A Little Imagery Before Bed

Tides of Light

by Robert Garbin

Tides of light wash upon gravity’s shore,

Motes of matter given blessed life’s sustenance,

Tiny steps long forgotten from time before,

Dead and cold anon our ancient utterance.

Columns of gaseous kelp ungulate in seas radioactive,

Pulled round clumps of density that warp,

Night sky made grand and sublimely attractive,

Infinities oceanic symphony for heaven’s harp.

The Breath in My Lungs (from my Patreon page)

Art is the air I breath to survive.  Without it the world is dull and lifeless.  When I am tired, yet full of ideas, I get frustrated because my body denies my mind the tools to create its vision.  Lately, that is how I have been feeling.  So much art crashing upon the worn out shore of my body depositing flotsam and jetsam on my craggy coastline.

Finalized print details and I am now waiting to see the full size image.  Printer says there will be no problem doubling the size and using different paper.  When I decide I will get a quote on cost.  I really could use your support on Patreon to build up cash to purchase more proofs of the other images.  I am nearing completion of the planet project and looking forward to starting the Cheetah image.  I may also take a painting I have left unfinished for several years and bring it into the digital realm to see what I can do with it.  The painting is actually an animal scene with an arctic fox and polar bear, which should challenge my skills and show another side of my art.  Of course, there is still the bull rider project.  All said and done, there is a lot I want to work on with more always knocking.

Weather Update (from my Patreon page)

 

Work in Progress – Planet Speed Paint

 

As you can see, I have made some progress with the nebula (planet turned off).  I think it looks much better now especially the interior, which seems more like the flow of exploding material.  Also added some areas of fading luminosity.  Plans for now are to clutter the sky up with stars and other objects to settle the nebula in better.

On another front, I have gotten in contact with my printer about what was wrong with my first proof and they will make the corrections and sent me a new one.  Hopefully soon I will have my first full size print.

Waxing Poetic

Tides of light crash upon shores of gravity, bearing life to the shoals bordering the ocean of infinity.

Whoa!  Yeah, that just popped out there when I was thinking about explaining the changes I have had to do to the nebula project.  With the expanding shockwave of the stars explosion looking like water washing up on a shore, what else could I do.  Anyway, I was not happy with the way the regions in the expanding rings looked so I kept adding color and re-smudging them, hoping to make it work.  I finally think those regions are turning around.  I will be glad when I get it mostly done because I really need to step up the planet work to justify keeping it.

New $5 Rewards added (from my Patreon page)

Here is what I wrote for the rewards:

“I am adding two files this week because I missed the previous upload as well as being late on this one.  The last few weeks have been rather rough for me and I am hoping that will be behind me now.Anyhow, the first file is a jpeg copy of a pencil drawing I did of a clouded eel, which caught my attention because of its distinctive pattern.  I hope to use it as a basis for a water dragon in the future.  The second image is called “Sundiver” and can be seen on my deviantart page.  The idea for this one came from the record breaking free fall jump a few years back.  This was one of my earliest digital images; however, the idea itself did not capture the effect I wanted either.  I wanted the viewer to see the detail of the figure but I also wanted to give the sense of the vastness of the sun and its flares.  In that respect, the image failed.  I may revisit it some day when I come up with a better approach.”

No Such Thing as a Free Lunch

From time to time I will still post thoughts on events or topics in America, and the world, that I have formed an opinion on.  In this case it is on the subject of free education.

While I am for it, this post is not about the pros and cons or even the moral reasons about making education accessible to all, but rather that the moniker of “free education” is incorrect and hurts progressive democrats’ abilities to sell a larger portion of America on the subject.  Progressive democrats would not in truth be giving Americans free education.  What they are really doing is spreading what has become an outrageous burden of obtaining higher education for a better lifestyle over the life of the person getting the education.  In effect, they are amortizing the cost of the education.

Whaaaaa …!  What the hell am I talking about.  They tell us that we will not have to pay for an education.  Well, the truth is that they aren’t lying to you technically.  Whaaaaa …!  It can’t be both.  Ah, it isn’t.  You have to read closely what I stated.  Technically, you would not be paying for your education upfront.  Right now, higher education has become so expensive that to pay the upfront costs demanded by schools, we have to take out hefty loans, which not only leave us with the burden of the cost of the education but also the profit margin desired by the loan companies.

The progressive method would change that dynamic by shifting the cost from upfront to over the lifetime of the person being educated.  Again, what the hell am I talking about?  Just this, in the progressive scenario, how are the educations paid for?  Taxes.  That’s right, through increased taxes on all of us.  This is the huge sticking point in most people’s minds.  Why should I have to pay for someone else’s education? Yes, it seems that way by the how it has been presented by the right, the media, and even the progressives.  The fact is that the person getting the education will still be paying for it.  Whaaaaa … t?

What happens after a person finishes college?  Hopefully, they get a job, right.  Then what happens?  Boom. You guessed it, they pay TAXES.  They will now be paying back into the system that helped them get their education so that the next person can be educated.  They don’t get a “get out of jail free” card.  They will be paying into the system like you did and are to give future citizens a chance at a better life.  Finally, for those that will say “What if I don’t want or can’t get into college? Why should I be taxed?” there are several answers.  One, I think the definition of higher education needs to be broadened to include non-traditional forms that help people better their situation, trade schools for example.  Two, improving the success of our people improves the condition of our people and improves the lives of us all.  Last, the person educated this way may be the person that saves your life, or wins your court case, or takes us to the stars.  The progressive plan for what is mistakenly called a free education is really nothing more than a nationalized system of paying it forward, which is what the new testament is allllllllll about.

So what the hell is so wrong with that America?

Proof is in the Pudding … er … Proof (from my Patreon page)

 

Sorry I haven’t posted for a few days but I have been dreadfully sick.  However, there is some good news today, the proofs came back from the printer and they look great.  I have to talk to them about a few thing that need adjusted such as toning down the orange a bit and find out if the black line running up the right side is from my image or their setup of the proof.  I might also ask them what they think will be the best paper and size for the image.  It does look like it will scale up nicely.  What do you guys think?  Would you buy this?