Permanence and Transience: Cooking vs. Art

My mother is an excellent cook. She can make just about anything from Moroccan tagine to traditional pot roast. And she can cook for the masses, catering my entire wedding, my cousin's wedding and both mine and my sis's Bat Mitzvahs. Absolutely none of this talent was passed on to me. Or maybe it was but never fully realized as I hate to cook.

I like the idea of pleasing my friends, exacting their love and admiration through gastronomy; but I loathe the notion of spending time creating these pleasures. Food is temporary. Hours spent, adding a pinch of this, a spoonful of that, seem wasted on transience.

Please do not get me wrong. I love cooks. I love food. I love home cooking. I am fortunate to reap the benefits of those whose creativity is ignited by food, whom are impassioned by the combination of spices, the grouping of flavors.

My art, however, is born out of a yearning for permanence. I screen print my images so they will last for centuries to come rather than using a computer to lifelessly copy my work. I hand-paint my cards so they are kept; records of a time and place serving as personal histories. The notion that what I create may last lifetimes excites me and serves to motivate.

But a good meal is remembered. I will never forget the calamari in Turkey or the steak in Belgium or my mother's homemade grapeleaves. And that recollection I pass on to others, as I do now. Thus cooking is not momentary, rather the memory intangible.

Thus I present Bouillon Kub (my homage, painted in gouache on wood, to the original bouillon cube packaging in France circa 1920 and, from what I understand, still used today) to all the amazing cooks out there. May your food be forever remembered.

An Ephemeral Identity

A font illustrates a theme, an era, a mood. The collaboration of the art of calligraphy with the beauty of Art Nouveau alphabets make for a modern elegant invitation.

The inspiration for this font was derived from a French perfume bottle circa 1920. Combing Art Deco and Art Nouveau design books, sheet music, magazine advertisements and the boxes upon boxes of ephemera I store haphazardly in my studio allows me to connect with a time, feel a place, transcend my present state.

Illustration Redux--The Concert Poster & The Moleskine

Certain illustrations I feel a particular affinity for. The Portland based chamber rock group Bright Red Paper asked me to do a series of concert posters last winter. Basing my illustration on an Art Nouveau etching found in an antique design book, I sought to capture the tragic vitality of the mime as a means to describe the orchestral musings of Bright Red Paper. The fonts are, as usual, of my own creation and design.

The "Harlequin" finds himself yet again the subject of a project. Reillustrating him to fit the confines of a Moleskine journal and adding a moon and stars, he now graces the cover of these pocket-sized handmade journals (available in my Etsy shop).

Watercolor, Art Deco & the Travel Poster

It has been ages since I have executed a watercolor painting. Nowadays, I almost exclusively use gouache as it produces an even matte tone suitable for screenprinting.

However, if a commissioned piece is to be color-copied from a high-quality scan, watercolor makes a wonderful showing.

The poster pictured draws its origins from a decidedly Art Deco aesthetic. I designed the alphabet used for the font myself based on various Art Deco alphabets. Inspiration from 1920s French travel posters provided beach scenes and coastal play portraying leisure summer afternoons perfectly coinciding with the notion of a summer camp located directly on the beautiful Pacific Ocean.

The Underdog (C'est la vie...)

Last summer I was approached to illustrate a logo for the storefront of a new boutique in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey specializing in luxury imports from France and Italy. Choosing from three very different mock-ups (Each mock-up I do is a full-scale painting in itself--I hate wasting time on something that cannot stand up on its own.) a final was chosen.

However, I personally liked one of the losers. Leave it to me to vote for the underdog.

So here's the one that did not make it (too much detail rendered it doomed from the get go).

The fate of "The Beautiful Life" was not to be seen by hundreds (perhaps thousands?) of high end shoppers but rather to be screenprinted onto totes and kitchen aprons; had by the individual rather than the masses.

An Art Deco Explosion

When I first moved to Portland it was November and we were subletting an apartment with little insulation nor finished flooring.

The cold air seeped into every nook; every cranny touched by an almost Artic chill. One room was kept heated. Using reruns of Perry Mason as ambient noise, I painted and painted and painted.

The time spent there was my most prolific.

Constructing an entire series out of one word titles and beautiful women, I chose my favorites to be screenprinted. Eventually a few designs out of a large pile (piles are the measure of all things) were screenprinted onto tees, totes, aprons, prints, cards and journals.

The title "Explosive" is both French and English. The style Art Deco but the fashion 1960s mod London.

Girls Just Want to Have Fun

The Roaring '20s.

One of my favorite illustrations, this Art Deco style screenprint blends the 1920s with 1980s. Translating Cyndi Lauper's seminal 1980s hit "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" into French and adding a whimsical Art Deco illustration of bathing beauties made for an interesting juxtaposition of two distinct eras.

Girls Just Want to Have Fun
Original Art Deco style screenprint.
Signed and numbered.

Please see my Etsy shop for further details.

http://www.octavineillustration.etsy.com

Fin de siècle

Fin de siècle France is perhaps my greatest inspiration. The lines between commercial art and fine art were distinctly blurred as the industrial economy grew and advertising, executed manually, supported fine artists directly.




















Out of the marriage between commercial art and fine art, handmade and manufactured was born Art Nouveau. The French lead the way.

I love the streamlined organic form and limited color palette of the Art Nouveau movement in France.

This is one of the more spectacular examples of Art Nouveau furniture and is one of my many muses from the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

The painting above is one of my latest. The painting derives its inspiration primarily from the French Art Nouveau movement.

Just in Time for Valentine's Day

These Art Deco style cards were my first foray into card-making and they ended up being my favorite. Printed with my Japanese Gocco silkscreen press and then hand-painted with gouache. Many think me insane for hand-painting each card but I actually really enjoy monotonous yet creative work. Reminds me of the hours spent with all those coloring books.

Oh, and have I mentioned how much I love my Gocco? In fact, I dropped it down an entire flight of basement stairs where it landed and bounced twice on the cement floor. There was not even a chip in the plastic nor a crack in the glass. Fine Japanese workmanship. Wow.

These notecards can be purchased directly through my Etsy store just in time for you to send to your favorite chums.

Blank on inside.
Six per set.

Each card measures 4 x 6 and comes with matching envelope.
French Paper 100% Recycled Cardstock.

**Note: This is image is available in a wide variety of colors and sizes and can be mixed and matched in a set.

La Belle Vie--The Beautiful Life

La Belle Vie--The Beautiful Life Print--$25. through my Etsy shop

My original modern Art Deco illustration hand-silkscreened on the highest quality archival French Paper.

Limited edition of 75.

Signed and numbered.