. I took a trip down to see the new layout and to enjoy the day and the dogs!
- LOVE his pottery. I think we live in the same planet. Astro-turf table dressing? Yes!
makes note cards with a clean design aesthetic.
designs other-worldly, wearable and chic silver jewelry. Beautiful work.
uses some very innovative materials (she'll tell you, if you ask. Brace yourself!) She merges current and classic looks in a kind of post-modern way that is very appealing. She also teaches jewelry-making classes (
).
Fairly recently, I read "
Breaking Into Freelance Illustration" by illustrator and author
Holly DeWolf. I actually learned about the book before it was even published. A couple of years ago, Holly asked me if I would be interested in contributing to the book, and I was very happy to oblige. I knew Holly from the online community of illustrators, and I knew that whatever she was writing would be something I'd be eager to read myself! Her book saw the light of publishing day in September 2009 (
F+W/HOW Books) and I of course could not wait to get my copy from Amazon. When it arrived, I couldn't put it down.
Three things I love about this bookIts a creative business book that's also a fun readThere is no slogging through the content in this book. It's packaged well in fun-sized, easily digestible morsels. This helps make it an addictive read. It's a flexible one, too—for the reader, it would be as comfortable to consume the entire book in a few longer sittings, as it would be to pop off a few pages at a time over the course of a couple weeks, say, on your daily commute.
It features real-deal conversations, observations and advice from a variety of active, working illustrators and designersI love that there's snippets from working professionals from all walks of illustration: children's, editorial, art licensing, logo designers, and more. This not only helps to illustrate personal experiences in so many different areas of the industry, but it also illuminates how similar all of our experiences as creative professionals are, how we all often struggle with the same fundamental challenges, and how some general solutions to these problems can be retro-fitted to our own particular situation with just a fresh eye and an open mind. Though each of us may concentrate on different areas of the industry and, as such, have very individualized, specific goals for our respective work, there is more that is fundamentally similar in all of our experiences than is different.
A great introductory book for young illustrators... and a good reminder manual for the establishedMany business books for creatives tout the same, classic, tried-and-true fundamentals. Good advice is good advice, right? This book shares some of the same, but also shares so much more—Holly's voice shines right through the words on the page. She's personable and honest, like a good friend who doesn't sugarcoat things. Holly acts as an invisible mentor, dispensing some real tough-love advice, but in a completely comfy, "positive-vibes" type of package. She definitely has a way with words, proving a strong ability to cover a
lot of material in a way that's neither overwhelming nor disorganized, while maintaining her loose, conversational tone. All in all, it's an easily digestible book on the business of art that's great for artists who have an aversion to business books.
There is a lot more to love about this book. If this mini-review has piqued your interest, I hope you will
pick it up!
The Great Reindeer RebellionBy Lisa TrumbauerIllustrated by Jannie HoSterling Publishing, 2009> Book on AmazonFirst and foremost, The Great Reindeer Rebellion is a story told in rhyming verse. By default, this makes it a picture book after my own heart.
(SPOILER ALERT) The Great Reindeer Rebellion follows Santa's trials of auditioning a new group of animals to run the Christmas Eve sleigh ride, because his reindeer have gone on strike due to inhospitable working conditions. It's a very clever backdrop to explain the basic concept of unionization, and the story tackles this feat in a way that is easy to digest, totally unassuming and not didactic in the least. The stories' poem style (Ballad, I think) is a riff on "Twas the night before Christmas". This adds a built-in familiarity to the story from the get-go, and kids and adults alike will instantly feel a sense of comfort on the very first reading. Given the poem's cadence, it's also a fun book to read out loud together.
The story itself is fun AND funny—Santa's search for a new group of sled-pulling substitutes leaves him quite exasperated after every audition. This is my first picture book by author
Lisa Trumbauer, and surely it won't be my last. (RANT ALERT) I have heard time and time again that "it's hard to do rhyme well" and "poetry is a hard sell" in children's trade. I love to write in rhyme myself, and while these remarks are always a bit daunting to hear for an aspiring children's author-poet, they would never stop me from choosing rhyme as my form of writing.
(After all, these things choose YOU, not the other way around. ;)). After continually hearing those words over and over
(...on deaf ears... ;)), and in this publishing climate to boot, seeing books like this one getting published (and presented so beautifully and respectably) is a very good reminder that solid writing is solid writing. At the end of the day, that is what matters.
The story also inspires some highly entertaining visual narrative. Illustrator
Jannie Ho's artwork is her signature visual playground, but here, she tackles some interesting new ground (new to me, anyway). The likes of Santa, Elves, Reindeer on strike (and in hot tubs!) are composed with lots of character and humor. To me, Jannie's work most always has a sort of deadpan-whimsy about it, and here, there's an additional underlying bit of saltiness kicking in! Fun nuggets in the details of some of the spreads reward the viewer and add layers to the story. Jannie's current admirers will be ecstatic, and I've no doubt this book will bring more fandom her way! The richly colored spreads are tactile, too - they're enhanced by the judicious use of spot gloss.
This is a physically substantial book that feels good to hold. The pages are double thick. This does not make the book heavy weight-wise, but it does make it feel like a thick, juicy steak in a picture-book buffet. Pick one up, and you'll see what I mean.
The Great Reindeer
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(L-R) Me (
Kathy), Nancy of
Nancyrosetta artisan jewelry, and Suzanne Conopka at (Etsy artists' group collectives') "
Boston Handmade" craft fair in Union Square, Somerville MA, 6/28/08
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The fun-design of an Etsy postcard at the Etsy swag / information table
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Today,
Boston Handmade, a local association of Etsy artisans, came together in Union Square, Somerville, MA for four hours of arts, crafts, jewelry and textile art - selling fun! The group is very well-organized. Collectively, they sell at a monthly show in
Jamaica Plain, the maintain a really nice and fun to read blog, and on an individual level, members are busy each in their own arts communities and have some interesting things going on, on their own
(curious? it's all on their
blog).
I went to the show today - not to sell my own stuff, but to help my sister Nancy of
Nancyrosetta artisan jewelry. She is a member of the Boston Handmade group and was participating in the show.
We had a really fun day. The weather thankfully held out well throughout the day, after threatening to blow us out with gusty winds during set-up. People were really friendly and kind, all around. It was really pleasant in that way. I sensed a definite lack of the oft-seen/felt 'jockeying for position' and the competitive vibe that can occur at shows. It made for a much more pleasant and relaxed atmosphere throughout the day. The show drew quite a large crowd, though, so oftentimes booths were filled to capacity, and the only people jockeying for position during those moments were customers!
I enjoyed looking at all of the work, and I purchased quite a number of things. I can't help it, I am an art lover, and art makes life better!! And handmade things are even better -- I love buying something specially made! It feels more special hat way, AND it's nice to know where things come from! Good karma!
The work displayed at this show was on the whole pretty outstanding. I've been to a lot of art/craft shows, and this one not only had a really nice overall variety of different products, but the work clearly had a very high level of craftsmanship and aesthetic appeal. In terms of vendors, jewelry seemed to take the lead, but my feeling is that the mix of different styles really supported each individual artist. There was no competing work - no jewelry that was alike. (I even purchased jewelry, myself - from two different sellers!)
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Leetle, superinteresting surrealistic landscape oil paintings by
Carrie Bergsman of bergsmansbear
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Holey cannoli! It's tons of fabulous holey stuff to wear and use by
Louise Cady-Fernandes of The Hole Thing
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Lovely felted and vintage buttoned brooches by
Liz Smith of Made In Lowell.
If you are reading this far: The first person to correctly guess which brooch I purchased will win (
confetti! applause!) a package of
six assorted greeting cards from me! (To guess, just DESCRIBE YOUR GUESS in the comments.)
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Gorgeous jewelry from
Nancyrosetta (my sister!) That's Nancy and her good friend (and an all-around family friend!) Suzanne, who helped out with her table today, too!! (So nice to see her and Jape today!)
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Such incredibly imaginative, unique and delicate little figurines, ornaments and other items, themed for specific holidays/ special occasions, by
Vintage By Crystal. (I bought one for myself! Yay!)
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> See many more photos of this event on my Flickr
Audio CD
Kathy Griffin - For Your Consideration - You either love her or you hate her. I hope I'm not alienating anyone, but, caution to the wind! Love her. She kills me. And as much as I loved her mentor, 80's era Joan Rivers, contemporary Kathy's funnier. I hear a torch being passed!
Cards
Cartolina Cards
There is a bazillion independent card companies out there in the market, and it's a joy to experience each one's own individual aesthetic, but, let's face it, there are so many because there are a lot of very different aethetics (and a lot of different ones that are marketable). This company's cards really turned my head with the unique color, collage and font combinations. Wow, I love them. You know when you see something and it really expresses your own aesthetic but in a much different way than you would express it yourself, if you were to make the art and design your own card? Many of the cards in this line do that for me. I'm going to buy some of these to use myself... and, well, truth be told, I'm kind of a card snob. Full disclosure. (I think most designers are by default though. So don't throw tomatoes at me... or, er, shredded paper... in keeping with the theme... )
Book
"The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and other stories"
by Nicolas Gurewitch
Let's just be honest here. I'm not a huge comics person. I've dabbled over the years - -Archie and Richie Rich in my youth, Palookaville, Love and Rockets and someothers in my early 20's. That's pretty much it. But, being married to a veritable lifetime comic book aficionado, I'm hyper-aware of the market by default (if only because, every time I come home, there's new comic books sprawled out on the coffee table. That said, it is nice to have a mate who truly appreciates art in modern culture. :))
Well, today, he picked up this little gem of a country-fried freak show. Instead of coming up with an in-a-nutshell remark myself, the following quote sizes things up pretty good:
(From the back of the book...)
"If Rod Serling had a sense of humor and an illustration degree, this would be his comic strip"
- Tom Brazelton, Theater Hopper
Each strip in the book is only three or four panels long. In this age of the graphic NOVEL (and short attention spans) that's pretty refreshing. Also of note is that the artist/author uses several distinctly different art styles in the work. Sort of perplexing at first, but it's actually very appropriate given the nature of the strip. Very funny. Check it out!
This worked out so well last time, I thought I'd go for it again. Today, it's just about a couple of things that might, by some people, be considered mundane. Boring. Maybe even banal. Like for instance, doing the dishes. But doing the dishes is not on the list. (I don't really mind doing the dishes, though...)
Making Dinner
Making dinner is an awesome treat for me. It's creative, and it's really good meditative time, too. You can't let your mind travel too far or let yourself lose your focus when you are working with a sharp knife. So, it's kind of mental ballet, too! (...but ballet with food!)
We typically get take out several times a week because I work at night most nights, and don't have the time to devote to making meals every night. (Matt cooks dinners too, but I do it a little more often, and I think it is because my take-out tolerance for so-many-nights-in-a-row seems to be lower than his.)
I have been trying to cook meals two nights during the week because I really enjoy cooking, eating food I made, and of course sharing the meals I make! It's really fun times, cooking.
For a long time, I was simply too busy to cook at all (or to do much of anything else, for that matter.) And I really missed it. I now make much more of an effort to make the time to do it (...and to do those other things, too). It's really important to do that kind of stuff - - the everyday stuff that is sometimes considered mundane, but that you really like to do -- and, when you don't have time to do it, you find that you really do miss it.
Adventure-contest Reality TV shows
(Is this one TMI? You can be honest with me.)
I am a total, TOTAL Survivor-head, and have been from Season One. (Passe? P'shaw!!) I have every season available on DVD, and yes, I actually WATCH them (they make for great treadmill viewing). It took the entire first season of the The Amazing Race for it to sink in to the recesses of my brain, but I have been hooked ever since. Fear Factor (RIP)? Check! (Heck, I planned my Monday nights around that gross-out hour!)
Okay, now I know that TV can be somewhat, hmm, how shall I put this... unpopular. Okay, okay! No more nicey-nice -- to some folks, TV is downright depraved! To this I say - you are completely entitled to feel that way. And I totally respect your decision.
Now hand me the remote, and take the phone off the hook. Survivor's on!!
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Thank you so much, Kathy, for linking to my post. Love your blog!
Thank you so much Kathy! You're too kind :) and thanks for all the other cool links, I'm off to check the out! Hugs from sunny Mexico.