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.
A year later, the plot of my life started to thicken when my personage felt it necessary to relocate to South Carolina. Columbia was tough to adjust and yet I met a rich heiress (15 years my senior) named Leigh Ellen Kersting. Her dad owned a chain of grocery stores called Mr.K’s and we fell in love.
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. Scott made Cheyenne have a medical condition (he was a male entertainer in SC), which made it impossible for us ever to date or discuss marriage further. 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 as a teen parent trying to finish college.
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.
I have evolved from a tire shop mechanic into a dealership mechanic. I was very sad to leave Larry O’Shea, yet Capitaland made me such a good offer that I could not refuse. I have also decided to stay on probation here in New York and not pursue a trial by jury for the cases in Texas. I have wanted to focus on improving my mechanic skills and Subaru/GMC are both brands that I really enjoy servicing.
My grandfather died before I was born, yet he fought in the war with Japan and so I like to work on Japanese cars. I was also named after him and the original “Matthew Szal” grew up in Brooklyn. This is another reason I wanted to go to Pratt so much was on account of him. I also like GMC vehicles, which are really good American family vehicles, and utility cars/trucks.
I may still do graphic design work for Adirondack Tire, yet I may have to stop working for them entirely and stop running Magick Mechanic. I hope to start a family soon now that I can support one and I have never been more hopefully for the future.
I have been working on a new series of oil paintings of the Presidents of the United States. I read the books The Hardest Job in the World: The American Presidency and The Imperial Presidency to gain some background insight into the topic.
Greg Dow of Dow Art Gallery in Fort Worth, Texas
My old boss and mentor, Greg Dow, instilled my love of America inside my character. His father collected Lincoln pictures and memorabilia, some of which I helped restore when I worked for him at Dow Art Gallery (the oldest art gallery in Texas). I will likely dedicate my Lincoln picture to them both since, after Pratt, it was Mr. Dow that really taught me how to paint on a professional level. He gave me a job in 2011 when Roman was born and I thought my life was over since I had to leave New York City. Thankfully, he helped me realize it was only the beginning. I would never have been able to have my first big show at Fringe Art Gallery without his help/connections.
Video of my oil painting process
This is a video with some process footage of my painting the first picture. George Washington was in the British Army before the Revolutionary War, so I painted him in a younger version and then painted over in the older version. All the pictures are in oil paint on canvas boards, which are 12 inches by 12 inches. I added a hand to the portrait holding some cherries since George Washington could not lie to his father about chopping down the cherry tree. Yet, I have not taken any pictures of this latest stage.
Hello everyone, Larry (Owner of Adirondack Tire) has given me special permission to share the concept for our new logo. This is just a sneak preview, so stay tuned for more updates!
I recently took the e-commerce section of my site for purchasing the American Game decks down since I redesigned the deck to no longer have the city names of NFL teams. The cards arrived on Thursday, and I got positive reactions from my friends and co-workers at Adirondack. The image below is a scan of the cards with major changes from my original designs. I am currently deciding what kind of booklet to put with the cards and finalizing the packaging. A graphic designer’s work is never done, and once everything is nicely designed and organized – it is possible to start planning the next branding update. I have also added a copyright tag with my name on the Capricorn card since that is my zodiac sign.
I have always liked the example of the Pepsi logo, even though I do not like Pepsi or Coke. Pepsi uses a similar red/blue circle differently, as shown in the image below for each logo iteration. It is essential to make an existing logo recognizable so an old, loyal customer will still have a positive association. Thanks for everyone’s patience while I finalize the particulars of the new cards. If you want to buy a special edition deck from me, email me at mattszal@gmail.com. I will post another update when they are for sale on mattszal.com.
After a long week, some office humor can boost morale. My boss (Adirondack Tire DM/ Corporate Ops. Manager), Eric S., asked me to reach out to my old friends at Warren Tire and see who might want a job as a mechanic with our company. I worked at the Latham and the Schenectady stores, so I have quite a long list of friends at both locations. I even filled in at East Greenbush at the request of the District Manager of Warren Tire, who is also named Eric – Eric Filimon. I asked him to stop by and drop off his resume as a Friday prank to embarrass my friend at work. I thought this would be a good time to discuss why I left Warren Tire and how insulting the manager of the Schenectady store was to my ex-girlfriend, Stephanie. She visited me on my lunch break, and a customer saw me talking to her. He made an insulting remark about her, not realizing who she was, and I told him that was my girlfriend. I could not work for the company anymore after how insulted I felt even though the district manager wanted me to consider another store. Luckily, I was able to use the two months between Warren Tire and Adirondack Tire to grow Magick Mechanic and complete my deck of cards, which I redesigned without the text this month. Magick Mechanic shut down for the winter since it is too cold to operate in Upstate New York from December to March. The company has an offer to be bought by Adirondack Tire. I told Larry I did not want to sell my small business, yet he is a very hard person to refuse if he wants something a certain way. I always make sure to go the extra mile with vehicles for his friends (and he has a lot of important friends who are always visiting our corporate headquarters).
my toolbox with my new stickers and Hebrew calligraphy @ Adirondack Tire HQ
In honor of my presidential portrait series, I have decided to make the secret page of designs I created for President Biden – public!
I will not say if I liked him or Trump better, you will have to wait and see how I paint them at the end of the series. Also, check out my political designs on my portfolio here. I will post some process shots of my Washington portrait soon.
These are some animated .gifs that I created with Sequana and Ace Malagurio, my representative character in The Flying Dutchess.
I have also completed some new animated backdrops, which will also be in my updated portfolio. I have been working on several new logo ideas with mountains at work, inspiring my latest animated background creations. It has been stressful at work with our lead mechanic out with a hand injury, yet I have a newfound respect for him since I have been filling in for him with some of the advanced mechanic jobs. All the hardest jobs from other stores get sent to corporate. I enjoy the challenge, yet it can be very taxing. I have also ordered a new batch of redesigned decks with no text and changed several cards. I am not sure if it will still be called The American Game either, yet when the cards arrive I will blog about the new information.
Mount Strimba – UkraineEmerald Chasm – inspired by my new job at Adirondack Tire’s Corporate Headquarters
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