courtesy of Stella Artois.

The Banksia Rose creeps her sinewed vines
‘round the rough branches of the ancient oak;
the gray smoothed trunk of the Honey Locust
patient behind the swaying Jerusalem Thorn.

Such coexistence not found in nature
You make a habitat in Your garden
that enforests, for on it no bounds are set.

Where once there was barren land, the elm gently
‘clines across the bamboo straight of the ground
that resonates to the footsteps of God.

Climbing into these clouds and standing atop, in proud defeat, couldn’t be more arduous. As soon as I begin my reign they begin their rain, bringing chance and moisture, alike, to the bottom of all things, leaving evidence of their presence on the ground in puddles.

I feel this entry has been/is being very productive in putting out exactly what I’d like it to, honest truth of sights I’ve seen of myself and my thoughts. More often than not, I am left collecting the remains of my thoughts, in puddles, on the ground. There I sit trying to pull the remains up, and ring them into a collection, but I always end up with missing pieces, and never quite find the original thoughts. Once I find a way to capture the cloud all will be well! I look forward to the day, but for now I shall sit, content, as the heavens reign down around me, and inside me.

Michael

We received a flash note from Quintessentially announcing their next "Silent Auction" of Fundacion San Felipe. This year, the 17th one, it will be held at the Marriott hotel, and all proceeds will go to their various programs ranging from art to photography for kids. This is usually a good place to get mostly Latinamerican Art.

There isn´t much in the internet about the Foundation, however, they´ve been in the area  for quite a while, working with children and taking care of the restoration of the San Felipe Neri church, which was their flag project, and now serves as headquarters for most of their programs.

The auction will be August 12th, and you can get the tickets through Quintessentially: qpanama@quintessentially.com

Here is a picture of photographer Francisco Bech and his class. Francisco has been collaborating every summer with the Foundation for the last 3 years providing a photograph course for free to children in the area.

A museum visit delivered him into my life and he is one of those artists that is present in all the books on great art, though I don't think he is as popular as the artists most people can name off the top of their heads. Why? I think it might have something to do with the starkness of his vision -- his sculptures and the images he creates are beautiful but they have a harshness to them that makes them less easy fare than the kind of art that ends up on student walls, in coffee table books in middle class houses. Or at least that is how I always perceived it. It may be different -- he is probably considered fairly tame now by modern standards.

His art resonates -- kicks out energy in the same way a Francis Bacon does, in the way Egon Schiele's work does; it has a rawness. I like that vitality and I wouldn't ever suggest that the pretty pictures people have on their walls are any less artistic than these more edgy examples, but they do have a different feel to them. These hit you in the head and the heart in a way that can sometimes make you take a step backwards -- a gut punch to the sensibilities. Giacometti represents a real knowledge of form and technique -- to be able to craft such profound artifacts in a way where it looks like it might have been made simply -- where it seems a fluid flow from thought to execution ... that is perhaps the hardest thing of all.

[caption id="attachment_183" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Rhythmic Color by Ed Tajchman, oil and acrylic on canvas, 50 x 34" (© '08 all rights reserved)"][/caption]

The second piece I'm going to share in this post is a much smaller piece, and it's brand new. It's called Blue #3 (it's third in a series of monochromatic blue watercolor paintings). The first two in the series are much larger, (22 x 28") this one is only 8.5 x 11", but I really like it. It will be matted and framed and available for sale sometime in the future. Feel free to tell me what you think about either piece.

[caption id="attachment_185" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Blue Number Three By Ed Tajchman, watercolor.           11 x 8.5", © '08 all rights reserved."][/caption]

Digg It! ,

She's perfect:)

I guess the last picture is symbolizing Russia quite well. Fair hair, grey eyes and birch trees:)

Lichtenstein in the park

PS: It's becoming more clear every day that my backyards neighbor is a drug dealer.  I plan on hanging a clothesline across his driveway, but more on that later.

On the surface it's a very basic project- make a cleaner and smaller version of this (.pdf) - but once I got the basics (I had the luxury of being asked to depict only a quarter or so of campus proper) I started getting sort of theoretical. This was spurred mostly by an awesome article I almost certainly remember reading (rather than, you know, dreaming or making up) about the history of mapping the London Underground. Now I can't find it, but as a consolation prize you can have a cool map of the New York City subway.

My/our/this campus map is intended to be a quick visual reference for student workers who maintain our department's fleet of overhead projectors- the seven colors represent the seven different routes they follow during the week and the gray buildings are for context.

The thing I was struck by when I revisted the .pdf (I say "revisited" because the last time I used it I was a freshman who did not know my ass from the proverbial hole in the ground) was how much my perception of the various buildings differs from how they actually look from above. For example, I identify Noyes Lab (the uppermost tan building) as a big inert square with a huge arched portico on the quad side, so depicting it as riddled with squiggly courtyards (as shown in the .pdf) makes it less recognizable, even if it's technically true. After a great deal of screwing around, I picked a distinct shape for each building that combines its actual floor plan with a sort of perceived/normalized floor plan and sometimes an incorporation of some of its distinctive features. Did anyone ask me to do this? NO! Does anyone care that I did? NO!

They could probably make a dark sitcom out of the flagellations of the Office Artist, but one has to make triumphal aesthetic innovation where one can.

In the meantime, here it is! Please check it out. Oh, and by the way, still can't figure out how to get things to look the same when using different browsers so will have to live with that for now :P

www.danadipasquale.com

My bottle-cap skull got onto Skull-A-Day, but I've behind in checking the site out and found out it was posted a week ago!  It is a really cool site, especially if you love skulls, but it is also interesting to see how many different pieces can be made with one theme in common.

*Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 1 (Click Here)

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"Wash Day"

Hooray for the 6th of 6 little snail critters for the outside of the Japanese Knot Bag!

The little "Wash Day" snail is overlooking the yellow snail as it hangs to dry. All stitched with: backstitch, split backstitch, stem stitch, french knot, detached chain stitch, straight stitch, seed stitch, and satin stitch. The water droplets are stitched with 1 strand of Kreinik filament for sparkle.

This snail will have a little "bling". A few Mill Hill Crystal Treasures flowers will become the flowers there in the background of the grass.

Here are the Treasures placed above the stitched flowers. Not a bad match for the color scheme!

And, Voila! "Wash Day" with the bright pink border that will frame it when on the purse body.

Now...the construction of the purse body. I'm off to sew all 6 portraits to the purse shell!

Your life needs fun. Go ahead, have some fun!

———–Helpful Information———

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Find My “Tinting Fabric with Crayon” Tutorial (Click Here)

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Find Stitchy Britches Blog (Click Here)

I am quite fascinated with this artist right now. Seeing creative uses of materials is something I find quite inspirational. When I was at the MOMA this summer, there was an artist books exhibit going on and there was one tiny piece that caught my eye. It was called Seed Circle. Lenore Tawney had carefully placed tiny seeds in concentric circles on the cover of a weathered looking book. This spurred me to look up more of her work.

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Here's the walking across the U.S. for a good cause.

SAN DIEGO (AP) ― It took 10 months, 24 pairs of shoes and 40 pounds of flesh, but former New York Giant George Martin has finished a cross-country walk to raise money for people with health problems linked to the September 11 attacks.

[full article]

You can read all about it here.

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A slightly different story about Iraq can be found here.  It's a more true-to-life kind of this.  Tyler Ziegel and Renee: one year on. 

To understand that story a bit better, here's the picture that goes with it.

As I said, true-to-life.  Here's the video if you want to watch that. It gives another angle on the story.

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5 Bible Superpowers

5 Reasons GTA IV is the Worst Great Game Ever Made

I haven't read Cracked in years, but found both of these articles read-worthy.  The GTA:IV one is particularly good.  It's always nice to critique perfection..which kinda goes along with the first link...

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Cheney is a lying, cheating jerk.

Vice President Dick Cheney’s office was involved in removing statements on health risks posed by global warming from a draft of a health official’s Senate testimony last year, a former senior government environmental official said on Tuesday.

He hasn't been heard from much lately, but he's up to the same old b.s.

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Israel keeps pissing off her neighbors and allies.

Jerusalem - Israel plans to build some 1,800 new homes in two Jewish neighbourhoods of Jerusalem built on occupied West Bank land, Israel Radio reported Wednesday.

Some 900 homes will be built in Homat Shmuel G', an eastern extension of Israel's controversial Har Homa neighbourhood, on Jerusalem's southern outskirts, the radio said.

This settlement building just keeps angreing the Palestinians and even goes agiainst what the U.S. has asked for.  With each new settlement built under protest, peace retreats a bit more.   Stop building until an greement is reached, por favor.

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The U.S. is teetering.

Loong article on the problems facing the U.S.  A good read from a solid scholar.

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What it's like to watch Fox for 24 Hours.

Found this one pretty funny.  I wouldn't recommend watching Fox (or any cable news) for 24-consecutive hours.  Heck. I wouldn't recommend 24 hours a year.

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This is the best Halloween tower EVAR!!!

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World's oldest bible on the Interwebs.  In the dump trucks.  Just like Jesus predicted.

This is actually pretty cool.  The technology makes so much knowledge and history so much more widely available than ever before.  Good times.  Good times.

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Terror driver in court.

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) — The judge in the first American war crimes trial since World War II barred evidence on Monday that interrogators obtained from Osama bin Laden's driver, ruling he was subjected to "highly coercive" conditions in Afghanistan.

But Judge Keith Allred, a Navy captain, left the door open for the prosecution to use statements Salim Hamdan made at Guantanamo, despite defense claims that all his statements were tainted by alleged abuse including sleep deprivation and solitary confinement.

Hamdan, who was captured at a roadblock in Afghanistan in November 2001, pleaded not guilty at the start of a trial that will be closely watched as the first full test of the Pentagon's system for prosecuting alleged terrorists. He faces a maximum life sentence if convicted of conspiracy and aiding terrorism.

It looks like they are going to allow "coerced" (i.e. tortured) testimony in these trials.  So much for "justice"
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And last but not least, my favorite song of the summer.

View the chronological ART data base of RYAN SESLOW.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rmsmovement/sets

From here you can navigate the multidisciplinary works by genre.

Changes are being made, worlds are being synthesized together.

You can also visit :

http://www.rmsmovement.com

The RmS Movement site is being re-designed but

you still have access to the RmS Video Art/ Film Art Library.

Want to Purchase The Ryan Seslow Rare Drawings Book?

The book is here: http://www.ryanseslow.com

Like I said, change is in the air. The Ongoing Rms is undergoing many changes.

Next Stop -

" The Art of Ryan Seslow : A Full Synthesis of the Metamorphosis "

Stick around.....

Joseph Cornell (1903 - 1972): An odd-ball, self-taught artist, who I returned to today, because I am bored with the "idea" of painting, but stoked with the "idea" of using my architectural training to manipulate space through mini-light boxes, translucent puppets and interactive art.

Ignorant, as I am, from lack of a formal artistic training, I didn't know of Joseph Cornell till my husband, a lover of collage, "dumpster diver", "hoarder of "found" objects" (much to my wifely annoyance!), and a long time fan of Joseph Cornell, with quite a flair of his own for collages - insisted that we go for his Retrospective at the SFMOMA, which ended early this year. I have to admit that being completely unfamiliar with his work, I didn't really "get" his curious assemblages and boxed art at first sight, except for his large "portraits" of the Russian ballerina, Tamara Toumanova, which was a mre familiar medium.

Today, I am fascinated, more than ever, by this renegade and hugely reclusive artist, who by re-thinking the box, continues to influence art, design, and the current trends in graphics.

Links:

• Home page created by the artists to describe the mall apartment (see "Pressed" page for links to media coverage)
• Article containing additional links to AP and Rhode Island News coverage

Have fun!

I love going to the roof, you can see a lot from up there. There are chairs and tables scattered around so the tenants can make themselves comfortable. Every now and the my husband and I go up there just to chill out in the night. I love feeling the cool breeze on my sticky skin. It feels good after feeling that hot afternoon sun. Sometimes we're alone and sometimes there are others there too. There is the occasional man power walking; getting his exercise, or someone smoking a cigarette (and sometimes weed). I don't mind the smell though, I actually like it. I took this picture from up there.

Everything is lovely and is going to be lovely.