In the Labyrinth

Be Awed By The Virtual Sistine Chapel

I love the internet. Especially when it provides the most astonishing opportunity to virtually visit the Sistine Chapel -- a fabulously clear 360 degree look at this complex and beautiful work of art. You can move every where -- throughout the ceiling and zoom in on the smallest of details. Although I have stood in the chapel and stared upward -- I wasn't able to view it in such amazing detail. Oh, it is really glorious!

Cartel Coffee Lab Scribbles...Or How Not To Waste A Good Receipt

I am a very early riser... always have been and my husband and I usually wind up at Cartel Coffee Lab, our local coffee shop at about 6AM every morning, newspapers under our elbows, ordering cappuccinos that are pretty fabulous. One of the recent innovations at Cartel has been the use of an ipad cash register that lets one "draw" one's signature on the debit receipt form -- which is then automatically emailed to you. Once I realized I didn't actually have to sign my name...I started drawing what ever came to my half awake head -- swirling out a fast design with an index finger. Here's some of the results. A caveat: I am not an artist, but I do like to scribble on letters and now electronic receipts. I hope you all have a chance to sign onto one of these new inventions -- don't miss your chance to be creative!

Friday Films: Feed Your Art Appetite

 

Two of my favorite films this week that make me wish I could write like these artists paint:

Above: French street-artist team of Supakitch & Koralie have filmed in time-lapse the entire process in the creation of one of their maginificent murals. (DO adjust the screen to full size just so you can see the entire mural close up in the final scene.) Originally the pair met when a bar owner hired both of them (without telling either of them) to paint a mural on his bar -- they both turned up and decided to share the job. In so doing they discovered they discovered they were perfectly matched as artists. There are quite a few videos of the pair working, as well as this charming interview with them.

Below: Another form of street-artists, this time an experimental urban projection in Sao Paolo, Brazil by vjsuave.This is a fantastic romp through the city of San Paolo, our guide a comic flying and swimming figure. It's fast and furious and wonderful. Go here to see how it was created.

 

(via Emiliano -- who has been posting some fascinating short films on Mexican art well worth checking out.)

The Challenge and Possibilities of Self Publishing

 
Years ago when I started writing, there was a general dislike of the concept of "self-publishing" for a reason. It wasn't always the best way for a writer frustrated with rejection to go -- in part because a writer could miss out on all the really useful stuff -- like a great editor, a copy editor, an artist to design the cover, and a marketing department that saw to distribution and promotion. However, there is a very, very interesting article "The Vanity Press Goes Digital," in the WSJ on the technological changes in the world of self-publishing -- most notably the e-book and the decision by big online booksellers like Amazon to get into the self-publishing business -- that now make it a much more appealing prospect. The article has lots of really good resources and information -- and it appears that's it not your old vanity press at all. Well-established authors are now turning to it as a way of keeping books in print, adding to their networking possibilities, and exposure to readers. If you are just starting out...or been around for awhile but are watching works go out of print or languish...have a look at the article and let me know what you think. I, for one, and very intrigued.

Gabe Askew: Grizzly Bear Meets CG

Check out this terrific little animated video by artist Gabe Askew which has become an instant hit on the net. Askew created a fan video of the band Grizzly Bear's song, "Two Weeks." It's a really astonishing work of animation -- the images are gorgeous (and funny, such as the coffee drinking rabbits) and the whole piece flows effortlessly in concert with the song. You can read a fascinating interview  on  CGDigg with Askew where he discusses the elaborate process of producing the film -- including the task of creating all the images and the textures first by hand. All I can say is I hope to see more from Gabe in the future -- a feeling echoed in the many, many adulatory responses to the video. (And do let the video load first -- it's worth the wait!)

*video appears here with the artist's permission.

New Bitey and Brackenwood T Shirts from Flash Animator Adam Phillips

I am a huge fan of master flash animator Adam Phillips, who has created one of the most engaging animated characters, Bitey -- a sort of rough-faced satyr who lives in Brackenwood and is always getting into trouble and danger. Phillips' short films are breathtaking for the sheer speed and intensity of the action. Phillips has won numerous awards for his flash animated films -- and the most recent Bitey film, Waterlollies, won the Newgrounds Tank Award for Best Film, 2007. Newgrounds is one of the most dynamic website communities for emerging and experienced flash animators.  Check out one of the early Bitey films below, "littleFoot":

Then go to Newgrounds to see the latest installment in the Bitey escapades Waterlollies, and while you are there, check out Prowlies at the River and the speed-chase of YuYu, which was intended as an extended scene to "little Foot" and has a killer soundtrack by Pogues whistle-player Spider Stacey. It is so hard to believe that Phillips has created these films out of Flash animation...just astonishing work. (It takes a bit to wait for it to load on Newgrounds -- but worth it for the excellent quality of the film).

Happily for his fans, Phillips has created two new t-shirts to celebrate the success of Bitey and Brackenwood. I couldn't resist ordering one for myself.

Mark Wagner: 3D Portfolio Online

 

Mark Wagner, who has long been a favorite contributor to the Journal of Mythic Arts, wears many hats as an artist. He is an art educator -- working especially with children (have a look at one of his projects The Kids' Chalk Art Project in support of the Alameda School District support for the arts that created a chalk drawing, so large it made it into the Guinness Book of World Records); he is a wonderful painter and sculptor; his work is a splendid mix of mythic and contemporary work (check here for the Journal's article on his work); and he has done quite a bit of conceptual design work for film. So his new 3D Portfolio is one more area where he has developed quite a bit of interesting new work.

I really enjoyed browsing through the site (I am a total sucker for artists' sketchbooks and this one is a virtual version of Wagner's imaginative play). I found many of the images quite fascinating...and some a little scary (but fabulous conceptually as eerie, futuristic kinds of fantastic creatures.) Click on the images to see larger versions.

Stop by the Hearts and Bones Studio and have a look at the new work. But if your taste runs to the more 2D mythic versions on paper, check out the Fine Art section for his paintings, sculptures, and yes...more great sketchbooks.

Go And Do This Now...

someone will love you for it!  All you need is a picture and a tune...PostcardFM. I've already sent three.

Jorge Borges: The Book of Sand

" I opened the book at random. The script was strange to me. The pages, which were worn and typographically poor, were laid out in double columns, as in a Bible. The text was closely printed, and it was ordered in versicles. In the upper corners of the pages were Arabic numbers. I noticed that one left-hand page bore the number (let us say) 40,514 and the facing right-hand page 999."

                                        --Jorge Borges, "The Book of Sand"

As long we are talking books...here's a terrific little online puzzle based on Jorge Borges wonderful short story, "The Book of Sand." As the narrator above notes, having found this peculiar book, he discovers that there is no discernible order to the pages. The book shifts and re-structures itself each time it closed and opened. "It was at this point that the stranger said, 'Look at the illustration closely. You'll never see it again.' I noted my place and closed the book. At once, I reopened it. Page by page, in vain, I looked for the illustration of the anchor."

In order to enjoy this supernatural experience as a reader, Maximus Clarke produced an interactive game, that allows the reader to select the order of eight seeming random pages (all handsomely illustrated with shifting graphics) and when you think you have the answer, you can post it. If you are right, you will be instantly initiated into the "Borgesian Order of Omnibibliological Kabbalists (B.O.O.K.) [I so want this on a t-shirt] and be entered into the Hall of Fame where you get to leave comments. It's a pretty cool way to spend a literary-post-modern-internet lunch! I used this project with my students, mostly because it was a lesson in careful reading -- something they were not inclined to do -- and mostly because it seemed a good way to introduce the idea of the discontinuative narrative without terrorizing them.

And stop by this amazing, amazing website The Book in Motion from The Cooper Union School of Art which offers small art films featuring handmade books that open and magically display their pages. In the list of offerings, find many favorites, including Calvino's "Enchanted Garden," "City of the Dead, " and a fabulous version of Borges "Book of Sand" beautifully illustrated and set to motion by Nientara Anderson.

Oh if only....

Oh I so want this! Really, really want this. Be patient and let the film load first -- it's worth it. Merci Earl for the link!

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