On Loving Paintings, Blanket Email, Visit and Connie

Yes, painters often fall in love with their paintings, or a better way to say it is that we form a bond with them. That’s why so few painters paint people, not because they can’t paint people, but because it’s too emotional to do so; landscapes don’t haunt you. I should say that, the great painters, become emotionally attached to their creation…in truth it is that love and compassion that makes them great…now, I’m in no way saying, that I’m a great painter because of my love for my work, hell no,…me…I’m just bat-shit crazy! Prison!

I remember a movie, I don’t remember the name, but it had Morgan Freeman in it, anyway, him and a couple of other guys are guards at an art museum, and they, have fallen in love with this painting at the museum where they work, the painting was called “The Lonely Woman” – exceptional painting by the way, any how, one day the museum announces that they have sold that painting and that it would be transferred to another museum. So Morgan Freeman and his buddies can’t bear the thought of never seeing her, the lady in the painting, so they decide to steal her before she is moved…funny movie, but, obviously written by someone who understands the attachment people can form to paintings.

I read a book once called “The Napoleon of Crime” it was a true story about James Moriarity (FYI: he is the same Moriarity that the creator of Sherlock Holmes used as the nemesis of his main character in all of his books, except of course that James Moriarity was a real person). Mr. Moriarity was indeed a master mind criminal who was so famous that The Pinkerton’s, the first FBI agents, admired him so much that they refused to lend help to a European court who was trying to convict him. Like I said, he was greatly admired by law enforcement, crazy, right! But that is only part of his tory, what caught my attention about this man, this book, was that they told a story about how he was walking down the street in London one day and saw this long line of people. Being curious, he inquired as to what it was that they were obviously waiting to see. He was told that the famous English painter Gainsborough had painted a new painting and that it was of the Duchess of so-n-so, can’t remember where she was the Duchess of. But, intrigued by the crowd he decided that he had to see this painting.

After waiting in line for an enormous amount of time he finally had a chance to lay eyes on the painting…needless to say, he fell in love with it, so much so, that he was compelled to go back later, and steal it! The story goes that he kept that painting so close to himself, that he actually carried it with him wherever he went…It was a huge scandle at the time and even though he was suspected of stealing the painting, it was never proven. Shorty before Mr. Moriarity died he went to Washington D.C. and turned it over to one of the Pinkerton’s. Great book, and yes, there is a picture of that painting in the book.

I read that book about twelve years ago when I was in the Federal Prison in Florence Colorado; loved that book. The last time I saw it one of the guys had cut the center out of it to hide stuff inside, man was I pissed off when I saw what he had done. I greatly value books. Might just have to get that book again someday.

“Blanket Email”

If a con wants to send an email we have to log-on using a log-on code number and then pass a finger print scanner, once we do that we can then log on and make use of the limited services available to us…keeps everyone honest. Then when we are finished we have to click on to the “EXIT” block in the top right hand corner. Sometimes when a guy is in a hurry he will miss that exit block and accidently leave his computer open, this means, that one of the things open, is your email info.

Well, not long ago one of the guys accidently left his computer open and, as I’ve told you, we love to pull pranks on each other, so one of the guys noticed that he was still logged on and went into his account and sent a blanket email to all of his contacts saying this: ” I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but, I’ve fallen in love with one of the inmates here in prison. I guess that maybe I was always gay but in denial. I care about you and wanted to come clean. I hope that you understand. Sincerely,” seriously pissed off inmate. I have to admit that my friend Chopper gave me this idea…not that I was involved, of course!! but anyway, we were sitting around giggling like a bunch of school girls waiting for his friends and family to respond!!! Man, we had a good time with that! I’m still giggling about it.

The moral to this story is: If you get an email like that, don’t panic, it probably ain’t true.

“Visits”

This past weekend my son Chris, my daughter Azteca and her husband Tom came to visit. It was great hearing all of their stories, my family is a hoot! Yeah, they cut up worse than we do. I’ll be posting some pictures on FB in a couple of weeks.

“Connie”

My friend Connie, from Switzerland, is in the process of posting a couple more of my books on her website. I’ll keep you posted. Connie and her husband Guido are also trying to gain control, or, shut down, my old markcrawford079 website. The lady who built that site and was monitoring it for me, has disappeared, and I have not been able to add or delete anything in over five years, very disappointing, but again I am looking into the light instead of the darkness and am very thankful to have people who care about my work. Like I have said before…I find it interesting that I have found this help in places like England, France, Germany and Switzerland…ain’t that frigging awesome!!!

Peace be with you, Mark

Three Rivers, 1-24-2017