The trouble with being a housepainter and a golfer is that when it rains, you can't do either. So here I am today. But I did have some time to do a new painting. It's a study of a couple of other artists' work I admire: Matisse and Tony Curtis. Yes, Tony Curtis - the actor. You know Spartacus, Operation Petticoat, Houdini. He's a wonderful artist as well. I've combined motifs from a number of their works and combined them in this piece.

Regards, Bud C

Memorial Day 2009 Ain't Gonna Study War No More

We all have loved ones who have served in the military or know someone whose child/nephew/niece are serving somewhere. These kids don't make policy, they love their country, and they follow orders and do the best they can to perform their duties.

So I'm sending out a painting I did 3 years ago. This painting was in memory of our soldiers killed in Iraq. At the time the number of Americans killed was 2322. The number is now around 4500, more or less. The casualties in Afghanistan continue to rise now as well, and we appear to be focusing on the Taliban and Al Quaeda again.

Reasons against the war in Iraq were clearly enunciated by people wiser than me years ago -- perhaps a "truth" commission of some sort will emerge from the wreckage to sort out the fabrications and misjudgments. But at the time, I thought it was premature at the very least to attack Iraq and that we should have focused on Al Quaeda and the Taliban, who were the ones who attacked us on that Sept. 11.

But I also remember that our war against Iraq lasted about three weeks.

What followed was a sectarian civil war incited by Al Quaeda which rushed into Iraq seeing the opportunity of the power vacuum we created with our grossly incompetent and disastrous post war ideological fecklessness, with our soldiers caught in the various crossfires. Al Quaeda wasn't there when we started, but they arrived in large numbers shortly thereafter. The war in Iraq was a golden opportunity for Al Quaeda, and they seized it with all their jihadist nihlistic passion.

They've now been pushed out of Iraq for the most part into Afghanistan and Pakistan -- which is where we appear to be moving our war effort next.

My dad served in the Navy in WWII, and he died just over a year ago now. There are fewer and fewer WWII Veterans as the years go by. He had two brothers, both gone now, who served in the Navy as well. One was at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 and survived by the dumb luck of being in the right place at the right time.

So God be with our troops around the world wherever they are and let's pray for wisdom for our leaders.

Regards on this Memorial Day 2009,
Bud
www.artbycassiday.com


Sister Rosetta Tharpe singing "Ain't gonna study War no More."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOmRm0-acJw

Cinco de Mayo

According to my exhaustive research, (which included an on-line encyclopedia which shall remain nameless), Cinco de Mayo is a "regional" holiday in Mexico which we make a big deal about here. The holiday commemorates the Mexican army's unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, under the leadership of Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín. France was unhappy that Mexico was not paying off its debt, so France decided to invade and conquer Mexico, which they eventually did. Emperor Maximillian of Mexico, installed by the French, "served" about five years, but was executed by Mexican President Benito Juarez soon after the French were persuaded to leave. So Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone! Any inferences about foreign powers installing governments overseas is strictly coincidental.

Here's a painting I did a couple of years ago titled, believe it or not , Cinco de Mayo.

Regards,
Bud
www.artbycassiday.com

ps. I am now available for painting and/or tile work...........


www.artbycassiday.com

When all else fails, I always say, paint a flower!' - Cassiday

'I'm not going down in history, I'm going down now!' - Cassiday

"Although a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, it's still a f****** long walk." - Cassiday

'Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, others transform a yellow spot into the sun.' Picasso

'Use enough dynamite there, Butch?' - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

'Three out of four people make up 75% of the world's population.' Jeremy

'An artist cannot fail; it is a success to be one. ' - Albert Camus

"There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them." --Joseph Brodsky

'In Theory, theory and practice are the same, but in practice, they're not.' -
Yogi Berra

'Always live in the ugliest house on the street - then you don't have to look at
it.' David Hockney

“Hey, hey, hey — don't be mean. No need to be mean. 'Cause, remember: no matter where you go... there you are.’”-The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension!"