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It is with words as with sunbeams - the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn.
-- Robert Southey
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 Inside the card: I believe in you, and I'll be there to help you every step of the way!Of course, I reserve the right to modify it later, if need be. On to the next one... |
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Almost done...  I've sketched the runner and I've picked the words, font, and color. Some have asked me if I paint the words. No... I don't imagine that anyone could be that adept at calligraphy with acrylics and a skinny stick with camel hair on the end of it. I add the words via my computer after scanning the painting. The question: do I like it better in bold?  ETC: After consulting with my expert advisors (my two teenage sons), we all agree that right-justified and no bold is best.  |
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When I first started painting, I found that concrete wasn't just gray. It was blue in one section of the painting and brown in another. That was a step in the right direction. Today, I see things quite differently. Last night, I worked on painting a road and saw pretty much every color but black and gray in the asphalt.  I can feel the texture of the road and the sunlight that hits it. I'm not quite done with it, but the road is almost where I want it to be. I'm reading the book "Tipping Point," which gives us the science of epidemics as it relates to marketing. General premise: a few small things can make huge differences. Very well written and researched, I like its approach and observations. Good book. I took the strengths survey a long time ago for work, and of my top five, the one that gives me the most fits is "Activator," which is the strength of being impatient for action. It's a strength in that once I make a decision, I drive like hell to go in that direction. It's a weakness in that once I decide I'm not going in the right direction, I generally hit the brakes and determine a new direction. What I lose in that is the subtlety of being "close." It might be that my initial direction was generally right, but that I need to slightly adjust it and proceed. Not a new direction, but a tweak. Such grave redirections have left others with whiplash. I need to learn to be more subtle and to communicate my direction better. That way those who ride with me can anticipate what I'm doing. My old friend, Steve Neal, once told me that driving with me wasn't so much driving as careening. It's hell on my passengers. |
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Setting the stage... I want this to be done later today.  |
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Started the next painting. They never look like much at first...  But as I paint, I can feel the details as I stroke it out. I could feel the trees, for example. Hard to describe, but I'll pull them from the painting as I get further into it. I came back to Iowa with my son, Aaron, today. I spent the last two days in Minneapolis on business. I picked him up from his summer with his mom and as I drove home, I spotted something for which I'd been searching for quite some time now at mile marker 2 in Minnesota on I-35.  For those of you who've wanted me to rediscover religion, no, I haven't found a church for me. In fact, I find it funny that there's a "WRONG WAY" sign in the picture. But a friend has been after me to paint a picture of a church in a meadow. I respect her direction - it's usually right on - so while driving across the US, I looked feverishly for such a church. (I probably have no less than 30 pictures of churches in my camera right now.) But this picture is about as close as I've found to the church I had in my head. I can create a meadow around it, so at some point down the road, I'll tackle this. But at least I found my church. To paint, of course... (An old joke with the punchline, "Repaint, and thin no more," springs to mind. Aren't you glad that I shared that with you?) |
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Thankfully, the terror plot to explode planes as they fly over American cities was foiled. Once again, Islamic Jihadists conjured up this murderous idea. Do the math... 12 planes with about 400 passengers each. That would have been 4,800 dead, plus those on the ground killed from the debris. Good that it was discovered and stopped. Bad that there are those idiot enough who think that nations attacked should talk this out somehow and resolve it without violence (Randi Rhodes of Air America). As Neal Boortz says in the transcript: The way I'm afraid it is going to end is with another one of these negotiated peace agreements which will be used by radical Islam to do nothing more than to regroup, re-strength, re-arm, and become stronger until they find the time is right, usually at the instructions of Iran, to launch yet another attack on the west. Want crime in your neighborhood to stop? You kick the ass of the criminals bringing crime to your neighborhood and lock them up. You don't sit around and negotiate peace with them. Murderers don't respect sissies. They respect guns. So let's speak their language - in spades.When would-be murderers begin to respect the lives of those around them, that's when we should have any respect for their life. Until then, it's war. ETC: Hoo boy... found this from NBC's genius anchor Brian Williams, who finds equivalency between the jihadis and our soldiers. CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: But, here we have maybe 24 people who have lived in London and England and the free world for all these years that become citizens, subjects of the Crown, and yet, after having gotten to know us, they want to kill themselves to hurt us. Isn’t that an even deeper conundrum here than the chemicals being used in these attacks.BRIAN WILLIAMS: And that, Chris, that last aspect, the willingness to take one’s own life. I always tell people there are guys on our team like that, too. They’re called Army Rangers and Navy Seals and the Special Forces folks and the first responders on 9/11 who went into those buildings knowing, by the way, they weren’t going to come out. So we have players like that on our team. The difference, of course, is the huge gulf between the murderers not trying to save the life of anyone and those trying to save lives. But Williams only sees that we too "have players like that on our team." And of course, he always tells people that.To draw an equivalency at all is to have lost any moral compass whatsoever. Williams, the anchor, has no anchor. |
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Nothing feels so secure as knowing who you are and what it is that you should do and that you can do it. That confidence emanates from within. It's pretty cool. My cross-country trip cemented a lot of things for me. The cards I should paint now seem obvious and the words come easily and I feel pulled to my drafting table to paint them and complete them. Next up is a card about faith... not religious faith. You'll understand when you see it. Should be done this weekend. At the suggestion of a friend, I drove all over looking for a church in a meadow. Pretty scene, but not to be found in my travels. I have a few more leads here at home. Don't know the words for that one yet, but they will come. I'm also queuing up my next camera shots. I've reached out to some folks to be models, or for their kids to be models. I know the scene I need. I understand the lighting. It's all falling into place. I know that the next year will focus heavily on getting a slew of cards painted and printed. I've found my voice and now I want to sing all the time. "Faith is often just putting one foot in front of the other..." |
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2,080 miles. A few moments...       Well worth it :) |
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The buyers of my cards have all been working women. I read today that there are 57 million working women in the US. How do I reach them? Tomorrow, I leave on a trip to take pictures for my card business. I need source pictures for my paintings, and this should be a good opportunity to gather as many images as I can. I want to return home with a camera chock full of pictures. My last sale was 9 cards to a woman who manages a pool of administrative assistants. Why 9 cards and not a dozen? She went to my cards web site and saw that by buying 9, she would get a quantity discount and save $6, which is like getting two cards for free. More information... So how do I reach them? How do I invite them to have the color-rich, personal, affordable, portable art that I offer? That's the question I'll have in my head over the next 5 days. Time to work on the dream... |
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Friends Hold Hands (Done) |
I tweaked the words and finished the painting. Of course, I reserve the right to modify it later, but I like it.  This will be my first card with words inside: I'm so glad that you are part of my life.Simple is best, I think. |
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