The Art of Peter Max

Publish date: October 1, 2002  ISBN:0810932709

Booklist review: Peter Max created a delirium of gorgeously imaginative and technically innovative posters and album covers during the sixties that perfectly capture the liberating power of rock and roll in brilliant colors, kaleidoscopic patterns-within-patterns, and bold, art deco-inspired graphics. But as instantly recognizable as Max’s work is, his life story is not well known, and what a tale it is. Brilliantly hued reproductions of his prismatic and enchanting work are accompanied by equally energized and enlightening commentary.  His euphoric work, cogently analyzed by Riley, was everywhere; he appeared on the cover of Life magazine and The Tonight Show, and then he left it all behind to paint in splendid isolation for a decade. – Donna Seaman

Fondue review: Peter Max has been an inspiration to me for a long time now.  And the reason he’s listed here is because I got to meet him last month!  I never thought in my lifetime I would get to meet Peter Max.  He was at the Russell gallery down in Austin.  My kids got to meet him as well, however I don’t think they fully get it yet.  He not only signed our book, but drew in it as well.  So now if the house is on fire, obviously getting the kids out first, the Peter Max book is on the top 3 list of things to grab.

Publish date: April 1, 1998  ISBN: 0670879835

Booklist review: There is no denying the creativity of someone who can persuade one of the 50 largest private companies in the U.S. to create a position for him called “creative paradox,” or someone who can convince the accounting department of that same company to write off to the company art collection the purchase of more than a dozen roll-top desks to be used in his “creative lab,” or someone who could come up with such a goofy title for a book. MacKenzie worked for the Hallmark greeting card company for 30 years, first as a sketch artist and eventually as an upper-level manager, until he escaped the “hairball” by creating his own niche.  –David Rouse

Fondue review: This book is an easy read, good for those ADD types.  This book is over 10 years old, but is so relevant in dealing with ‘the corporate red tape’ while trying to foster the creative process.  This, by far, is one of my favorite books!

So I’ve been thinking about last Christmas and my blogging the 25 days of Christmas.   If you’re not familiar with it, here’s a link to the book I made from the blog entries, which are on this blog.  I’m already blogging everyday for a year on trashsociety.com, with my no retail shopping challenge.  So here’s the big question.  Should I blog this year for Christmas?

Take the poll on the right >

I’m leaning toward continuing to blog on my trash society site.  As much as I love it, it takes a lot of time.  In addition to blogging the challenge, I’m adding ideas for different types of gift giving using my no retail shopping restrictions.  Restrictions is a harsh word, so you can substitute ‘choices’ or ‘ideas’.

Thoughts?

For reference on this post, see the original post on trashsociety.com about Toms vs. Bobs.

When I was image searching yesterday, I found this version of “Bobs”.  Now here’s a shoe that has a good reason to be called Bobs.  I wonder if Spongebob has a pair of these?  That would be no different than the CEO of Skechers, Robert Greenberg, wearing a pair of Bobs, right?  No, the shoes weren’t named after Bob the admin guy, they were named after a CEO.  Unless he donated some ridiculously large sum of money to a charity, I can’t think of any good reason why their shoes would be named after him.

Purchasing shoes.

Shoes are not cheap and they’re difficult to find used in thrift stores.  Some people have issues with buying used shoes from the hygiene perspective, however the biggest problem with this has proven to be orthopedic.  People break in their shoes with their foot shape and size and the shoes sculpt to their foot.    Continue reading →

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This is the video where I got the instruction (crazy idea) to do temporary dreads.  It works!!!!

I planned on keeping my dreads throughout my Mexico trip, however plans change.  My first night at CHE was the end, as I was unsuccessful in dodging water balloons.  At first, the water rolled off my hair, but then it started coming apart.  I have to say, it was well worth it.  :)

I didn’t bring hair supplies, so I had to buy some at the Soriana.  I bought what I believed to be my regular Pantene products, or at least the containers were the same color.  I washed my hair twice and conditioned three times and still had a very hard time getting them out.  I thought Steve was going to kill me.  That’s the first time I ever saw that look on his face… a look of panic mixed with extreme anger.

Okay, so I lost a little bit of hair.  The hairball was the size of a really large rat or a small dog.  ;)

Anya decided she wanted dreads, so Steve did her’s with Gorilla Snot hair gel.  They look great!!!!!

So will I do this again?  Probably not.  It was fun, but my hair is already somewhat nappy and the dreads become more permanent the longer I have them.  What will I try next???

You know I have a difficult time doing anything simple.  I started painting these hearts, and was about halfway done, when I had an idea.  Yes, I usually change direction midstream on art projects.  :)  The hearts have meaning because we love all of the kids at Casa Hogar Elim, but how about if they tell a story?

I painted these on the wall in the teen girl’s dorm at CHE, on a column near the new fridge, as we were redecorating their space.  The colored-coded and carefully numbered hearts tell a story and reference a scripture in the Bible.

Can you figure it out?

Here’s one hint:

The scripture reference is in the old testament.

I’m going to use Google translator and make this in Spanish too.  Not sure how that will work…

Usted sabe que tengo un tiempo difícil hacer algo simple. Empecé a pintar estos corazones, y fue realizado a mitad de camino, cuando tuve una idea. Sí, por lo general el cambio de dirección en medio de la corriente proyectos de arte. :) Los corazones han sentido en que amamos a todos los niños en Casa Hogar Elim, pero ¿qué tal si le dicen a una historia?

Pinté estos en la pared en el dormitorio de niña adolescente en CHE, en una columna, cerca de la nevera nueva, como nos decorar su espacio. El color-codificados y cuidadosamente numerados corazones contar una historia y una referencia escrito en la Biblia.

¿Puedes averiguarlo?

He aquí una pista:

La referencia de la Escritura se encuentra en el antiguo testamento.

New clues.

The hearts represent 5 numbers.  Three of the numbers are the scripture reference and two are clues.

No pics today.  I can’t believe I haven’t washed my hair in 10 days??!?!  Double digits…

I’m going to keep the dreads in while in Mexico.  They are nice a cool, even when they’re not pulled back.  Google translator doesn’t have a word from dreads.  How do you say that in Spanish?  I’ll post a few pics when we return.

Yes, it’s been a while since I washed my hair.  This might be the longest I’ve ever gone.  9th day?  Yikes!  That seems to be freaking out a lot of people.  It did start to get a little itchy today.  Natural oils… the best conditioner, right?  ;)

I have to say I’m amazed at how these are holding up.  I’ve slept in them, exercised in them and have been out in extreme heat, and still no unraveling.  The longer I have them, the more real they look and feel.  Even close to my head, they are still as tight as the day they were done.  I even had my hair in a pony tail for several hours, and when I took them out, no marks or indentions where the hair band was.  Cool.

Funny story:

When I told people I was doing this, I said, “Rhyanna told me about the temporary dreads, she has the real ones, but I’m getting temp ones like hers.”  At first I didn’t catch on to the puzzled looks, but then a friend explained it to me.  Being the more book and weirdness cultured girl that I am, and not so much in the movie and music world, I had no idea there’s a pop star named Rihanna.  I guess everyone thought I was copying a pop star.  A.  Anyone that knows me, knows that wouldn’t happen (thus the puzzled looks).  B.  My friend Rhyanna is sporting some cool dreads, and Rihanna is not.  C.  I should probably get out more in the world.

Here’s a pic of Rhyanna with her dreads.  She’s also quite the writer, her blog is dreamsunwind.wordpress.com.

Ugly pic here, but I’m at the library working and I don’t want to ask the guy across from my to take my photo.  So instead I used photobooth on my Mac.

I’m still loving the dreads.  They have not come undone at all, even after sleeping in them, tossing and turning without being pulled into a ponytail.  Hoping to go a week with them.  :)