A tree landed on our back parking area it came from our back neighbor who never trimmed his trees back so this one fell today after a soaking heavy rain storm. Luck for me I decided to park in the street this afternoon which is actually a very odd thing for me to do. If I had parked in the back, then my little Toyota would have been crushed and flattened quite well by this huge tree that fell. Adrian cut it up. He also had his Toyota pickup truck moved just well enough out of the way so that it too was left undamaged. Tonight I am counting my Blessings as my Mom use to say that I should be doing. Tonight I am.
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What Has Worked;

Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth, creator of Rat Fink: A son remembers

Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth, creator of Rat Fink: A son remembers Here is one of the early influences of my artwork. I use to love seeing his model caricatures in my neighbors window. Chris Pegg certainly didn't know it but it helped my develop an idea of "My People" in my caricatures that I've done over the years. Big Daddy Roth showed my how to have fun with my pen and paper back when I was fifteen and had a vivid imagination to share with 'the world of art'....I have much to thank this guy for,,,his nerve is one of them,,,he didn't mind it if he offended the more conservative of those with his outrageous gory big tooth rats and such...I really enjoyed it. It was an age when being offensive wasn't nearly as extreme as it is today, his work was cutting edge for the time. Afterall, the Beatles had just come to New York for there first concert if that gives you any idea of how unique he was at his height.
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Plans of Mice and Men Sooner Can Go Astray

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Upon our early springlike weather I popped out and put up my easel with canvas upon a local avenue that is titled :"Belmont Ave", it is here where I did a preliminary drawing before rendering it in oils this past Sunday. I have yet to photograph the oil painting but I did have this pen and ink which I will post. It's going to be a pleasure to get out once again into the elements with my equipment and in such accommodating weather it is very pleasurable to work in the outdoor air, and sun here in Charlottesville. I am hoping to get something done this spring break or the very first week in April, but we will wait and see....one never knows in this ever changing world with all the problems we have, have had, and will be having that are not even known about now. I know that the truth is always subject to revision when it comes to making plans for my future. I've learned to just put somethings aside of my own self interest for the sake of the common good of ...
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Photos and Editing After A Night of Shooting

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The days are long, the night is cool : an excellent time for photography and I got to it this past weekend. I like the new way of editing photos with software such as Picasa 3 that I only plug because I am using that in doing these photos. I went to the sepia-tone in some of these night photos. We who take photos (which seems to be most everyone thesedays) can take night photos if you can change your ISO to a higher number, the higher the number the higher the amount of light that will register in your camera's sensors. So night photos are now able to be done quite readily due to the amazing speeds that ISO can go to now with the advent of digital photography. It's just amazing to me and so I have been trying it out with good results. Then I tinker with the image changing it to a sepia-tone and sometimes giving it higher color plus adding a grain texture...truly something else.
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Walking Along W. Main St.

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I found the scene along West Main is soon to change into an newer style cityscape of brick and glass with less ornamentation to its buildings. With this in mind I photographed some West Main Street buildings in the hopes of finding interesting scenes to paint. The signage is all a part of West Main and in that thought I painted this one with its graphic street crossing signage featured prominently in the picture plane. I highlighted the bricks in intense reds and developed the windows in a bizarre abstract display for each one of them. Each featuring one color being themed inside its frame as if each window display had its own abstract painting going on inside its area. Its all for the fun of it, I play with what is being viable to the view when I can. Nothing ventured nothing gained. It was nice how this one came together piece by piece with each painting session. Intense color came about as I developed its' scene on the sidewalk windows. I was going to bring in...
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How Am I Going to Work Tomorrow or even TodaW

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The days are shorter, the air feels like the air conditioner is on. The sun doesn't even seem nearly as bright or as stinging in it's rays every morning. Getting in the car and driving seems more reasonable when one thinks of putting on layers and biking to work. People who don't even own a bike ask me why I didn't ride to work today? I guess it must have been THE COLD MORNING AIR or perhaps I just wanted to just not put any effort into getting from home to work today. I suppose I shouldn't be so blunt or cold hearted, but then again why shouldn't I , what did others do to cut back on their carbon emissions anyway?
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