Peaks and valleys, Planes and pterodactyls




One week, all I could paint was blue mountains and suns, and skies, and prehistoric bird friends, or post-prehistoric metal bird friends.

These first tow are collages with mountains, sun, and Ptero-pal cut out and assembled with strips of sky.


These are all part of my 1.5 millions views of Mt. Fuji series. I have a lot more to do before I reach my target of 1.5 million views. ONce I finish, I will move on to Mt. Kilimanjaro.



Letters From a Super Villian



According to a recent USA Now article, the recession, along with reduced metropolitan crime rates is making it very difficult for newly trained superheroes to find work. This year alone, over 2000 potential heroes graduated from super hero technical schools and four year colleges. According to 2010 statistics from the federal government, only 127 heroes were hired by municipalities nation wide, with another 300 estimated to have been hired for private contract work. That leaves approximately 1,600 newly graduated heroes without work.

This has led to rising concern that unemployed superheroes may be forced into less wholesome lines of work. This letter from The Red Phantom to his wife highlights just such a case.


In case you can't read it...here is the letter.

HI Diane,
I'm sorry I took so long to write, I guess I've been trying to put off the bad news, or stall hoping that things would get better.
I think I've been to interviews at 25 different city halls in the past month, and not a single offer. You should have seen the waiting rooms, filled with a dozen super heroes who looked just like me.

Anyway, I've finally found a job. Actually, it's an internship. I'll be working for the Midnight Assassin, as a sort of side kick in training. You probably haven't heard of him. He's a super vilian who mostly focuses on the Washington State Tri Cities of Kennewick, Richland and Pasco. Okay, I know he's not a super hero, and it's not exactly what I was looking for, but he just made it into Newsweek's list of 10 up and coming super villains. Right now, I feel like the name recognition is more important than which side he's on. Once I've interned under him for a year and made a name for myself, I can get a lot of media attention by switching over to the Super Hero side....then I'll probably have job offers coming out of my ears.

Starting Wednesday, I'll be moving into Midnight's loft in Spokane. It's a pretty nice place with hardwood floors and central heating, and he has the cutest Labrador/Poodle mix named NIgel. You'd love him.

I know that things haven't been going exactly as we'd planned. But, I promise you that I will provide for you and Toby. Please, don't give up on me. I love you so much. MIdnight says that you and Toby can stay here if you come to visit. Maybe you can get off work for a few days?
I think about you every night, baby.

Love forever,
The Red Phantom




This is in great contrast to a letter found just one year ago, written by now famed hero Atomic Atom.




It is frightening to imagine what our world would be like if heroes weren't present to help in situations like these shown below.


Batman- The Heartbreak



They had been together for a few years, but being with a super hero is never easy.

Is he off fighting crime? or is he with someone else?

When it got to be too much, she told Batman it was over.

Standing high above the skyscrapers of Gotham, Batman looked up towards the moon, and then down at the midnight streets below. The bat signal was shining bright, they needed him again,
but without her,
it all seemed so meaningless.



From DC Comic's Press Release
"Gotham's masked hero faces the ultimate existential villain. Is this the end of the Batman, or can his newly prescribed cocktail of anti-depressants get him out of bed in the morning?"

Find out in DC comic's new limited series Batman- The Heartbreak

Michael Robot and small tortoise friend.


Michael Robot is one of the only robot survivors of the Platnophian Wars which nearly destroyed all life on the tiny planet of Footha.

Hundreds of years ago, the native robot population of Footha invented a very simple model of human. The early experimental models were extremely large and cumbersome. These basic humans were able to solve simple mathematic equations, and could also tune instruments. In later versions, functioning legs and feet were added making the humans mobile and greatly increasing their potential.
Within 50 years, humans were in widespread use in factories and power plants. 100 years later, the first "human home model" was marketed by the Platnophian Corporation, and soon nearly every Robot on planet Footha had his own human. Robots no longer needed to waste time on mundane chores and menials tasks like cooking, cleaning, and Skeeter repair. It was the dawn of a new era.

200 years later, technology had advanced to the point that humans became self aware, autonomous beings, almost robot-like in nature. All over the planet, humans began to revolt against their masters and soon, large bands of freed humans roamed the streets.
What followed was decades of social turmoil as human's demanded robot rights from the reluctant robot master population. On Thiursap the 21st (Now known as Red Thiursap) humans all over Footha staged the first coordinated simultaneous attack on the robot population. Thus began the Platnophinan Wars.
After weeks of heavy fighting, and widespread robot casualties, the Platnophian corporation had no choice but to enact it's emergency contingency plan. 7 never before tested Hypolermanescent Phillipine Warheads were launched, targeting the areas most densely populated by humans.

The warheads contained a gas that was harmless to robots, but would wipe out the human population within moments. The launch was a success and the entire human population was finally eliminated, leaving only the robots and a dozen small tortoises.
Robots celebrated their victory, and vowed to never again let their own technology master them. But even as they raised their sylar cups in raucous celebration, tiny micro particles of Phillipine dust( a bi-product of the warhead's detonation) were falling down about their fragile robot bodies.
The Phillipine particulates clogged the robots vetrical ducts and stopped them dead in their tracks. The entire robot population stood still and silent as a willburrough. To the surviving tortoises, it must have looked as if time had stopped,

Michael Robot was a Misroboanthope, a hater of robot kind. Anti social, and unable to form connections with other robots, Michael was cast out of robot society. Using a falthine drill, Michael robot dug himself 2 miles into the crust of planet Footha, where he carved out a small nook for himself. He lived there in peace and robotic solitude, only rising to the surface to refill his Glokosoil stock every 120 years.
When Michael next rose to the surface, it was some 75 years after the Platnophinan war. The robot afterbodies still stood where they died that day, but the Phillipine dusts had long settled and sedimentized. The land once ruled by robots now crawled with bright green tortoises, thousands and thousands of tortoises.
Michael Robot found the tortoises much easier to get along with.
Soon he had assimilated into their culture and was treated as
one of them.




Michael Robot and Tortoise will be on display at Cade Gallery in Phoenix Arizona starting May 6th, 2011.