Up to Something: Part III, Clown Vs. Monkey!!!

It's all coming together... for the last year(?) or so, I've been drawing backgrounds for the soon to be released Clown Vs. Monkey .

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been a machine - knocking these puppies out left, right AND center... here's a few, or you can click here to see the whole album (you may need to hit 'refresh' if you've seen it before).

enjoy ;)

jungle fever

starship bananaprise

tear jerker

oh, and for an extra treat - here's one of my backgrounds in action:

cheers,

me

Up to Something: Part II, It's All Irish to Me...

I did the following short story using characters from the book I'm writing (Yes, a book. What is it, you ask? I call it an "Epidemic" = An Epic Comedy Drama with Apocalyptic Tendencies) to relay my Ireland experience. It was more interesting than *me* telling it, for sure, and it was a great chance to practice writing dialogue (my absolute least favorite aspect of writing a novel) and an opportunity to build some back story for these characters. It even ended up with a nice twist at the end, that I didn't see coming till I got there ;)

click here for the story... go on, i'll wait here for you.

{goes to get coffee...}

done? ah. So now you can see I rather failed at the 'exercise in dialogue writing' part, hehe... I promise my book has more actual dialogue and less soliloquy. (Though not necessarily between these two characters; awkward tends to be their norm, at this point anyway.)


cheers,
me

Up to Something: Part I

A friend recently scolded me for 'making' her follow my blog, but then my not having posted anything since she did. True. I've been bad. but busy. sooooooo...

What have I been doing?

Let's start where I left off by looking at those polaroids I promised in my last post. It was exciting to finally push the capture button on my vintage SX-70 (see previous post) and have something actually pop out the front. The film I got from The Impossible Project, "TZ-Artistic, Paul Giambarba Edition" for Polaroid Type SX-70. I must say, I'm a little disappointed in the quality. Though occasionally the overexposed, unsaturated aesthetic works -- it made getting a good shot difficult. Here's the best I've got so far:

 for comparison's sake, here's a photoshop enhanced version (though i didn't remove the linear artifact that runs through the middle. these lines showed up on several prints, though not all):

I happened to take this camera with me to Ireland, as well as my shiny new Sony NEX-5 (love love love - it has interchangeable lenses, fits in my purse, lightweight & is almost as good as a pro dslr) - how's that for diametric opposites? While riding the train to Dublin, I got antsy waiting for some sheep to show up on the endless farm lands that whooshed past us & decided to experiment a bit. The following were shot holding my NEX-5 in my right hand, pointing it through the viewfinder on my polaroid which I held in my left hand, pressed up to the train's window glass.... I love the painterly quality that these images have in person (don't know if it is obvious in these lower resolution images here) - but I'm excited about this series and am looking forward to taking my time getting good (BIG) prints of them eventually:

cheers,

me

ps- be back w/ more of what I've been doing soon... (next up: Ireland & a short story)

Oh The Impossibilities... or, Dusting Off the Old Polaroid SX-70

I purchased this beautiful Polaroid SX-70 over a decade ago, thinking that one day I'd search out some film for it. Which I never did. And then Polaroid went out of business. grrrr & double grrrr

October 2008, Enter: The Impossible Project

From what I can gather, a couple of artist/photographers got together and bought a Polaroid plant & then made the impossible happen - they started producing polaroid film. And not just the standard 600 kind either - no no, they started with film for the SX-70 (produced from 1972-1981).

I bought the TZ ARTISTIC Paul GIAMBARBA edition (EXPIRED) for $24.50
I only get 8 shots.
That's over 3 bucks a pop.
But I don't care, in fact
I get something even better...
I finally {cue angels singing} get to pull my Polaroid SX-70 off of the mantlepiece, and for the first time in our relationship - get to see it for more than just a pretty thing.... I get to push it's freakin buttons... oh yeah baby... and it's love from first click.... I'll post images soon ;)

Now go shop for your own Impossibilities here:
http://www.the-impossible-project.com/

DIY Digital Camera Diffuser

I recently volunteered to take photos for an event and would've preferred to use my nice film camera with a pro flash, but film would've been cost prohibitive, so I decided to take my little digital camera. My Fujifilm FinePix S700 has been a handy digital camera for family photos and whatnot; but is a basic consumer level camera with a harsh built-in flash -- which I try not to ever use. The event was at night, indoors in an art gallery with loads of artificial lighting - there were large windows in the front, but one can never count on sunlight in Seattle - so I knew I'd have to use the flash. ack. So after some quick internet research, and only an hour until the event (!), I came up with this solution...

If your camera has a small enough flash, a simple solution is a white/translucent film canister. For larger flashes, I've seen people use rubbing alcohol bottles.

Simply hold the canister up to your flash, trace the shape with a fine point sharpie onto the canister, use an exacto knife to cut out a hole snug enough to just slide over your flash; this plastic was thin and easy to cut.

This amount of diffusion may be fine for some situations, but I found that there was still too much contrast & glare, so I tried adding a sheet or two of plain printer paper inside the canister -- just enough to cover the inside surface, but not over the cut hole.

Then I tested the camera without the diffuser, with it & with one and two pieces of paper inside:

I did have some ambient natural light, but very little since it's a cloudy day (go figure), and no artificial light. I think I'd be fine using just one piece of paper, and it'll probably depend on whatever the lighting conditions are -- but I think it's a nice little trick for basic shooting needs. Plus the pop-off lid makes it really easy to change how much paper is in the canister ;)

Unfortunately for the event I shot (Seattle's Etsy Craft Party), I hadn't yet discovered the paper trick, and shot with just the canister - so I ended up with more glare & harsh shadows than I wanted, but it turned out okay, especially with some photoshop tweaking... here's a shot from the night featuring artwork by Zoe Williams:

see the rest of the photos here


Happy Shooting!!

New Song Sunday - Gypsy Love

Gypsy punk band Gorgol Bordella's latest album Transcontinental Hustle is a frantic, verging on chaotic, but ultimately passionate explosion of sound. It's so rich, that I find it difficult to listen to the whole thing in one setting; but they are absolutely top of my 'I gotta see this band live' list. Here's one of the catchier tunes from the album:

...and for your visual pleasure, this "Gypsy" treasury featuring yours truly and other talented etsians (curated by westbournegrove):

New Song Sunday - Don't Touch

'liminality' by tracy yarkoni

"The liminal state is characterized by ambiguity, openness, and indeterminacy. One's sense of identity dissolves to some extent, bringing about disorientation. ..." (wikipedia)

Shot with Canon AE-1 on 35mm film at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. These three shots were long exposures (a few seconds each) which I overlapped in Photoshop, matching up the lines of the escalators. The ghostly bodies appear together from these three separate layers so that they become intertwined. It is difficult to know where one body begins and the other ends. A ghostly limb here, a disembodied face there, solitary people now standing intimately close to one another...


With that in mind, and for the sake of irony, here's the song:

New Song Sunday - NYC Gone Gone

This week is the opening of the Cooper-Hewitt's National Design Triennial: Why Design Now?

And my super-amazing, awe-inspiring, big sis and artiste extraordinaire Rachel Wright, has a piece in it - yeah, she rocks. Sigh, I'll be able to say "I knew her when..." AND I get to be her arm candy in New York City next week for the reception. Life is good ;)

Rachel Wright & Tracy Yarkoni, 

Champs Elysees Paris April 2001, photograph by Rachel Wright

Let the preparations begin, here's Conor Oberst with "NYC-Gone Gone":


Here is Rachel's piece in the exhibit:

About this design: "I based it on the traditional Maori facial tattoos. These gentlemen would “sign” documents and contracts by drawing their unique facial tattoo instead of signing their names." -Rachel Wright


More Wright designs:

Stories of Art, Part II

Part I of my posts on James Elkins’ Stories of Art begged the questions:

Is the Story of Art History a multicultural one? Or is it an inherently Western Story?

Why does it matter {how the Story of Art is told} anyway?

the pale blue dot, from NASA's website

Before I can begin to answer these questions, I must look back at where the discipline of Art History began. Weird to think that at some point it was non-existant, no? In my world, it’s as essential as Math or English. But as far as the universe is concerned, Art History is barely a blip on the radar. Which reminds me, have you ever seen the famous “pale blue dot” photo of the earth taken by Voyager 1 as it exited our solar system? The earth appears as a single pale blue pixel lost in the vastness of space – as though it were a blemish on an otherwise dark spectral canvas that begs to be photoshopped out. That’s the kind of perspective I’m talking about ;)

New Song Sunday - A D@#n Good Goodbye

From the John Butler Trio (an Australian band whose albums have gone platinum down under) here is "Don't Wanna See Your Face No More"...

Finding Lost Treasure

Etsy is literally a treasure trove of handmade and vintage goods. The sellers number in the hundreds of thousands. How can one not feel a little overwhelmed at the prospect of browsing through so many goodies?

Welcome 'Treasury East', a permanent collection of member curated galleries;  each gallery featuring 16 items. {This is etsy's latest improvement to their former treasuries 'main' and 'west' - where galleries expired after two to three days and only featured 12 items.}

Here's one by 'Kathleencavalaro', featuring yours truly, called "Not Your Typical Mother's Day":

Strolling through the list of tempting titles also became less of a chore with the addition of the first three photos from the gallery to give you an idea of the things you'll find inside. This is harder to say then it is to see, come take a look for yourself, but don't blame me if you get hooked on hunting for treasure:
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/

New Song Sunday - "The Do" Over

from the family photo album, my big sis & a boy, circa 1972

How can I convince you how great this band is - by posting another of their songs, of course.

"The Do" lamenting a lost, yet useless, lover:

My Latest Read: 'Stories of Art' by James Elkins

"… Stories of Art is a terrific and transparent meditation on what’s at stake in the histories of art we all so glibly recite. Instead of writing yet another survey, James Elkins provides the little counternarrative that rubs up against the monumental survey volumes with a kind of graceful annoyance. This is the little buzzing bee that worries the elephant.” –Michael Ann Holly, Clark Art Institute (from the back cover of the book)

I’m writing this on my laptop, which is perched upon my own survey of art history book from college – Gardner’s Art Through the Ages, ninth edition. It is almost 9 ½” wide by over 11” long, it has 1,135 pages, weighs approximately 8 pounds according to my bathroom scale and currently has two bent and battered slips of paper sticking out the top from when I last perused it for inspiration. It’s great for pressing flowers or, if you can heft it, for whacking upside somebody’s head in self defense.

New Song Sunday - Playground Hustle

"Victory!"

Close-up scan from an antique french children's book about a 

boy fighting imaginary battles. Artwork by William Parkinson.

A duo from France,  The Do (pronounced like dough) have enjoyed the success of their debut album overseas since 2008. The U.S. release was only last week. They use an incredible range of instruments which combine to make a thoroughly unique & modern sound that doesn't take itself too seriously.

Another scan from Guy Le Batailleur, c. 1895

Artwork by William Parkinson

New Song Sunday, Vie en Rose

And now for something completely different....
from the indie duo Pomplamoose.
This is a 'VideoSong', where
"1. What you see is what you hear. (No lip-syncing for instruments or voice)
 2. If you hear it, at some point you see it (No hidden sounds)." (wiki)




c'est magnifique, n'est-ce pas?

Waking the Muse

This curation is inspired by a friend of mine - a wonderfully creative person, who's creative well has hit a dry spell. It happens to all of us at some point; for me it's a never ending cycle.

I gravitate towards water & trees, writing helps, going to galleries/museums or reading something completely different - and sometimes, just doing nothing in a new place is the perfect thing. Oh, and driving down a highway to nowhere in particular while singing at the top of my lungs is a good one too ;)

What do you do to wake your muse?

see my curation here (expires Friday April 2nd):

featured artists:
kgcrafts, WeeBindery, StaRedesigns, danb26, Lori411, ChatterBoxArt, bythewayside, meltemsem, handmadeempire, Mermaid Treasures, funwallart, & MyraMelinda


Thanks for the inspiration Lynn!!

New Song Sunday, the Devil's in the Details

Detail #1: it isn't Sunday.

Detail #2: in some parts of the world, it's already Tuesday.

Somehow during this week's search for new tunes, I ended up with several devilish picks and decided to run with it.

'Beat the Devil's Tattoo' by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Alternative, released 3/9/10:

Beat The Devil's Tattoo - Blac...

'Devil's Spoke' by Laura Marling
Singer/Songwriter, released 3/14/10:
(slow start, but worth waiting for the build)

Devil's Spoke - Laura Marling

'Hanuman' by Rodrigo y Gabriela
World, released 9/9/09:
(this devilish connection is a bit of a stretch, but an interesting story. 'Hanuman' is a Hindu diety who was cursed to not remember his powers unless reminded of them by another. Also, the skillful guitar playing in this song reminds me of 'Devil went Down to Georgia'.)

Hanuman - Rodrigo y Gabriela

Rowing My 1st Regatta -or- Going from Dead Last to 1st Place, Rocky Style

'woo-hoo moment'

just after we crossed the finish line

I started rowing lessons last August, and have been something of an addict ever since. I love being on the water, and though I may freeze my derriere now and again - I've never loved exercising this much in my life. Regular workouts are always a chore, and dead boring - rowing is anything but.

Speaking of butts, since the new year our coach(es) have been thoroughly kicking ours to prep us for the Green Lake Spring Regatta on March 20th. It's a 1,000 meter race; a short 4 minutes rowed at a fairly high intensity. By the end of it, your legs are jello and you want to die. 

New Song(s) Sunday

photo by Tracy Yarkoni

Dropped the ball last week, so this week you get *2* yes *2* new songs in one {!} boo-yah.

First up, from Fyfe Dangerfield (what a great name), an uber-happy feel-good song released last month:

When You Walk In The Room - Fy...

**Bonus track** This may not be new to many of you (released last October) - but it is to me, and I adore it... this hauntingly beautiful, gorgeous melody and a sexy voice had me from the first note...
{don't judge it too harshly just because it was featured on one of the Twilight soundtracks, it can't help it; in fact, you may do better to close your eyes and listen, instead of watch... ready?}
'Satellite Heart (air mail remix)' by Anya Marina


Cheers.

Pictures & Tears Treasury

I got this wonderful book at the library yesterday by James Elkins, an artist & art historian, called Pictures & Tears.

"Museums are full of images meant to affect us deeply--not just pique our curiosity but move us to tears. Yet we resist. It is common to cry in the theater, at the opera, at concerts, or while reading books...crying in front of paintings was commonplace in the Middle Ages...Why have the last hundred years been so dry by comparison?"

When was the last time art brought you to tears?

Come see my tribute treasury on etsy.com, hurry (it expires Sunday March 21st):
{treasuries are member curated galleries}

featured artists:

5erg, PeggyWolfDesign, thegreenefairy, jerseymaids, strandsoflight, lori411, DvoraSchleffer, mkendall, dbabcock, lightleaks, susansheehan, and dimdi

My Irish Ancestry -or- I Bet My Great Grandma is Cooler Than Your Great Grandma

well... maybe not, but how cool is this?!?!
{thanks mom for digging these up!}

Meet my Great Grandma Cain:

Her sash says "Out For A Good Time"

{for reals}

"Turns out that her father (your great-great-grandfather Jim Cain) ran a "tent show" and she was the entertainment.  She played guitar and sang." -Teri Odell

This is my favorite.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

{the irony is that at this moment my Israeli husband is on his way to Ireland from London - as I write this - no kidding, he just called an hour ago before he boarded the flight. Wish I was there! RawЯ.}

Springs to Mind -or- Why is a hare like a deciduous tree?

On my balcony, I am at eye level with the top of a 20’ tall tree.

It is winter – well, March – and it has no leaves.

{Wandering minds want to know:

Is the tree embarrassed when it loses all its leaves?

Do the other trees laugh and make fun of it?

anyway, back to the story…}

It is almost Spring, and this tree is absolute potentiality.

Behind it, across the street, is an evergreen of about the same height.

Ever. Green.

It doesn’t know what it is to not have leaves;

to be barren and dormant.

It strikes me that there are people like this, people I know well.

The evergreens are steady and grounded and sure;

they change, but in slow and small ways.

I am decidedly not an evergreen.

I’m the tree that is a slave to the seasons.

New Song Sunday

Well, new to me anyway... this song is from their first full-length album released almost a year ago.

They hail from Canada and say this about their music:
"We like to call what we do 'the campfire after-party,' " Buchholz says. "It's like you're at Nirvana Unplugged but there's a drum and bass party and glow sticks all around you."
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubiquitous_Synergy_Seeker]

Enjoy!

Laces Out - USS (Ubiquitous Sy...