At the end of last year, I made my first attempt at the design of dissent. Unfortunately, I didn’t have $20 million, and had to substitute 6000+ crystals for the real thing. Along with learning I am a glutton for labor intensive punishment, I figured out a bit about process, pattern, light and time.

When I started this sculpture, I was wrestling with my own ideas of art and protest. Now, with Damien Hirst’s skull possibly fetching $98 million, I have to wonder, if it’s really supposed to be about “the little guy”, would I put the piece in a gallery or set it on fire and roll it down West 47th St.?

Like I said, I’m learning and I’m not sure what I’d do. But, I know I would never do this.

“Whether we fall by ambition, blood, or lust, like diamonds we are cut with our own dust.” – John Webster

This past spring Salomon Snowboards had an artwork contest for some of their 2008 boards. While I didn’t come away with the fame and prize money it was fun working up this illustration as an entry. I had a feeling it might be a bit too messy (and perhaps spooky) for their tastes but its a color palette and style I’ve dug working in lately.

Doodling in my sketchbook…

i’m taking an off loom fibers class at fleisher. it’s a great place to take classes (here in philly).
during the first class, i was given a bag of green handmade paper and some spanish moss to “make something with.” after a few failed ideas, i cut the index card sized pieces of paper in a swirl patterm to make a single long strip and i decided to knit with the pieces. (so the green you see is handmade paper.) I had been thinking of eggs (see my previous illo friday “rejection” post) and somehow ended up knitting a cozy shrug for an egg. I then decided to knit a mini scarf for the shrug using embroidery floss… i then filled it (nest-like) with the spanish moss. it fits in my hands rather nicely and i’m pleased with the result. (if i take the egg out i can also wear the knitted piece as a cuff bracelet.)
last week, we also learned how to make a basic coil basket. interesting stuff…

The Queensboro Bridge is undergoing some rehabilitation lately and is partially wearing a Christo-like shroud. The sketch above I drew from York ave and the photo below nearby.

Another image of from our hike on the Escarpment Trail. This one is a sketchbook watercolor of the view looking south towards High Peak and Roundtop Mountain.

Bláfjallakvisal. Fjallabaksleið / South Iceland interior. N 63º 43′ W 18º 48′
A small casein image painted from a postcard Corrie purchased while exploring Iceland with her family last spring.

This is a small gouache landscape I did in my sketchbook, looking down onto the Hudson Valley from the top of North Point on the Escarpment Trail in the Catskill Mountains. A small sketch to remember a fun excursion into the woods.
Having not done any backpacking in a few years, Kerry, Paul and I were determined to do a trip early in the summer to get our mojo back. Kerry picked this amazing hike, which was a perfect way to break us back in. And we needed it.
This was such a spectacular geological area, with a whole range of mountains and lakes perched high above the Hudson River valley on steep rocky cliffs. Thomas Cole painted these very views years ago. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it, and it made for a beautiful hike, the way the trail hugs the cliff’s edge, constantly rewarding you with sprawling views, each more splendid than the one before.
We camped out near a peaceful meadow, in a shaded grove of pines, and had a hearty campfire to eat our dinner by.
We also saw a huge snake on the trail, which was quickly identified by the flickr community as an Eastern Milk Snake.
Pictures from the hike can be seen here.
Of course my fellow Google Earth nerds, you may look at the placemark of our hike here.

is there a difference between failure and rejection? i was thinking of that… and willy wonka. (good eggs and bad eggs) “rejection” was created for illustration friday. go & participate!