Back to working and back to living.

     Hello my friends and welcome. As you can see I finally got finished with something new. This is a cover for a book called "Zombie Summit"  I will release all the info you need to order a copy once it is available.  This was done with Corel painter 9.  Since my health had been so up and down since January, I decided that I would be better off to do it digitally so the paint wouldn't keep drying on my pallet considering how long it took me to get this done.  I am very thankful that the publisher was very kind and patient knowing the condition I was in.
     I hope that you can see that there is a difference between my oil paintings and digital work. I am hoping for each medium I work in that it has it's own distinctive look. I am hoping the work I am going to be doing on canvas will be unique as well.
     I am starting a new cover today. This one will feature Kane Hodder as the model for Madison's character "Bonesaw"  I am very excited to be doing a cover for my Honey's first book. I am going to draw it out digitally, but then I am going to print it out and paint it in oils. I am hoping this will be a faster way to get cover work done. On my own personal projects I will continue to hand draw each piece.
     On a personal level I have made a lot of changes in my life this last month, including by to who I am as a person. The truth is, I have always kept to myself and let very few people into my life. I am not a "social" person and these last couple of years have tried to be because I thought it was what was expected of me. There are some people that feel that way, but I don't. By doing that I've had to be someone I am not and I simply will not do that anymore. From now on Social networks are simply a tool for me to show people my work that want to see it and to promote the things I do. I do not and can talk to everyone on there. I have tried that and guess what? I didn't get any work done, or always found myself with my back to the wall facing deadlines because people wanted to feel like they where hanging out with me. I've also had to deal with a LOT of wannabes that just keep sucking the life out of me. That all has come to an end.
    Now I do what I do best, be an artist. I understand now why the my famous friends always keep their distance from the fans.  You have to if you want to have a life.  I am sorry if this upsets anyone, but I have to worry about me, my life and getting done what I need to do. I also need "Nick" time as well, and these networks take that from me when I get to close to them.
   I love you all. I really do and I am very thankful for the people that buy, support and follow my work, but it is about my work, isn't it?  It is not me and I want to keep it that way. Love and Hugs. "May the Darkness Comfort You"
    

Fighting battles and winning the war.

Hello my friends, how have you been? I have been improving health wise everyday. I should be back to 100% soon, and I haven't been 100% in 7 years. Well, I don't know if it will be 100%, but it sure will feel like it compared to what I have been dealing with. Right now I am just trying to get back into my daily groove I had going on up until the beginning of this year. Once I am to that point and get back to date on the work I put on hold, it will be full speed ahead. I have been working on a book cover here and there during all of this. I will show you a so far next. It is for a book called "Zombie Summit". The publisher and writer are both very happy with it to this point. I still have some work to do to the background, and then I will paint in the Zombies. I am hoping if my health holds up to have this one done by the end of the week.

This one is being done in Painter 9. It's been several months since I have done a digital piece, and its a nice change of pace, but I am ready to get back to the oils soon as well. It is so much easier to do covers digital so you can make the changes you need easily. That is why I stress to all artist out there, learn to work traditionally and digitally. It works to YOUR advantage.

Since I posted the last blog, I have put myself into the hermit mode I told you about. It doesn't shut people out on a art basis, but it allows me time to think and get my head straighten back out. Going through all the constant battles with my health has really got my "regular" life all out of whack. What is important to me right now is getting my head back in the right place, setting new goals and start being productive once again. Once I do that I promise you that I will start kicking some serious arshe again on a level higher than the past.

I know a good many of you are on the Facebook Group Nick Rose, and now that I understand how the bloody thing works, I have started breathing life into it and getting people talking and chatting. I hope you will join us there. Here is the link. This may be the best way for us all to learn from each other as well as chatting with the people who love my type of work as well. All are welcome as long as you respect the other members. There are over 4000 and I am going to work on getting it even larger.

One of the big things that has happened during this "Down" time for me is that my eyes have opened to what is most important to me. Sometimes we need to get slapped down to step back and see things with fresh eyes. I feel for the most part I have been on the right path, but there are a couple of things I want to do different in my life from here on out. But those things are personal for now. Maybe I will talk to you about them latter on, or perhaps you will notice a change in me. Time will tell.

Well, I have to get for now, I have to spend some time with the kids and get them fed and homework done while Madison gets ready to work. Love and Hugs "May the Darkness Comfort You"

Lots and lots of changes coming.

        Hello my friends and Happy Mothers Day.  I pray that each of you had a mother that was loving and nurturing to you.  Mothers mean more to us when we are children than anything else.  As Brandon Lee said in the movie "The Crow" " Mother is the name of God on the lips of small children" and that it is. But it in some cases it could be "Satan".  I pray that you are not one of those children.
       I have a lot to talk about today. Many major changes are on the way, as a matter of fact, I'm completely revamping the way I do business, and my appearance online. I'm in the process of "Cleaning out my Closet."  That's a private term, but Madison and Tilly know what I mean. It is time for a lot of growth and to take some big steps forward.  For this to happen, some eggs are going to get broken and I have to leave "Junk" in the past where it belongs.
       The first thing that you will notice is that I am getting rid of the Wicked Kitty Website. I have decided to only use the Nick Rose Name as far as the public is concerned. I still own the Wicked Kitty name and we will be using it for some business ventures, but overall "Nick Rose" is what we will be branding. Also, times have changed. Personally I don't see any reason for keeping up a website. If I want to show samples, I'll simply send clients to a private link that just features my work, nothing else. After all, publishers and movie producers don't care about anything other than my work.  Websites are for fans, and honestly I have 100 times the fans going to my blog or social networks to see my work. So a website is a waste of money and time. If you are going to stay competitive in this business, you have to think outside of the box and grow with all the changes going on with the Internet. It seems almost everyday there is something new coming out that you can use as a promotional tool.
      We are also going for new ways to bring in income from my art. I'm not going to disclose what my plans are,  but I will say, I have been thinking about this for a very long time. I've been studying the market and how other people have been making "large" livings doing what I am going to do. Give me a year and you will see. The hardest part of this is has been trying to figure out where the capital will come from. Problem solved.
     A couple of things that have been bothering me these last several months is that I want to be able to film videos of my working both traditionally and digitally. I was going to get a good camera at Christmas to help me do this, but it turns out the more I worked toward this, the more I realized how expensive it was going to be to buy the equipment to do this properly. I am talking about making top of the line videos and to do that I need to invest around 50 grand for the equipment to just get me started.
     The same problem is present with doing books. The writing part isn't nearly as bad as the quality of photo's I would need to take of "In progress" photo's to make the book desirable. This is going to take a very nice camera and some really good equipment, so it looks like that is going to have to wait for a while now. Sorry, but I'm not going to do anything half-as*ed.  I want fans and buyers to know that anything that goes with the Nick Rose name is quality. 
     As most of you know I have been working my arshe off getting my health back, and I am doing it so I can have a long career and make a lot of money to take care of the people I love most in this world.  Basically I am going into a "Hermit" mode. I will still be here and do things to promote my work and projects, but I am going to become scarce. Basically if you want to contact me, send me an e-mail, because unless it is business you will not be able to get me on the phone anymore. Sorry, but I have to really focus on the goals I have set for myself and that means I have to focus on my life and decisions. It 's time I discover who I am as a person, an artist, and a man, and I don't want anyone outside of the people I hold closest to my heart to be involved in that. 
    SO, please respect that. Emails work just as well. I am sorry for sounding so "tight" but this has been coming for a while now, but I wanted to think about it for a long time to make sure it was the right choice for me. 
    I want to make this very plain, I am not referring to all of you that are here because you like my art and are keeping up with my career.  This has nothing to do with anyone I deal with on a business level. This is about me making more time for what I do best, and keeping myself focused on my goals. Before Madison came into my life, I lived 8 years with no one in my life mostly so I could focus on learning the lessons of the Masters and keeping my mind clear of all the clutter that life has a tendency to  throw at you.
    I know this may sound a little off to some of you, but it 's what works for me. Blame my parents. I had to live in my own little world to survive growing up, and as an adult, I do the same thing when I am very serious about pursuing something.  I know you all will be glad I did, after all, you may like me, but you are here mostly because of the art, and I intend to get real serious about that and keep practicing all the "secrets" I was taught. It 's not everyday that we are given second chances at life and in my case I am going to give it all I have. 
    This is just the start, and with each blog I will go over more and more the things I will be doing and changing.  I want you all to know that I do love you, and your support has and always meant the world to me.  Without you, I would be nothing. I also have a new fan club if your interested in joining. Here is the link.  I started this one because our FB group, 4200 strong is being archived, whatever that means.  This one is a "Like" Club and I am hoping to do more on there without sending a bunch of letters to your mailboxes. You can't do that with the group. If I send out a message from there it goes to every one's mail, and we don't want that unless it is REALLY important.
     Love and Hugs.  "May the Darkness Comfort You"

      

Improving myself on many levels.

      Hello my friends. I hope each of you are doing well. I don't know about you, but I am excited about the news that Bin Laden is dead. That's one less monster in the world to give our children nightmares. I am so proud of our Military and am even prouder to say that I served my country.  It's even more cool to find out that not one of our Navy Seals was hurt in this very dangerous operation. Total Badas*!  I also find it very amusing that May 1st is also the day that they found Hitler dead as well. It is a special day for getting rid of the bad guys for sure. I wonder if that was planed out? lol
    Those of you that have keep up with me these last couple of years know very well that I am a veteran and if it was not for that, there is no way I could afford all the medical treatments and medicines I have to take these days. To any young person  reading this, going into the Army was the best decision I made in my young life. Not only did it teach me things I hold dear like "Respect, Honor, and to stand by your friends", but  the Army put me through college, and has helped me my whole life.  If you don't know where you want to go with your life yet, our Military is a great place to start.
    Right now, my health is the big issue, and I am working very hard on making it as good as I can so I can return to the world of doing some commercial work to help with the bills. Since January, everything has been on hold. I have constantly been fighting to stay alive. If we hadn't figured out that most of the problems I was having was being aggravated by infections in my gums that had been there for years unknown. It's no wonder that for the last 6 years I have been sick more than healthy.
     So I have been having most of my teeth pulled and filled. My body already feels 10 times better than it has in years, but I still have about 7 weeks to go before all the dental work is done, and trust me when I say I am living in some serious pain on a daily basis. I am only able to work here and there for now. I am working on some projects, but nothing that I have to push for, but the good news is this, once I am done with all of this I will not be afraid to commit to deadlines anymore and I am intending on doing a ton of new work. I have a LOT of really cool things going on, but I am not going to say anything about them until they come up. I have had several more major horror movie stars to sign on to my  "Masters of Horror" project. I will tell you who they are when the time comes, but honestly it is going to be 2012 before I can start anything with them.
   Outside of the time I am leaving open for doing cover and movie work, the rest of my art time is already committed for this year, and it looks like I am going to working a lot more with April "Chainsaw Sally" than I originally thought. She is one hell of a awesome and sexy model, so she will be appearing in a lot of my paintings. The same thing with Kane Hodder. The man is awesome and has agreed to let me use his image however I want, so he will be turning up on a lot of book covers as well as posters and prints.
    My gallery project I have been hinting at is really starting to come in focus, and some of the movie stars will be in those paintings as well. So as you can probably guess I am very excited about my health improving 100% and knowing I have all this awesome work in front of me.  If you think what you have seen from me the last few years was something, well, you haven't seen anything yet. I am just getting warmed up. lol
    Another part of my life I have been working on is my spiritual beliefs. This is something I have been dancing around for way to long, but now I am starting to do a lot of studying and research on my personal beliefs, and on a personal level, this is really making me feel a lot better "on the inside" if that makes sense.  In my humble opinion, I believe my life centers around 3 things, my art, Madison and the kids, and my spirituality. They are all connected and I put equal time into each of them. They are what really matters to me and I want to be the best person I can be, so my focus will be on these 3 things from now on.
    Madison's new book is almost done, and I will be doing the cover for it.  There will be some super big news coming along with that as well, but I will let her tell everyone when the time is right. I am so proud of her, and this book rocks. I kid you not, and I think some of the people I work with will honestly look at it for a possible movie. I am very serious.
    Hopefully I will blog again soon, and maybe have some work to show you, we'll just have to see how I am feeling. Like I said before, when you whole face is throbbing in pain, it is kind of hard to think about doing much of anything, but I will be past it soon.
   Love to you all. "May the Darkness Comfort You"