Blade-of-the-Moon's Art

[stoneage]

Nothing has been posted here in quite awhile.  I was wondering if something is wrong or if your busy working on Halloween stuff?

[AcroSauroTaurus]

Nothing has been posted here in quite awhile.  I was wondering if something is wrong or if your busy working on Halloween stuff?

I've talked to him recently and he said he's working on setting up Halloween stuff and is taking a break from working on the Elephant. Thats all I know.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Hey bud, yeah been busy dealing with county compliance stuff, fundraising ( not going well) for those compliance projects, we had dino park in the dark in July, tearing it down now, almost finished the elephant for the city of Erwin, working on setting up for the haunt..had some severe back pain last week..nothing was working to relieve it til I tried some arthritis/anti inflammatory drugs that has taken care of most of it.  I gave a lot of attention to the dinos last year, the haunt had a lot of quick setup and didn't get much love, trying to remedy that now and take a bit of a dino break.  Still planning things but that's it, I'm afraid of my health getting worse, I have no insurance , no way to get anywhere as I don't drive so it all just makes any problems I have all the more rougher to deal with.    Not a dino but here's a couple things  I've been working on :

[Takama]

You need to take care of yourself. Dont push yourself to much or your creations will be without a Father.



Im really worried about you and the park. which is why i decided to leave you alone when it came to payments via paypal.   I know this park is you life and soul, but what good is it if you have no life left?

[tyrantqueen]

I hope things improve for you.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

eh it is what it is..no one ever said life was easy right?  If anyone is interested i might post updated pics of the elephant completed tomorrow

[stoneage]

Sorry to hear about your health.  Sounds like you should slow down and try to take care of your self.  How short are you on the money for the compliance projects?  I don't read everything on the blog anymore but I always look forward to seeing your life like Dino projects.  So when I don't see any, I feel disappointed.  I'd love to see anything your doing Elephant, Halloween etc.

[Tyto_Theropod]

Really sad to hear about your health problems, pal. I haven't been on the forum for AGE because life, so I'm only just catching up on all this stuff. i'm afraid though that I can only repeat what others have already said: for the love of all that is sacred, don't push yourself too far. I'm sure the rest of the forum will agree that while your work is naturally important to you, your well-being has to come first. Anyway, I am sorry that you are going through such a rough time, and you will be in my thoughts, and, I am sure, those of many other forum members.

In other news, awesome zombie horse!

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Sorry to hear about your health.  Sounds like you should slow down and try to take care of your self.  How short are you on the money for the compliance projects?  I don't read everything on the blog anymore but I always look forward to seeing your life like Dino projects.  So when I don't see any, I feel disappointed.  I'd love to see anything your doing Elephant, Halloween etc.

I'm sorry to disappoint, goes against my basic makeup..i'm a showman and an artist.  We're pretty short bud, this restroom alone needs about 8,000.00 to get done, we just managed to get the chief inspector out here to approve the site and give us our permit which i paid for in july..we have 6 months to get it done from that date or we have to pay again.  my friend who has been helping us pay bills recently had a letter from the IRS saying he owes them 2200.00 so I've had to pay in full our electric, water, and septic payments out of our donations...i haven't been able to put anything back for 2 months. Last week our power went out here, turns out the 250' of ground approved electric line we buried 3' in the ground half died..I need 800 to replace it...thats just the wire we would re-dig the trench by hand.  We did a fundraiser last saturday with a local brewery ( they're everywhere here) it was hot, rainy our 10x20 canopy lost two leg poles to wind damage and we raised 40.00..didnt even cover gas and food for the day..i'm trying all i can but its just not enough.  I can't build, raise money, and maintain the park so i'm having to choose to spend a little time here and a bit there.  Been rough to be honest.  Some days I just feel like saying heck with it. :/

Really sad to hear about your health problems, pal. I haven't been on the forum for AGE because life, so I'm only just catching up on all this stuff. i'm afraid though that I can only repeat what others have already said: for the love of all that is sacred, don't push yourself too far. I'm sure the rest of the forum will agree that while your work is naturally important to you, your well-being has to come first. Anyway, I am sorry that you are going through such a rough time, and you will be in my thoughts, and, I am sure, those of many other forum members.

In other news, awesome zombie horse!

Thanks bud, everyone gets sick or has issues i'm just explaining mine really, with a little complaining on the side.. never been one to sugar coat anything but a fresh strawberry.  The haunt has been a good money maker for us in the past so hopefully me working my tail off on it will bear fruit.

Here are a couple pics of the elephant we made for Erwin,TN during the parade , i couldnt attend but they were nice enough to send me pics ;

[LophoLeeVT]

wow congrats on your elephant!!!!

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/tennessee/unique-tn-park/

Their info is a bit off..still nice of them.

[Halichoeres]

http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/tennessee/unique-tn-park/

Their info is a bit off..still nice of them.

Cool write-up!

[LophoLeeVT]

nice! but what species of dinosaur is that first spinosaurid shown in the article?

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

nice! but what species of dinosaur is that first spinosaurid shown in the article?

Juvenile S.  Aegyptiacus

[docronnie]

Congrats on the elephant! 

[Doug Watson]

Hey Chris, man when it rains it pours I really hope things turn around for you.  I like what one person commented after the article, "no good deed goes unpunished".

I did have a thought though, have you ever applied for a State Arts Grant? I believe you are "nonprofit" since you only take donations so I did a quick search and the Tennessee Arts Commission and I quote "invests in more than 600 nonprofit organizations across the state benefiting communities through quality of life, economic development, tourism and providing a more balanced education for our children." The part I bolded could almost be your mission statement. I think it could be worth a shot and if you only ask for the funds to cover the County's demands I would imagine it would probably be one of the smaller amounts they have been asked for. Here is the web site they have a link to apply for a grant. http://tnartscommission.org

[Halichoeres]

Doug, that's a great idea. Blade, I have to write grants all the time for research money, so if you decide to write one of these and want another pair of eyes to look it over, I'm happy to help. As a grad student, I have a lot more time than money...

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I'm unfortunately poor on both bud.  I am a nonprofit in deed and action just not on paper if that matters? Bluff City is really hands off around here with everything and it's possible it may disappear soon and be absorbed by the county at some point. :/

[Doug Watson]

Doug, that's a great idea. Blade, I have to write grants all the time for research money, so if you decide to write one of these and want another pair of eyes to look it over, I'm happy to help. As a grad student, I have a lot more time than money...

That is a very generous offer Halichoeres, hopefully there is something in their programs to help Chris if he applies. Canada is the land of arts grants but I have never applied for one so having someone with experience, albeit in the sciences, would be a big help to Chris.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

looks like only the rolling grants are available right now, i'm not sure what the difference is though really. Of the 5 open i don't think any of them fit our requirements. :/