Another collage!

I'll let the images speak for themselves.

I have to quit being lazy!

I am soooo lazy when it comes to my art. I still haven't finished that Man or Myth picture from several posts ago. I made a deal with myself to buy myself a six pack on Sunday if I had it finished by then. I have to have it finished by then because this will be my last free weekend, I start a new job on Monday. I know, I know, you're probably thinking; What's with this guy, he changes jobs more often then most American's change spouses! But I really have to finish the piece. I only do two or three, sometimes four pieces a year, but I've been doing it for 26 years now and I have built up quite a collection. One year I was exceptionally industrious and finished a 17 page illustrated children's book in less then a month, but now I can't seem to find a publisher for it. Maybe if I were to fake my death, then all my art would suddenly become valuable collector's items. Here's a collage I made to show my girlfriend some of my better designs, I hope you will enjoy it too!

Crying over spilt milk.

I made my "dad" cry himself to sleep tonight. He is not really my father, but he is my eighth foster father and the man who raised me since I was four years. I call him Chief, since he was Fire Chief here in Kenmore for 40 years before he retired. He is 87 now and has had several strokes that he has survived. I lived alone with my birth mother for 13 years before being invited to come back and help my foster mom take care of my Chief in his twilight years. That was six years ago. Tonight the Chief wanted some milk late this evening and tried to pour himself some milk from a full half gallon bottle. He dropped the bottle and it all drained out onto the kitchen floor. I just happened to come awake and found him trying to clean up the mess. I asked him to never mind, I would get the mop and we wouldn't have to tell mom. I guess he told mom anyway, since he cried himself to sleep. Mom came and told me that he told her that he knows he makes mistakes and cannot help himself. I did not mean to say anything wrong about his spilling the milk, but he felt bad about it anyway and cried himself to sleep. Now I feel bad and cannot get back to sleep, maybe some wine will help. I hope I don't spill it!

Praise be to Allah, there is a Christ!

I am so prayerfully grateful that international political pressure has caused the release and freedom of Abdul Rahman, the Afgan who converted from Islam to Christ! A person should be allowed to choose their faith in any religion. We did not try to execute the famous pop singer "Cat Stevens" when he abandond Christ for Islam! We gave him the freedom of choice, so why do Muslims insist on killing those who want to leave their "religion?" It is just one more example of how barbaric Islam really is! It is not "The way of submission," rather it is "The way of the sword!" Praise be to Jesus Christ that you have the freedom to follow him to death, and to eternal life!

Boycott Kinkos!

A**wipes at Kinkos let me stew for a whole week once they had initiated contact with me for hire. They let me think that it was a done deal, then they burst my bubble and told me I wasn't good enough for them because my UA was full of my meds. I got the news thursday afternoon and spent the rest of the day online with the job search engines. Today I got a call from one of the printing shops I applied with and landed an immediate interview. They want me to come back for a second interview with the "big" boss on monday. The general manager says he wants to recommend me for the position because of my experience. I could possibly start on tuesday or wednesday of next week, he says. It is a family type print shop with most of the employees having been with the company for 20 years or more. They print newspaper inserts and some of Seattle's area newspapers such as the UW Daily. This would be more to my liking then working for some stupid copy center that is too full of its own self importance!

The IRS

It's time to pay out my pint of blood to the IRS. Spell out T.H.E.I.R.S. and you will find that it spells "theirs." What's mine is theirs, so they figure. I hate to shell out good money that is just going to fund the war in Iraq. But pay I do so that they won't send me to jail for non payment and income tax evasion. I probably won't get a cent back and probably will have to pay because I took out six exemptions on my W forms last year. I didn't want the Government to have any of my money before April 17th this year. If only I could have afforded to return to college last year like I had planned, then I could claim student exempt and not have to pay at all. Oh well, time to sit down and figure out the paperwork.

Man or Myth

This is the second draft of an image I did some time ago and never finished. I brought it out this weekend and finally found inspiration for a better leg design. When it is finished it will be all solids in black. Hopefully I will make some time this week to complete it and post it next weekend, but I thought my friends might like to see the creative process my art goes through before completion. I am entitling it; Man or Myth, after the saying of Chief Seattle in his famous surrender speech...when the memory of my people is but a myth, the dead shall haunt your streets...dead, did I say dead? There is no death, only a change in worlds. The man has his arms upraised in the traditional form of greeting guests. Mom doesn't like the image because the man is naked, but I couldn't exactly put a loincloth on him and keep to the traditional design structure of oviods and feather designs. The torso is too big and the arms need to be lengthened, but I'll work that all out before I paint it. This is how I create my drawings before they become finished pieces.
Enjoy.

For the love of my life!

Here is another photo of the love of my life and one more photo of her fabulous minature art paintings. With the ruler placed below the painting you can get an idea about just how small it is in reality. And she is so pretty to me that I am definately going to propose when I next visit her. She lives in Odessa, Ukraine, so it's not going to be easy, but her love is worth every effort! I quit my temporary job at Costco today so that I could accept a job offer with FedEx/Kinkos, a more permanent and stable position as a production manager. It's what I do! I have been in printing all my life and I love to work with images. Elena and I share this love of image making and this common bond between us is what brought us together in the first place. *sigh* She means the world to me and the world is a better place because I love her!

Road kill

I remember the many times when I was young and we drove to Disnyland. It always seemed that sooner or later we would pass by the smell of a skunk that had gotten run over. I drew this picture and after I had finished it, the flat appearance of my skunk image reminded me of that. So I think I will subtitle this design: Roadkill! Eris, this design is dedicated to you.

Enjoy!

I start a new job...

...maybe even a whole new career! On Friday the tenth will be my first day. I'm going to try my hand at Marketing and Sales. It is a temporary position only so if I don't like it, well then I only have to keep it until mid summer. But most importantly it will earn me enough money to get back to the Ukraine to visit my sweetie! She's worth it. I'll show you her photo!


Goodnight and good luck!

Goodnight!

It's still early, but I'm tired and gonna go to bed. I'll post tomorrow.