I've done it. All 397 my paintings are now online.

I got 'em all up at my main site: http://markwstevens.com/home/gallery/

They're grouped by year because there's just so damn many of them!

What does this mean for my blogger blog? Well, it's likely to quiet things down over here. I do focus on my main site quite a bit since I really prefer to have my announcements, ramblings, and paintings all in one spot. I won't completely ignore this place. Anything really important will be echoed here, and if I have a main site crash again this will make a damn fine back-up blog.

Please check out my paintings. I've worked very hard on both them and my site. Comments are always welcome!

Thanks.

- Mark

My main site is back online!

Smoke, abstract oil painting

     Hey hey! I got my main site back online. Please visit markwstevens.com. I have all my oil paintings up there as well as any future announcements. I also plan on rebuilding my drying rack page. There you can see paintings that I've finished but are not yet dry enough to haul outside and photograph.

     I will not be abandoning my second home here at blogger. No no! I'll be making announcements here too. This will also serve as a back-up blog in case my site crashes again in the future. I've learned my lesson! Always have a back up plan.

- Mark

Uploaded 20 new paintings to my Picasa

Simple Landscape #37 - 18" x 24" Oil painting on canvas

     I uploaded another 20 paintings to my picasa oil painting album this morning. I know, no one gives a crap. Not a single view at a single painting. Whatever, I'm not stopping.

- Mark

Photos from Fox State Forest

     M'lady and I went to Fox State Forest for a short trek on the Tree ID trail. We missed a turn and our 10 minute walk turned into a 40 minute hike. No biggie, we weren't lost, just... off our plan. We know that area of the forest pretty well. I think we just got all excited to be out in the woods. It worked out pretty well, I had my camera, got a handful of good shots, and some much needed exercise.

My old site is dead... well, mostly dead anyway.

I read an interesting article today:

Network Solutions Hack Highlights Hosting Risks from InformationWeek.com: http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2010/04/network_solutio.html

The most horrifying sentence to me was the following:

Hundreds of NSI-hosted WordPress blogs were hit with malicious iframes that would automatically infect visitors to the blogsites, and in some cases, spread fake antivirus software.

Not only was (is) my site hosted by NSI but I've been using WordPress software. Yes, my site was absolutely one of those affected. As soon as I can get access to it again, I'm pulling it down. I can't bear the thought of exposing innocent people to malware. I've removed the link to my old site here so as not to infect you guys and I've posted warnings over at my Facebook fan page and pulled those links as well.

This has me very depressed. I put a great deal of time and effort into that site, not to mention that I'm all paid up for hosting through Nov. 2011. Shit.

I'm trying to stay positive and see this whole mess as serendipity, but it's not easy. Maybe it's for the best but man oh man, I'm not happy about it. Eh...

I guess what it comes down to is: Welcome to my new home.

- Mark

People keep asking me if marriage has changed anything...

...no, it's hasn't. Why should it? What is it about marriage that should change a relationship? Shouldn't the relationship not need changing before a marriage?

I just don't get it. M'lady and I were happy together before we got married and we're still happy. Nothing's changed, nothing needs to. We're still the same people and we still love each other very much. We got married because we were happy... why the hell would we want to change that?

Perhaps many people think that getting married will strengthen their relationship or fix whatever problems currently exist? Well, I don't think it will. A bad relationship won't get better with a binding contract. If it's broke, it's gonna stay broke. If it's good, it's gonna stay good.

A marriage won't change a relationship. All it does is announce to the world that two people want to be together for the rest of their lives. Nothing less and nothing more.

- Mark

Spring in New Hampshire

Went outside on this beautiful day and took a few pictures of spring here in New Hampshire.



Blackberry Bush. Those thorns are vicious, but the berries are delicious.



Our Stump. It's gonna take years for that to rot away. I can wait.

The bird house waits for residents. I hope they like it.

Not even the leaf litter can stop new growth.

Who am I? Why am I here?

Well, my name's Mark and I've been running my own art site for a loooong time. At the moment, my site (http://www.markwstevens.com/) is running into problems, so I figured I'd start making the move to a different home. My old site is still online, but I can't upload photos to it anymore. I think it's a hosting problem and I think they're trying to fix it.

So, why move if it's being fixed? I'm an artist and I want people to see my paintings. In these days of social networking, having your own site tucked away in some little corner of the web is not a very good way to share your work. I figured moving everything over to The Google was a good start at getting a wider audience.

I've just uploaded my oil paintings to Picasa and triggered a wee slide show here at the blog. I plan on doing the same with the 300+ watercolor paintings I've painted and sold, but that will take some time and motivation.

Regardless, enjoy what I have up now, and stay tuned for future updates. I've come to think of my site's problems as potentially serendipitous... is that a word? Eh... take a peek if you like, or not if you don't!

- Mark

Let's start this off with a plug!

Towering Inferno, for auction 4/21 - 4/27

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130385051725

Hey there folks. I've gotta start this new blog somewhere so it might as well be with some shameless self promotion! Isn't that why were all here? We're all looking for some kind of attention otherwise why publish who we are?

So, let's start with a painting auction! The oil painting above is available for auction on eBay from 4/21 - 4/27. I'm offering free shipping and there is no reserve! If you like it, bid now or you'll have to wait for it to come around again. I can't tell you when that will be because I don't know. I have 40+ oil paintings in line for auction. As I get this blog going I'll be providing places for y'all to see all my artwork. I've sold over 300 watercolors and I'm fixing to sell the same number of oil paintings. More if I can do it!

Stayed tuned... this is only the beginning!

- Mark