My Kardonne Experience

Original Sketch ©Joe Kardonne

As many of you know, I am the director for the South Jersey Branch of Dr. Sketchy's. We have many talented, and interesting people, attend every month. One of our most loyal monkeys is an artist by the name of Jim Penland.

A whole book could not begin to describe Jim. I won't even attempt too begin too in this blog. What I will say is that he is extremely influential as an artist and having met him has been a highlight of my creative career.

At the beginning of the summer, Jim went around and asked some fellow artists to participate in a retrospective show he is calling "The Kardonne Experience". Joe Kardonne was one of Jim's greatest friends and co-founder of Ocean City's Fine Arts League. It goes without saying that he was one of Ocean City's most prominent artists, but when he died he left all his paintings to the league in an effort to support and sustain the very organization he helped found..

Joe developed his style while working alongside renowned artists at The Art Students League in NY. He studied with greats such as B. Robinson, Thomas H. Benton, Jackson Pollack and numerous others. He was a prolific artist who worked constantly and when he passed away at the age of 94, he left 2 wet paintings in his studio.

Jim's idea was for everyone to take one of Joe's sketches and to reinterpret them in their own way. Feeling JIm's energy and enthusiasm for this project, I picked 3 of Joe's pieces in the hopes I would be able to participate. I was excited to get back to my fine arts roots and had my paints and canvases ready to go. It felt good to freely paint and the sound of the brush against the canvas was meditative.

I really enjoyed myself. Sadly I hated what I had done. It wasn't bad for the first painting in over...well, let's just say, in quite a few years. But, I didn't feel it was worthy of having Joe's name associated with it. Nor did it really reflect my artistic self as much as I would have liked.

Not to be discouraged I sat down and started to research Joe some more. Maybe there was something that I had missed. Something that would speak to me and point me in the direction I should be taking with his work. This is when I discovered that Joe himself had, at one point, formed his own Advertising Agency and found much success in the commercial art field. I now felt that reworking one of his pieces digitally wouldn't be such a bad thing. Actually, it just made sense. I scanned Joe's original, dropped it into photoshop, and away I went!

Upon intial viewing, one might say this is as much an homage to Toulouse-Lautrec's Moulin Rouge as it is to Joe. But I implore you to research Joe yourself. Look at his works, talk to the people who knew him and you'll understand that everything done has been done for a reason....albeit, maybe tongue in cheek.

But, honestly, in the end, none of that really matters. Both Jim and Joe's purposes have been met. Joe continues to influence fellow artists and Jim opened up a whole new generation to Kardonne's work. My only regret is that I never got to meet Joe in person, but I should had fun learning about him! Besides, working on this project has brought me closer to understanding myself.

I thank Jim for asking me to participate and feel honored that he also asked that my piece be shown in the retrospective that started this past Sunday, the 12th of September. Right now the work can be seen in person at The Artist's Consortium in Millville. And I recently found out that the piece will again be hung during the 2011 Nov/Dec showing at the River Renaissance Center for the Arts.

Enjoy! I know I did.

Kardonne Interpretation ©2010 Madcow Designs LLC

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Gallery Event with Madcow Designs!

Wow. We have so many new and exciting things going on over here that we don't even know where to start. But since we have limited time today, we're going to give you a quick update on one project that we are especially excited about.

As some of you may know, I design all the promo material for the South Jersey Branch of Dr. Sketchy's. Its a very interesting, yet difficult job. I am given free reign to do whatever I want. Sometimes I have a model pic and a theme to work with, other times not. And as daunting of a challenge as this may sound, I really look forward to it each and every month. It affords me the opportunity to really stretch my creative legs and delve into areas that interest me, but I might never get a chance to work with again.

Its extremely challenging, and after the printed pieces are done and handed out, there is a feeling of a job well done. But since there is always another job right around the corner, I never really have time to dwell on just how awesome a particular font choice was, or how the colors really worked out incredibly well and evoked just the right emotion I was looking to achieve.

This is all about to change though! A local gallery venue is hosting a South Jersey Dr. Sketchy exhibit for the whole month of June. The event is open to all the monkeys (artists) that attend the South Jersey session, be them painters, printmakers or sculptors. I have also been asked to participate as well.

Gee. I never really thought of putting any of my printed pieces in a show before so I can't tell you how exciting this is!! I had one monkey tell me that they look at the promo as just another artist's rendering of how they see the model and what the session evokes for them. Again, I never really thought of it that way, but how cool is that???

Currently I am busy working on framing and mounting all the pieces for the show (along with designing the promos and marketing the event as well). The other day I took a step back and honestly, I was amazed. To see all the pieces lined up and displayed really took my breath away. I am honored to be part of this gallery event and to be the designer for the South Jersey Branch. I must admit, there are pieces in this grouping that are some of my absolutely favorite pieces I have done in my whole career. And its all because I push myself. I want to try new styles and techniques. I love researching the ideas behind the themes and looking into other areas I might never have ever thought about in my career.

I would like to take the time now to invite you to come view my work along with those of the monkeys that regularly attend the events. There is going to be an opening reception on Friday, June 4th from 6-9pm and I would love to see you all there!


For more information, contact us at info(at)madcow-designs(dot)com or check out the event listing on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4143991&id=126188558055#!/event.php?eid=112706985433733&ref=ts


Samples of promo material created by Madcow Designs LLC in order to help promote and bring awareness to the South Jersey Branch of Dr. Sketchy's. Designs ©2009-2010 Madcow Designs LLC

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Introvert or Extrovert?

Those words get thrown around a lot and in the field of business, being labeled an introvert can be damaging. But should it be?

I've been having this discussion with a few of my fellow colleagues lately and have given it much consideration. You see, I would be one labeled as an introvert.

So, what does that mean? I don't want to talk to you? That the mere thought of speaking in front of large crowds makes me run and hide under the bed? That I would rather scoop out my eyes with a rusty spoon rather than participate in any sort of social gathering?

Au contraire!

It seems that the general consensus of the masses is that introverts are shy awkward creatures likened to a nervous chiuaua. That we are full of anxiety and have no social skills to rely on. Where in fact that is a total misconception.

Introverts do enjoy the company of others and love participating in lively discussions. We just might not jump in right away because we are taking our time to mull over what has been said and are formulating a response that we feel would be intelligent and well thought out. We reflect inward to make sure what we are saying truly represents our thoughts and feelings and are not just paying lip service to the most favored opinion.

Introverts think before they act and because we process most of our emotions, thoughts and observations internally, we find our energy from within. We recharge by being alone again with our thoughts and personal activities - typically things we can do solo.

But, what in essence happens is our personality comes across as odd or abnormal. Because most introverts don't see the need to participate in "water cooler" talk or telling jokes to large crowds, less of ourselves are revealed publicly. Other, more extroverted people take this as an offense or that we have no interest in them. And this can be detrimental to ones' business.

Potential clients can see an introvert as a sign of someone who might not be competent or who doesn't know much of what they are doing. And where there is validity to hiring someone that you will personally get along with, don't count those introverts out just yet!

One of our strongest traits is research and analyzation. We like to find the answers to problems and enjoy thinking, exploring and delving into the concepts behind ideas. When handed a job, the first step I take is researching the client behind the project. I study the notes from our meeting and create a list of associated colors, words and images that all relate. Everything that goes into my design is thought out and has meaning.

We operate best when left to ourselves. Working in one's own office, be it from a home-based operation, or a single office amongst many, we have total concentration on the task at hand. Social interaction doesn't distract us, we don't feel the need to go find what everyone else is doing. We are intense and passionate, abstract ideas are sought after as we look inward for answers to projects we are involved in.

And I could go on. The traits associated to introverts are all fantastic ones to be held by a self employed creative: responsible, flexible, studious, smart, able to maintain long term relationships and creative out of the box thinkers. But this post wasn't written with the intent to justify myself. My work should stand as a testimate to the job I am capable of. Instead I felt the need to make others aware that what you might see as a quirk, is in essence a fantastic trait to have in a designer.

So, the next time you see me, say Hi. I'll only be more than glad to talk to you:)

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