posted: March 27, 2009

I had some time to kill in Woodstock while waiting for some promotional material to be be printed. After getting a coffee and a croissant, I booted my laptop, only to find out that Bread Alone has no wireless network, like the name says. Bummer, since it was a beautiful blue crisp spring day, I finished my breakfast and started strolling through the town of Woodstock, I stopped at the hardware store and made my way over to  bookstore, The Golden Note Book. After checking all the newly released books, I noticed at a huge heap of memoirs, not my favorite section, unexpectedly  a scratchy drawn face glanced at me from a book cover that read: ME WRiTE BOOK, It Bigfoot Memoir. A fictional Memoir about one of the planets most speculated monsters, a book by Graham Roumieu is loosely drawn with pen and ink and gutsy water color, the text is hand written and part of the double spread art, the memoir evolves in a snap shot style and is downright hilarious page after page.
What's peculiar about  this treasure of a funny book, it can't be pigeonholed into, young reader,cartoon book, graphic novel etc. all that stuff goes out the window, the "ME WRITE BOOK, it Bigfoot Memoir" is simply for a wide audience with a sense of humor.

It turns out the busy author Graham Roumieu has produced his third Bigfoot book already.
Check it out, bring cash.
 

posted: August 17, 2007

Prior to leaving for a summer vacation, things got very busy at my studio.  On the top of it,  I had planted a large garden this spring and all the good stuff started to come in.  By the time DG's and Edel's party approached,
my head started to swell on one side and I ended up doing a nice root canal surgery.  In addition my clients have the uncanny ability to smell my plans to take off for a vacation.

I did pack the water colors, a sketch book and some pencils, thinking  I'd do some sketches at the beach, read a book and play in the surf. After arriving on Roanoke Island, North Carolina, we got tickets to see "The Lost Colony" an outdoor play  written by Pulitzer prize-winning playwright,  Paul Green. The play is now in it's 70th season, it is performed near the very site of the colonist's ill-fated settlement. The next day, I found the Islands book store and purchased 1491 by  Charles Mann. His book has been on my radar for some time.

For the next couple of days I devoured 1491 on the beach, while visiting the the Wright Brothers Memorial in Kitty Hawk, played with Emmett in the surf, ate grits and hush puppy's and trekked with my family to Ocracoke island for a fabulous lunch at the "Flying Melon".

1941 is superbly written. Charles Mann takes the most recent scientific revolutions  from the fields of climatology, epidemiology, genetics, botany, economics, soil science and paints a compelling picture of the Americas before Columbus. A must read for any progressive history buff.

posted: March 2, 2007

I found the Herder Symbol Dictionary a couple of years ago in New York City's best kept secret "The Cloisters Museum". It wasn't love at first sight, it  had a medieval or "too historic" vibe to it.  I never suspected this book being at the front of useful books on my bookshelf for so many years. With more than a thousand entries of symbols from art, archaeology, mythology, literature and religion this little book helped me find a different angle many times. The cross cultural information makes this pocket book a life saver while cooking up ideas under a tight deadline. For all of You who dabble with symbolism, I highly recommend this alternative view point .  ISBN 0-933029-03-9

posted: December 19, 2006

Last minute x-mas shopping groove.

This book would makes a great x-mas gift, since so many of You are into music and art. The book by Eric Kohler is great  collection of vintage record covers from the forties to the sixties. I do remember seeing some of theses covers at flea markets or at my parents house, to find them all compiled in one book is a tread. Eric Kohler brakes "In the Groove" down to designers, starting with: Alex Steinweiss, Jim Flora,Robert Jones,David Stone Martin and many more.  The book is available at amazon for less than twenty bucks. The density of visual information found in this book gets me in the groove every time.