'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.