"I've got nothing to say but 'It's OK!'"

I always use lines from Beatles' songs for my post (and today's no exception) but I can see using two others for this one:
"Knock down the old gray wall..." ~Badfinger

"You've got to move, you've got to move..."
~The Rolling Stones

A week ago or so, I brought my camera to work and snapped off this pic of one of my cubicle walls...

It doesn't look like that anymore. All packed in boxes ready for the move.

A little bit of "history" here. This close up of Walter Mitty's accordion player (and more!) Jim Reilly is the corner edge of a poster promoting the last "big tent" ARTSfest in 2010. There's almost a half dozen earlier years' posters underneath this.

Here's a piece of serious history -- a birthday "card" mocked up as a CD. Look at the song list:
I AM THE SLATS MAN
(A nod to my beatlemania)
J.D. & ME
(Everyone knows how much I love Jack Daniel's)
I HEAR IT'S MY BIRTHDAY
(Yet another beatlemania nod)
JUST ANOTHER COAT OF PAINT
(It seems like every year I was painting my house. Guess my coworkers had heard enough bitchin'!
THE BLOCK ISLAND EXPERIENCE
(Oh, the adventures we had at the Jacques place!)
WHY CLOSE THE POOL? IT'S ONLY DECEMBER
(It seems this chore would get delayed and delayed every year until it seemed I'd need to break ice to close it!)
THE NTD SHUFFLE
BACK IN CRD
(These two songs reference the groups in the Art Department that I got transferred back and forth to)
1116(INSTRUMENTAL)
(Chris Rooks, the guy who designed this card is a big Van Halen fan -- the numbers as a song title nod)
NO HAIR MAN
(The photo is my last long hair shot. It must have been my 50th birthday when I cut it all off. And yes, another beatlemania nod)
WHAT IN THE?! WHO IN THE?! WHERE IN THE?! WHY IN THE?! WHAT IN THE?!
(Long before WTF became so popular, the Art Department had their own version as this song title illustrates)
SGT.PEPPER'S LONELY PART-CLB BAND
(At the time, my band was made up of "Part CLB" --the initials of the company I work for-- members. Now, it's ALL!)
JUST MY CANOE AND ME
(This is SOME TIME AGO when my canoe -- not my kayak -- was my water vehicle)

Man! that's some serious history!

Good bye, cubicle wall!

"...so, you won't lose all."

On September18, 2012, I completed this spread. I was quite pleased with its results. This spread had been quite a struggle since the very beginning. I had focused so much on WHO lost all in the earlier designs. With this direction towards THE PLACE where all was lost and the feeling of loss, well, I think, it illustrated it best.

How could I have known what a prediction this spread and its "I woke up in the morning and everything was gone" message would be? For less than eight hours later I showed up to work to find my computer had a complete meltdown. Toast. Down. Crash.

Everything was gone!

There were some important work things gone. Many inconvenient things to be found "missing" in the weeks to come. But the biggest loss was a collection of scanned caricature-portraits I had done of all the retirees for the past, maybe, ten years. And the sad part of this is I had said to myself, "Myself, you should put these on thumb-drive and take these home -- they would great on your site." only days before.

So, if there's any lessons here, they are: DON'T put off until tomorrow what you should do today. And... BACK IT UP, dammit!

"Here's another clue for you all..."

When you make an EPS (Encapsulated Post Script) image from a page in Quark XPress and the image is "missing" the results are a pixelated image.

That's what happened when I accidentally over-rode a folder that I thought was the most up-to-date. The colored image of the waitress "whispering into the Poet's ear..." as shown here disappeared! But I rather liked the pixelated version and tried to find a place for it in my "...PLACE I DON'T BELONG" magazine.

I put it on the cover but it didn't stay. It was buried on the back cover instead as you can see (or barely see) in the image below.

Another image of the WAITRESS (the one shown above) was also among those that got pixelated. This one found a home as a ghosted image on page 10 behind the text call-out where the POET questions his recollection of the events that occurred that night "on the town."

"You only give me your conversation..."

At all fairs, conventions, gallery openings, etc., there are those that just "shop" buy don't buy. But what they often exchange can be quite valuable in conversation.

The young man who caught the song reference in this magazine's title and said, "I'll hear it that way from now on."

"Works in a shop, she never stops..."

A great day at the Second Annual PAINT & PIXEL Festival!

A half dozen cards sold. Half of which were this one (surprised?).

A dozen magazines sold. Half of which where
"Emily comes to my house." I was surprised.

One coffee mug and one Giclee print sold. Both with this guy on them!

A GREAT DAY at a GREAT EVENT!

Hope to see you next year!

"She's not a girl who misses much..."

The following character is based on the RECLUSE POET of AMHERST (which actually is one of the main characters in the project I'm working on). In A Place I Don't Belong she's
the LADY in the WINDOW.

In Ain't gonna hang no pixel she's sometimes the FRAME SHOP GIRL and she's the subject of the paintings in the electric gallery.

In Emily comes to my house she's the subject of the whole book!

THIS SATURDAY! October 20th. The note cards, the coffee mugs, the prints, and ALL THREE magazines --each for only $5.00 -- at the 2nd Annual PAINT & PIXEL Festival!

Hope you will join me, too!

"I've had a drink or two and I don't care..."

In Ain't gonna hang no pixel he played The POET.

In A Place I Don't Belong he plays the BARTENDER where he has words with the BLONDE MOVIE STAR and just stares at her.

You could say he gave her the "evil eye."

I can't think of anyone more suitable for the role.

So, the BARTENDER joins the BLONDE MOVIE STAR (while she was working as the WAITRESS), the POET, the FAT MOVIE DIRECTOR, the RED-HEADED STARLET, the COMPOSER and THE NIGHTCLUB SINGER...

...and they ALL join me THIS SATURDAY! October 20th. The magazines, the note cards, the coffee mugs, the prints, all at the 2nd Annual PAINT & PIXEL Festival!

Hope you will join me, too!

"And in the evening she's a singer with the band..."

Let me introduce to you: The NIGHTCLUB SINGER.

After the BLONDE MOVIE STAR (while she was working as the WAITRESS) tells the POET of her story as "a movie star" with the likes of the FAT MOVIE DIRECTOR and the RED-HEADED STARLET (and the details of the movie plot are described to the COMPOSER via the FAT MOVIE DIRECTOR) the POET and the BLONDE MOVIE STAR escape to THE NIGHTCLUB.

That's the NIGHTCLUB SINGER'S role in A Place I Don't Belong

In Ain't gonna hang no pixel she's a NIGHTCLUB SINGER, too (only she's the dream of the broken-heart girl who works in the frame shop).

THIS SATURDAY! October 20th. The magazines, the note cards, the coffee mugs, the prints, The NIGHTCLUB SINGER and I will be at the 2nd Annual PAINT & PIXEL Festival!

Hope you will be, too!

"She became a legend of the silver screen..."

So far, we have met the POET, the BLONDE MOVIE STAR (the WAITRESS), the FAT MOVIE DIRECTOR and the COMPOSER -- of the nine characters my two graphic-novel magazines -- Ain't gonna hang no pixel and A Place I Don't Belong * -- have in common.

In A Place I Don't Belong, The RED-HEADED STARLET competes for the title role in a movie The FAT MOVIE DIRECTOR directs, (The COMPOSER creates a score for) and The WAITRESS auditions for.

If this quote on this note card is any indication how The RED-HEADED STARLET plays the game, it's no wonder she got the part!

"She's a BEACH!" as this spread from Ain't gonna hang no pixel and this coffee mug design illustrate.

THIS SATURDAY! October 20th. The magazines, the note cards, the coffee mugs, the prints, the RED-HEADED STARLET and I will be at the 2nd Annual PAINT & PIXEL Festival!

Hope you will be, too!

* A PLACE I DON'T BELONG debuts at
the 2nd Annual PAINT & PIXEL Festival.