Above images by June Leeloo, Terri Windling, Charles Vess, and Jeanie Tomanek, respectively…click on each image to see larger/full version.

I cannot always keep up. I try to…I long to…but I miss it sometimes. I say this to admit that one of my very favorite places to visit on the web announced the closing of its doors on May 28th and I just found out yesterday. On top of how sad this makes me feel, I feel even worse that it took me a week to discover this.

I have been very open about my inspirations for this site over the years. Neil Gaiman’s journal was my first inspiration. His habit of sharing diverse, strange, interesting things was the template by which I tried to structure my site. Lisa Snellings-Clark was another inspiration. There was something about the work she was doing and her attitude about art and life that began to push me towards exposing myself, and readers, to more art. And then there was The Endicott Studio.

The Endicott Studio site, and later its blog, was the singular website I could point most strongly to and say that what they were doing was what spoke most to my heart. And now they are saying goodbye.

Continue reading Parting is Such Bittersweet Sorrow →

(Image by Jason Chan, click for larger wallpaper version)

No, the Angel of Death hasn’t come sweeping down to collect me, but if you had been anywhere in my vicinity the past few days you might have suspected such–I brought back an extra special gift from my anniversary trip…a nasty cold. On Tuesday evening my voice started to fade. By Wednesday, much to the delight, no doubt, of my employees I could barely talk and sounded like a boy with a bad case of laryngitis going through puberty. 🙂

The cold remains but my voice has somewhat returned and with it some energy and time to get back to posting and visiting others’ sites. No Friday Favorites as such today (shed no tears) but there is a bit of art, some comedy, and a prize winner following the break!

Continue reading Freaky Friday! →

I thought I would share some of the images taken of our vacation this past week. This was our 4th annual trip to Hermann, Missouri, which is a quaint wine town situated in a valley along the Missouri River. We have fallen in love with the Hermann Hill Vineyard and Inn. For us the trip is solely about relaxing and reconnecting. Good food, good wine, good books and good movies along with a quiet appreciation of our surroundings is what we look for during these all-too-brief getaways. While gone I collected images of things to replace those lost in the most recent computer crash (lesson: back up pictures on CDs!) and also collected some images of what I would call ‘textures’ for possible use in future photography/art projects. I hope you enjoy.

Continue reading The Texture of an Anniversary Trip →

“Marriage is like pi – natural, irrational, and very important.”
~Lisa Hoffman

As the title implies, ladies and gentlemen, today is the day that marks the 19th Anniversary of the day that Mary lost all control of her senses for a few brief hours and consented before God and man to marry yours truly. Has a greater error in judgment ever been recorded? 🙂

Continue reading Nineteen Years of Wedded Bliss (and other sappy things) →

For Your Consideration…

The incomparable Midori Snyder, award-winning novelist and co-editor of THE mythic arts website, Endicott Studio, published an incredibly interesting post the other day concerning The Literary Tattoo. I recommend a detour at this point to read that post before returning here.

I have certainly considered getting a tattoo in the past and if I ever did so the idea of some reference to a beloved book is a great one. In her post she highlighted a project that takes the literary tattoo to another level.

Continue reading For Your Consideration… →