Roof Gardening

I have this vision of New York City gone green. There are so many reasons for it. The tar roofs that the majority of buildings are sporting collect and hold heat in the summer, which makes air conditioning a necessity for most apartments to support life, especially the top floors. Covering the roofs instead with green plants would moderate the temperature while cleaning the air. It would also provide better roosting spots for birds of prey so we wouldn't have as bad of a rodent infestation, little birds also eat bugs which would be helpful. There are some roof gardens around town but they are mostly patios for the rich. I feel that a tax rebate for roof gardeners is the only way to get property owners to invest in the quality of air in the city. Not to mention the quality of life which would vastly improve if more buildings were romantically draped in ivy. Hearty low maintanence plants like beach grass or clover are also good options. There is also the idea of actually growing food which would reduce the amount of gasoline used in food delivery. Below is a view of Rome's vast array of roof gardens, the italians being a culture of gardeners have a bit of a headstart on us.

For more information on the benefits of Roof gardens and how to construct them click here Where they'll tell you all about how cool this book is:

My Undies :)

Mass Market Intimate Apparel

These are some of the images me and my department created over the last year or two at AGE Group, all rights reserved.

This is what i meant all those times i said i make cartoon panties, its licensed and generic junior intimates.


Here's a closer look

Time Warping

Me and my friend Simon found a fun series of videos last night on youtube, they're called time warping, Here's a compilation. They have these very accurate cameras which they use to study movement. In this clip my favorite is punching the red balloon. I like how the water just stays there for a second then his hand soars through the form. Its amazing how much more you can tell about matter and physics by slowing down and contemplating movement.

Kinetic Sculpture

There is a school of thought which believes art should be interactive, museums where people are encouraged to touch things. I am not into that. I like to get close to art, nose right up to the paintings examining every detail, but i feel like an alarm is gonna or should go off in the case of touching in a museum. I do however love when art interacts with wind. Kinetic sculptures are fascinating. Like wind chimes, but for the eyes instead. They sell some beautiful ones at the psu arts fest every year and i love to gaze at them and think of wind, my invisible friend waving hi.

In searching for examples of this craft i found the art of Theo Jansen of which i can only manage to say Holy Shit!

American Beauty

American Beauty the plastic bag moment

You wanna see the most beautiful thing i've ever filmed?
it was one of those days where its a minute away from snowing and there's this almost electricity in the air - you can almost hear it... right?
and this bag was just ... dancing, with me
like a little kid begging with me to play with it
for 15 minutes
that's the day i realized that there's this entire Life behind things
and this incredibly benevolent force who wanted me to know that there was no reason to be afraid
...ever...
the video's a poor excuse i know,
but it helps me remember
i need to remember
sometimes there's so much beauty, in the world,
i feel like i can't take it ...
and my Heart
is just going to
cave in

Where there's smoke...

I hate cigarettes, but aesthetically speaking there are few things more intriguing then smoke. The form swirls around creating this floating organic line, like hair curls, then it dissapates. We really are swimming in air, the atmosphere is like an ocean, only thinner, there are waves and current, and we often forget about air cause its usually invisible to us, but the heavyness of cigarette smoke in particular is like drawing pictures in midair. Like milk swirls in coffee only you can put your fingers through it. There are a lot of examples of film using smoke seductively, my favorite is the recent movie "the 300" which made good use of smoke's mysterious properties in the oracle scene. A girl is tranced into a magical state to talk to the gods, they use a lot of trick photography slow motion and backwards, and the whole time there's this marvelous smoke pouring over her. Good times.

Elemental

I first saw this photo on the wall at my friend Paul Reickhoff's apartment in alphabet city. It was printed large like 40 x 60 in and it just stopped me in my tracks. I was surprised and delighted to rediscover it on getty images, the photographer is Sam Basett. This shot is just all that and a bag of chips. What more could you possibly want from a photo. Check out his portfolio for an assortment of awesomeness.

My obsession with underwater photography

There's thousands of examples out there of underwater photography and why it completely rocks. If you can manage to get your model to not make that face - yknow the help i'm under water and there's no air here face :) The possibilities are just amazing. I especially like how fabric comes out. Also hair has extraordinary potential. You kinda need to take a million shots to come up with something good i imagine. Other underwater cherished artistic moments have taken place in film. See scenes from Julie Taymor's Across the Universe, or Kate Winslet singing underwater in Romance and Cigarettes, Or even the way they drew Ariel's hair in the little mermaid. Or Check out Gregory Colbert's zen like photo installation 'ashes and snow' which featured film of people doing flips under water next to an actual swimming whale. Mystical.

Once upon a time i joined a gym to make a photo shoot involving fabric underwater, they were not thrilled at the idea, the search for a good venue continues...

Flame On!

I'm blogging from my room in which i have a few paintings in-progress. The one behind me is of fire spinning. The photo of it is a bit grainy I just took it with my phone. Its painted onto what used to be a frame for a furniture mirror. I made this about a year ago, I had just lit up for the first time, I had practiced poi spinning for a year leading up to the big day. And it was so much better than i even expected. The fire is loud. I wasn't expecting that, it whips around with this beautiful roar. I was in the middle of a grassy field and i was this nice combination of nervous and excited and a little scared and rhythmically at peace. Cause the spinning motion has to be controlled if you like having eyebrows etc, like you could potentially have an accident if you aren't in sync with the rhythm of cyclical motion. So it is this kindof meditative dance movement which is tension and peacefulness at once. The light from the fire was warming and glowing and so a little moth came and landed on my chest. My friend Kate was there and the fire dragon man was watching over me just in case.

Photorealism

After achieving a successful career in photorealistic painting, large scale insanely detailed portraits of regular looking people, chuck close suffered a spinal arterial collapse and became paralysed from the neck down, but somehow manages to keep at it, he got through enough therapy to recover minor movement in his arms and amazingly was able to continue to paint by strapping paint brushes to himself. His later work uses a series of dots in a gridded pointalism technique which morphs photorealism into a pixelized opt art style, still maintaining the format of large scale portraiture of everyday regular looking people.

Talk about overcoming adversary. There's that dude who says he can't paint til he can afford a bigger space to work in, there's the chick who doesn't have time because of her day job, there's the mope who feels discouraged for lack of clients so watches tv and balks, .... and then there's THIS GUY the lance armstrong of the painting world, remove even his ability to manuver his limbs and he'll find a fucking way to paint. Beyond being a talented artist with a vision, he's livestrong, he's a symbol of surmounting the insurmountable

So get Off your Ass!

Camera rockin pastel moves

Speaking of sexy check out this photo, the blur they captured in this saucy yet non explicit pose has an almost pastel quality. Check out how similar the delivered effect is to the below pastel drawing. The rendering has a sortof gentle intimacy. I'd bet good money that the photo's effect was accidental. Accidents are often awesome.

Birds and Bees

When explaining maturation to children metaphors are often useful. When i was a child i lived in my father's garden, my every need was provided for me and i was naive to the troubles involved in adult reality. I ran around the yard without my shirt on, and i and my playmates were unaware of our sexuality. But to be a part of the world and to grow into a wiser woman i yielded to curiosity and matured. One might for my own good warn me against heeding the urgings of snakes with devious ideas about tasting luscious fruit, but its a rather tempting offer to turn down. In my adult life i toil and work and sustain myself, i no longer am provided for, and once i procreate i will no doubt toil even more, providing for a family looks exhausting, but saying adam and eve were cast into hell is a bit of an exaggeration, life's not so bad, independence has its privileges.

And would you really be able to say no to anything this lady offered you... :P

Awwww Hell!

Some of the most creative paintings from antiquity are depictions of Demons and Damnation. Long before horror flicks taught us to not dismiss noises as 'oh its just the cat' churches were teaching people to behave by threat of afterlife torture. The entrance to most old churches were adorned with commisioned 'worse case scenario' monster pics. SciFi's monster squad is often based on these images. As a fan of surrealist artists i enjoy seeking out their nightmarish precursors, like Hieronymous Bosch.

Swingin

Surrealism is not just a way to paint. There are all sorts of ways to make dreams into reality. Obviously none of us are planning on running away with the circus any time soon, but if you're bored of the movie / bar / restaurant lifestyle you may want to spice up your life by trying something absurd. Trapeze classes are available here in manhattan. Not too pricey and they teach group beginners classes. Fun, novel, and its said to be v addictive.

Here's how to sign up http://newyork.trapezeschool.com

Trancending Reality

The Circ du Soleil costume designers, body painters and set creators deserve a special nod. Contortionists are kinda freaky, watching some chick tie herself into a pretzel could potentially be rather creepy, but the brilliance of Circ is through costuming they transform the performers into other worldly artworks, the results are memerizingly beautiful. The bright colors and often animal or elemental themed decorations encourage the audience to suspend disbelief and get on board for a surreal mind blowing performance.
Also take a tip from them in searching for models, gymnasts and dancers can make anything look good.

Fitting In

I have been a fan and advocate of body painting for years, in college i used to draw intricate designs on people at parties and festivals. I even considered being a tattoo artist for a time. Lately I have been creating paintings of tattooed people. Anyway here are some camoflage images i found online which i find inspiring. I like the idea of the subject being painted or dressed in a way that they blend into the background. Its an interesting way to create a surreal or almost abstract looking image while maintaining representational integrity. I enjoy works that combine media.

Avant Garde Architecture

Gaudi taught us more than just the value of mosaic even on large scale, He made dreamtastic brilliant works that defy convention. Who said walls are straight or flat. His undulating organic forms have become the main stop on any touring agenda of barcelona, his churches houses parks and sculptures are celebrated for their creativity. Cookie cutter boxy buildings come and go 5 up today 10 torn down tomorrow.. But the visionaries who heard Gaudy's crazy architecture plans and decided to give him a chance funded greatness. Stone hallways that look like a crashing wave, pillars like forests, ceilings like the plaster has become rippling water, balconies that appear to have grown organically into their form like bone or tree roots. This kindof creation does not happen often not because it is expensive so much as because the artist has been cut out of the loop in most cases. Originality is undervalued in our culture, its even feared. Despite all evidence to the contrary, people feel their investment is safer if what they build doesn't stand out in anyway.
Mcdonalds and Denny's replace charming restaurants, pawn takes queen.