New Work - The Jerk at the Bar

Illustrated by Nicole Alesi, Blog: Stuff by Nicole

Women

Radek Karkulowski - Seeking Partners

An illustration for the article on women seeking partners in newspaper ads and on the internet.

Radek Karkulowski www.radekart.com

Happy Be-lated Valentine's day!

The reinvention of Saint Valentine's Day in the 1840s has been traced by Leigh Eric Schmidt.[27] As a writer in Graham's American Monthly observed in 1849, "Saint Valentine's Day... is becoming, nay it has become, a national holyday."[28] In the United States, the first mass-produced valentines of embossed paper lace were produced and sold shortly after 1847 by Esther Howland (1828-1904) of Worcester, Massachusetts. Her father operated a large book and stationery store, but Howland took her inspiration from an English valentine she had received, so clearly the practice of sending Valentine's cards had existed in England before it became popular in North America. The English practice of sending Valentine's cards appears in Elizabeth Gaskell's Mr. Harrison's Confessions (published 1851). Since 2001, the Greeting Card Association has been giving an annual "Esther Howland Award for a Greeting Card Visionary." The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion valentines are sent each year worldwide, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas. The association estimates that, in the US, men spend in average twice as much money as women.[3]
Since the 19th century, handwritten notes have largely given way to mass-produced greeting cards.[29] The mid-nineteenth century Valentine's Day trade was a harbinger of further commercialized holidays in the United States to follow.[30]
In the second half of the twentieth century, the practice of exchanging cards was extended to all manner of gifts in the United States, usually from a man to a woman.Such gifts typically include roses and chocolates packed in a red satin, heart-shaped box. In the 1980s, the diamond industry began to promote Valentine's Day as an occasion for giving jewelry. The day has come to be associated with a generic platonic greeting of "Happy Valentine's Day." As a joke, Valentine's Day is also referred to as "Singles Awareness Day." In some North American elementary schools, children decorate classrooms, exchange cards, and eat sweets. The greeting cards of these students often mention what they appreciate about each other.
The rise of Internet popularity at the turn of the millennium is creating new traditions. Millions of people use, every year, digital means of creating and sending Valentine's Day greeting messages such as e-cards, love coupons or printable greeting cards.

Gumby and a possible date...

This is an older sketch from a few sketchbooks ago. Like Gumby I've been feeling a bit intimidated lately when asking out women. Getting back into the dating world isn't something I really wanted to be doing, however, like everyone else I'd like to be with someone. It ain't easy. So if I make a few mistakes and fumble, know that there is someone much more confident behind that nervous smile.
Haven't we all been there one time or another. I can shake off rejection like a dog shakes off water but that doesn't mean it still doesn't hurt a bit.
Anyway, I hope to get past the Gumby stage soon.
Peace, out!
-MC