Well, there he is after all this time. The finished piece for The Valley Of The Kings, tiger and animal rescue organization of Wisconsin.

The finished piece has a roughly two inch copper boarder and the whole thing as I described in my previous post was done in graphite and pastel. I know there is a dichotomy in the fact there is snow on the ground and leaves on the trees, but it was meant to be just a bit symbolic in that regard. It tends to fade around the edges so that my initial drawing can be seen...no artifices here my friends, this was done by hand with that fact in mind.

A human being did this, as flawed and fallible as you or any other. The difference is that this human did this for free when I dearly needed to make a living and with as much love as I could find in my heart to give it.

In a funny way, the wait was worth it. You see, the interval between posts gave birth to a few surprises. The good stuff that happened was that ace writer, poet and storyteller and boon companion Neil Gaiman will be writing a short piece to grace it with and the impeccable Todd Klein will be hand lettering it. Nice indeed.

Now Kitty who runs the fabulous Neverwear.com put up a pretty penny to have it scanned to the hilt and this as any project like it coming as it does from the heart is not for profit to anyone but VOTK. So, I really would be terribly happy to see a full sell out and full sell through on a second printing to make HUGE money to help the organization meet the enormous demands of time and money it takes to treat the animal there house and love so dearly with dignity and respect. I am guessing that it will be available as soon as both Neil and Todd are free to spend the time to do it as right as possible. Say, sometime mid-summer ish? Be sure that we, both Kitty and I as well as Neil will let you know as soon as it is available. Until then, be kind, be fully human and be real.

Oh, and save a few bucks, okay?

M.Z.

KEEPING UP WITH ME IS WEARING ME OUT.

Zooooommmm

Pardon the sound effects. It felt poignant.

Whatever that means.

Things are, or seem to be moving so fast these days the biggest fear I have is my afterburners cutting out at thirty thousand feet. Long way down.

Lets see,.....umm, just finished an oil of Amanda Palmer, which I am pretty sure I am reasonably proud of. If they find me dead garroted with a ukulele string you'll know who did it.

just moving up closely up on a really big commission which is one of the weirdest creepiest and funniest things I think I have ever done.

I just received the final image of the piece I did for the Valley of the Kings,( see the last "working" post.) and I will be putting it up with some what I hope is interesting stuff about why and how it came to be what it is. PLEASE STAY TUNED as I care very, very deeply about the mission statement of VOTK's.

I hope to get out there this fall. Phalanges crossed.

Look for the post in the next few days.

Umm, and I hate to bring this up because it seems like I am always doing this these days, but I honestly, and very sincerely NEED one more commission to come in the next day or two.

As I have mentioned recently, ALL commissions MUST go through Ryan Graff and Eidolon Fines Arts. I will not take a direct commission if you write to me. It's just the way honest representation works. So, if you have a hankering for something and you think now is the time,(and brothers and sisters it is.) to have an original on the wall, lets get it going, okay?

My brushes are so old that while painting the "Amanda" portrait they were literally falling apart. This is very bad.

Oh, and for those of you interested, yes, I will be at San Diego this year at the Eidolon booth.

See you when I touch down, or I run out of fuel.

M.Z.