Hello!
It is a bright sunny day and I feel happier than I have in a long time. Yesterday’s news of the Biden/Harris win is good news indeed. Finally, some hope that things will get better. It’s going to take a lot of hard work, but it’s work in the right direction. Here are a few of things I’m looking forward to:
We will be a country that follows science instead of superstition and conspiracy
Immigrants will be welcomed with open arms, and their cultural differences will be appreciated for adding to society instead of being perceived as a threat
The well-being of everyone will be seen to, instead of lining the pockets of the super-wealthy at the expense of all others
Families who work hard will not live in fear of bankruptcy from medical expenses for life-saving treatments or medication
We will have leaders that know how to collaborate with others, and who will listen to experts and change course when they learn from new information
Education and the work of educators will be valued instead of undermined
The existential threat of climate change will be prioritized and real progress will be made to find solutions that will ensure a habitable planet for future generations
Diversity will be celebrated, and systemic racism will be addressed
The rights of women, BIPOC, and LBGTQ+ people will be protected instead of ripped away
I could go on, but more than anything I’m hopeful that the world of Nolan’s future will not be the hellscape we’ve been headed for. It’s going to take so much work, and there are forces out there who would stand in the way. But for now, I’m happy.
Much closer to home, another thing that is making me happy is the arrival of my new iPad. The first night I had I got my library apps set up, and tried reading a couple of different books and a magazine. I’ve always avoided readers, but reading on an iPad will be just dandy.
Now I’m in the process of setting up some art apps. I’m trying out a couple of free ones first, and am sure I will soon dive into Procreate. For now I’ve been playing around with an app called Art Set. I’m particularly enjoying the oil paints. Here’s a big gloppy mess that shows how you can see the texture and color blending.
I tried one today that’s a little more realistic, haha. This will definitely take some practice…
I’m looking forward to practicing and improving a new set of skills!
Today I have some new “real” art supplies to play with - more high flow acrylics in different colors! So with that, I’m going to wrap up for today.
Cheers!
Tidbits
FDR’s Second Bill of Rights (kottke.org)
WOW! Lovely Illustrations of Plants and Wildlife in the English Countryside (kottke.org)
Making: the crochet blanket is coming along swimmingly! It’s going to be very big and warm. I try to crochet a little bit every day, even if it’s just a few stitches.
Reading: still working on The Lacuna (reading a few pages every morning while I wait for my coffee to brew). On the iPad I’m trying out The Only Good Indians, an horror novel by Stephen Graham Jones, and Find Your Artistic Voice: The Essential Guide to Working Your Creative Magic by Lisa Congdon.
Art Zone
Our highlighted artists today both work with edible mediums - though in one case you wouldn’t DARE to eat their work.
Alana Jones-Mann
I haven’t had cake since I don’t know when (at least 8 months). Seeing these amazing works of edible art by Los Angeles Baker Alana Jones-Mann makes me crave cake. CAKE CAKE CAKE CAKE (ahem).
She didn’t set out to intentionally create cakes that resemble shag carpets, but people started describing them that way and the name stuck.
Two hours later, more or less, she was done. The finished product was a quintessential Jones-Mann creation: a richly colored “shag cake” with a carpet-like texture evoking the deep pile rugs of 1960s- and ’70s-era American interior design. Like many of her cakes, it was a three-dimensional showstopper of texture and psychedelic color, almost too pretty to eat. (SOURCE)
Not everything she makes looks like the carpet from the bedroom of my youth (shag stripes in a rainbow of colors). She has perfected the cutest little cacti and other botanicals. Then there’s the ocean cake…
Click through to see a quick video of the process to make that undersea scene.
I could spend all day poking through her Instagram and ogling her work in the articles that have been written about her. If you’d like to learn more about her technique and maybe try it yourself, check out her DIY projects on her website.
Piped in Geometric and Ornate Patterns, Buttercream Blankets Shag Cakes by Alana Jones-Mann
The story behind those colorful shag-rug cakes all over Instagram
Motoi Yamamoto
You might have thought it was the cakes you wouldn’t dare eat because they’re so pretty. However, it’s the salt labyrinths of Motoi Yamamoto that are not for consumption.
In 2016 Yamamoto created these two installations in a French castle. The work below, called Floating Garden, took 45 hours to construct over the course of five days.
In its realization, the artist sits down in a small space where no particles are laid, simultaneously moving a container of salt in a particular rhythm, a subtle movement which creates tiny cells that mimic bubble-like patterns. (SOURCE)
The patience required to create such work! I would be so afraid of sneezing, or that a whiff of air would ruin it.
Motoi Yamamoto meticulously sculpts salt labyrinths inside a 13th century French castle
Video of the Week
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