Craigslist, Home Of Crooks And Charlatans...

I have been trying to use Craigslist for one of my new business ventures. It's been a few months. I have ads placed in five different states, in a variety of cities.

For every one legitimate response I get to one of my ads, I get about 500 or more responses from some jackass trying to scam me.

Every time I listen to the news, I hear of someone else that has been ripped off, robbed, assaulted or murdered by a person they met on Craigslist.

Almost every ad I have every responded to on Craigslist has been placed by someone trying to scam me.

It seems to me that it has become a breading ground for criminals, thugs, and con artists.

I run ads on other venues and a variety of different sites. I never get the responses from them, that I get from Craigslist. In fact I seldom get any response from any of the other sites.
Not legit or scammers.

So what is it about Craigslist that attracts the dead beats and derelicts?

T-Mobile Broke Up With Me Over A Cheap Phone...

After ten years of loyal customer support of T-Mobile, they have told me point blank that they 


would rather lose my business than upgrade two six year old phones for free. All I wanted was


two very basic, call, text and camera phones. I was willing to sign a two year extension and 


upgrade our plans. Didn't matter. I have always told everyone I knew how wonderful T-Mobile 


was. Well from now on I will be telling everyone I know how terrible and greedy they have 


become. They were more than happy to lose a customer of ten years over a cheap $20 phone. 


So who's happy with their phone provider, as long as it's anyone except T-Mobile?

More Crack...

 detail image

 18 x 46 inches

 detail image

 12 x 16 inches

 18 x 24 inches

 8 x 10 inches

detail

with tinting

This is the most frightening point of this process. Having to cover the entire painting. It always kind of freaks me out. 

This is the color that stays in the cracks when I wash it off the canvas

Shar - after crack

Shar - on crack

Cracked...

I absolutely LOVE cracking my paintings. It's like the cracks provide a harmony that wasn't there before. Or maybe it's just me that's cracked...

Whatever.

This is the first seascape that we've cracked. I like it very much. I think it's the unpredictability that intrigues me the most. 

I've been working on Bubbles here, for almost 5 years now. I think I may have finished this time.

I had the bucket of gesso open and was about to paint over this lady. I'm pleased that I didn't. I really like the large blemish over the brick area. Unpredictable. It's a whole new work.

Not so sure I care for this. I really liked the painting the way it was. Here is where that unpredictability is a real drag. The cracks are way too big for the size of this work. It's bugging me. Sometimes that eagerness to keeping tweaking is a mistake. Sometimes you just need to leave things alone.
So now, do I leave it at this point and be unhappy with it? Or do I try to tweak it a bit more and get something better? Can I live with myself if I ruin it for good?

Moments Of Magic...

Summers never last long enough. I try to remember the joy of summers. No school, few responsibilities, almost nonstop recess. Life was endless and infinite.

With age comes the weight of the world. Commitments we have no control over. Dramas and traumas are thrown at us daily. We often forget how to fly. To let go and just be. 

To look down on ourselves and observe. Is that how we really look? Is that how we really act? Are those the people and things around us that really matter? If only we had the instant replay or the do over. How wonderful would things be?

We are left to wonder what if. If only. What then. 

I try to find moments. Where a simple act, caught in the moment, can mean everything. Those are the times I try to lock away in the depths of my mind to remember. To cherish in the times when there seems to be no hope or laughter left in the world.

At any given moment, the most wonderful things in the world can happen. When the universe is doing it's best to break you. When you can't see beyond the fog. You have those perfect moments in your mind. When life was grand. There is no need to remember anything else. You know in your mind that life can be magical and that it was once. And it can be again.