Sunday, June 27, 2010

design for a stone carving no. 5

green-yellow, yellow-green


 

Against a field of sunflowers beneath a cloudless July sky, a nun in a starched white habit stands alone at a sunny bus-stop on the edge of Aix-en-Provence, grinding a single lavender blossom into the palm of her hand with a thumb. The fragrance of lavender surrounds you with the softness of a sparrow.

At a factory in Grasse, the scent starts sweetly enough: snipped stalks of lavender stand in grids, stuck into vats of perfume-grade fat. The first wave of nausea is swift and violent. The cramping only gets worse and never gives birth to a satisfying vomit. An Orangina is no solace.

design for a stone carving no. 4

and then i devoured it

design for a stone carving no. 3

etruscan alphabet, remixed

design for a stone carving no. 2

Monday, June 21, 2010

the company of other brains



medicine beyond medication

(This is the first part of an outline I am preparing for a presentation to be given later this summer.)

*** The Role of Consciousness Discipline in the Cultivation of Well-Being in Persons with Injury of the Brain ***


A. Medications are helpful, but they are not cure-alls. They have side effects and are costly. Most importantly, not every condition responds to a pill or an injection. Medications have shown only modest success in the treatment of many, if not most, conditions arising from injury to the brain. When you prescribe a medication for a condition that is only marginally responsive to medications, not only do you fail to treat the condition, but a more appropriate – and potentially more effective – treatment goes unused. Prescribing a medication gives the illusion of active treatment, but is often an expensive distraction. Over time, the prescription of medication has received an overly important focus in the interaction between patient and physician. A visit with the physician involving only the exchange of words and ideas is too easily viewed by both parties as a failure.

la chanson des vieux amants



Song by Jacques Brel & Gerard Jouannest

A rough patch in the middle there...Still working on this one. I love the drama of this song.


Sunday, June 20, 2010

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

the opposite of elephants




We know of no ancient elephant rituals.

If elephants ever spoke English over time they have forgotten how.

Now when they pronounce vowels their trunks blow only trumpets.

Friday, June 11, 2010

butterick pattern portraits

butterick pattern extraction


This is a scan of a Butterick pattern from the early 70s I found in my mother's sewing room drawer. The pattern number is 3727 and contains instructions for the sewing of a maternity dress sizes 10, 12, 14 or 16.

formosa silk

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

a smile is a broadcast signal


Photo: jetheriot

Brains pulse with patterns of activation, sending out signals of life. These signals are invisible. Brains cannot see other brains directly, after all. In this way brains are blind to one another. Instead, brains communicate with each other through the bodies they inhabit. The muscles and the eyeballs to which brains are attached serve as their interpreters. One brain finds another brain and broadcasts signals in its direction. The second brain picks up the signals. Picks them up, even understands them. There is a warm reception. The brains hum in harmony. The brains are attuned. They pulse in a shared vacation from the dark and lonely wilderness. And the two feel felt. There is a knowledge between people which is shared without words. Words cannot ever describe this other way of knowing. Words can't go that deep.

Monday, June 7, 2010

going nude

                                           
 shoes by Jimmy Choo

Why I read the article about Molly Ringwald's style tips this morning I will never know. Probably for the same reason I read the one about Jennifer Aniston's baby food diet, whatever that reason was. Anyway, Molly passed along a nugget of wisdom she picked up during the time she spent on Broadway: nude heels.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

true colors


Song by Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg