Another Sunday, another set of pages. Who would have thought. We are on page 41 already, the halftime of the first little book. I am a book and a half ahead of the posting, so it is just a pleasant journey for me right now. I wish I could work a little faster, but I spend quite some time working on other projects, so these subway drawings are really just a tiny portion of what I do, even though maybe the most personal little drawn thoughts these days.
I originally wanted to post only the pages 36-37 today. That was before I saw them. I really do not know what I was thinking when drawing these robots. Was this some memory of the Iron Giant?, I really do not know. The robot on the right hand side, the one with the dog. Hmm. Below a face with that golden smile. The Hamster, the turkey. Hmm. A very strange double page.
The little information architecture drawings were thoughts about the gallery section of this site. The section is still in the works and I will use it to offer some limited edition prints. I found a manufacturer here in New York that will help me create quite unique little photographic objects. The process involves a really complex setup, the cost is really high, I had four prototypes made and you can actually see one of them in the background of that Self portrait with Victor Hugo Stripey, the sock dog, that really increased the audience for this site. (Thank you.)
I will write more about the photo objects once I find a manufacturer for custom made shipping boxes. I do not want the pieces to travel safely, they take a lot of work and money to make.
The writing on the first page, about Wolfie's Rascal is a reminder that I drew on the page in Miami on November 28th. Rascal is the name of the horse that got his name from Wolfie Cohen's Rascal House this really funny deli restaurant in Miami where retired New Yorkers watch CNBC and eat pastrami sandwiches since the 50's.
Rascal made it to the 18th position in the 108th Kentucky derby, the second to last position in that race. There were more fascinating facts about Rascal on the west wall of that restaurant. Fascinating photographs and really strange factoids.
I remember drawing the next two pages on a Subway platform, so I am not sure how this can be. I remember standing just by the end of the platform here on 96th street and jotting this man floating over buildings and the ocean... Not sure how this is possible, since the following two pages, the ones with the birds are definitely drawn in Miami. MiAmiMiami was the slogan on a wall in Miami beach... my friend Miami? : )
I had brought my own ink to Miami. I only draw with these two kinds of Chinese ink. White Crane is the name of one of the products, the other one, the one drawn here on the left is called "Hero". The substance is most definitely not fast, as a bottle which I had left in the window turned into almost water in over a few months. The ink is really excellent otherwise. Drawing with it is very pleasant. It is the ink with which I learned to write. It was very difficult to track down the last few bottles in 2000 when I returned to Poland. All stationery stores now only carry western products. I had to go into pretty remote neighborhoods to find old state subsidized stationery stores that still had some of the stuff in stored their back rooms. I hope to some day just order a case from the source (slow server in Shanghai.) It appears though as if they do not manufacture the blue-black hero ink anymore. Now their ink products are called "Doctor". I am just guessing, of course.
The remaining drawings on the pages 40-41 are from the Public Library, near by the aventura mall in Aventura FL. It was the only free public internet access point I could find in the area. I was allowed a 45-Minute window on one of their terminals. There was a line to get to the access, so I had time to explore the less electricity dependent source of information... books. The printed friends. ; )