Bridgette Mongeon is a writer/sculptor/speaker/and educator. Her blog, Creative Endeavors documents her work in progress. Ms. Mongeon has several other blogs/websites/and journals. The links can be found on the left margin of this blog.
CONTACT
Ms. Mongeon phone number and e-mail are found on her fine art web site Creativesculpture.com.
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Thursday, October 30, 2008
Signed the contract Yesterday on a new book.
Digital Sculpting with Mudbox: Essential Tools and Techniques For Artists.
I am thrilled with the idea because I feel this book begins a cross over between digital sculpting and traditional sculpting. Something that has not been done before. I am working on the book with my husband Mike de la Flor. http://www.delaflor.com He brings the digital sculpting to the forefront, and I on the other hand, approach this from an entirely new and different perspective. I will be spending hours and hours, not just writing but also working in this program, and imersing myself into more and more technology. Things are changing out there and the technology that is coming up is a great resource for traditional sculptors.
Stay tuned for next years Houston Symposium on New Technology for Traditional and Digital Sculptors. It will be out after the book of course, and will include
* digital milling * digital scanning ( including digital a new digital scanner that is affordable to the average studio, Too cool )
* digital printing * digital printing in bronze and gold ( TOO COOL!) * digital milling in wood * digital milling in stone!
and who else knows what is going to come of this. IF it works well we hope to duplicate it in other cities, let us know if you would like to sponsor such an event, or if you have new technology that you might like to include.
Meanwhile it is back to the grindstone. Must put in estimates for projects and get back to the virtual sculpting stand.
Kittiana came into our lives at a time of fracture instability and uncertainty. She was from “Santa” and only because a friend, friend had kittens around Christmas time and I was just coming off a divorce and hard pressed to find Santa gifts. She arrived in the wee hours of my daughter’s 7th Christmas and took quickly to the animals that always sit around the base of the tree each Christmas. When I went to bed that evening she meowed so loudly was unsure of what to do. I found a stuffed cat and encourage her to lie next to it. It appeased her. In the morning we jumped up from bed and entered the living room. Christina bounding and I wondering where on earth this present was. Christina was distracted by some of the minor things under the tree until she noticed cat litter. At least Santa came prepared. The surprise on her face was priceless. I pretended to complain stating, “Santa better not have left a cat in this house.” T that moment the cat meowed from beneath the cabinet and Christina went quickly to retrieve her.
The bond was instant, and offered Chris a distraction from a dad who was not there. Kittiana took to sleeping on Christina’s head, and had a horrible playful, but painful habit of attaching her feat at night. Though Kittiana always looked small and kitty like, for many years visitors called her the unfriendly cat. She wanted no one except for Christiana.
Children grow, and you don’t realize that their pets are often left behind. Grade school came with slumber parties and slip and slides, junior high with guys and giggles, and high school with dreams and determination. When Christina went away to college Kittiana’s personality changed she mellowed. Perhaps we bonded because of our loss of the girl, the desperate need to feel that girlish love. Whatever it was, her allegiance switched. Soon Kittiana was banned from Chris bedroom. Whether it was because of her misunderstanding or her love of the girl, she would still try to “claim her territory,” even on visits and the summers when Christian came home.
Chris graduated college a year ago spring. She decided to continue to live in the Tulsa away from her Texas home. “I can barely be responsible for me, Please don’t make me responsible for my cat.” I understood the feelings. They were feelings I too had so many years ago alone with a mortgage, two dogs, a cat and a precious little girl.
My life has changed over the years. There is stability in a relationship, and a career. Kittiana and I developed a regular ritual. Evening snack, a glass of wine and sitting on the chair. She would snuggle, and do you know that the mean cat would let me hold her like a baby! I loved it and I think we both got what we needed. A year ago she was diagnosed with thyroid problems. Slowly her health declined and two weeks ago I made the decision and the appointment to put her down. I have had many pets, this one was hard to let go of, she represented so much more than a cat, and it was the last of my daughter’s childhood. Over the last two weeks I took numerous pictures, her 4 lb frame so frail. Christina has had ample time to work through her issues; it was mom that had to come to terms. Last night I snipped a bit of her hair, some black, some white and taped it together. I made two of these little locks. It is a tradition that I started from the first deceased pet. They all sit in a jewelry box in my dresser drawer, or course I’ll send one to Chris. The last week kittiana became fussy about food, and I felt it was something that she did to let me know, “hey it is really time.” She could afford to get no thinner. Today at 11:00 I held her as the doctor put her to sleep. Her ashes will arrive at another time. I feel good about my decision, and can easily go throughout the day without crying until I think of the two thoughts together, the girl and the kitty. Then I’m a mess. I’m very grateful we have had the bond. I guess it is o.k. to say, I miss them both and am grateful that all of our lives have touched.
I'm making my mac into a PC, am I letting in evil spirits?
I had to make my Macintosh computer into a PC using Bootcamp. I will be writing a book and need to work on software that is just not made for macs. CURSES!!!
To do this I called my mac tech support. Said, " I know this sounds very clear but, I'm a little concerned. I need Counseling, not tech support but someone to tell me that I am not letting little evil spirits into my happy mac.
Of course there is other reason to be concerned. Viruses enter PC's not macs, now I have to put virus protection on this computer CURSES AGAIN
Also there are certain things in the instructions that say
NOTICE do not create or delete a partition, or select any partition other than as noted below. Doing so may delete the entire contents of your Mac OSX partition.
WHAT? I could accidentally erase my entire MAC?
No worries.
Though I tried it I am forced to stop the installation as alas there is not eject button on the corded keyboard I was also forced to put on my computer. I have no way of getting the CD out.
Till the morning this beast will have to wait. Now to see if I can start my computer on the mac side and will everything be intact?
I'll be on the radio- an interview about my a new book "Kisses from Heaven"
Book two is titled "Kisses from Heaven"
There are special cherished moments after the death of a loved one. Some call them coincidences, others a message from beyond. In this case, we are calling them Kisses from Heaven. They are simple things that happen that remind us of our deceased loved one. Some seem so bizarre we are not sure how they could happen. They may be snuggling in a dream, or perhaps having a symbol of a loved one continue to appear over and over, smelling the perfume of a deceased mother or cigar of a father who passed away. These moments, however strange, comfort us. It is my personal opinion that God gives these moments to the bereaved as a way to say, “I know your pain, and I’m still here.” As a sculptor who specializes in sculpting the deceased for individuals homes, prayer gardens, and cemeteries, I have heard of these incidents over and over again. It is the desire of my heart and my co-author Zanna Mangini's to collect these unusual stories into a book. We would love for you to be a part. Please send us stories about your Kisses from Heaven.
Here is a link to the writers guidelines should you know of anyone that would like to submit.
On Friday at www.psychiconair.com Zanna and I will be talking about the book. I will also be talking about book three. 10 a.m. eastern time. Book three is titled "Bringing to Life the Spirit of the Deceased a Sculptors- Journey" It is about 4 posthumous commissions and the interactions with both my clients and subject. More can be found at the link
I am still seeking publishers for Bringing to Life... and Kisses From Heaven.
I am excited that we are reviewing the contract from a publisher for an up and coming book. The book is" Digital Sculpting with Mudbox: Essential Tools and Techniques for Artists. " It should be a great book. I'm looking forward to crossing the bridge from digital to bringing technology into the traditional sculptures studio.
A Video about the Unveiling of the Richard Hathaway Memorial Sculpture.
On Thursday, September 25th 2008 the sculpture of Professor Richard Hathaway was installed and then unveiled in Montpelier, Vermont on the Vermont College of Fine Arts Campus outside of the TW Wood Gallery.
The Dick Hathaway sculpture along with an angel traveled 1,948 miles from the artist Bridgette Mongeon’s Houston, Texas sculpture studio to Montpelier, Vermont. The exit of the sculpture from Texas was not without travail as Hurricane Ike barreled down on the Gulf Coast causing great devastation. This video documents the travels of the sculptures, along with the delivery, unveiling and emotion surrounding the love of Professor Richard Hathaway and angel Baby Jenna Mangini.
The video is part three in the documentation of the creation of the Richard Hathaway memorial.
An after thought about traveling to Vermont, electrical outages, and Hurricane IKE
Like many, our home was out of electricity for many days, though I must say not as long as some of the areas of our neighborhood. But apparently Texas was not the only state with outages from Ike.
While traveling out on 59 we saw 61 electrical trucks coming in from out of state. It became our car game to count them. Here is the clincher- every state that we drove through Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and NY all had power outages. They all felt Ike! Here is the map of the Ike route and our trip. Now I can see why so many felt it. I went to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Ike and found that Cincinnati had 927,000 out of power, Arkansas 200,000, Indiana 200,000, winds were even felt in London, Ontario. For a hurricane that had a width of 275 miles it is no wonder. Each state we went to felt our pain, but they were a little irritated because they sent their trucks to us, not knowing what their state would suffer.
I love to go to the cemetery, inspirational and in this case, very funny!
My inspiration comes from visiting places like this. While visiting my favorite cemetery in Buffalo, New York- Forest Lawn Cemetery. My traveling companion and I found a few others that liked to hang out. These guys made us laugh. I just had to make a You Tube video.
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