Day 4906: A Really Good Book & TBT & Linemen and Road Crews.

"Flatline": junk collage, pastels, digital.

    

  

Want music?

    Click: Bruno Mars, 24K

2GN2S

I recently finished a really good book. Rad Nana gifted it and another goodie to me last December. I read it in three days, 

even though I drag my reading to a slow pace near the end. Beautifully written. A lot that happened was on a boat, and though I have no sea legs, I was still engrossed. Now I have several books waiting, but am slow getting started. Can you believe January is almost over? A speedy month indeed for me.

Honbu Dojo, Santa Ana, Ca 2016

Demura Sensei and Advanced Black BeltTraining

When the storm hits hardest, 

they don’t wait it out, they're into it.

While most of us stay warm indoors, linemen and road crews head straight into freezing winds, heavy snow, and dangerous conditions. They climb poles coated in ice, clear roads buried under storms, and work long hours so families can keep the lights on, heat running, and emergency services moving.

This work isn’t easy. It’s physically demanding, mentally exhausting, and often done in silence while the rest of the world sleeps. Yet these crews show up anyway — because they know how much depends on them.

Every warm home, every cleared road, every restored connection is the result of people who refuse to quit when conditions are at their worst.

Today is a reminder that reliability doesn’t happen by chance.

It happens because dedicated men and women put service before comfort.

To every lineman and road crew out there right now:

Your sacrifice matters. Your work is seen. And your communities are grateful.

 

  

 

A 3+ minute video, Leaf collage, here

 

  

 

Just because ...

Castelo Branco

 

Thurssday's Smiles ... 

 

   

Hoping you feel all the good things in your day.

  

 

 

Day 4905: A Rotoscoped Film & Veronica, the Cow.

"Really?": ink drawing, junk collage & digital.

      

  

Want music?

   Click: McFadden & Whitehead...Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now

2GN2S

A Rotoscoped Film:Solitary Confinement

For Kiana Calloway, the brick wall became a green screen for theatrical performances and football games. For Sunny Jacobs, meditation brought her to a lush patch of grass and her children’s rooms at bedtime. And for Frank De Palma, 22 years without a mirror meant he didn’t recognize the man who finally emerged from the 6 x 9 foot cell.

All three narrate the devastating “Inside, The Valley Sings,”(below) directed by Nathan Fagan with animation by Natasza Cetner. The rotoscoped short film recounts the experiences of the trio, who were collectively isolated in solitary confinement for 36 years. Each shares how they coped with the inhumane conditions that barred any connection with another person. Dissociation and psychological torment reigned, providing relief and torment within such a cruel environment.

Solitary confinement is the practice of detaining a person in a cell for nearly or all of 24 hours. This type of segregation cuts off contact with others and sometimes lasts for days, weeks, or, as we see in the film, decades. The U.S. imprisons more of its population than nearly every other country and is the only Western nation to allow the practice, which the U.N. recognizes as torture and has sought to outlaw. A 2023 report estimated that 122,000 children and adults are held in solitary confinement in U.S. facilities each day.

The traumatic effects of segregation can also last well beyond prison. “Even today, I wake up with cold sweats, having nightmares of screams, howling from the cells next to me. Or hearing a guy that’s mentally ill four cells down from me that’s beating and screaming and hollering for a security officer to come down there and give him some type of medical treatment, only to get beaten,” Calloway says.

What “Inside, The Valley Sings” does particularly well is mimic the conditions of the cell. We witness tightly cropped frames and claustrophobic aerial views. And because each person is presented in grayscale, they become part of the carceral architecture, with only their orange uniforms—signifiers of their inmate status—and fantasies in bright color.

“My hope is that audiences will understand what survivors have been telling us for years: that solitary confinement is a form of torture, pure and simple,” Fagan writes in a statement about the film. “And any justice system that claims to be grounded in the dignity and rights of the individual must recognise this.” It’s worth reading the stories of all three narrators on the film’s website, which also offers more information about the campaign to end solitary confinement.

 

  

 

A 14 minute video,  Solitary Confinement, here

  

 

Just because ...

Painted Finches

 

Wednesday's Smiles ... 

 

   

Hoping you feel all the good things in your day.

  

 

 

Day 4904: Action Illustrations by Yuko Shimizu & Exceptional Gray Fox.

    

"Attention Span": junk collage, ink, digital.

  

Want music?

    Click: Corine Bailey Rae, Call Me When You Get This

2GN2S

 Action-Packed Illustrations

by Yuko Shimizu

Playful idiosyncrasies and bouts of whimsy bubble up in the works of Yuko Shimizu. Depicting swimmers in vintage bathing suits as they dive after giant fish or diminutive figures wading through tulips twice as tall as they are, the Brooklyn-based artist’s playful illustrations evoke folktales and dreams, characterized by enigmatic narratives and determined action.

Shimizu has previously taught at Quarantine, a unique residency off the coast of Menorca, Spain, where artists are invited to disconnect from tech in order to reconnect with the creative process and one another. She’s currently working on a number of book illustration projects and preparing to return to Quarantine for another stint this spring. Find more on her Instagram.

 

  

 

A 7 minute video, Santa Ana Art,  here

 

  

 

Just because ...

Indian Paradise Flycatcher

 

Tuesday's Smiles ... 

 

 

 

Hoping you feel all the good things in your day.