. . . but not for good. I'll merely have to drastically cut back the hours spent here.

After a ten year hiatus, I'm rejoining the workforce! I've been offered a job I can't refuse; I've accepted an offer to work with the public schools as an assistant librarian. It's going to be a BIG change from my previous job as the head of a Documentation group for a defense contractor. That job paid about $40,000 annually (remember, this was ten years ago) - my new job will pay $12,000 a year for a full-time position. Today will be my first day at my new job - school officially starts tomorrow.

The biggest difference is that I'll be around high school kids who are interested in learning as opposed to grown men who get excited about kill ratios and blast areas. Of course, I'm going to do what I can to promote art, music, empathy and compassion for our fellow man.

Consequently, my time here at dA will be cut severely. I'm not going to be able to keep up with the average 30 deviations and 90 comments I receive daily. I'm going to have to skim and choose what to view and who to answer. I hope NEVER to offend anyone, and will try to devote an equal (small) amount of time to all of you - you're all important to me.

In closing, I'd like to leave you all with a long quote from Marcel Proust. I hope that this gives you all some hope and determination for those rough periods that all artists inevitably experience.

Everything great in the world comes from neurotics. They have composed our masterpieces. We enjoy lovely music, beautiful paintings, a thousand delicacies, but we have no idea of their cost to those who invented them, in sleepless nights, spasmodic laughter, rashes, asthmas, epilepsies, and the fear of death, which is worse than all the rest.

Remembrances of Things Past

You'll visit my friend Azad's page and give him as much support as you can. It takes less trouble than commenting on a Daily Dev, it's more important than taking a poll about what colors you like most and it's more important than talking about the latest movie, your favorite anime or your plans next week.

PEOPLE ARE DYING! And all because they want freedom, justice and for their supposedly democratic elections to be honored. It doesn't matter if you're not a political person, it doesn't matter if you don't like to get involved - what this world needs is more EMPATHY. The ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes is unique to mankind. Use that to make a difference.
____________

From Azad's journal (don't stop here - there are links to petitions on his journal that you can't find here).

Deport all Iranian Diplomats.
Deport all Iranian Diplomats.
Deport all Iranian Diplomats.




We need to your support. in a few days, the basijis and Government of Iran arrested thousands of people and we had no idea where the people are. 6 being executed. it was over 250 people on the street shot and killed. The injured were ambulance transported directly to the prisons.
Everyboy can send protest notes to your government to break off diplomatic relations and impose trade sanctions against Iran and send them to the ambassador of the Iran Republic.)



Deportieren alle iranischen Diplomaten.
Deportieren alle iranischen Diplomaten.


wir brauchen Ihre unterstützung. in wenige tagen haben die basijis und regierung des iran tausende menschen festgenommen und wir wiesen nicht, wo die menschen sind. 6 davon hingerichtet. es wurd über 250 menschen auf der straßen erschossen und getötet. Die verletzte wurden mit ambulance direkt zum Gefängnisse transportiert.

PLEASE - IF YOU ARE ON MY WATCH LIST IT'S BECAUSE I THINK YOU'RE SPECIAL! Just drop by and leave a nice comment in support of Azad and his homies. He's literally risking his life to bring you this news!

[link]

As artists we ALL KNOW that sometimes hope is the only thing to carry us through the day. The hope you can give Azad and his friends may be the best thing you'll ever do. PLEASE, it takes two seconds to tell him you care. I want to go to his page and see the avatars of ALL my friends there.

I've got several things on my mind at once. I"m currently working on two paintings for a juried art show with the theme of "Celestial Bodies" (and no, they don't mean nudes). Nothing, and I mean NOTHING is going right in my attempts. The deadline is tomorrow (I found out about this late last week) and the contest has stringent rules regarding media. They will only allow oil paints, watercolors or pastels. I found out about the show too late to work in oils (no time to dry) and even though I've done many Spacescapes ([link]), I've always used acrylics. I love pastels, but large format pastel-board is very expensive and I didn't have a wide range of pastel colors suitable for planets and such. I knew the only choice then was watercolors. I love working with watercolors and have said before that they are misunderstood as a media (everyone sees them as a "beginner's media).

My first attempt was my own mistake. I forgot that watercolors and Bristol board don't mix well. The smooth surface doesn't have enough "tooth" for watercolors to work well. My bad, so I chucked my first attempt. I got some cold-press watercolor paper and proceeded with a beautiful piece (using my airbrushes, of course). When I went to pull off the LOW TACK frisket I had masked it with, it lifted off the upper layer of painting, ruining the entire work. I chucked the second attempt. The third attempt worked out fairly well, but I made the mistake of NOT using an old toothbrush to stipple the liquid frisket onto the paper. Instead I used a tool that came with the frisket. As a result the stars look too contrived and evenly sized and spaced (no pun intended). The various elements of the painting look great alone, but together they were an artistic disaster (I may post the result in my scraps if anyone cares to see). I went onto the next attempt. EVERYTHING was going GREAT with this last attempt. The paint was flowing smoothly through my airbrush, the stars looked natural and the planets came out beautifully with some new metallic watercolors I was trying (very inexpensive and made by Lowe Cornell). I was putting the final touches on the painting when the wind kicked up and it threatened to rain. Now, it doesn't rain here in the desert very often and I honestly didn't think we'd see any rain, BUT it did sprinkle very lightly for about ten seconds. As I work outdoors, I was obviously concerned and took the time to glance skyward from my porch. In that short time, God apparently thought it would be fun to test my awareness and my resolve. A single drop of rain hit me on the cheek and when I looked down at my painting, I saw that a single drop of rain had landed on it as well. Well, you don't have to be a rocket scientist (or even an artist) to know what happens when water mixes with a fresh watercolor painting! I'm not too sure I can fix it, and at this point I'm not even sure I want to! I think I'll just have to resign myself into believing that my work isn't meant for public view. It's now Thursday afternoon and I don't have a single thing to submit. It's getting so I frankly don't care.

In even MORE depressing news, I found out through another friend of a friend that some cell phone companies are collaborating with the dictatorial Iranian government to identify Iranian citizens who are protesting the obvious sham elections that Ahmedinejad claims keep him in office. This is a gross abuse of human rights and should be a slight to ANYONE who values freedom and justice. You can read more about it here (and please leave a comment and read the links): [link]

In smaller news, but just as depressing, dA is categorizing members in a way that I believe is unfair and uncalled for. It's bad enough that there are financial divisions between us all without emphasizing those divisions with a guilt trip. Of course, I realize that this is a money-making effort on dA's part, but this is truly distasteful if you ask me, and I frankly hadn't noticed until I read this news article. The article was written by a new friend and she's unbelievably articulate for her age. Please read the article and comment here: [link]

LAST, and certainly least - I've jumped on the YouTube bandwagon and created a short video featuring many of my paintings. I hope to do more of them in the near future along with some original musical compositions. Please take a look and leave a comment. I sorely need your love and support here - this video has been up for several weeks and I haven't received a single view (other than my own) or a single comment.

You can find it here: [link]

Other than that, not much is new, but if you're a devout pessimist/cynic/misanthrope like I am, no news is good news!

Enough of Michael Jackson - I don't want to be guilty of doing the very thing I've been complaining about so I thought it is time to change my journal.

I'm aiming for something a little different this time and found a few contests that I think many of my dA friends would be perfectly suited to enter. The first I found in a UK publication for Mac computers (MAC Format). The contest is entitled GRADUATE SHOWCASE 2009, and is especially for undergraduate or graduate students in their final year of study (anywhere in the world). The contest categories are: Illustration, Graphic Design, 3D Design, Web & Interactive Media, Animation and Video & Broadcast Design. You can enter the contest online at [link]

Now something for all my Digital Photograhy friends. There are apparently cash prizes for a range of new categories (I can't attest to this having only heard of this contest), but it's touted as THE WORLD'S BIGGEST PHOTO COMPETITION. This contest is in association with [link], skyARTS and The Royal Photographic Society. I know all of my digital art friends can easily stand up to the scrutiny of any judges so I hope you all enter and make me proud. You can find out more about this contest at [link]

Another contest that appears to be very prestigious is the Chelsea Fine Art International Contest in New York City. It's judges include several prominent gallery owners as well as important art critics. I think it's the dream of many artists to be recognized by an important gallery in a cultural hub like NYC or LA and here is your chance to get recognized. Learn all about entry fees, how to enter, and view the participants of last year's competition. Do YOU have what it takes? You'll never know unless you try. More info here: [link]

Across the country from NYC there is a prestigious contest for digital artists (of nearly any category, including photography, animation, video, etc.) being held in Los Angeles. It's the LACDA INTERNATIONAL JURIED COMPETITION and you can find out about it here: [link] Better hurry the deadline for submissions is July 20 with the winners being announced the week after.

The remainder of the links I'll provide are comprehensive lists of various art contests being held on a regular basis. It would be a good idea to bookmark these pages as they'll no doubt be updated regularly.

This first link lists contest for various media and interests (watercolors only, costal subjects only, etc.) and provides info on contests from which well known art magazines choose their future featured artists. [link]

This link provides a long list of various contests for nearly all media (including writing) as well as some contest involving very specific categories (like butterfly photo of the year - I know some of you have BEAUTIFUL photos of butterflys). Take a look through these lists, you might just find the one that will put YOUR NAME in lights: [link]

This last list is also fairly comprehensive in it's call for artists of different media. There seems to be something for everyone in every media. Take advantage of the link to get your art out there. I would like nothing more than to see a dA friend make it big (as long as you don't forget me when you're famous). Give it a go here: [link]

If I run into any more contests that fit your particular niche in the artworld, I will post them (and probably note you). I hope this was informative and I hope you all join at least one of these many contests!

OMG! MICHAEL JACKSON IS DEAD!

Have the riots in Iran stopped? Have the Iranian people finally gotten the Democracy they want and deserve?

Has Osama Bin Laden been captured? Is the dangerous threat of Al Qaeda at an end?

Is there finally peace in the middle east? Are the Israelis and Palestinians finally beating their weapons into plowshares?

Have we finally beaten the threat of a worldwide pandemic with a cure for Swine Flu?

Did someone finally discover a cure for cancer?

WHO CARES? MICHAEL JACKSON IS DEAD!

My respect for the mental tenacity of the American intellect went up a few notches during the last Presidential elections and I thought we were FINALLY going to start paying attention to things that really mattered! I believed that the anti-intellectualism that was so prevalent during the Bush years had finally come to an end and Americans had finally lost their inability to concentrate for more than two minutes. Not so. We have proven how fickle a society we are by gawking at the first shiny object dangled in front of us. Like so many infants infatuated with daddy's keys as he jangles them above us, our attention is drawn away from the hundreds dying in Iran, a Republican governor who literally disappeared for an entire week (while having an illicit sexual affair - those crazy family values), the fact that India's farmers are suffering a horrible drought that promises a widespread famine, a new bombing in Baghdad killing 15 and wounding 46 others, or that several Minutemen (an armed militia of conservative, White xenophobes who "protect" our southern borders from illegal immigrants) broke into a home and shot and killed a 29 year old Hispanic man and his 9 year old daughter to death (he wife was also shot and left for dead, but called the police shortly before they re-entered the home). All because the "King of Pop" is dead.

I've already quit watching newscasts as the American media is partially to blame for our infatuation with the death of celebrities. Every minute of nearly every hour is dedicated to Michael Jackson. There are already dozens of programs with titles like "Michael Jackson - His Life and His Legacy" and "The Life and Times of Michael Jackson," being promised to the hungry viewers. What can they possibly offer that wasn't previously available as common knowledge (other than, of course, the details of his death) before yesterday? Nothing. Apparently he was planning a big "comback" tour and now he's more popular than he's been in decades!

The odd thing is that longtime television star Farrah Fawcett died on the same day that Jackson did. Of course, SHE didn't die suddenly like Jackson and her malady (rectal cancer) was too horrific to stop to think about, so we're content to quietly shuffle her passing onto a lower shelf while we make much ado about the controversial (and once suspected pedophile) Jacko dying. America loves its weirdos.

I never much cared for the man myself. Sure, he had a couple of catchy tunes and he DID do the very first 21 minute music video featuring zombies (and directed by John Landis), but I frankly thought the parodies of Jackson's videos by Weird Al Yankovic MUCH more creative. This is all a real shame for poor Farrah who was constantly upstaged by other people in her career (including Ryan O'Neil her onetime abusive husband who is apparently hoping for a comeback now that he's momentarily in the limelight again). Two celebrities died on the same day. One provided masturbatory fantasies for thousands of young boys; the other had masturbatory fantasies of thousands of young boys.

So this is how it ends. Michael Jackson will be rotting in his grave before we see the conclusion to the numerous television programs dedicated to his life, his death, his controversies, his family, his funeral and his music. Considering his worldwide popularity the airtime that will be devoted to Jackson's death promises to be more tedious than the deaths of Anna Nicole Smith, Ronald Reagan and Elvis all rolled into one.

I know better than to leave my readers a healthy dose of my cynicism and irreverence. I don't want you to go away sad so I'll leave you with an old joke. What is the difference between Michael Jackson and a shopping bag? Answer: One is white, made of plastic and dangerous to children, the other is used to carry groceries.