School is out for another year, the Republican party is still at war with teachers, I'm watching the Wisconsin Governor state his very selective historical opinions about what Americans want and what our tax structure has been  over the past century. There's this Tea Party Republican idea that taxes used to be very low during the Golden years and they state it over and over. The tax rate during Eisenhower years on the richest Americans was 91%, Reagan raised taxes 14 or 15 times but we hear deadpan statements from Republican mouthpieces about how low taxes were way back when. So we end school with no chance for more money, our school lost 12 positions, while this year's graduating class was up 15% in numbers over last year's. Makes us wonder just how much education is valued in this country. We actually have a neighbor who told city council to cut teacher pay 15% and we could balance our budgets. So Virginia has become a love/hate relationship. Our Governor says otherwise, but he has this smarmy smile while he is talking that says otherwise and a message that confirms it. Our conservative politicians appeal to the lowest common denominator in society, the greediest of the greedy and the least able to understand a message that actually works against their own interests. So is this a political rant? It isn't but it explains the art I am including with this post. I need to make money. Daughter is in college. We need money. So I have begun producing a few more commercial pieces of art and doing it in a method that I haven't visited in years. And guess what? I am enjoying it. So much that I am going to try to start producing some smaller paintings for quicker sale. These last two have been rather large with the most recent one almost 4 feet square. The first one is a Sgt. Pepper's construction using a foamcore sculpture of each of the figures in this centerfold image with a 2 inch stepoff from front (Paul's legs) to back (Ringo). Approximately 3 ft wide, the construction was built with foamcore, the painting done on canvas and then split apart to adhere to the sculpture. It has already sold. Now I am working on a 48" x 36" painting of the "Let It Be" album cover. That one is almost finished but will need several more days of touch-up and detail work but it should get finished in the next week or two. Why the Beatles? I've always loved the music and my brother in law has a Beatles tribute band in DC that is quite good. Mark suggested I try the first one based on a construction I did of Van Gogh and another of Gauguin. So that made me think of my favorite album covers and I've always loved the "Let It Be" album design and I had this large canvas just waiting for me downstairs so it was a natural. Anyway, that's where I am right now and I don't know why I am bothering to post this, no one's reading it anyway.