19th President of the United States - Rutherford Baines Hayes

Rutherford Baines Hayes

19th President of the United States

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President Rutherford Baines Hayes was a total badass who was wounded in the Civil War. He had one of the tightest elections in history, and didn’t seek reelection - keeping a promise that he wouldn’t. He removed all alcohol from the White House, because he was boring as fuck, but he also had 8 kids. As president, he signed legislation that allowed women to argue before the Supreme Court. He started the Easter Egg Roll, and he is the first president to have a phone in the White House with the phone number ‘1’. He was a stanch abolitionist who defended slaves in court, and encouraged black students to apply for scholarships. One of those students who applied, was W. E. B. Du Bois.

Beard work in progress

Back into the swing of things and I open my week with President Hayes' beard. For the record, if I've never said it before, let me say it now, I HATE working on hair. It's tedious and a lot of "rinse and repeat". You put down a layer, shade it...erase...put down a darker layer...shade...erase...and so on and so forth.  

18th President of the United States - Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant

18th President of the United States

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President Ulysses S. Grant won the first major Union victory of the Civil War. He was supposed to be at the theater with Lincoln the night of the assassination. His father was such an abolitionist that when Grant married Julia and she was given 2 slaves by her parents, his father told him to fuck off and refused to show up at the wedding. The “S” in his middle name didn’t stand for anything, and he was the one who beat the shit out of Robert E. Lee in the Civil War.  

17th President of the United States - Andrew Johnson

Last president before surgery, Andrew Johnson

 

Andrew Johnson

17th President of the United States

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President Andrew Johnson is the first president to be impeached. He never went to school, was Lincoln’s VP, and was drunk at his inauguration. Why was he drunk? Because he had Typhoid Fever and drank a fuck ton of whisky. A simple vaccination could’ve prevented it, but he was scared of getting autism. (That last sentence is a joke). He is responsible for buying the polar bear garden known as Alaska, and he tended to a family of mice at the White House, and was almost killed the same day Lincoln was. Fortunately for him, George Atzerodt, a co-conspirator of John Wilkes Booth, was a pussy and punked out. President Johnson had him hanged for his role in the assassinations.

Atlantic City 2020

Back in March, before the Trump administration showed it was incapable of handling a pandemic, we went to Atlantic City and found some seashells on the beach. I decided to take one and paint it and turn it into a Christmas ornament. 

 

CaFE

To all my art friends, if you want to expand putting your art in shows beyond your local area, check out the CaFE website. Basically you upload your art, enter a show and go from there. Unfortunately, galleries are charging more and more for you to put your work in their show, but it's the nature of the beast. I've never understood charging the artists, but, whatever. Either follow the link, or click on the pic to be taken to their website.

 https://www.callforentry.org

Upcoming Art Show

 My painting, 'Monumental Change: Voices of the Unheard' will be at this month's art opening at Crossroad's Art Center Friday, September 18, at 6pm. If you aren't doing anything and would like to attend, my talented friend Linda Hollett-Bazouzi will be showing some of her amazing pieces as well. She's probably one of the most talented palette knife painters I've ever seen.

 Click on the image below to see what else Crossroads Art Center has for any upcoming events.