As an art community, I'm encouraging anyone with a spare buck to take a look over at this fellows work and buy if you can, or donate a buck or two (a little adds up fast) to help this artist out, and keep his copyright on his intellectual property. It's his art, he should be able to keep it!

Consider this a chance to stick to a genuine asshole, while helping out a gifted metal worker.

[link]

Re-post to your own journals and social net sites. By helping him, we help ourselves.

Read This!

My life and career aren't the easiest, but I have fun, and I have high hopes. I'm confident and dedicated to my love and abilities in my field of artistic endevours. To think that someone could take away my chances for a fulfilling career in an artistic field simply because I don't have the money to compete with the them, based onthe new laws they managed to pay congressmen to pass frightens me. It frightens me because after all the changes I've seen taking place in the world, I know how close it is.

Please take the time to read this article and do a bit of research. Know what's going on. Then write that letter, make that call, make your voice heard. If too many people believe it's going to happen no matter what, it will.

If enough people know they can stop it by their screams of indignation, it will be stopped.

Well, I've amde it to and past Dragon Con, and I'm feeling a little like a boat with no rudder. I made a couple of contacts, and I spent four days with some great friends, got many, many pictures, far more than I usually take, and I had the best time I've ever had at Dragon Con. There may be some hope for this convention franchise yet.

The exhibit booth at DC was fun. Mostly sat around, yelling at people to stop for a moment and get a quick shot of their costume, sketched out the occasionally drawing here and there, and kept general morale at a peak. My friend Desz started a quote sheet for the con, and I dominated most of page one fairly quickly with gems like, "I am SO squeezing your tooth paste from the middle," and "Run, Pimp, Run!" Good times, good times...

Time not spent at the booth, I was found wandering about Hilton and diving into the dealer room and the rest of the Exhibit hall. I kept my camera at the ready at all times, and got some great shots of some truly well-made costumes, and some not-so-well-made costumes as well. I shot over to the Hyatt for the speed sketch competition, and I knew I should broke that chick's kneecaps before we got started. I may have had a chance. I'm taking it next year, with the gods as mah witness!

Another week, and I hope to have completely re-integrated with civilian life.

Ok, so as my second genuine post, I'd like to announce that I've reunited with my family, and it feels so good. For the past two years, I've been living between Atlanta and Charlotte, driving down to work at Sacred Heart tattoo in GA, and coming back up to Gastonia, NC to be with my wife and kids for my weekend. I've now found a small, lovely shop in Hickory, NC, a mere 45 minutes from my house, and it is here that I've set up shop, for the time being at least. While I'll miss my friends I've made with the Sacred Heart Familia, my family comes first, and the reputation will come to me, if it takes a while.

The shop and business have slowed down rather inexplicably. While it's expected to happen every year, it's a bit early yet, and it might not be so bad if I was caught up on my bills in the first place. Suffice to say, if you'e in the area and have been thinking about getting a tattoo, or getting one started, now is the perfect time! Baby needs a new pair of shoes!

Also Dragon Con is looming ever close. The September issue of Dragon Magazine, and Dungeon Magazine will have a full page add for Quicksylver Productions in it detailing our showcase there. It's my work in print, ya'll! I can't wait to see it. What's more, it will be a super-sized issue, as it's the last printed issue. After this, they go all web, so be sure not to miss it.

That is all. Keep your eyes on the stars, keep the engines cool, keep flying.

MAJOR ARCANA - THE TEMPERANCE - NUNO GOMES

Here runs the river you glimpsed in prayer.
It's chill and pure, quick with ancient trout that speak.
Gills fanned, silver at ease in deep pools,
they gossip of prophets and warfare,
of the metallic fate of all heroes.

Mute irises flower on the bank
but keep their stories locked in root.
At their base, thyme smothers dull rue,
blooms under rosemary, tells its own
sunny tale of ease and simple growth.

Gabriel stands before the herbs,
dawn at his back, absorbed by his task.
Water pours between two cups he holds
and as it flows from hand to holy hand,
the destroyer of Gomorrah is still,
transfixed by control and containment.

This peaceful land is the end of the boneyard,
the source of myth, the garden of fable,
and yet, beyond it, a dirt path winds eastward,
upward toward mountains: an uneasy trail
for those who must know what lies beyond heaven.


I found this poem very.... relaxing. Very much like the card it's written of. Since I didn't want to lose it, and wanted to see it often, i decided to place it here. I hope Libellula won't mind.