Wildly Interesting Books

  • Adam's Task by Vicki Hearne
  • Anything by Colin Cotterill
  • Auguries of Innocence by Patti Smith
  • Big Box Swindle by Stacy Mitchell
  • Darwin: A Life in Poems by Ruth Padel
  • Gehry Draws
  • Human Smoke by Nicholson Baker
  • Out of Our Heads by Ava Noe
  • Stylepedia: A Guide to Graphic Design, Mannerisms, Quirks and Conceits
  • The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larrson
  • The God of Small Things by Arundahti Roy
  • The Long Fall by Walter Mosely
  • The Martin Beck Series by Maj Sjowall and Per Waloo
  • The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
  • The Wrecking Crew by Thomas Frank
  • Vermeeer in Bosnia by Lawrence Weschler

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Thank God Someone's Paying Attention to What Matters in America Today

From Real Simpleton Magazine
Question:What is the best way to store multiple curling irons, hair dryers, and flat irons?Ann MarksKirkland, WA


Answer:Invest in a plastic or wire organizer that mounts to a wall or inside a cabinet door.
A place for everything and everything in its place. That’s the ideal, right? Take a step in the right direction by organizing your collection of hair tools.
Although this issue is important, I still believe it takes second place to the story last year about the woman who didn't know how to organize her jewelry

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Tom's Got a Thing

Here's a Tom Canel original cartoon in progress. But you can see lots more on his blog/website at http://.bligblug.blogspot.com

Harvey Works in Acrylic Gouache




In the top photo we see Harvey's layout for his painting..and a photo of his dinner! Wow! The bottom picture is the first pass at a painting. Lots of Yods. Don't know what a 'Yod' is? Stay tuned.

The Paper Sculpture by Fionna Lafferty





The first picture is of some of the materials used. Next we see Fionna Laying out her project...and then...Voila! Who doesn't want one of these on their wall?
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Rose Works in Collage







Rose weaves her magic in collage. Sorry the last piece is a bit fuzzy. My shaking hands and the camera setting to blame. But seriously, Rose is an up and coming collage artist and let's hope to God she keeps it up.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Iraq Vets Rock


Hey, here's how you can support the troops. Buy this book by Iraq and Afganistan Vets against the War.(IVAW)
And visit their fabulous website: http://ivaw.org/

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Sam Thompson's Watercolor Class, Peaches


Sam Thompson's classes are like the Zen Meditation Center where the monk comes around and hits you with a stick. Just the ticket to get back into the fray. Suzanne D. and I went up there and got whacked around a bit and came home exhausted but happy. It's Sam's mission in life to not let you overwork a painting. We left the twittering mind behind.

Monday, September 08, 2008

Real Simpleton


Have you ever seen this magazine, Real Simpleton? What a void this publication has filled! Who will ever forget the stirring article about the woman who was distraught because she couldn't organize her jewelry collection? Or the online help topic: Help, my shoes squeak? Another popular feature of the magazine is taking ordinary household items and finding other uses(called the 'Aha! use) for them. I won't go into this now. But I myself, dear reader have found an 'aha' use for the mundane devilled egg platter.

If you like to use ceramic for your watercolors (plastic makes the paint bead up) and the palattes at the art supply store are too small for larger works, or for working on multiple paintings at a time, the lowly devilled egg platter could be just the thing for you. Stephen Quiller makes a huge square ceramic palatte which is totally groovy, but it's almost as large as my art studio and weighs 40 pounds. Not so the devilled egg platter, which features nice, deep wells perfect for washes and mixing large amounts of color.

I might mention that it's perfect for fluid acrylics. the color can be allowed to dry up in the deep wells and peeled off so you can re-cycle appropriately instead of throwing it down the sink into our drinking water.

Unfortunately, the devilled egg platter has no discernable effect on the quality of your paintings. I'm working on that one.

Monday, September 01, 2008