Here we are again. Bright and fresh--delicious coffee in hand and the fan blowing. It is a lovely spring morning with my peonies at the lake in bloom and the primordial Tulip poplar shedding it's remarkable blooms. So amazing and unexpected.  The sun was shining and it was misty drizzling--a delicious little surprise that the grass has  delighted in. Unfortunately, the vermin deer have gobbled down all the day lily blossoms, so another year of no day lilies. I am not pleased that despite the "kill" in the village to shave our herd from over 100 dear per square mile to 8, they somehow still are devouring MY plants. Not happy.

In the cadence of the rap poet, and hate monger, Donald Trump, how would he convey these thoughts. I think Trump is a scream albeit a nightmare scream given his content--but the way he speaks and delivers a lack of idea is remarkable and worth studying. Great approach for something, I cannot figure out what--but time to put some thought into that.

It is also CSA time of the year (CSA is Community Supported Agriculture). To those not familiar, this is an opportunity to buy a share of the crops from a local farm, Sweetland Farm from early June through to November. One buys a share, goes to the farm once a week and can pick from all the veggies they have (and herbs) and fill a bag. As things roll on, there is the second bag "take as much as you want" with greens etc. along with you pick deliciousness. Flowers are part of the share, so handfuls of zinnias, cosmos etc. go home too. It is Tuesdays or Fridays--and I find the time spent at the farm, in the field so amazing and centering that I am happy its started up again. Through Sweetland, I have learned and cooked many veggies that might not have hit my basket--from kale to all sorts of little japanese turnips, kohlrabi and chard. I love the fresh seasonality and crazy stuff like you pick tomatillos that I have cooked down and turned into lovely slow cooked dinners. I have become a quick pick nut (pickles) and will pickle onions, shaved cukes, red cabbage or beets at a moments notice...and surprisingly, they are eaten very quickly and happily. Another thrill.

Here's a homerun recipe that I make every week during the summer though the limes are not "local" I look the other way as this pickle is served breakfast lunch and dinner. I am sure you can figure out what it would taste good with:

Onion and Cilantro Chutney

Tomorrow is day 2 of the CSA..and I wait impatiently.

Onward to work...but we will talk soon.

Brilliant

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My brain has been in color spin cycle. My mind is blown. My little Rumplestiltskin moments have pushed me out of my zone and into a blazing nature, with yellow fields, soft green willows budding, blazing pink cherry trees, and the billowing branches in tones of white, cream and pale pink. Spring has been slow...creeping one step after the next...slowly, slowly, quietly under grey skies and cold rain. That grey gradient fooled me until the brilliant blue sky we had last Saturday which continued through this weekend to my absolute shock and delight. What a winter of darkness, a medieval time of slow and sadness, change and cold to the bottom of my heart. What a winter of solid work, solid walls, dreary days and weekends. And now, nature has splashed the world with clear, clean, spring color with lush green, blue skies and delicate pinks, roses and clear yellows. This assault of new, of clean, of hue and shade was such a shock that I had to exclaim my amazement and delight in having the new just arrive at my back door...beckoning with cool breezes and big fat bumblebees seeking our their spot in our new season,  in the new life we have been given, and the crazy growy time we are immersed in. Finally. And yes, there will be an abundance of sour cherries and cider apples this fall. So my friends will have to prepare for a robust harvest and maybe robust profits too. The CSA folks are wildly planting and preparing. We have had some amazing spinach and fine, elegant russian kale (not the horse food we normally consume). And soon, asparagus, strawberries and raspberries. Heaven!

Ron's memorial service was last weekend at Mount Saviour Monastery  in Pine City, NY (just outside of Elmira). Mount Saviour is a beautiful, peaceful Benedictine Monastery that was Ron's first project on his own just after he received his architectural license. It is a bucolic place with wild nature and a true, steep valley that leads you to the top of a hill where the monastery, the chapel and the outbuildings housing artists, craftsmen, farmers and thinkers live/ and have lived their lives in peace and community. The service was perfect in it's exquisite, simple symbolism, in the quiet and song, in the message of work and life and living. In the quiet of loss, but the hope beyond death in the life/ the spirit beyond.  This meeting of people was truly the memorial I think that represented Ron the best in his spirit, his gift, and his vision. Seeing the Monastery now populated with a new group of monks, a younger group of men filled with a new vision, a new attitude about this lovely place--it seemed that there was a continuum, an apt progression from one generation to the next, placing Ron's legacy in the hands and hearts of a new group who will love, live and get to know Ron through the buildings he designed with the founder of this Monastery, Fr. Damascus Winzen OSB (1901-71). For more on Fr. Damascus Winzen>>

We soaked in springtime at the lake this weekend and I am beginning to feel that maybe I might be coming back to myself. It is going to take a bit of time, but what with the color, the birds, and a hugging dog and chatty husband, things might take on a bit more levity appropriate with this glorious time.

​Mt. Saviour Monastery, Q. Cassetti

Full Plate

Watermelon Wreath, Q. Casseti,2012, Adobe Illustrator CS5Spring slash Early Summer burst through the veil of March —confusing the trees, the green lily shoots, and pump peony blossoms, and me. I have been weather obsessed—reading tons of stuff online, the digital Farmers Almanac trying to make sense of this insame weather and what to expect…with really no answers but those of Rob which essentially was to go with the flow. That would be the right and easy thing, but I fight it. I like the change in weather…the frosty winters, the frozen springs, the gradual warming and then the delight in the blast of heat. This is all upsidedown and backwards. As someone who likes what she likes, she doesnt cotton well to these changes. However, my Rosemary plant from Atkins Farm in Amherst is digging the change as well as my rootbound orchid.

As a bow to early spring, I cleaned the science projects out of the fridge yesterday—and configured a bunch of things into a kale/couscous/vegetable stock soup, a double batch of biscotti (chocolate chip/almonds and toffee brittle), and cooked a brisket. Now we have stuff to eat, and space to store it. Wow. Productivity.

Sparkly Kitty is home to our delight. She is relishing sleeping in her own bed, eating soup and cookies, and just being in her home. We are doing the same. Kitty delights in everything…and we love her so much. Alex is being very funny…and so its great to be all four of us together in the car, at table together.

I have been heads down getting a ton of work out the door from a new Calendar for the Museum, to covers and branding for the big customer.

Lots of small local projects: There is a new local calendar (http://www.tburgevents.com): “Tburg Events was created by Trumansburg residents Peter McCracken, Flannery Hysjulien and Sarah Koski. Christopher Wofford brought our team together. I created their masthead and a printed postcard to be dropped off at various locations to update folks on this new service. The Great Local Foods Network benefit has a poster/website/ postcard and now rack card to promote the event and the background of this new organization (http://www.greatlocalfoodsnetwork.com). I am using scrap from my files for all of this work which is inspiring me to keep going as there is a place for all of this stuff (particularly as I am the art director/creative director) so I can plug and play as I go. My farmers and I keep at our projects as well as the local beverage producers….so more to come as they come to fruition. And then there is the Farmers Market—which I am very excited about and need to wrap my head around what it is that we are doing this season and getting the manpower behind doing it. Maybe a few emails today.

I am learning sooo much new with Adobe Illustrator these days. I have always used the pen tool…but never really engaged in learning all the cool stuff having to do with paths that are integral with the program and I delight in this new knowledge. The work is speeding up a bit…and I am happier with the results than you can imagine. I also have purchased two new plug ins for Illustrator recommended by the amazing Von Glitschka (aka the Vonster)—Inkscribe and Vector Scribe from Astute Graphics. These plug ins do not really make Illustrator any more inuititive, but allows the work to go more smoothly, more accurately and does some of the knitpicky stuff that just takes time and patience. I was watching a few tutorials yesterday, and plan on a few more today to get rolling with this. It will help with the illustration work, the graphic work and the logotypes which demand more precision/accuracy and smoothness.

So, all in all, things are good. Prince Dauntless will tread the boards this Thursday through Saturday with our having our last, yes last, Cast Party on Saturday. Kitty is home. Rob has a relatively “normal” week. And I have the standard plate of things to do, but with a lot of learning and trying. So, apart from this extrordinary and yet odd weather, things are as close to perfect as possible.

Radiant Day

It has been wild the last three days. I must admit, last night I was a total bore with fatigue and my brain just having "had it". It was instachango, half an hour turnarounds for ten hours a day. Nary a moment to breathe. But, today is a day of quiet, I hope, so I can prep a nice dinner for the fam tomorrow, take a stroll on the property to see if the damned deer have nipped off more lovely pink buds from my tree peonies, and have some time to draw. I do like to do that.

Robbing the Bees, by Holley Bishop has me captivated from her descriptions of the hierarchy of the bees, the understanding of the Queens and Virgin Queens through to the development  of the hive as we know it today has me in raptures.  The stories she so skillfully weaves of history and present tense, of science and biology, art and magic, alchemy and mythology is spellbinding...and I count the hours until I can dive back into her amber colored story and submerge myself in her thought. Lets just put it mildly, I am captivated, enchanted and inspired. More pictures perhaps with Queens, and beekeepers, Langenroth hives, Egyptians. I love it that the Romans believed that the bees created wax and went out to gather the honey which was deposited into the flowers by the gods. I am taken with the concept that the bee is a messenger who carries messages and honey from the heavens to people and vice versa. The divine bee.

I got postcards back from Printograph. I ordered these cards to try out their printing (online, but ink on paper...versus on demand printing which fades with age and is very unstable from the beginning). The color is perfect and dense (I must admit, I did change all the blacks to rich blacks) and the three cards, from the Home Sweet Home series is really nice. I am thrilled. Another thing in the world of illustration promotion is that I have just gotten the 3x3 Directory, which is wonderful and I am thrilled to be there. One page is Kitty's portrait, and the other is the "Sweetheart" valentine. I also took a page in the Directory of Illustration to see if this is a worthwhile thing. I have until May 1 to create the art--and have to think about what it is that I want to put out there. The most compelling is the Chicken Choker art, or Kitty, or the woman artist, or Juri H. from the Museum. Then there is the decorative work? Can I smoosh them together successfully? The Directory also gives you space to post your work, access to lists etc. We will see what we can do...and wheither its worth the money.

Must go and embrace the day.

Gingerbread House, precolor, Q. Cassetti, 2010, pen and inkMade a beautiful boule yesterday late. The key was letting it rise several times over the course of the day...and it still wasn't as filled as holes as I would like...but the crust was crusty and smelled like burned sugar. So, I am delighted with the new pizza stone (busted the Christmas one...smashed it into three perfect pieces that I was baking on)...the steam, the spray bottle.

Spring is inching forward. The snow still is around for Shady Grove to scratch her back in the gravelly ice--but the pools of ice at the bottom of the driveway are melting so when I try to stop the car before turning...allows me to stop these days. I need to think Spring thoughts of financial aid, summer programs for Kitty and or Alex, and making plans for the weather changing time. It is all moving way too quickly.

I am still (as you can see) messing around with gingerbread houses. I keep inking them and have one half way colored too. They are fun flippies...and then reversed out becomes a new new thing. Next step bees. I also am thinking of switching out my size sketchbook to get simpler. I am working 11 x 13 in a Canson Cream Field sketchook. I think I may go down one size and go back to watercolor paper which I used in the Memento Mori Project. I loved the way the ink sits on this Monvale Field Watercolor book. Thick and chewy paper.. and the lovely blackness.... Man, the crap I bore you with... sorry for my little ecstatic moment over paper and ink. It is just such a treat.

I wish I had a little crumb of time these days, but there is work falling out of the ceiling. We have the general quick stuff with the big client, two publications, logotypes and work around the new show on Medieval Glass at the Museum of Glass. Its a giant photoshop party here...flipping between photoshop and InDesign...I hope I get a chunk finished today.