A Passion For Creativity

Well, I’ve been hinting strongly at a story with these collages. The narrative connection between the masks really came together after I finished designing them. “A Fine Masquerade” consists of the thirteen collage mask images along with a short story that I’ve made into a small (4” x 5 ¾”) accordion-style booklet. Although not an “artist’s edition” in the traditional sense, all of the work is completed by me in a numbered and signed edition of 75.

I think of an artist’s edition as consisting of hand-pulled prints (etching, block, linoleum, etc.) and these were printed with an inkjet printer. The interior pages are cotton paper printed with archival ink, then hand-cut and put together using Yes paste (also archival). The covers are individually collaged and unique. Each booklet is finished off with a wrapping cord and an African krobo bead. 

The price of each booklet is $23.50, which includes CA sales tax. Domestic shipping is $2.00. You may order this via credit card (PayPal) or check. Contact me at joan@joandesmond.com  to add A Fine Masquerade to your collection.

 Erebos Raven

He’s been rocking in the forceful wind, long claws dug into the top of the phone pole across the road for months. Black feathers rise and fall with gusts, and at times glint white in the sun. Daily, his scratchy Caw! Caw! demands Peanuts! Peanuts! Come scatter the morning peanuts! If ignored he moves onto a pine branch above the house for the thunderous effect. At night he beds in those trees.

A smaller female has joined him.  They’ll both chase and dive-bomb hawks venturing into this air space as if somehow a red-tail might steal the precious meal. Lately, their biggest competitor is a coyote who also likes goobers. Not as successful as expelling that raider, they boldly swoop and hop around him hopeful of leftovers.

In an opportune moment, the ravens stuff several peanuts in their beaks and fly off to dissect them. Only then is it quiet.

Of course there had to be a raven collage mask!

Magenta Cat

She is fat-cheeked and cutesy, but don’t underestimate her. She is a mask after all. Magenta is a balance to that which is darker, in a world that’s all about balance. She also represents the colors of the evening, the colors of the setting sun. 

Amethyst Rat

Did you ever read the children’s story series about The Borrowers, the tiny people that lived under the floorboards and freely took what they could from “human beans”? In grade school I eagerly read Mary Norton’s fantastic tales.

We‘ve all had small household items mysteriously disappear. It’s a lovely imaginative plunge to consider a world of minuscule people carrying off safety pins, socks, buttons, and usefully recycling them on their scale, glove fingers into pantaloons for instance. Norton, a British author died last week and as far as I know, didn’t reveal her muse for “the borrowing” story.

I’m speculating that her inspiration could easily have been the antics of pack rats. One’s been scurrying through the garage and pump-house this past year. Can’t leave anything out overnight. Every portable item is fair game. Nails, bolts, pencils, are carted off and later found piled up behind a toolbox, in a flowerpot, or buried in a nest. The foot ruler must have been a challenge as it only made it to the floor, but the bit of Velcro, store receipt, and plumber’s tape roll carried to the hoard just fine.

That’s how Amethyst Rat scampered into the mask story.

Thumb! Update: Exhibition Announcement!

Thank you for all of the great contributions so far to the Thumb Mail Art project. There is about a month left to the June 30th deadline.

A three-day exhibit is planned for July 25, 26, & 27, 2008 at the Odd-Fellows Hall in Kernville, California, USA. Kernville has a rich history as a mining town during the California Goldrush and was also frequently used as the site for old silent western movies– think Roy Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry, and others. This will be the first international mail art show held in Kernville. At the exhibit there will be a world map indicating the country and city of the artists.This is the first time an international mail art show will be held in Kernville.  A reception is planned for Friday evening, the 25th (time to be announced).

Thumb!

Theme: This call invites your creative visual responses to the theme of the “Thumb,” that thick first digit of the human hand. Whether it’s thumbs up, all thumbs, or pull your thumb outta your, this art will explore the various connotations of the thumb, with irony, with humor, or in all seriousness.

Open Media: collage, photography, painting, drawing, printing, etc.

Format & Size: postcards from 4”x6” (or 10 x 15 cm), up to A5 size about 5 ¾” x 8 1/4” (or 14.8 x 21 cm) maximum.

Documentation: All received works will be exhibited and the artists listed on http://thumbingthrough.wordpress.com/.  Please include your name, mailing address, and email address for acknowledgment and correspondence purposes –we will send a list of participants, and copies of any press coverage of the exhibition.

All works must be sent via normal postal route.

No fee, no returns: The postcards will become part of the collection of Thumbing Through.

Remember: WE LOVE MAIL ART! We love the concept, the images, the sense of community and feedback it inspires. We look forward to your participation in this project. Questions? joan@joandesmond.com

Deadline to be received: June 30, 2008

Mail to:  Thumb!,  c/o  J. Desmond, PO Box 2287,  Lake Isabella, CA 93240   U.S.A.

Hydros Goat

Can weather be bi-polar? Today the thermometer has flipped over to 50 and it’s drizzling rain.

It’s a good time to introduce the goat mask image.  Hydros is the Greek word for water. You may have noticed that many of the mask images have Greek names. The goat represents the aspects of water in the story: blue watered creeks winding through the woods, deep dark purple pools, and bubbling water running over rocks.

Stopping on the hilltop walk, the dog and I peered down at the lake yesterday. The early morning calm left the lake surface flat and dark in areas. Yet rows of ridges combed the water. Twenty or so parallel bands, then one gradually curved off leading into more parallel rows. In every direction, on and on, the lake was alive with currents creating patterns.

I thought of how it would look in a painting, zooming in only on the patterned rows and dark bands, so abstract, yet so representational of what is.

But instead of going into the studio I climbed on the roof to get the Mastercool going against the sudden 100% heat of the last few days. I’d promised the elderly cats that the house would not steam their fur another day. Hauling the hose up I washed the swirling dirt from the metal panels. I scooped out the brown water that accumulated in the pan and watched it run down the shingles.

At the hardware store I buy a new pump filter. Ah, the net one that reminds me of the lake. Plus some new panel screws. Look how the threads circle the shaft wave-like.

Back again, the float needs adjusting as the water dripped rhythmically down the eaves, onto the deck, and roiled away into the dirt. The overflow turned the roof’s steep angle into a slip and slide. The bottom of my walking shoes are worn smooth, no more contoured lines there. On go the Chacos, river sandals, lake sandals, sandals that let me jump over wet rocks and traverse slick shingles.

Some days are like this, chores need doing, animals and plants need tending, and there is little or no studio time.

Yeah, I considered calling a plumber. An hour and they’re out of there. But I get arrogant about paying for something I can do myself. And they don’t bring up the hose to wash the grime away, pull the rippled pads, or do all the other things that give me peace of mind for the season. Nor would they mention that an owl roosted in the pine trees above and left interesting mice-bone pellets scattered on the roof.

Still the lake image possessed me all day. Wave patterns followed me everywhere. Creative ideas are like that, itching to be realized. We are haunted by the images until we actualize them-send them into the world.

Mandarin Fox

For several months this past winter two gray foxes visited in the evening. One has lived alone around here for years, and at some point completely lost his tail. He’s a strange sight, like discovering a new animal species. The new fox is smaller and sports a long, lush tail. I’m hoping it’s a vixen.

As the design work on the collages continued, a thin story thread dangled in front of me. The collages became more symmetrical in design and more symbolic. Masks are symbolic. Look at the symbol and there is often another level of masking underneath. The collage animals all represent certain character traits but there’s also a color-wheel relationship between the bull & the fox.

Malachite Bull

The bull breaks the earth and kicks up the hidden stones. He charges around in a circle between the red and green.