The words you see on this page are from the 1935 printing of the story, Spot. (everyone knows that story, right?) I have actually deleted the first version of this story because I was getting way too nostalgic and bringing up old childhood crap that was really going against the spirit of the page in which this is painted on. I mean this is a children's story that is really written with the intent of helping children learning to read. I wish I could say something that honorable about the stuff I write, but I can't. My short, spur of the moment, napkin scrawls of stories that I throw together with the hope of reminding us all there is meaning in everything and that all moments have the capacity for something other than our own gratification, have nothing on books like this... like Spot. As I flip through the 74 year old yellowed pages, I can imagine the millions of kids that have stumbled over and then mastered the words in this book and on this word list and I can only hope to one day be able to create such work that makes that kind of difference. With that, all the important words to the story are found here and looking over the list, I bet everyone of us knows them all. Here is to Spot... Enjoy!

Words Fall Like Butter Off My Eyelids
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I probably should stay away from the keys tonight. The doctor gave me some vicodin to deal with the pain in my left side, just below the ribs but above the hip and the bruise there is the size of a paperback and things are spinning and slanted just a bit and I suppose that painting is easier in this state of mind and the words fall like butter off my eyelids onto the screen. So, I am going to stop there and just leave this painting as it is... with four hearts. ...Enjoy!
Those where the years when I just wanted to leave. There was a world to see but I was still in school and I was sure that the rest of the world was spinning around while I rotted away in a little lower class suburb in West Michigan figuring out what everything was about and where I fit into it. It was around this time that I discovered painting, writing and Tropic of Cancer. There are moments in your life when the timing of discovery could not be more perfect. As if a meeting had been arranged by someone between time, an object, a moment and you and it comes together and moves you through your current place in life. I drank in Tropic of Cancer in a few days and then started it right over and read it again in a few days. I still have the original copy that I read way back then. Somehow, over the years, the first 10 pages have gone missing, the covers is ripped and thumbsucked and as I skimmed through the remaining pages and randomly sampled paragraphs and sentences, I decided that I am going to work on turning the rest of the pages of this same book into my own work of art as a tip of that hat to those days and these words and here it continues with page 49. So, with that here is #4 of the series and it will be complete when there are no more pages left...Enjoy!

Two Of Us Going Nowhere
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Just daydreaming and painting. That's it...Enjoy!

In The Mirror You Realize How Unfinished You Are
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To be honest with you I don't really feel much like writing this evening. It was one of those days when you don't remember half of the car ride home because you are staring out the window with your mind on other things and you get home and catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror and you realize how unfinished you are as a human being. To be honest, I don't feel like doing much at all this evening. The corporate world has taken it out of me. If it was just me, I would trade my life in the corporate world for a bologna sandwich. The details are unimportant as I can assume that most of you have had that similar thought at one time or another. You know what? I think I am just going to leave it there. It is really enough said and I can see I am getting nowhere except maybe getting a little off my chest but none of that changes things. With that, here is to realizing that you are unfinished and knowing it is OK and embracing it...Enjoy!

The Skin You Should Have Been Born With. 1889.
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As a graphic artist and a history buff, I love old design. Particularly old advertisements. These old ones from pre-1900 are interesting because they often don't use any imagery all, just text. It reads like a high school AP English term paper about the product. "Dermador is a liquid for external application" is the big tag line. That just wouldn't work today. Today it would be something like "Dermador. It Gives You The Skin You Should Have Been Born With." Which is equal parts lie and hope and doesn't tell you exactly what it does, although that part is still consistent with the original. Even after reading the entire page all I could figure is it was a lotion of some kind and could cure anything that may be going haywire with your skin. I am not really sure where I am going with this other than some rambling about history and art and lies and hope and design and writing and all of it coming together 120 year later with some wine, some paints and a reason too look back and a reason to look forward...Enjoy!

It Is Our Song And We Fall Into Each Other
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When I look at this painting I like to think that it tells its own story and doesn't need me in the way. ...Enjoy!

I Rarely Work In Silence
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I rarely work in silence. There is always music or talk or something coming over the speakers that are to my right. For some reason, and seemingly out of nowhere I will run across a song that just captures the moment or the emotion of the moment and I put it on replay until I can't listen to it any longer. Well, this is the case with this song, Starving In The Belly of the Whale by Tom Waits. Anyway, listening to the song the other day I realized that I had never attempted to paint a whale in my life (let alone staring in the belly of one) so I figured it was about dang time I gave it a go. Well, I guess that could be said about alot of things that you have never tried before. It's just best to give it a go and hope for the best. Here is to hoping for the best...Enjoy! PS. I wish fish really looked like this. I would immediately take up scuba diving. Also, is it just me or does this whale just make you smile?