(Apologies to James Joyce)


I was 33 and it was 1973. I took the photo using a tripod and the 15 second delay. It was in my basement studio in the house my first wife and I owned in Peninsula, OH. I taught graphic design at The University of Akron and she taught fiber art and enameling there. I had left the advertising agency business to teach full time, but I also operated my freelance studio - The Running Dog Design Company - out of my renovated barn.

Carol still owns the house and is an active regional artist with a national reputation. We are friendly. We had two dogs and a cat then, ten acres (half of it thick woods) and a 1-acre vineyard. We made gobs of wine and drank it all. Our lawn was so large it took a day and a half to mow it with a riding mower.

I was a very active acrylic painter, completing about twenty works a year. They were all large. The painting behind me in the photo is a 5-feet square chocolate cake. I used brush and airbrush, and the paintings were very realistic. That year I won a prize in the Cleveland Museum of Art May Show and I had a one-man show and was half of a two-man show (I sold many paintings.) My brother in Florida owns the painting in this photograph.

I long for those days. Home-made wine, art and rock and roll! I also long for hair like I had then.