Happy Birthday, Blog!

Welcome to post number 300! Also, the blog is 5 years old. Well, not exactly 5 years, but close enough that I'm going to pretend it is. I might be too busy to give it proper attention on the 19th, and the coincidence of the nice, round "300th post" and the 5 year anniversary is too tempting to keep from packaging them together.

And now that I've made it to this milestone, you know what? Not really a big deal. On the surface, I act surprised that I've been able to keep it going this long. "Who'd a thunk it?" you might hear me say. But it's become a natural part of what I do. I hope to do more of it and use it to build up my strength. I'm not the artist I want to be, yet; creating art is not how I make my living. It is part of my job but it is not the most important part of my job. I hope to change that.

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Concerning this hideous offering
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Before I began here, at Blogspot, I briefly posted an "art journal" on my website, but I was (still am) a feeble website wrangler. It was an awkward and doomed thing. I don't think anyone saw it. I found this community and it was simple enough to understand -- I decided to join and start again.

This nasty bit of imagery is the first thing I posted on my website blog, and I re-posted it when I restarted here 5 years ago. To paraphrase its introduction:

This is a simple, almost guileless doodle but, in retrospect, a very appropriate mascot for what I am doing. He might be reckoned by some as slightly hideous. But see how he steps on-stage with an almost brutal cheerfulness. Out he shuffles into the spotlight, entirely naked but comically unaware of how much is showing. And he performs with vigor! He seems not to understand that he may be perceived as unrefined, inappropriate-- it is only the sincerity and the dignity of the performance that matters to his silly artistic soul.

As far as we can tell, the ghastly fellow might not even have an audience. That rose? He may have put that there himself-- he does like to pretend. But with or without the cheers of the crowd, the murmurs of the mob, he goes on.

And I suppose that is what this project is all about. 

Not The End