buy used books

dont buy e books. buy old yellar dog eared copies of old books from used books stores. support them ot they will go the way of the dodo drop a 20 on old books and the name kindle disturbs me. it reminds me of kindling wood as in old book as in burning. conspiracy or not, dont buy e book readers. they are bad for the eyes and they dont smell like old books. best smell there ever was. at least one of the best

a separate peace

I reread this novel the other day on my train ride. great novel. I had read it in high school. It still holds up. I recommend it.

fool thyself

The oracle at delphi had two famous words above the entrance----know thyself. I have come to think they had it all wrong-----fool thyself. This is the trick to life and survival in the arts. deny, deny deny and promote promote promote. And dont drink alcohol. and if you do drink alcohol the deny that you are drinking and that you should be painting instead of sipping mojhitoes in some cuban joint. thats is my only advice for budding artists. That and have rich parents if you can help it.

how to spit soda out your nose

here is an email exchange between me and my art director.

AG: sang, any ideas of what I should paint for our nassau bookcover?

reply...

Sang:  Gotti family.

im not sure why I found this so funny I couldnt stop laughing, maybe it isnt even funny. Its the little things in life that crack me up.

alexo updato

I went to the palm steakhouse last night. I had dinner with a famous rockstar I wont name drop but just to say I had dinner with a rockstar sounds pretty cool. He wasnt drinking,. I drank enough to kill a small army. I drank like a rock star. Now I feel like death warmed over and I have to paint paintings. they dont paint themselves. I dropped off a painting to my art director yesterday. I didnt think he would like it so I did the real quick "heresyourpaintinggottagobye" thingy...He said "nice!" I dont think he ever said that before to me. funny how the painting I was unsure of was the one he finally liked. I usually get no comment or "I dont like the sky" I think it was my first "nice!" it made me feel so good I went out and drank like a rockstar with a rockstar and now I feel like I am a car that just ran into a tree. but there is no rest for the weak and weary..where are my brushes?

art

art is so stresfull at times that I cant even stomach it and my constitution is made of granite. drawing pictures for coins is not for everyone and I dont recommend it to anyone who is rightminded and civil. checks never show when they should and anything that can go wrong will go wrong. I dream of greener pastures where the word stability is spoken at least occasionally. I have seen old paintings where people hang out and are fed grapes all day by maidens. That is the carrot that keeps a man going, the elysian fields of hope. I guess I am lucky to have a skill and talent that keeps me from bagging groceries but sometimes I like to complain. not that anyone listens.

a great artist

Peter deseve is a friend of mine. we met years ago when I interviewed him for a magazine. he is a great guy and you may already know his work.




http://www.peterdeseve.com/blog.php

jelly fish

  

rants

I try not to rant on my blog but I get so fed up sometimes with the state of affairs. It is not a left right thing it is a failed system thing. regardless, I will try to keep things positive here and rant to myself alone. Art is why I started this blog, not politics. I turn in a book cover today and I will post it when published. I recently got into an argument about "style" in art with an old art school chum. He had some critical thing sto say about my art which is fine but then I asked when the last time he painted or  drew was--it was 12  years ago. I couldnt go 12 days without making art. The thing in art is simply to make it. This friend has not even made 25 paintings in his life. I made 25 in the last 5 months. I give anyone credit who makes art--it is hard to make art--it is work...everyone is a critic.

red paint, eagle feathers, coyote calling, it has begun..it feels like dying

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J0yppewrvg&feature=related

no way out

I try to paint pictures as beautiful as this but I cant so I simply paint a million failures but I never quit and I never stop painting a drawing every day, it is is like food for me. But I will never paint as good as this.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhCkunV6ZMQ

eat this taylor swift

purple

Purple is the opposite of yellow on the color wheel, it is the color of genius and royalty and vibrates with a passion that is hard to control unless an artist really understands color. It is a color I use a lot in my work but alex is saying goodbye to purple. Everything changes and art is always in flux. It is like life, collars are turned up to the past and we walk on past the shop displays and cathedral bells. tis time.

Nude portrait of Mario Batali by famous street artist Sketchy Folk.

This painting was painted by my famous friend and artist Sketchy Folk. It has gained international press.

 For sale $1,000.00 USD.


4 x 5 foot oil on canvas


signed prints are 50.00 for a limited editon of 500.


To see the rest of this sharp stick in the eye of art and genius...

http://ny.eater.com/archives/2010/06/here_is_a_creepy_painting_of_a_naked_mario_batali.php 

"Modern art is cheap and ugly and so am I"--- sketchy folk


to purchase email alexgardega@gmail.com 

917 400 1317

lost souls..

SOLD.

I like making art but I also like to sell art. Selling art is almost as good as making it but then I miss my piece and I spend the money and then I have nothing. But alas, I am like the OCTOMOM of art, I just squeeze out more kids.


alex

al gore--a poem by sketchy folk

an anagram for ogre
such is your last name
you sold us global warming
for this you are a shame
a sketchy sketch massage
that just cost you your wife
do as I say not as I do
is how you live your life
anothe rich elite
who knows how we should live
and now your name is mud
look at what you did
I for one see through you
through all those pounds of fat
cap and trade and icebergs
Im not buying that.

----sketchy folk

naked mario batali painting by sketchy folk---for sale

Against my better judgment I am helping Sketchy Folk sell his painting.


oil on canvas 4 x 5 foot.


http://ny.eater.com/archives/2010/06/here_is_a_creepy_painting_of_a_naked_mario_batali.php

inquiries:

alexgardega@gmail.com

nude mario batali--the Sketchy Folk interview

AG: what is wrong with you? why would you paint something so terrible, a sharp stick in the eye of all things decent.

SF: I am protesting modern art and reality.

AG: You're not right in the head.

SF: It got a lot of press.

AG: so did Charles Manson----

SF: In modern life we only care about reality shows and celebrity, even our art is a joke compared to the Renaissance or even the 19th century.

AG: Why hide your real name?

SF: I am a street art. Street art is sketchy and quasi legal. Public walls etc.

AG: A nom de plum Like banksy?

SF: cest vrai!

AG: Why Mario?

SF: I had already painted rachael ray.

AG: Why chefs?

SF: why not?

AG: whats next?

SF: lunch...

AG: take care..



http://ny.eater.com/archives/2010/06/here_is_a_creepy_painting_of_a_naked_mario_batali.php#reader_comments

http://content.usatoday.com/topics/article/Mario+Batali/0d604KD6L5ez7/0

sketchy folk: nude mario batali

my street art buddy painted a nude mario batali, it is creating quite a storm. If you want to buy it talk to me. sketchy is a paranoid urchin. the painting is 4 by 5 foot and wrong in every way. It is a sharp stick in the eye to all things decent and good. it is on eater.com...sketchy, what have you done?
alexgardega@gmail.com to purchase.

Lost Souls: a story by gardega

As I awoke the darkness drained like liquid from my eyes...

Before me, a shifting reality, a gauzy slideshow of vague and undefined landscapes and images.

Primordial visages, ancient and strange...but why? Is it a dream of man, of god? Creation unfolding before me...

And the creatures, living cave drawings, they come and go like shadows across my mind. My thoughts turned to Carl Jung and his writings, maybe there was an answer somewhere in those yellowed pages..Before me a thousand lost images from a lost world. Is this purgatory?

drink your fluoride, america!

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Blinded-by-tradition-and-fluoride-in-water/articleshow/6069488.cms

funny how people associate speaking ill of fluoride with a tinfoil hat. How many facts and studies does one need to wake up? I guess TV has rotted our brains. I dont watch tv, I am like plato coming back from the cave to give you enlightenment, yeppy, thats me.

Against specialist advice, India's Ministry of Health has decided not to make toothpaste manufacturers print a health warning, aimed at children, on each tube. The country's Drugs Technical Advisory Board recommended that tubes of toothpaste should carry the message 'Caution: children below seven years should not be allowed to use fluoride toothpaste'. But dentists lobbied against the recommendation, arguing that fluoride prevents tooth decay.
Thirteen of India's 32 states and territories have naturally high levels of fluoride in their water. An estimated 25 million people suffer from fluorosis - chronic fluoride poisoning which leads to deformities of bones and mottling of teeth. The National Technology Mission on Safe Drinking Water has already started large-scale programmes of defluoridation. But the mission also identified toothpaste as an extra, unnecessary source of fluoride.
India's soil is rich in minerals that contain fluoride. The fluoride washes into the water supply, which provides not only ...

lost souls, absalom.---cell photo

I keep moving to be stable

I am moving back to NYC or brooklyn in aug or sept. I exiled myself once again. I am a restless soul and after one year in a place I get the blues and find myself rambling on. One day I will  nail my foot firmly to the floor of a marriage or long term relationship but I would like to think it will be in NYC and not in some suburb where souls go to die. I think of settling down a lot and I had a long, long run of freedom that I wouldnt trade for anything. I am only at home when I am on the fly and I guess its gypsy DNA but it serves my art well but I think I am at the hobbit stage where he comes back to settle down and tell stories of his adventure.

update

I have been busy with finishing up some deadlines and bookcovers and pitches. Will update later today.


signed,

slacker

Mermaid Parade

I am going to the mermaid parade today in my favorite place--Coney Island. I will take pics! It is the height of surrealism.

Leonardo learning: how to paint a bookcover.

First thing you want to do is use a base tone. I use burnt sienna as a transparent wash. Some people use grey. They arent smart. The base tone is painted on top of a white base--either gesso or acrylic--gesso is best. I usually trace out my drawing on the base tone but I am going to just paint, I am going to use the force, luke.

 okay. What have done here is started my sky. I am using ultramarine blue and as I go lower I am graduating it using brillaint blue--cerulean is better but I only have brilliant in acrylics. But that doesnt matter as I am glazing over in the end with oil paints. I am looking out the window at the hudson river and studying the clouds. I think these are strato cumulous. notice the clouds are darker underneath where the sun dont shine.

more happy clouds...

Okay..now we will add a mountain. I am using ultramarine blue and alizarin crimson (my favorite word there ever was) Remember to look at real mountains, they are never symmetrical--they have life. That is a happy little mountain.

Now I have added a second mountain. It is farther back than the first. To achieve this effect I added more white. It is best to mix three different shades ahead of time it makes life easier and makes sure you get lighter as you go back. The reason it gets "lighter" as you go back is because of atmosphere. ..

okay. I have finished the mountains and established what we call a "horizon line. it is very important to know your horizon line in a painting. Definition: The horizon line in perspective drawing is a horizontal line across the picture. It is always at eye level - its placement determines where we seem to be looking from - a high place, or from close to the ground. The actual horizon might not be visible, but you need to draw a 'virtual' horizon to construct a picture in perspective.

 I added some white to glaze my water on top of for the river. If you look at a river you will see lighter and darker parts due to either currents, clouds, shadows etc. Always think in terms of what is beneath your paint..it bleeds through and gives life.

As you get closer to the viewer or the picture plane, distant mountains become less blue and you will start to see the green of trees.

Do not boycott BP

Hear me out...a lot of BP gas stations are franchised owned by some poor sucker the same as a mcdonald franchise, think twice before you destroy some hardworking business..BP is going to pay out the nose as they should--let them bleed money out the nose.

teach your children well..

My parent gave up trying to tell me anything or give advice when I was at a very young age. I am so insanely stubborn that they gave up even trying. I love my parents and they are great but I only believe in my own voice, my only truth and I always have-- since I was barely a teenager. When I am stuck on something you cannot move me, you cannot sway me..it is like talking to a brick wall. This has maddened many a friend and many times my parents almost went crazy with me. I am a man of many quirks...as an example in my entire life I have never tried, iced tea, tea or coffee. I told my mom when I was 6 that I will never drink any of that crap. and I have never even tasted it. Someone offered me 100 dollars to take a sip of iced tea when I was a teenager in high school .It wasnt even a thought...I dont budge. I have the stubborness of 6 donkeys and that is why I still use paintbrushes for a living. If you are my friend of 30 years of and you do something I really feel is wrong you will never hear from me again in this lifetime but if you are my close friend you can have my left arm.

update

Today I paint a book cover of westchester. I have a an interesting idea so it will be a fun cover..will post when done.

cap and trade

I will now chime in with my two shillings and you are the one who logged into my blog so if you dont like it you cant go read pet photography blogs. I have learned it is best not to discuss politics with people but god knows Ill spew my views on the great "infranet." My views are independent  and not regurgitated lame stream media propoganda.

1) cap and trade has its origins in Enron..Remember that lovely company--they are the ones who intentionally caused rolling black outs in california and eventually crumbled like the cheap ponzi scheme they were...Ken Lay was a dirty fiend and he handed off the baton of cap and trade to the lovely firm of "blood and gore" (yes that is the name of al gore's company) The point of cap and trade is to trade carbon credits and to be able to buy the right to pollute. This is ENRON 2.0. 

2) "Never let a crises go to waste" this the new mantra...They will now try to use the BP spill to force cap and trade on america and the world, (this is how we got the patriot act forced down our throats. ) This has nothing to do with global warming and nothing to do with the enviroment anymore than the moon has swiss cheese.  This is called a bunch of billionaires creating a new bubble to line the pockets of a very few at a great cost to the great unwashed masses. 

3) They "tried" to CAP the gusher but the only thing they are going to cap is cap and trade and it is going to take millions of americans who are just getting by give them one more hellish tax. The poor american camels back will break and he will fall into the sand.

4) If you dont learn from history you are doomed to repeat it and maerica IS the New Enron

oh, by the way, did I mention this?...BP was a founding member of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), a lobby dedicated to passing a cap-and-trade bill.

wake up sheeple...now back to art!

Subject: Fw: Don Rickles Roasts the Dems...

Hello, dummies!  Oh my God, look at you.  Anyone else hurt in the accident?

Seriously, Senator Reid has a face of a Saint - A Saint Bernard
Now I know why they call you the arithmetic man.  You add partisanship, subtract pleasure, divide attention, and multiply ignorance.
Reid is so physically unimposing, he makes Pee Wee Herman look like Mr. T.  And Reid's so dumb, he makes Speaker Pelosi look like an intellectual.  Nevada is soooo screwed!  If I were less polite, I'd say Reid makes Kevin Federline look successful.

Speaking of the Speaker...  Nancy Pelosi, hubba, hubba!  Hey baby, you must've been something before electricity.
Seriously, the Speaker may look like an idiot and talk like an idiot but don't let that fool you.  She really is an idiot.
Madame Speaker... want to make twelve bucks the hard way?   Pelosi says she's not partisan, but her constituents call her Madame Pelossilini.

Charlie Rangel... still alive and still robbing the taxpayers blind!   What does that make, six decades of theft?
Rangel's the only man with a rent-controlled mansion.  He's the guy who writes our tax laws but forgot to pay taxes on $75 grand in rental income!  So why isn't he the Treasury Secretary?   Rangel runs more scams than a Nigerian Banker.

Barney Frank - he's a better actor than Fred Flintstone.  Consider...  he and Dodd caused the whole financial meltdown and they're not only not serving time with Bubba and Rodney, they're still heading up the financial system!
Let's all admit it...  Barney Frank slobbers more than a sheepdog on Novocain..  How did this guy get elected?   Oh, that's right..  he's from Massachusetts.  That's the state that elects Mr. Charisma, John Kerry -- man of the people!

You know, if Senator Dodd were any more crooked, you could open wine bottles with him.
Here's a news flash, Dodd: when your local newspaper calls you a "lying weasel", it may be time to retire.
Dodd's involved in more shady deals than the Clintons.  Even Rangel looks up to him!

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, I really respect you...  especially given your upbringing.  All you've overcome....  I heard your birth certificate is an apology from the condom factory.  I don't know what makes you so dumb, but it really works for you.  Personally, I don't think you're a fool, but what's my opinion compared to that of thousands of others?

As for President Obama, what can I say?   They say President Obama's arrogant and aloof, but I don't agree.
Now it's true when you enter the room, you have to kiss his ring.  I don't mind, but he has it in his back pocket.
His mind is open to new ideas -- so open that ideas simply pass through it.

Obama lies so much, I was actually surprised to find out his first name really was Barack.
Just don't ask about his middle name!  But Obama was able to set a record... he actually lied more in 60 days than Bill Clinton!
FOR THOSE THAT VOTED FOR "HOPE AND CHANGE,"..BEND OVER AND PREPARE TO RECEIVE YOUR BOUNTY!
 President Obama just completed the UNHOLY and ANTI-AMERICAN TRIFECTA:
1st president in 110 years to miss the annual Army-Navy Football Game.
1st president to not attend any Christmas religious observance.
1st president to stay on vacation after a terrorist attack.

AND ALL IN THE SAME MONTH!   WHAT A GREAT PRESIDENT.

city photos by gardega

I was walking past a movie set. these were period dressed press extras...I stopped and snapped and they all went into character--actors crack me up.

still life with motorcycle and church..

live it up while you can--old age comes fast...

This lady wanted the painting of the woman with the cello..$195---too pricey, dream denied.

and he's building a stairway in the village...I smell a song..

touristos?

Ronald Mcdonald House charity event

 The basketball player David Lee.

 me with the wonderful volunteer/ saint helen stafford.  (please note I did shave--- at noon. My beard grows so fast that if I shave in the morning I have a full five oclock shadow at 6pm. It is such a pain. I stayed sober even thought there was an open bar! It just didnt feel right drinking under a big slideshow of kids fighting cancer.

It was a great event and it was packed. Lance would have been proud... Nice job, ronald House...

what percentage of artists make a living at their art?

I think the number is less than 5%. may even be 2%. the funny thing about this fact is you can be in the top 2% of your field and just get by. If you are in the top 2% of your field in law or medicine you are in jolly god shape. even an architect or a chef or an insurance salesman...art is a tough game and the weak crumble like stale crakers on the sidewalk of life. when I ask around about my old art school crew most are teaching highschool, working for western union, some are carpenters wives, rational people can only take so much rejection, lost relationships, money issues, etc, for me the stench of a life lost to fear or not trying or quitting or not knowing what you wanted out of the short trainride called life...that is a glue trap I avoided like a cat avoids a good swim.

a day off

I am walking around nyc like a zombie. its been ages since I had a day off. nothing to do but wonder down the pavement with a dumb expression. nice breeze, the deadlines I have are not for todays worry. I forgot what it is like to be free for a day.

tonight!

An exciting fundraiser to benefit Ronald McDonald House New York!

Location:	Guastavino's 409 East 59th Street New York, NY 10022 (Directly Beneath the Queensboro Bridge)
Date:	Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Time:	6:00 – 11:00 PM

Sponsored by the volunteers of Ronald McDonald House New York

Purchase a ticket to an annual event run by Team Ronald, a group of dedicated and hard working volunteers. Join us for a evening filled with food, dancing, and socializing!

 

This year’s event will feature: Celebrity Appearance Fine food by Tony’s Di Napoli Open Bar All Night Silent Auction Door Prizes Raffles Dancing Gift bags

A $5.00 discounted parking rate is available between 6pm and 11pm at the parking garage at 425 58th Street (entrances on 58th and 59th Streets btw 1st and York). Please ask for a validations sticker at the registration table. Click here for information on the garage.

Individual Ticket Price:  $125
VIP Package (Limited Availability):  $2000 for a Reserved Table of 10, Includes Table Service, Specialized Gift Bag, and More!
Online Ticket Sales are Closed. Tickets are available by phone or at the door the day of the event.
Proceeds of “A Little Piece of Your Heart” fund the activities coordinated by our volunteer teams for the children of the Ronald

alex facts

here are some alex facts:

I became obsessed with drawing at three years old.

I used to draw for 8 hours at a time as child.

I started painting at age 8 in acrylics

I had my first show at age nine and I was in the newspaper in texas. I then became a press junkie.

A famous sculptor traded me a bust for a painting at 9, I lost the bust.

I never owned a coloring book, nor a comic book.

At 8 I my mom would buy me these cool art books from piggly wiggly supermarket.

I became obsessed with Rembrandts painting of the doctors dissecting and arm and decided I was a painter.

Even as a child I hated modern art, I knew it was a scam. I liked classical art. nothings changed.

At 18 I started my own glass company making etched glass with no help and no money and no guidance. 

I dropped out of art school due to financial situation and then I sold a glass piece of art for 10,000 and paid my yearly rent.

I then later moved into nyc without a penny to the east village and said goodbye to my long island past.

I cant make art in long island, it sucks the art right out of my soul like a vacuum. There is a reason all long island musicians sound like 1984. It is where art goes to die.

I once worked foir julian schnabel for a day in his studio but I screwed a nail right through a canvas onto the floor. oops it was a million dollar painting.

In art school I told my friends that the computer was the future of illustration, they laughed at me. now they are computer artists.

my favorites draftsmen are raphael, michelangelo, daumier, degas (sometimes) and leonardo... 

in my life I have made 40 bookcovers, 10,000 glass pieces, thousands of paintings, thousands of drawings, I have done animation, cartoons, computer art (ugh) and pottery and sculpture. I have lived in 25 different places. I keep moving to be stable.

my first published work was a cartoon at 17 in balloon life magazine--I found it in the trash my dad had thrown away thinking it junk mail.

I have been in page 6 12 times and each one was for some unrelated crazy ADD idea I created.

People and things pop into my head before they die. I started painting paintings of kurt vonnegut out of nowhere and then he died. Before 911 I started painting flags everyday and I had no idea why, I had also applied for studio space in the wtc two weeks before....hope that i never start painting you.

the more things change, the more they stay the same.

How to buy my art...

I am building a separate site for all my available work. If anyone wants to buy any of my art please email me and I will send photos and prices. 

alexgardega@gmail.com

the linear nature of a blog is great but I need a separate sales page. My ADD loves to build new websites.

Ronald Mcdonald House

Tonight my painting of the ranger Adam Graves will be auctioned off for charity for Ronald Mcdonald House. I am really looking forward to this event. It will be in a great restaurant and should be a wonderful time. I will even have a suit on. I had to carry the very large painting from grand central to Ronald House on 73rd street (30 Blocks---dont ask) as I was carrying a plumbing van screamed out Adam Graves and gave a thumbs up. This made me realize the piece actually "reads"--thanks plumber guy. When I was done delivering it I ordered an ice water and I could t get the glass up to my mouth my arm was too stiff. Charity is hard work but good work.

leonardo learning: Benzene the Ouroboros and BP.

I once read  about a scientist who awoke from a dream and in his waking moment he had a vision of the ouroboros..

here is the Ouroboros, an alchemical and timeless symbol..

"I was sitting writing on my textbook, but the work did not progress; my thoughts were elsewhere. I turned my chair to the fire and dozed. Again the atoms were gamboling before my eyes...My mental eye, rendered more acute by the repeated visions of the kind, could now distinguish larger structures of manifold conformation; long rows sometimes more closely fitted together all twining and twisting in snake-like motion. But look! What was that? One of the snakes had seized hold of its own tail, and the form whirled mockingly before my eyes. As if by a flash of lightning I awoke..."

so out of this chemist ( Friedrich August Kekule) dream came the breakthrough of understanding the atomic structure of Benzene..

the world is not stranger than you think---it is stranger than you can think----nonetheless Now we get to the ugly part of the story. A large part of crude oil  (as in THE LEAK) is benzene. let me leonardo- learn ya about benzene and what the MSM (mainstreammedia) wont tell you...

BENZENE and your health...

1.5 How can benzene affect my health?

Scientists use many tests to protect the public from harmful effects of toxic chemicals and to find ways for treating persons who have been harmed.

One way to learn whether a chemical will harm people is to determine how the body absorbs, uses, and releases the chemical. For some chemicals, animal testing may be necessary. Animal testing may also help identify health effects such as cancer or birth defects. Without laboratory animals, scientists would lose a basic method for getting information needed to make wise decisions that protect public health. Scientists have the responsibility to treat research animals with care and compassion. Scientists must comply with strict animal care guidelines because laws today protect the welfare of research animals.

After exposure to benzene, several factors determine whether harmful health effects will occur, as well as the type and severity of such health effects. These factors include the amount of benzene to which you are exposed and the length of time of the exposure. Most information on effects of long-term exposure to benzene are from studies of workers employed in industries that make or use benzene. These workers were exposed to levels of benzene in air far greater than the levels normally encountered by the general population. Current levels of benzene in workplace air are much lower than in the past. Because of this reduction and the availability of protective equipment such as respirators, fewer workers have symptoms of benzene poisoning.

Brief exposure (5–10 minutes) to very high levels of benzene in air (10,000–20,000 ppm) can result in death. Lower levels (700–3,000 ppm) can cause drowsiness, dizziness, rapid heart rate, headaches, tremors, confusion, and unconsciousness. In most cases, people will stop feeling these effects when they are no longer exposed and begin to breathe fresh air.

Eating foods or drinking liquids containing high levels of benzene can cause vomiting, irritation of the stomach, dizziness, sleepiness, convulsions, rapid heart rate, coma, and death. The health effects that may result from eating foods or drinking liquids containing lower levels of benzene are not known. If you spill benzene on your skin, it may cause redness and sores. Benzene in your eyes may cause general irritation and damage to your cornea.

Benzene causes problems in the blood. People who breathe benzene for long periods may experience harmful effects in the tissues that form blood cells, especially the bone marrow. These effects can disrupt normal blood production and cause a decrease in important blood components. A decrease in red blood cells can lead to anemia. Reduction in other components in the blood can cause excessive bleeding. Blood production may return to normal after exposure to benzene stops. Excessive exposure to benzene can be harmful to the immune system, increasing the chance for infection and perhaps lowering the body's defense against cancer.

Long-term exposure to benzene can cause cancer of the blood-forming organs. This condition is called leukemia. Exposure to benzene has been associated with development of a particular type of leukemia called acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The Department of Health and Human Services has determined that benzene is a known carcinogen (can cause cancer). Both the International Agency for Cancer Research and the EPA have determined that benzene is carcinogenic to humans.

Exposure to benzene may be harmful to the reproductive organs. Some women workers who breathed high levels of benzene for many months had irregular menstrual periods. When examined, these women showed a decrease in the size of their ovaries. However, exact exposure levels were unknown, and the studies of these women did not prove that benzene caused these effects. It is not known what effects exposure to benzene might have on the developing fetus in pregnant women or on fertility in men. Studies with pregnant animals show that breathing benzene has harmful effects on the developing fetus. These effects include low birth weight, delayed bone formation, and bone marrow damage.

We do not know what human health effects might occur after long-term exposure to food and water contaminated with benzene. In animals, exposure to food or water contaminated with benzene can damage the blood and the immune system and can cause cancer.

Benzene also causes leukemia-----like 15 years after exposure, now HERE is the ugly part that should make you turn of the soccer game,,,

When hurricane season starts there will be a very large chance that the crude oil and BENZENE will be swept up into the air and spread over the south east like a plague and could cause serious health issues with millions of people. I am not a doctor I am not a scientist and this is simply something thta occured to me, lets hope alex is wrong---- but I have a pretty good track record. 

"an ill wind comes arising across the cities of the plain, no swimming in the heavy water, no singing in the acid rain...." NP




I hate when the environment gets messed with, it makes me so angry I cant sleep sometimes..there is an ancient proverb--"when the rivers die the people die..." it sounds simple but if you cant keep your waters clean you are just a rat in a ticking trap.

circumstances

as a lost and hapless artist teenager I carried these lyrics in my pocket and head for years, they got me through the scrapes and scraps of that thing we call growing up...you can laugh at the hair but the message of this song still grabs me in the gut like it it did when I was a skinny kid wondering what my dreams may be worth.

Circumstances

I would rather own a really good microscope---I mean a really good one, than a Ferrari. If I could look at the essential building blocks of this crap we call matter I would gladly drive a 1983 toyota. When I had the chance to look at little swimmy things under a microscope in high school it changed my head forever. I never got over it. I wish I was a scientist but I cant do math. I care more about biology than art but I am too dumb to balance chemistry equations. The only reason I am an artist is my ADD is so bad that I am unfit to bag groceries. Artists are cheap and dreadful humans and most of them die in the great and unkept fields of timeless misery. I am different than most artists in that I am so extreme and fearless that the Gods take pity on my and throw me free biscuits. I am a creature that should not be. A man should not make a living, however pitiful, by make little square pictures. If I am not drunk on good red wine I am making art or reading art or bleeding art, It is the mississippi river of my soul's continent. My life has been a strange and blessed animal and I wouldnt change it for anything in the world. A straight life was not a thing I could ever understand. As a child I never owned a coloring book because I told my mom "I want to make my own lines." My lines are still my own (however sketchy they may be.) In life you may never get that microscope or maybe god will poke your eyes out with a sharp stick as a child but your dreams are your dreams are your dreams and they are as real as the child who once gave birth to them. A one eyed man is king in the land of the blind and I have a sneaking suspicion that if you put your heart into life then the universe will gift you with that one eye and a microscope to boot. There is no try only do. which reminds me of these words:

A boy alone, so far from home,
Endless rooftops from my window.
I felt the gloom of empty rooms
On rainy afternoons.
Sometimes in confusion,
I felt so lost and disillusioned,
Innocence gave me confidence
To go up against reality.

Chorus
All the same we take our chances,
Laughed at by time,
Tricked by circumstances.
Plus ça change,
Plus c'est la même chose
The more that things change,
The more they stay the same.

Now I've gained some understanding
Of the only world that we see.
Things that I once dreamed of
Have become reality.
These walls that still surround me
Still contain the same old me,
Just one more who's searching for
A world that ought to be.


neil peart

watching tv

this song brought a tear to my eye----- and I thought I was just a jaded old bastard.For some reason I really got it that people around the world would give their left hand to live in the freedom and privilege that we have and we just take it all for granted and complain and watch TV and shop and bitch. I tell you this people----life is about perspective and the one shoed man thinks he is shitouttaluck until he meets a man with no feet. I just dont see a skinny american teenager standing in front of tanks, I see him with an xbox and gadgets and indifference.

amused to death: roger waters

Doctor Doctor what is wrong with me
This supermarket life is getting long
What is the heart life of a colour TV
What is the shelf life of a teenage queen
Ooh western woman
Ooh western girl
News hound sniffs the air
When Jessica Hahn goes down
He latches on to that symbol
Of detachment
Attracted by the peeling away of feeling
The celebrity of the abused shell the belle
Ooh western woman
Ooh western girl
And the children of Melrose
Strut their stuff
Is absolute zero cold enough
And out in the valley warm and clean
The little ones sit by their TV screens
No thoughts to think
No tears to cry
All sucked dry
Down to the very last breath
Bartender what is wrong with me
Why am I so out of breath
The captain said excuse me ma'am
This species has amused itself to death
Amused itself to death
Amused itself to death
We watched the tragedy unfold
We did as we were told
We bought and sold
It was the greatest show on earth
But then it was over
We ohhed and aahed
We drove our racing cars
We ate our last few jars of caviar
And somewhere out there in the stars
A keen-eyed look-out
Spied a flickering light
Our last hurrah
And when they found our shadows
Grouped around the TV sets
They ran down every lead
They repeated every test
They checked out all the data on their lists
And then the alien anthropologists
Admitted they were still perplexed
But on eliminating every other reason
For our sad demise
They logged the only explanation left
This species has amused itself to death
No tears to cry no feelings left
This species has amused itself to death

a test of your soul

if this song doesnt grab you at the base of your soul than I cannot help you, nor can god.

Fema

How come Fema is not doing anything to help the Oil Leak? Isnt Fema supposed to handle national emergencies? Why is Fema silent?---maybe they are too busy building camps where we will all have to go when the benzene based dispersant they are pumping into the Gulf  is picked up by a hurricane and is spread across america as a micro-particulant. I call pumping a deadly dispersant into our oceans a bad idea but I am just an artist. what do I know? If I was not an artist I would be a scientist as I am really in love with science but I have poor math skills and having poor math skills is not good for science. In modern art you can really suck and have no drawing skills and no talent and still get famous but in science you need math...bummer.

used book stores

I bought a book on Plato yesterday. It was from a used book store. I support used bookstores because there aint a lot of them around and one day there will be none left..Used book stores are one of the last good things left on this planet, that and red wine. I found the funniest thing I ever read in the book--- A typed memo that has to be at least 25 years old... Maybe more. I am hoping this is just an insane person and the leprosy thing is just warbling from a twisted mind. Does leprosy have a half life?

Looking for Mercy

My screenplay was in Page Six today..pleasant surprise. If anyone has any questions about it you can email me: alexgardega@gmail.com     

I never wanted to write a screenplay but the story wouldnt leave me alone (it all started with a recurring dream I had for years on end.)   To really polish the thing up I need to go back to Texas to finish a part to my satisfaction. I look at film and writing from a visual angle so I think in little pictures that I sew together and stitch and hammer until they make a story.

I did grow up in small town texas and No I never had a mental breakdown which is amazing considering I survived as a visual artist for 20 years of my adult life. In my next life I will be a doctor.

keep the faith..

final words

this story is very sad.




http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Media/fiancee-killed-lightning-wedding-proposal/story?id=10860008


final words:

"'God, baby, look how beautiful it is."

LEONARDO LEARNING

For the next month this site will be LEONARDO LEARNING. I will be teaching art based on the notebooks of the great one. I will start at the most basic of lessons and expand outward, get out your notebooks-----there is no charge!

Mary's Corner

My great friend and business managers blog...she rocks.

http://marydesilva.wordpress.com/

cool blog

this is a cool blog.


http://goldstar4trying.blogspot.com/index.html

Gardega Road: Cleburne Texas

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Gardega Road: Cleburne Texas

I grew up in a tiny Texas town called Cleburne. I loved Cleburne and when we moved away they named the street after us----Gardega Road. Dali has a museum and I have a street in Texas.  There was an explosion in Cleburne yesterday and it made national news. My only goal in life is to become the most famous person ever to come out of Cleburne Texas, thats all.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703303904575293042591061542.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsThird

thoughts

I am thinking about doing something new and cool with my blog...coming up on 4,000 posts...time to do some things, make some changes....open up the window and let the air in.

regrets

I spoke to an elderly lady last night over a glass of wine--she was 88. She told me her life story. She told me that as a teenager in Brooklyn she was supposed to go on a date but her roommate had taken her "good shoes" so by the time she went to meet the man he was gone..(this was the thirties and phones were not easily had) She eventually married another man but she told me that she missed the love of her life over a pair of shoes. She told me she sees her missed boat on TV from time to time as he became a big deal in life. She asked if I could walk her home and I did, hand in hand through he dark night talking about things that never were, never will be. I walked back to the restaurant alone thinking about life and regrets. I had a meeting with the fire dept to discuss etching their glass door.  I told them they will regret it if you dont have me re-draw that 1800's firetruck they were showing me. It must must be done right..life must be done right---a thing of beauty is a joy forever and a missed boat is an eternal sadness.

an intelligent comment on my blog

there is hope among the sheeple:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Debt is larger than GDP":

For years, both Republicans under G.W. Bush and Democrats have justified debt by saying that as long as the GDP is greater than the debt, everything will be Ok. Well, that's no longer the case. This is something that both Democrats and Republicans should be terrified of as well as the public. If the governement continues to spend irresponsibly, average citizens become deeply affected because any savings they have won't be worth anything. Currency is only as good as the country backing it. The US government is setting itself up to crash in a download spiral. Can it avoid it? Yes, but it needs to start now and there seems to be no sign of that. Common sense tells us that you can't spend uncontrollably year after year more than you make. Ask anybody whose done that and gone into bankruptcy as soon as the slightest drop in income threw off their ability to even make the minimum payments. The debt, in regards to every citizen is now over $100,000. I don't have my $100,000 share... do you?