Welcome to lanrocks.com. I'm Lin, and this is all very new to me. I am blogging for the first time in my life, at age 44.I recently fired my boss so that I can work from home as a self representing artist.I am a rock painter. No, not the kind of rock painter who paints cats and bunnies. I totally respect artists who DO paint those things, it's just that I am not one who does. I paint fish and flowers, and a lot of flowered fish. I also love to paint animation characters. No, I do not paint Japanese anime or anything like that. I totally respect the artists who do. It's just that I am not one who does. Sometimes I paint old-fashioned cartoon characters. Sometimes I paint the Griffins, from Family Guy. Other times it's the Flintstones. But my very favorite is the Simpsons. Right now I have about 200 characters for sale at my online store, which is lanrocks.biz. It is a store with a lot of different rock art pieces for sale, but a lot of people visit to see the vast array of characters from Springfield. I love Homer, and he is my favorite character to paint. One thing I have to say right away is that my art is a tribute to the creators of that awesome show, and that the images are never copied. These are individual acrylic paintings on stone and are not nor will they ever be mass produced. Each one is an artists interpretation, and nothing more. An artist is protected under the free speech laws. Let's say you went into a gallery representing a bunch of aspiring artists. You might happen across a painting such as Van Gogh's Starry Night. Now no one is actually going to try to convince you that it is an original.Of course not. It is simply one artists interpretation of that well known masterpiece. That's how my art is. It's my celebration of everything the Simpsons stand for and all they have come to be after all these years. The "art" of it for me, at least, is not in the painting, but in the fitting of the image onto the appropriately shaped and contoured stone. THAT is the art of Linda Nowicki. It just happens to be well known characters that I like to represent. So please try to understand that I am not just a copyist tring to pass off someone else's art as mine. If you take a look at the site, you'll see what I mean. And you might just get a kick out of seeing what's there. I hang around a house full of these things, and I never get tired of it. Most of the stuff  I paint has a really uplifting effect on my well-being. There's a lot to be said for surrounding yourself with bright colors and happy images. Especially in the darkest days of autumn and winter. I am glad that this is the last day of November, because the sooner we get through it all, the sooner we can get to spring. (I'm from Buffalo, what can I say?)  I am really hoping to begin new friendships with other painters, and others who appreciate the awesome beauty of stones. You see, I am also way into suiseki-style art. Now I know there are a lot of suiseki artists out there, and I totally respect their artform. But I am not one who does the traditional Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Thai, or any other distinct form. Truthfully, there are so many strict rules to follow that my mind becomes boggled. I just know that I like to see an incredible stone on a simple base of wood or another stone, or even a sculpted base from polymer or clay. "Gazing Stones", as they are often called, can be really intricate or really simple, and have the most calming effect in a room , or a really simplifying statement all on it's own. No surprise there, since rock art is as old as the human population. We all just pretend it's something trendy, as if we invented it. But there really is nothing new under the sun. People have worked, prayed, played, built,hunted with, moved things with, and expressed themselves with stone forever. I'm just a teeny blip on the history of stone art. More accurately, not even that . But I know it brings me joy. And peace. And serenity. I hope it does for you too. Thanks for visiting with me.