have projects moving again. It would be great.

The freezer jam I made from some of the peaches we picked is half done (home team say yum yum)…and I made another dose last night. Quick and so easy…and all about the fruit. Next step, no sugar and maybe some fresh lemon peel…or peaches and raspberries? Oy. More raspberries concurrent with the Hector National Forest Saturday drop offs for Alex to do Cross Country training….He needs a pick up and delivery…so I can pick in the three hours in between. Divine!

I started a poster for the Library anniversary and surprisingly, I think the vector is too staid for the event, so I am going to draw this one. Needs to be more whimsical and illustrative. A portrait is not the right family/fun message I think they are looking for. I have 2 vector portraits on board too…so I have a bit of everything.`

Hi!

Green Man 10,, Q. Cassetti, 2011,pen and inkI  feel like I might just get there. I am working away on a project that is all about the details—the illustration details that have to be able to be reduced down to a very very small size. I have been wrestling with this— working big, reducing smaller, looking at positive approaches, then reversed approaches. I think I have finally clicked my brain into where this needs to go—and I feel that I might be able to square away the changes on this project today. Then on to amending the fun distillery project which has grown some legs, and is ready for phase two work.  I  have two new black and white (and greys) portraits due by the end of September-so the decks need to be cleared before getting into that  and a few other things.

Green men continue as the pen moves. I need to do an illustration of an owl (with book and or a birthday cake) for the Ulysses Philomathic Library’s  bicentenial party in October. Heather Christ Hallagan is busy making a chic and fun event, so helping out with a poster is the least I can do. The only request from the board was to have an owl and to make sure it is “cheerful”  I love it…cheerful!  I think I can do that…not sure, but I can try.

Wiki How actually has an article on how to be cheerful. Only seven simple steps! And here are some simple tips to be cheerful:

  • Don’t be negative, cynical, or deceitful.
  • Always be sure to smile. It’ll make everyone around you feel good!
  • Get out of the house. Sometimes being alone is good but loneliness can consume you. Take a bike ride in the sun or ask a friend out for coffee.
  • Say hi to people, not just the same people every day but let others know that your willing to be friends with everyone.
  • Listen to your mind some of the time, and your heart all of the time.

I had a client once who was the queen of requesting cheerfulness as part of anything we would do for her (in addition to her desire for us to use red as it too, is cheery and helps create that cheerful condition). This cheerful request was as confounding to me as requests from clients for things to be “unique” or even better’ “creative”. I guess this charge for cheeriness means that they would not be receptive to something black and white with the content including death references or the german wonderfisch. Onward to trying to be cute. Now there’s a challenge!

 We are having a crew of our fellow CMU alumni at the end of the month. Could be as many as 20 that we need to entertain, feed and house (as many as we can budge up to make room for). So, I need to think about things I can make in advance for breakfast (freeze a few coffee cakes? cook sausage for strata and freeze? prep some dips? make some  peach freezer jam from Sunday’s gleanings?). I am twitchy about beds and towels, pillows and blankets—but we have our new and wonderful cots that will help to move the needle.

It is a nice rainy day for work. Rob is home normal time. Kitty and Alex are home. Jacob and E. are back from their performance last night. Maybe Mr. Houseworth will get the water issue taken care of so we can lake tonight.  Even in the rain, it is a delight.

Summer lull

Green Man 10, Q. Cassetti 2011, pen and ink.Yesterday was a day of shuttling and shopping, cooking and floating, revelations and quiet. Rob went sailing with our friend Peter and our friend John on the prettiest little wooden sailboat on Cayuga Lake.

I took Kitty into her job by noon with a stop at the fabric store to buy fake fur to make  hats out of. We looked and touched pretty much everything in the store, ending up with a yard of tone on tone spotty cheetah type stuff that she was delighted with. I then did a little grocery shopping (for the crowd of 10 for lunch everyday) coming home to marinate chicken, brown a big hunk of beef for spaghetti sauce, and a mamouth pork butt into the crockpot for pulled pork (the crew loves it, its cheap and in the crockpot, not a lot of heat is generate). After all of that, I glanced at Alex and Jacob looking glum and uninspired, so I suggested I take them to Jacob’s favorite music store to see what there was to be seen. I dropped them off, and ran to TJMaxx for wrapping paper and thises and thats. Then, my phone rang and it was time to pickup the boys. With more time to kill prior to picking up Kitty, we went to the new Trader Ks to find some really great things for the boys. We took a long and neighborhoody drive down the hill to gather our girl and go to the lake for swimming. But that changed as Kitty went off to the last Blue Stockings game (one of our rollerderby teams) and Jacob and E. stayed chez camp for music and such.

So, Alex, Shady, Rob and I were lakeside and talked about how maybe Alex would like to spend a year (maybe Rotary) abroad to experience all of that. Bless him! He finally heard me…! How great would that be? and what a great calibration for him out of high school and into a world that loves him and that he can grow and expand in. This is so so great. He would so love it. Now, to  make it happen.

Today, we had a quiet morning with coffee and swimming.  Once Rob started to mow the lawn, Kitty and I went to pick peaches and raspberries. I have about 3 quarts of raspberries in the freeze with many many more planned (seeing the abundance of green berries ready to go in 10 days or so). The peaches were sublime with soft fruit on the ground with tremendously happy bees scavanging for the sweetness to take home to the hive. Maybe some bees and fruit need to become integrated into the greenman project.

Talk

Greenman 8, Q. Cassetti, 2011, pen and inkIts been a quiet weekend rolling into a very busy and productive week. We had some folks for dinner (Alex and Jacob’s friends and our friend, Bruce). We did a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I slept, read terribly trashy books and chilled. I am surprised how tired I had been, so I got a little spring in my step along with some general laundry doing and little cooking. I had the hope of blueberry picking and maybe raspberries too, but the pillow beckoned and other planes of fun filled with steam punkery won.

Love the Steam Punk thing. Love the fusion of old technology with advanced biology. The fusion of the world of Dinotopia (James Gurney) along with that of Charles Dickens and all the fingers and threads that draw them together. Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve is a wonderful example of this sort of book. The next, Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeldl, pits the Darwinists against the Klinks (those mechanically driven) and fuse it with the socio-political environment of Europe prior to World War 1. Trashy. Yes. Brain absorbing. Yes. A mental vacation. Absolutely.

Kitty worked.  Alex chilled until Sunday when he went over to Geneva to stay and visit with a dear friend and his family (who he adores).

Tonight, I need to leave ON TIME as we are going to the Finger Lakes Community College’s outdoor concert space (CMAC) to see Wiz Khalifa and Girl Talk. I love Greg Gillis, Pittsburgher and Girl Talk( from the CMAC website):

Celebrating 10-plus years of sample-obsessed production and relentless touring, Gregg Gillis returns with All Day, his fifth album as Girl Talk, and his most epic, densely layered, and meticulously composed musical statement to date. Continuing the saga from the previously acclaimed albums, Night Ripper and Feed The Animals, Gillis lays down a more diverse range of samples to unfold a larger dynamic between slower transitions and extreme cut-ups. With the grand intent of creating the most insane and complex “pop collage” album ever heard, large catalogs of both blatantly appropriated melodies and blasts of unrecognizable fragments were assembled for the ultimate Girl Talk record (clocking in at 71 minutes and 372 samples). 

Since the release of Feed The Animals, things have flourished for Girl Talk. He’s played almost 300 shows and hardly taken a full week off from hitting the road. He’s playing even larger venues and making even more of a spectacle—he’s employed a small crew of toilet paper launching stage hands, who also propel confetti, balloons, and inflate oddly chosen props into the audience. For the New Year’s Eve show to ring in 2010, a team was hired to build a life-size house, with attention to fine details, on the stage at Chicago’s Congress Theatre. Described as the craziest house party ever, Girl Talk continues to please live audiences as the mass of sweaty bodies at his shows continually grows. Touring highlights from the last couple of years include the Vancouver Olympics, large festivals such as Coachella, Austin City Limits, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, V-Fest, Sasquatch, Rothbury, Monolith, Planeta Terra, and trips to Australia, Japan, South America, Europe, and Mexico. 

Earlier this year, Girl Talk finally took a break from touring, festival dates, and college shows, in order to create an album that is being released immediately after its completion. While posting the album as a free download on the Illegal Art label’s site allows All Day to reach his fanbase quickly and with minimal cost, Gillis spent more time on this album than any previous release and considers it the most fully realized and evolved manifestation of the Girl Talk aesthetic. 

More later.

Up Early

The Green Man 4, Q. Cassetti, Pen and ink, manipulated in Adobe Photoshop CS5Up early to take Rob to Elmira to get on a plane to go to NYC. Lucky duck, he is staying at the new Standard Hotel on the High Line…so cool. Granted its work galore for him, but the perk of a cool  hotel is a nice cherry on top for him. We should see him late tomorrow.

It was a pleasant and quiet journey with shaggy, grazing Scottish Highland cows en route in the beautiful blue, green and gold landscape. Lush and summery. Promising rain with the clouds in the sky.

Kitty did a ton of work for me yesterday…remarkable how having extra hands, voice and legs working for you can really move the needle.  We are off trying to get answers for Hampshire questions, getting things to the bank and in the mail. She was great. Alex is plugging away with music and getting college essays started along with SAT coaching etc. It really is a wiggly, uncomfortable time for him…or at least thats the way it feels. I wouldnt want to be in that space.

I have a few portraits to do (just added to the mix) which should be fun. Additionally, there are some new pubs added too.

Lunch with the Hangar today. Should go get the plates spinning and get all the plans in place.

The Green Man 3, Q. Cassetti, Pen and ink manipulated in Adobe Photoshop CS5It turns out to be cool and breezy today. As we have easily 7-10 for lunch this summer, I am worrying about food more than I normally do. The pork butts at the store beckoned, so I have pulled pork in process (crock pot) for the tribe…and I am busy thinking volume, volume, volume. Pasta and big vats of some sort of soup or starch. The eating tribe includes 6 men, and 3 women… So t he trips to the grocery stor are ceaseless.

As you can see, I am on a Green Man jag. Its an interesting process to generate a foliage inspired face. More on that front.

The day is getting away from me. Gottago.

Common Threads

The Green Man 2, Q. Cassetti, 2011 pen and inkGrassroots was a different event for me this year. Grassroots was a highly social few days mixed in with a little dancing, a lot of listening, and laughter. normally it has been long days of non-stop listening, hot and furious amongst the hoards of the great unwashed ( true in both counts). There is some charm to that, but oddly, I have discovered that I am not a shirtless “bro” looking for as much cold, cheap, beer (for you bro aficionados , read “natties”). I am not looking for a hookup on the dance floor or to spend the weekend ” in the bushes”(as a mom mentioned that her child spent the festival there). I leave that to my son Alex to fulfill that role.

Grassroots was this year about community and about the musical DNA that Trumansburg and Ithaca have ingrained in it’s culture. We live in a small area where live music on a very high level can be heard nightly for free or a nominal charge. These are professional musicians with conservatory training, and some self taught but in the tradition of the area, decided early that music was central to their being…and started street performing in their teens. Some make their livings being musicians, while many others have day jobs in libraries, schools, moving companies, food concerns bringing that right brain viewpoint to the everyday as well. This is the thread of music, from the people and their ethos to the actual art performed.

I am honored to have gotten to know some of the most vibrant musical brains in the area, and am charged up by their focus and commitment to music as the spine of their lives, the spur to live and continue to grow that I am questing for as are others of our tribe. It is so curious to quiz people about their backgrounds, their training, their lives as musicians and performers. It has made me better understand the artistic “thing” that moves us all forward— the quest for inspiration, the strength of solo work and for some, collaboration; the timing and sequence, the need to get the work out and seek insight and and reception. Regardless of the channel of the arts— whether it be visual or auditory— these are some common threads we share.

Advent Calendar Day 12

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

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

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

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