Kofia Kat

He only looks this serene when his next meal is in sight.

Shemagh Kat

I love this little guy!

Meerkat in Shemagh - looks like vigilance.

Sticky Fingers and a Stiff Upper Lip

nothing exudes confidence like a monocle and bowler!

Oh, for an Opposable Thumb

with an opposable thumb he could sip a martini too. 

Fedora Bob

as if he weren't cool enough already!

Photography

Courtesy of: SnapKnot - Find Local Wedding Photographers

Art or Erotica

I got this idea recently—it may have been an artistic inspiration, but it seems unnecessarily pretentious to say so—to modify one of my hot rod photographs by adding a stylized nude female torso as a distortion map under the grill. Here is a 'before-and-after' so you can judge the results:

original image - artistic by my friend's estimation.

'enhanced' image - that's hair at the top, a shoulder
below, and then a very nice, if somewhat pheumatic, breast -
no longer artistic according to my friend. IDK, really.
You decide.

My original concept didn't work out as I expected, so I made some modifications and finally ended up with the above as the best I could do with my limited command of Photoshop technique. It's okay, I think, but not quite what I envisioned. What I got is abstract to the point of being unrecognizable. I wanted recognizable. I wanted the nude form to pop out of the grill, not because I wanted to titillate but rather because I wanted people to look at it and wonder how I did that . . . or even better, to wonder how the guy that built the hot rod did that. Instead I've got people wondering what the hell it is.

I sent a copy to an artist friend of mine to get her opinion. She thought it was okay until she found out what it was. I had to tell her. Even then, she had a hard time seeing the nude. She thought this was fine so long as the nude was just abstract distortion. If the nude became obvious, then for her at least, what I had was no longer artistic but sleazy. According to her, anything that titillates is not art.

I pointed out that the nude form has been featured in art for centuries. She thinks the nude human form is artistic enough all by itself provided that 1) it is not meant to excite the sexual appetite of the viewer, and 2) it is not attached to something else—in this case a car. Putting a nude on a car cheapens both the car and the nude. Somehow the combination is vaguely pornographic, while the parts may stand alone as art.

I think she is wrong about this. I think she is ignoring two important things. First, she is ignoring the long-standing tradition of erotic art. Erotic art may be a subset of art, but it is still firmly ensconced under the general umbrella of art. Erotic art has been around since the beginning of art. I can't prove that. I don't remember any actual instances of erotic cave drawings for instance, but I have seen examples in Egyptian pictographs, on Mayan, Incan, and Aztec ruins, on ancient Chinese and Japanese scrolls, and even on Medieval churches. Some, if not all, of these were meant to titillate, but no one thinks they are not art. They are just so old that the patina of smut has worn off.

The other thing my friend has failed to understand is the long association of automobiles with eroticism. Every man understands this relationship from adolescence. There is a natural symbiosis between cars and naked women that cannot be denied. It wasn't put there by advertisers, although Lord knows they have spent an awful lot of effort reinforcing it. No, it has existed almost since the beginning of cars—just like eroticism has been a compelling theme in art almost since the beginning of graphic representation. The nude female form has been integral to the design of and the irresistible essence of the automobile since the first sheet-metal artisan hammered the first compound curve into a fender panel over a hundred years ago. You only have to look at the sleek, elegant, and oh-so-sexy Auburn Boattail Speedster on the cover of my book to know that is true.

Speedster is available from a number of outlets in a variety of formats.
Follow this link to my Goodreads book page to find the source that fits your needs.

Art Project

floating image inside bottle . . . so cool . . . and I made it!

I've been waiting approximately forever (maybe a year and a half) to get some commission work for my art. It's finally happened. While we were returning from the art show at my sister-in-law's house in Deland a couple of weeks ago, I got a call from an event planner in Miami wanting to know if I could duplicate one of my pieces that she had seen in my Etsy store, only using her images, to create centerpieces for a big 60th birthday party that she is doing.

Here's a picture of the piece that tickled her fancy . . . and that of her client. I call it Patron Cadillac. It's a 1954 Caddy on an empty Patron Silver tequila bottle. It looks pretty cool, if I do say so myself . . . and I do. You should too, because I know what the hell I'm talking about, and by now you should know that's true.

The neat thing about working with a commission client is that they challenge your processes trying to get exactly the effect that they want. The first thing that happened with these folks is that they thought, from looking at the pictures on Etsy, that the image was on the inside of the bottle. It is not. It is on the outside of the bottle, but when I realized that they wanted it to be on the inside because that's what they thought they were looking at, I had to figure out how to get it on the inside. So I did - because, you know, I'm kind of a genius when it comes to figuring out how to do obscure shit. Just saying.

Anyway, figuring that part out inspired me to take the concept several steps further. To that end I've got some ideas for interesting new stuff. Keep checking back, because whatever I come up with will be here first.

Holiday Madness

So it's been over a month since my last post here and that was a recipe for meatloaf, which let's face it, is kind of like cheating - unless you tried the meatloaf, of course, in which case you should be impressed enough with my kitchen skills to cut me some slack on the regularity of my blog posts.

Truth is I've been busy - something I never thought I would hear myself say again since I don't really have anything to do anymore except tinker, which by definition, is on my own terms and according to my own schedule, a flexible thing these days - certainly more flexible than I am in my advancing old age.

I did an art show in mid December at my sister-in-law's place in Deland, FL. I set up a tent in her back yard and displayed most of my stuff, hoping to sell some of it to the more discerning locals.

I actually did move a few pieces. That much was gratifying, although I didn't move nearly enough to justify the back-breaking effort required to load all that stuff up in a rented trailer and haul it 150 miles, then repack it and haul it all back.

There is a reason I never want to move again, and it's the very same reason that I really don't want to do another art show unless I can get a minion or two to do all the freaking work. Sitting in a director's chair in a tent and talking to people about my work is actually quite pleasant. Getting that work out on display so I can talk about it . . . not so much.

I did some more cooking over the holidays. My Christmas culinary triumph was bacon brittle. That's right, B A C O N  B R I T T L E. The name says everything you need to know about it except how to make it. That will remain my little secret . . . unless you buy my book. If you buy my book and send me an email telling me how much you enjoyed it (or didn't - I'm not particular in that regard) I will send you the recipe. If you put a good review up on Amazon or Smashwords or Goodreads, I will come over to your house and love on you. I realize that may not be a great incentive, but I'll be just that happy. I might even bring food.

Bulletnose: 24" x 36' x 1.5" gallery wrap canvas print

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Time for me to change things up.

As I pointed out in my last blog entry, I've got a lot of stuff to do and I may be running out of time to do it. I don't necessarily think I'm about to die just because I've got cancer, but I have to treat it as a possibility until someone tells me otherwise.

So far my doctor has been loathe to bear bad news. He is handing me off to another doctor though, one who specializes in cancer in the sinus cavities. He's at the Sylvester Cancer Center at the University of Miami. My first appointment with him is Thursday, Oct. 4th. I am not wildly optimistic.

Optimism is not in my nature. This is why I suck so much at working the so-called Law of Attraction. Some of you will remember that I am trying to attract $749 million. So far I have received something like $87.50. I've got a ways to go.

From now on this blog will cease to be personal anecdotes and rants about politics and religion. I am going to concentrate on art and fiction here. I have a lot of works in progress, but I never seem to finish anything.

From now on I will be posting about my progress in this arena and including occasional excerpts from my work. You should help me out by commenting and making suggestions.

Eventually I will redo my tabs so that I can segregate the photography and graphic arts content from the fiction.

I don't suppose for a minute that I will be able to give up politics and religion cold turkey. When I am overcome by passion or anger or disbelief I will post about it on my other blog, Letters to Nineveh, which is way more aptly titled for such content anyway.

To get things started I submit a prototype graphic that combines a poem I wrote over a background that I photographed. I originally envisioned a series of these called Poemography. This ought at least to give you some idea how my mind works...or doesn't.