Desire

I sincerely hope this puppy was rewarded with a big sticky cupcake in the end!!! Puppy asked me to track down his address so he could bake him a batch of his frosted bacon biscuits...

Seatbelt commercial

I forgot I was in front of my computer...

The Blue Aspic

Edward Gorey (1925-2000)
I always admired Edward Gorey for his abilities to use the technique called 'crosshatching', using close parallel lines to create shading. I place Gorey at the top of the list of a group of modern children's book illustrators who rock this technique, including Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are), and John Tenniel (Alice in Wonderland). Each of these artists uses crosshatching to create amazing richness of form and the illusion of light and shadow. Grandfathers and masters to this technique are Rembrant and Durer who are the recognized masters for their control and use of crosshatching in religious etchings.

And then there was 'The Blue Aspic'.


In this illustrated childrens book by Edward Gorey, the author and illustrator uses the crosshatching technique to confound and confuse the eye in a way I have before seen.

Amazingly, the cross hatching seems to become a character all its own. At first the illustrations are standard Edward Gorey- amazing, intriguing, but standard. The plot opens with a man named Jasper Ankle, who is obsessed with an opera singer, Ortenzia Caviglia. The story progresses and the illustration style develops. Ortenzia undergoes a meteoric rise to fame. Jasper transforms from silent admirer to shifty stalker. The tale of unrequited love unfolds. And the crosshatching. Goes. Bananas. It literally starts to come forward off the page. As Jaspers reasoning becomes more and more clouded, the hatching visually begins to mask the socially neglected stalker from the other figures in the picture, heightening his isolation. As in Rembrandt's 'Crucifixion' states, Gorey uses hatching here to skillfully create atmosphere. The textured air blends seamlessly with the hatching on the Jasper's shabby coat for a delightful game of hide and seek. His meaningless existence is only questionable to the viewer. The author plays so many games with blocks of rich black ink to emphasize the blatant status of the portly paying opera attendees versus the slinking sneaker Jasper who gets hardly enough distinction to stand out from the page at all. For the best example of this, not pictured here, go to the bookstore and look for the example of Jasper trudging through the rain. Your imagination can already probably take you half way there.
Released in 1968, 'The Blue Aspic' is treasured as one of Gorey's iconic masterpieces.


Maurice Sendak's 'Where the Wild Things Are'
John Tenneil's illustrations of 'Alice in Wonderland'

Rembrandt's 'Three Crucifixes'
Durer's 'Adam and Eve'

Puppy And Duck - The funniest home videos are here

The Heron and the Crane

This was amazing to see on the big screen... It's made from paper cut-outs!!!!! Yuri Norstein takes cut-outs to a new level...
He talked about how each movie he makes is autobiographical and described a scenario with his mother-in-law which inspired the scene with the umbrella. Apparently, things were getting tense when his mother-in-law was staying in his home, she left in a huff, only to return by train the next day. He saw her when he was out by the train station in the pouring rain and offered her his umbrella. Later at home it came out that she had no idea who had offered it to her.

I love this animation because it reminds me of the times in my life when I have had incredible opportunities... but they came when I wasn't mentally ready and I tragically missed out. When I realized what happened, it was too late! I always tell myself to accept opportunities when they come because I want to correct this tendency, but it happens far too often still :-( Work, relationships, it happens to me all the time!!! It's usually pride that gets in my way.
You will see a perfect example in 'The Heron and the Crane".
Yuri talked about how fairy tales can be quite serious, and I think you will agree when you see this beautiful short film...

The Little Prince

I was in the Strand the other day perusing picture books, when I came across a deluxe pop-up unabridged edition of 'The Little Prince' by Antoine De Saint Exupery. Before I could even look at all the pop up elements the text sucked me in and I was spellbound by this little fable!!! I couldn't buy the popup book, but ended up returning the very next day to buy the softcover and quickly inhaled the rest of the story on the subway! Now I feel like a dunce for having gone so long without reading it... it's like finding out about kermit the frog when you're 30! If you have also somehow missed this book, here is a little excerpt to entice you...

"That's right," the fox said. "For me you're only a little boy just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you have no need of me, either. For you I'm only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, we'll need each other. You'll be the only boy in the world for me. I'll be the only fox in the world for you..."

This book was written by a french aviator. I really like the fact that it was written by a pilot, not a writer. I believe that like this pilot, every person carries one or two stories in their heart, writers, dishwashers, sanitation workers, housewives... and that these stories are pure and powerful. And that if pressed each of us has a little prince inside. Who's your little prince?

Puppy's Super Delicious Valentine's Day Biscuits

Are you still in the Valentine's Day spirit? Good 'cause love's a year round occasion! Realized I missed the boat on posting this, should have had it up for ya last week! Hope you enjoy my little movie! It's Puppy's screen debut. In it you will see his first ever batch of biscuits (he's famous for them) and get to see what Puppy and Duckie's life was like before they both came to the big city!!!


This movie recently screened at the Museum of Art and Design on Columbus Circle as part of 'Slash- Paper Under the Knife'. If you would like to see more cut paper animation by other artists, you can go to 'movingpaper.org
There you can also see another one of my films, 'Paper Doll' featured :-)

Yuri Norstein

Hello! Tonight I saw a presentation by Russian animator Yuri Norstein at the SVA theater in Chelsea. His little film 'The Hedgehog in the Fog' was so simple yet so rich technically.


Yuri also defended his heavy use of black and white, which endeared him to me even further. He spoke of the power and force of black and white, which color cannot achieve. Speaking about why he does everything by hand, despite the fact that the audience member said it could be achieved using computer, Yuri said, 'There is a very short line from the heart to the hand. The hand captures things you cannot possibly put into the computer'. He also spoke at length about his philosophy of character design, "Each character can only be asked to say and do what is in the scope of its existence and persona'. In this short film you will see that he revels in the timid sweetness of the hedgehog's personality and revolves the whole plot around this. He uses everything from conte crayon to watercolor and even etching, all combined seamlessly; even integrating live action (for example the fireworks and water effects)

I've said enough, so please enjoy this movie!!!