Success

Action Precedes Success

My personal experience has taught me that action precedes any result, successful or not.

“Action is the foundational key to all success.”

Pablo Picasso

I found the above quote at Success dot com. Honestly, I’m wary of platitudes. However since the fact checkers at Facebook and the truth defenders at Twitter haven’t “de-platformed” it, it must be true. So I’m going to run with this idea for awhile.

It’s been a month since I’ve written my weekly blog. The angst, the doubt, the self-censoring hold me back. I keep asking myself the questions, “What value will my words and images bring to the subscribers and those weary travelers who stumble across this web log? Are my words a sounding brass or tinkling symbol or do I really have something of value to offer my audience?”

My Uncle Milo taught me that the reason talk is cheap is because the supply exceeds the demand.

So I decided to take action over the holiday break and commit to doing an art show at Picasso’s Coffee House on Main Street in Saint Charles. My work will be hanging there February and March.

Further more, risking rejection for the 4th year in a row, I entered two pieces in an annual “juried” art show at Framations Art Gallery on main street in St. Charles called Beyond the Lens and to my astonishment, both were accepted.

The first one with the checkerboard window panes is titled “Self Portrait” and the second one with the red frame is called the “Ice Queen”.

Like Picasso’s work, my stuff is bound to increase in value after I’m gone. And since I’m in my late 60s, statistically, you won’t have that long to wait. You can take either piece home for $480.00. So what are you waiting for?

But My Real Passion

My real passion is portraiture. I love the challenge of bringing out the beauty in every body. And it’s there. Usually, it’s buried under my subject’s self-doubt. But with a little work, I dispel the doubt until their guard comes down and then I capture the image in 1/125th of a second.

Here are a couple of recent portraits.

Editorial

Honestly, one of the things holding me back is the urge to comment on current affairs (the pandemic). Honestly, I’m concerned for my country (and the rest of the world).

I trust the science to the degree I know it’s always evolving.

I do not trust politicians or bureaucrats that have been in government 50 years.

I think locking down healthy people and totally fucking up the economy had nothing to do with public health, but was all about control of the population and a massive transfer of wealth to the rich.

I believe in freedom to speak and debate, but have seen too many dissenting voices cancelled.

I’m concerned for children falling behind in education and just being screwed mentally and physically up by the mask mandates.

And I hate the god damned polarization being created by the government, and media who are owned by the same funds who own the pharmaceutical companies.

And…. my wish would be that tyranny knows no success in the land of the free.

In Closing

I’m not sorry for the rant. I’m ok if you disagree. I won’t censor you. Feel free to leave an intelligent dissenting comment in the box below.

Thank you for dropping by and giving me a few minutes of your time. I hope you found a nugget of an idea or enjoyed the portraits. Right now, I feel like my contribution to make things better is to make better art.

Peace, love and respect,
Mike