t a b l e t

I was very pleased to discover that my Wacom tablet requires nothing more than being plugged into my new computer in order to function, because I was under the impression that it needed its accompanying software (now misplaced).  I still prefer paper and pencil, but it is nonetheless nifty to be able to draw directly into the computer, and I have a feeling it will make photoshopping a lot breezier.

shelly duvall

When I was thirteen or so I was relatively familiar with Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of The Shining, but I had never seen it.  However, I was looking through a magazine and saw the above still, of the terror-stricken Shelly Duvall, and was unable to get to sleep for several nights.  The image was haunting until I finally saw the film itself, and I maintain that she is the scariest part of it.  Kubrick is said to have treated her like shit during production, and as a result she delivered a superb performance and by the climax of the film, is totally wrecked. 
Since then I have garnered an interest in Duvall, and recently, after a bout of chain Netflix streaming and internet surfing, mostly related to the imensely talented and tragic Harry Nilsson, I stumbled upon Robert Altman's live action version of Popeye.  It is a delightful movie which causes me to suspect that Robin Williams and Shelly Duvall may have been born for the specific purpose of playing Popeye the Sailor and Olive Oyle, respectively.
Popeye is currently streaming on Netflix, and it has a lovely bubbly soundtrack by Nilsson, and for being a live-action adaptation of a stylized cartoon, it is surprisingly true to the original.  I really enjoyed it.

Fashion photoshoot with Duvall in 1970s haute coutoure

 

Wendy Torrance in a state of all too believable mania

Shelly looking less stressed

sketchbook.3

Selections.4

The following images are remnants of war from the Jaeger, Groton, and Ryan collections from the University of Tulsa's department of Special Collections.  They are remnants of World War I, and many of them were thoroughly dist-covered and deteriorated.  The photo backdrop and foreground had to be repeatedly swept clean of the detritus that fell from each object.  The various series include uniform garments, photographs, a few - sadly empty - mystery chests, medals, correspondence, and other army ephemera.  The photos mostly revealed fairly jolly-looking images of soldiers and civilians, but the damage done to the garments is only marginally indicative of how devastating this war was to those involved.

Medic arm band, featured being warn by Walter Jaeger in many of the disintegrating photographs from his collection.

Blood-stained long-johns, one of two.  I don't know what melee these wounds were obtained from, but I do know that the wearer of the garments fought in the battle of Verdun and obtained a medal for his efforts there.

This is a bloody undershirt with surprisingly scant amounts of blood from 1919 or thereabouts.

One of many satchels found among the collections.  This one was, like many of them, has an elaborate system of straps for attachment to the body, and multiple pouches of various sizes for carrying utensils.

Jaeger is the one on the lower left.

It is dubious as to what is going on in this picture.  This is one from a series on Walter Jaeger's stint with the American Red Cross in the Balkans.

Through a porthole.  I don't know enough about ship engineering (and nothing was written on the back of the photograph) to know whether or not this vessel was friend or foe.

S-t-a-r-c-h

Absolon attempting to glean a confession from the torture-traumatized Herloff's Marthe, accused of sorcery.

    

    

 There is nothing quite like the backdrop of 18th century German witch trials to set the mood.  This is certainly the case with Day of Wrath, a Criterion Collection gem that I recently rented from the video library.  The sterile and tense mood of this fascinating film is amplified by it's black and white images, of which the costuming takes full advantage.  The characters are clothed in restrictive and unblemished period clothing, with ridiculous collars and long, concealing robes.  The film's director, Carl Theodor Dreyer, is on of Germany's cinema masters, and one would recognize the leading and mysterious character of Ann as Lisbeth Movin, from Babette's Feast, another classic.  This riveting movie discloses the insane torture and forced confession techniques implemented in the time in order to theoretically deduce who was and was not a witch, and by the end of the film, the notion of who is truly evil is blown wide open.

Most every shot of the film is a stunning image, taking full advantage of value and tone, surprisingly vibrant for being in black and white.

Herloff's Marthe being raised to her execution by fire

Sketchbook.2

Hibernation project with corks and pistachio shells

I find deer to be very pleasing to the eye, and so I don't mind decorating my house with them  throughout the year.  However, they obviously retain a seasonal value in wintertime, and with this inexpensive craft, using mostly materials you may already have lying around, you can populate your house at your leisure with overly cutesy forest friends.

This craft is loosely based on an article in a 1970s Christmas Woman's Day magazine, which I have tweaked, and which may easily be tweaked further.  It can be completed leisurely in a day's time and is not challenging for children - as long as there is a responsible person around to assist with the baking of the clay.

You will need...

5 toothpicks (per deer - 4 legs and a neck)
1 cork (per deer)
1 small packet of sculpey clay (yields 3 to 4 deer heads)
2 pistachio shells (per deer)
strong glue of your choosing
Paint
toaster oven

This was the disaster portion, in which I baked them about three hundred degrees too hot in my toaster oven and nearly burned down my house.  Most sculpey, including the Sculpey(tm) brand itself bakes at 275 degrees f for 15 minutes.  The sculpey will still be soft to the touch after the cook time, but hardens once it is cool.

I made squarish forms for the deer heads and pinched them out a bit for the noses.  I rolled out thin snakey pieces for the eyes and secured them with scoring.

Pistachios may be delicious (unless you are allergic to them) but their shells make perfect animal ears. If you press the little ears in prior to baking the sculpey, it creates a groove for them to sit in when the time comes for glueing. Also, a hole on the underside of the head should be poked in the clay while it is soft.  Poke it with the toothpick or whatever you will be using for the neck piece, and be sure the hole is relatively deep, going about halfway into the head.  Bake them without the shells in them and glue the ears on after they are cool, otherwise the ears will obviously catch on fire and disintegrate like Wile E. Coyote.

Here are the deer in process.  Having baked the clay, glued on the ears and painted the heads, the bodies assemble very easily.  You may have to play around with leg placement for best balancing results, as the heads are much heavier than the bodies. I use Japanese toothpicks, which have a flat end and are available at any Asian market or grocery store.  Four toothpicks for four legs and half a toothpick for the neck.  Stab the toothpicks right into the cork where you want them, and make sure the legs are all at an even depth.

Semi-painted deer heads

All that remains is to paint all of the pieces and glue them together.  Paint stores and big chain hardware stores such as Lowes and Home Depot have mistint paint cans in their warehouses.  Latex wall paint dries to a very professional and uniform finish.  Most of the mistints, oddly enough, tend to be permutations of beige, but after digging through the cans one can hope to find something that suits one's aesthetic - which very well may be beige.

Project complete!  To make them into fauns, all they need are dots.  Antlers wouldn't be a stretch either - one could even use smallish twigs.