On the morning of October 5, 2009, as he was crossing the road to kick some hippies, Jim Groom was fatally injured by a rogue New York pizza truck.

He is survived by his loving wife, children, and the hippies.

As well as setting a really dangerous precedent of two blog posts in one week, I’m also getting into the bad habit of posting a lot of images and very little text. I’ll try to get better about that, though I secretly believe that people are, in general, too lazy to read lot of text anyway.

As promised, here are my four most recent paintings. They’re actually finished, which is more than I can usually say! We’ll see about continuing this trend.

I’m going to save up for a couple of canvases so next time I don’t have to paint on paper.

I’m still here! Despite my hectic work schedule, I’ve gotten quite a few art projects done over the past month. More on that later. But now, a sneak preview of my next project!

Two years ago, when I was afflicted with horrible sunburn and confined to the house, I started a tradition of decorating notebook covers with strange collages. As I was completely sunburn-free last August, I missed my opportunity. But this year I’ve revived the tradition! Not only that, but I’ve revived it with poetry. This year’s notebook brought to you courtesy of T.S. Eliot and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.

Imagine a town with bookshops on every corner. And in between every corner. And, well, everywhere. Guess what? That town exists, and it’s in Wales! Hay-on-Wye, often called “the town of books”, is the kind of place I want to go when I die. Everywhere you turn, books! New, used, antique, fiction, nonfiction, prints, maps… everything you could ever want! There are around 30 separate bookshops in Hay-on-Wye, so start planning your trip now.