New Blue

As you have probably figured out by the title of this blog and many of my posts, I like to ride bikes. This blog was named after my very own blue bicicletta (beech-ee-clet-ta), a wonderful Schwinn I picked up out of someone’s backyard 5 years ago.

With advice from several people, and the realization of just how darn slow and hard I was riding because of my bike being old and rickety and without working gears, I had decided to make the investment of getting my good old bike fixed up. I dropped it off at the bike shop knowing that it was going to cost quite a pretty penny to get it to top shape, but my boyfriend had recently reminded me that my bike is my main mode of transportation, so I decided to make the investment.

A couple days later, the bike mechanic called me telling me something else would need to be fixed, driving my repair costs up even further. Being a kind man, he asked, “Have you had this bike since you were a kid or something? Does it have a lot of sentimental value?” I saw what he was driving at. I had thought quite a bit about just getting a new bike, but I figured I would end up spending just as much as if I repaired the old one, and I guess I did have some sort of attachment to this one. But, from talking it over, I decided it was time to retire this old bicicletta, and start anew.

This blog post was meant to be a commemoration of the good times with my bike, complete with glamour shot, but there is another twist to the story that makes that idea impossible.

At the time of the above-mentioned call, I was riding my boyfriend’s bike, as he was out of town. I wanted to get my bike out of the repair shop as soon as possible (to avoid taking up their space), so I rode by the shop, picked up my bike, but being unable to ride two bikes at once, locked my bike up outside the shop with the intent of picking it up the next day.

When I returned the next afternoon, my bike was gone. “The irony of it,” I thought. I wandered the street where I parked it for a while, wondering if I was confused about where I had left it, but sadly, it was very gone. Darn bike thieves! The idea that someone else was rolling down the street on my good old bike . . .

Aside from my anger and frustration, my boyfriend was back in town, and it was starting to get pretty depressing to ride the bus, drive, and walk everywhere. So, I quite quickly discovered the above new blue bicicletta, at a used bike store. My boyfriend made a little fun of me because honestly it’s essentially the same bike (with a slight color variation). Since my old bike got stolen before I was able to take the glamour shot, you will have to take my word for it. I have to say, this new, fixed up bike is amazingly stealthy– so smooth and fast compared to my old one– and the gears work!! Hot diggity! As you can see, after the thievery, I invested in a high-caliber kryptonite lock. Thieves be damned!

I seem to be writing a lot of non art-related posts lately . . . I don’t know . . . life is art, art is life . . . I may be back later today with some creative work.

Doing the job, by hand

So I considered titling this post the same as the title of the book I’m about to mention, Hand Job, but I decided to veer away from the shock value. Michael Perry, the writer/editor/compiler of this book about hand typography must have kept himself giggling for several days after he came up with the title. I think it fits for the crowd interested in this book. Hand typography, as opposed to computer-based typography, feels like somewhat of an off-beat, artsy subculture.

Left: “Slap Your Friends,” t-shirt design by Adrian Johnson
Right: “Olaf,” Poster by Adrian Johnson, one in a series titled, “The Pillage People”

I didn’t really even know there was a subculture, until I started doing it. Really, I think everyone who does typography by hand has two things in common: they love letters/words and they love to draw. As Perry says in his introduction, since computers took over the typography business, hand typographers tend to be people looking for quirks and imperfections to give their work warmth and character. I don’t think I really came looking for anything specific, I just wanted to incorporate words into my art, and it just sounded more fun to draw them myself.

Miscellaneous type by Andy Beach

So, I heard about this book through the blog-vine, and I really wanted to get it because it sounded interesting and fun to look at. I don’t have a whole lot of cash these days though, so I wanted to see the book before I actually bought it, just to make sure it was worth it. I searched the local libraries and bookstores, and even asked Borders to order it for me so I could look at it before buying, but they couldn’t even get it.

I had reconciled myself to the fact that I would either have to buy it online, or not see it at all. But alas, browsing the new books section of the public library, on a totally unrelated errand, I looked down, and there it was. I grabbed it off the shelf and laughed, and then looked around wondering if anyone thought I might be a little nuts. It seems I was meant to see this book!

“All Kinds of People,” by Andy Beach

All of the pictures above are some of my favorite pages from this book. Perry has used this book as a way of cataloging a variety of work by a bunch of different hand typographers. If you’re interested in tons of visual inspiration, this is a great book. It is light on copy/prose/written narrative and heavy on imagery. I could stare at the miscellaneous type page above for hours.

Here is a little alphabet sketch I made, while procrastinating about doing other work.

Drawing away the day

Hello there, and happy Wednesday. I’ve been working on several different projects lately including a couple illustrations for different contests. I submitted an illustration for the design a t-shirt contest being put on by 350.org and Craftster.org for global warming awareness. I will let you know when all of the designs have been put up for public viewing and voting.

I also submitted an illustration for a local recreational education organization at UC Davis called The Experimental College. This place is so “Davis,” offering classes from meditation and dancing, to “Bread and Circus” (where you learn how to bake bread and do circus related things, like tumbling and slack-lining, while your dough rises). I crack up at how ridiculously wonderful it is to have a place that even thinks of classes like this. Every quarter, they put out an open call for illustrations for the front of their course catalog, so I gave it a try. I will let you know more about my drawing when the final selection gets made.

It is cool to keep finding more and more opportunities to illustrate. It’s like suddenly I openend my eyes, and now I’m constantly seeing opportunities. While none of these are a sure publication bet, it’s exciting to get more and more work out there.

Other than these illustration challenges, I’ve been working on some different patterns, like the one above which I call, “Stones,” and the one below, that I am titling, “Flowing.”

Sometimes I am torn about attaching titles to these pieces because it probably informs what people see in them, but I end up having to title them something to keep the computer files straight. Usually, something just comes to mind, and I just pass it forward.

What do you all think about this? How do you feel about “Untitled” works? If you’re an artist, how do you choose titles for your work? How does the title inform your perspective on a piece? What if, instead of “Flowing,” I left the drawing above untitled– would you see it differently?

Just some artistic musings. I think a lot about the influence of words and the integration of words and images (as you have probably already noticed).

Have a great mid-week! Do something special for yourself–today! It is Wednesday after all! Want some free or cheap ideas?? Go check out some good music from your public library (I currently have 3 swing CDs checked out), go to a big bookstore (preferably one with comfy chairs) and read all of your favorite magazines, go on a flower picking walk through a public or natural area, make homemade ice cream, have a picnic in the park, go jump in a lake, have a joke-telling contest or poetry reading.

A Day in Italy

As I think I’ve said before, I am half Italian. It is strange to say that I am only half because Italian-Americanism has been the main cultural influence in my life. Me and my family lived in northern Italy for my 6th grade year, after my parents sold their restaurant in Connecticut and decided to make a long-time dream come true, and actually live in Italy. Since that year, Italy has been at times an all-consuming interest/obsession, and always a very important part of my life, especially when it comes to food.

Penne all’ Arrabbiata (Penne with spicy tomato sauce) and calamari at a trattoria in Peschici, Italy

I grew up eating Italian food. My dad is a cook, and in general Italian and Italian-American cooking has been my home food. When I started dating my boyfriend Mike, almost five years ago, one of the first things we bonded over was cooking and eating. Our first date (although we didn’t know for sure it was a “date” until we started spending all of our time together, shortly after it) consisted of going to the farmer’s market and making homemade pasta. It is no surprise then, that our first big vacation together involved going to Italy where one of our main interests was eating.

Mike and me in Peschici, Italy, Summer 2004

A feast we cooked while in Peschici

Since we dream constantly of our next trip, but are not able to afford it right now, Mike suggested we live a day like we would in Italy. Some of the main things on the agenda would be going to the Farmer’s Market, walking a lot, doing some sort of swimming (since we vacationed on the Italian coast), walking around downtown while eating ice cream, and of course, cooking a large mid-day meal, with a long nap afterwards. Who could pass up the chance to eat themselves silly? I quickly agreed, and we pulled off this little shenanigan yesterday.

Our menu consisted of:

Appetizer: salame and Pecorino Romano cheese with bread

First Course: spaghetti with zucchini, garbanzo beans, chili flakes, olive oil and garlic

Second Course: chicken cutlet (chicken breast pounded thin and breaded) and tomato salad with mozzarella

Of course this was all accompanied by a large amount of Ciabatta (a type of Italian bread) and red wine– we picked a not so Italian bottle of Pinot Noir. You may be wondering, “What about dessert?” The truth is, my Italian family has never eaten much traditional dessert– we usually throw down a bowl of fruit after a meal. So, Mike and I opted for some watermelon from our garden to round out this meal.

After eating ourselves to our heart’s content, we lay around the house in a good food fog. I neglected to document the rest of the day with my camera, but suffice it to say, it was a nice exercise of life in the slow lane. I dozed at the pool for a large portion of the afternoon, and we definitely found time for the evening passeggiata (the Italian tradition of walking around the town center in the evening to digest your food, to see and be seen), of course, while eating ice cream.

Here’s go good food and slow days!

Hopscotch

My regular art day got switched this week from Wednesday to Friday because I had to cover someone at work– so here I am a little belated this week.

I’ve been working on this drawing the last few nights– inspired by something I wrote about dancing for a graphic design class I took this past Spring. I was watching a video of an Alvin Ailey dancer and it made me think a lot about the elemental nature of dancing– the heartbeat rhythm, the joy of being alive, the playfulness.

I’ve always loved to dance, but as an adult, I’ve always had trouble being completely uninhibited. At some point, many of us learn to feel ashamed or embarrassed about our bodies, and that is hard to overcome. Dancing gets all caught up in social situations, especially in high school when we go to dances not to rejoice in being alive, but to see and be seen.

It would be wonderful if we could all dance a lot more, just for the pure joy of physical movement. Wide open-hearted dancing is somewhere in the realm of laughing; it can release the tensions of the heart and open up deep joy that flows through the whole body.

I will be putting this drawing, and prints of it, for sale in my shop shortly. Thanks for looking, and Happy Friday!

“Hopscotch,” 8 x 10 inches, pen and ink