What Did Pablo Picasso Ever Do To Me?

	I have no answer to that perfectly valid challenge. Clearly my impulse to get silly with the Spanish master’s signature facial deconstructions was insufficently sated by my use of them for my recent Open Studios promo art.

	Hence my second Picasso spoof in a month (the drawing at right), which was my contribution to the annual $99 Sale benefitting the Soap Factory in Minneapolis. I know, I know; I’m letting myself go wild in cheap-shot city! But having scavenged the Internet for Picasso reference in preparation for my Open Studios design, I couldn’t help myself. Once a cartoonist starts getting goofy with cubism, it’s damned hard to stop.
	Meanwhile, I’m still juggling all those tasks I’ve told you about, plus a couple more I forgot to mention. But bit by bit I’m chipping away at them. I’ve taught three of my night classes in cartooning at MCLA now and the fourth meets tomorrow (Tuesday). We had a bustling few days of Rosh Hashonah doings with family members from New York and Florida last week (yes, the indefatigable Evelyn was back up from West Palm Beach for a visit, this time with Eddie’s sister Susan at her side, and Eddie’s niece Jen drove over from Albany with her boyfriend Mike). Everyone pitched in devour a tableful of brisket, chicken soup, apples with honey, kasha, tsimmis, and chalah in celebration of the new year. Not that other new year with the paper horns in Times Square; I’m talking about the one that rolls around in September and marks the passing of five-plus millenia instead of a mere two! And on top of everything else that’s been going on, I managed to get the first issue of the Cruse Art Newsletter completed and into the hands of my early subscribers on Sunday.
See the cool Certificate of Appreciation they’ll receive to hang on a wall or refrigerator door as evidence of their support for the arts and for my personal morale? And believe it or not, I sold three pieces of original art showcased in the newsletter before the Sun rose on Monday! America! Wotta country!