Robert Flinkman

January 8th, 2011       Saturday

I already prepared and coated the copper plate for the self-portrait. This evening I'll trace the drawing, then transfer it to the plate - probably start etching it next weekend. Am looking forward to it. Alot of room there for self expression.

March 14th, 2011       Monday

I realized that since January, I've been writing the  year 2010 on all the dates. Significantly, I recognized this when I concluded the painting, And It Was Her Daughter Who Took Care of Her.....but here, privately, personally, my heart and mind were dealing with my Mother's death and Joann's greed, lies and fraud....It seems so much, all of it, reached a point at this month, one year after my Mother's death. It weighs on me, it does,  it feels heavy. I'm pretty
resilient, and I've got my art to channel all this through.

Merritt received my self-portrait, I talked about it with her, and she can see, can sense, the moodiness, the sense of brooding, the darkness, anger and hurt. She could see that my figure in the picture is solid, well drawn, and Merritt like the balance of light and dark. She said there is alot going on here, you can't take everything in once glance, the image, the picture needs to be studied. I'm glad I sent it to her.