Philanthropic Art

There is no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.

-Scott Adams

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Today’s napkin doodle left at Megabites Diner and some Zentangle practice on ATC cards to trade with family members at the BBQ tomorrow!

Got something really exciting in the mail today. It’s related to art and Brooklyn, so I’ll share.

Vik Muniz, a Brazilian artist who directed his own documentary called The Waste Land, just started a new philanthropic art installation project. He’s known for taking found objects and creating portraits with them. His recent project involves creating two art pieces made from a total of 20,000 soccer balls. He’s doing this to raise money for impoverished families and through soccer programs for low income kids. If people make a specific donation amount to the non-profit organization called Street Football World, through his “This is not a ball” project, he sends you one of the soccer balls that were used in his art installation. He’s working on a new documentary related to art, soccer, and how both effect people’s lives in powerful ways.

Naturally, I donated because one of the choices for a donation was for a Youth Soccer Program for homeless and low income kids from Brooklyn. How could I say no to that? I donated and I got my “NOT” ball. I’m torn about weather I should use it or display it with it’s fancy Certificate of Authenticity. I’ll wait a few days to decide.

If you’re curious about this organization, click HERE. It’s good karma and you get a piece of his artwork. It was sent pretty quickly too.

I donated to another charity through Muniz related to raising money for the Tsunami victims in Japan. He gave away posters of his photography of thousands of origami peace cranes that were arranged in the shape of a giant crane if you donated. Here’s more on his project called, Students Rebuild. Some of my students think of me as the Origami Teacher because I used to have an Origami Club in my old school and, as a reward, I would teach my students how to fold origami and related it to the Legend of the Thousand Paper Cranes. It was really exciting for me to learn that the kids who made the cranes where from NYC. Maybe one of my students…

All good stuff and a perfect day for artwork, smores (in the microwave), and I think the rain will clear up long enough for us to see the fireworks tonight. Enjoy the light show and be safe!

ATC Card Doodling

Happy 4th of July!

Found an old ATC (Artist Trading Card) of mine from when I went to Belgium and bike rode through Bruges. My family and I had the habit of going to Panera Bread for breakfast every now and then. We drew on ATCs and exchanged them. Here’s a few in my collection.

1. Mine is the girl bike riding.

2. My sister, Carol, drew the bread

3. My mom drew the tree and the orange with the sticker attached (found art!)

4. My dad drew the airplane but denies being able to draw.

5. One of my neices drew the sunrise.

Looking forward to seeing the whole lot of them for a reunion tomorrow back on Long Island tomorrow. Too much rain today for anything outdoors today so lots of sketching to be done and some photography homework. I have to take 100 photos of a piece of paper interacting with light. It’s actually really time consuming.

 

Meet Lars, the Chimera

Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.

-Dr. Seuss

Rhino doodle using Zentangle patterns

Meet my Rhino-Camel Chimera Zentangle Doodle

…whom I shall call Lars.

Drew this in the morning last weekend. I continue to resist making my Zentangle doodles into squares like the author of my Zentangle book encourages newbies to do. I think it looks like what would happen if a camel and a rhino had a baby but then the baby ran through an art supply store thus becoming covered in patterns. Maybe a Whoville runaway from a Dr. Suess book!

In other news, this is NOT a napkin, as you can see. Woke up at 5:30am so I could take photos of the sun rising over the city but no cafes or breakfast establishments were opened for me to drink tea and draw on their napkins. I did go to Bagel World and hung out on my stoop for a bit. That’s the big deal in Brooklyn, hanging out on your stoop. It’s a nice little badge of honor for those of us who rent apartments.

Since I am eating outdoors in the summer lately, I’ll either attempt to doodle outside, wherever I am or I will continue to do my Zentangle doodles until I make it out to the diners or cafes on the weekends. Apologies for the inconsistent napkin content but doodling all day!

 

Dystopian Noise

Went to some independent artisan supermarket because that’s what you do. The bigger supermarkets in Brooklyn always have a freaking 3 hour wait (at least in the Downtown area) so I pay a little bit more for some fancy food when I’m not into waiting. Tonight was one of those nights.

My cashier with the pink hair, hipster glasses, and straw hat asked me, “Which would you prefer: A utopian society with no music or a dystopian society with music?” I chose the latter because I felt that music would change the dystopian nature of life. Besides, a society without music isn’t utopian, in my humble opinion. The same goes for any of the arts. I did my part and contributed the following doodle below.

Monster Blob oozes her way across my table at Megabites.

The waiter at Megabites was from the night crew so we don’t usually see each other. However, he recognized my napkin doodling tendencies and said, “I’ve seen what you’ve been leaving behind. We have a huge stack of them.” If my napkin doodles do nothing else but create these interesting New York moments, then I shall feel that my work is done.

The thing is, people respond to art, music, theater, etc.. It makes our world worth living and reminds us of our humanity. I thought the pink haired cashier understood it. I think the waitresses who collect my napkin doodles get it. I feel like there is a grander purpose to creating art that even Mark Rothko recognized it. He created his own chapel to art and refused to sell out. Sometimes, you need to draw something and not think to yourself, who’s my target audience and how can I sell it.

Maybe one day, I’ll start to sell some artwork but, at the moment, the expression of my own humanity is what’s driving me. So, make your creative mark somewhere! Don’t think about how to sell it or market it. Just let your creativity hang out.

 

 

Expensive Decisions

Every moment I shape my destiny with a chisel-

I am the carpenter of my own soul.

-RUMI

Drawn on a napkin at Mullane’s Bar and Restaurant

Hello, night owls!

Lots to think about tonight. I start my Photography class tomorrow but instead of spending my hard earned money on a new camera for it, I went and booked a trip to Seattle. No regrets though. I figured that it would be premature to purchase a camera for which I didn’t understand what I would be using it for mostly. Still, we shall see if I made the right decision tomorrow. Wish me luck!

 

Cafe au Lait, Petanque, and Doodles

“Not only the thirsty seek the water, the water as well seeks the thirsty.”

-RUMI

 

Doodle created at Provence en Boite on Smith Street

Provence en Boite

Took a long walk yesterday morning to one of my favorite breakfast places on Smith Street in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. If there were a French district in Brooklyn, this particular block would be it. On Bastille Day, a French National Holiday, the block is closed off for all sorts of celebrations. Some French restaurants along the street have food and wine tastings, if you buy tickets beforehand. I’m pretty sure Provence en Boite was one of those restaurants to offer it. Here’s a photo of the place. It’s very relaxed with outdoor seating and the best French toast in town.

Provence en Boite, located on Smith St.

My favorite thing to do on Bastille Day on Smith Street was to watch was a game called Petanque. Some websites compare it with horseshoes except you use balls instead of horseshoes and there is some strategy involved in knocking your opponents balls out of the way. So, over a really huge bowl of Café au Lait (half coffee and milk), I felt bold enough to buy a $30 ticket to form my own Petanque Team, despite never playing the game a day in my life. I blame the bowl of coffee I had that morning and I’m not exaggerating. See below…

Bowl of Café au Lait

Yeah, that’s a whole lot of coffee!

So, now the goal is to find a place to practice my game. I googled Petanque in NYC and found out that Bryant Park in Manhattan has a bit of that Petanque noise going on Monday through Friday. I will do my best to motivate myself to cross boroughs. May have to take my doodling back on the train again.

Until then…

Au Revoir!

Mary

Tangling with Zentangle

The school year ended yesterday! Yay!

As a dedicated doodler, I feel like it’s my job to try out all forms of mindless drawing when the opportunity presents itself. After work, the opportunity presented itself so I went to my local art store and went on a little art supply shopping spree. I picked up a book called, One Zentangle A Day: A 6-Week Course in Creative Drawing for Relaxation, Inspiration, and Fun by Beckah Krahula. Click HERE for more information on it. I’ve started the course today and completed the first three days because that’s how I roll when I get free time to myself. This is what I have created so far…

These were the first three patterns that I tried from her book.

Next, three patterns were tangled up with some of the first few patterns in the next drawing.

Day 2, zentangle

And finally, Day 3’s zentangle doodle…

Day 3, Zentangle

I am struggling with the whole idea of keeping the doodling structured into specific compartments of a square so I tend to ignore some of the author’s suggestions to keep the zentangle drawing in a square. I like the new styles and combinations of patterns offered by the book. I find it funny that there are specific names for these patterns, many of which sound like names given to furniture at IKEA. Great branding, though!

Also, I love the idea of shading my ink drawings with a pencil. It adds something extra to my drawings. While I enjoyed learning about this drawing style all day, I am ready to go back to freestyle doodling on napkins. If my Photography class this summer doesn’t take up all my time, I might try a few more of these tangle thingies.

Signing off for now…

Scribbling, Scribbling!

Created at the newly renovated and new management at the Brooklyn Pub House

Brooklyn Pub House. Happy to report that the Brooklyn Pub House on DeKalb Ave. in Fort Greene is open again under new management and some renovations. In January of this year, they had unexpectedly closed without warning. However, someone decided to that it wasn’t their time to close yet and bought the place from the original owner. There’s a new “taster” menu which they are trying out on the public at large. I tried the salmon burger and loved it. The fish and chips looked promising too. But really, I’m just happy to see my familiar booth and be happy to watch the World Cup on their television screen. The doodle on the napkin started there but I finished it at home. I think it looks like a bird dressed up as a firework. Independence Day is a week away! It must be on my mind.

I find myself writing and drawing on the subway ride from work too. After an end of school year celebration, I swiped one of the napkins and drew this on the bumpy ride home on the C train.

On the C train

I’d like to believe my expertly folded napkin and doodle could end up on the artist’s Judy Chicago’s installation piece, The Dinner Party. During Women’s History Month, the Brooklyn Museum displays it every other year. Chicago creates a personalized place sitting for all notable women in history, past, present, mythical, and biblical to sit at the same table for one enormous dinner party. Click HERE to check it out.

Last but not least, a really randomly drawn doodle with no apologies for it’s messy, overlapping sketches and lack of thought into composition. It just is.

 

Drawn at Cammerari’s Café

I think I need more inspiration so the goal is to try out zentangle this summer. I’ll REALLY try this time though. Not like that time that I failed miserably at it in the post, Masked Cabbage. Click HERE to see what I mean. Going to do a bit of reading on it and figure it all out on my own once again.

So, enjoy this beautiful Friday and scribble away, folks!

MKF

 

 

Bauhaus Bubbles

Masterpiece Blogger Presents: Blog Art Theater <curtsy>

Going to use my best New York City Brahman class voice. Ahem!

What you can see here is an assemblage of shapes reminiscent of Wassily Kandinsky’s artistic compositions during the Bauhaus Movement. Using only lines and shapes on a napkin canvas, the artist (moi!) is able to capture the spiritual transcendence over the general gloom of her soggy sandwich during her lunch break in the teacher’s lounge. As the artist tested the structural integrity of the ultra soft napkin, she excavated through the depths of her subconscious as she dug beyond the veneer of the first napkin layer, a.k.a the mask, only to find the darkness of the expo marker revealed. John Keats would probably refer to the carefully rendered art on these napkin leaves as the vale of soul-making if he were alive in this century. The anguish and the struggle to burst forth beyond the confines of the preexisting structures that exist in the shapes, representative of societal structures, is evident and yet the minor attempt for the self to burst forth through the napkin and through the structures that trap her merely resulted in imitating the structures that already exist. Beautiful and tragic! sigh. Moving on…

Resuming my New Yaaawk accent (pronounced ‘axe-cent’):
Yeah, it ain’t bad! What’s the score of the World Cup teams?

Ahoy Sailor!

On the day of the Mermaid Parade at Coney Island last Saturday, a man walked into Megabites diner dressed as an octopus. The amazing thing is how no one really reacted to his public display of creative ridiculousness. I think New Yorkers might seem a bit cold at times but really, I think they’re just guarded. All walks of life make themselves known on the street and en masse. People learn to avert their eyes, not respond, and walk with a purpose to some unknown destination.

Anyway, I felt like the Octopus costumed person was worthy of a mention since it takes guts to dress up for this annual parade. In fact, our good mayor and his family led the parade this year…a first in the history of a long line of mayors. WTG DiBlasio!

So yeah, I drew a female sailor just because it had a nautical theme. I managed to get over to the beach some time later in the day so I could breathe in sea air and summer. And, of course, I visited my father with a copy of the Brooklyn Navy Yards where he used to be stationed. I hear they give a nice bike tour, in case you are ever in the neighborhood.