Dazzle #7 - modern dazzle canoe

Chicago-based artist Carrie Schneider has done some photographs utilizing dazzle-type design. It's hard to tell if this is an actual dazzle-type fabric covering for a canoe. My doubt comes from the lack of a visible water-wick line, although if this were sewn in a synthetic such as nylon, that feature might not be as visible. I really like the idea of pleasure craft done in a dazzle-type design. Jeff Koons did someone's sailing yacht in this way, but I didn't think that the colors worked very well.

Dazzle #6 - painting inspired by camouflage inspired by modern art

The name of this painting, done shortly after WW1, is 'Painting of Dazzle Ships in Drydock, in Liverpool, 1919', by the British painter Edward Wadsworth. It's a wonderful modernist painting depicting the modernist-inspired surface treatment of the ships, as well as the linear treatment of the drydock and surrounding structures. Unfortunately, there is no evidence to suggest that Wadsworth ever worked on designing Dazzle designs for ships.

Dazzle #5 - authentic period full-color Dazzle designs

Here are some authentic, and presumably officially approved, designs for dazzle-painted ships. I'm guessing WW2 vintage. This stuff is fantastic.
It would be fun to have your acid-rainbow tie-dye design officially accepted, and then painted all over an unspeakably expensive Ronald Reagan-class aircraft carrier, such as the 'USS Sugar Magnolia'.

Miles, has anyone made cubeecraft ship templates? Coming up with dazzle-schema design projects would be a fun DMF 201 assignment.

Dazzle #4 - 'Poster ship' in B& W photo

Here is a b&w photo of the same ship, the RMS Mauretania, depicted in color on the Cunard poster. These things must have been a sight to behold, steaming across the open seas.

Dazzle #3

During both world wars, many passenger liners were converted into troop carriers. This poster from the Cunard company shows the color scheme from one of their troop-carrier-converted liners, the RMS Mauretania.

Dazzle #2

This is the USS Mahomet, in dock, from shortly after WW1. It's not easy to determine exactly where the bow of the ship is. Cubism was a influencing style, and also possibly(?) the German style of cinema known as expressionism (watch The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari).

I love Razzle-Dazzle!

My favorite camouflage approach of all time. Actually, it's more of an 'anti-camouflage', but it worked for a while. The birth of this style of maritime camouflage is attributed to Briton Norman Wilkinson. The British Admiralty was frustrated by the fact that they were losing so many supply ships to German U-boats, and by the fact that different weather conditions, and different lighting scenarios, made it difficult to come up with a camouflage scheme that would make it possible to make a ship harder to see under all possible conditions. Wilkinson came up with the idea of disregarding the idea of visual stealth, but instead painting a ship so that it was more difficult to see exactly which angle a ship might be steering towards. This was a brilliant idea, because most submarines and enemy surface ships used very complicated optical-mechanical sighting systems to estimate range towards the target, angle of deflection, and speed. The gunner (or whoever was sighting the torpedo) would then 'lead' the moving ship, and fire ahead of it (much like a hunter with a shotgun does). The idea behind what the British called 'Dazzle' painting, and what the Americans called 'Razzle-Dazzle', was to make it harder for crewman using optical rangefinders (which used a 'split-screen' much like some SLR cameras) to focus properly, and who had to estimate angles, as well. The British used dazzle painting on their ships all through WWI. The Americans used it starting in 1918, and through WW2. The British admiralty was not convinced of it's effectiveness, although it was good for morale (and I have read several British officer's excerpts from ship's logs which would, in fact, seem to indicate it's visual efficacy). The American navy had more confidence in it's effects. What brought the end of dazzle painting was the development of more effective targeting technologies, such as radar. Dazzle paint designs frequently used color, as shown by numerous surviving official designs, but unfortunately, there do not seem to be any existing color photos from WW1-era ships.
This example is the French cruiser 'Gloire'.

katazome stencil #2

This katazome stencil differs from the previous example in that it has been prepared for use by the use of black lacquer to attach nylon mesh gauze on top. The nylon mesh allows the dragging of a spatula over the top, forcing the resist through, without possibly catching and tearing any delicate parts of the stencil.

katazome stencil #1

There is a centuries-old Japanese method of dyeing kimono cloth called 'katazome stencil-dyeing', involving the use of a very specialized paper for the stencils, and a specialized rice-based glutinous resist, which is then forced through the stencil with some form of spatula, and then allowed to dry.
Back in the day, when I was going to school the first time, I cut a number of these stencils using x-acto knives. The Japanese normally made them to repeat them top-to-bottom, as they would use the stencil, then pick them up, and repeatedly move them down the narrow bolt of kimono cloth in this manner. I modified this Japanese design so that it would also repeat side-to-side.

cuubee craft #1

A first attempt at this. Both my own experience with chicken pox as a child, and the recent viewing of a vintage Spanish cinderella stamp on the web promoting measles vaccinations, nudged me in this direction.

book jacket #5

My anti-paen to repressive and demeaning workplace environments, in which countless minions have done their share of silently suffering. Here is an upbeat study from the 1950's for the guys at the top of the food chain, to aid in keeping the masses in line. Underwritten by Miltown.

'Scratch' assignment #2 - wallpaper design for an optometrist's waiting room

I wanted something very busy, contrasting, and not very restful. Just as appropriate for gift-wrap paper, as well.

'Scratch' assignment #1 - mouse line drawing of a street dandy contemplating an apple

Just trying to keep it very fast, loose, and modern in feel, using a very small diameter pencil tool, and trying not to let the mouse stop moving.

self-portrait #2

self-portrait #1

How on earth do people do self-portraits without using mirrors, or without having the obvious convention of having an arm sticking out, holding the camera up, and yet still stay in focus? It's not easy. I decided this was a good excuse to wear one of my best hats; a vintage Cavanagh homburg. Somehow it looks way too small for my head, but it really isn't.

"What we have he-ah, is a fail-yuh to communicate..."

Another cake from the 'cake wrecks' blog site. Title taken from the movie, 'Cool Hand Luke', which was probably the late Strother Martin's best film role.
Did the same person who took the instructions do the decorative text, or was that handed off to someone else? If there was more than one person involved, one would normally assume that that would increase the chances of this one not 'slipping through the cracks'.
You do have to give the cake maker an A+ for diligently following directions (and an 'E' for effort). They even made the '12' fancier without being asked.

'No - (somebody help me out here...)

I have stared and stared at this; yet another example of a perplexing sign. No sunbathing here? No stepping on terra cotta tile roofs? For the life of me, I can't figure this one out. Probably photo-enforced.

Another Navajo rug

This Navajo rug dates from around the same time as the 'eyedazzler' just listed. The colors are much more muted (some fading might have taken place), but it still is a riotous show of color. I think the freedom of design that the individual rug weavers exhibit is inspiring. Quite frequently these rugs would have been woven by people living the most difficult, abject, impoverished lives imaginable, and yet there is an individual spirit that comes through in these objects that is absolutely undeniable. Certain traditional 'craft' forms can become mired in tradition and stagnate, but you don't usually see that in the designs of Navajo rugs, no matter what the historical time period of this craft. There was a period when the quality of the wool used in these rugs greatly declined until a concerted effort was made to bring it back up to certain standards, but you generally can't say that about the designs themselves.

'Germantown eye-dazzler' Navajo rug

I have always appreciated certain kinds of textiles, especially ethnic traditions. My original B.F.A. show involved a traditional method of surface-dyeing Japanese kimono cloth, and the use of special paper stencils involved in that process. Navajo weaving has always fascinated me. Supposedly the Navajo learned how to weave from pueblo tribes, and then branched out in their own directions, which are incredibly inventive in the use of color in their design elements. This example dates from around 1880, and even though Navajo rug purists don't always like examples such as these utilizing harsher, commercial aniline dyes, I think the color scheme is amazing. This type of rug is sometimes referred to as an 'eyedazzler' style, and you can see why.

book jacket #4

The background graphic comes from an empty popcorn bag that I snagged from a restaurant that I working at in the '80's. The popcorn brand was started in the 1930's, and was probably still using the original logo, which is what caught my eye. Bold graphic, bright colors. I will probably clean up the entire scanned image at a later point (The eraser tool in Photoshop should be good for use on grease stains...)

book jacket #3

I wanted to use some simple color shapes on a white background, and move the letters around some more. I think the entire book jacket works together, and I think that the front works by itself, as well.

'the familiar' - #2

Anytime can be nap-time. When in doubt, get horizontal.

'the familiar' - #1

Faithful and hopelessly indulged companion, resting on a quilt that took me about a year to make.

'the other' - #2

'the other' - photo

I rarely know what to mention when I take photographs. I prefer for people to project onto them whatever they wish, and I seem to greatly prefer black & white.

book jacket #2

I'm not quite sure what to write about this one. I really enjoyed designing this book jacket, also. There is a much-heralded and unconventional western film which I have been meaning to see, 'Johnny Guitar' (directed by Nicholas Ray). I like the sound of the title and wanted to do an Indian take on it, since the graphics that I am using for this jacket are Indian matchbox labels. I liked the vibrant colors in the graphics, and the strong diagonal line made by the title. I tried to make the color of the title line at least be analgous to some of the orange shades in the dancing woman's sari. I like the visible horizontal lines running through the maharajah's face.