Yes, it's been quite a while since I last posted. Holiday activities don't really make for interesting blog posts since everybody is doing something more or less similar. I'm staying away from political rants as much as possible, so all the excitement over the fiscal cliff debacle was just background noise. Annoying noise, but very predictable these days. I was also getting over a bad sinus infection, and that really makes for a boring blog post. So what could I write about? Movies? Eh. Not many rate a post. Weather? You must be kidding. The dogs? They're my life, but you don't really care. No, I had nothing much to write about, so rather than launch lots of random words into the blogosphere, I decided to just shut up.
But now I have something to write about. I am employed again. I'm working as a program and project manager with a defense contractor on a really interesting project. We're going to help build a security installation overseas. I've been spending my time reading lots and lots of background material, emails, documentation, websites, and so on, trying to get as smart as possible as fast as possible. Basically, I'm going thru the same routine here that I did in Afghanistan and Iraq, and repeatedly during my Navy career: I'm thrown into a new situation where I need to be an expert on pretty much everything by sometime yesterday. And that's a kinda fun place to be.
This new job fits me to a T. Besides giving me the opportunity to work on a very interesting and worthwhile project, it is (for the most part) virtual. I don't have to deploy anywhere - I can do the vast majority of work from right here. So my commute is from my kitchen to the office down the hall. Cool. There will be travel occasionally, but nothing that will last very long. I can be (and am) interrupted by my wife and dogs regularly. The job is also part-time, or at least it will be once I'm up to speed. That means that I'll be able to set up a studio and start painting again. About time, too: it's been going on two years since I've had a real studio and been able to paint, and I'm going through withdrawals. (Well, not really, but whenever I walk into an artist studio now and smell the linseed oil and solvents, I go weak in the knees). So I'm a pretty happy man.
Speaking of studio stuff, I learned the other day that two of my paintings will hang in the Pentagon for about a year. The Veteran Artist Program (run by a group of veterans who are artists in the DC and Baltimore area) has organized an exhibition by veteran artists. They selected these two works:
I will have to deliver these paintings to DC personally. They're large (5 feet by 5 feet each, meaning the figures are life-size) so they'd be really expensive to ship. And I just don't trust shippers. Besides, I want to see where these are going to hang. If they're buried in the basement or something, forget it, I'll bring 'em home.
One final note on art stuff. Next month, I will have an exhibition at UNC Asheville. Yes, I know, I just had a show of my Afghan drawings there. This one will be different. In the past, they've had a group show of work by various alumni. This year, the school decided to focus on one alumnus at a time, and the Fickle Finger of Fate pointed to me. So I'm going to show a broad selection of paintings, prints, and drawings done since I graduated from there almost ten years ago. (Holy crap, it doesn't seem like that long ... but it is).
So. Things are moving along. Feels good to be getting active again!
But now I have something to write about. I am employed again. I'm working as a program and project manager with a defense contractor on a really interesting project. We're going to help build a security installation overseas. I've been spending my time reading lots and lots of background material, emails, documentation, websites, and so on, trying to get as smart as possible as fast as possible. Basically, I'm going thru the same routine here that I did in Afghanistan and Iraq, and repeatedly during my Navy career: I'm thrown into a new situation where I need to be an expert on pretty much everything by sometime yesterday. And that's a kinda fun place to be.
This new job fits me to a T. Besides giving me the opportunity to work on a very interesting and worthwhile project, it is (for the most part) virtual. I don't have to deploy anywhere - I can do the vast majority of work from right here. So my commute is from my kitchen to the office down the hall. Cool. There will be travel occasionally, but nothing that will last very long. I can be (and am) interrupted by my wife and dogs regularly. The job is also part-time, or at least it will be once I'm up to speed. That means that I'll be able to set up a studio and start painting again. About time, too: it's been going on two years since I've had a real studio and been able to paint, and I'm going through withdrawals. (Well, not really, but whenever I walk into an artist studio now and smell the linseed oil and solvents, I go weak in the knees). So I'm a pretty happy man.
Speaking of studio stuff, I learned the other day that two of my paintings will hang in the Pentagon for about a year. The Veteran Artist Program (run by a group of veterans who are artists in the DC and Baltimore area) has organized an exhibition by veteran artists. They selected these two works:
Lament
Oil on canvas, 60"x60"
Warrior
Oil on canvas, 60"x60"
I will have to deliver these paintings to DC personally. They're large (5 feet by 5 feet each, meaning the figures are life-size) so they'd be really expensive to ship. And I just don't trust shippers. Besides, I want to see where these are going to hang. If they're buried in the basement or something, forget it, I'll bring 'em home.
One final note on art stuff. Next month, I will have an exhibition at UNC Asheville. Yes, I know, I just had a show of my Afghan drawings there. This one will be different. In the past, they've had a group show of work by various alumni. This year, the school decided to focus on one alumnus at a time, and the Fickle Finger of Fate pointed to me. So I'm going to show a broad selection of paintings, prints, and drawings done since I graduated from there almost ten years ago. (Holy crap, it doesn't seem like that long ... but it is).
So. Things are moving along. Feels good to be getting active again!
Congrats on all of the developments! A new, virtual job, paintings in the Pentagon! That's great :D
ReplyDelete¡Felicidades! y I so enjoy following your blog. I do hope the paintings picked for the Pentagon are displayed in a prominent place. I think it would be great if those painting were displayed in your capital building in Raleigh, or even the U.S. capital. Keep up the good work and may God's blessing be upon you.
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