First of all, thank you for reading,

A few weeks back I was fully expecting a follow-up to last month's webcomic in this space. Alas, I' must admit my Muse is a mercurial one, we may not cover the same terrain twice. There's a whole story to go with the status of that pocket-book I was using, but I'll save that for another time.

April has come with thoughts of the Fool. April Fools have lost most meaning in modern thought; it had to do with those folks (usually pagans) who celebrate the new year (Spring Equinox) in April rather than March. Let me instead offer an example of the iconic fool's leap. We can say that launching this MUSEletter with not-much-of-a-plan typifies a Fool's leap. With that in mind I've included this exclusive peak into my drawing of The Fool. The first card, number zero, in the deck of the Tarot. This card is more widely known as The Joker, in your typical deck of playing cards. We can go into a lot more detail on how they are different, or how one became the other in some future blog post if you're interested.

Let me know.

Announcing Issue #1!

I'm excited to let also you know I'm the cover artist for the premier issue of Long Island's Premier Zine; Monkeyshines. You can take the kid off Long Island but - actually I still live on an island...nevermind. My point is that I let them choose. I said "Have a look through my gallery and choose what you'd like on that first cover." The choice was The Monkey King, Sun Wukong (孫悟空/孙悟空) patron of all monkey business. I think it was a pretty great choice, but you should see for yourself.

I'll be including copies with this summer's care packages (informal packages intermittently sent to select patrons & pen-pals). However, it looks like I'll have extra, so it may be time to expand my list of recipients. To be fair, I should do this randomly. So, if you reply to this email and include "I care" in the subject, as well as your postal address in the body of the message. I'll come up with some way to randomly choose, if I'm deluged with interest.

Fooling with Art History

It's true that I had little time for art history as a student. I barely squeaked passed the actual classes. In a way, I've devoted much of my life, post education career, making up for that youthful foolishness. These days it's a source for perpetual curiosity. There's always something to learn or relearn.

Here's how I like to use art history. Take today (April 6, 2021).

Anyone recognize the name Albrecht Dürer? German Renaissance printmaker; May 21, 1471 – April 6, 1528. I just learned that today is his feast day among Lutheran and Episcopal Churches in Germany. His 1508 Praying Hands, drawing it pretty iconic, but I never realized I associate him with his diagrams. They aren't as famous as Leonardo da Vinci's 1490 Vitruvian Man, but there's something about them. Here, let me show you an example from his Four Books on Human Proportion. 

You see, while I was organizing what I'd muse upon in this letter, that image jumped out at me. I had recently been re-inventing it in the form of a work-sheet for young artists. You can see my take, in that lesson here: [Face_Front.pdf]. Print it out for your own young artist. Let me know how it works.

Lastly, if you still have time and want to read something longer, check out some of my recent blog posts below ⤵️