#beautiful graphics and edits with a look that is so mason

[greenelight]

i'm   giving   my   multi   a   bit   of   attention   since   i   just   moved   it   ,   but   i   need   to   pop   on   &   tell   you   all   that   i   think   this   is   the   most   friendships   mason's   ever   had   with   so   many   people   &   it   truly   just   makes   me   so   happy.   thank   you   for   loving   him   despite   how   silly   he   is   ;__;

[justsomeoneintoomanyfandoms]

Hey, it’s been awhile since I last did this, but I decided to go for as returning to Tumblr felt like a bit of a small nostalgia trip for me, so why not get back to one of my favourite MHA fan writers for old times sake and beside, a lot has changed since last time so why not….

Well anyways, as for the idea I’m going with, I am thinking of going with a remake version of my first Match-Up of an My Hero Academia and Genshin Impact Match-Up, if that is cool with you?

Things That Remained The Same: Of course, my name is still Mason, my zodiac sign is still a Taurus, as well as I still consider myself as He/Him and Straight, along with me having dark brown hair and brown eyes. I also still consider myself as a full blown nerd towards the things I am interested in, although now I am a mix of being a Marvel and DC fan as of currently, I’m still a fan of My Hero Academia though I left the fan base altogether because “MHA Fanbase being MHA Fanbase,” currently I’m looking for different shows that could peak my interest (Such as Zom 100 and maybe RWBY, although that’s because of one RWBY character I like and ticked that the writers killed her off kinda got me into the whole “I like this character, now I’m obsessed,” that being Penny Polendina.) I still do Graphics Designing although I mostly post on Deviantart rather than Tumblr lately, I still have trust and communication with my autism although thankfully it isn’t as bad now of days, as I am a bit more confident with my social skills but mostly towards the people I considered as friends. As of currently, those are all the things I would say that mostly remained the same, as while I get curious with different series and all that, the basic tropes I have such as being a Nerd who loves to do Graphics Designing remained the same. (Oh, and I’m also still doing the best person I can be, though now there are times when I questioned about the goal, but I still follow it as I believed it’s the right thing to do.)

Things That Changed: Alright, now we are getting to the nitty gritty on the things I considered to be pretty changed, I retook the MBTI Personality quiz and I ended up getting a mix of ISFP and ESFP due to the “E” and “I” being 50/50, and while I consider myself more as a ESFP lately, it could depend on my mood depending on the day. I unfortunately shrink down to being a 6’2, I’m planning on trying to get back to doing Voice Acting though I am planning on getting my main PC fixed before I pick up the prices for the plan, while I’m using my laptop to do the graphics designing while I’m waiting til I get the computer fixed up, as well as taking a similar path to trying to get back to writing. I’ve also been watching a lot of Instagram Reels just for laughs, as well as opening a new Instagram account for my graphics designing uploads, as well as moving to a new Photo Editing engine with more features that helped improve on the way I work on my Profiles and Thumbnails. I am also currently doing a bit more hard work to lose some weight, as someone I know personally ended up getting health issues and I didn’t wanna become like him, so I’m trying to be more active and trying to eat a bit more healthy, though it’s hard since I’m someone who likes food in general. And lastly, I am actually planning on growing out my hair to bring out more style to it, with a hairstyle similar to Diluc’s ponytail from Genshin Impact being my go to style if I reach to my satisfied length and width.

Overall, I think that is all the info I have for this one, this might be my biggest info dump I have ever given, as there are some that remained the same along with new things added and somethings changing in my life. I hope you enjoy and remember that you’re always a beautiful on the inside and outside!

Hi Mason! It's good to hear form you again. Getting an updated mutchup is something I think more people should do. Thank you for your request! I hope you like your matchups!

In My Hero Academia, I match you with...

The first matchup change. Although Uraraka would still be a close second, I think Tsuyu would better match you now.

I see Tsuyu as someone who would be surprisingly good at voice acting. It’s not so much that she can do lots of really different voices but she’s passionate and really good at putting emotion into her voice.

Enjoys working out with you. She always finds it more enjoyable when she’s got someone with her. That way they can hype her up and she can hype them up.

Very supportive of your efforts in trying to be the best person you can. Whenever you have moments of doubt, she’ll listen to your worries and give you her honest opinion.

Tsuyu is a firm believer that everyone should be the best person they can be. And she’ll do whatever she can do to support you in that.

Absolutely has one of your graphic designs as her phone’s lock screen. She likes how it looks, as well as how it reminds her of you.

In Genshin Impact, I match you with...

Yes, both of your matchups have changed! Collei is pretty similar to Amber so there not a while lot of difference in your relationship.

The main change is that Collei is significantly more reserved than Amber. While she opens up around people she knows, she’s pretty quiet around those she doesn’t know well.

You can both work on your communication problems and social skills together.

Modern au Collei definitely watches anime. I can see her as a fan of classic shows like Sailor Moon but she would also be into newer shows like RWBY.

Sends you so many Instagram reels. She’s on there all the time and loves watching anything you send to her.

Really good at knowing dietary tips and tricks so Collei is definitely the person to go to for information about eating healthier. If she’s not sure about something, she’ll ask Tighnari, who is sure to know the exact benefits of almost any kind of plant or animal you could ask about.

[lilyoffandoms]

End of Year Favs 2020

Rules: it’s time to love yourselves! choose your 8 (ish) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome work!

Okay after very little thought, here are mine in no particular order.

Fall (TWC) - EBK wrote a love letter I adored so I gave this a go. It is more prose than love letter but oh well. I really enjoyed writing it and it pushed me from my comfort zone which is how I like to write. (amazing graphics created by the lovely @evilbunnyking).

Willing Theft (TWC) - First attempt at writing anything Mason related and again, another love letter like thing. But this one took me forever (for.ev.ah!) because my brain wouldn’t let the word count idea go.

Shared Bed (Blades) - One of my favorite tropes and one of the earliest Maiele fics I shared. This is probably still my favorite pairing to write and I don’t know that I’ll ever get over writing them. It is my not so guilty pleasure.

Brave (ACOR) - One of my favorite Choices books (probably fifth favorite actually) but one of my favorite MCs and favorite LIs. I enjoyed exploring the idea of bravery and what makes one brave with this fic. Plus the art by @somewillwin is just gorgeous!

First Date (FHR) - This came about after an always wonderful chat with a truly lovely individual and I absolutely had to write it. This is my favorite route in Fallen Hero so far and I’m looking forward to writing these two (three, sometime four) more often!

Introductions (TWC) - Detective Jason Lin is forced to officially introduce his boyfriend to Unit Bravo. I do so enjoy making things deliciously awkward.

Even So You (TWC) - A quick little thing and one of my most recent drabbles between Ava and @dottiechan’s Persephone. I liked the repetition I found when writing this one and any chance to throw Latin back in Ava’s face is great in my book! The phrase is “Love conquers all. Even so you, Ava.”

Art Based Series (TWC) - Anything Felix x Lucas related really. That pairing tops my list of favorite fics probably. But these fics based on @liquidxsin’s art are some of my favs. That and the fic The Color of Home. Or the Nap prompt I got. Or the Winter drabble. They are just a fun dynamic to explore.

Thank you so much for the tag @nataliesewll and @evilbunnyking!!

I’m late to this tag game so I don’t know who’s all been tagged but I’m gonna tag some (ignore if you’ve been tagged or just don’t wanna do this) @kittykatchoices @veeteeshirt @javsarts @itslaniquelove @smalltowndetective @callmeroo @callmebeem @storyofmychoices @specialistagent-m @amillionmoonsred @specialistagent-morgan and anyone else that wants to share your beautiful creations with me!!

[maddie-grove]

The Top Twenty Books I Read in 2020

My main takeaways:

I’m glad that I set certain reading goals this year (i.e., reading an even mix of different genres and writing about each book I read on this tumblr). I feel like it really expanded my horizons.

There are a lot of proper names on my Top 20 list this year, which possibly means something about identity? That, or I just tried to read more Victorian novels. 

Be horny, and be kind.

Now...

20. The White Mountains by John Christopher (1967)

In a world ruled by unseen creatures who roam the countryside in tall metal tripods, all humans are��“capped” (surgically fitted with metal plates on their heads) at age fourteen. Thirteen-year-old Will Parker looks forward to becoming a man, but a conversation with a mysterious visitor to his village raises a few doubts. This early YA dystopia has gorgeous world-building (notably a trip to the ruins of Paris) and expert pacing. The choices Will has to make are also more surprising and complicated than I ever anticipated.

19. What Happened at Midnight by Courtney Milan (2013)

John Mason wants revenge on his fiancée Mary after she skips town following her father’s death...apparently with the funds that her father, John’s business partner, embezzled from their company. When he tracks her down, though, she’s working as a lady’s companion to the wife of a controlling gentleman who refuses to pay her wages, and John’s fury turns to sympathy and curiosity. This is a smart, well-plotted Victorian-set novella about a couple who builds a better relationship after a rocky start.

18. Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes (1943)

It’s 1773, and fourteen-year-old Bostonian Johnny Tremain has it all: a promising apprenticeship to a silversmith, the run of his arguably senile master’s household, and...unresolved grief over his widowed mother’s death? When a workplace “accident” ruins his hand and career, though, he must “forge” a new identity. Despite its jingoism and surfeit of historical exposition, I fell in love with this weird early YA novel. It’s a fascinating, heartbreaking portrayal of disability and ableism, and, to be fair, Forbes was just jazzed about fighting the Nazis.

17. Something Happened to Ali Greenleaf by Hayley Krischer (2020)

After universally beloved jock Sean Nessel rapes starry-eyed junior Ali Greenleaf at a party, his queen-bee friend Blythe Jensen agrees to smooth things over by befriending his victim. Ali knows Blythe’s motives are weird and sketchy, but being friends with a popular, exciting girl is preferable to dealing with the fallout of the rape. This YA novel is a complex, astute exploration of trauma and moral responsibility.

16. The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein (2017)

Rothstein details how the federal U.S. government allowed, encouraged, and sometimes even forcibly brought about segregation of black and white Americans during the early and mid-twentieth century, with no regard for the unconstitutionality of its actions. He brings home the staggering harm to black Americans who were kept from living in decent housing, shut out of home ownership for generations, and denied the opportunity to accumulate wealth for generations. It’s an impactful read, and I was honestly shocked to learn Rothstein isn’t a lawyer, because the whole thing reads like an expansion of an excellent closing statement.

15. My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf (2012)

In this graphic memoir, Backderf looks back on his casual, fleeting friendship with future serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, a high school classmate who amused Backderf and his geeky friends with bizarre, chaotic antics. Backderf brings their huge, impersonal high school to life, illustrating how the callousness and cruelty of such an environment allowed an isolated, troubled teen to morph into something much more disturbing without anyone really noticing. It’s a work of baffled, tentative empathy and regret that stayed with me long after I finished it.

14. Daniel Deronda by George Eliot (1876)

Gwendolyn Harleth, beautiful and ambitious but with no real outlet, finds herself compelled to marry a heartless gentleman with a shady past. Daniel Deronda, adopted son of her husband’s uncle, finds himself drawn into her orbit due to his helpful nature, but he’s also dealing with a lot of other stuff, like helping a Jewish opera singer and figuring out his parentage. I love George Eliot and, although this bifurcated novel isn’t her most accessible work, it’s highly rewarding. The psychological twists and turns of Gwendolyn’s story are a wonder to experience, and Daniel’s discovery of his past and a new community is moving.

13. The Plot Against America by Philip Roth (2004)

The Roths, an ordinary working-class Jewish family in 1940 Newark, find their quiet lives descending into fear, uncertainty, and strife after Charles Lindbergh, celebrity pilot and Nazi sympathizer, becomes president of the United States. This alternate history/faux-memoir perfectly captures the slow creep of fascism and the high-handed cruelty of state-sanctioned discrimination, as well as the weirdness of living a semi-normal life while all of that is going on. Also: fuck Herman and Alvin for messing up Bess’s coffee table! She is a queen, and she deserves to read Pearl S. Buck in a pleasant setting!

12. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (1850)

Young David Copperfield has an idyllic life with his sweet widowed mom and devoted nursemaid Peggotty, until his cruel stepfather ruins everything. David eventually manages to find safe harbor with his eccentric aunt, but his troubles have only begun. Although the quality of the novel falls off a little once David becomes an adult, I don’t even care; the first half is one of the most beautiful, funny, brilliantly observed portrayals of the joys and sorrows of childhood that I’ve ever read.

11. The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve by Stephen Greenblatt (2017)

Greenblatt examines the evolution and cultural significance of the story of Adam and Eve from the Bible to the modern day (but mostly it’s about Milton). I can’t speak to the scholarship of this book--I’m not an expert on the Bible or Milton or bonobos--but I do know that it’s a gorgeously written meditation on love, mortality, and free will. Greenblatt brought me a lot of joy as an unhappy teenager, and he came through for me again during the summer of 2020.

10. The Music of What Happens by Bill Konigsberg (2019)

Self-conscious seventeen-year-old Jordan is mortified when his widowed mother hires Max, an outgoing jock from his school, to help out with their struggling food truck. As they get to know each other, though, they realize that they have more in common than they thought, and they end up helping each other through a particularly challenging summer. This is an endearing, exceedingly well-balanced YA romance that tackles serious issues with a light touch and a naturalness that’s rare in the genre.

9. Red as Blood by Tanith Lee (1983)

In nine wonderfully lurid stories, Tanith Lee retells fairy tales with a dark, historically grounded, and lady-centered twist. Highlights include a medieval vampiric Snow White, a vengeful early modern Venetian Cinderella, and a Scandinavian werewolf Little Red Riding Hood. Fairy tale retellings are right up my alley, and Lee’s collection is impressively varied and creative.

8. A Room with a View by E.M. Forster (1908)

Unnerved by an impulsive make-out session with egalitarian George Emerson on a trip to Florence, young Edwardian woman Lucy Honeychurch goes way too far the other way and gets engaged to snobbish Cecil Vyse. How can she get out of this emotional and social pickle? This is an absolutely delightful romance that gave a timeless template for romantic comedies and dramas for 100-plus years.

7. My Ántonia by Willa Cather (1918)

Jim Burden, a New York City lawyer, tells the story of his friendship with slightly older Bohemian immigrant girl Ántonia when they were kids together on the late-nineteenth-century Nebraska prairie. It was a pretty pleasant time, give or take a few murders, suicides, and attempted rapes. This is one of the sweetest stories about unrequited love I’ve ever read, and it has some really enjoyable queer subtext.

6. Mister Death’s Blue-Eyed Girls by Mary Downing Hahn (2012)

In 1956 Maryland, gawky teen Nora’s peaceful existence is shattered by the unsolved murder of her friends Cheryl and Bobbi Jo right before summer vacation. Essentially left to deal with her trauma alone, she begins to question everything, from her faith in God to the killer’s real identity. Hahn delivers a beautiful coming-of-age story along with a thoughtful portrait of how a small community responds to tragedy.

5. The Lais of Marie de France by Marie de France, with translation and introduction/notes by Robert Herring and Joan Ferrante (original late 12th century, edition 1995) 

In twelve narrative poems, anonymous French-English noblewoman Marie de France spins fantastically weird tales of love, lust, and treachery. Highlights include self-driving ships, gay (?) werewolves, and more plot-significant birds than you can shake a stick at. Marie de France brings so much tenderness, delicacy, and startling humor to her stories, offering a wonderful window to the distant past.

4. Maus by Art Spiegelman (1980-1991)

In this hugely influential graphic novel/memoir, Art Spiegelman tells the story of how his Polish Jewish parents survived the Holocaust. He portrays all the characters as anthropomorphic animals; notably, the Jewish characters are mice and the Nazi Germans are cats. I read the first volume of Maus back in 2014 and, while I appreciated and enjoyed it, I didn’t get the full impact until I read both volumes together early in 2020. Spiegelman takes an intensely personal approach to his staggering subject matter, telling the story through the lens of his fraught relationship with his charismatic and affectionate, yet truly difficult father. 

3. At the Dark End of the Street by Danielle L. McGuire (2010)

McGuire looks at a seldom-explored aspect of racism in the Jim Crow South (the widespread rape and sexual harassment of black women by white men) and the essential role of anti-rape activism led by black women during the Civil Rights movement. This is a harrowing yet tastefully executed history, and it’s also a truly inspirational story of collective activism.

2. In for a Penny by Rose Lerner (2010)

Callow Lord Nevinstoke has to mature fast when his father dies, leaving him an estate hampered by debts and extremely legitimate grievances from angry tenant farmers. To obtain the necessary funds, he marries (usually!) sensible brewing heiress Penelope Brown, but they face problems that not even a sizable cash infusion can fix. This is a refreshingly political romance with a deliciously tense atmosphere and fascinating themes, as well as an almost painfully engaging central relationship.

1. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (1814)

Fanny Price, the shy and sickly poor relation of the wealthy Bertram family, is subtly mistreated by most of her insecure and/or self-absorbed relatives, with the exception of her kind cousin Edmund. When the scandalous Crawford siblings visit the neighborhood, though, it shakes up her life for good and ill. I put off reading Mansfield Park for years--it’s practically the last bit of Austen writing that I consumed, including most of her juvenilia--and yet I think it’s my favorite. Fanny is an eminently lovable and interesting heroine, self-doubting and flawed yet possessed of a strong moral core, and the rest of the characters are equally realistic and compelling. Austen really made me think about the point of being a good person, both on a personal and a global scale.

[justforbooks]

The Italian publisher, editor and collector Franco Maria Ricci has died at the age of 82.

In sumptuously produced art books, and as editor of the bi-monthly art magazine FMR, Ricci published writing by Jorge Luis Borges, Italo Calvino, Umberto Eco, Roland Barthes and many others over the course of his long and distinguished career. In 2019, Susan Moore visited his estate at Fontanellato, near Parma, where in recent years Ricci had constructed the largest labyrinth in the world out of bamboo; they discussed Ricci’s notable collection of largely 18th- and 19th-century sculpture and paintings, as well as his library of books published by the great typographer Giambattista Bodoni, whose works Ricci had reprinted in his first foray into publishing. The interview is published in full below.

Collecting may be read as a form of autobiography written with works of art rather than words. In the case of Franco Maria Ricci, his is a life composed of both words and pictures. He has not only published the most lavishly produced art magazine – FMR – and art books in the world, but also spent the last 50 years amassing a peerless collection of volumes produced by the great Italian typographer, compositor and publisher Giambattista Bodoni (1740–1813) and a rich, eclectic collection of some 500 largely neoclassical and baroque paintings and sculptures. Both collections are at the heart of his most recent and extraordinary venture, the creation of the immense, star-shaped Labirinto della Masone, near Parma, the largest labyrinth in the world – and surely one of the few planted with bamboo.

There is something surreal, and slightly disturbing, about turning off the autostrada and suddenly encountering this majestic bamboo structure rising 10m or more above the plains of the Po valley. For all its elegant calligraphic stems and angular leaves, this is not the sparse specimen bamboo of Chinese ink-painting, but a forest. Here, more than 200,000 of these fast-growing bamboos arch upward in their quest for light. Once I turn into the drive of what was originally Ricci’s grandfather’s estate at Fontanellato, the brilliant azure June sky all but disappears. By the end of my two-day visit, it seems that the contrasts of light and dark are an apt metaphor for the book and art collections – and for the entire complex of maze, museum, archive and chapel, the latter built in the form of a pyramid. Ricci has always been part rationalist, part visionary.

Ricci’s story begins with the book. ‘I grew up surrounded by my father’s books. Reading Shakespeare, Homer, Joyce and Dante saved me from bad taste,’ he once said. ‘It made beauty simple, familiar and immediate in my eyes.’ It was a book, too, that transformed his life and launched a long and successful career: Bodoni’s Manuale tipografico, first published in 1818. Before his discovery of Bodoni’s works in the Biblioteca Palatina in Parma in the 1960s, a career in publishing seemed unlikely. The stylish Ricci, a racing driver and a dandy with dark cherubic curls, was best known for patterning the snow in the piazza around Parma Cathedral with the wheels of his E-type Jaguar. Even Bernardo Bertolucci remembered that car.

As a young man, Ricci had wanted to study archaeology, but an uncle in the oil world persuaded him to sign up for geology instead. After three months in Turkey spent looking for oil that was not there, he realised the oil business was not for him. Yet his education proved critical in unlikely ways. He spent weekends exploring the mysterious, labyrinthine underground tunnels and caves that are a feature of the Romagna region of Italy. He also designed posters for Parma University’s theatre festival that caught the attention of an American curator preparing a show of Italian design in New York. He became, inadvertently, a graphic artist, and went on to create striking graphics for everything from Poste Italiane to Alitalia.

Ricci has long insisted that ‘Bodoni was not only a typographer. He achieved modernity and elegance through graphic art. He was, like Canova, a champion of neoclassicism but in two dimensions. I immediately fell in love with the proportions, the concept of beauty.’ Bodoni’s genius was not simply the freshness, rigour and precision of the typefaces, with their dramatic contrasts between thick and thin line, but also his sense of how to lay out a page. Texts are set with extravagantly wide margins and with little or no decoration.

Ricci decided to reproduce the master’s Manuale tipografico, although everyone told him he was mad to do it. He bought two early offset typography machines which, he noted, were ‘as expensive as a Ferrari, which I wanted to buy but never did’, and had the highest-quality paper made exclusively for the project by Fabriano. It took a year to publish the three volumes in 900 numbered copies (1964–65). ‘So I became a publisher. It became a bestseller.’

Much to his mother’s horror, Ricci decided to continue to publish very expensive books – art books printed in Bodonian style – and later, literary editions, several series of which were edited by Jorge Luis Borges, whose presence looms large in library and labyrinth. At a time when Arte Povera dominated the Italian avant-garde, Ricci chose opulent black silk covers embossed with gold, and printed on costly pale blue Fabriano paper with handmade plates. He wanted his books to be rare – printing small editions – but also surprising. He gave Roland Barthes, Umberto Eco, Italo Calvino and Borges free rein to write accompanying texts.

His wife Laura Casalis remembers having been struck by the originality of Ricci’s 1970 book on the then little-appreciated Erté – text by Barthes – before she met the publisher himself in 1975, and soon found herself working on a book on red paper-cut portraits of Mao, accompanied by 39 of the Chairman’s own poems printed in Chinese characters. ‘Little by little I slipped into publishing with him – Franco was a workaholic and I realised that was the only way I would see him. Those Mao paper-cuts were typical of the practically unknown subjects that he would seek out all his life, and we sometimes show them between loan exhibitions in the museum. Franco has l’occhio lungo – he can see beauty in something which may take others a long time to recognise.’

It is in the library I find Ricci and, indeed, where he is to be found most mornings and afternoons. It is part of a cluster of picturesque 19th-century stone buildings surrounded by lush and increasingly exotic gardens. He had begun renovating the dilapidated stables behind his grandfather’s long-abandoned villa as a summerhouse and library in the 1970s, and its enormous hayloft still serves as an idyllic open-air dining room and entertaining space, even though the couple have now moved into the main house. Inside this romantic half-ruined folly, Ricci created the unexpected: two neoclassical library rooms lined with bookshelves and marble busts, their domed and coffered ceilings reminiscent of those in the Biblioteca Palatina.

As soon as we arrive in the inner sanctum, the Bodoni library with its more than 1,200 volumes – missing a tantalising three or four tomes but otherwise complete – Ricci is immediately up on his feet and pulling down and opening cherished volumes, eyes blazing. Despite the heat, he wears an elegant embroidered linen waistcoat but not its jacket, which hangs nearby, bearing the synthetic red flower that became in effect his iconographical device. (Tai Missoni gave him a cardigan as a present: Ricci declined the gift – he does not wear cardigans – but declared that he would always wear the red flower from its packaging thereafter, which he did. Once, when he had forgotten the flower, an officer at the Alitalia desk at Milan airport said: ‘I see you are travelling incognito today Mr Ricci.’)

Now Ricci deftly presents Bodoni’s Essai de caractères russes… of 1782, and his 1789 edition of Torquato Tasso’s pastoral play Aminta, exquisitely illuminated for the Prince of Essling. These are dear friends and the joy as he handles these pages is self-evident. This is the only significant part of the collection not to have been moved down to the museum and archive complex, a short bamboo-lined drive away. It is clear that he could never bear to live apart from these books.

The impetus to create the long-imagined labyrinth, and a museum and library to house his collections and publishing archive, was a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. The couple sold the publishing house in 1982, and their house in Milan, and moved to Fontanellato. There is a fierce pride in Laura Casalis’s voice as she explains: ‘Franco wanted to do it, he imagined it, and he found the right team of people to help him realise it.’ We are sitting over coffee in the Labirinto courtyard surveying the sharp-edged geometries of its rose-pink brick buildings, a place that already has the air of a lost ancient city discovered in a jungle. Laura describes the evolution of the museum collections within, and recalls the words of the late Italian publisher Valentino Bompiani, who described Ricci as a man of courage and fantasy.

‘Whenever he fell for some subject or artist, Franco would try to buy.’ Laura continues. ‘He was never concerned with what was or was not fashionable, and never bought to decorate a house. He collected pieces that he liked that were strange or unconventional.’ He began with Art Deco, first buying inexpensive little bronze and chryselephantine dancers by the likes of Demétre Chiparus (1886–1947), as well as Guiraud-Rivière’s dramatic figure of Isadora Duncan with two bears, which dominates the central space of the 20th-century gallery in the museum.

Here, too, are three paintings by the outsider artist Antonio Ligabue (1899–1965), a tormented soul who had led a tragic life, painting and wandering around the Po valley when he was not confined to a psychiatric hospital. Ricci published the first monograph on the artist in 1967, two years after his death, a work that helped catapult the artist from provincial to national and then international fame. Two years later, he bought two of the artist’s bold, visceral close-up heads of roaring tigers, painted in the 1950s, including the key work that had been selected for the book cover. A no less bright and richly impasted self-portrait in the guise of Vincent Van Gogh followed a year later.

Ricci also championed – and collected – the work of the third dominant presence in this space, Adolfo Wildt (1868–1931), often described as the last Symbolist but one whose reputation was, as Laura puts it, ‘tarnished by Fascist association’. Ricci published a monograph in 1988, the same year that he acquired the strange masterpiece that is Vir temporis acti of 1913, a virtuoso marble bust of a Greek or Roman soldier reimagined through the combined lenses of Michelangelo and the Secessionists. The expressive anguish of this head may be seen as a symbol of the nobility and redemption of sacrifice, but it is the refined and gleaming silken surface that led to Brancusi.

Ricci has a penchant not only for sculpture but also portraits, and portrait busts in particular. ‘I have hunted portraits all my life. I never get tired of looking at them,’ he confesses, ‘and in turn, I feel observed by them.’ In the 1990s, he began following the art market and collecting in earnest. Ricci had an office, bookshop and apartment in Paris and there and in Monaco he was to acquire many of his largely French 18th-century terracottas, some of the most compelling by less familiar names. A superb example is the bust of an intense, low-browed individual, signed by one A. Riffard and given the Revolutionary date of ‘9. Fructidor an 3e’, from 1794–95.

Another naturalistic tour de force is one of very few known terracottas by Francesco Orso, also known as François Orsy, a Piedmontese sculptor also active in Paris. Orso is responsible for the rarest sculptures here: the disconcerting life-size polychrome wax portrait busts of Vittorio Amadeo III of Savoy and his wife Maria Antonia Ferdinanda di Borbone, complete with painted papier-mâché clothes. The revolution destroyed the sculptor’s courtly patronage in Paris, and he diversified into the more overtly commercial world of the waxwork with a show featuring an effigy of the aristocratic revolutionary leader the Comte de Mirabeau and popular tableaux on themes such as Marat’s assassination by Charlotte Corday.

Unsurprisingly, given Ricci’s passion for Bodoni, the neoclassical looms large. At the centre of the Napoleonic gallery, lined with marble busts – Italian, English and Danish – is a model of Canova’s ideal head of Dante’s muse Beatrice, first conceived as an idealised portrait of Mme Récamier. The display offers a witty face-off between Wellington and Napoleon on opposing pedestals, but the emperor prevails with a sequence of classicising family portraits. Above hangs the second version of Francesco Hayez’s The Penitent Magdalene (1825). Here the Romantic artist has transposed the chilly perfection of Canova’s marble surfaces into pigment.

An unusual and endearing mid 18th-century Italian group portrait presents the family of Antonio Ghidini, a cloth merchant to the Bourbon court in Parma, painted by his friend, the court artist Pietro Melchiorre Ferrari (1734/5–87). In this Zoffany-style conversation piece there is no doubting Ghidini’s business, as he points to documents mentioning his association with his trading partners in Manchester and his wife sits stiffly under her salmon-pink stomacher in sprigged and striped silk finery.

Yet it would be misleading to suggest that Ricci’s ever-curious eye never ranged beyond the 18th and 19th centuries. He owns a number of 17th-century marbles, including that of the all-powerful prelate Cardinal Paluzzo Paluzzi Altieri degli Albertoni, who effectively ran the papacy under Clement X – irresistible in profile. In the 2000s Ricci also added, for example, Ludovico Carracci’s handsome three-quarter length Portrait of Lucrezia Bentivoglio Leoni (1589), executed two years before the sitter’s death. Flanking the same door is Philippe de Champaigne’s Portrait of the Duchesse d’Aiguillon (c. 1650), and viewed beyond is an unusual sensual and erotically charged work by Luca Cambiaso (1527–85), Venus Blindfolding Cupid.

Yet Ricci has also always been attracted to what he describes as the art of visionary madness, by the surreal, and by what is prosaic and popular. The museum’s cabinet of curiosities includes a narwhal horn, once thought to have belonged to the unicorn. Its walls are lined with particularly gruesome vanitas paintings and sculptures. Centre stage among the skulls is a decomposing head by Jacopo Ligozzi (1547–1627), its flesh and rotten teeth seething with maggots and flies.

Only superficially more benign are the drawings of the Codex Seraphinianus, first published in two volumes in 1981 – Ricci’s most extraordinary publication. These meticulously detailed explications of the bizarre and the fantastical illustrate an encyclopaedia of an imaginary world conceived by the artist Luigi Serafini in the 1970s and written in a language still understood only by its creator. Certainly its pages are at home in the Labirinto della Masone complex – another visionary creation, in effect a Gesamtkunstwerk, an all-embracing art work expressing the life and taste of one man.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

[jayeldraco]

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There are eight new pages of PACK in the world! And you can find them nestled amidst the 120 pages of indie comcis excellence in the newest Oneshi Press anthology! The healing anthology is out in limited-edition trade paperback now from the Oneshi Press online store, with a digital release coming next month. Catch up with the PACK as a new adventure begins—the story of Temperance, the mysterious Great Dane with a crown he lets no one touch…

About the Healing Anthology

Wrapped in a beautiful cover by James Groeling, the Healing Anthology starts with PJ Harper’s multi-character introduction.

First, it’s V2.3 of the epic graphic novel from Lynsey G. and Jayel Draco, Tracy Queen! Learn about Nikola the racoon’s past—and how he deals with his trauma.

Then, it’s on to “Kreepy” Kevin Sheely and Desiree King’s “Finn: Guardian of the Five Gates.” Follow a teen rocker into a realm where the mistakes of her parents mean only she can save the world…again. UGH!

Third, Grivante and Samir Simão’s Zee Brothers face their fears! They set off to help a homeowner with a zombie infestation in “The Case of the Zombie Omelet,” Part 2.

Then, float into a beautiful meditation about dissociation and identity in the haunting short comic “Far Away” from Jacey Chase.

And explore friendship’s healing powers, whether real or imaginary. Dive into AJ O. Mason and Luca Cicognola’s “My Giant Strange Friend.”

Next, discover a redemptive graphic novel that transforms a chicken wrestler into a savior. It’s the introduction to Jayel Draco’’s “Mr. Guy: Zombie Hunter”!

Can’t believe there’s so much goodness in one anthology?

Just wait…there’s more!

Next, journey into a supportive yet dangerous adventure with a polyamorous trio! The first half of “Detour” from Allison Bannister and Tom O’Brien is a refreshing new look at fantasy.

Next, enter a world where medicine, addiction, and blood have become complicated bedfellows. “Ziegler Box, Part 1” hails from Chaka Brown Freeman, Vicente Alcázar, Greg Gallagher, and Nouri Zander.

Up next, return to the vast fantasy universe of Children of Gaia with Peter Lampasona and D.L. Johnson. “Carrying Iron” offers our first glimpse into the realm of Terra…and its shady underworld.

Then, Oneshi Press debuts its Poets and Artists series! Jenny Williamson’s haunting poem about grief and survival, “Lungs and the Ghosts of Lungs,” becomes sequential art by Libby Bacon.

A superhero realizes that trauma doesn’t have a quick fix. “A Tale of Good Intentions” is an unsettling short comic from Patricia Loupee and Amy Hay.

Next, “Quantum 1.1” finds a Northern Cheyenne woman grappling with a missing sister and newfound superpowers all at once. Lenny Peppers and James Mason team up to deliver this first installment of a new indigenous superhero comic!

Finally, begin the third arc of Lynsey G. and Jayel Draco’s PACK. Here, the gentrification of these stray vigilantes’ mean streets has begun.

These pages are packed with art and comics, pleasure and pain, healing and redemption. We hope you’ll find strength, beauty, and maybe a bit of your own healing inside!

The limited-edition trade paperback is out now from Oneshi Press!

Subscribers to the Oneshi Press Patreon get everything PACK when it’s released, including exclusive art and more!

Like what you’re reading? Then sign up for the Oneshi Press newsletter and never miss a moment of PACK!

8 New Pages of PACK in the Healing Anthology—Out Now! There are eight new pages of PACK in the world! And you can find them nestled amidst the 120 pages of indie comcis excellence in the newest Oneshi Press anthology!

[antiquatedfuture]

Antiquated Future’s International Zine Month

Finally getting around to posting our newsletter, just as International Zine Month is wrapping up. As we did last year, we treated this great month as a chance to add and restock as many zines as we possibly can. We're currently at over 200 zine titles! Which is possibly the most we've ever had in stock at one time.

On the label side of things, we just released the debut from Olympia indie rock supergroup Guidon Bear and have a lot of releases coming up next month (plus an anniversary party here in Portland on August 30th).

NEW ZINES

Behind the Wheel #4: The Thin Checkered Line- A continuation of his look at an ever-changing San Francisco and a nuanced take-down of Uber and Lyft, this issue of Behind the Wheel looks at the realities and logistics of surviving and supporting a family as a driver for hire. ($7)

Caboose #11: Loss Lessons- A braided essay about losing a parent and losing a pet. The odd lessons that loss teaches. The practical ways we make room for grief. A sad and sweet issue of Liz Mason's long-running Caboose zine. ($3) Cat Party #5: More Lost and Found Relics- Under the banner of "lost and found," this issue of the Cat Party zine has comics, essays, and illustrations. ($4)

Fugitive Fanzine, Issue #1- One large newsprint sheet of photos and illustrations by Ben Trogdon and Heather Benjamin. ($5)

Interiors- A collection of comics from M. Sabine Rear on self-care, inspiration, and being a "blind lady around town." Traversing a range of emotions, conquering a myriad of daily challenges. ($8) Lettuce Bee- An anthology with contributions from some of our faves: Jeff Miller (Ghost Pine) on the childhood confusion caused by a Sex Pistols tape, comic artist John Porcellino (King Cat Comics) on hidden creeks, Cherry Styles (Synchronise Witches Press) on natural skin care, and comic artist Jason Martin (Black Tea) on underrated albums. ($7)

Minor Leagues #7- Stories about ghosts, abandoned farmsteads, weird fires, old lives, falling over in the gravel. This issue of Minor Leagues is the second part in Simon Moreton's "Where?", his serialized graphic memoir of life, death, history, landscape, and nature in the South Shropshire hills. ($7) Minor Leagues #8- An impressionistic fever dream of childhood memories told through drawings, paintings, comics, found archival text, photos, and weird odds and ends. Imagine the sketches for a wordless picture book meets Virginia Woolf's The Waves. ($7)

Shoes Fanzine #8: Interviews Old & New- A highly recommended interview issue from this long-running Vancouver, B.C. punk zine. Community organizing, the perspective and challenges of being a DIY lifer, real-life sailing epics. Aaron Cometbus, Shellshag, Matt Hern, and more. ($3)

Somnambulist #32: Fathom- A short lyric essay about facts, Texas, old friends, Olympia. Done up nicely in an old-school cut-and-paste collage style. ($3) Symbology: An A to Z of Archetypes & Epiphanies (Second Edition)- The history, meaning, and evolution of symbols through the ages, in graphic novel form. From Androgyne to Zodiac, this is the most fascinating trip through the alphabet you can take. ($10) Wanna Trade Zines?: Tips + Etiquette- A mini-zine on the intracies of trading zines at zine fests. A useful and compact guide! ($2)

NEW BOOKS

Juggalo Country: Inside the World of Insane Clown Posse and America's Weirdest Music Scene- The first book to deeply examine the world of the Juggalos—the clown-painted subculture that over the past 20 years has swept across North America and grown large enough to be designated a gang by the FBI. A fascinating meditation on counterculture and community by way of a debaucherous undercover journey. ($16.95)

MISCELLANY

Cat Party Tote Bag- The excitement of a party with cats. On a tote. Designed by Katie Haegele of Cat Party zine and Joseph Carlough of Displaced Snail Publications. ($12)

NEW MUSIC

Guidon Bear "Downwardly Mobile: Steel Accelerator"- The long-awaited debut from Olympia supergroup Guidon Bear. Infectious and subtly complex pop songs about real-life nightmares, boot camps, late bills, and scraping by. (cassette + digital download) ($5) Joe Jack Talcum & Gravey Train "Split Tape"- A moon-obsessed split tape from Joe Jack Talcum (AKA- Joseph Genaro of The Dead Milkmen!!!) and Gravey Train (Joseph Carlough of Displaced Snail Publications). Bedroom folk and lo-fi gems from these two fine Philadelphia musicians. (cassette + digital download) ($8) Strange Parts "Oh God, What a Beautiful Time I Spent in the Wild"- Shimmery psych-pop from Philadelphia's Strange Parts. Attia Taylor and Corey Duncan's dueling vocals mesmerize over wild drums, guitars, and synths. A perfectly disorienting pleasure. (cassette + digital download) ($8)

NEWS

*Our pal Rose Melberg (of The Softies, Tiger Trap, Knife Pleats, and so many other great bands) has just opened the Happy Cat mini superstore for all your feline needs in Vancouver, British Columbia. Road trip, anyone?

*Tabling applications for both the Olympia Zine Fest and Albuquerque Zine Fest are now open.

*For International Zine Month, we have everything in our Etsy store marked down.

*The postal-only Freedom APA alternative press association is about to start another round of mailings and is looking for both subscribers and participants. If you want to do either, email zinester and radio DJ Frederick Moe: singinggrove@conknet.com

[a-wlw-reads]

Hey tumblr so I need your help! My school always had one of those “Read Across America” maps with young adult novels or romances or whatever (evidently, I’m American) but I’ve never seen anything comparable for wlw. I’ve tried to rely on my memory and on other people’s recs but I’m only (exactly) halfway through. Any suggestions to fill in these missing states? I’ve tried to avoid stories that take place across multiple locations. Or offer more options for the ones I already have, the more the merrier.

Alabama : Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flag

Alaska : Grief Map by Sarah Hahn Campbell, The Dead Go to Seattle by Vivian Faith Prescott

Arizona : Bright Lights of Summer by Lynn Ames

Arkansas : Cottonmouths by Kelly J. Ford

California : Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour, Honey Girl by Lisa Freeman, Frog Music by Emma Donoghue, The Necessary Hunger by Nina Revoyr, Gay L.A.: A History of Sexual Outlaws, Power Politics, and Lipstick Lesbians by Lillian Faderman and Stuart Timmons, Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde, The Brightsiders by Jen Wilde, Under the Lights by Dahlia Adler, Far From Home by Lorelie Brown, The Summer of Jordi Perez (And the Best Burger in Los Angeles) by Amy Spalding, You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour, Excavation by Wendy C. Ortiz, The IHOP Papers by Ali Liebegott, Soft on Soft by Em Ali, She Is Me by Cathleen Schine

Colorado : Marionette by T.B. Markinson, Sleight of Hand by Mark Henwick, Snow Falls by Gerri Hill, Sadie by Courtney Summers, Tell Me What You Like by Kate Allen

Connecticut : Pages for You by Sylvia Brownrigg, Patience & Sarah by Isabel Miller

Delaware : As I Lay Frying: A Rehoboth Beach Memoir by Fay Jacobs

Florida : Breathing Underwater by Lu Vickers, Roller Girl by Vanessa North, Down to the Bone by Mayra Lazara Dole

Georgia : Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit by Jaye Robin Brown, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, The Blue Place by Nicola Griffith, Taking Flight by Siera Maley, Honor Girl: A Graphic Memoir by Maggie Thrash, Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli, Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World by Ashley Herring Blake, Odd One Out by Nic Stone, The Cherokee Rose by Tiya Miles

Hawaii : Razor Wire by Lauren Gallagher, Name Me Nobody by Lois-Ann Yamanaka

Idaho : Ship It by Britta Lundin, Her Hometown Girl by Lorelie Brown, Right Out of Nowhere by Laurie Salzler, Idaho Code by Joan Opyr

Illinois : Coffee Will Make You Black by April Sinclair, How Sweet It Is by Melissa Brayden, What Matters Most by Georgia Beers, The Long Way Home by Rachel Spangler, Close to Home by Rachel Spangler, Memory Mambo by Achy Obejas, Things to Do When You’re Goth in the Country by Chavisa Woods

Indiana : Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom by Emily Franklin and Brendan Halpin, Hoosier Daddy by Ann McMan and Salem West

Iowa : A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley, Moo by Jane Smiley, The Butches of Madison County by Ellen Orleans, Death by Discount by Mary Vermillion

Kansas : Far From Xanadu by Julie Anne Peters, My Almost Certainly Real Imaginary Jesus by Kelly Barth

Kentucky : Run by Kody Keplinger, Dress Codes for Small Towns by Courtney Stevens

Louisiana : Her Name in the Sky by Kelly Quindlen, Beauty and the Boss by Ali Vali, Rusty Logic by Robin Alexander, Spelling Mississippi by Marnie Woodrow, The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich

Maine : Style by Chelsea Cameron, Double Exposure by Chelsea Cameron, A Good Idea by Christina Moracho

Maryland : Cytherea’s Breath by Sarah Aldridge

Massachusetts : Mermaid in Chelsea Creek by Michelle Tea, Map of Ireland by Stephanie Grant, Heart of Brass by Morven Moeller, A Line in the Dark by Malinda Lo, P.S. I Miss You by Jen Petro-Roy, Hocus Pocus & The All-New Sequel by A.W. Jantha, Marriage of a Thousand Lies by AJ Sindu, Love & Other Carnivorous Plants by Florence Gonsalves, Marriage of Unconvenience by Chelsea M. Cameron, Cool for You by Eileen Myles

Michigan : The Liberators of Willow Run by Marianne K. Martin, Drum Roll, Please by Lisa Jenn Bigelow, The Cold and the Rust: Poems by Emily Van Kley, Her by Cherry Muhanji, Vanished by E.E. Cooper, Radical by E.M. Kokie

Minnesota : Sister Mischief by Laura Goode, Being Emily by Rachel Gold, My Year Zero by Rachel Gold, Bend by Nancy Hedin, Hallowed Murder by Ellen Hart

Mississippi : Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy

Missouri : Deliver Us from Evie by M.E. Kerr, Heart of the Game by Rachel Spangler, Jam on the Vine by LaShonda Katrice Barnett

Montana : The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth, Innocent Hearts by Radclyffe, Storms by Gerri Hill

Nebraska : Not Otherwise Specified by Hannah Moskowitz, Over You by Amy Reed

Nevada : Not Your Sidekick by C.B. Lee, Desert of the Heart by Jane Rule, Bittersweet by Nevada Barr

New Hampshire : Good Moon Rising by Nancy Garden, Snowsisters by Tom Wilinsky and Jen Sternick

New Jersey : A Cup of Water Under My Bed by Daisy Hernández

New Mexico : Beauty of the Broken by Tawni Waters, So Far From God by Ana Castillo, The Last of the Menu Girls by Denise Chávez, Like Water by Rebecca Podos

New York : Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova, Annie On My Mind by Nancy Garden, Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde, Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown, We Are Okay by Nina LaCour, Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg, Thaw by Elyse Springer, Eating Fire: My Life as a Lesbian Avenger by Kelly Cogswell, Rat Bohemia by Sarah Schulman, Tailor-Made by Yolanda Wallace, The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith, When Katie Met Cassidy by Camille Perri

North Carolina : The Ada Decades by Paula Martinac, Challah and Callaloo by La Toya Hankins

North Dakota : Prairie Silence: A Memoir by Melanie Hoffert

Ohio : Fat Angie by E.E. Charlton-Trujillo, Taking the Long Way by Lily R. Mason, The Last Place You Look by Kristen Lepionka, Eat Your Heart Out by Dayna Ingram, Juniper Lane by Kady Morrison

Oklahoma : Tumbleweed Fever by L.J. Maas, Edited Out by Lisa Haddock

Oregon : Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera, Forgive Me If I’ve Told You This Before by Karelia Stetz-Waters, Dryland by Sara Jaffee

Pennsylvania : Fun Home by Alison Bechdel, In the Silence by Jaimie Leigh McGovern, The Summer We Got Free by Mia McKenzie

Rhode Island : The Red Tree by Caitlín R. Kiernan, Homecoming by Nell Stark, Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult

South Carolina : The House You Pass on the Way by Jacqueline Woodson, Two or Three Things I Know for Sure by Dorothy Allison, The Revolution of Little Girls by Blanche McCrary Boyd

South Dakota : Charity by Paulette Callen

Tennessee : Secret City by Julia Watts, If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo, South of Sunshine by Dana Elmendorf, Choices by Skyy, Like Me: Confessions of a Heartland Country Singer by Chely Wright

Texas : Forgetting the Alamo, Or, Blood Memory by Emma Pérez, Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey, The Unraveling of Mercy Louis by Keija Parssinen, Gulf Breeze by Gerri Hill, Gulf Dreams by Emma Pérez, Lay Down the Law by Carsen Taite, Far From the World We Know by Harper Bliss, Spinning by Tillie Walden, Mean Deaf Little Queer by Terry Galloway, The Dime by Kathleen Kent, Uncovered: How I Left Hasidic Life and Finally Came Home by Leah Lax

Utah : Saving Alex: When I Was Fifteen I Told My Mormon Parents I Was Gay, and That’s When My Nightmare Began by Alex Cooper

Vermont : Dismantled by Jennifer McMahon

Virginia : As I Descended by Robin Talley, Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley, Jericho by Ann McMan

Washington : The Edge of Nowhere by Elizabeth George, Dreadnought and Sovereign by April Daniels, About A Girl by Sarah McCarry, Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear, The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz, Stuck Landing by Lauren Gallagher

Washington, D.C : Madam President by Blayne Cooper and T. Novan, Pulp by Robin Talley

West Virginia : The Winter Triangle by Nikki Woolfolk, Blue Apple Switchback by Carrie Highley, Sugar Run by Mesha Maren

Wisconsin :

Wyoming :

[biointernet]

Hourglass symbolism

“The role played by time at the beginning of the universe is, I believe, the final key to removing the need for a Grand Designer, and revealing how the universe created itself. … Time itself must come to a stop. You can’t get to a time before the big bang, because there was no time before the big bang. We have finally found something that does not have a cause because there was no time for a cause to exist in. For me this means there is no possibility of a creator because there is no time for a creator to have existed. Since time itself began at the moment of the Big Bang, it was an event that could not have been caused or created by anyone or anything. … So when people ask me if a god created the universe, I tell them the question itself makes no sense. Time didn’t exist before the Big Bang, so there is no time for God to make the universe in. It’s like asking for directions to the edge of the Earth. The Earth is a sphere. It does not have an edge, so looking for it is a futile exercise.”  ― Stephen W. Hawking Hourglass symbolism The hourglass is synonymous with cycles and balance Energy passes between the two sides of the hourglass just as the energies of our world are contained by the atmosphere and crust. See also: Time symbolism, Hourglass and Death on St Thomas’ Church, Hourglass – symbol of Death, Hourglass and Skeleton, Father Time, Time Hub, The Hourglass, Hourglass History, Hourglass Body, Hourglass Tattoo All of the natural processes and cycles occur there (not including what happens in space, of course), which gives us a greater sense of relation with our environment. This also forces us to realize our roles in the natural cycles happening around us. Hourglass symbolism Tau (Time is) was used as a symbol for life-death or resurrection, whereas the eighth letter Tau of the Greek alphabet, theta, was considered the symbol of death. Ancient alchemists recognized the concept of balance in the hourglass. Its very shape is made up of triangles balancing each other out. Alchemists interpreted these triangles as representing two aspects of nature: the upper being the sky and the lower equating with Earth.

Hourglass symbolism The hourglass, sometimes with the addition of metaphorical wings, is often depicted as a symbol that human existence is fleeting, and that the "sands of time" will run out for every human life. It was used thus on pirate flags, to strike fear into the hearts of the pirates' victims. In England, hourglasses were sometimes placed in coffins, and they have graced gravestones for centuries. The hourglass was also used in alchemy as a symbol for hour.

Hourglass symbolism

Hourglass And Feminine Energies When it comes to sexuality, nothing is more feminine and luscious than an hourglass figure (hourglass body). The curvaceousness of the shape directly references the female and the specific cycles that she experiences in her life. As it is fully developed, the hourglass symbolizes a woman who has gone through the cycle of maiden to mother to crone. This spirit symbol shows that she has both learned and grown.

Hourglass figure Sophia Loren It channels all of the female energies into a single object that also happens to do with the passing of time. However, the balancing aspect of the hourglass brings about the concept of duality. When considering the dual nature of life, many examples come to mind: yin and yang, sun and moon, male and female, life and death, etc. The former Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich in London used an hourglass on its coat of arms, symbolising Greenwich's role as the origin of GMT. The district's successor, the Royal Borough of Greenwich, uses two hourglasses on its coat of arms.

Hourglass symbolism

Modern symbolic uses Hourglass cursor Recognition of the hourglass as a symbol of time has survived its obsolescence as a timekeeper. For example, the American television soap opera Days of Our Lives, since its first broadcast in 1965, has displayed an hourglass in its opening credits, with the narration, "Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives," spoken by Macdonald Carey. Various computer graphical user interfaces may change the pointer to an hourglass during a period when the program is in the middle of a task, and may not accept user input. During that period other programs, for example in different windows, may work normally. When such an hourglass does not disappear, it suggests a program is in an infinite loop and needs to be terminated, or is waiting for some external event (such as the user inserting a CD). Unicode has an HOURGLASS symbol at U+231B. Because of its symmetry, graphic signs resembling an hourglass are seen in the art of cultures which never encountered such objects. Vertical pairs of triangles joined at the apex are common in Native American art; both in North America, where it can represent, for example, the body of the Thunderbird or (in more elongated form) an enemy scalp, and in South America, where it is believed to represent a Chuncho jungle dweller. In Zulu textiles they symbolise a married man, as opposed to a pair of triangles joined at the base, which symbolize a married woman. Neolithic examples can be seen among Spanish cave paintings. Observers have even given the name "hourglass motif" to shapes which have more complex symmetry, such as a repeating circle and cross pattern from the Solomon Islands. Both the members of Project Tic Toc,from television series the Time Tunnel and the Challengers of the Unknown use symbols of the hourglass representing either time travel or time running out. Wiki

The Symbolism of the Hourglass by Frithjof Schuon

This essay first appeared in the French journal Études Traditionnelles (janvierfévrier, 1966), then in translation in the journal Tomorrow (Summer, 1966) as “Some Observations on the Symbolism of the Hourglass.” It has appeared in English as a chapter in the book Logic and Transcendence (Harper & Row, 1975; Perennial Books, 1984; World Wisdom, 2009). The essay below includes explanatory notes by editor James S. Cutsinger to World Wisdom’s 2009 new edition of the book. © World Wisdom, Inc. The hourglass is usually a symbol of time and death: the flowing sand, which measures duration, does indeed suggest time in its fatal and irreversible aspect—a slipping away that nothing can stop and whose finalities no one has the power to annul. Moreover the sterility of sand evokes the nothingness of things as mere earthly accidents, and the cessation of movement reminds us that the heart will stop and life will end. More

Masonic Hourglass https://www.sunsigns.org/symbolic-hourglass-meanings/ About Masonic Hourglass meaning

Hourglass symbolism

The meanings of symbols

The symbols carved in stone provide some of the best examples of folk art in Dumfries and Galloway. Richly decorated stones are often very attractive and combine emblems with different meanings. The first being symbols that represent mortality / immortality / biblical references, the second type representing the occupation and status of the people commemorated. Many headstones include a collection of emblems which may vary in style and sophistication even within the same churchyard. Mortality Skulls - Also known as death heads, they are often shown in profile and frequently shown with bones. Bones - Often shown crossed they also appear in a variety of combinations. Skeleton - Usually lying down they feature varying anatomical details. Hourglass - Sometimes lying on their sides or with wings. Coffin - Usually appearing with other symbols. Sexton’s tools - Usually a pick and spade often crossed. Corpse and deathbed - Dead humans are rarely depicted in coffins but deathbed scenes are more common. Ribbon - Sometimes the symbols are tied together with a ribbon. Immortality and biblical Winged spirits The most common symbol found, they are usually found on the top of a stone. Adam and Eve Rare carvings of Adam and Eve with an apple tree and snake. Resurrection scenes Bodies rising to heaven clad only in loin cloths Open book Depicting a bible. Flaming torches Representing eternal life. Trades Hammer men All trades which require a hammer such as jewlers and cobblers often use the hammer and crown symbol. Blacksmith An anvil or farrier with a horseshoe and pincers. Tailor Showing pressing iron and shears Gardener Rake, hoe and spade Gamekeeper Gun, powder flask, fishing rod, game bird and dog. Merchant The number 4 is often used to symbolise trading with the four corners of the world and often has crosses added to the arms but sometimes a ship is used to represent overseas trade. Weaver Usually depicted with a weavers shuttle.

Hourglass 266, post card3, Father Time Heraldry Heraldic shields show connections to a noble family but are sometimes used as a way of representing status by including trade symbols within a shield. Father and Mother of Time Time Hub Hourglass Body The Hourglass, Hourglass History

Contemporary Time Management

Time management is a meta-activity (working with meta-model) with the goal to maximize the overall benefit of a set of other activities within the boundary condition of a limited amount of time, as time itself cannot be managed because it is fixed.  Time management is the process of planning and exercising conscious control of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity. It is a juggling act of various demands of study, social life, employment, family, and personal interests and commitments with the finiteness of time.  Time management tools: The Biointernet Mirror (Mirror of Joy)BLAGA SystemThe Biointernet MaskFiles with Functions (For example: Beauty Bio Net Exhibition – 3DHM Dynamic Vision Board Mental Model by Lena Rhomberg and Adam Pierce)

The Symbolism of the Hourglass

by Frithjof Schuon This essay first appeared in the French journal Études Traditionnelles (janvier­ février, 1966), then in translation in the journal Tomorrow (Summer, 1966) as “Some Observations on the Symbolism of the Hourglass.” It has appeared in English as a chapter in the book Logic and Transcendence (Harper & Row, 1975; Perennial Books, 1984; World Wisdom, 2009). The essay below includes explanatory notes by editor James S. Cutsinger to World Wisdom’s 2009 new edition of the book. © World Wisdom, Inc. The hourglass is usually a symbol of time and death: the flowing sand, which measures duration, does indeed suggest time in its fatal and irreversible aspect—a slipping away that nothing can stop and whose finalities no one has the power to annul. Moreover the sterility of sand evokes the nothingness of things as mere earthly accidents, and the cessation of movement reminds us that the heart will stop and life will end. From another point of view the symbolism of the hourglass is drawn mainly from its very form: the two compartments that compose it represent the high and the low, heaven and earth,1and the movement of the sand indicates a pole of attraction, that of the lower, which is the only pole the physical plane can offer us; but in reality there are two poles, one earthly and one heavenly, so that heavenly attraction should be represented by an ascending movement of the sand toward the upper compartment; since this is physically impossible, what symbolizes it in fact is the act of turning the hourglass upside down, an action that in a sense manifests the object’s very reason for being. Spiritually, a movement toward the higher is always a sort of turning upside down, for the soul turns away from the world, which imprisons and disperses it, thus reversing the movement of its will or love.2 The expression “pole of attraction” calls to mind the image of two magnetic centers, one above and one below, though this may lead to the objection that heaven and earth are not “points” but “spaces”; the response, however, is that above and below—and by extension inward and outward—each possesses two aspects, one reductive and one expansive: the world attracts like a magnetic center, but at the same time it is diverse and it disperses; the “Kingdom of Heaven” also attracts like a magnet, but at the same time it is infinite and it expands. What is opposed to the space “world”—or what this space opposes—is the point “spirit”: the “strait gate”; and what is opposed to the space “spirit”, to the “Kingdom of Heaven” that is “within you”, is the point “world”: sin, luciferian and passional contraction.3 There is no point of contact between the world as such and Heaven as such: each will always appear as a bottleneck or prison to the other. At least this is so at the level of moral alternatives, though beyond this plane an immediate encounter—or a sort of coincidence—does come about between the two opposed points or between the spaces, especially in contemplative alchemy and by virtue of the metaphysical transparency of things; in this case, however, there is no longer an opposition but simply a difference of degree, mode, manifestation. Clearly earthly beauty cannot be identified with sin; it manifests heavenly Beauty and may for this reason serve as a spiritual leaven, as sacred art and the innocent harmony of nature both prove. The compressive force of sin is the inverted shadow of the beatific attraction of the “strait gate” just as passional dispersion is the inverted shadow of inward expansion toward the Infinite. The “lower compartment” is made of either inertia or weight, agitation or volatilization; inverting the hourglass—that is, choosing the other pole of attraction or changing direction—is pacification for the agitated soul and activation for the languid soul. Spiritual reality implies both the calm of the “motionless mover” and the life of the “central fire”; this is what the Song of Solomon expresses when it says: “I sleep, but my heart waketh.” There is an analogical relationship between the “high” and the “inward” and between the “low” and the “outward”: what is inward is manifested by height, and conversely, depending on the planes or circumstances; the same is true mutatis mutandis for outwardness and depth, taking these words in their cosmic sense. When Christ or the Virgin depart from the visible world, they begin by “ascending” whereas the angels “descend”, and Christ will come again by “descending”; one speaks of the “descent” of a Revelation and an “ascension” into Heaven. Height suggests the abyss between man and God, for the servant is below and the Lord above; inwardness refers more to Selfhood or the Self: the outward is the shell or form; the inward is the Kernel or Essence. Tending toward the higher thus also means living toward the inward; now the inward unfolds from the point at which the outward is abolished or on the basis of a mental or moral “concentration”. The “strait gate” is a priori a sacrificial annihilation, but it also signifies—and more profoundly—a beatific annihilation. One recalls the analogy between death and love, morsand amor: like love death is a giving up of self, and like death love is generous; each is the model or mirror of the other. Man must “die to the world”, but the world may also “die to man” when he has found the beatific mystery of the “strait gate” and has seized it; the “strait gate” is then the seed of Heaven, an opening toward Plenitude.4 The “strait gate” reveals its beatific quality when it appears not as a dark passageway but as the Center or Present—as the point of contact between the world or life and the “divine Dimension”: the Center is the blessed point beneath the divine Axis, and the Present is the blessed instant that leads us back to the divine Origin. As the neck of the hourglass shows, this apparent contraction in space and time, which seems to desire our annihilation, opens in reality onto a “new space” and a “new time” and thus transmutes both space, which surrounds and limits us, and time, which sweeps us along and eats away at us: space is then situated as if within us, and time becomes a circular or spiral river flowing round a motionless center. In the hourglass one compartment empties, and the other fills: this is the very picture of spiritual choice, a choice that is inescapable because “no man can serve two masters”; it is in the nature of things that a superficially heterogeneous element may sometimes be combined with a spiritual attitude—for a man outwardly rich can be “poor in spirit”—but with regard to the very center of our being it is never possible to place ourselves simultaneously on two incompatible levels. Another aspect of the symbolism of the hourglass—in this case cosmological—is the following: the flow of the grains of sand can be compared to the unfolding of all the possibilities included in a cycle of manifestation; when these possibilities are exhausted, the movement stops, and the cycle is closed.5 This is true not only of cosmic cycles but also—and in fact above all— of the divine Cycle, which comes to an end in the Apocatastasis after the passing of myriad subordinate cycles; from this point of view the shower of sand indicates the exhaustion of possibilities and, conversely, their final and total integration in the divine or nirvanic Dimension. The key doctrine of the hourglass is briefly this: God is One; now the number 1 is quantitatively the smallest of all, appearing in fact as the exclusion of quantity, hence as the extreme of poverty; but beyond number and at the level of principles, which number reflects in an inverted sense, Unity coincides with the Absolute and therefore with the Infinite, and it is pre­ cisely numerical indeterminacy that reflects in its way divine Infinitude. All the positive qualities that we notice in the world are limited; they are like the extreme and in a certain sense inverted points of essences, which unfold beyond our sense experience and even beyond all earthly consciousness. The “strait gate” is inversion and analogy, darkness and light, death and birth.

Symbol of Time Hourglass Light The hourglass also suggests a division of universal realities—or the sensory orders representing these realities—into two compartments, if one may express it this way; in other words the fundamental distinction between the relative and the Absolute, the outward and the Inward, the earthly and the Celestial may assume the following forms: One may distinguish between the material or visible world and the immaterial and invisible world; grosso modo this is the perspective of shamanists, in which the animic powers are considered prolongations of Divinity. A second distinction places the line of demarcation between the world and God beyond the animic domain and at the threshold of the angelic domain: in this perspective the angels are essentially divine aspects.6 A third way of distinguishing between the two great dimensions of the Universe is to draw the line of demarcation in such a way as to separate the material, animic, and angelic domains from the archangelic and divine domains:7 the divine Spirit, which appears at the center of the cosmos and which is as it were the Heart-Intellect of the world, encompasses the Archangels, who are its essential functions, and this Spirit is the Face of God turned toward the world; this perspective is to some extent adopted by Semitic monotheists, whose points of view vary in different cosmic or theophanic contexts. The Spirit of God is the great mystery the Koran refuses to define:8 this Spirit is either uncreated or created; it is the Logos or Word or Book, the archetype of every Revealer and every Revelation, containing the Dhyāni-Buddhas and their prolongations or functions as embodied in the great Bodhisattvas. According to a fourth perspective, which is metaphysical and represents the essential and invariable perspective of Semitic and Vishnuite monotheists, it is necessary to distinguish be­ tween manifestation and Principle, the existent cosmos and existentiating Being, creation and Creator—in short, between the world and God; a distinction is then drawn within God between the Qualities and the Essence. A fifth perspective, which is that of Shaivite Vedantists, distinguishes between Māyā andParamātmā: God the Creator is also included in Māyā, for Paramātmā alone is purely Absolute; but Ātmā encompasses at one and the same time the pure Absolute and the Absolute clothed in relativity: Para-Brahma, the “Supreme”, and Apara-Brahma, the “Non-Supreme”. To summarize, the human mind is capable of making an essential distinction between the material or visible and the Immaterial or Invisible; or between the formal—matter, soul, spirits— and the angelic Non-formal, rooted in the Divine; or between the peripheral—extending from the physical cosmos to the angelic cosmos—and the Central, the manifested Spirit of God with its archangelic functions and metacosmic root; or between existence and Being, the created and the Creator, together with its Essence, which is Beyond-Being; or finally between Relativity— metacosmic as well as cosmic—and the Absolute as such. But there are also two non-distinctions, one from below and the other from above. For the first, everything is God, and we are therefore parts of God; this amounts to pantheism unless one compensates for this perspective by emphasizing its transcendent complement, as does shamanism but not philosophical pantheism. According to the second non-distinction, nothing is except Ātmā; this is the Vedantic thesis, which never excludes distinctions wherever these can and should apply; it is also the Sufic thesis, according to which the world is Allah as al-Zāhir, the Outward.9 The same teaching is likewise found in Mahāyāna Buddhism: Samsāra isNirvāna, and Nirvāna is Samsāra; Existence is an aspect of Beyond-Existence, the supreme “Void”, and it is for this reason that every consciousness contains in its substance a point of ac­ cess to the “Void” or the Infinite, which is pure Beatitude. The interpenetration of the two Realities is depicted by the movement of the sand in the hourglass; but Reality is one just as the grains of sand are identical, and it is only differences of situation, if one may express it this way, that give rise to a disparity whose terms are incomparable, a disparity that is unilateral since one of the terms, even though it appears as “inward” in relation to the outwardness of the related term, is simply What is.

MMERE DANE - "time changes" symbol of change, life's dynamics. West African Wisdom: Adinkra Symbols & Meanings. Explanatory Notes by Editor James S. Cutsinger From Page 2 above: • “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matt. 7:13-14). • “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). • The “motionless mover”, or Unmoved Mover, is Aristotle’s (see editor’s note for “Rationalism Real and Apparent”, p. 30) classic expression for the divine Principle, as in the Metaphysics, 1072b. • “I sleep, but my heart waketh” (Song of Sol. 5:2). • Note 3: The Theologia Germanica (“German Theology”) is an anonymous treatise of the late fourteenth century, which follows in the mystical tradition of Dionysius the Areopagite (see editor’s note for “Oriental Dialectic and Its Roots in Faith”, p. 125) and shares the fundamental vision of Meister Eckhart (see editor’s note for “Evidence and Mystery”, p. 95, Note 18). From Page 4 above: • “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matt. 6:24). • “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:3).From Page 6 above: • Note 9: “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 18:10). From the online Library at: http://www.frithjofschuon.info 1 We might point out that in Muslim countries there are drums having the same shape as an hourglass, one side called “earth” and the other “heaven”; in the Far East there are similar drums, which are marked on their two skins with a sign derived from the Yin-Yang, a visual symbol composed of two compartments with different colors, each of which contains a point of the opposite color. 2 The conical tent of the nomadic Indians of North America contains the same symbolism: in the Indian tipi, the poles are placed in such a way that the ends extend considerably beyond their point of junction or crossing, and this represents the heavenly dimension; the point where the poles cross is not unlike the Gordian knot or the labyrinth, and it is considered by the Indians to be the passage along which souls escape to the Beyond. 3 “Scripture, Faith, and Truth bear witness that sin is nothing else on the part of the creature than the fact of turning away from the unchangeable Good and turning toward the changeable good; the creature turns away from the Perfect in order to turn toward ‘what is partial’ and imperfect, and most often toward itself” (Theologia Germanica, 2). 4 “Verily with hardship goeth ease,” says the Koran (94:5, 6), and this is a further allusion to the mystery of the “strait gate”, especially since the same passage begins with the words: “Did We not expand thy breast?”—that is, the “inward”. Other Koranic passages refer to the same symbolism: “He produced the two seas that meet. Between them is an isthmus they cannot cross” (55:19-20). “And it is He who produced the two seas, one sweet and palatable, the other salt and bitter; and He put between them an isthmus and a closed barrier” (25:53). According to the non-canonical Book of Esdras, “The sea is set in a wide place, that it might be deep and great. But put the case the entrance were narrow, and like a river; who then could go into the sea to look upon it, and to rule it? if he went not through the narrow, how could he come into the broad? . . . Then were the entrances of this world made narrow, full of sorrow and travail . . . for the entrances of the elder world were wide and sure, and brought immortal fruit” (2 Esdras 7:3-5, 12-13). 5 At the beginning of the flow, the movement of sand is imperceptible whereas toward the end it becomes quicker and quicker; this phenomenon is strictly analogous to what occurs in the unfolding of a cycle. 6 When the Essence has been forgotten in practice, the result is an angelolatry or a form of polytheism in the ordinary meaning of the word. 7 Polytheism may come about in this case as well, and in fact it usually has its origin in the distinction in question; it must not be forgotten, however, that the Archangels have their roots in the divine Qualities or “Names”, hence in Being itself; it is therefore impossible to assign a clearly determined metaphysical plane to the polytheistic deviation properly so called. 8 Al-Rūh, the Angel who is greater than all the others put together; in Hebrew, Ruah Elohīm. 9 It is this doctrine that allows Christ to identify “one of these little ones” with himself, hence with Divinity. See also:

Time symbolism

Hourglass and Death on St Thomas’ Church Hourglass – symbol of Death Hourglass and Skeleton “Hourglass and Cards” Exhibition Father and Mother of Time Time Hub The Hourglass, Hourglass History Hourglass symbolism Hourglass Body Hourglass Tattoo Symbols of Time Mother Time Hourglasses Father of Time Hourglasses

Contemporary Time Management

http://www.adinkra.org/htmls/adinkra/mmere.htm Read the full article

[doodlewash]

That is why I love watercolors! It’s so scary to start on it, but once you start you feel such a joy you want to continue painting more and more. Feeling the adrenaline rush that the mix of water and color creates when you apply it to the paper and it smoothly follows your brush strokes to create art is just immensely satisfactory.

My name is Nereida Lima, I was born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras from Cuban immigrant parents. I had a very happy childhood with lots of cousins and noisy friends around our multi-family homes, just the way it was back then for immigrant Cubans. There was always a cousin around your age to play with and we used to share our toys a lot, except for our coloring books! Those were my treasures and even though I never thought of becoming an artist, I did enjoy painting on them and my coloring book was the nicest.

After high school, I studied architecture at a local university. Then got married, had kids and, after building a few houses, I decided to work in the family wood furniture business designing baby furniture mostly. I opened my own baby store with the furniture I had designed. After 8 years, and with very bad political and economical problems in Honduras, I decided to close it down.

Just around that time we had a “classmates from Architectural school” Christmas party. During this awesome party, a dear friend and very famous watercolor artist asked us if we would like to learn watercolors and paint with him. That is how it all started and from January 2017 on, we’ve had a painting party at least once a week! We started painting with Crayola kids watercolor tablets… incredible!  It was our new hobby!Well it is no longer a hobby. It’s a real passion now, and best of all, is getting money from it.

After each paint party I posted my painting on Facebook, and started creating my watercolor album. At that time, I had almost 5,000 friends, mostly from playing a Facebook game called Farmville ( I was a good neighbor and shared a lot in the game so got many friends) Soon my Farmville friends started asking me to paint their pets. And word got out, and I got more and more commissions for pet portraits.

Practice makes you get better and better, so now I have done over 100 pet portraits and they have gone all over the world to Japan, Australia, England, Spain, Germany, Canada, USA, Mexico and many more countries. Also a few locally in my country, Honduras. That is how I became more known internationally than locally.

In Honduras, we do not have good art supply stores, so every time I visited my daughter who lives in Portland, Oregon (at least once a year) I would ask her to drop me at a Blick store and pick me up after work. It was funny how the employees stared at me. I kept taking pictures of things and asking my friends back home what they wanted me to get for them. It is so difficult for us to get good art supplies in Honduras that every time I travelled I came back with tons of things.

Seeing the wonderful colors and such a huge variety is really wonderful. I started selecting Sennelier watercolors, because I  love the rich vibrant colors and I like the size they come in 10 ml, (bigger than 5 but not as much as 15) makes it the perfect size to create a nice collection of beautiful colors. I also tried QOR watercolors, very vibrant but expensive colors.

Now I have started a small collection of Daniel Smith watercolors by suggestion of my tutors, but still find Sennelier much richer paints. But, in the end, it is good to mix and match as long as they are all professional grade paints.

I loved watercolors so much that a once-a-week painting party was not enough, so I continuously searched for tutorials. I spent way too much time searching YouTube for watercolor tutorials, mostly a waste of time, and only a few good ones. I joined for a couple months Anna Mason online school and learned some nice techniques with her. Rebecca Rhodes tutorials were also very helpful.

I also started following and sending friend requests to those artists that shared beautiful paintings in World Watercolor Group. It was so exciting to be accepted by the top artists that way, and I could see more from their posts.

One day, I saw an amazing post by Meeta Dani, one of those top artists, was offering an online course Mastering Watercolors Realism. That was it!! I had to take that course! And I did. It was the best investment ever. The most complete course, plus I consider it my very first formal training. This course helped me get my thoughts in order and set my knowledge in the correct direction.

Nowadays, I want to learn more and more. I took a photography course (to shoot my own reference photos) and then a Photoshop course (to be able to edit my own photos), and I’m just now taking a graphic design course. Probably a video editing course next!

Of course, I continue with more watercolor related courses too. Right now I am taking a Mastering Textures course by Angus McEwan and also a Mastering Online Courses with Meeta Dani. So much to learn from them!

Never stop learning! I am 58 now and keeping myself so busy like when I was in my teens. My normal day starts with morning tasks around the home and making breakfast for the family, then yoga class for 1 1/2 hours. Then back to preparing food for lunch and dinner. Afternoons are for watercolors with or without friends, homework from all my online courses and then graphic design class from 5 to 7 pm.

Run back home for dinner and a movie or maybe a little watercoloring before bed. On Tuesdays, after yoga class, I give a water+color=art class at the yoga studio for 2 hours by request.

Hopefully I will soon be able to give my own tutorials or online courses. I am now a great watercolor artist enjoying my life very much more than when I was younger. So I really look forward to that scary part of starting a new watercolor painting, because it means so much joy right after.

Nereida Lima Facebook Instagram Website

GUEST ARTIST: "The Joy After The Scary Start" by Nereida Lima - #doodlewash #WorldWatercolorGroup #watercolor #watercolour That is why I love watercolors! It's so scary to start on it, but once you start you feel such a joy you want to continue painting more and more.

[kmalexander]

The 2019 Cosmic Horror Holiday Gift Guide

It’s Black Friday in the United States, the crawling chaos of American holidays, and the List of Lists is back for its sixth year! Once again, I’ve assembled a highly curated collection of Lovecraft-related items for your holiday season. Here you can find a plethora of paraphernalia for the weird-fiction fanatic, cosmic-horror connoisseur, or mythos maniac in your life. (And maybe a little something for yourself. You need gifts too.) As with previous years, I’ve worked to assemble a list of exceptional items for all ages and budgets.

The list is organized into six categories and ordered by price, making it easy to browse. Have a favorite new-weird, cosmic horror, or mythos-themed item I left off? Leave a comment at the bottom and let everyone know! Appreciate the work I put into this list? Share it with your friends! Happy shopping!

QUICK LINKS

• Books • Music • Apparel • Games • • Housewares • Miskatonic •

BOOKS

Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones $7.98 + Free Shipping (Paperback) $2.99 (eBook) Told from 12-year old Junior’s perspective, the story is one part family-struggle and one part ghost-story all woven with a heartfelt earnestness that’s easy to believe and hard to shake. It’s a book about childhood, about family, about heritage, about legacy, and the cost and ramification of all four.

The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson $10.30 + Free Shipping (Paperback) $2.99 (eBook) Professor Vellitt Boe of at the prestigious Ulthar Women’s College and her adopted cat, embark on an expansive journey across the Dreamland on the trail of a student who has gone missing after disappearing into the waking world with a lover. Along the way, she’ll encounter old friends as new troubles rumble from the Plateau of Leng.

Agents of Dreamland by Caitlin R. Kiernan $10.60 + Free Shipping (Paperback) $2.99 (eBook) The mysterious agent known only as the Signalman gets off a train on a stunningly hot morning in Winslow, Arizona. There he meets an unusual contact to exchange information about a bizarre event that happened a week earlier. An event for which neither has an explanation and its ramifications could have far-reaching consequences.

The Stars Were Right by K. M. Alexander $14.00 + Free Shipping (Paperback) $2.99 (eBook) With Book Four closing in, now is the perfect time to start reading my Bell Forging Cycle. Follow Waldo Bell as he is sent careening through the multi-level megalopolis of Lovat fighting to clear his name as a bloodthirsty killer stalks him. It’s mystery and monsters, chases and cults, and an ancient evil in a world that is similar but not quite like our own.

A Lush and Seething Hell by John Hornor Jacobs $17.99 + Free Shipping (Hardcover) $12.99 (eBook) Two masterful novellas of cosmic horror in a single volume. Beautiful and haunting, lyrical and evocative, raw and emotional, Jacobs takes cosmic horror to new places exposing our oldest fear while remaining starkly human in the process. One of the best cosmic-horror books in recent memory and one that will haunt you well after you’ve put it aside.

The Grand Dark by Richard Kadrey $19.50 + Free Shipping (Hardcover) $12.99 (eBook) This standalone weird fiction novel takes us into the industrial post-war world of Lower Proszawa and its drug-filled and soot-drenched streets teeming with all manner of strange inhabitants. Here we meet a bike messenger named Largo who discovers that peace runs along a knife-edge and a new war always looms on the horizon.

The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson $400 + Free Shipping (Hardcover, 1946 First Edition) “The true note of cosmic horror.” A treasure for any collector. A rare first edition published by Arkham House in 1946. Details from the seller: Black cloth lettered in gilt, fine with age-toned pages in head-chipped dust jacket, else Very Good with crease along top of front panel, dulled spine panel, toned and lightly soiled back panel.

Not finding a book you like? Check out the books featured on one of the previous guides. • 2014’s Books • 2015’s Books • 2016’s Books • 2017’s Books • 2018’s Books •

MUSIC & AUDIO

Black Stage of Night by Atrium Carceri & Cities Last Broadcast $7.00 (Digital Download) $19.00 (Compact Disc) I’ve been enjoying the direction in these collaborative albums from some of the industry’s best ambient artists. Black Stage of Night might be the best. It’s firmly dark ambient, and the classic sounds are there, but in this record, the collaborators weave a cinematic layer throughout. It’s an enthralling listen. Lately, it’s become my go-to music when I write.

Eldritch by Markus Junnikkala €7.00 ($7.71 USD) (Digital Download) Often Lovecraftian music is associated with metal, and while that’s not a bad thing, I found it refreshing to hear this dark orchestral approach from Finnish composer Markus Junnikkala. Ethereal and haunting, I found myself drawn to this album again and again.

Cosmicism by The Great Old Ones $9.99 (Digital Download) €25.00 + Shipping ($27.50) (2x LP Green) This French atmospheric black metal band uses the works of cosmic horror authors like Robert Chambers and H.P. Lovecraft as the basis for their lyrics and album themes. Not my style, but their skills are clearly impressive, the music engaging, and they get suggested yearly. If you’re a metal-head or shopping for one this holiday season, do yourself a favor and check ’em out.

An Abhorrent and Ancient Solstice by HPLHS $12.00 (Digital Download) I’ve featured the Arkham Carolers before, but this year they’ve put together a collection of 24 of their very best cosmic horror Christmas carols. I’ve always enjoyed a well-done parody, and the HPLS goes all out with this collection. Plus, it includes one of my favorites of theirs: A Brumalian Wish. Festive! Creepy! (Crestive?)

Dreams in the Witch House: A Lovecraftian Rock Opera $18.92 + Shipping (CD) $35.00 + Shipping (Vinyl) Who doesn’t love rock operas? Everyone loves them! (Fact.) Thanks to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, the holidays are the perfect time to give rock operas to friends and family or pick one up for yourself. Why not give one built around the Lovecraftian story The Dream in the Witch House. It’s marvelous for a holiday jam out session or a multidimensional trip with Auntie Mason.

H. P. Lovecraft’s The Colour Out of Space 2x LP Set $42.00 + Shipping (Vinyl) Cadabra Records makes some of the finest vinyl recordings on the market today, and this 2x LP set featuring one of Lovecraft’s most beloved stories is read by the talented Andrew Leman, with a score by Chris Bozzone is no exception. Well worth a place in any vinyl-loving cosmic-horror fan’s collection. (Note: these are preorders, and the final pressing will ship in 4-6 weeks.)

Not finding any music or audio that interests you? Check out one of the previous guides. • 2014’s Music • 2015’s Music • 2016’s Music • 2017’s Music • 2018’s Music •

APPAREL

Cthulhu Mask Papercraft Template PDF $4.00 (Digital Download) I’ve always appreciated the simple geometrics of papercraft masks—reminds me of brutalist architecture. Plus with a little effort, you can make yourself a fun costume for next to nothing. This instant download PDF template will provide you the instructions to become the dreamer beneath the waves.

Bell Caravans Patch $5.00 + Shipping (Order by Dec. 10th for Christmas Delivery.) This beautiful 3″ patch, designed by illustrator Sean Cumiskey, is the perfect way of declaring your loyalty to your beloved caravan master. Put it on your backpack, a tote, or display it on the sleeve of your jacket, make sure the world knows who you roll with. [From the pages of the Bell Forging Cycle.]

The King in Yellow Pin $15.00 + Shipping Stranger: I wear no pin. Camilla: [terrified, aside to Cassilda] No pin? No pin! Based on a woodcut by the incredibly talented Liv Rainey-Smith, this pin of the King in Yellow is rendered in bronze and stands at 1.5 inches. If you dig this, I highly recommend checking out Rainey-Smith’s woodcuts as well.

The Crate of Cthulhu Cult Ring $26.66 + Shipping The Mysterious Package Company makes incredible products, and this ring from their Crate of Cthulhu experience (which would also make a great gift) is a fabulous piece. A strange ring bearing an equally strange symbol. It is believed that the followers of Cthulhu used this ring as a weapon to inject poison into those who come too close to the truth.

Cthulhu Short Sleeve Button-up Shirt $55.00 + Shipping When it’s time to put away the graphic tees and slip into something more fashionable, consider this 100% cotton shirt from Middle of Beyond. Covered in an all-over print featuring the ol’ dreamer popping up from the ocean to yell at a boat, this shirt makes the bold statement of a graphic-tee but with a touch of collared class.

Bell Caravans Hoodie $55.00 + Shipping Join the caravan with this classic zip hoodie with a warm fleece lining. The full Bell Caravans logo designed by Sean Cumiskey is on the back, while the small wheel-and-bell symbol resides on the front. Stay warm, look good, fight the Firsts. [From the pages of the Bell Forging Cycle.]

Ascension Island Aloha Shirt $315.00 + Shipping Here it is, folks. The Cthulhu rayon shirt you always wanted. Nine Lives Brand is producing an extremely limited run, and each shirt is made to order. So if you need an Aloha shirt to go with that Cthulhu tiki mug you bought last year, look no further. Also available in a long-sleeved version. Like this print? It’s also available as the lining of this $1250 Sashiko bomber coat.

Not finding any apparel you like? Check out apparel on one of the previous guides. • 2014’s Apparel • 2015’s Apparel • 2016’s Apparel • 2017’s Apparel • 2018’s Apparel •

GAMES

A Place for the Unwilling $14.99 (Digital Download) Time is running out. Shadows linger in the streets. The city will die in 21 days in this open-world branching narrative game from ALpixel Games. A fascinating game with a unique art style, intriguing premise, and enjoyable gameplay. A bit of Sunless Sea, Majora’s Mask, and a dash of Lovecraft. Time is ticking, how will you spend your final days in the city?

Gibbous: A Cthulhu Adventure $19.99 (Digital Download) Crazy cultists. Cthulhu. A talking cat. Gibbous takes you on an expansive, traditionally animated, hand-painted adventure. Play as three protagonists and explore a lushly rendered Lovecraft-inspired world, unraveling ancient conspiracies. A comedy cosmic horror adventure made in Transylvania! (I backed this on Kickstarted, and I can confirm it’s a lot of fun.)

Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game $24.50 + Free Shipping Focus Interactive did a decent job with this charming retelling of classic Lovecraftian fiction. It’s an investigative game, with a few action elements that blend several of the mythos’ more popular stories to create a game that weaves a fascinating tale about cults and murder, art and madness, and serves up a few unnerving scenes in the process.

Call of Cthulhu: Tabletop RPG Starter Set $24.99 + Shipping It’s the beloved cosmic-horror tabletop role-playing experience in a handy starter set. Using the new 7th Edition rules, you can lead you investigators on their next case as they seek to solve the unthinkable and face the mysteries from beyond. Inside you’ll find everything you need to start playing the granddaddy of tabletop horror.

Lovecraft Letter $29.99 + Shipping Set in the chaos following World War 1, this 20-minute card game built on the Love Letter system sends 2-6 players on the hunt for a missing family member who has discovered something ominous beneath the sands of Egypt. Will you help solve the mystery or aid in ushering the chaos that looms?

Black Walnut Cthulhu Valhalla Screen $486.00 + Shipping These custom Dungeon Master screens are lovingly detailed and perfect for your next Call of Cthulhu session. An easy magnetic design, embedded magnets, plexiglass panels.  Combine it with handy accessories, and you’ll be game masterin’ in style. Feeling over Cthulhu’d—I understand—while sold out, they do take custom The Masks of Nyarlathotep orders.

Not finding a game you’d enjoy? Check out the games on one of the previous guides. • 2014’s Games • 2015’s Games • 2016’s Games • 2017’s Games • 2018’s Games •

HOUSEWARES

Cthulhu Xmas Gift Wrap Pack $15.00 + Shipping Why not deviate from the norm for your gifts this year. Wrap your presents in 18″x 24″ sheets of Lovecraftian wrapping paper designed by Daniel Gelon featuring the fantastic art of Heather Hudson. Want something a little more unusual than the standard Cthulhu flair? Hudson also sells Dreamland-themed Christmas cards, and delightful Krampus-themed holiday goodies.

Cthulhu Ornament $20.00 + Shipping I’m always wary of sharing Etsy products, not because the work isn’t incredible, but because during the Holiday pieces may disappear quickly. But if this wonderful Cthulhu ornament vanishes before you can nab it, there’s plenty of other beautiful works at Dellamorteco & Co.’s shop. It’s all fantastic work and worth checking it all out.

Cedric’s Eatery 11oz. Mug $16.00 + Shipping (Order by Dec. 10th for Christmas Delivery.) It’s cold out, and you need a new mug. Why not pick one up from Lovat’s own Cedric’s Eatery located in the entresol between Levels Three and Four. An in-between place for in-between folks. Waldo Bell’s latest hangout. Fill your mug with 11 oz. of bad coffee, your favorite tea, or something stronger. [From the pages of the Bell Forging Cycle.]

Cthulhu Coin Set $28.50 + Shipping Props are a fun way to enliven any tabletop session or the holidays, so this set of 24 coins (ten copper pieces, eight silver pieces, and six gold pieces) is perfect for your next game or family get together. Bargain for souls or leftover turkey with your Aunt, or buy your nephew’s gift from him with handcrafted coinage. Capitalism doesn’t cease under the reign of the ancient ones.

H. P. Lovecraft Limited Edition Bobblehead $34.95 + Shipping It’s a well-known fact that everyone loves bobbleheads, even the deep ones! Limited to only 1500 units, this figuring from Rue Morgue Magazine of the father of cosmic horror in all his New England awkwardness stands at 7″ tall, is ready to wobble and bobble on your bookshelf, as he questions humanity’s place in the cosmos.

Calamityware: Tentacles $42.00 + Shipping Something has awoken. Commemorate its reign with these porcelain plates patterned after the elaborate chinoiserie pattern Willow. But, instead of featuring idyllic scenes these highlight various disasters from invasions of Lovecraftian-esque tentacles (featured) to historical sea monsters, vortexes, or zombie poodles. Not what you’re looking for? There’s more coming.

Chandelier I $3500.00 + Shipping Philadelphia artist Adam Wallacavage creates stunning tentacle-covered chandeliers and lamps in clay and resin. If you’re looking for a nontraditional piece for your home that’ll keep guests talking for generations, you can’t really find anything better. If this beautiful chandelier is a bit out of your budget, Wallacavage also creates unusual candlestick holders.

Not finding a houseware item you like? Check out the housewares from one of the previous guides. • 2016’s Housewares • 2017’s Housewares • 2018’s Housewares •

MISKATONIC UNIVERSITY

Miskatonic University Silver Key Society pin $17.99 + Shipping Formed by Henry Armitage in 1929 after the events in rural Dunwich, this pin marks the membership into Miskatonic’s oldest invite-only society. Will you join and learn the mysteries of the order, including the meaning of “751”? Pin measures 1″ across and is dual-plated in silver and gold.

Miskatonic University Pennant $25.00 + Free Shipping What’s the collegiate experience without some collegiate gear? Here we have a classic 9″ x 27″ university pennant to either hang on your wall displaying your boundless love for your alma mater’s sporting teams or to wave at all the intermural sporting events as you sing the fight song and cheer on varsity. Go Miska!

Miskatonic University Cufflinks $99.00 + Shipping 2019 marks the ninetieth class reunion for the class of ’29! So you’ll want to be sure to look your best so you can impress your fellow centenarian schoolmates. These cufflinks will be perfect. The cufflinks are sterling silver with an antiqued finish and measure 18.2 mm in diameter and 1.5 mm thick.

The Miskatonic Papers $535.00 + Shipping This limited-edition experimental art book/prop set from Angel Bomb studios is something to behold. Composed of 50 printed pieces, including letters, telegrams, drawings, newspaper clippings, a broadside, burned tatters of found stationery, and a journal that was written by hand and printed by letterpress. An incredible gift for the mythos fan in your life.

Not finding any Miskatonic stuff you like? Check out the Miskatonic University items from one of the previous guides. • 2014’s Miskatonic U. • 2015’s Miskatonic U. • 2016’s Miskatonic U. • • 2017’s Miskatonic U. • 2018’s Miskatonic U. •

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

So that wraps up the Sixth Annual List of Lists. Big thank you to the wonderful folks who read this blog, and the gibbering weirdos over at r/Lovecraft, r/Cthulhu, and r/WeirdLit who helped me pad out this list. Y’all rule. If I didn’t get to your submission, fret not, there are many more holidays ahead. I appreciate the help.

Do you have a book, game, album, or other weird fiction-related items I should feature in 2020’s Cosmic Horror Holiday Gift Guide? Leave a comment below with links to your favorite goodies for others to see or send me an email as a submission for next year!

Want to stay in touch with me? Sign up for Dead Drop, my rare and elusive newsletter. Subscribers get news, previews, and notices on my books before anyone else delivered directly to their inbox. I work hard to make sure it’s not spammy and full of interesting and relevant information.  SIGN UP TODAY →

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[tracyqueen]

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It’s heeeeere! The eighth comics anthology from Oneshi Press is all about trauma, redemption, and healing. And it’s got eight new pages from the graphic novel by Lynsey G. and Jayel Draco about ME! These pages are really special. They show my BFF Nikola’s backstory for the first time! And, on top of that, they show the moment I decided to change my adult filmmaking work from just a money-maker into a passion project. I decided to heal my wounds and my pal Nikola’s by taking back the power…with my vagina. The new anthology—with these eight pages and 13 other short comics from two dozen indie creators—is out in limited-edition trade paperback now! And the digital version is coming soon!

About the Healing Anthology

Wrapped in a beautiful cover by James Groeling, the Healing Anthology starts with PJ Harper’s multi-character introduction that’s totes adorable.

Then, it’s V2.3 of the epic graphic novel from Lynsey G. and Jayel Draco, Tracy Queen! At last, readers will  learn about Nikola the racoon’s past, how he got so damn good at electronics, and how he deals with his trauma. You won’t want to miss this reveal!

Next, it’s on to “Kreepy” Kevin Sheely and Desiree King’s “Finn: Guardian of the Five Gates.” Follow a teen rocker into a realm where the mistakes of her parents mean only she can save the world…again. UGH!

And then, Grivante and Samir Simão’s Zee Brothers face their fears! They set off to help a homeowner with a zombie infestation in “The Case of the Zombie Omelet,” Part 2. Lol, these guys are too much!

Float into a beautiful meditation about dissociation and identity in the haunting short comic “Far Away” from Jacey Chase. I can’t tell even tell you how much this story made me reflect, cry, and smile.

And explore friendship’s healing powers, whether real or imaginary. Dive into AJ O. Mason and Luca Cicognola’s “My Giant Strange Friend.” This one really gets to me. It’s got powerful healing energy, folks.

Next, discover a redemptive graphic novel that transforms a chicken wrestler into a savior. It’s the introduction to Jayel Draco’’s “Mr. Guy: Zombie Hunter”! This story is so gonzo, even I’m kind of impressed. This is, by the way, also Nikola’s favorite comic, so… I guess he has okay taste!

Totally blown away that there’s much awesome in one anthology?

Well holy crap there’s more!

Next, journey into a supportive yet dangerous adventure with a polyamorous trio! The first half of “Detour” from Allison Bannister and Tom O’Brien is a refreshing new look at fantasy. Hooray for queer, trans, poly feats of courage and daring! I love this story!

Enter a world where medicine, addiction, and blood have become complicated bedfellows. “Ziegler Box, Part 1” hails from Chaka Brown Freeman, Vicente Alcázar, Greg Gallagher, and Nouri Zander. This art is SOOOO freaking gorgeous, folks.

Up next, return to Children of Gaia with Peter Lampasona and D.L. Johnson. “Carrying Iron” offers our first glimpse into the realm of Terra…and its shady underworld. I totally dig this dark story from a whole new part of the Children of Gaia universe. Talk about healing through redemption…wow.

Then, Oneshi Press debuts its Poets and Artists series! Jenny Williamson’s haunting poem about grief and survival, “Lungs and the Ghosts of Lungs,” becomes sequential art by Libby Bacon. This piece made me cry, but in a good way… I think? You’ll have to read it see if it does the same to you. There’s trauma and healing out the wazoo here.

Follow that up with a badass female superhero who realizes that trauma doesn’t have a quick fix. “A Tale of Good Intentions” is an unsettling short comic from Patricia Loupee and Amy Hay. I love butt-kicking women!

Next, a comic I’m suuuuuper psyched for! “Quantum 1.1” finds a Northern Cheyenne woman grappling with a missing sister and newfound superpowers all at once. Lenny Peppers and James Mason team up to deliver this first installment of a new indigenous superhero comic that I’m so excited to read!

Finally, begin the third arc of Lynsey G. and Jayel Draco’s PACK. Here, the gentrification of these stray vigilantes’ mean streets has begun… And hot masked crime-fighter Patience is having none of that shit.

Look, these pages are packed with art and comics, pleasure and pain, healing and redemption. They’re gorgeous, immersive, and progressive. And I hope you’ll find a bit of your own healing inside!

The limited-edition trade paperback is out now from Oneshi Press!

Subscribers at the Oneshi Press Patreon get everything when it’s released—including new Tracy Queen art, comics, and more!

Are you into Tracy Queen? Then sign up for the Oneshi Press newsletter and never miss a thing!

8 New Pages of My Story in the Healing Anthology—Out Now! It's heeeeere! The eighth comics anthology from Oneshi Press is all about trauma, redemption, and healing. And it's got eight new pages from the graphic novel by Lynsey G.

[brantleyjepsen0-blog]

The most effective Gifts for Boyfriends

Giving items between lovers definitely not solely pays attention to this value of funds, yet also makes that functional and meaningful. When a boyfriend��s birthday, what product will the partner give the dog to make the other person feel your intimacy? Items for boyfriend The initially point I want to be able to suggest is to send him close-fitting clothing. In case the lovers are intimate, then this time to send some stylish men's under garments, or even a top quality socks will give the man a good sense of happiness, then the man will think that you benefit the dog and I actually love him deeply, and giving the personal gift is typically whole lot more representative of your own personal concern. Normally, it helps make sense. 1. Tailgaters' Greatest Gift: Stone Growler For those who just like the backsplash more enhanced beer making, this stylish match working day approved Growler could be the perfect space to hide his or her choice of beverages. Any sixty four ounces. The stone growler is hand glazed as well as clamshell ceramic cover makes it simplallows you to dump and gathering. 2. The Ideal Gift with regard to Cocktail Connoisseurs: Craft Your Own Bitter Package If he is a good supporter of Manhattans and Previous Fashioneds, he could learn to help make his own nasty taste in home using this creation kit. gifts for boyfriend -friendly recommendations will guide your offender partners by creating their unique exciting content. The kits has everything you need to get started: four glass bottles, one funnel, one filter, two placing tanks, a citrus mix and a mixture regarding aromatics. Just add alcohol and you can trend signature cocktails right aside. 4. Craftsman's best surprise: sewn leather coasters Using the increased these padded leather coasters, his pub stroller possesses gone through a new major upgrade. The 4-piece package is a perfect combination of functionality and even sturdiness, and you can pair your own personal gift with a whiskey rock or perhaps a group of rock cups. 4. Best regarding social butterflies: Tumi Leader Bravo Davis backpack If it's work or perhaps vacation, high-quality, durable, cool back packs are one of often the best gift items for sweethearts, so they'll be ready to get anything in their daily lives. In this way, he can package his / her knees, change clothes in addition to spare deodorant so they can see you at your functioning holiday alcoholic drink party without having in order to prevent and go home. 5. The top gift with regard to music addicts: heavy duty workplace earplugs

Whether he wants to put emphasis on a noisy open-plan office, or struggles with a construction site all day, or maybe wants to block other guests on this train, these strong earplugs will help your sweetheart comes from his favorite place. More pleasurable songs or podcasts. Sound-insulated tips (including some frames of different sizes for greatest comfort) lower ambient noise by up to 30%, even though ear hooks and five-foot basics help him move having fewer restrictions. six. Often the best gift for gangster rap hobby chef: from Criminal to Cook Snoop Dogg is a rapper who else offers Martha Stewart's appreciation for cooking. He just lately launched his own recipe, from Criminal to Cook: Platinum Formulas from Tha Boss Dogg's Kitchen. For a boyfriend that have not mastered the kitchen capabilities, this is a wonderful gift because it will undoubtedly make him very hot like an oven. 7. Finest gift: Dotti smart pixel light If your partner cannot get his touch screen phone near enough and dwell in FOMN (fear of missing notifications), then that smart light is right regarding him. Reminiscent of the previous Lite-Brite, Dotti syncs with his phone via Bluetooth engineering and lights upwards to remind him of calling, text messages, email messages, activities plus social advertising notices. 8. The top product for golf geeks: Conscience! Golf glasses Whether it's an attractive addition to his bar or a new realistic product for the tournament observing party, this reverse gamer is perfect for golfers. Each 16-ounce glass in the four-piece collection has color illustrations of 4 clubs (push, iron, pitching wedge and wood) with graphical typography. The final embellishment is the beautiful bumpy perception with the golf ball in the bottom of each cup. 9. The best product for gamers: Super Mario Bros. Check and Tic-Tac-Toe Collector's Edition game He may have to bid goodbye to be able to his classic Nintendo match console a several years ago, nonetheless this kind of coffee table video game might bring your boyfriend once again to this memory globe. The flip-style double-sided sport board and even custom sport pieces (checkers and Mario and Luigi ace) mirror the 8-bit world regarding Mario and Luigi. He can play checkers one side, or flip the particular board and try his or her chance in another rapidly tic-tac-toe game. 10. This best surprise for perfecting the dressing table: Daniel Wellington Classic York Watch Classic wrist watches can immediately improve seen the guy, just like no other add-ons. Daniel Wellington's artisitc design and style blends properly together with almost any style, while putting a touch of style, especially this combination of flower gold and brownish is definitely the leather. 11. Ideal Gift items for Whiskey Motel: Guide Rock Glasses That cutlery (including rock eye glasses, mason jars, mugs and wines glasses) brings a new meaning to the local puddle, carefully etched with surrounding maps to turn his home or house directly into their favorite local destination. One can find hundreds of locations, from villages to hills and even island destinations, thus you can choose coming from a range of notches and glasses with all of the most essential places, like growing up, going to college, getting married, and a great deal more.. 10. Best gift with regard to snowboarding fans: baseball field system Celebrate his favored stadium with a customized baseball formula. Printed about museum-grade paper, the precise illustrations he or she chose thankful America's favourite pastimes by means of a stadium's layout features and major historic features. The antique decoration allows the blueprint a classic experience, and there is no need to hunt along the best frame because the particular artwork can be wrapped on black BonanzaWood. The thought that all you experience to add to this surprise is the bend! 13. The most effective gift regarding vacationers: feel canvas journey bag Even if you can't always accompany your pet on often the road, you can provide your man a good gift that will help you notice him through any kind of style of take a trip. The particular spacious cosmetic set is a must-have travel accomplice for any jet, plenty of to accommodate all of his / her beauty basics, and typically the simple and durable wax canvas looks almost anything at all to help withstand. Give this an extra individual effect by abbreviating it is acronym to a new combined mail. 14. Bookworm's Perfect Product: Hearing Membership When your partner is an avid reader, he can listen for you to any guide, Audible, at any time, anywhere, by Amazon's multipurpose audiobook a regular membership. The 1st month of account will be completely free, and he or she will receive a reserve he decides to acquire started with. After your best trial month, paid membership will allow him in order to earn a book credit score per month, therefore he can listen to his choice author's ad-free bestseller at any time, anywhere. 15. Typically the best product for activities enthusiasts: natural cotton pitch cushioning He demands that he won't miss often the soccer ball game of any involving his or her favorite teams : even if that is under absolutely nothing on Sunday nighttime excellent skiing conditions. But those clear plastic stadium seats seem to absorb often the cold, plus no one is able to go through hours. Although most of us can't guarantee a triumph to help make typically the whole experience worth it, we all can recommend him this particular woolen wool cushion. Smooth, light seat - meets neatly against the grandstand seat - provides one more layer of protection through the freezing. 16. The best gift for any tiny martini: the perfect drink for the application For those that like a fine yard carnival and a new display case full of spirits yet a serious lack involving bartending knowledge, this intelligent little instrument can eradicate the guesswork regarding craft cocktail art. Often the electronic scale is suitable with the free apps added to iOS as well as Android cell phones, so this individual can decide on from countless reviewed drink dishes and have detailed real-time pouring instructions. 17. The particular best thrifty consumer: Tommy John Underwear For a good person, it is very exceptional to squander gorgeous under garment, so this is usually a blank which is uncomplicated to fill. Tommy John's underwear provides a great Christmas gift for men because they are extremely soft, in order to fabric together with a new opening right in front. He may well want to help know how he might wear it. 18. The finest guy for "Let's visit there together": Bonobos made of woll cashmere scarf Gloves in addition to scarves look to become one other item that partners certainly not buy for them selves. Give him a new made of wool and pashm headscarf by way of Bonobos and make guaranteed your own guy is hot in winter. This is in addition a new win-win for you personally, since he looks very stylish... If you happen to catch a cold, you could lend it to an individual. 21. The best surprise for finding additional skills: Get better at Class Learn more about the particular world's greatest industry commanders through Masterclass instructions just about all on the web courses taught simply by Judd Apatow, Stephen Curry and Martin Scorsese. Additional than 35 well-known pioneers provide tips and stunts related to his or her specific skills, whether it's the jazz pointer from Herbie Hancock or a scriptwriter coming from Aaron Sorkin. Get the full pass plus you as well as your partner will definitely learn one or a couple points.

[a-h-arts]

Ebook version doesn't provide Digital Product Key As I have just started my course, I haven't yet had chance to really pursue this edition to make a fair judgment call on the overall quality or coverage of the course topic. HOWEVER, I do issue a caveat. If you are purchasing or renting (in my case) the Ebook version; beware it DOES NOT provide a Digital Product Key so you can use the book in Hybrid courses utilizing online resources (i.e. InQuizitive) There is no mention of this in product details - otherwise I would have gone for a new print or ebook from the publisher directly and gotten the key with the book. So if you are planning to use the ebook version and will require access to online resources, for an online or hybrid course you may want to look elsewhere. Go to Amazon

Introducing Art This book is used as a text book for a course for a course I am taking at George Mason University, Introduction to the Visual Arts. As a text book, it does a good job of helping me review what the professor has presented in class. It has wonderful photographs of important works of art, and it has good descriptions of how each piece of art was created. As I write this review, we are only half way through the course and the book, but I have found one error. This concerns printmaking and the way drypoint is created, hardly a major catastrophe, but it does make me wonder if there are other minor errors about technical process. Go to Amazon

Understanding Arts Textbook I was required to have this book for an understanding visual arts course. Understanding that because this book deals with art explains why this book is so expensive, yet comprehensive. It's comprehensive because as well as defining art vocabulary it gives more of a background to art history and the different forms of art in various cultures worldwide. This textbook definitely hurt my bank account, but after this class is over I'm sending it right back to Amazon for store credit. They make is easy to understand art through examples and such. I am glad that I was assigned to such a comprehensive textbook but now I have to memorize all the artists and titles of art for my exam. This book is great for college students, both students who are interested in art and those who are required to take a course to understand the arts. Go to Amazon

interesting and fun This was a required textbook for my art class. It is easy to read and really explains the different concepts of art. I Mary half way thru bit and have actually learned a lot. My daughter enjoys looking thru it and seeing what mommy is learning as well.... I will be keeping this one and not selling it back at the end of the semester. Go to Amazon

Emphasis on multiple applications of Art; that, it makes you look at things differently. I got this book like new, and it's great for my class. It covers not only different art types from all over the world but walks through the how and why art is used. I don't care much about art, but this book covers in detail such a wide variety of art's applications, for example industrial, in aesthetics, spiritual, prehistoric, historic, communication, graphic design, and multiple medias, and more it makes you look at things differently. Go to Amazon

Excellent textbook Learned a lot about art. Required textbook for art appreciation. Goes into details about styles, materials, and history. I really enjoyed learning more in depth about featured pieces of work and their artists. Go to Amazon

I got this book for school and it looks like the real book but there’s typos all through out ... I got this book for school and it looks like the real book but there’s typos all through out it and it is missing like have the letters in certain words. Also at the end of the book it Has print that is printed over again so you can’t read it. Now I have to buy another book and my class has already started. ☹️ Go to Amazon

If this book is REQUIRED for an art history class It has many full-color pictures, great descriptions and analyses of them. Biographical information about the artists is given, as well as brief descriptions of the world views during the time-eras that the works studied were created. The pictures are beautiful, and it could almost be a coffee table book if you're poor, like me! The price on Amazon is far cheaper than the bookstore, and this is new vs used too. Go to Amazon

A lot of the pages are separated(ing) from the spine. I keep 2 rubber bands around the book... Great book Better than I thought Falls apart Great book that is easy to understand I did purchase the textbook but I received all of ... Every page was printed well but they seem to tear easily. Not delivered in great condition Five Stars Five Stars

[luxus4me]

WebdesignerNews http://j.mp/2Dswjjd

25 Free HTML Website Templates For Zero-Cost Websites

Creating an HTML website can be a great solution if you’re planning to share your portfolio and services with the world or just showcase the most important information about yourself. Even if you’re a photographer or a writer, having a personal website is an important aspect of finding new clients and presenting yourself easily.

We know that not everyone wants to invest in a premium template, that’s why we put up a list of 25 free HTML website templates! You can customize them as you please or you can just look through this list to get some inspiration. Most of these free templates come packed with amazing features like modern design, responsive layout, jQuery sliders and animations and many more! Most of them look like premium ones, so feel free to pick one and start creating!

Mason is a HTML template that has a gorgeous and simple 2-column orange layout. On the left side you can insert your own logo and create a column menu and on the right side, you’ll have plenty of space to create columns with lots of content. It’s a perfect template for creating a portfolio for photographers, designers, illustrators and any other creative person. Mason is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Meteor is a one-page fully responsive template that’s perfect for portfolios and simple blog pop-up texts. This is a great option if you’re looking to design a free website to showcase your work, your services, special offers, portfolio showcases and contact form. You’re free to use this template for any personal or commercial project, free of charge.

Here we have another example of a free template for beautiful one-page websites. This template has a very clean layout based on Bootstrap HTML5. The homepage features a big, stunning background image that can be changed as you please and it also has an eye-catching parallax effect. Tinker Template is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You can use it to bring your ideas to life.

Newline is fully a responsive CSS template that’s a perfect fit for a creative agency, photographer, designer, architect and more! This free template has a clean design that’s based on a yellow and dark gray background. This theme also lets you insert videos as background for your homepage. The pages slide horizontally on a clean, white background. Newline comes with lots of nice icons and generous spaces for block texts and it’s completely free to use.

Kalay is simple and creative HTML template that has both beautiful design and accessibility. This template is based on a purple and white design with strong colors. It can be quickly edited and used for your website and we strongly recommend it for portfolios, creative agencies, photographers, web designers, graphic designers or any other type of creative person that wants to create a personal space where they can showcase their work beautifully.

Ziggy is a nice HTML5 Template with a professional and eye-catching zigzag design with strong angles. The theme is based on a dark blue color scheme and it’s very easy to customize. It gives you the capability to create beautiful websites that include icons, texts, portfolio showcases, images and a very useful contact form. This template is fully responsive and it comes packed with a homepage and gallery page included. Feel free to use this template for any personal or commercial project you can think of.

Kinetic is a professional-looking HTML template for mini sliding pages. This gorgeous free template comes in four different colors that are applied to the different pages that you want to create, so each page can a have a specific look and feel to it. The gallery template is simple and clean and it comes with an image popup. We recommend it for creative agencies or individuals that are looking to create a strong online presence and a platform where visitors and potential clients can see their work and easily contact them.

Nevada is a free minimal one-page HTML template that was created and coded with great care by Nicola Tolin, a web designer based in Italy. We think this template is perfect for photographers, designers and any other visual artists that want to create a simple portfolio platform where they can showcase their own work in a clean and user-friendly way. Nevada is built on the top of the Bootstrap framework and it comes packed with a lightbox gallery feature that lets users see the images at their full resolution. This template is great for sharing your work with the world and finding new clients.

Snow is a free website template designed and released by Svetlana S. that you can use for your personal or commercial projects. It has a very modern and minimalist look and it will work perfectly for portfolio showcases for visual artists or companies too. This template comes with both PSD and HTML files and it includes a front page, two portfolio pages and two blog pages so you can choose the ones that are perfect for you. If you’re looking to create a WordPress website instead, the premium version is available for buying.

Lithium is a free HTML5 one-page template that was built using CoffeeScript, SCSS and Grunt. It was created by Vadim Goncharov, a web designer and developer and it can be used for free for any project you may have. This template is fully responsive and it comes with great typography choices and a clean design. It’s great for anyone that wants to present their work and services in a professional way to their clients.

Avana is a free HTML template that’s ideal for creating minimal and clean portfolios for creative agencies or individuals that want to create a strong online presence. This template is built on the powerful Bootstrap framework and it comes with tons of Google Fonts and nice scrolling animations. Avana was designed and released by the creative team at Designstub and it comes with a front page, a team page, single work page, blog page, blog post page and contact page.

OAK  is a free HTML template designed especially for portfolios by EliteFingers, a web development & branding studio. We recommend this template for any designer, architect, photographer or creative studio that needs a personal, easy-to-customize website to showcase their work and services. OAK is built on the top of Bootstrap 3 and comes with 15 pre-made pages so you can choose the ones that are perfect for your purpose. One of the awesome features that this template has are the jQuery and CSS3 animations. It’s fully responsive and has a modern look and feel. techniques to create superb eye-catching animations and make your visitors love you and your work. It is simple, modern and responsive.

Apollo is a black and white one-page HTML template built with Sass and Jade by Bucky Maler, a front-end developer from Texas. This template was created with professional photographers in mind. It’s a perfectly free solution for any photographer that needs an easy, attractive and effective way to share their work with past and future clients. Apollo has a very clean look and great typography choices.

Kreo is a free, fully responsive website template that can be used for various purposes and projects. It has a very clean and bold design and subtle CSS animations that will create a unique scrolling experience for your users and clients. Kreo was coded and released by styleshout. The template is based on a black and yellow design with special pages for services, about and contact. It’s fully responsive and can be used for free to bring your ideas to life.

Urku is an HTML website template that has a minimal and flexible design that’s also fully responsive. This template can be used for free to create stunning portfolios. It comes with lots of pages that you can customize in order to present your business and services to the world. This template lets you create multiple styles of portfolios including Flex, Switch, Static and Masonry. Urku template was released on Pixeden.

Sedna is a fully responsive one-page website template that was designed using the powerful Sketch tool and coded with the latest web technologies (HTML5/CSS3). This awesome template was released by Peter Finlan. Sedna is so flexible and versatile that it can be used for countless purposes and projects. It’s also fully responsive and will adapt well to any device, screen size or browser. You can also download and re-use the Sedna open source code for any other project you like.

If you’re looking to create a stunning landing page for your personal or commercial project, then Woo is the perfect choice for you. This free template has a clean and modern look that will fit any idea or purpose. It has a fully responsive design and it looks and works perfectly on a wide range of browsers, gadgets and mobile devices. Woo is the perfect template to showcase your apps, services or digital goods. It was designed and released by Styleshout and can be used for free to bring your ideas to life.

Flatfy is a flat template that has a very modern and clean look. Flatfly was designed with creatives in mind and it gives anyone the possibility to create a fully functional and beautiful website for free. This gorgeous theme was designed and coded using Bootstrap Framework, HTML5, CSS3 and jQuery. It was released by Andrea Galanti and we recommend using it for any kind of personal or commercial project you may have in mind.

Global is a single-page HTML template that was created and released by Bucky Maler. You can use it for free to create gorgeous, professional-looking portfolios that will attract new clients. This is a fully responsive template with an independent grid framework independent that comes with lots of different navigation styles: on click, on scroll, on arrows key press and on touch swiping. Global comes with another awesome feature: a 3D perspective menu with nice, clean transitions.

Here we have another great example of a photography-inspired website template that can be used for free to create a website to present your work, portfolio and services to the world. This template comes with an expanding stack slider and a background image tilt effect that will create an unforgettable experience for your visitors. This template was created by Codrops.

Beetle is a stunning freebie that you can use to create nice, colorful HTML websites. This is a fully responsive template created with designers in mind and it comes with lots of parallax features. It was designed by Frank Rapacciuolo and coded by Pasquale Vitiello. You can use this template for free for your projects and ideas.

Elegant is a free template that comes both with HTML and PSD files. It was created by Diogo Dantas and it has a very clean and modern look. Feel free to use this template to design creative portfolios for you or your business, free of charge.

Halcyon Days is a gorgeous one-page portfolio template made by Peter Finlan. We strongly recommend it for professional-looking portfolios or start-up websites. This template can easily be customized in order to fit your needs and desires and can be used for free as you wish.

Here is another great option of a template that you can use for free to create an eye-catching portfolio. This HTML template was built using the Dribbble API. By using this template you can create a beautiful and fully functional portfolio and have your website up and running in minutes!

Piccolo is a free Bootstrap HTML template that has a clean and pleasing design. This theme comes packed with 19 different page layouts with sliders, sortable galleries, lightbox popups, alerts, icons and more!

http://j.mp/2Cj1b6y via WebdesignerNews URL : http://j.mp/2pqLAdf

[caveartfair]

How a Revolution in “Ugly” Design Is Upending Conventions of Beauty

Alufoil chairs, 2015. Chris Schanck Johnson Trading Gallery

Call it sloppy, weird, retro, kitsch, maybe even ugly. What it isn’t: symmetrical, refined, or uniform. Young and established artists and designers alike, working across a variety of media, are finding their voice in the beauty of the imperfect, carving or hacking their materials, or casting objects in unconventional media.

You can see it in New York-based designer Katie Stout’s irreverent, girlish vanity mirrors and floppy hat rugs; in Brooklyn-based Misha Kahn’s engorged, sculptural tables and chairs; and in Detroit artist Chris Schanck’s wonderfully textured cast furniture. Or take American designer Liz Collins, who experiments with bold colors, energetic zigzags, and hanging warps in her textiles—woven forms that artfully straddle the line between order and chaos.

Meanwhile, ceramicists like Jennie Jieun Lee and Gareth Mason create deconstructed vessels decorated with strange and exciting painterly glazes, while the Swedish-Chilean designer Anton Alvarez, primarily known for his thread-wrapped furniture forms, experiments with extruded clay pieces that verge on delightfully grotesque.

Even the field of graphic design has seen a renaissance of glitchy, Web 1.0 aesthetics, as chronicled by Zürich-based art director Pascal Deville on brutalistwebsites.com; while in fashion, the “aggressively unglamorous” looks (as Marc Bain aptly described it on Quartz) parading down the runways of established (Prada, Balenciaga) and emerging (Vetements, Eckhaus Latta) brands are the talk of the fashion blogosphere.

Whatever you want to call it, design that is deliberately upending traditional notions of beauty is having a moment.

Euphoria II, 2017. Liz Collins LMAKgallery

Jonas Nyffenegger and Sebastien Mathys, the Swiss founders of @uglydesign, a popular Instagram account, have been drawn to documenting the weird and the downright ugly in the world of design for the last four years. Their success (the account has over 60,000 followers at the time of writing) suggests a broader attraction to objects and forms that bend the conventional rules of taste.

“I consider ugly as beautiful,” Mathys says. “I would cry if there weren’t any ugly designers anymore, if all our surrounding objects and items looked the same.”

As design critic Stephen Bayley, author of Ugly: The Aesthetics of Everything, wrote in a 2013 essay for The Architectural Review: “The strange truth is: too much beauty would be intolerable, an awful world of meticulously cropped lawns and starched linen.”

Perhaps somewhere on the road to the slick perfection of Apple designs, everyone got a little bit bored. The Dieter Rams-influenced aesthetic of Jony Ive’s iPhone has reached full-blown mainstream, where minimalist interiors (promoted by tidying guru Marie Kondo) and mid-century modernism (popularized by stores like Design Within Reach) have permeated every aspect of the way the cosmopolitan and urbane live their lives in the 21st century.

Now, a newfound embrace of the wacky and weird has come in the form of a resurgent interest in the bright colors and bold patterning of the 1980s design collective Memphis (led by the Italian architect and designer Ettore Sottsass)—and in a full-fledged embrace of craft media like ceramics and textiles.

“The digital age has made everyone want to get their hands into things and get dirty and messy and make things out of clay,” says Collins, who has taught at art schools around the country. “With that comes the voice of the hand, which is inherently imperfect.”

Marlene Huissoud, From Insects. Courtesy of Studio Marlene Huissoud.

For French-born, London-based Marlène Huissoud, who makes wild furniture from bee resin, an embrace of imperfection also means submitting to the idiosyncrasies of your materials rather than imposing too much order on them. “I don’t use computer software as I like to be as free as possible in the making process,” says Huissoud. “Nothing has to be determined for me when I start creating.”

And while art schools once focused on honing a specific craft technique or media, “sloppy craft,” as scholars like Glenn Adamson and Elissa Auther have called it, has garnered newfound cultural currency, where concept and form don’t necessarily have to go hand-in-hand.

The origins of “sloppy” design

There are antecedents to this current taste for the weird. Just look to the interest in studio craft in the post-World War II Western world, rooted in the idea that hand-crafted, material-focused work was infinitely more interesting and desirable than the machine-made uniformity of Bauhaus modernism.

In this period, American designer George Nakashima’s furniture celebrated the raw edge of a wooden plank, while ceramicist Peter Voulkos played with thrown clay vessels that were summarily dismantled and hacked into to become the basis for his sculptures. Fiber artists like Sheila Hicks, Josep Grau-Garriga, and Magdalena Abakanowicz embraced the materiality of their media with an intentionally hand-rendered appearance.

Meanwhile, a coterie of radical designers working in 1960s and ’70s Italy rose to the fore. They were “absolutely concerned with upending the ideas of universal design and good taste that had such a powerful stronghold on the design community since the turn of the 20th century,” according to Shelley Selim, Associate Curator of Design and Decorative Arts at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.  

“It was about favoring expression over function, the sensual over the rational, and multivalence over universality,” she says.

The Memphis design movement grew out of this shift in tastes, as did the careers of American architects Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, whose postmodernist aesthetics embraced humor and kitsch by reinventing historical forms (see their divisive Queen Anne chair). As Selim says, “Postmodernism is one of the greatest tributes to ugliness the Western architecture and design world has ever witnessed.”

In the 1990s, Droog, the Amsterdam-based design collective critiqued the waste resulting from newly globalized systems of production by incorporating found and discarded textiles in their aesthetically questionable rag chair, while Dutch designer Maarten Baas’s clay furniture from 2006 gave hand-crafted, irregular forms greater visibility in the Internet age.  

“That same youthful desire to defy the earnestness of modern design or just general homogeneity is present with younger designers today, and that can manifest in so-called ugliness,” says Selim.

Process image from Chris Schanck's studio. Photo by Michelle and Chris Gerard.

An “ugly” aesthetic for our contemporary world

“People want things more unique, customized only for them,” Nyffenegger says. “A world too sober is boring, and a world too eccentric is exhausting. We need both. I think designers are searching for a new aesthetic.”

Finding that “new aesthetic” is a quest that has preoccupied artists for time immemorial. Often, the development of a new vocabulary in art and design is the result of political turmoil and social upheaval. Given the current state of our world—environmental degradation as a result of climate change; civil wars in South Sudan, Syria and Yemen; political division and the rise of far right nationalism in America and Europe—it’s no wonder that artists and designers are seeking a new language.

Chris Schanck, who was trained as a sculptor and later found his way to furniture, sees imperfect design as a direct response to the failure of late-stage capitalism—an effort to “open up the space to imagine new futures and new cultural symbols,” he says. “It’s hard to manufacture cultural objects when capitalism and manufacturing no longer satisfy the needs of a growing class of peoples.”

His humanistic approach extends to the values and principles practiced in his studio, where he has hired workers from across Detroit to help realize his wild aluminum and resin furniture. “The quality of our work is equal to the quality of our relationships,” he says. “Without a mutual respect and shared vision, the work would be impossible to create.”

Tolima Plant Chair, 2016. Chris Wolston Patrick Parrish Gallery

Pink Pulp Vanity + Stool, 2015. Katie Stout Nina Johnson

For Katie Stout, whose brand of so-called “naive pop” calls invokes signs and symbols from everyday life, the embrace of the ugly or imperfect expresses a streak of nihilism. “I think a lot about [the early 20th-century art movement] Dada and how, after the devastation of World War I, nothing made sense so they made nonsensical work,” she says. “I think people are reacting to nationalism and the absurd political climate by making absurdist work.”  

Case in point: her barely standing stuffed chair series, which overturn any prevailing concept of what a chair should look like and how it should be used.  

The absurd is a central preoccupation for Nyffenegger and Mathys, too, who initially established an “ugly design” Tumblr account after seeing a bathtub redesigned into a sofa at the 2013 edition of the design fair Salone del Mobile in Milan. “We want to see things we could not even dream of. The more absurd the better,” Nyffenegger says. “It’s the opposite of everything we learned in design school, making it even more funny and kind of rebel.”

An embrace of imperfection

“The tides of taste go back and forth, erasing aesthetic certainties,” Bayley wrote. “This is a truth so disturbing that most of our assumptions about art are immediately and ruinously undermined.” This is true of design, too—much of the work that may have once been considered bizarre or distasteful is now considered quite appealing, or even beautiful.

And the art and design worlds are taking notice, with a number of exhibitions and festivals highlighting the work of these innovative design talents. This month, Stout will present a solo show at New York gallery R & Company, while Huissoud brings her latest work to the London Design Festival.

Meanwhile, Collins will be presenting an immersive textile experience at the New Museum as part of a group show that opens September 27th, entitled “Trigger: Gender as a Tool and A Weapon.” And in the coming months, New York design gallery Friedman Benda will present solo exhibitions of the work of Chris Schanck and Misha Kahn.

For Nyffenegger and Mathys, their project documenting the latest and greatest in ugly design will continue, with eyes trained on crimes of aesthetic proportions. In archiving such abuses, they hope, of course, to make people laugh, but they also hope to serve as advocates, highlighting a need for contemporary designers to embrace experimentation and not be afraid to make something a little ugly.

After all, as Bayley wryly observes, “If everything were beautiful…nothing would be.”

—Andrew Gardner

from Artsy News