I have been fine-tuning my 32-bit and Game Boy Advance (GBA) aesthetic in my graphic design work. I learned to make animations with Photoshop at Pratt in 2010 and still like to use the old-school legacy techniques. The person above is Xi Mingze, the daughter of Xi Jinping. I hope this image of his daughter in America makes the Chinese troops return to China from Eastern Europe, yet I would not hold my breath by any means.
Next, we have the house in Ohio where Vice President JD Vance lived as a boy. I usually put my signature violet-haze on my animations, yet since JD Vance was in the Marine Corps. I decided to use a green haze. This is dedicated to Public Affairs Officer Hamel.
Every great graphic designer must be a great meme-person…
After traveling around Vermont and Cape Cod, I returned to New York City and signed a lease on an apartment in Queens. I also found that Xi Jinping, Waylon Jennings and my son Roman all have the same birthday – June 15th, the zodiac of Gemini. So, Roman and I have started learning Chinese. Chinese is very similar to Kanji in Japanese; for example, the Kanji and Hanzi for water are both 水. This 水 symbol is also on the dials on the Japanese Submarines in one of my favorite Burt Lancaster movies, Run Silent Run Deep.
I have been talking to several card store owners in New York City about selling my deck of cards. Instead of calling the deck “The American Game” – I may switch the name to “Emblem Cards”. I was sad to leave Capitaland, yet I needed some space from my family. My New York family members have all been so disruptive to my graphic design work and my car mechanic/Art Conservation practice that a few hours of space as become preferable. I pray will be good for all of us. I have missed living in NYC, yet the city has changed a lot from when I lived here in 2010 and 2011. I liked living near my mother, yet Upstate New York makes one yearn for the city. I lasted about a year in Schenectady.
I have been missing my pet bunny rabbit, Mugs Bunny. Easter was always our special day. Yet, I found a famous rabbit sculpture by Jeff Koons in Manhattan, which took some of the pain away from our seperation. Stay tuned to the blog for more Queens and New York City updates. Ciao!
I have decided to show my true colors and take apart my toolbox so I can repaint it. I selected a deep violet color because my mother worked at Texas Christian University’s (TCU) psychology department for over 25 years. I also attended TCU in 2013-14 between Pratt and the University of South Carolina. I also worked in the Art History Department and created a dossier that cataloged more than 20 paintings by Bror Utter, one of my favorite Fort Worth Circle artists.
My son is named Roman, and I also like purple/violet because the emperor wore that color in antiquity. I enjoy doing crafty things, and refinishing furniture is one hobby that comes in handy with projects like these images.
I wanted to pay homage on my toolbox to some of my favorite painters – such as Raphael, Caravaggio and Vermeer – who I picked up the brush for so many years ago…
I have finally completed my first of the Presidential Portrait series. After about six weeks of working on a painting, I begin to worry that I have over-done it and thus ruined the painting. I had a drawing teacher at Pratt who used to tell us to stop at 96% and leave a touch for the viewer to fill in with their imagination. If someone works a piece of art even past the threshold of 101%, it destroys that remarkable quality.
detail of the cherries – hands and an object are a common way to add a personal vibe to a portrait
It is so nice to have so many resources to study to try to learn about a person who you are trying to paint in a way that captures more than just a physical description of the person. It is essential to capture the “essence” of a person, and I thought the story of young Washington admitting he cropped down the cherry tree to his father would be interesting. The cherries also have a sexual reference that speaks to our nation’s birth in blood and war through Washington’s deeds.
Since Washington was the father of the American Army, I have decided to speak with an Army recruiter about enlisting in the “regular army”. My uncle, John Szal, was a captain in the Marine Corps. and he asks me not to join the Marines. I thought joining the Army would be a perfect solution as a loophole to get around this. I can enlist at a higher rank with ASE tests and hopefully work on vehicles and/or helicopters. However, several things might disqualify me or limit my options in the military from my past. Also, in the Army, you do not get to pick what you do and are obliged to follow your orders, so I could do graphic design again or become a combat medic. It is impossible to say, yet I will keep the blog updated with what they say and the progress of my next portrait (John Adams). I am not a violent person and would prefer not to have to hurt anyone, yet I am not a conscientious objector by any means.
Capitaland has a policy of letting people leave for military service. Yet, I do not expect them to have a job waiting for me in four years, so I will be leaving Capitaland. I will miss my new manager, Brian Hansbury, and his dog Bandit (my favorite part of Capitaland). I will no longer be around to receive any commission from someone purchasing a car, so no more pressure on anyone to buy a vehicle to help me.
After several stressful weeks dealing with my court cases in Texas, I have been able to smooth things over with my lawyer, Miles Brissette. I wrote some things about Miles when I was frustrated with the court, yet he is an excellent lawyer and I would recommend him to anyone.
I ordered a new batch of my cards, which will be for sale again on my website on the Ides of March (3/15). I have been busy with my GMC training, so I have not yet been able to finish my George Washington portrait. I plan to finish by next week so I can start working on John Adams’ portrait earnestly.
My first week at Capitaland was excellent and I was very happy to be placed as a GMC mechanic. I had initially wanted to work on Subarus, yet Capitaland offers the chance for a person to master both with time. My first car was a ‘98 Subaru Impreza that I bought with money saved by working as a lifeguard at Caroll Aquatics Center (my high school pool). However, my second car was a ‘03 Buick Century(in the GM family), like Chevy and GMC(my current focus). I also signed the title of a Subaru Forester to Cheyenne before she left me and took Roman from Fort Worth to South Carolina without my permission.
All my problems started a year later when my stupid personage felt it necessary to relocate to South Carolina, where Roman lived. I hated Columbia, and Leigh Ellen is so rich she still has people mess with me since she is that wealthy. Scott Jaco has not been the best either for anyone and yet, since he is Roman’s stepfather, I have to keep up the appearance of cordiality. He made Cheyenne have a medical condition which made it impossible for us to be married and did not even ask her permission. He also was abusive to the point I thought Roman’s safety was in danger. After my parents got divorced, I was on my own, and I had no one to assist with such a terrible situation I was placed in becoming a teen parent trying to finish college.
I have several new marriage prospects on the horizon now, although I try to focus on my career as a mechanic, graphic designer and painter so it is hard to find time for dating. One of the symptoms of schizophrenia is not wanting to date or have romantic relationships, yet I have experienced seeing “ghosts” and “spirits” over the years. Capitaland will let me work there with a disability as long as I perform at a super high level and do not ever have any accidents. They employ several disabled veterans and disabled civilians, which lets me feel safe to talk about my disability. I tried to sue Frank Bufano over getting sent to JPS hospital against my will for a week (October 2023), yet I do not think I will ever try to sue anyone again since I was treated so poorly by Judge Brandt and everyone in the office of JP3. They even let Frank sell his house twice and relocate to California to avoid getting served a subpoena.
Thankfully, Tim has decided to drop the charges now that I have a good job and want to start a family. I have decided not to say anything bad about him on the blog and will allow him to keep whatever funds he acquired by pulling a job on his little boy.
After a year of lousy treatment on probation, I have decided to return to Texas to take the charges from the case with Timothy Szal to trial. I will take a bus to Texas at the end of the month. It is clear now that I need to clear up these criminal charges in Texas if I want to get a decent job or decent treatment anywhere. I have taken a leave of absence from Adirondack Tire until this matter is resolved. Larry O’Shea, Sean O’Shea and Eric Steele have been unbelievably supportive during this difficult time.
I was blessed to start a new job at the corporate headquarters of Adirondack Tire a few weeks ago. I am so happy to get to work on cars and do graphic design, combining two of my unique skill sets. I worked at Warren Tire for almost a year and never met the owner. I worked at Adirondack Tire for one day and met the owner plus his son.
I only have my son Roman visit during the summers, so seeing Sean and Larry together makes working for them a pleasure. It is so nice to see the owner preparing his son for his future role in a direct fashion. I gave everyone at corporate unique decks of the American Game for Christmas.
Roman and I (Summer 2024) at the MOMA in NYC
However, I have gazed at the cards on the wall for a few weeks now and have decided to make some minor changes. The Los Angeles card that might evoke a connection with the Los Angeles Chargers is changing completely. A few other cards will have minor edits, and I will update the master portfolio page. If you would like to exchange your deck for the updated version, please email me at mattszal@gmail.com, and I will gladly send you an additional deck for no extra charge. Thanks to everyone who has supported my work and family by purchasing a deck. God Bless you. I used the cards to do a reading for my cousin Ryan on Christmas Eve. We discussed the upcoming book that I am writing to accompany the deck.
My cousin Ryan (the famous architect) and I
This book shall be in the fashion of The Pictorial Keyto the Tarot by Waite.
This is one of the tentative new versions of the LA card #2
All sales of “The American Game” cards are on hold until the new redesign is finished and the new designs have arrived from the printers. We apologies for any inconvenience.
I have changed the cards several times, and I am on 5 different redesigns for the entire deck. The deck was officially released on Thanksgiving, which is when all pre-sale orders shipped. Thank you so much to everyone for supporting my artwork and designs; if you have any thoughts or comments on the designs, please email me at mattszal@gmail.com.
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