New post this morning on making plaster casts in the desert. Make tracks to here (external link).
Month: July 2018
ob·fus·ca·tion
noun
The action of making something obscure, unclear, or unintelligible.
“When confronted with sharp questions they resort to obfuscation.”
In America, the authorities now refer to a police dog as a canine unit. And you don’t give away cats. You rehome them. Don’t forget feral cats. They are now community cats. Some pets are no longer pets. They may be fur babies. Or companion animals. Or whatever you think is right at the time.
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.”
Categories
Scissor Drawings by Ella Richards
Another artist coming to the Sausalito Arts Festival in Marin County on Labor Day weekend. Scissor drawings by Ella Richards. Amazing. Click here to go to her site. (external link)
In late life, Henri Marisse drew with scissors, completely neglecting paint. He worked in flamboyant color. A fascinating article on this is here at The Guardian. (external link)
I’m building a website to support my book. The trick is providing interesting content that does not duplicate what the book will contain. I can have photos, but anything posted must be low resolution and not something that might appear in the book. I can mention collecting locations in general but nothing specific. Take a look at a true work in progress: http://southwestrockhounding.com. (external link)
Since Twain’s death, only Hunter Thompson occasionally matched that great writer’s vigor. But Twain wrote this stuff routinely, spending an entire career blurring and combining pomposity, exaggeration, and the truth. This was Twain observing the wrecked landscape of California after the Gold Rush of 1849, reflecting on the men who did it:
“It was a driving, vigorous, restless population in those days. It was a curious population. It was the only population of the kind that the world has ever seen gathered together, and it is not likely that the world will ever see its like again. For observe, it was an assemblage of two hundred thousand young men—not simpering, dainty, kid-gloved weaklings, but stalwart, muscular, dauntless young braves, brimful of push and energy, and royally endowed with every attribute that goes to make up a peerless and magnificent manhood—the very pick and choice of the world’s glorious ones. No women, no children, no gray and stooping veterans,—none but erect, bright-eyed, quick-moving, strong-handed young giants—the strangest population, the finest population, the most gallant host that ever trooped down the startled solitudes of an unpeopled land. And where are they now? Scattered to the ends of the earth—or prematurely aged and decrepit—or shot or stabbed in street affrays—or dead of disappointed hopes and broken hearts—all gone, or nearly all—victims devoted upon the altar of the golden calf—the noblest holocaust that ever wafted its sacrificial incense heavenward. It is pitiful to think upon.”
– Mark Twain, Roughing It (1872)
A free read here: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3177 (external link)
Time out for art. I wish I could meet this pair. They are appearing at the Sausalito Art Festival on Labor Day. The following images are from Signe & Genna Grushovenko’s website. Please visit.
“Partners in both life and art…
Signe & Genna have been married since 1999 and collaborating for nearly as long.
Genna begins their process by applying rich layers of pattern and tone to gessoed masonite or linen supports. Signe then selects an inspiration image from their extensive collection of vintage found photos, draws with oil pastel atop the abstract underlayer using the photo for reference, and completes the image with blocky ‘panes’ of oil color.
The final results of their collaboration are multi-layered paintings with deep surfaces, crisp at first glance but rewarding the careful viewer with an undercurrent of complex tonality and colorplay.”
https://www.grushovenko.com/look-book/
“Life is short and art is long and success is very far off.” Joseph Conrad
American Public television recently interviewed a glass blower, an artist who works in glass. In an exasperated tone she told the interviewer, “For me, there is no life/work balance. My work is my life.” And what a fine life that is.
Ars longa, vita brevis.
Matt Paskiet: https://glassaxis.org/visiting-artist-matt-paskiet-teaches-specialty-workshops/
Categories
Good But Going Away
What are some of your favorite words that are being used less and less? A few of mine are:
jet set
(JD) juvenile delinquent
hullabaloo
neurotic
next-of-kin
swamp cooler
playpen
rumpus room
the military-industrial complex
fuss-budget
the ecology movement
third-world
katywampus
nonplussed
mortified
pacification
gilded
Source: https://www.slideshare.net/nielrich013/stylistics-26050112
Before and after. The original sentences are just fine, partly making up an entertaining review of a colorful Mojave Desert town. No criticism intended. But these revisions should come to mind immediately on first read. Tighten, tighten, tighten.
Many of the Gene Autry television productions were shot at the site.
Many Gene Autry television productions were shot at the site.
Other notable television shows that were filmed here were the Cisco Kid and Judge Roy Bean.
Other notable television shows filmed here were the Cisco Kid and Judge Roy Bean.
Some of the original investors in the town were Roy Rogers, who also built the Pioneer Bowl . . . .
Some original investors in the town were Roy Rogers, who also built the Pioneer Bowl . . . .
After the filming boom of Pioneertown slowed down many of the buildings were sold . . . .
After the filming boom of Pioneertown slowed down many buildings were sold . . . .
Its post office is reported to have the distinction . . . .
Its post office reportedly has the distinction . . . .
Roy Rogers himself rolled out the first ball at the Pioneer Bowl in 1949 . . . .
Roy Rogers rolled out the first ball at the Pioneer Bowl in 1949 . . . .
There are many places to stay the night but two of them really stand out.
There are many places to stay the night but two really stand out.
We’ve all heard about print on demand books. But what about print on demand newspapers? It’s possible with Newspaperclub.com (external link). Your ideas or advertising gets printed on real newspaper presses.
I am only starting to read about this retro movement, but it is exciting to think about a new medium for expression that is in fact centuries old, and once pronounced as dead by digital only acolytes.
I am thinking about how I could promote my prospecting book with this, as a broadsheet could far more effectively portray maps compared to tiny brochures. It appears that printing is all done in England, perhaps fitting for an old line, traditional medium.
Does this fire your imagination? What kind of project could you carry off if you produced your own newspaper?
