A Little Splash of Colors

This is a photo I took in San Francisco in September 2009. Someday I might try to paint this photo, but for now I have other ideas that I would rather give a shot. Don't forget about my SKI CINCINNATI t-shirts and hoodies that are for sale around Cincinnati as they make nice inexpensive gifts for young and old. Check out my earlier posts where SKI CINCINNATI apparel can be purchased. Also, if you are interested in buying a piece of original art, there is the Collector's Art Group gallery at 225 East 6th Street in downtown Cincinnati on the 2nd floor. I have a few small pieces hanging up down there.

Have a safe and enjoyable weekend.

Occupy Wall Street Is A Cry For Help & Not Much More

To say that I am not happy with what passes as political debate in our country is an understatement. Each of us that does not have the millions of dollars to throw at our politicians to get the tax breaks like the upper one tenth of one percent, are feeling pretty helpless. Yes, we can vote, but what are our choices?

Even President Obama knows that he needs money from the big givers to win re-election, and that means Wall Street money is a must to win. So, given that even the most liberal man in the race takes huge contributions from Wall Street bankers, where does this leave the rest of us? Occupying Wall Street is a cry for help and nothing much more. People with no money can't bring about change when corporate money can drown out any appeal to fairness like in the level playing field.

So, what do we do? I am going to vote for Obama again even though I know I am not happy with his willingness to cater to the fat cats on Wall Street and the money they contribute to his re-election.

Perhaps after the GOP loses in 2012, the country can get moving again. Their platform is beat Obama in 2012 and make him a one term president. What kind of platform is that? Well, it isn't going to happen! The GOP does not have a candidate that can beat Obama now or in November 2012. What the GOP has displayed in the many TV debates is a party that is dysfunctional. And, it is my opinion that their many debates have only shown just how dysfunctional the GOP today is.

Change does not come about easily because those that pay for the tune don't give up their place in line when favorable treatment is handed out. Personally, I would like to see financial reform happen and be enforced, but with Wall Street paying for the tune, those changes are not going to happen right away.

Stay tuned.

3 Paintings For Sale By F.D. Zigler

I have 3 new paintings for sale at Collector's Art Group, 225 East 6th Street, Cincinnati, OH on the 2nd floor. They are in acrylic on canvas board and were painted in 2011. These pieces are rather small in size. They will be in the Holiday Art Show.

Happy Thanksgiving 2011

I just want to wish everyone a safe and Happy Thanksgiving. This has been a difficult year for many Americans. The sad part of this difficult year is that the difficulties they have faced in some cases came at no fault of their own. Yes, they were victims of a system that in essence cut their legs out from under them. Not all of us are smart and wealthy, some of us just have a job and try to keep a roof over our head and food on the kitchen table for our families. So this year, when you sit down to your Thanksgiving feast, take a second to remember that there are many less fortunate and that the playing field in this country is less than level for many that don't have the smarts to rise above and become part of the one percent or even the top two percent. For those greedy bastards that caused the financial crisis and walked away untouched and unmoved, I hope you choke.

Stay tuned.

Sunflowers in Vase by F.D. Zigler, Great American Artist, now on sale at Collector's Art Group along with others great paintings by F.D. Zigler.

Europe's Problems Are More Than Europe's Problem

I wish I could offer something positive about the events unfolding in Europe and here in the United States as it pertains to governments dealing with their debts. I am not going to pretend to know a lot about what is happening in Europe, but it is quite obvious that getting one country, Greece, to do what is right by other European countries is not so easy and may not happen. Who should get the blame for Greece's problems? The people? The politicians? Goldman Sachs and the politicians that put them in the situation they find themselves? The bigger problem is that Greece's problems are now Europe's problem, and Europe's problems are our problem in the United States because all of our economies are connected. Forget for a moment that our Congress can't agree on how to trim the deficit and reduce the debt. Europe's problems are more than Europe's problem.

Stay Tuned.

Saturday Is For Art: A New Butterfly & Old Butterfly

This little butterfly (top) came out of playing with a few different shapes for a Butterfly Flag. The original idea and design goes back to the mid 1990s when I made and gave a paper sculpture of the butterfly flag for a fund raiser at the Carnegie Arts Center. I even put one on a t-shirt. I wore my butterfly design t-shirt and I still do, but I guess not too many men would wear a butterfly on the front of their t-shirt. One of my favorite books is titled Papillon and was even made into a movie in 1973. Steve McQueen played the part of Henri Charriere, who at the age of 17 was convicted of murder in France and sent to the French Penal Colony known as Devil's Island. Charriere got the nickname Papillon because of the butterfly tattoo on his chest. Since his death in 1973, there has been much debate about whether all of the escape attempts were by Charriere or were stories he heard while on Devil's Island. Either way, the butterfly represents to me freedom, just as a butterfly is free to travel. The Monarch butterfly migrates between Mexico and the United States without a green card or passport, but please do not infer that I support illegal immigration. As the grandson of four Russian Jewish grandparents, I feel very fortunate to have been born here, and with my passport and a few dollars I can leave and come back like the Monarch butterfly.

Everyone have a nice and safe weekend, and visit an art museum.

Top: Butterfly Flag by F.D. Zigler, acrylic on carboard, 2011.
Bottom: Butterfly Flag on t-shirt by F.D. Zigler, mid 1990s.

The War On Terror Is Unconventional Warfare

Almost 50 years ago I studied American Diplomatic History at the University of Cincinnati. And, right after I graduated in 1964, President Johnson, after his election in November, 1964, took the war in Vietnam to a new level. Before January 1965, the troops in Vietnam were called advisers. I was in basic training when word came out that President Johnson was going to send the 157Th Airborne Brigade to Vietnam as a combat unit. Then U.S. Army sent the 1st Cavalry as an air-mobile division and the bigger war was on. I remember that I read anything I could get my hands on about the fighting in Vietnam and guerrilla warfare. There were even a few books that came out about fighting in Vietnam in the mid 1960s, and I read those too. A lot of good men died fighting in Vietnam and to this day I don't believe our fighting there had anything to do with the National Security of the United States. There were scholars on the history of Vietnam that said the Vietnamese in the North hated the Chinese probably more than they hated the Americans, but our government went ahead and committed men and money at a perceived problem that in reality never existed. I know those are pretty harsh words to say. In 1964, I thought that we could win in Vietnam. I even volunteered to serve there, but the army in their infinite wisdom sent me to Korea.

Today the world is fighting a very different kind of threat. It is not a war in the conventional sense where two great armies meet on a battlefield. The world is the battlefield and their are no great armies. The new "war" is terror, and that is going to be the most difficult kind of war to fight. If we stop terrorist attacks 99 times, but fail to stop them on the 100th time, we lose. This is a type of war that is going to require the very best we have. Foreign aid and building relationships is just a piece of the puzzle to keep us safe. We will win the war on terror by being smarter, not by being louder.

Stay tuned.