Not all of these pictures are new.
1. My new shoes look good with my nail polish. The color combination was part of why I got them. With the carpet, I like the richness of the colors and variation of materials.
2. My friend Reuben’s picture of his friend. I think this photo is really beautiful. It looks like it captures a really specific moment, but I’m not sure exactly what that moment is.
3. Graffitti in Savannah, GA
4. Poppies in Savannah, GA
The theme during my most recent trip to the library became the classics of African American literature. I have a lot of classics on my library list and decided that this week was the one to read this subset. I’ve been a fan of Toni Morrison for a while now (when I read one of her novels, I feel like I am experiencing something profound and I need a few moments to collect myself before entering back into the physical world), but haven’t yet read Beloved, which is one of her highest praised books. So I got that, but before I read it, I am working on Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston.
I have to confess that it takes me a few pages to get fully into the dialogue, which is in a very thick dialect, but I like it so far. I’m not very many pages into it yet. Also, how gorgeous is this cover? (“Very,” is the answer.)
I also took out I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou. I read it in middle school but I don’t remember much, except for a rape scene that seemed pretty graphic to me at the time. I think I was on the young side to appreciate Maya Angelou properly (mostly in terms of fully understanding things), but I applaud my middle school teachers for trying.
The other day I got an inexplicable craving for Korean food. “Inexplicable” because I have eaten it so few times that it seems ridiculous to crave it. So I gathered a few things and made something like bibimbap, which was what I really wanted. This isn’t a true bibimbap because it doesn’t have the right chili sauce but I think my improvisation came out pretty well. Well enough that I have eaten it no fewer than four times in two days. The recipe I am listing below is for about four servings.
1.5 c jasmine rice, rinsed
2 tbsp sushi rice seasoning
3 tbs sesame seeds
canola oil
sesame oil
4 md carrots, peeled and julienned
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and julienned
1 bok choi or 4 baby bok choi, washed and chopped into bite sized pieces
low sodium tamari/ soy sauce
kimchi (I used Sunja’s, but I hear it’s easy to make)
4 eggs
First, begin cooking the rice. (1 rice to 1.5 or 2 water, boil, then simmer)
While the rice is cooking, dry fry the sesame seeds until they are lightly golden. Set aside. Put a little bit of canola oil and a little bit of sesame oil in your skillet on medium to medium high heat. When a drop of water sizzles in it, add the carrots. When they are just beginning to soften, add the cucumber. After about one or two minutes, remove from the heat and combine with the sesame seeds. Set aside.
Using the same skillet (and adding more canola oil, if necessary) stir fry the bok choi. As the greens begin to wilt, add a few splashes of tamari/ soy sauce. There should be enough to flavor, but not enough to overpower. When this has evaporated (hopefully while your bok choi is still somewhat crisp), take the bok choi off the heat and set aside.
Pretty soon you will fry the eggs. You can wipe out or rinse the pan briefly or use a different one. Grease it and heat it back up.
At this point, you can begin arranging your bowls. Mix the sushi seasoning into the cooked rice. Into each bowl, scoop 1/4 each of the rice, carrot/ cucumber mix and bok choi, as well as a generous serving of kimchi. It looks nice if you place them next to, rather than on top of, each other, but it isn’t strictly necessary.
Fry the eggs. The white should be firm, but the yolk should still be liquid. You can fry them sunny side up (cooked only on one side) or over easy (cooked mostly on one side, but flipped briefly. Sunny side up looks nicer, but I prefer the texture of over easy. Top each bowl with an egg and serve.
When eating this, I like to have a bite or two of each of the ingredients alone and then mix everything together. Enjoy!
I talked a little bit about my inspiration and reference for this in my first post about designing this shirt.
I like working on tracing paper because, if you are working by hand instead of digitally, it makes it much easier to do a number of iterations of a design. I started in pencil and worked from the center motif outwards. The right side of the drawing is less finished than the left side.
I think that I want the design to be more symmetrical (right now it’s pretty balanced, but it is not symmetrical) and a little bit less feminine. Vines are ok, but I’m going to pare down the excessive curlicues. I might also make an additional design that links into the main one, to make it look more appropriate on a crew necked tee shirt. But to start, I traced in pen the parts that I am definitely keeping.
Now it’s time to rework it.
I learned an interesting things about leotards. The man who invented them, aerialist Jules Leotard, made them so that other performers like him could have more freedom of movement. The funny part is that he became a sex symbol pretty quickly because of his tight fitting outfit.
I have a couple of more detailed costume drawings, but here is a little composition in homage to the simple leotard.
Right now I am just drawing all the circus performers I can. This should allow me to work though ideas for what I want to adapt more (many of these are pretty directly from pictures or posters) or create from scratch. In addition, I have been referencing photos of ballerinas and gymnasts for some of my performers. Depending upon the type of performer, the body types tend to match up.
I’m just going to warn you now, you’re going to be looking at circus stuff for a while.
Although the work I am doing right now is mostly preliminary sketches from photographs, old circus posters provide a lot of insight into the way the shows first appeared to the public. I am continually surprised by how many wall-sized posters for sideshow performances feature the word “ALIVE!” Although I have no intention (at this point) of reproducing or creating circus ads, they are good inspiration for context and, in some cases, composition. It’s also interesting to note that the circuses I’ve been looking at were traveling at a time when most people lived in communities that were very insular. This meant that there were no attempts at political correctness because anything out of the ordinary was “AMAZING!” “SAVAGE!” “EXOTIC!” or a “FREAK!” and therefore, very marketable.
(All of these images come from the extensive catalog of the Princeton University Library.)
Well, Big Fish has turned into a book that, despite being interesting and short, I don’t just sit down and read for a long period of time… meaning that it has become overdue and I am still not finished.
I have kept The Circus on my desk, and it has been proving itself a great source of inspiration. I’ve been reading and drawing from it a lot.
This week I have also revived my love for magnetic poetry. I’m not sure if this truly belongs under “Reading List,” but it is a creative use of words/ language. I have two sets, both of which were given to me just before/ at the beginning of college, that used to live on my fridge all the time. For almost two years after we moved, I only had a handful of phrases up. The other night I decided to put all the words back up and I’ve been playing with them since. It’s like Dada poetry, but with slightly more premeditation (I try to make things that could pass for real poems) and a much weaker concept. You can play an online version at Magnetic Poetry’s website. It’s not the same as sitting on the floor in front of your fridge before breakfast or late at night, just trying to find that last “he” to complete your masterpiece, but it’s still kind of fun.
One of my coworkers asked me to design a tee shirt for our cafe. He joked that it could be a competition between me and another coworker/ artist (who was asked to design one a while ago, but hasn’t yet). I have no idea whether the shirts will ever be printed, but it seemed like a good challenge. Because I don’t have much in the way of a finished design, I will share my inspiration photos and thought process.
I am making a botanical design, since the cafe is in a wooded area and our logo is an acorn with two oak leaves. I would also like to incorporate some design elements referencing the spiraled metal columns out front.
Marathons of LA Ink on Netflix streaming have inspired me to make the design in the shape of a tattooed chest piece. (You can Google “chest tattoo” yourself, if you need to see basically what I’m talking about… I didn’t link to one because I couldn’t find any that look enough like what I’m thinking of.) This shape is well suited to a deep v-necked tee like the one below.
I don’t like the over-sized tees that many companies adorn with their logos, so I sought out something online that is a little nicer. However, since this specific shirt (a cheap cotton tee from Old Navy) would probably only please the female baristas, I’ll keep looking for one for the guys. Also, this shade of gray would look great printed in white ink.
In my search for chest pieces, I found this pretty tattoo (I forget where), based on classical leaf motif scroll work. In the design I have so far, I have taken elements from this, made the leaves into oak leaves and adapted it quite a bit.
