Forty Mike Mike Art

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05/20/2026

I heard some advice a while ago that stuck with me:

“The only thing making a sacrifice in making art is the paper.”

And honestly…that’s true.

The fact remains, I’ve “failed” WAY more than I’ve ever succeeded in art. I use quotations there because, like most things in life, you either win or you learn.

Some paintings work. Some sketches look like they were drawn after an 8-hour mounted patrol. And a some ideas should’ve just stayed ideas.

That’s part of it.

Once you stop obsessing over other people’s opinions and accept that YOU have to enjoy the process and the craft itself…man, it’s freeing.

Are people going to dislike your work, your opinions, or your perspective? Absolutely. That doesn’t mean you wish them ill. It just means they probably aren’t your audience.

These are the same folks that will see something like but when they notice that ‘you’ posted it, they’ll purposefully avoid interacting with it. Thats their prerogative.

But the truth is: sometimes you have to make bad art to get to the good art.

Experiment with new mediums. Try weird ideas. Revisit old ones. Ruin a canvas. Throw paper away. Start over.

And for the love of God, don’t let some random comment section art critic stop you from creating.

Get to work.

Thanks for sticking with me on my random rumblings and recognizing that “art” is used in the general sense.

S/F
-Mike

05/18/2026

Excited to share that “Murder Hole” and two other pieces featuring incredible stories of Marines from the GWOT have been invited into the Journeys Onward Exhibition at the historic Salmagundi Club in NYC this summer.

Last year was a great show, and I’m excited to attend again this year.

05/18/2026

A few years ago, a buddy asked if I could draw a design based on the America’s Response Monument, aka “Horse Soldier” for a t-shirt. Truthfully, I hate doing apparel designs, but he’s a good dude, so I knocked it out and gave it to him for free.

A few months later, I got hit with a lawsuit for $150,000 claiming my drawing too closely resembled a copyrighted logo for a veteran-owned bourbon company - derived from the same public monument that inspired my work.

Rather than waste time and money fighting over a free drawing I made for a buddy, I complied with the cease and desist.

I understand protecting a brand identity. Business is business.

That “brand identity” was itself based on a public monument sculpted by Douwe Blumberg to honor America’s Special Operations forces and the men who rode into Afghanistan after 9/11.

That monument doesn’t belong to a bourbon company. It belongs to history.

What disappointed me most wasn’t the legal threat itself. It was that nobody simply picked up the phone first.

I probably had enough justification to fight it, but I wasn’t about to burn time and money defending a free drawing I made for a buddy. So I complied with the cease and desist.

I destroyed the drawing.

I also wrote them a seven paragraph response letter acknowledging their request. The first letter of each paragraph spelled out “F**K YOU”.

Petty? Maybe.

But that letter is still one of my finer works, and hangs framed in my studio as a reminder that life is too short to drink bad whiskey.

Glad I finally got to stand in front of the actual memorial and see it in person this weekend with my boys.

05/14/2026

Brushes.

There’s about a million options out there, but here’s what I’ve learned: you probably don’t need most of them. I find myself reaching for the same 5 brushes over and over again.

Synthetic vs natural. Big vs seemingly microscopic. Short handles vs long handles. Flats, filberts, rounds, brights, fans. The options are endless.

It takes some experimentation to figure out what you like and what kind of marks you naturally enjoy making.

But like everything else, the real trick is taking care of your tools after you use them.

I’ve ruined more brushes than I care to admit simply because I lacked the discipline to clean them properly… or left them soaking bristle-side down like a complete idiot.

A good brush can last a long time.
A neglected one gets rejected by the guy at the CIF counter just the same.

And if we’re being honest, buying art supplies and actually using art supplies are sometimes two completely different hobbies.

This page is connected to my IG account , and cross posts here automatically. I don’t check comments or message...
05/13/2026

This page is connected to my IG account , and cross posts here automatically. I don’t check comments or messages here frequently, but I’m fairly active on IG.

Join the conversation there. Linked in comments.

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Holly Ridge, NC
28445

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