Your Greatest Masterpiece

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YOLO. It's a contemporary cliche, but it's true. Today my uncle passed away. He was only 54, but hadn't been truly living in years. He was fixated by demons of passed emotional hurts and locked in a battle between the reality of morbid obesity and the ideal of universal body acceptance. Eventually this struggle came to be his personal identity, until it imprisoned and conquered him. There was so much more to him than his size. He was outspoken, a true big personality, who wasn't afraid of being contrarian or ruffling feathers. He loved cooking, technology, vehicles and movies. When he was young he loved to draw. He had an intense need to be close to family. He took in relatives for years at a time, and made nearly daily phone calls to his…
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An Introduction to Art à la Carte Parties

Art Parties, Introduction
For around a year now I have been doing Art à la Carte parties, and I think I may be the only one! I haven't seen anyone else doing them. There are art lessons and workshops. There are paint nights, wine and paint parties & art parties out there of all sorts. They seem to be taking urban nightlife by storm. But Art à la Carte? Now that is something different again. What is so different about Art à la Carte? I am glad you asked! Typical art parties offer a social experience for participants where guests can wine and dine while working their way through a set painting project. Usually they take place at a bar, gallery or art studio, and are great as a date night, girls night out or alternative corporate party. However, if you would…
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Art Under Trump

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I was hesitant to write this article, as it does not fit with my previously stated intentions for this blog, or my current general desire to stay out of political commentary. It is an involvement that has never benefitted me in the past. However, I felt at the same time it was nearly impossible not to think about what effect the election of Donald Trump may have on the visual arts. It is Remembrance day, and a mere 3 days after an American election that so clearly seems reactionary and supportive of extremist views. On this day we remember the lives lost fighting, among too many other conflicts, a world war that featured another election of an outsider politician. He too espoused extremist views and offered shortcuts to salvation to a demonized population exhausted from the…
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Mission Statement

Introduction
The mission for my blog, is generally to keep a number of groups informed on the various activities of my studio, as well as to provide additional and enriched content to those groups. Who are those groups your might ask? At the moment I see them as follows: Lovely human beings, creative and passionate souls, who are interested generally in creating and or enjoying original art, and specifically are fans of my work. Whether that interest be through purchasing a painting,  finding out about my art background, participating in an art party, learning how to paint, or how to be an artist, or even how to commission an original work of art, you will find information here that will assist or enrich your experience with my art, and with your own creative journey as well. As I…
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Lesson 1: Sometimes the only way to begin is to jump in.

Introduction
I was debating adding a blog to my long standing website. Do I have the know-how, the discipline, do I have anything to say on a regular basis? As with so many things in life, I could spend a lifetime researching, but in the end it comes down to jumping in and seeing where the river flows. So I jumped in and installed Wordpress, and deleted my entire existing site! Immediately my mind was awash with visions of a marathon stint of website rebuilding that would take precious months out of my schedule. After the initial flood of dread swept through me, I calmed down as I realized I had safety devices and could get back to shore. I uninstalled, restored and re-uploaded the site from Dreamweaver, created a SEPARATE DIRECTORY for the blog,…
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