Another new direction

On January 9th of this year I switched from doing collage in 2" squares to doing it in 1" squares. I thought I might get worn out doing it this way since, to cover the entire map, it would take almost 224,000 of the little guys!

But so far, so good! I love the way it looks. You can see its manifestation along the lower edge of the collage work above. What do you think?

A special offer

Everyone who buys two Map panel prints from me on ebay between now and January 31, 2013 will receive a FREE randomly chosen print! Buy four and get TWO FREE!

So, don't be shy! Start your collection today. And tell your neighbor or best friend.......

Thanks!

New directions

At the beginning of the new year I changed the system by which I move through the Map stacks. You probably know that the former system had me move top to bottom (North to South) and right to left (West to East) through the stacks according to the number turned up on my stack of cards.

To make things more interesting and random I now now move up, down, left, or right depending on the suit of the card. A nine of diamonds, for example, would have me move nine panels to the West of the previous one. If the number takes me to the edge of the Map I reverse direction and keep counting.

So far it's been fun!

Systems, systems, systems.......

As most of you know by now the creation of the Map is based on a series of systems which dictate the manner in which it is executed.

The same is true of the selling of Map panels and prints. Each time I work on a panel (as determined by the draw of the cards) I make a copy of that panel and sign and date it. I offer those prints for sale on eBay. The price is determined by the average sale price to date. I take that average and multiply it by 1.2. If the print doesn't sell at that price within 30 days I re-list it at 80% of the original price. I reduce it another 20% each month after that until it sells. In that way the market determines the price of the prints. The first offering price is currently around $15.

I am now posting the available prints from North to South. I post two new prints for every one that sells.

Take a look and start collecting now! Thanks!

My software quandary/plea!

I compose panels like the one above on my Photo Smart 3.9.0.0 software that came with an HP printer that is now long discarded. That software is the best photo manipulation system I have ever had the pleasure of using. It is simple, intuitive, and does what I want it to without confusing me or making me scream expletives. I can drag my scanned 8 by 10 inch panel images onto a custom 16-panel grid, and the software resizes them for me.

All that is well and good, but here's the problem: it's installed on my 15-year old, soon-to-retire desktop, and I don't have the installation disk. People a lot smarter than I am have tried to copy the software so that it could be installed on a newer computer, but their attempts have failed.

What can I do? Does anyone know of a program that can do what I need? Everyone suggests Adobe Elements, but I don't want to buy it without being sure that it will work. I tried to download a trial copy but got bogged down in the process. Help!  I am very open to suggestions!

And thanks for listening to my rant!

The next step....

And now the show is over. The Map sits in a dozen boxes in my garage waiting for the ride to Michigan. With any luck it will be unpacked and re-installed on shelves in my back bedroom studio at the farm by November 10 or 11. And I will be back at work on it! I can't wait!

The MASS MoCA show was a huge success- at least from my vantage point. The staff, headed by Joe Thompson, Sue Killam, and Eric Enderle, was extremely supportive. They seem to answer all questions with a "Yes!" They undertake any project with the attitude that anything is possible. And then they manage to pull it off! I owe them a huge debt of gratitude!

PS...big thanks to Steve Taylor who rode the scary Genie lift to get this spectacular picture. Greg Whitmore's updated video will be coming along soon!

The show is on!

The show at MASS MoCA opened officially last Saturday and runs through this coming Sunday, October 14. The Map is finally laid out entirely for the first time since 1985 when it was a fifth its current size. I hope that some of you following this blog will be able to come! Be sure to come say hello to me as I continue the work on this project. For directions go to massmoca.org.

I wasn't prepared  myself for the magnitude of my Map. I had feared before arriving here that it would be dwarfed by the enormity of the black-box theater where we mounted it. But the Map more than holds its own. What a perfect setting!

In the photo I am standing with my oldest son, Aaron, right on top of Wybourne's Southwest suburbs.

Oh well!