The Tender Kiss Of An Angel

This is the last piece I own in a series I created quite a few years ago. The pieces were inspired by my children and the tenderness they shared when hurting.

Google & Blogger Need Better PR and Advertsing Campaigns

Due to my present time constraints my blog is mostly about my art and photographs of my work. The content, although limited to a smaller audience, is still capable of generating viewers and interest. I intend to add more posts because I enjoy the format and I hope to branch out in different directions. Like my my art, I was initially only doing this blog to share my work. Once I started, I realized I could possibly reach a larger audience and have more visitors to my site via advertising links. The problem is that although I enjoy it, I will only continue using Blogger if it's worth the time and shows some increase in generating more than the meager advertising revenue I have earned so far.

After the first week of postings, my blog name and my proper name came up in many Google and Web searches. I had many friends, family, co-workers and neighbors complain that they might have returned, if they could still find my site. They might have returned to visit and click on an advertising link like AdSense or some the other advertisers who were willing to take a chance on my site. They might have returned to forward my site on the their friends and co-workers, in effect promoting the site and the advertisers.

As I said, in the beginning my blog was easy to find. Recently it has disappeared from just about all search engines. Something that I understand is very common with Google and the way they rank particular web pages and blog searches. The one place it does come up on, TECHNORATI, is useless. Not only is it useless dead end information, TECHNORATI doesn't answer e-mails to fix or resolve the problems.

My proper name comes up under carpenter, that's fine, but that's not the main interest of my blog. Art is. I did use carpentry as one of my many occupations but also included artist, stone mason and craftsman. My blog profile also lists many other highlighted interests and granted they may be vague or bland topics in the larger scheme of things but would it be that difficult to have a search result with my name, my blog name and a list of topics or interests that are included and that pertain to my blog. It seems pretty basic to me. Once it's created, it's always part of a complete search.

I will continue to create posts but probably only rely on the information as a central location or personal library of my work. As far as expecting the site to generate any ad revenue, currently and sadly I'm disappointed. Google, shape up and do a better job of expanding the very limited search realm you have and do a better job of promoting yourself, your loyal customers and in the end the advertisers who support you. I'm doing the best I can with what I know right now, you do your part and make it much easier for viewers and potential customers to find my blog.

Curiosity or Truly Sadness?

Curiosity or Truly Sadness?....I was on my way home from work the other day and as usual I'm in the habit of taking a less traveled route home if one is available. Living where there is still plenty of country back roads, it's not difficult to find a scenic or quiet road where nature is abundant and varied.

On this particular road there are swampy overgrown areas with cattails and wild flowers right up to the edge of the blacktop. Normally a perfect habitat for small birds and in particular yellow goldfinch. As I was driving very slow observing the landscape I noticed a small yellow bird in the middle of the road. He just stood there and I had to slow down to a crawl in order not to hit him. I assumed it would fly away as I got close. It was obvious he wasn't going to move. As I got even closer I noticed another object in the road. It was another goldfinch that had been run over. Sadly it was almost unrecognizable except for a few bright yellow feathers.

I was truly touched by what I witnessed and felt I needed to share the thought that although we as humans feel we are the only creatures who feel pain, I wonder if that is accurate. After this moment, I don't think so.

.........................

Life
No matter what size
The creature
Is fragile
.........................


Left behind to ponder
A small yellow bird lonely by it's mate
Dead
On the road

Curiosity or broken heart?
Edging closer
It's small delicate head sideways
Glancing left and right
and pecking at the feathers to answer
For itself
Am I alone

I frightened it, but only briefly
Finding a branch to perch
It cried
A moving sound of loss
but stayed
For fear of leaving would mean
loneliness

Are we alone in our feelings of sadness at death?

Time Is Running Out For Our Children

I am not one to stand up and scream my view point to the world but I can no longer stand by silent and listen to the stupidity of the world leaders and their narrow minded viewpoints. It is not about choosing sides or about who has more rights than who. There is more than enough blame to go around about whose at fault and who started it. Ironically the children suffer the most and it is the leaders of the world who are acting like children on a playground fighting over who broke an imagined rule to the game. Sadly it's not a game anymore and people of all ages and nationalities are dying because of stubbornness. I understand these conflicts have been brewing for years and years and the roots of the problem are not so easy to detect but for God's sake, any God, stop the violence against the children of the world!! I struggle to grasp the pure insanity of the politicians and officials in charge of making decisions to benefit a few and ignore the rest. Are they all so arrogant and selfish to not see they are destroying any chance of a peaceful existence for the children of the future. Time is running out for my children, your children and the children of the world. Stop The Stupidity, Stop The Ignorance, Stop The Arrogance, Stop The Insanity, Stop The Bombing....

Hudson At Autumn's Dusk

This was very early and naive attempt to create a painting like the masters of the Hudson River School. The truth being that unless I win the lottery, I would never own a real Hudson River painting. I thought I would make my own. Having grown up and lived along the Hudson at various times of my life, I used images from my memory and imagination to chose a viewpoint that I thought would capture the valley's beauty. It reminds me of the Bear Mountain and Storm King Mountain area. I was in over my head attempting this but I had fun and I went forward and now I own a "real" Hudson River painting.

Turtle Boy

I was having Blog withdrawals so I made a quick entry this morning to keep it fresh. I missed adding something new and I'm finding that blogging can get addictive....Especially when you enjoy talking to yourself :-) Hope you all enjoy the latest entry. I should be back shortly to expand on a few topics that interest me and may appeal to you, the viewer.

HTML Postings

I thought for my own sanity, I would take a short break away from HTML, Postings, Template Tags, Blogs, Web Links, AdWords and everything else I haven't quite figured out yet. I'll be back in a day or so after I have worked on a house painting job, listed some collectible items on eBay, paid a few bills and maybe I'll even do the dishes....maybe. I hope that you've enjoyed my artwork and again, please feel free to leave comments.

Pigs On A Park Bench

Just having a little fun with the pigs. Once the shadowbox painting was completed it looked like it needed something else. My daughters said it was temporary...that was two years ago.

Looking For Some Help

I've noticed that a fair amount of my painting photos are coming across as very blurry. Although they are Impressionistic, they are much more detailed than shown. I'm not sure if the file sizes are too big or maybe even too small to translate the depth and clarity that's missing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Block Island

This painting was inspired by a beautiful woman. Instead of capturing her beauty, which is way beyond my abilities, I tried to capture a brief moment that we shared together. As I was absorbed in the creating of the painting, I swear I could smell the salt air, the lightness and warmth of the breezes and I know I was remembering her. This is why I paint.

Sheltered

This painting is one of my favorites because it started out as something completely different. Instead of forcing it to where I intended, I let the strong sense of movement and emotion create the final piece. It didn't have a name until now.

Monochrome Fog

Inspired by the early morning walks along the banks of the old Mohawk River in Schenectady, New York. After a cool evening, especially during the autumn months, the steam rises off the river and covers the low lying valley with a monochrome mist or fog. It's very soothing and I hope to capture more of it's effects in future works.

My Old Backyard

I lived in Key West for about 10 months in 1978 and loved every minute of it. Sorry I ever came back but I have some great memories of the people and the places. This was painted in 2001 and was inspired by the island calm.

Mr. Cole's Morning View

A brief note on the titles of my paintings... They are not named from the actual places but are named because they remind me places I have visited. All of my paintings are from bits and pieces of old memories, inspiration and imagination. This painting when finished reminded me of the stunning valley views from North Lake in the Catskill Mountains. The morning mist and fog was still clinging to the tree branches as the heat of the day turned the cool mountain air into steam. Anyone who is familiar with the works of Thomas Cole and Fredric Church and have been lucky enough to view the stunning natural beauty of North Lake, the Catskill Mountain House cliffs or Kaaterskill Falls knows the beauty that has inspired artists for centuries.