Roz Wound Up

Project Friday: Neil deGrasse Tyson

If you don't already have a Netflix movie set to run, or your date just cancelled, or you just cancelled your date and don't really have to wash your hair, or you really have a burning desire to think more about curiosity and creativity, spend some time tonight or this weekend, watching Stephen Colbert (as Stephen Colbert real person, not Stephen Colbert character from the Colbert report) interviewing Neil deGrasse Tyson. (Use this link if the embedded video doesn't work.)

Their discussion touches on the fundamental reasons why science matters. Embrace your curious mind and childlike wonder. It's always better to know.

Be on the Right Side of History

A friend sent me this link to a short video from the First Universalist Church in Minneapolis. 

Everyone deserves a witness to his or her life. Society benefits from this and is not diminished by it. Heterosexual couples are not diminished by gay marriage. I could say more, but I really think this video does a great job talking about marriage.

This video actually makes me happy—happy to see couples gay and straight talking about their relationships.  

This year, if you live in Minnesota, please go out and vote NO on the Minnesota Marriage Amendment which bans gay marriage. If you don't live in Minnesota but your own state (or country) is trying to ban gay marriage, please look at this video.

Be on the right side of history.

If the embedded video doesn't work See "First Universalist—Marriage Amendment" on YouTube.

Ken Avidor and the Dump Bachmann Blog

Ken Avidor and a group of concerned Minnesotans are blogging about Michele Bachmann. The Daily Beast has an article on their efforts. Read it to get an overview of their efforts.

Whether someone lives in Minnesota or not, now that Bachmann is getting national attention, it's time for everyone to pay serious attention to her flaws. I've posted about Ken, who is a friend, before, in hopes that more people will read the work he's doing.

I'm so dismayed about the various things Bachmann does, that I can't even talk politics with my friends any more because I start to groan. We have serious problems that need immediate attention. Bachmann is not the answer.

Please check out the article, and read The Dump Bachmann blog.

(Thank you Marsha for pointing out the article.)

Snow Pile Revisited

Look familiar? The other day I was walking down Grand Avenue on an errand and this crumpled (and very rusty) bicycle caught my eye.

This is the bicycle that was buried in the snow pile I wrote about over on Urban Sketchers—Twin Cities.

That was the snow pile that spawned the idea for my "Snow PIles" Journal Zine, for the MCBA Visual Journal Collective Journal Zine Swap.

It's amazing what a few weeks of warm temperatures can do, even with all the snow we had. I was with a friend, on our way to dinner, so I couldn't stop and sketch, but I had to share the "skeleton" of that snow pile with you.

Groveland Gallery Porch Painter Demonstrations

I just found out that the Groveland Gallery has a bunch of fun shows coming up this summer. Even more exciting they are doing someting called "Porch Painter Demonstrations." Mark your calendars! (Check their website for additional details, times, and artists' portfolios.)

On five Saturday afternoons throughout the summer, artists will be working on the front porch of the gallery.

Saturday, June 11—William Murray
Saturday, July 9—Larry Welo
Saturday, July 23—Abbie Anderson
Saturday, August 13—Susan Horn
Saturday, August 20—Tom Maakestad

Ken Avidor Is Back in Court—Sketching!

That's right, Ken Avidor sketched at the hearing of sex offender John Rydberg. You can see Ken Avidor's sketches of John Rydberg at KSTP.com.

I talked with Ken Friday night and he said he was working on Magnani Annigoni Designo with pen (his Rotring Sketch Pen) and colored pencil.

There are additional sketches from the hearing of sex offenderJohn Rydberg at Urban Sketchers—Twin Cities. The first sketch there is in his regular visual journal which is an Earth something journal, commercially available. Sorry I can't remember the exact name, but it has a kraft paper cover on hardboards, as well as the brown kraft paper inside. The bottom image at USk-TC looks like it was drawn on the Annigoni based on the way the pencil lays on the paper. We'll have to ask Ken for sure.

Thanks Ken, for giving us visual access to this courtroom.

 

 

Nibbus Maximus: A Giant Pen

Danny Gregory sent me info about this dip pen demo. Jim Woodring made a giant nib (and holder) and then used it. We are talking GIANT. This adds to sketching completely new components: aerobic and toning! I'd have to go to the gym for weeks to be able to sketch with this thing for 2 hours. Can you imagine using it in the Sheep Barn at the Minnesota State Fair!!! "Excuse me sir, that's not shit; you just stepped in my ink reservoir."

Go check out the link because there is also a bit of video.

Memorial Day 2010

Left: Poppies in the garden. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

The arrival of the poppies are the third botanical event of my year. This year they came very early, due to unseasonably warm temperatures in April and May (interspersed with some unseasonably cold days too—it is after all Minnesota). Because of this there was no guessing as to whether or not they would be here for Memorial Day. They were here to inspire with their beauty and fragility. Rain and wind have beaten the petals off the early blossoms. Everywhere there is a tangle of stems.

I hope today you find time for introspection, for political thought and action, and most of all for gratitude.

There are thousands of videos covering World War I on YouTube. Letter from Gallipoli is a first person account in letters that I find incredibly powerful for its understatement.

Wrapping up International Fake Journal Month 2010

International Fake Journal Month 2010 wrapped up on Friday, April 30. You can find links to participants who were publicly posting their pages on the Official International Fake Journal Month Blog. (Scroll down the right-hand column to find a labeled list.)

Participation continues to grow (both on and off the internet), thanks in part to a host of people who, even though they weren't participating, chose to post a link button on their blog!

My fake journal is being posted one page (I did a page a day again this year) at a time. I've posted up to page 18 so far, and will continue to post pages in small groups over the next week or so. If you would like to see my fake journal, page by page, you can start with the first entry of my 2010 fake journal.

(Actually I suggest that the easiest way to see them is to scroll down to the April 9, 2010 entry and then just read the posts backwards. OR go to the "Find Related Topics" list in the right-hand column, below the blog archive. Scroll down to the topic—Roz's 2010 Fake Journal. All the related posts will come up.  Scroll to the end of those posts and read them in reverse order.

But even simpler, if you just want an overview of my participation this year you can see Roz's 2010 Fake Journal on YouTube. It's a short video (I think it's about 3 minutes). It is a quick flip through the pages of the completed journal. (So you'll actually get a preview of pages that haven't been scanned and posted yet.)

Sadly my little camera's videos aren't the best quality so you won't be able to read the attached notes which are part of the fake journal, and all the images look a bit elongated because of the angle of the camera, but you will get to see what I was up to in April.

If you didn't participate this year I hope you'll take a moment to look through my journal and the journals of the other participants and think about whether a fake journal for 2011 might be a good project for you. If so, check the the fake journal blog starting in March 2011 when I will have some "get started" tips and motivational posts.

Now it's back to my regular journal full-time.

MCBA Visual Journal Collective: Ken Avidor and the Petters Trial Sketches—PLUS a Mini Portrait Party!

Left: Carol pages through Ken Avidor’s Tom Petters trial journal. On the table is an issue of City Pages open to one of his illustrated trial updates. Artwork ©2009 Ken Avidor.

Monday at the MCBA Visual Journal Collective illustrator Ken Avidor spoke about forensic courtroom sketching and his work documenting the Tom Petters Trial last fall in St. Paul. For non-Twin Citians and people not keeping up with financial scandals, Petters was convicted of a multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme. A politically active citizen, Avidor began preparing for the trial in advance by arranging for press credentials from City Pages. (His work appeared in that weekly paper throughout the trial.)

He also researched the main “actors” in this drama and practiced sketching them before the trial so that he could render quick likenesses in the courtroom. (Cameras were not allowed in the courtroom. This makes the role of a talented sketch artist important to capture what is mandated to be a "public trial.")

Avidor explained how he would start with a few guidelines in pencil, then add ink, and finish with colored pencil for his larger stand alone sketches which were used on television to document the trial.