Maturity

Yesterday was a windfall day in that some sort of psychic tension was finally released. Be it the failure of congress to come to a resolution regarding their spending and taxation policies or my own personal turmoil, our collective unconscious spasmed and new truths emerged. The realization dawned on me that you grow up when you consider the last major action you took to be immature. In other words, you know you have changed when you can openly and honestly admit that you have changed. The world has changed, and continues to, but the powers that be still grasp at the past, as if embracing a gravestone would resurrect the departed.

The Magic Card Project

I recently became re-aquatinted (read addicted) to the trading card game Magic the Gathering. I've spent a bit of money and reassembled some decks using my old card, but I got to thinking that re-creating some of the fantastic artwork found in the set might be a good way to polish my skills. Here are the ones I have created so far: 

Atog

Black Lotus

 Darksteel reactor

 Force of Nature

 Hypnotic Specter

 Island

 Mana Leak

 Nightmare

Shivan Dragon 

Storm Crow

Book Covers

Here are a few book covers I've been working on.
Send me an email if you'd like to know more.

Invigoratingly Passionate

This is an old link from 2009, but with the crisis re-emerging, I felt it was relevant:

Danny Mendlow: The Reality of the Economic Crisis

King Makers

One of the perils of current intergenerational interaction is the tendency for the previous generation to set up rules and regulations as barriers against the newer generation, hurdles that they themselves never had to surmount. Corporations in the past hired from within, promoted, trained, but with the rise of private education and the ballooning cost of schooling, the burden of training has fallen upon the individual. Yet there are certain skills that can only be gained form actual experience, and when entry level positions require five or more years of previous work, there is not entry point for the new generation. Granted, every age group has its own set of irregularities, rough edges, that other groups may find appalling, but in previous eras these differences were washed over due to the necessity of turnover. With the advent of advanced medical care and postponed retirement, we are now seeing the formation of a great glass ceiling hanging over anyone under thirty-five. A younger generation can never meet the expectations of the older, if no chance will be given in the first place.

You Are Not Worthless

You are not worthless,

You are not the sum of your parts,

You are not your degree, or lack there of,

You are not your experience, your experiences are your own,

You are not under qualified, you are misunderstood,

You are not the newest clothes, the freshest gear,

You are not rejection,

You are not failure,

You are not poverty,

You are not depression,

You are not a savior,

You are not alone,

You are not a princess, nor a king,

You are not a resume,

You are not a mistake,

You are not irredeemable,

You are not trapped,

You are a child of the most high, and you are anything but worthless.

Happy are the trees

Confident are the buffalo who, after devouring the field, feel that the grass still owes them.