Every Rose has it's Thorn

Farwell and Thank you all!

2011-11-17T08:26:00.001-05:00

Hello my friends, and as the title suggest, this is the end of the road for Nick Rose. I am leaving Illustration, the horror industry and all social networks as of Sunday, Nov. 20 2011. I will be pursuing a life as a artist working through galleries and marketing companies. I no longer want to deal with people that I can't meet face to face anymore, and I want to grow as an artist. Being an Illustrator puts a lot of limits and restraints on you. I have grown past that and am ready to embrace new things.
First let me explain why I said I don't want to deal with people that I can't meet face to face anymore. I realise that my sound snobby, but after I explain, hopefully you will understand. The honest simple truth is that I am very childlike. Madison will tell you that as well. I have never grown up, and never will. I am very trusting of people I meet on line and want to believe them when they tell me things. I wouldn't want to live in a world where I would have to believe that everyone is a con artist. When I meet someone face to face and can look them in the eye and shake their hand. I can read them fairly well, but on social networks all I have to go on is what people tell me. Most of it being lies. For Instance, how many people do you know post a real recent photo of what they really look like? Very few. Most people post a picture of them when they where in there 20's. This is a social lie. How many people do you know paint a pretty picture about who they are, and the picture is just a figment of their imagination, or who they hope to be? I could go on and on, but you should understand.
This last year I have been conned by several people that I honestly thought where the real deal. When I am going through a period when I have just been fighting to stay healthy physically, I sure as hell don't need people f*cking up my mind with BS, Lies and just general cons. I guess you could say the straw that broke the camels back came 2 weeks ago. I am having to fight daily to regain my health and it is taking time for me to get my motivation back to paint. Yes, when people screw me over it really hurts me in ways that even effect my painting. I become very depressed. So as a result, we are taking that card out of the deck. After all, it is my game, I can play it however I chose.
That being said, I want to thank everyone that has been with me on this ride. I want to thank you all for the love, support and kindness you have shown me. 95% of you have been awesome, it's just that other 5% I can not deal with anymore. As Nick Rose, I certainly have lived my dream and got to meet and know most of the celebrity's in the horror business. Some I can even call friend. But I am saying goodbye to that for now as well.
Most of all I want to thank Madison and the children for loving me and supporting me and my decisions. Without her, I would truly be lost.
I really don't know what to expect with the new works I will be doing or what direction they will be heading. That will take time. Out the saying goes, "Out with old" first, and then "In with the new."
I will be leaving this blog up as an archive of my career as Nick Rose and I do not know if I will be have a new blog down the road. At this point, I doubt it. So quite probably, this is the last most of you will hear from me. If I leave you with nothing else, let me leave you with this.... "The only limits you have are the ones that you make for yourself. Believe in yourself and your dreams. Don't let the "Naysayers' wear you down, because they will try. You and only you are the Master of your path. Stay True."
Love and Hugs always.
Nick Rose
Nov. 17, 2011

Miracles.

2011-10-08T11:02:00.001-04:00

Hello my friends. Hugs to you all. I have missed talking with you. I have been doing a great deal of soul searching lately as well as making miracles happen, and that's what this blog is about today.
Have you ever set so many goals for that you just overwhelmed your own self? lol I sure have, but I am learning not to do that anymore. Just set one, go after it and keep at it until that goal is a reality. I have been doing that lately and it is working like a charm.
I am sure that a lot of you would think that my art would be my top priority? It's not, my health and my loved ones are, and that is what I am focused on right now. I set certain goals for myself and I have met them all so far. First I had to quit smoking and drinking. I quit smoking over 2 years ago now. It took awhile for me to quit dreaming about smoking and wanting a cigarette every time I saw someone smoking one, or especially being around the smoke. But I did. I really quit drinking about 2 years ago as well, except for a few nights a month. Now, I've finally quite drinking all together. I got myself on a regular exercise program and I stick to it every day. Mostly it is using the treadmill and weight lifting. The most recent thing has been getting and staying on a healthy diet. That is helping with my diabetes and high blood pressure. It was hard at first because I have had to cut out the fast food or the processed food. Everything I eat now is mostly healthy and fresh. My meals include oatmeal, or a oat type product with fruit for breakfast. For lunch, fresh vegetables, fruits, nuts, cheese and no salt/low salt crackers. I may vary this with rice, homemade beans and cottage cheese. Just don't overdo the fruit, but I have found that the sugar in fruit in not as nearly as bad as the processed kind. My insulin amounts have came down drastically. I am constantly lowering the amount of insulin to compensate for the better sugar readings. Hopefully I will be off of insulin in a few more weeks. I have improved that much.
The exercise is really helping with the COPD as well as all the other issues, and I have found by playing video games my stress levels and blood pressure levels have really dropped as well. I find Role playing games to be very relaxing and they are sharpening my mind as well. I am thinking much better than I was. I have been able to reduce the Blood pressure medicines to half as well.
A lot of this turn around has been because of all the dental work I have been having done as well. I had no idea how important that was to my body. Apparently, my body had been fighting infections for years from gum disease and bad teeth. The thing is, I brushed my teeth twice a day and used mouthwash every day for the last 20 years. Most of this damage came from my youth. In those days, dental care was not an issue that the poor folks of the south could address.
But now, seeing my body recover and improve because of the dental work has me brushing 3 times a day with two types of toothpaste, flossing, and pro-health mouthwash as well as the standard, Listerine. I even bought a electric toothbrush. lol I used the white strips for 3 months and my teeth look really nice now, well, the ones that are left. lol. I will have my partials in about 2 months. But this has served another purpose and goal as well, I haven't been able to eat most meats because of the lack of teeth. So now, except when Madison makes fish, I am not eating any meat and don't miss it at all! Eating healthy is not as bad as most people think. I have lost weight, toned up and feel great almost every day now.
In my case all of these changes came because I was faced with an early death if I didn't, but it does show that if you set your mind to something you can make healthy changes in your life. Hopefully you will do it before your face to face with death.
That was the Miracle part of the blog I was talking about, now for the soul searching part......
Anyone that follows me knows that this has been a very different year for me. The last 2 years I was burning it up. (That doesn't include the 12 years straight of non stop learning and training by Masters and other means.) Outside of all the art, I was interviewed a total of 20 times and filmed for a Documentary. I amassed over 50,000 known fans and became known as "The King of Scream" and "The Dark Artist" and with all of that came a great deal of fame, and there we have found the problem. I remember on several occasions people have said to me "Be careful of what you ask for..." What a joke? Everyone wants to be famous and known. Isn't that what we work for? That an money?
Through the years and one of the reasons that I am just so sick of the publishing industry is because of all the idiot's I have the displeasure of running into during my travels. I was once told I was a "Nut Magnet" and the person that told me that turned out to be one of the biggest ones I have ever known. But you have all of these individuals running around that are just to lazy or inpatient to earn something the only way you will really get it. They stab you in the back, screw you over, use you and so on. Just evil worthless people. To all of them, I say this.... "You can have my place, my fame. All of it. I will gladly give it to you. YOU truly deserve it.
I have cut myself off from these people by leaving the industry. I could care less about it or them. My world is very small now. Only a handful of people are in my life, and I am going to keep it that way. All I want is to paint what I want and just be happy. Since I announced my retirement from the publishing and commission part of the business, I have had nothing but have fun and I intend to keep it that way.
I know that over the past few years I have talked about doing a lot of things and to be honest, at this moment, I really don't know if they will come to fruit or not. At this moment I don't want to spend the time or energy on them anymore. Maybe that will change, I don't know. My motivations are not money or fame anymore, so I asking myself why I would want to spend so much time on a project that I would have to spend countless hours promoting and doing?
When I was training under Daniel, I had to promise him that I would help someone else one day. At the moment, I have helped countless artist and done my best to share with them the things I have learned. In return I can proudly say that in most cases I have nothing but disappointment and regret for wasting my time on some people. No more, no more teaching, at least not now.
Of course, let us not forget the agony of producing a piece of art to someone else's specifications. You can easily look at my body of work and tell which peices stand out over others. The ones that have sold lots of prints are the ones like "Spooky" and "Dark Fairy". Both I did because I wanted to and they where my idea's. The commissioned pieces can not even compare to those. It is obvisious that if my heart is in it, I can fly. Otherwise, I was no different than other Illustrators.
The above reasons are the 3 of the reasons I have decided to change gears and do things different and on a different level. I have no more desire to be in the spotlight or for people to know my name. My ambitions now are very simple. To paint what I want and sell a few of them to buyers here and there, and that is it. Madison is talking about putting up a store to sell posters, but I don't know about that. I am thinking of something different for down the road, so we will see.
I will be deleting all of my Facebook account soon (this coming week), except for Nick Rose Two. So if you want to keep up with what I will be doing, you need to send a request to it, You need to join my group and you need to follow me on twitter, NickRose2011 and continue to read this blog. This will be the places you can keep up with my work. I am having to streamline my social networking in order to continue it. I am not being a snob or trying to push people away. It is a simple matter of time. If folks want to be able to talk to me about art, then my group is the place to do that. If people want to know what the big picture is, the blog is for that and if you want to know what I am up to on a daily basis, then Twitter will serve that purpose.
I am going to work on finishing up that 'Steampunk" piece I started back toward the end of last year. It will be for sale when it is done and I will be posting pictures of it on my group and here, and notes on Twitter to let people know that art is up.
So my friends, this is what is going on for now. I hope you choose to continue to follow my work. I hope everyone has a great weekend. Love and Hugs. "May the Darkness confort you"

A BIG gift for you all.

2011-08-31T07:45:00.006-04:00

Hello my friends, how have you all been? I have been fine, well actually better than fine. Other than the little bout with Pneumonia, I have been doing pretty awesome. I had to get the last 4 teeth pulled in all the dental who ha last week, so now it is finally time to start adding teeth again. I have been using those teeth whiteners and I have to tell you they work pretty good. My remaining teeth are very nice and white and my diabetes has improved a great deal as well. There was a lot of infection in my gums. For those of you that know about insulin I went from 54 units of Lanus at night to 15 units, and I have gone from 15 units of Novalog before each meal down to 5 units as of today. At this rate, I may be able to go back to just taking a pill soon as long as I keep my diet and exercise up.

I know that all of that is boring to you young healthy folks, but to me it is a huge deal and it confirms my conviction that through hard work, I can get my health back. As I have always told all of you, with hard work and patience, you will reach your goals. You don't have to cheat, lie or betray to get what you want. Just work hard.

As most of you know I have been on a "Art Vacation' here lately. The year started out so bad that I couldn't get much work done because of the series of illnesses, dental work and depression. So I decided to just take some time away until I was out of the woods and feeling rejuvenated again. I am getting there. Every so often I have to take a big break. The last one was in 1996 and it didn't end until 2000, but don't worry I feel like this one is close to being over. The break back then came mostly because I just gave up on ever having an art career. The Break now is from "life burnout" not just an art one. I have had to deal with so much these last several years physically and mentally that it just wore me down and I needed to step back and change gears for a while.

I've done a few things, but nothing I consider "Art", but the whole thing is, outside of personal business things, I will not work for any commercial client ever again. I will sell the rights to some of my work for merchandising, but I will not create new works for any commercial venture other than my own.

One of the things that I think is going to surprise a lot of my fans is that while I may still do horror works, I will be doing a heavy amount of my first love, Fantasy once again. I am in a very happy place in my life right now, and I don't lean toward the dark so much anymore. Of course I love horror and always will, but these last several years it has defined me as an artist. I believe for the next several years, it will be fantasy works that I am known for.

I have been playing a lot of video role playing games lately, one of the things I truly love, but put them out of my life years back so I would have more time to paint. I don't think I am going to do that again. I didn't realize how much these games inspired me with new idea's and how much they got my imagination pumping. I told Madison that when I started painting that 1/2 of my day would be to paint, and the other 1/2 would be to play. Now if I am having more fun painting, then I will paint all day, but the point is this. I have busted my arshe since I was 12 years old. My stepfather had me laying carpet at that age, and had me on the jobs years before that. I have done a wide variety of jobs in my life, but for some reason I always wound up laying carpet over and over. I think a lot of that was because I knew if I busted my butt and got done with the job, then I could get home early to paint.

That all sounds good, but carpet is a very physical job and more so in the past. If you where doing a Occupied house, you had to deal with moving furniture as well as the physical damage you did to your hands, back and knees installing a floor. A lot of the problems I have now come from this. I have crushed vertebrae in my low spine that is a constant source of pain. I have to take about 3 Hydrocodones a day for the pain as well as a heating pad. Some days I have to wear knees braces just so I can get up and down the stairs and some days to just walk.

I started drinking a lot of beer everyday as well because of installing floors. At one point I drank a 12 pack everyday for about 5 years, and I was smoking 2 packs of cigarettes everyday as well. I started smoking when I was 12. These are the main reasons I have COPD, diabetes and high blood pressure.

Basically, I was trying to kill myself and almost did. This was because I was so unhappy that I couldn't be an artist everyday like I so many other people I saw. But in time, all of that has changed. I don't have those bad habits anymore. I take good care of myself and I live life doing what I love the most to do. But it took a lot of hard work, patience, and a little luck

All the years of this really took there toll on my mind and body. The good and the bad. Right now I find myself in a place I never thought I would be in. I have fought my way back from death and lived to tell about it. I live life on my terms now, not someone Else's.

I know I spent a month at least wondering "Well, now what? I can do anything I want to do, so what am I going to do." It took a while, but i remembered that there was a time that I use to love to draw and paint. I couldn't wait until I got off my day job to rush home and get behind my drawing table. Most days I would work until I feel asleep in my chair or on my table. Those are some of the best memories I have. So i decided, no matter what it took, I was going to find my way back to that. I knew right off that I lost most of the happiness by doing work for other people. Total buzz kill trying to make someone happy instead of yourself. So now, if a buyer wants to buy one of my originals that I decide to sell or a print, no problem, but I am only doing my idea's and no one will be standing over me telling me, "No, I want it this way" I'm not even going to do private commissions any more either.

I am only going to do portraits for friends and family, and they want even know about it until I give it to them. For months now I have been trying to figure out what "THE REAL" difference is between an Illustrator and a Artist, and I have figured it out. It's not all the fancy talk you hear the art world talk about. No, those people are full of shite and what to pretend they know it all because they are so jealous because they have no real talent. Like a book or movie critic. The difference is simply freedom. Freedom to choose the path you walk. I know a few Illustrators who are exceptional artist, and most everyone of them has or is in the process of getting out of Illustrating because they want the freedom to do a painting the way they see it, instead of the way an Art Director who can't even draw a stick figure envisions it. I honestly don't mean to take a shot at anyone here. Everyone has a job to do, as in every career you choose, and most AD's I have worked with have tried very hard to come to a very nice cover and do their job well. The problem is, they take away the creative aspect from the Illustrator, not artist. An Artist would paint the cover the way they wanted to see it with no input from the publisher, writer or Art Director. This is the difference. An Illustrator can be creative, only to a point, but their main job is to create an image that another person sees. It is like being a puppet.

See, this is freedom. A year ago I would have never said that because I would be worried that a AD or editor would read this and black list me like they did to one of my teachers. It happens, it really does. But in any career, the game is played liked that. Even when I was a floor installer, you had to play the game and kiss arshe to get plenty of work and get the gravy jobs. Everyone wants to be self employed so they can be their own Boss, but the truth is, even if your a sub-contractor, a contractor or a business owner, you always have to please your clients. Instead of just having one or two bosses where you work, you now have as many bosses as you have clients. Unless you are wealthy or have a source of income that is always going to be there, you are destined to work for someone else. There is no Freedom in that.

But I have FREEDOM. I don't have to answer to anyone and I do whatever my heart is content to do. I am truly happy for the first time in my life. I know now that when I do start painting again, it is going to be well worth the wait and I will have no limits upon me and I honestly believe what I create as an artist will make a lot of people notice. All again, because I have Freedom. The Lady and the Lord blessed me. Although I do have medical issues and I live in pain, I wouldn't trade what I have now for anything, although like all of say, "If I could go back in time and do it all again...." lol

So, I have been working to get my soul and happiness back and I have just been having fun. Lots of it. Playing games, watching my favorite movies, TV shows, shopping, you name it, FUN. While this has been going on, my imagination has been flooded with new idea's. I promised Madison that I would start drawing and Painting at least 3 hours a day from here on out, then I can play all I want. The first thing will be to finish the "Chainsaw Sally" piece. I don't know if I will paint April as Chainsaw after this or not, but I sure will be painting her a lot. She is an amazing model with a very unique look. Another blessing the Lady has given me some of the best and most awesome models in the world to work with. Tilly Rivers, Suzi Lorainne and a new male model named Steven Suzc's that Tilly did a big photo shoot of for me. Just awesome. And then we have Darius, Dai, Madeline and more.

I really don't mean to sound like I am boasting, but like I said, I have been blessed in so many ways, I just can't believe it sometimes. I want to share something with all of you that will hopefully put a giant smile on your face and put happiness and joy in your life or someone you know.

I've mentioned that I am playing a lot of games. I have download all of these systems and every game they ever made for them for FREE. No catch. Nintendo, Nintendo Snes, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 64, Sega Master System, Sega Genisis, and many more. There are tons of places online to download them. I will be downloading x-box soon. I had to buy another backup hard drive just for the games I have. There are so many now.

The Emulators are for Mac, Linx and Windows. You just have to make sure you download the right one for your system, and you will also want to download a Emulator Enhancer. I think that 2.3.2 is the most recent, and it works on all systems. Just download it and install it. Takes less than a minute. You can find most emulators here and at some other links I am going to post for you in a minute. This site is ran by Richard Bannister. He is the pioneer for making it possible to play all of these games systems on your computer. Now for each system, there is a different emulator. So if you want to play Genesis games, you will need to download the emulator for that. Here is another site as well.

Now if you want to, you can buy a joystick or hand remote at anyplace that has a USB plug, but all the systems are set up to be played on your keyboard, and I personally prefer that. When you get up to the Disk Systems, you can rearrange the configurations to suit you on the game emulator interface.

The cartridge system are very simple to set up and play. It takes less than 5 minutes and your playing your favorite games forever. The disk systems are a little harder, because you can download the games two ways. The first comes in a BIN/CUE that you have to burn to disk to play, or you can go to a file sharing site and download a ISO or IMG. file of the game and that works better, and easier.

The cartridge system uses ROMS, and you can go here and here to download everyone ever made, and some that where never released in the U.S and in a lot of cases there are many versions of the same games. For instance, Sonic the Hedgehog. There are about 10 versions of the original Genesis game. Each one has something really cool added to it, like instead of playing Sonic, you can play Sally or Shadow. There are even variations of the Role Playing games (MY Favorites)

Like I said, the cartridge system are easy as heck to set up and play, the disk systems are a little more trouble, but the graphics are really awesome. Of the cartridge systems, Nintedo 64 has the best graphics's. It was the last cartridge system made before the age of PlayStation came into being.

If you have any trouble at all, all you have to do is google your question. There are 100's of sites out there dedicated to this. Hopefully I have given you something that will bring much joy to your everyday life, and for free. Much love and Hugs my friends, and Happy Labor Day Weekend!

The Snake, the Butterfly and the Rose.

2011-08-05T13:55:00.002-04:00

Hello my friends. Much love and hugs to all of you. Those of you that are friends of mine on Facebook know that I am recovering from Pneumonia. I am on my feet again and feeling much better, although I found out the hard way this morning that I still need to be taking it easy. I was trying to get caught up on my house cleaning and darn near pasted out. I am guessing in a couple more days I should be 100% again.
While I am going through this big change I would like to explain to you all why I said certain things and did some things a lot of my friends don't or didn't understand. One of my dearest and closest friends told me the other day that she saw my totem as a snake. At first that kinda worried me but after she explained it to me in more detail, it seemed very logical. Personally I have always seen "Snakes" as a bad thing. The word is often used to refer to people that are sneaky or stab their associates in the back, but she had me see it as a growth thing and it did explain the things I have been enduring this year. My health mainly, this "need" to grow and change myself as a man an a Artist. She said to see this like the way a Snake grows. Before a snake grows, it becomes sickly, slow and then it sheds the skin it has to a new and bigger one. To me, shedding the skin is the same thing I go through every several years where I embrace the new things in the horizon and put aside the things that have no more use to me or didn't grow as I did. She believes that I will come out this much stronger, more focused and more determined. She has a lot of faith in me and I respect her and her guidance very much, so this should interesting.
One of the first things I did to bring on these changes was go into a "Hermit" mode. I cannot speak for anyone other than myself, but this is very nessacary for me to move forward. Almost all of my friends have opinions of what I should or shouldn't do. This is a path I have to follow on my own. No one can influence me, things have to unfold as they are meant to do. I have to embrace this for the changes to take hold and with my friends saying "No, this is suicide for your career" or "I don't get it, but I hope it works out well for you", well, that would make me second guess myself and that will not do. So for now, I quit all the phone conversations and letters to them. Just little messages on FB here and there to let know I am still alive. Until I have embraced all of this and I am going full steam, I have to stick to this plan. I have been an Illustrator for 32 years now and I don't want it anymore. I have done everything I ever set my sites on, I have a book shelf of book and magazine covers. My focus now is to do what my minds eye sees, and not what someone tells me or pays me to do.
The process is slow it seems. I am having to learn to let myself see new things I haven't seen before on my own. In the past, it was always easy. Someone tells me what to paint, I do a few roughs to show them, they pick one and then I just create what their minds eye sees. Now it is going to be about what my mind's eye sees.
At first, I was going about this all wrong. I was coming up with idea's of series of paintings I would like to do, but still my mind's eye wasn't seeing it. So I told you all and Madison that I just need to do something I haven't done in a very long time, which is simply just to have fun and do the things I love to do the most in life, other than painting and drawing. What are those things? One of them I haven't done in years, simply because I felt like it took up to much of time since I was an Illustrator and I had to work 10 to12 hour days to keep up with the work I would take on. It is playing video games. I love them. I recently was able to download the entire collections of all the Nitendo and Sega Genisis games ever made as well as about 500 classic computer games. I am in game heaven. I have been letting myself play as much as I want as long as I keep up with the things I need to do to keep the house going. I love the golf, racing and most of all, the Role Playing games. Right now i am playing Final Fantasy 2. I have the first 7 games and have never played them before. They are wonderful and I am having the most fun that I can remember, but the really big thing here is that now that I am happy and not worrying about every thing I do, my mind's eye is starting to see new images and I am getting very excited about what I am seeing. My imagination is in full swing again.
Other things that I have been doing is watching movies and TV shows from our massive libary of DVD"s and Blue Rays. Madison, the kids and myself have went to see 2 movies this last month. The new Harry Potter movie in 3-D and Cowboy,s and Aliens. Both were a lot of fun, and the 3D blew my mind. It was more awesome that I can explain. Bottom line, I've been having a ton of fun.
Now that all of that has been said, and I have no intention of hurting anyone's feelings, but it all boils down to this, my whole life I have done what others wanted me to do, or let them make disicions that involved me. I have always put the need of others over the needs of my own. That changes now. I will be 54 in a few weeks and it is time that I made my own choices and NOT let other people be involved in my progects and idea's. I have a plan and I am going to do it on my own. I don't want to hear anyones opinion on anything I am doing. If I want it, then I will ask for it.
For those of you that like my art, I think you're really going to like the future I see for my paintings. Love and Hugs. "May the Darkness Comfort You"

Something new.

2011-07-21T14:19:00.005-04:00

Hello my friends. Here is the artwork for my last painted cover for a commercial market. If you see a cover after this one, it will because I sold the rights to an existing piece. I do have one more commercial piece to do, and it will also feature Kane Hodder (Jason, Hatchet, Ed Gein, and so many other horror movie legends) as this one does.

This painting featuring him is for my fiance's book "The Bone Extractor" and there will be prints available from Kane and me. You can order one from me through my email ( or the Facebook group or fan club) and Kane will have them at personal appearances. I will be doing appearances in the future, after I am sure my health is stable. For now, it's looking pretty darn good. It will be able cool as hell to hang out with Kane and Chainsaw and conventions and some others I have yet to name. April (Chainsaw) is going to become one of my muzes and I will be painting her in ways other than just her movie roles. She will be featured right up there with Suzi Lorraine and Tilly Rivers.

This painting was a real challenge because of the very limited photo's of Kane I have to work with at the moment. I was actually the model for his body. For those of you that are saying BS! here is the pic....

At first I was trying to piece together different photo's I have of him to get the pose, but no matter what I did, it was coming out stiff. Madison suggested I pose for the body, and I did.

The sad thing is if you look closely at my chest, you can see where they shaved me in places to put those patches on to monitor my heart when I went through a whole series of test a couple of weeks ago, and the great news is, my heart is very strong and I should be around for MANY years now to really burn up the art world, and that is my plan.

I want you all to know that you letters and comments of support have meant the world to me. I will still be doing dark things, but light as well and I will be doing them mostly with brush and oils, although I am not going to rule out digital. It does have it's good points. The above painting was done with both oils and then scanned and finished with Painter.

I have been very fortunate this last year and because of that I am able to make the move that I am able to. A couple of months ago I purchased the CS5.5 Masters collection. It cost a ton, at least to me, but it has every program I could ever dream of needing for doing everything to making and editing music, video's, art , the programs I need to format books and magazine which will be important in the future and so on. A few of the programs, I don't have a clue to what they are for. I have been wanting to play with Adobe Illustrator but am making myself wait until I have the commercial work done. The new version of Photoshop does everything including wiping you butt. lol. Just kidding about that part.

I have to read the manuscript for Kanes book written by Mike Aloisi and in a couple of days I will get ready to do that piece. I want to make it photo real looking almost, so I will probably be doing it in Painter. I haven't made my mind up yet.

As each day passes I am coming closer to the growth I have been talking about, and I am so ready to embrace that and just explode with new paintings. But I know myself better than anyone, and I know if I don't get this last piece under my belt first, it may never happen, so.

I am certain that once I start feeling like my painting is moving into the direction that I wanting it to, I will finish that steampunk painting I started a while back. The pencil work is very popular and put a lot of food into the house, so I want to make sure when I paint it, I do it the justice it deserves.

I want you all to remember something, back in 2005, I was told I had very severe health problems and probably wouldn't live long. I had gave up and knew that death was coming for me. Then a miracle happened, a living Master reached out to me and offered to teach me, and because of that I got the will to live again and fight as if my life depended on it, and it did. Then who I consider to be a second Master helped me as well, and this last year in secret another one helped me under the conditions I never named them because of the backlash it would cause them from others that had begged this Master to help them. This is the main reason I am changing up and leaving Illustration. This Master taught me what the first two didn't, heart and soul.

That being said now, I know a lot of you will be guessing at who it was, but I gave my solemn to take it to the grave with me, and I will. I don't know how long it will take, but I do know these three Masters believe in me, Madison and a very few friends I hold in my heart and because of that I will become whatever it is they all believe I am capable of. Never forget, I did come back from the dead. I was given another chance and I am not going to waste it.

Love and Hugs forever my friends. "May the Darkness comfort you"

Bombshell...

2011-07-12T11:59:00.003-04:00

Hello my friends. I hope you are well and happy. I have some news to share with you that may surprise you and the reasons I have made the decision to do what I am going to do. It has been coming for at least a year now and I have hinted at it on a few occasions but I can not put it off any longer and I am getting very excited about it. An that is the main thing, It has been a very long time since I have been excited about my art, or better said, Illustration up to this point. I am leaving the Illustration market for good. I have a piece to do to promote Kane Hodder's book and I am going to do it digitally, and after that the only cover or Illustration work I will do is for Madison. No others, I don't care what it is or how much money I am offered. I am done with it.

This last year I have really lost all interest in doing this type of work. I actually have gotten to the point where I dread coming into the studio because I am just sick of doing things that I am not inspired to do anymore. I am sick of restrictions or someone telling me to do it this way and not this way. I have done this for 33 years and I am just simply burnt out on the whole thing. From now on I am going to paint anything my heart desires, whether it be flowers or a skull. It might be a dragon, or just the sky. I am even thinking of doing some partial nudes. My goodness, I have some drop dead gorgeous models posing for me, so why not? Beauty is something that should be captured forever, no matter what it is. My mood will determine what I paint . I am looking to paint "Loosely" instead of so damned detailed all the time. I would love to sit down with a canvas in the morning and be signing it when the day is done. If I think of the painting as a whole instead of every single detail, then I can and I will.

My road has been leading to this. If I had not been so hardheaded and listened to Madison, I would have done this much sooner. Another big factor she keeps reminding me of is that I am really disabled folks. I have COPD, and that alone is a bitch, but then you put diabetes's, high blood pressure, and ulcertive colitis on top of it, well hopefully you get the idea. Some days I fell great, others I don't want to do anything but watch movies. When your working on deadlines, this is not good and the pressure can really get to you and in my case cause severe depression. I am constanly setting myself up for failure like this. One day I feel like I can conquer the world and start saying to myself that I can get this done tomorrow and keep on trucking. When the next day comes and I feel like crap, I get depressed because I feel like I let myself and everyone else down.

This week I have been doing what Madison told me to. I have been having fun. I am doing what I want when I feel like doing it. Watching movies, playing video games and just being happy and I can feel that creative feeling starting to come back. I haven't felt creative since I did the "Dark Fairy" painting. An since I have made this decision and been having fun, I have been feeling even better. I haven't had to take a nap for the last week and I've been working out every day.

So hopefully if you are an art lover, and not just a horror lover you will embrace the new work if it is good and keep following my work. Hopefully next time around I will have something to show you. Love and Hugs. "May the Darkness Comfort You."

Random thoughts.

2011-07-03T20:37:00.000-04:00

   Hello my friends. I hope your holidays are and have been awesome. Mine have been fine. Madison is working on her 4th book now and I am thrilled at how creative she has been. I really need some of that to rub off on me about now. I had another bout with my blood pressure and wound up in the hospital again. Now we are trying to figure out a new combo of drugs to keep it under control. I'm not sure, but I am guessing that all the pain I went through because of the dental work had a lot to do with it. Damn. I will be so glad when all of this mess is done with, but at least now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Every since January, my whole art life has been derailed because of all the crap my body has had to go through. The good news is that now I am looking at another 30 years of painting, Lady and the Lord willing instead of just 2. But I will tell you, I will be sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo glad when all of this is done and I can just get back to my daily routine.
   I'm not whining or crying, just frustrated and today for some reason I am feeling really keyed up. I really need to cut loose I suppose. Since my last blog, I have had one of those colon checks ( I can't spell it) a tooth pulled ( and it was a bitch!) and spend the night in the hospital because of the sky high blood pressure. Yep, I need to blow off some steam. The truth is I get all tense and keyed up like this when I am not painting and being creative. I painted 2 days this week, but the rest of the time I have been down.
   I am hoping to get back to painting tomorrow. Today I was able to be fairly active and walk on my treadmill, and got some paperwork done while I kept one eye on that Casey Anthony trial. This is the first time I have really set down and watched how our court systems work on a major trial like this one. I have gained a whole new respect for the system to a point. Lawyers really do earn their money and the patience and pose it takes for them to do their jobs is very admirable. I know I couldn't have been a lawyer, my emotions would have gotten in the way. I guess since Tilly is going to have her own practice here in the future, I have taken more interest in legal things. She has her hands full with me being my legal consultant and all. These days 90% of everything goes through her first. She checks all the contracts, make sure everything is as it should be and just protects me, my family and my work. I have to tell you that I feel like I am very blessed just for having her in my corner.
   I don't know if I told you all, but we did move into a much bigger house a few weeks back as well. We love it, but it is going to take some time to get my studio set back up fully. Right now I am just taking it one day at a time. I'm in no hurry, I think we are going to be here for a long time to come I hope. I am getting to old for this moving crap. lol Of course I hired some young fellows to do all the moving part. That helped a whole lot.
   One of the things I decided I wasn't going to do on any of my social sites anymore is try to sell prints or things. I don't need to, life is good. But I am pushing for my friends and fans to join my fan club. The reason being is that it is new and it is the ONLY place you will be able to see old works, complete works in progress, news media and interviews. I pulled my website because I do not want to promote Wicked Kitty Studio anymore, instead we have named everything after me, Nick Rose. So now it is Nick Rose Studios. I am going to put a free site soon, but I am only going to update it twice a year, so if you want to see all the cool things coming, go here and hit the like button.
   The Facebook group is a totally different animal and it is where folks can hang with me one on one and talk art or about this blog, or anything as long as it's respectful.
   I think one of the things that has been weighing heavy on my mind is that I can't be like I used to. I mean I can't hang out and just chat with all my friends like I use to on Facebook. I have 3 profiles now, and a 4th will be coming in August. Outside of FB I am part of 5 business groups and Twitter. When I am feeling like myself and painting, I only can allow 2 hours a day now to be online and that doesn't allow me much time for business, so I miss a lot of people I used to chat with all the time. Times change and I have to put the future of my family and loved ones above all else. I want to finally be able to give something to all the people that I love in this world, and the generations to come.
   I guess I have come full circle now. I can remember wondering why a lot of my friends couldn't respond to letters or it would take them a few days to. Now I understand why and really feel like and ass because I thought they where being rude. That's not the case at all. I respond to every letter and note I get, but sometimes I can't do it as fast as some folks would like me to. I understand that, I use to feel the same way. Now the shoe is on the other foot. lol Be careful for what you ask for. But I am very thankful, and I am so thankful that so many thousands of people have taken me and my art into their hearts and spend their hard earned money on it. For that I am the most grateful. I get letters from other artist or just regular folks that tell me that I inspire them so much and than just blows my mind. It also brings tears to my eyes. I never realised that so many people read all my post about my health and my battle to be healthy again and the struggles, betrayals and hurt that I have been through. Little did I know that each time I talked about any of those things, the hearts of kindred souls linked with me and followed me on my journey.
   So as I sit here, fighting to get my body to a "normal" state, I do so with joy and love in my heart because I know so many of you are pulling for me and love me. I am the richest man in the world. I have every thing that means anything to me and I don't know of anything else that could make me happier. When I tell you that I love you, I really do. They are not just words. You have given me this and all the wonders and miracles yet to come. Love and Hugs. May the Darkness Comfort You.

Coming together!

2011-06-21T14:21:00.000-04:00

   Hello my friends, it is so good to be with you again. As a matter of fact it is always great to be with you all. Happy Summer Solstice to you as well. With the coming of summer my strength and energies are coming back and the goal this year will be to make my self strong year round, and I don't think that will be a problem now. Things are really looking up.
   I want to share a series of thoughts with you today for you to think about and hopefully you will grow from it. This is for writers just as much as it is for artists. In the early 1990's I was making a lot of money doing commercial art. I had some sweet accounts lined up. I worked for several professional sports teams, I had an account with Seaworld, I did work for a greeting card company just to name a few, and that kind of work pays 20 times the money that publishing pays. But because I couldn't see a new future it came to an end. The computer was on the rise and most of the commercial work out there was done on the computer. I didn't want to go that way though. I didn't want to learn how to use a computer, I was a dinosaur, so slowly I went back into doing physical labor installing carpet, when all I had to do was learn something new. I really kick myself now for being so narrow minded. But I have no one to blame but myself, but this coming year you are going to see me throw my hat back into the commercial ring and include that kind of work with my personal "Art" pieces. I am going to be expanding my horizons as the saying goes. But the point of this is that if I had been a "visionary" I would be living a hell of a lot better, be a lot more healthier and have a lot less emotional scares to burden if I had just learned to use the computer.
   Madison and I where talking about the new direction that publishing is taking. If you want to make a living as a writer, your going to have to start thinking outside of the box. That means you are going to have to think about e-books, my god, that market alone is becoming massive with Kindle and all of those gadgets. For a writer not throw their hat into that ring, damn, that is just so stupid. Think of all the potential money and readers you are losing. Lets face facts, people are poor these days, and that is not going to change anytime soon. If a kid has a choice to buy a book for 20 bucks, or they can download the book for 2.99, which one do you think the kid is going to do? I think it is a Miracle that kids are even reading these days.
   And all I hear is all the "Big Time' writers and publishers putting down the self publishers. Now this is a shame, but I do understand why from a business point of view, but I don't like it. This is America, and I do remember making a commitment to my fellow Americans to fight for their rights to have free speech and so on. Self Publishing falls under this, and anyone with a high school education understands that the principle of democracy is that we have a "Competitive market" so prices will stay down and quality will increase. I know I am damning myself by saying this, but I support self publishing and will continue to do so. So for those of you that just read this and said, "Well, he'll never have a future at our company," I say to you "That your company does not have a future unless you learn to look outside of the box"
   I have several writer friends that can not seem to grasp the concept of making money off of e-books. Their damn lucky to sell 50 books a year because they don't have a clue about marketing. For some reason they seem to think that If they publish a book, the whole world is going to rush to by it? No, I'm not kidding, I know several writers just like that. They never wrote a book in their life and they think just because "THEY" wrote a book, everyone is going to rush to buy it. Not one of these writers even considered a budget for advertising or traveling on a circuit to promote their book. Good ole common sense tells me that "hey if I put my book on Amazon as an e-book for a few bucks, that I could make some advertising money right there with no money out of my pocket."
   Advertising and getting the word out about what your doing is the 2 biggest keys there are to being a successful writer or artist. BUT IT TAKES TIME! and that is the big enemy to young people these days, not one of them have patience. They all want it right now and that is a whole another story that you don't want to get me to get into right now.
   But anyways, enough for now, if I am going to blog more, I have to keep them shorter so I can get to work. Folks, the glamour that used to be publishing died in the 80's. It is not coming back. If you want to be an artist or writer, then you need to start studying on new ways to make it happen. If you want to talk about this, then lets do it on the group my friends. Peace and Blessings. "May the Darkness Comfort You"

Just when I think.....

2011-06-18T08:10:00.000-04:00

   Just when I think I am out of the woods, someone hits me upside my head with a ball bat and says "Not Yet" As you all know, I have been getting a ton of dental work done and I thought I was out of the wood as far as them pulling teeth goes, except for the front 4 teeth they are going to pull right before my partials. (Please forgive any errors I may be making, but thy have me on Methadone because the pain is so intense. I will be off of it tomorrow) I went in Tuesday to get some fillings done, and the Dentist informs that after looking at the x-rays more, she doesn't think we can save the tooth, and she also has spotted fragments of a tooth that dissolved 25 years ago buried in my gums that need to come up. I had been feeling great, so like a fool, I say, "Lets do it." 4 days later I am just starting to be able to get out of bed. It feels like she ripped my gums wide open as well as the side of my mouth.
   I am telling you this because just the other day I said "Man, where going to start writing blogs every other day and really kick arshe art wise." Ho hum, I am sure we will get there soon, but not this week. lmao. But I think the life lesson here is that no matter what we think or the best laid plans we have, life is going to remind us on a regular basis that we are human. I think my biggest problem has always been accepting this, but I am proud to say I am getting there. I have embraced that saying that "When Life Gives you lemons, make lemonade!" So instead of painting and communication with all the wonderful people out there that love my work so much, I Will go with plan "B" which is to watch Some old "Batman" TV shows from 1966 and then finish watching the first season of "Lost in Space" Since I can't do what I want to do, Plan B is pretty awesome for an old geek like me. lol!
   Outside of me recovering, everything is just fine. As a matter of fact The Publication
Pagan Element did a feature on me this month you can find here  Take your time to look through the whole publication, it really has some good reading. We also have another article coming up in a few weeks and another and really good interview coming up later in the summer. So my health has slowed me down a little, but the machine just keeps building momentum.
   Another BIG change I hope you will make note of is this. On my regular FB pages I will only be showing finished art. If you want to see step by step or really old work, or get good deals on prints you have to be a member of the fan club. It is free. Just go here and hit the like button, and please help spread the world by hitting the "Share" button and letting your friends know about all the crazy and wonderful things we create. Yes, I said we, because I have took several of your suggestions and turned them into paintings. For Instance, "Zombie Kitties"
   The next big change is the "Group" The group is where we all get together and talk about anything cool or art. It is the only place that I can be one on one with my friends. I was spreading myself WAY to thin a little while back and wasn't able to be anywhere and found myself becoming very frustrated because I couldn't do what I have always done, which is spend time with the people who love the same things I do and my art. I take these kind of things very serious. I love all of you and to know you love or like my work really keeps me going and has gotten me through some really hard times. Without you, I would be nothing.
   So by keeping the group page up on my comp makes it much easier to keep up with messages from everyone, instead of trying to keep up with 7 mail boxes, 8 clubs, and so on. This way I can one of the fellows again. So please be part of the group to if your not already. Here is that link.
   Alright my friends, I am going to put on my Batcape, and take another pain med. I love you all and thank you for being so awesome and accepting me for being so damn human. MAJOR HUGS!!!!

Moving forward in BIG ways!

2011-06-12T12:12:00.000-04:00

   Hello my friends. May love and peace fill your lives always. I have been feeling so good lately that I am no longer worried about making commitments for commercial assignments anymore. As a matter of a fact, it is going to be full steam ahead from here on out.
   I am going to be posting a lot more blogs talking more about my everyday life and the little things that really make up one's career. Blogger added a section a few months ago that lets you keep track of the traffic on your blog, and where it comes from, the feeds to it and so on. I checked it out the other day and it is telling me that I have a minimum of 80 people a day reading it and as much as 1200 in a day reading it. The average is 480 hits a day. Wow! I couldn't believe it and I said that I need to start spending more time here and give my readers more of what they want. I am VERY honored that so many of you keep up with my antics and work. I am flattered and more encouraged that I could ever put into worlds.
   One of the big things about my mindset is this, and this also explains why I am so upset with so many artist out there that I know. I was born an artist, or better yet a creative soul. I love to be creative in many ways that now you will get to see since Mother gave me a second chance. I am going to keep myself healthy and work everyday (but not forgetting to have time for my loved ones and for myself) and really blow everyone away with all the cool things I see in my mind's eye yet to come. But anyways, I am creative because that is who I am. I do my best to improve and learn new things everyday. It is important to me that I become the best at what I do above all else. I can't imagine anyone that wouldn't? Isn't one of the big reasons for our lives is to make the world a better place than the one we where brought into? If your not going to give it your all, why bother?
   But what has been making me upset with these people, and it's all creative people really, it's just that I deal with artist more, is that I see that there main motivation is to be "Famous" WTF? Are you kidding me? Your only goal should be to become good enough to be able to support yourself with you art and live the dream. Damn, that's the payoff. That's the dream come true. But unfortunately what I see from 90% of the artist that contact me is that all they care about is being "famous" They only want to rub elbows with the "High and Mighty" artist of the art world. To them it is all about sucking up, hoping someone will take pity on them and throw them a bone.
   It never stops amazing me that they miss the point that if you work very hard, learn all you can, and be PATIENT in time your day will come if you truly have talent. But instead I see all these people either kissing all the arshes they can, or stabbing someone that trusted them in the back, because for some insane reason they think that will move them on. It sickens me and that is what I have been ranting about the last few weeks. I want to help artist, if there heart is in the right place, but I find very few of them. Those that I do, I hold close. Something for the 90% to think about. I cannot think of one of the "High and Mighty" artist I know, and there a lot, that ever set out to be famous. They just wanted to be as good as they could and to be able to support themselves and their families. Think about that and let that set in your noodle and absorb it in. If you get it, maybe there is hope for you, if not, well. Okay, I think I have finally got that put into worlds the way I wanted to for a while, but just could think of how to do it.
   A couple of cool business things are going on. Everyone knows that Tilly Rivers is my very close friend, and she is like family and so much more to my family. She will be getting her law degree soon and we have worked out an agreement that she will be mine and Madison's lawyer for all things we need in this publishing business. She also acts as a consultant and agent at times. I am thrilled by this simply because I know I am not gonna get screwed in a bad way anymore and if anyone wants to get froggy with us, it will cost them. Truly creative people get screwed more than anyone, mostly because we are a trusting lot, and there is ALWAYS some con artist out there just waiting to set you up. No more for this family.
   I am also working on a deal right now that will give Madison full time editor to work with us on our books. She worked with Madison on her first book "The Bone Extractor" and it was a very awesome and wonderful working relationship. So I am working on a deal and future deals to keep her in our corner for all of our writing needs. She is also a writing agent. Isn't that cool?
   There is so much to being an artist, or a creative person than we usually talk about, but now that i will be blogging more, we'll talk about all parts of the business. It's time for me to get to painting so I will see you in a day or to. Much love my friends and "May the Darkness Comfort You"

I'm alive and doing damn fine!

2011-06-10T14:44:00.002-04:00

Contrary to popular belief, I am alive and doing damn fine. lol Hello my friends. I'm sorry about the length between blogs, but I have been "living" for the first time in a long time and just having fun. The serious state of my health had took a big toll on me physically and mentally. Now that I am doing much better, I had some healing to do in both area's. Now I am finally coming back to myself. It took some doing and I hurt some people's feelings on the way, but they had it coming. There are a few more that I am going to deal with soon as well. Another revelation, because of the way that the very people I have helped through the years have acted toward me, I will give tips here and there but I am saving all the lessons for my books and video's. If I am going to have to listen to crap from the people I help, then they are going to pay me for the privilege. Do you get the feeling I am fed up with other artist bullshit attitudes? lmao. Yes I am and it ends now.

I love my life and l love what I do. I am very blessed and get to do things most can only dream about, but that makes me a target. But the good news is, I only have to deal with things if I want to deal with them. I have a lawyer to check over any deal or any person that is wanting to work with me. In normal terms, that works great for both me and the client if every thing is the way it should be and it keeps me from getting scammed like I have been so many times in the past.

On to other things. If you want prints of my work, you can order them through my fan club and save 5 bucks, or if your a member of my Face Book group you can for normal price. If your not on facebook, you can order them through me. Send me an email at wickedkittystudio@gmail.com for info on how. I haven't sold them to the public in a while, so if you want one signed, this is your chance. Also the prints are a large 13 x19 on very high quality paper. Most artist sell 11 x 14 prints.

I love the people who support my work and my fans, never doubt that. My anger is usually caused by my so called peers and it occured to me that I can close that door and it doesn't matter. I haven't meet another artist yet that wanted to buy any of my work, so why in the hell do I care what they think or say? I have been doing a slow burn over this because when I was sick, I had to deal with all of there crap and now that I am better, they think they can keep on. It's chain yanking time.

Ok, I just wanted to check in my friends. I'll have a new painting with Kane Hodder in it soon. Love you all. Hugs. Peace and Blessings. "May The Darkness comfort you"

Back to working and back to living.

2011-05-28T12:43:00.000-04:00

   Hello my friends and welcome. As you can see I finally got finished with something new. This is a cover for a book called "Zombie Summit" I will release all the info you need to order a copy once it is available. This was done with Corel painter 9. Since my health had been so up and down since January, I decided that I would be better off to do it digitally so the paint wouldn't keep drying on my pallet considering how long it took me to get this done. I am very thankful that the publisher was very kind and patient knowing the condition I was in.
   I hope that you can see that there is a difference between my oil paintings and digital work. I am hoping for each medium I work in that it has it's own distinctive look. I am hoping the work I am going to be doing on canvas will be unique as well.
   I am starting a new cover today. This one will feature Kane Hodder as the model for Madison's character "Bonesaw" I am very excited to be doing a cover for my Honey's first book. I am going to draw it out digitally, but then I am going to print it out and paint it in oils. I am hoping this will be a faster way to get cover work done. On my own personal projects I will continue to hand draw each piece.
   On a personal level I have made a lot of changes in my life this last month, including by to who I am as a person. The truth is, I have always kept to myself and let very few people into my life. I am not a "social" person and these last couple of years have tried to be because I thought it was what was expected of me. There are some people that feel that way, but I don't. By doing that I've had to be someone I am not and I simply will not do that anymore. From now on Social networks are simply a tool for me to show people my work that want to see it and to promote the things I do. I do not and can talk to everyone on there. I have tried that and guess what? I didn't get any work done, or always found myself with my back to the wall facing deadlines because people wanted to feel like they where hanging out with me. I've also had to deal with a LOT of wannabes that just keep sucking the life out of me. That all has come to an end.
   Now I do what I do best, be an artist. I understand now why the my famous friends always keep their distance from the fans. You have to if you want to have a life. I am sorry if this upsets anyone, but I have to worry about me, my life and getting done what I need to do. I also need "Nick" time as well, and these networks take that from me when I get to close to them.
   I love you all. I really do and I am very thankful for the people that buy, support and follow my work, but it is about my work, isn't it? It is not me and I want to keep it that way. Love and Hugs. "May the Darkness Comfort You"

Fighting battles and winning the war.

2011-05-17T16:30:00.005-04:00

Hello my friends, how have you been? I have been improving health wise everyday. I should be back to 100% soon, and I haven't been 100% in 7 years. Well, I don't know if it will be 100%, but it sure will feel like it compared to what I have been dealing with. Right now I am just trying to get back into my daily groove I had going on up until the beginning of this year. Once I am to that point and get back to date on the work I put on hold, it will be full speed ahead. I have been working on a book cover here and there during all of this. I will show you a so far next. It is for a book called "Zombie Summit". The publisher and writer are both very happy with it to this point. I still have some work to do to the background, and then I will paint in the Zombies. I am hoping if my health holds up to have this one done by the end of the week.

This one is being done in Painter 9. It's been several months since I have done a digital piece, and its a nice change of pace, but I am ready to get back to the oils soon as well. It is so much easier to do covers digital so you can make the changes you need easily. That is why I stress to all artist out there, learn to work traditionally and digitally. It works to YOUR advantage.

Since I posted the last blog, I have put myself into the hermit mode I told you about. It doesn't shut people out on a art basis, but it allows me time to think and get my head straighten back out. Going through all the constant battles with my health has really got my "regular" life all out of whack. What is important to me right now is getting my head back in the right place, setting new goals and start being productive once again. Once I do that I promise you that I will start kicking some serious arshe again on a level higher than the past.

I know a good many of you are on the Facebook Group Nick Rose, and now that I understand how the bloody thing works, I have started breathing life into it and getting people talking and chatting. I hope you will join us there. Here is the link. This may be the best way for us all to learn from each other as well as chatting with the people who love my type of work as well. All are welcome as long as you respect the other members. There are over 4000 and I am going to work on getting it even larger.

One of the big things that has happened during this "Down" time for me is that my eyes have opened to what is most important to me. Sometimes we need to get slapped down to step back and see things with fresh eyes. I feel for the most part I have been on the right path, but there are a couple of things I want to do different in my life from here on out. But those things are personal for now. Maybe I will talk to you about them latter on, or perhaps you will notice a change in me. Time will tell.

Well, I have to get for now, I have to spend some time with the kids and get them fed and homework done while Madison gets ready to work. Love and Hugs "May the Darkness Comfort You"

Lots and lots of changes coming.

2011-05-09T09:26:00.000-04:00

   Hello my friends and Happy Mothers Day. I pray that each of you had a mother that was loving and nurturing to you. Mothers mean more to us when we are children than anything else. As Brandon Lee said in the movie "The Crow" " Mother is the name of God on the lips of small children" and that it is. But it in some cases it could be "Satan". I pray that you are not one of those children.
   I have a lot to talk about today. Many major changes are on the way, as a matter of fact, I'm completely revamping the way I do business, and my appearance online. I'm in the process of "Cleaning out my Closet." That's a private term, but Madison and Tilly know what I mean. It is time for a lot of growth and to take some big steps forward. For this to happen, some eggs are going to get broken and I have to leave "Junk" in the past where it belongs.
   The first thing that you will notice is that I am getting rid of the Wicked Kitty Website. I have decided to only use the Nick Rose Name as far as the public is concerned. I still own the Wicked Kitty name and we will be using it for some business ventures, but overall "Nick Rose" is what we will be branding. Also, times have changed. Personally I don't see any reason for keeping up a website. If I want to show samples, I'll simply send clients to a private link that just features my work, nothing else. After all, publishers and movie producers don't care about anything other than my work. Websites are for fans, and honestly I have 100 times the fans going to my blog or social networks to see my work. So a website is a waste of money and time. If you are going to stay competitive in this business, you have to think outside of the box and grow with all the changes going on with the Internet. It seems almost everyday there is something new coming out that you can use as a promotional tool.
   We are also going for new ways to bring in income from my art. I'm not going to disclose what my plans are, but I will say, I have been thinking about this for a very long time. I've been studying the market and how other people have been making "large" livings doing what I am going to do. Give me a year and you will see. The hardest part of this is has been trying to figure out where the capital will come from. Problem solved.
   A couple of things that have been bothering me these last several months is that I want to be able to film videos of my working both traditionally and digitally. I was going to get a good camera at Christmas to help me do this, but it turns out the more I worked toward this, the more I realized how expensive it was going to be to buy the equipment to do this properly. I am talking about making top of the line videos and to do that I need to invest around 50 grand for the equipment to just get me started.
   The same problem is present with doing books. The writing part isn't nearly as bad as the quality of photo's I would need to take of "In progress" photo's to make the book desirable. This is going to take a very nice camera and some really good equipment, so it looks like that is going to have to wait for a while now. Sorry, but I'm not going to do anything half-as*ed. I want fans and buyers to know that anything that goes with the Nick Rose name is quality.
   As most of you know I have been working my arshe off getting my health back, and I am doing it so I can have a long career and make a lot of money to take care of the people I love most in this world. Basically I am going into a "Hermit" mode. I will still be here and do things to promote my work and projects, but I am going to become scarce. Basically if you want to contact me, send me an e-mail, because unless it is business you will not be able to get me on the phone anymore. Sorry, but I have to really focus on the goals I have set for myself and that means I have to focus on my life and decisions. It 's time I discover who I am as a person, an artist, and a man, and I don't want anyone outside of the people I hold closest to my heart to be involved in that.
   SO, please respect that. Emails work just as well. I am sorry for sounding so "tight" but this has been coming for a while now, but I wanted to think about it for a long time to make sure it was the right choice for me.
   I want to make this very plain, I am not referring to all of you that are here because you like my art and are keeping up with my career. This has nothing to do with anyone I deal with on a business level. This is about me making more time for what I do best, and keeping myself focused on my goals. Before Madison came into my life, I lived 8 years with no one in my life mostly so I could focus on learning the lessons of the Masters and keeping my mind clear of all the clutter that life has a tendency to throw at you.
   I know this may sound a little off to some of you, but it 's what works for me. Blame my parents. I had to live in my own little world to survive growing up, and as an adult, I do the same thing when I am very serious about pursuing something. I know you all will be glad I did, after all, you may like me, but you are here mostly because of the art, and I intend to get real serious about that and keep practicing all the "secrets" I was taught. It 's not everyday that we are given second chances at life and in my case I am going to give it all I have.
   This is just the start, and with each blog I will go over more and more the things I will be doing and changing. I want you all to know that I do love you, and your support has and always meant the world to me. Without you, I would be nothing. I also have a new fan club if your interested in joining. Here is the link.  I started this one because our FB group, 4200 strong is being archived, whatever that means. This one is a "Like" Club and I am hoping to do more on there without sending a bunch of letters to your mailboxes. You can't do that with the group. If I send out a message from there it goes to every one's mail, and we don't want that unless it is REALLY important.
   Love and Hugs. "May the Darkness Comfort You"

Improving myself on many levels.

2011-05-03T10:52:00.000-04:00

   Hello my friends. I hope each of you are doing well. I don't know about you, but I am excited about the news that Bin Laden is dead. That's one less monster in the world to give our children nightmares. I am so proud of our Military and am even prouder to say that I served my country. It's even more cool to find out that not one of our Navy Seals was hurt in this very dangerous operation. Total Badas*! I also find it very amusing that May 1st is also the day that they found Hitler dead as well. It is a special day for getting rid of the bad guys for sure. I wonder if that was planed out? lol
   Those of you that have keep up with me these last couple of years know very well that I am a veteran and if it was not for that, there is no way I could afford all the medical treatments and medicines I have to take these days. To any young person reading this, going into the Army was the best decision I made in my young life. Not only did it teach me things I hold dear like "Respect, Honor, and to stand by your friends", but the Army put me through college, and has helped me my whole life. If you don't know where you want to go with your life yet, our Military is a great place to start.
   Right now, my health is the big issue, and I am working very hard on making it as good as I can so I can return to the world of doing some commercial work to help with the bills. Since January, everything has been on hold. I have constantly been fighting to stay alive. If we hadn't figured out that most of the problems I was having was being aggravated by infections in my gums that had been there for years unknown. It's no wonder that for the last 6 years I have been sick more than healthy.
   So I have been having most of my teeth pulled and filled. My body already feels 10 times better than it has in years, but I still have about 7 weeks to go before all the dental work is done, and trust me when I say I am living in some serious pain on a daily basis. I am only able to work here and there for now. I am working on some projects, but nothing that I have to push for, but the good news is this, once I am done with all of this I will not be afraid to commit to deadlines anymore and I am intending on doing a ton of new work. I have a LOT of really cool things going on, but I am not going to say anything about them until they come up. I have had several more major horror movie stars to sign on to my "Masters of Horror" project. I will tell you who they are when the time comes, but honestly it is going to be 2012 before I can start anything with them.
   Outside of the time I am leaving open for doing cover and movie work, the rest of my art time is already committed for this year, and it looks like I am going to working a lot more with April "Chainsaw Sally" than I originally thought. She is one hell of a awesome and sexy model, so she will be appearing in a lot of my paintings. The same thing with Kane Hodder. The man is awesome and has agreed to let me use his image however I want, so he will be turning up on a lot of book covers as well as posters and prints.
   My gallery project I have been hinting at is really starting to come in focus, and some of the movie stars will be in those paintings as well. So as you can probably guess I am very excited about my health improving 100% and knowing I have all this awesome work in front of me. If you think what you have seen from me the last few years was something, well, you haven't seen anything yet. I am just getting warmed up. lol
   Another part of my life I have been working on is my spiritual beliefs. This is something I have been dancing around for way to long, but now I am starting to do a lot of studying and research on my personal beliefs, and on a personal level, this is really making me feel a lot better "on the inside" if that makes sense. In my humble opinion, I believe my life centers around 3 things, my art, Madison and the kids, and my spirituality. They are all connected and I put equal time into each of them. They are what really matters to me and I want to be the best person I can be, so my focus will be on these 3 things from now on.
   Madison's new book is almost done, and I will be doing the cover for it. There will be some super big news coming along with that as well, but I will let her tell everyone when the time is right. I am so proud of her, and this book rocks. I kid you not, and I think some of the people I work with will honestly look at it for a possible movie. I am very serious.
   Hopefully I will blog again soon, and maybe have some work to show you, we'll just have to see how I am feeling. Like I said before, when you whole face is throbbing in pain, it is kind of hard to think about doing much of anything, but I will be past it soon.
   Love to you all. "May the Darkness Comfort You"

Update 1

2011-04-26T10:29:00.000-04:00

   My dear friends, for most of the spring, unless I have some new art to show you, I want be on line much. Although this dental work is a very positive thing, I feel like it is a downer to keep talking about it, and right now this is dominating my life. I will post updates on how I am doing here and there for my friends that are worried. As it is, I can't even talk on the phone, the pain in my face is so intense. When it does ease up, it is because I am so stoned on pain meds I don't know what I am saying half the time.
   I am trying to get some work done during all of this, but I just have to take it one day at a time for now, and I sure as heck can't make any promises. But once I am healed, I will be in the best shape I have been in for several years, as far as feeling "good" on a daily basis.
   I will get some roughs and sketches up for you in the near future, and in the meantime, please don't worry. I will be fine. Love and Hugs,
Nick

Filling you in

2011-04-21T14:48:00.000-04:00

   My friends, I do apologies for the lack of blogs of late, but as most of you know I am going through a series of 9 dental surgeries. I had the second one today and it went fine. This should all be done in about 7 weeks and then I will be able to really start kicking butt like you've never seen me do before. My teeth have been infected for no one knows how long, but it has been making me very sick for the last few years. My body has to constantly fight this along with diabetes, colitis, COPD and other problems. I have been going downhill bad the last several months. But know, after the first surgery I feel better than I can remember feeling in many years. Luckily we finally figured out what was going on in my body.
   I should be back with a regular blog in a few days, but I wanted you to know that I love you all the love, support and prayers from you have got me through this. Madison and the kids have really been taking great care of me as well. This easter sunday will be our 2 year anniversary! Can you believe that? Wow, time has been flying and I've never been happier in my life.
   Another milestone is that we hit over 1500 Facebook readers on the blog today! Just amazing. Love and Hugs.

Chainsaw Sally Begins!!!!

2011-04-12T16:09:00.000-04:00

   Hello my friends. I am writing this in two sittings. I have about an hour before I am going to the dentist to start getting some major dental work done on my teeth. It is going to take several months to get it all finished, but once it is done, I will be not be ashamed to smile anymore, and I will be more healthier. But at the moment, I feel like a condemned man waiting for his turn in the chair, electric chair that is! lol.
   This is something exciting and I am doing it for my fellow artist, so please read. I have started a new account on Facebook called Nick RoseThree. The first one is maxed out and the second one is almost half way there, but I started 3 for a very different reason. One of my goals is to share and teach and that is what 3 is for. I am going to show you day by day how I work and the progress I make, except when I have to take a day off because of my health. Hopefully those will get less and less as time goes by and I work on improving my health and body every day. But on today's blog I am going to give you and ideal of how Nick RoseThree works. I do not put this many drawings in progress on my other FB accounts or on this blog, so if you really want to see how I do my thing and learn from me, then go here and send a request. I will add you.
   Before I start with the art today though, I want to share some thoughts with you. I hope you will take the time to read and think about this. Recently some people I love very much have become sick. Hopefully through surgery they will be fine, but it is possible we could lose them as well. This has really been a wake up call for me personally. I have a habit of keeping a certain distant from loved ones because of some things that happened a few years ago. Since that time, I haven't let anyone outside of Madison and the kids "In" and this has been a horrible mistake on my part. I do have a lot of people that really are good friends to me and love me. Realizing I could lose a couple of them just like that, made me promise myself that I would start being a better friend to them and let the ones I love in. I would start calling and writing more, not put them off when they call or something. I also decided, whether male or female, I would always tell them that I love them and let them know they mean the world to me. After all, you never know when you are going to lose someone or yourself.
   You should never be embarrassed about telling the people you love that you love them. If you tell another man you love them, that doesn't make you "Gay", it makes you a better person. There is nothing wrong with love or expressing it, no matter who you are, your beliefs, your sexual preferences and so on. If only everyone would realize this, the world would become a better place instantly. Think about this, and then start spreading love to all your love ones. Who knows, it could start a chain reaction.
   Here is where I am going to have to take a break and head to the dentist, hopefully when I get back I will be up to finishing this....
I survived the surgery and am actually doing well, although it is the following day. They pulled out one tooth and the remains of 3 teeth that went bad years ago. There was a huge amount of infection in my gums and this is one of the main reasons my body has been feeling bad for so long. On top of the things that disabled me, my body is having to fight this infection everyday. No wonder I have felt so bad so many days. In two weeks, they are going to do my right side, pulling out 4 teeth from there as well. Then finally in a month, 4 of my front teeth have to come out. Then, I will be fitted with "Partials" and I will have nice teeth and feel a thousand times better. I want to give thanks to the "Lady and the Lord" for making this possible. They do provide well for me.
   Ok, on to art. As I said earlier, your not going to see this much detail in my blog. At max in the blog, I show a painting at 4 stages tops. On Nick RoseThree, you will get to see it in about 20 to 30 steps. I did not put the first two steps here on the blog, because mostly, they are just a bunch a scribbles that help me get to this point here....

If you noticed, to this point I have keep the pencil work very light. The main reason is I want to offer pencil prints of the work as well as the oil painting prints. I work with 3 pencils. I use a 4h to lay the drawing out because it is very light, but very hard. It doesn't smear like a softer lead, but you have to learn not to put a lot of pressure on the pencil or it will leave intentions in the paper if you have to erase. From this point on, I use a HB lead and a 2b lead pencil, like the one you would use for school or just everyday use. Now I am very sure that other artist will tell you they use other things instead, and that is wonderful. It is a personal thing, and these are the pencils I learned to work with through the years.
Erasers are important as well. I use a Pentel "Clic" eraser, I also use a battery operated eraser, and I use a "kneaded" eraser as well. Between the 3, they do a good job cleaning out any mess or smears I will make while drawing.....

   Now I start adding the details, values and shadows. I've always like to start with the eyes first. I'm not sure why, I just do and from there I work on the rest of the face. (If you will notice, there is a paper towel on the right on the drawing. I have found that by using a paper towel under my hand, it keeps the smudging to a minimum}
   In this painting, I am basing it on a "publicity" photo of April's character "Chainsaw Sally" , but I am wanting to take it up a few notches from there. If you have watched "Chainsaw Sally" show or movie, you know it can get pretty gory in a cool way. If you haven't been able to see Sally in action, then go here  and you can see video, pictures or whatever you heart desires. After I am happy with the "Likeness" of April in the drawing, I start adding new elements. For me, I start thinking about these things as I start laying out the drawing. In a lot of cases, I start thinking about how I want something to look a couple of weeks before I even start the piece.
   Every artist is different, and I was trained to do all of these values schemes and drawings long before I start the finished piece, and on occasion, I will still do it like that depending on what the piece is and what it is for. But in this case, I want it to be spontaneous like the "Dark Fairy" painting I finished recently...

In the second picture, you can see some of the changes I am starting to make, but we're just getting warmed up! lol and here is another close up of April's face in progress.

So next time you see this piece on the blog, the drawing will be finished. If you want to see it in the steps that get to the finished drawing, then you need to send a friends request to Nick RoseThree.
Well my friends, I hope to see you there but if not, you know you will see me here several times a month. I hope you all are having a wonderful week and enjoyed seeing this piece in this much progress. Love and Hugs
"May the Darkness Comfort You"

The Key.......

2011-03-31T16:14:00.000-04:00

Hello my friends. I am so happy to be here with you again. It think it safe to say now that my health has improved greatly and the reason for my illnesses has been dealt with. As an artist, I love to draw and paint all types of images. I love to express myself in a lot of ways. One of my biggest joys is doing portraits. Here is a new one of a dear friend, Deborah Collard.....

Deborah and I have been friends for several years now and we have had some wonderful times together. She took me on my first "real" ghost hunt at Sloss Furnace in Birmingham, Alabama. It was filmed as well. I was a "guest star" Even Patrick Burns was there for the event. That and all the time I spent in Birmingham was without a doubt some of the best times of my life so far. There are a lot of awesome people in "Bamaham" as I like to call it. lol
   Speaking of portraits, they are one of the best training things a artist could do. It really develops you "artist eye" For instance, if you are drawing or painting a car or a landscape, if you get it a little wrong, no one can really tell unless they have a really good eye. But if you don't get a portrait right, then it doesn't look like the person you are drawing or painting. There is no room for mistakes and how well you do a portrait proves and shows how good you really are as an artist. So I encourage any artist reading this to make doing portraits part of your normal routine, that is if you really want to be the best you can be, and personally I can't imagine a person not wanting to be the best they can be. Isn't that one of the points of living?
   I am going to give the artist reading this a gift. The best gift I could ever give any of you. I am going to tell you the "big" secret. The one that can make you great, the one that will separate you from the rest of the pack. The one that will change your life as an artist forever, I am going to give you the key.
   Why, you ask? Why not? I am not a selfish person and the last thing I am worried about is someone taking what I have. That is ridiculous. There is only one me and one person that can paint and draw the way I do. I have my audience, and you have yours. So why not share this with you? Although you may not understand it right now, but if you do what I tell you, you will in time. An when you do, you will be able to learn in ways you never have before and my friend, you will soar and become something very special.
   So here it is. When I first started training under the Master, I was more grateful than I can ever put into words. I still am, and I always will be. By doing what I am doing right now, I am keeping the promise I made to him. I figured I would be going to school per say, and that I would have tons of lessons to do. I also figured I would have to do a lot of studying and everything else that goes with it, and I did. Most all of those lessons I am happy to share with you, but the lessons and the studying is not what me start growing in leaps and bounds, and I still am. I am no where near my potential. I am very excited about everything I do because I know with each new piece I grow and learn things that no one had to teach me.
   When I was telling Daniel how grateful I was for all that he was doing for me, he simply said to me "I am just opening the door to the knowledge that is already inside of you. I am just turning the key, you are the one that is teaching." I was blown away by that and had no frigging idea of what the heck he was talking about, until 4 years later.
   I am going to tell you a few very simple things to do, and you do them on a regular basis. Make it part of your day, part of your routine. First, study nature and everything in between. I mean REALLY look at things and study them. See how the light works on the object, learn to see what colors are really in something. Do you think that something that is white is really white? Look closely, very closely. Do this everyday with everything you can. Eventually you will get it.
   Nature is by far the greatest teacher there is for us. Everything you need to know about color, values, composition, perspective and contrast schemes is there. Just learn to see it, and then learn to draw it how your eyes see it. Once you learn to draw it, you will be able to paint it.
   By no means are you going to become awesome overnight, like all things, it takes time. But what I am telling you now will put you on the right path.
   Next thing is to learn to draw people. Learn to do quick studies of a persons body language. I sit with a sketch pad while watching a sports program, and I quickly sketch what I am seeing. By doing this you are learning to draw with a "relaxed" feel. This will really help you with your anatomy and all that goes with it, and like I said before, do portraits.
   There is more that I will tell you as we go, but for now, just work on these things. Reading is good too, study everything you can. Hell, Youtube has some awesome "How to" video's to watch. Now honestly, not everything you are going to read or see in a demonstration is right. That is for you to decide if it will work for you and if your comftable with it. Take what you need and leave the rest behind.
   So that is all for this blog, next time I see you, I will have some pictures of the New "Chainsaw Sally" painting in the works.
  Blessed Be and "May the Darkness Comfort You"

A New painting and more major news.....

2011-03-22T20:11:00.000-04:00

   Hello my friends. Thank you for sharing your time with me once again. I have been very busy again and a lot of things are happening that are really amazing. But lets start with the painting above. It is an oil painting and measures 17 x 22 inches. It is called "Dark Fairy" and you can purchase prints of any size and quality at this link.  The model is Superstar Tilly Rivers, and the original already has a home.
   The next painting coming up will be one of the "Chainsaw Sally" paintings. I am working on a couple of portraits at the moment as well. One of my friend and Ghost Hunter Deborah Collard and the other is an Oil Painting of Tilly.
   After I finish the first painting of April "Sally" I will be starting a painting for a new client, Kane Hodder. That's right Kane Hodder. I have a agreement with him to paint him as much and as often as I want. If you watch horror movies, you know that Kane is the present day version of Lon Chaney, the man of 1000 faces. Kane has played countless monsters on the big screen, including Jason of Friday the 13th, and his most recent movies "Hatchet" and 'Hatchet 2" Here are a few stills of Mr. Hodder.

This next one is from Hatchet 2

I don't know about you all, but I think this is about as cool as it gets. I am going to paint Kane in all types of ways, including a painting for his Biography coming out in Oct.

   All the agreements are signed and this is the beginning of a series of paintings that I am going to be calling "The New Masters of Horrors' and I will be working with a lot more of the greatest horror stars of our time. BOOM! Just like that, another dream comes true.
   If I seem a little giddy tonight, I am. lol. I have been working long hours again and taking care of a lot of business. I have found me a printer that I think I will be letting handling all my printing needs. They showed me some samples today of prints from my work, and I felt like they where very impressive. Another great thing is that can print the pencil work I do for my paintings for me, so I can paint a copy of the pencils instead of the original pencil work. That means I can sell my pencil work for my paintings now and get an extra few hundred dollars for my work.
   I took some new pictures of my studio setup, since I added a second easel I would like to share with you.

I took these pictures starting with the left side of the room working my way to the right wall. The drawing area is behind where I am taking these pictures from. What you are seeing in these pics are about 1/3rd of the studio.

Here you can see where I added the second easel. The large canvas is for Tilly's Portrait. I know some of you could care less about this, but as an artist I find it cool to see how artist set up their work aera's.

You can see in the corner where I have my computer, scanners, and printers all set up.

I really like the green light at night. It gives the studio a cool feel to it. Personally I feel like your studio needs to be a happy place for you, if you spend the majority of your life in it like I do. Now I just need to get some of those artificial trees like I use to have back in NC before I moved.
Next week when you her from me, I'll have plenty of new work including the start of the "Chainsaw Sally" painting. So until then, Love and Hugs. "May the Darkness Comfort you"

Let's talk Life and Art again.

2011-03-15T20:31:00.000-04:00

   Hello my friends. I need to bring you up to speed with all that has been going on the last few months, and for me it hasn't been pleasant. Those of you that have been following my career know that last year, 2010 was a year beyond any dream I ever had or wished for. So many wonderful things happened, I wouldn't even know where to start. If you weren't here then and want to know, I suppose you would have to read back through the older blogs. With that said, the things already signed for this year blow last year away on every level. But this year, 2011 started with a major thud.
   From the beginning of the year to last week I have been plagued with medical issues. It started with my lower back going out for several weeks and because of the intense pain I had no choice but to start taking Hydrocodone, the strongest version of the medicine as well as Tramadol. While I was on the pain medications I went into a very deep depression. It lasted 2 months and took me to very dark places. I lost the will to paint, draw or do anything really. I just existed each day. None of the things that normally excited me or made me happy had any effect. With the love of Madison, the kids, and my close friends I finally pulled out of it. Most of it was caused by the pain and then sickness brought on by the side effects of the pills. The good news is that none of my old ailments bothered me and we actually have them well under control now. My sugar levels are excellent all of the time and my blood pressure is well within acceptable limits. I've only had 2 chest infections over the winter compared to having pneumonia 5 times last year. So my lungs are really starting to improve. It has been around 20 months since I quit smoking, and I am convinced that quitting when I did saved my life, but I have had to fight every step of the way to recover and I know that the fight is not over. As long as I can see improvement, that alone gives me strength to keep on fighting. Life has kicked me on my arshe over and over my whole life, but I am just to stubborn to give up and I cannot accept defeat. It is just not part of who I am.
   Just so you know and understand, this last year with all the International attention, there are those that keep trying to change me. Bless them. Madison isn't one of them, neither is Tilly, but there are folks that think I need to change my "Image" . No worries, I refuse to do that. I tried it for about 2 months and felt like a fish out of water. Why change the things about me that my friends and fans like? I've gotten this far by being myself and being straight up with everyone. I think I am going to keep doing what I have always done. True, I have grown up a lot and growth is what life is all about. It is the same with art, and where going to talk some art here in a little bit, but I want everyone to know about these other things first.
   I don't know about anyone but me, but I have been in agony and tears for the people of Japan. I have always loved the country and the culture, but now seeing what those people are going through and the incredible strength and courage they are showing has inspired me as a man to reach to new levels and understand their beliefs and culture even more. I am keeping them in my prayers constantly and I hope you are to. Prayer does work, no matter what your faith is.
   I know you all have noticed that I mention Tilly a lot and with good reason. Madison and I both trust her and believe in her. She has done a great deal to help me with my career and never, not once, asked for anything in return. The woman almost has her law degree (less than a semester away), she owns her own publishing company, she is a best selling ( Millions and Millions of books sold) author, was one of the top models in the world and one of the smartest consultants I have ever talked with. For some reason she really believes in me and my work and over this last year we have became the best of friends. So in a lot of ways, Tilly is a huge part of our lives now and a hug part of my career. She is going to help me reach the new goals I have set for myself, again asking nothing in return other than friendship.
   I honestly feel like all I have to do is turn out the best work I can, and miracles are going to happen because of it. Another thing that really has me stoked is Madison's book "The Bone Extractor" She has a fantastic editor working with her on the book and it is really becoming a book I believe will sell to a main stream publisher. I am going to be using the same editor to help me with my books as well. So, now that I am out of this funk, I have to be careful not to let the things that lead me into it doesn't happen again. When I am painting now, I am keeping a heating pad in my chair on my low back to keep it relaxed and doing all I can to keep off the pain medicines. I really have to start kicking butt an to do that I have to keep healthy and keeping a positive attitude.
   In the next blog I will have pictures again and a finished painting. Right now I am just trying to get to square one again. Okay, lets talk art for a little bit and mainly about color. I have really been learning a lot since I came back to painting in oils, and as I said a few blogs back, the more I think I know, the less I actually do. I told you something last year that I am going to change up on you. I gave you a basic formula for mixing flesh tones, and when your first learning, and even for those of you that believe in painting flesh in 4 values (like comic book artist for instance) and only using one basic color combination, the formula I shared with you is way beyond that. After all it was created by American Master Howard Pyle. But as I am growing as a painter I am seeing that rules are made to be broken, once you understand and master them.
   Always learn the rules to how it is all done, such as color mixing, or the basics of design and values. The very basics of drawing using shadow to create form, shape and weight. Once you have master the basics, then you may be ready to break the rules and move beyond them. For instance mixing and painting flesh colors. Always remember that the lighting, setting, the colors surroundings and the race of the subject are going to determine a lot with the flesh tones, not to mention the temperature of the body, whether it is warm or cold. If it is in action or has been, there will be more red in the tones of the flesh. So what I am saying is that there is no simple cut and dry formula for painting the flesh. Even in passion, the tones vary compared to normal. But these things are for the Artist to learn and I don't know if a lifetime is enough to Master this. I have come a long ways since my training, but this isn't something that I was taught. I was taught the basic formula. Daniel keep stressing to me that I already knew everything I need to know, he was simply gonna turn the key to unlock the knowledge that already was in me. Damn, that used to drive me up the wall trying to figure out what the heck he meant, but now I do. If you really want to learn to paint like the Masters, then the first lesson you need to learn about flesh is to learn the naturally warm and cold spots on the human body. Start with that, and remember that nature and your "eye" are the best teachers you can have. Learn to use and study them everyday.
   The thing that I truly realize now about myself is that I am on the road to becoming a Master. I understand things now that just 2 years ago I couldn't even fathom, and the "Art" is what matters to me, not the fame or attention. My goals for the next few years is to set new standards and to make my fellow artist think in ways they never dreamed of before.
   I said this before, but I was prevaricating. I didn't want to admit my body and mind wasn't ready for the challenge, but it is now. It is time to rock, and if you want, I will take you along for the ride. After all, it wouldn't be no fun without you! Love and Hugs.
"May the Darkness Comfort You"

A Quick Explanation

2011-03-08T17:31:00.000-05:00

I feel like I need to post this because I know a lot of you come here looking for new posts from me. The last few weeks, and probably for another few weeks I don't know what to expect. I am having a problem that seems to indicate that I am having problems with my Gall Bladder. I have been in the emergency room about it last week, and am seeing my Doctor on Thursday about getting an ultrasound done on it, and possibly surgery.
As it is I am in a lot of pain off and on and I haven't been able to do much of anything creative, although I keep trying. I will keep you posted on how this all goes, but until it is resolved, I don't think I will be able to do my normal things. Love and Hugs everyone."May the Darkness Comfort You."

The fire is starting.

2011-03-01T18:42:00.000-05:00

   There is a song by an old Metal band called Metal Church "Start the Fire" which is really states the frame of mind I am in right now. Hello my friends, I hope and pray that you are all well. I am doing fine and my health is really improving day by day. This time last year I was in the hospital with pneumonia for the 4th time in that year. This year, I have only had to deal with a chest infection 3 times, and we nipped it in the bud as the saying goes. Now that we have a treadmill at home, that is really helping to. This last 2 years has truly been a miracle for me. I guess that the powers that be want me around for a while longer. Personally I am hoping for about 30 more years. That should give me the time I need to conquer the world, as the saying goes. lol
   I am probably making a huge mistake, but I have finally figured out what it is I want to do with my work and how I want to move forward. I bought a second easel this week and on it i am going to do nothing but canvas paintings. I want to be something more than an Illustrator, I want to be an artist. I know it is in me, and I know now that is what I have been longing to do. So I am going to be trying all kinds of new types of paintings. Things you've never seen from me. It will still mostly be dark, but different. I am going to start searching for a gallery soon either local or in Detroit that will show and sell my paintings.
   20 years ago I don't think that would have been an option, but now I see my type of work in more and more places. I want to build a group of patrons that collect my originals. I want to keep a few and give some to my friends, but overall I want people who like or love my work to own an original or 20.
   The last several months I have been feeling burnt out and knew that I needed a change, but I just wasn't sure what the change would be. Then in the middle of the night I had a dream about the future, maybe, and was seeing all these paintings from me yet to come and it was very exciting. I could see that my style had really evolved and my work had become very unique and different that anyone Else's. So thinking about that I started coming out of the depression I had been in for so long and now the flame is burning inside of me again. The "Eye of the Tiger" is coming back and it's about damn time. I should be done with the "Dark Fairy" painting by the weekend, and then I will show you that and the changes I made to the studio.
   Switching gears I think that for one thing last year I wasn't very confident that I would live much longer, but now I feel like as long as I don't do stupid things I can be around for many years to come now, and that is another thing that is really motivating me. Another thing that really has me pumped is my studio and just all the cool things I have now that I never had before. I know a lot of you folks have a much nicer studio and stuff, but to me what I have now is beyond anything I ever hoped for. It was just 3 years ago that I could only buy 1 tube a paint a month, now I order 20 tubes at a time, whenever I want. So thats huge for me. So all these things combined has had a very positive effect on me and I feel like I can emerge myself in painting and learning now.
   Like I said in the last blog, I am not going to make any promises to do anything anymore. I will just do what I can when I have time. If I want to paint, I don't want to have to stop to do something I really don't want to. That totally takes you out of the creative mood.
   Another thing that I am excited about is that Madison bought a HUGE LCD tv, and now when I watch something on TV it's like being at the movies. I was watching an original episode of Jonny Quest last night, and I haven't seen it or any of them since I was a child. It was really exciting and emotional for me. I recently got all the original Astro Boy cartoons from 1963 and I hadn't seen them since I was 6 years old. Just awesome. To me, these are the things that make me feel rich and I don't know how I could be happier?
   I have love now, the first time in a very long time. I have a family that loves me and I get to do what I love everyday. I am blessed, very blessed. Well my friends, it's family time. Much love and hugs. "May the Darkness Comfort you"

Learning to live.

2011-02-21T12:37:00.003-05:00

Hello my friends, I am glad that you stopped by to read my blog. I have some insights I wish to share with you today. But first, here is finished pencil work for my newest work. Once again, the model it Tilly Rivers. One of the best models in the world, hands down. If you wish to purchase a print of it or any of my work, click HERE. To the person who sent the anonymous letter to my blog, Tilly owns 50% of all the model work that she has ever done. She was very smart in making this part of her contract with each photographer she has done work with throughout her career. If you read the news release that is posted on my website under "Media" you will see that she made a news release to CNN stating that I am to be the last person she will ever model for and gave me full rights to all of her photo's that I could use. Seriously, you should worry about your affairs instead of mine.

   Normally I would be further along with a painting by now, but lately I have been doing a lot of reflecting and learning. I have found that with the decisions I made concerning my career that I am able to approach everything differently. I don't have to be in a rush or a panic to get a piece done. I can take the painting at whatever pace I desire. My goals now are simply to do Print work and that is very different than Illustration work. I sell very few prints of any cover or interior assignments I ever did for any publisher, but the pieces I do simply for the love of it sell very nicely and give me a good life.
   Madison got me a nice Treadmill for Valentines day. I am so thankful for that. I have wanted one for a few months now, but I have had to put buying a lot of art stuff first. I was going to the gym for a while there, but that just became to time consuming each day. Now with the Treadmill here and weights as well, I can workout every morning before my shower and then I can get straight to work.
   Speaking of work, I am finding myself in a new frame of mind, or a new challenge? I am trying to take my work from being Illustration to being art. I will always paint "Dark" things. That is who I am, but I am wanting to take my work to a new level and a more expressive and skillful one. I am going to say something now that will probably upset some of you, and for that I am sorry. Over the years there are artist that I have watched to see how they progress. A lot of them are friends and a good many are just artist I run across frequently, but what I am seeing is going against what I have said and thought in the past. I have always believed that if you really work hard at your chosen field that you would constantly grow and improve. I am backing up on that statement now. Most all of my friends I see growing and improving. They where born with the gift and it is obvious, but their a lot of people that have some talent but it is not growing. I am not sure why. Could it be that they feel they know it all and have nothing left to learn? Is there a limit to talent? Do some people get more than others? If so, that is so unfair. Is it the same with writers, musicians, actors and so on?
   I find it inconceivable that anyone would quit learning, especially now with so much information available to us all through the Internet. If nothing else the Internet has become the greatest tool for us all to learn, if that is what you desire. I can't imagine a day that I was not thirsting to learn new things. I get frustrated because I don't have more time to study and learn. I really kick myself for not taking school more seriously. But when your young..... you know. lol
   I am not sure where I am going with this, but I am on a artist group and have been for many years. I rarely comment, but I do watch all the artist there as they post new works and I saw one yesterday post something new. I have been watching this artist for about 7 years now, and in all of that time, I have seen very little to any growth. It is very sad, so this has been on my mind.
   Time to get to work my friends, but I hope you will stop by the store and look at the prints we are offering. You can even get a Giclee if you want. Have a great week my friends, "May the Darkness Comfort you"

There are thorns.....

2011-02-15T11:04:00.000-05:00

Hello my friends. I do apologize for the length between blogs this time. The truth is I was going through a very difficult time because of depression. It seems that my life is so full of highs that I must suffer through lows as balance I suppose. It is not something I like, but I don't know how to avoid it. I think this is true with most all creative people. Luckily these days I do have some real people in my life that know how to help me through these times. I wasn't so fortunate a few years ago. I will come back to this, but first I have some big news to share with you.

There is no way you can work in the horror gender and not know who April Burril is, or better know as "Chainsaw Sally" Guess what?

Did you guess yet? lol. Last week I got a "Tweet" from April and she said she would be interested in doing something together. I gave some thought to it for about 2 seconds and wrote back to her and told her "Sure"

April has starred in countless horror movies with various companies and she has her own web TV show going into its 3rd season and the list just goes on and on. Truly one of the legends of the business and One of the Best known Scream Queens in history. So to say I that I am truly honored that she likes my work and wants to work with me is the understatement of the year. I am thrilled to tell you that we are going to do 2 paintings to start with. I will start on the first one in about 6 weeks.

The first one will be a "Chainsaw Sally" painting, and the second one will be

a painting of April in one of her other roles. I spent most of the morning going through tons of photo's of her to find the ones I think will be great for paintings. Who knows, we could decide to do more than 2 paintings. Her husband, and the man behind "Chainsaw Sally" Jimmyo is quite the artist himself.
   A lot of really great things are coming up for this year and new doors are being opened for me and I am getting to work in new areas I have always wanted to work in, but never had the chance before.
   The bad news is that I had to put the "Steampunk" painting I showed you last week on the back burner for a few months. I have several paintings to get out that have priority over it. I will come back and finish it though, no worries. I got so bogged downed with doing the convention and then depression that I just ran out of time. It is a very detailed painting and is going to take about 3 weeks to finish and I just don't have time for that now.
   I have came out of the depression, but that lasted almost 2 months and now I know for sure that Madison loves me or she would have never been able to deal with me during that time. It looks like I have finally found the life mate meant for me. So hear is the new painting in progress. I am still not quite done with the pencil work yet, but it is coming along very well. I should have this one done within 2 weeks.

   Once again, this painting features model and dear friend "Tilly Rivers" and yes, the same Tilly Rivers best selling author and super model. She has retired from modeling now, but has given me the rights to use all the photo's ever took of her during her career. So trust me, just the Tilly paintings are going to be awesome and will be featured in a book of there own somewhere down the road. I am hoping to do the same with Suzi Lorainne. I have used her in about 8 paintings now. It takes time, but the numbers and art do build up in time.
   The best part is my health has improved 1000% percent over this last year, and Madison is buying us a Treadmill for Valentines. I am so excited about that. I love doing the Treadmill. I pretend I am a hamster and.... lol, just kidding my friends. But between that and the weights I bought a few months ago, I will be able to keep strong and not have to leave home. My time is priceless to me. I just don't have enough time in the day anymore. I try to take at least 1 hour at night for myself and watch my favorite new old show, "Two and a Half Men" I so love DVR. It truly lets you live life more on your terms. For instance, I can watch my shows when I want to now, instead of when they come on.
   If you have noticed, the new piece is more like the old me, myself more so now than before. I kind of got away from the "Dark" work for a while there, and I think a lot of my depression came from that. I have already made up my mind to re-do "Dragon Mystress" for the 5th time now, because although most of you really liked it, I didn't feel like it has the dark edge I wanted for it, so i told Tilly I was redoing it, using the same pose. I loved her pose for it, I just didn't like the rest. Just a note, Tilly and I are very tight friends. We really understand each other very well and are very much alike. We truly are "Kindred"
   Madison and I both are very excited about her visit coming up in a couple of months or less now. We are hoping that George P comes up this way to do some photography as well. We have really become very fond of him as well. (He has the coolest stuff!) I love for my other brother George to come for a visit as well. Maybe he can make it for the wedding.
   My friends, if you don't mind I want to talk about some "Sensitive" issues now. If you don't want to read about them, then this would be the time to say "Bye" until next week. There are 2 things I want to talk about, and both are very personal to me and to some of you I would imagine, especially the creative ones.
   The first is not a huge deal, but something I want to say to some of you. I love everyone here, and yes I do mean even the "Old Friends" I don't consider you enemies or bad people anymore. I have grown up I suppose. My mind is always on the people I love and my art these days. I truly wish the best for you. If I write about something that is bothering me, please don't take it personal. If I was trying to attack you, wouldn't I say your name or point to your websites? In truth, I have opinions, and I like any American am allowed to express them. I do apologize if you don't agree with me. I don't expect everyone to agree with me or accept my word as the gospel. So ease up and just do what you always do and be happy. I am not trying to hurt anyone. Just the opposite actually.
   Madison told me that when I tell you all about the things I have going on, that some of you may think I am bragging or worse. I assure you, that is not true. For those of you that have known me for a couple of years or longer now, know that I am like a big kid. I get excited when cool things happen, like the deal with April. It's like giving me a big piece of candy for doing well at my work. I just want to share with all of my friends. The people that love me and what I do. To me, it is like we are getting these cool things together and i want you to be part of it to. You have all encouraged me and believed in me that I just want you to fell like these are your blessings as well.
   The other thing, which is much more serious, is depression. Depression will kill you if you let it and don't get a handle on it. One of the big things that had me in a depression was that, once again, I had found myself in a situation I did not want to be in. I found myself doing things that I did not want to do. I found myself letting other people tell me how to be myself. Madison did try to tell me this was happening, and like the hard headed man I am, I did not want to listen.
   Well, I got rid of those people, and I decided to go back to square one. This time I am not making no plans. I want to be like the dog that the "Joker" talks about in "Dark Knight" When I do good and life throws me a bone, I want to enjoy that bone until the next one comes my way. I just want to chase cars and see how many I can catch. lol Making plans concerning my art just doesn't work for me. I feel restricted or I feel like I am damning myself to a path instead of the whole field.
   So my mindset is now just simply to do what I feel like doing, and if I don't want to do something, I want. I will do my best to keep the blog regular (as far as being weekly) but I am not going to promise that. We'll just see how it goes and how busy I am. I will continue to teach when it is possible, and I will keep working on the books and video's when I am motivated to do so, but not when I am not. I am going to be a free spirit and let the air under my wings take me to where ever it is the wind takes you.
   I know some of you may be upset about this decision, but those of you that really just care about me will understand and support my insanity. I will tell you this though, I have some really awesome idea's for some artwork, and this year will be very different from any other. You are going to see me expand into some new things more like art you may see in galleries. I am thinking that either this year or next I am going to start doing some sculpture work too. A lot of my friends are doing that and I am thinking I would really like to give it a shot as well.
   Well, I've rambled on long enough this time. I do hope that each and every one of you are having a wonderful and loving Valentines day as we are here in the "Rose Mansion" lol. "May the Darkness Comfort You"

   Darn, I forgot. One of the big things that is happening is that I am licencing my art out to companies that make prints for me. You are now able to buy my work on canvas as well as paper and you can buy prints up to 5 foot tall if you want. They do every type of print of every quality of my work. They will even frame it for you if you want. It's not cheap, but I an not be doing "Cheap" prints anymore. I do art for a living and the people who buy my work mostly are collectors. I want to offer them high quality versions of my work. To go to this store, on the very top of the right hand column is the link to my business partners. There will be more coming soon. Places that you can buy T-shirts and all. Peace and Blessings.