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Date	Comments
2008-01-24 Slot Slop AWA National Exhibition Glendale Adult Center	This is most definitely the longest I've gone without making an entry. Much has transpired during this span, yet in terms of what I put in this journal again and again things are not much different. Thanksgiving and Christmas were the usual time of fest and rush and family. We did break a bit from tradition and had Thanksgiving dinner at daughter Julie's new house. For the most part the holidays were very peaceful, always a time for reflection for me. Last weekend was the annual Arizona Hikers Anniversary event. This year it was at Lake Pleasant near where I live. It was the usual getting together with my good friends and eating way too much and having lots of fun around the campfire. Janet, Sarah and Emily all went. Got kind of cold during the night and Friday night the wind was really bad. We used the new tent my brother gave us for Christmas, a huge 3 room thingy from Cabellas. It requires at least two adults to put it up and take it down. Shortly before the event my friends Todd and Diane asked me if I would be interested in a week long adventure this spring in Yosemite National Park. DUH! Wow, I'm really looking forward to this trip. It includes a three day backpacking permit into the Little Yosemite Valley, Merced Lake and numerous other waterfalls and sights. Other news of note regarding my artistic endeavors: I had a painting ("Slot Slop") accepted into the Arizona Watercolor Association's National Juried Exhibition 2008. 60 paintings were chosen by the juror Chris Van Winkle from several hundred entries. I also won frist place in watercolor in the Glendale Arts Council's 44th Annual Juried Fine Arts Exhibit. The juror was Tom Herbert. "West Fork Wade" Glendale Arts Council's 44th Annual Jurried Fine Arts Exhibit
2008-02-04	Here's the latest. PSA < 0.1 ! Will go to the urologist later this month
2008-03-022	Much has taken place since last I made an entry here. My job of the last 13 1/2 years rather abruptly went away. I suspected it might though. Del wanted to change the manner in which he did business and the only way to do it was to shut down. I'm thinking he will start again sometime in the future and whether or not I'm part of it, who knows. Right now he is brokering. In a way all of this has been good for me, although it's a bit scary not knowing where income will come from. I've taken a temporary job with Pulte Homes working with a web team on a new site that will launch in April and most likely ending my time there. I'm also doing some freelance work. Haven't done any painting in a couple of weeks but hope to get into the studio soon. I've put up a site on myartspace.com and you can find me by going there and doing a search on Stan Kurth. I'm also developing a new website under a domain name I purchased back in October. I might have it up and running in a couple of months. I want it to be nice. As you can see from my last journal entry my PSA is good. So all things considered, what do I have to complain about? It's a beautiful day!
2009-10-14	OK, It's been well over a year and a half since I've made an entry to this journal. It goes without saying that much has transpired. I lost the domain name "menofcourage" but got it back. The last post I made was about how I had lost my job and how I felt. The economy sucks. I haven't tested my PSA in over a year but will soon. Much to write about how I feel and what I've been doing, but I'll do that later. I have made some gains with my painting; a couple of "Best of Shows" in AWA and CWA and an Award of Excellence in the Western Federation of Watercolor Societies. I've done some excellent backpacking and hiking adventures including a four day backpack in Yosemite and a climb to the summit of Half Dome. I'll post more later, just had to get started writing again.
2010-01-01 Delirium of Desire Green Facade Perilous Allure At The Cafe Award of Excellence 34th Annual Western Federation of Watercolor Societies Exhibition Juror Robert Burridge	In the almost 2 years that I have neglected this journal much has transpired. The biggest reason for not posting being I lost the domain name because when I initially set up the site I really wasn't familiar with the do's and don'ts of domain purchases and just allowed the host to purchase it for me. Anyway , long story short, I have gotten it back and won't lose it again. I've only done a couple of major backpacks and or hikes in that time including backpacking in Yosemite, another Superstition Ridgeline and a Rim to Rim in the Grand Canyon. Yosemite was super-fun even though it was quite rainy. The rain cleared on the third day there in The Little Yosemite Valley and we were able to summit Half Dome. What a rush, going up those cables and getting to the top with the most spectacular 180 view I've ever had! I believe I've posted various other reports on the Superstition Ridgeline. The Rim to Rim in The Grand Canyon was my first and I can say this: to date it is the single most difficult day hike I have done. 23 1/2 miles from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon to the North Rim. The route was down Bright Angel and up North Kaibab. It took me 12 hours. Others in the party took much less time. Daughter Sarah made Varsity Spirit Line as a Sophomore at Cactus High School in Glendale. So the year before last I found myself attending high school football and enjoying it quite a bit. I've become a big Cactus Football Fan. Just this last season was even more interesting since my nephew Chandler was a varsity quarterback. Although he didn't start and found only sparse playing time, the last game of the season would prove to be a big one. Cactus only lost one game the entire season including playoffs, the only loss coming to Scottsdale Saguaro because of multiple costly mistakes early in the game. However Cactus romped through the playoffs crushing the other teams and found themselves in the Division 4A II State Championship against Santa Rita of Tucson. About midway through the 2nd quarter Cactus' star quarterback went out with a broken clavicle, enter Chandler to maintain a lead and help add another touchdown. Cactus won with their defense, a huge effort and 14 zip shut-out. On a down note, Sarah severely sprained her ankle practicing a stunt three weeks earlier and couldn't cheer. Chandler eludes a Santa Rita defenseman. Emily has continued to dance at school and has also enrolled at the LAB for instruction in Mixed Martial Arts. I have stepped up my painting. I'll just include this bit from my blog: I am not really sure why I must paint. I have no profound or esoteric explanation. My best guess is it is part of my God given personality. I painted my first oil when I was five years old, but my passion is water media, including watercolor, acrylic, casein, gouache and mixed media. I paint a variety of subjects representing places or things that I feel strongly for or against, some teetering on the subconscious and surreal. I am an avid hiker and backpacker and often landscape is prevalent in my work. I have evolved as an artist and hopefully in a direction that expresses best what I want to convey. In early years I was very cautious and meticulous, making preliminary drawings, value studies, sometimes using grids and projectors and hours of execution. This works for many but I found by the time I actually started painting or somewhere in the middle, I had lost the emotion and inspiration I had when I started. Even though I liked some of the paintings, something was missing in the finished work. In contrast I now work in a manner that keeps me emotionally charged throughout the process. This is not to imply I have abandoned the basics of composition. I strive for aesthetics, albeit relative and subjective. Often I start paintings without preconception other than vague ideas. I just start painting, initially putting down color and maybe adding texture or lines, then a lot of observation. I spend more time looking at works in progress than I do painting them. I look for something to emerge and work with it directing a composition around it adding a variety of shapes, value and movement that hopefully keep the viewer interested. Sometimes I'll think of a possible title and repeat it in my mind as I paint. I know that sounds crazy but for some reason it helps me focus on what I need to do. I'm not opposed to dripping, scraping, scratching, stamping, lifting, splattering, blowing or rubbing to achieve a desired result. I'm an experimentalist as well. In a recent series I used multiple acrylic glazes on coated lithographic paper and Yupo. "Slot Slop" is an example of this. Slot Slop I am represented in private, public and corporate collections and have exhibited in local, regional, national and international juried exhibitions, including The Arizona Artists Guild, The Arizona Watercolor Association (Spring, Fall and National), Contemporary Watercolorists of Arizona, The Western Federation of Watercolor Societies and The San Diego Watercolor Society's International exhibition. I have won numerous awards, recently including 1st Place in water media at the Glendale Arts Council 45th Annual Juried Fine Arts Exhibit 2008, Best of Show at the 37th Annual Contemporary Watercolorists of Arizona Exhibition 2008, Best of Show at the Arizona Watercolor Association's 2009 Spring Exhibition and an Award of Excellence at the 34th Annual Western Federation of Watercolor Societies Exhibition 2009. Award of Excellence, 34th Annual Western Federation of Watercolor Societies Exhibition May, 2009 Juror: Robert Burridge

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