From books to blogs

I am a book hoarder.

Books on art and design, periodicals, paper swatch books, fill spaces all over my home and studio. I don’t have a “proper library” because my husband refuses to indulge this crazy idea I have of floor to 15 ft ceiling bookshelves.

ANYWAY…

I buy too many, and admit it. One of my most recent purchases is Menus for Chez Panisse – The Art & Letterpress of Patricia Curtan. Forward by Alice Waters.

This book fuels my desire to get back into printmaking. In the meantime, I will practice my craft and help my friend Renee Dobbs add a little “art” to her already successful lifestyle blog, Magnolia Days.

Trying to keep it fresh and not overworked, I did 3 different renderings before I settled on a light little piece depicting Italian Flat Leaf Parsley. I want to try and evoke the feeling, rather than do a botanically accurate rendering.

I’d like to think of them as field note sketches, rather than finished works of art. Maybe someday to be bound together in a book…a cookbook perhaps? ;>

Patricia Curtan’s gorgeous letterpress designs for Chez Panisse, will undoubtedly be a source of inspiration moving forward.

I would like to thank Renee for the opportunity to keep my hands dirty and my skills fresh.

Here is the post she did for a yummy drink recipe that involves parsley. Yes, parsley! It’s yummy.

This sketch was done with Dr. Martin’s dyes mixed with water on d’Arches hot press water color paper.

The special charm and inspiration of old black and white photography

This week’s #FamilyPhotoFriday is a nod to my college days. I used to raid my mother and father’s photo albums for subject matter inspiration. When you are in art school you have to make a lot of art everyday, and coming up with ideas for new content was not easy for me. What was easy for me was to connect to old photos and family imagery. I also liked drawing from nature, and still do.

The images of these deer taken at a Catskills game park in 1960 struck me as so totally beautiful. The photos made me feel like I was there in the middle of them. I had never experienced that until my kids were in school and we went to one of the local reserve parks.

While in college I did a series of linoleum cuts using these three images. I never thought they were very successful. Nothing could be as fascinating as the photos. Even if they were in Kodachrome, they would not be as cool as the black and white.

 

Deer at Catskills Game Park 1960

Paper documents have soul.

There is something so soulful and valuable about a handwritten document.

One of my very favorites is my grandmother’s birth certificate. This fabulous legal-size, double-sided, handwritten in Italian, stamped and notarized, official document of birth, was presented to me folded down into a small rectangle. Surely it was tucked into my Nana’s valise with her precious belongings when she boarded a boat from Italy to the United states before the turn of the 20th century.

The original birth certificate resides in my personal safe. It was scanned and preserved for future generations along with other one-of-a-kind documents. Copies were presented to several family members as a Christmas gift.

This is a wonderful thing to do for your family’s history. Cherished items that are irreplaceable will be appreciated for many years to come.

Don’t let these precious pieces of history disappear. Take a minute every Friday to scan an old family photo to preserve and share. I welcome you to join me on my facebook page and post your pictures.

I am REALLY looking forward to seeing those images. Don’t be embarrassed if they are not perfect; that is not the purpose of this project. The purpose is to use the technology we have available to ensure that our family history is preserved.

If you tweet, use this hash tag #FamilyPhotoFriday

Willard Suitcase #14

Love this project.

Willard Suitcase #14.

Have you had enough of my preaching yet?

It’s been over a month since I started Family Photo Friday. I have enjoyed going through my personal collection of photos and documents and sharing them with you. My family members have really been surprised at what turns up on my facebook page.

I have many photos, articles and clippings that came to light after my father’s passing. I look forward to getting those all scanned and preserved. The originals are all being saved with archival tissue between each piece. Even that won’t insure their survival, however. Paper breaks down…that is the hard fact. Thank goodness it does or we would be living amongst more trash than we already do.

The computer gives us a magnificent opportunity to store these precious memories in the tiniest of spaces. To be sure, the back-up drive would be one of the first things out the door with me should I need to leave my home in a hurry. I have original documents in a fireproof safe as well. What is precious to me may not be precious to someone else, but I know that recipes handwritten by my grandmother would be gone forever if I did not keep them safe. It is my history and my children’s history. I’d like to think that it will inspire my grandchildren and great grandchildren someday.

Below is a document I scanned a few minutes ago; my father’s high school graduation announcement. As you can see it still had the protective tissue inside…and it is turning yellow on the edge where it was exposed to the chemicals in an old photo album, or possibly an envelope, I can’t be sure.

Today’s post is dedicated to my friend Mitzi’s dad, Frank Taylor. He told her that he had not seen my blog posts lately. He is right…I have been slacking. It means the world to me that he reads them…thanks, Frank!

 

Don’t let these precious pieces of history disappear. Take a minute every Friday to scan an old family photo to preserve and share. I welcome you to join me on my facebook page and post your pictures.

It was meant to be.

On a recent trip to a local antique/flea market I found this fabulous Grumbacher brush cabinet. My heart skipped a beat when I saw it. There were two, but I knew my studio would only accommodate one (and barely that); it’s pretty big.

Sometimes these things just have my name written all over them and I have to take them home. My penchant for cabinets and organization is pretty evident throughout my home, studio and office space. The older and crustier the better.

This piece took some elbow grease to get “some” of the crud off of it. It must have been used in a workshop after its original use in an art supply or hardware store. It was just too dirty to have come directly from a store. It certainly was “farm fresh”, as the American Pickers say.

First, I hosed out the dirt and lightly scrubbed it with mild soap and a soft brush. Then I went into solvent and Briwax mode for the rest of the detailing. It’s still is pretty rough, but it is way better than it was. I did not dare touch the art on the side, which is very bright. I focused mostly on the drawers. There was permanent marker that had been used to label them, and tape with prices for each section inside the drawers.

I have not put all my art supplies in it yet, but that will happen soon enough. Nothing stays empty for long around here!

I love mother

In preparation for this week’s Family Photo Friday, I was going through my archival box of stuff to scan and found this tiny little scrap of paper. It was given to me by my sister. It was found among my Aunt’s things after she passed away.

This priceless treasure is a piece of a penmanship lesson my father did when he was a very small child. You can see his name is at the top, Joseph Barabino, then he proceeds to write “I love mother” several times.

This precious little scrap of paper is over 80 years old; my father would have been 90 this year.

I hope you will participate in my efforts to preserve these priceless pieces of family history by making a point to scan one photo from your collection every Friday. Share it, if you like, on my facebook page. If you are too private to share, please take part in any way you like to preserve your family history. It is so important.

Family Photo Friday

I am starting a little project in the hope that I can save some of you from the sorrow of lost family histories.

Those gorgeous old family pictures on paper are disappearing.

This morning I discovered, to my horror, that one of my favorite pictures of my precious dog Candy and myself when we were babies together was faded away, almost beyond repair. I rushed to my computer and discovered that I had another version already archived. (the image on the right) Thank goodness!
However, this does not make me much happier about the print that is now in need of major photoshop-ing.

This is happening all over, and I can guarantee it. In your home, your mother and father’s home, your grandparent’s home. We are all busy snapping the digital pictures and are forgetting that there is a treasure trove of family history fading away in a shoebox in a closet. (Actually they are a little bit safer there than in a frame on a shelf exposed to light, which is where my beloved Candy picture stood for years.)

I have an app called Shoebox by 1000 Memories that I have not used yet because I just pop my pics in the scanner. But for anyone who is scanner-less and Photoshop challenged, this is the ticket.

Don’t let these precious pieces of history disappear. Take a minute every Friday to scan an old family photo to preserve and share. I welcome you to join me on my facebook page and post your pictures. I will be putting one of my own up tomorrow morning.

I am REALLY looking forward to seeing those images. Don’t be embarrassed if they are not perfect; that is not the purpose of this project. The purpose is to use the technology we have available to ensure that our family history is preserved. Scan your old documents also…just don’t post those on facebook – too much info for crazy people to use improperly.

If you tweet, use this hash tag #FamilyPhotoFriday
See you tomorrow!

A rare moment for a graphic designer

Every so often a project presents itself and you just have to realize that you must have done something right along the way to be fortunate enough to be involved.

Today was a rare moment for a freelance graphic designer. We almost never get to see a printed piece received by an audience.
I was thrilled to be invited to a reception honoring Marcia G. Taylor for her generosity and commitment to the Henry County, Georgia community.
I was able to see firsthand, the reactions on people’s faces when they viewed the women’s journal I had a hand in creating. One sweet lady even asked me to sign it.

This book was by no means the product or effort of any one individual. It was a collaboration of the finest variety. From the marketing directors and project managers, to the photographer, to the writer, and to the beautiful people in the photographs…it was a labor of love.

View the entire journal here:
The Marcia G. Taylor Women’s Center at Piedmont Henry Hospital – Women’s Journal
(This is a tabbed book, so some pages are larger than others. If you click on the link above to view it, you will see that the program used to create the interactive magazine format adds a white bar on the edge of the smaller pages. Blech. Please try and overlook that. )

2012 – and I still have one foot in the past

Lots of good things coming, but for just a second I want to talk about my penchant for old things – Vintage.

While in one of my favorite cities – Savannah, over my break during the week between Christmas and New Year’s, my sister and I stole away from the pack and got in some much appreciated antique mall time together. Picker sisters (kind of), but neither one of us likes to get too dirty or work that hard to find our treasures. It is one of my favorite and most happy pastimes.

On this particular outing we were in unfamiliar territory and still managed to sniff out one of the finer antique malls in Savannah. It was a small place on one of the many scenic squares just off Broughton Street. If my SCAD student is reading this maybe she can post a comment and remind me of the name.

I gravitate towards “visual artist/graphic designer” type geek stuff; old paintboxes, signs and letterforms, cameras and designer tools of a bygone era.

This little gem is like a mini overhead projector. Have only plugged it in once, but it works! Basically you just lay it on an image and it projects on a wall…or whatever. Gets mighty hot, so I am not sure I will trust it for long periods. I just LOVE the looks of it, and it will probably just sit there on my vintage book case with my other vintage thingamabobs looking pretty and nostalgic.

For all you vintage geeks out there..it’s BAKELITE! WHOOP WHOOP!

Happy treasure hunting. Tell me about your finds!