Blog

To Jim......
Good luck on your show at Visions and keep your inner strength shining.

To Randy.....
Life has many paths and you are at a crossroads. Pause, assess, remember past mistakes and move forward.

To Dee.....
I'm proud of you and the way you've grown. Decisions are a hard thing to make, but I know you will make the right ones.

To Karen.....
You are a shining star amidst the darkness of life.

Phil.....
A man who guided me to where I am right now, even though he doesn't know it. Thank you for everything.

My neighbor died unexpectedly during surgery....one of the really low downs.

One of my best friends gave a Holloween party....one of the really high ups.

Trying to put everything together for my gallery show....somewhere in between.

Getting ready for this Hibernia gallery show is really got me on edge. I want to have everything ready for the installation and, of course, I want every piece looking it's best.

I've been going over each "work of art" with a fine tooth comb looking for imperfections and trying to correct them. It amazes me that a painting can get so damaged by just handling it and carrying it from one place to another.

Sometimes I feel like I'm in a circus because I'm trying to juggle my full time job, my part time job and my art career. I read something over the week end that I thought was very profound and I'm going to share it with you....

"Sometimes quitting is just understanding your
capabilities and acting accordingly."

I'll leave you with that thought for the day.

This is very exciting for me because I've been working long and hard to get a venue to show my work.

Being an artist sometimes is very hard. You put your heart and soul into your work and then there is no way to share that with anyone else. The internet is a fine place to display works, but being able to stand in front of a piece, touch it, feel it and see it from different angles is a whole different experience.

Anyone who lives in or around Dallas is invited to this show and I would be glad to meet with you and thank you in person for coming.

Everyone.....have a great day!!

I also have been thinking about the losses in my life....the loss of pets, the loss of parents, the loss of friends and lovers, and the loss of talent. Yes, talent.

There is a project that consumed me for many years, and yet, I can't seem to get back to it bacause what was once so easy is now a struggle. I considered myself a writer. A writer of poetry and writer of short stories and a writer of a novel. The novel part is what concerns me the most. After years of putting words down on paper, I've lost that part of me that had the imagination to create my story. The picture images in my mind just don't appear any more and the words to describe what I see in my mind's eye have left me.

I think I've come to a conclusion about what is happening with my talent......I've traded the ability to write for the ability to paint.

Whatever drove me, obsessively, to express myself on paper has changed and now comes out as color and movement and texture on canvas.

Is this a good thing? I don't know because I miss being able to paint pictures with words and instead, paint pictures with paint.

There are times when I'm really sad at the loss of my writing ability and wonder if I've sold my soul to the devil for the chance to be a painter instead of a writer.

Some people might say....do them both.....but, I can't.

Introspection can be both a good thing and a bad thing and right now it seems to be the latter. It is bringing me sadness and I don't want to be sad. With the few years that I have left on this earth I want to be happy. I want to enjoy my accomplishments and cherish my memories. I want to create a legacy that someone will remember me by....so I guess it will be painting instead of my novel.

My "real job" partner and art buddy, Randy, and I spent the afternoon together running some errands and eating a bite of lunch.

It was just nice, for a change, to be "art" pals instead of business partners. We talked about the projects we were working on, the ways that we might market ourselves better and then just general conversation.

Today was like a play day and I think we both enjoyed it.

Tonight I decided to start another painting and this one will be like nothing I've ever done before. I'm going to try to do a nude figure. My talant lies in the contemporary and not the realistic, so this will be quite a challenge.

I've discovered that this is going to take a looooong time to do and before I get too frustrated at the lack of progress I'm making tonight, I think I'm going to quit. Tomorrow is another day.

I read something this morning that I want to share with those of you who read my blog.....

"THE SMARTEST WAY TO COMPETE IS NOT AGAINST OTHERS, BUT AGAINST YOURSELF."

I never quite thought of things in that light, but it makes perfect sense to me and I might just start following that thought.

Well, it's late....I'm tired....the laundry is done so I'm going to bed.

First of all, work is still overwhelming, but my partner and I are manageing to keep our heads above water and go forward.

Running a company can be "very" stressful.

Secondly, I'm working every night to prepare for my first "one woman" show and that is becoming overwhelming as well.

I want to relieve the stress of the day by creating some new paintings, but I have to concentrate on getting my existing stuff together. I guess creativity will just have to wait another week or two.

I'm trying to put together my email list of people who might be interested in coming to my gallery show...so, if you are in the Dallas area, please contact me and I'll put you on the "notify" list.

Had a great phone conversation with my best friend last night. She lives in Pennsylvania and we are like to ol hens when we get on the phone for one of our late night chats.

We talked for over 2 hours and discussed "a little of this" and "a little of that". She caught me up on the kids, the grand kids, social events going on around her little town and a hand injury to her husband.

You see, it takes over 2 hours of conversation between old friends in order get all the details right. Like I said, we are like 2 ol hens.

Found a picture that my partner took the night we were in Deep Ellum for the Revolutions art show and I thought that I would share a moment of fun and relaxation with you.

Have a wonderful day and don't ever stop reaching for your dreams.

First of all I ran into an old friend, Jim Frederick (the artist). I hadn't seen him in quite a while because he's been sick and it was good to see him today out and about. Get better soon, Jim.

Second, I had a tough day at the office. My partner (Randy Jacobs) and I have a business that is doubling in size almost every week and it's becoming impossible to keep up with everything. It looks like our dream of making enough money to persue our "real" interest (painting) will become a reality faster than we both expected. All we have to do is make it thru the current chaos and then we will be fine.

Finally, I was able to come up with a name for one of my newest paintings. Sometimes it's just impossible to get a name that seems to fit the piece and make sense. At lease I feel good about the name I picked out today. Only folks from the 60's will catch it's meaning right off the bat. That's ok though, because it will cause a few people to wonder who the heck is Peter Maxx.

Good night all....sweet dreams

For those of us who are starving artists, we have to have a real job in order to pay the rent and my real job has been kicking my butt. I like what I do, but sometimes thoughts of doing another painting overwhelm me during the day and by the time I get home at night I'm just too tired to start anything new. Since the week-end is just around the corner, maybe I can do something over the next couple of days.

I will have my first "gallery" show coming up in November and there is a lot for me to do to prepare for it......clean up any blemishes on paintings, get good photos of paintings, make wall labels for paintings and finally transport my work to the gallery for the show....that will take a couple of trips because I can't carry everything in one load in my Buick.

Once I have a date, I'll enter it on the blog for anyone who is interested in coming to the show. If you live in or around the Dalla area, I personally invite you to come see my art and I would love to meet you.

Well, my few minutes of "free" time are over and I have to get ready for my job.

Remember, follow your dreams, because you never know when they might come true....not matter how long it might take.

Everyone have a good Friday.