A Different Kind of Day

Last Thursday I had hoped to use today as a splurge day. I was going to take the day off, do something fun, go to the spa. Turns out, my sister in law Carole was unexpectedly scheduled for surgery this morning.  Carole lives and works in Santa Monica, we live by Disneyland.  In order to get to Santa Monica by 7:30 am we had to leave by 6.  Leaving the house by 6 required getting up at 4:30. So, no splurging today.

We got to the hospital at 8:10 after a 2 hour drive never reaching traffic speeds you think you should be able to go on a freeway with 6 lanes.  Carole's daughter Jennifer let us know when we arrived that there was a mix up and instead of surgery at 9:30 it's been scheduled for 12:30.  Oh well.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/107140200/flowers-8-x-10-print-in-a-11-x-14

You can see this print and more flowers on my etsy site.

Carole is doing well. She seemed happy that her family was there and she would soon be done with the surgery.  The hospital staff rescheduled the procedure to 11 am so the wait wasn't too bad.  She didn't want visitors after the surgery so we left her to the doctors and made the drive home in about 35 minutes.  California traffic gotta hate it.

So no splurging today, no painting and no work. I went home and napped for a couple of hours. Back to painting tomorrow, I'm ready to put wrinkles on a turtle.

Santa Monica is a really cool place when you are not trying to get there first thing in the morning.  Check it out.  http://www.santamonica.com/

Thanks for reading

PURCHASE 8x10 painting prints, holiday & birthday cards!

I am helping to support a great animal rescue center with portions of my sales from my Etsy sales site.  I am giving 10% of all sales to this fantastic animal rescue center.

Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary

http://foreverwildexotics.org/

Visit my personal portfolio website:

http://www.LCurtin.com

Thank you for stopping by, hope to see you back soon.

Brush Fetish

I love a one brush day.  I'm talking painting now.  If I get done painting for the day and I go to wash up my brushes and realize there is only one dirty brush I know it was a spectacular painting day.  I do have to find the right brush to begin with but after that it's really cool not thinking, only painting. I hate going through my paint box looking for another brush because the one I'm using isn't working.  On difficult painting days I'll find I have 6 or 7 brushes to clean.

Brushes are beautiful things, I have at least 100. This isn't all of them just the ones I grabbed out of my paint box.

I can't control myself when I get around brushes. I either have to be strong and walk on by or break down and buy another brush.  Art Supply Warehouse here in Westminster, CA is my favorite place to feed my brush addiction.  They have a Escoda Grafilo #16 Bright for a discounted price of 96.46 I really can't live without.  Last year Art Warehouse had a Black Friday sale after Thanksgiving and these beautiful brushes were half off. I have all the other sizes of brights that the store carries.

The Art Supply Warehouse is one of the last places around here where the artist can go and find anything they need for any project.  They have a whole aisle of brushes and the Escoda's are in a special case.  I think the case makes me want the brushes more. The store is always full of people wandering around looking at stuff and thinking about art. I feel so at home there with my brush addiction. So cool.

If you can't visit The Art Supply Warehouse in person they have an online store.
http://www.artsupplywarehouse.com/index.php

Here is where they are and all the neat stuff they offer.  If you like their store on facebook you will get interesting links and pictures.

Art Supply Warehouse

6672 Westminster Blvd.

Westminster, CA 92683

Phone: 714-891-3626

Fax: 714-895-6701

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See our events at CATALYST

See our awesome Yelp reviews

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PURCHASE 8x10 painting prints, holiday & birthday cards!

I am helping to support a great animal rescue center with portions of my sales from my Etsy sales site.  I am giving 10% of all sales to this fantastic animal rescue center.

Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary
http://foreverwildexotics.org/

Visit my personal portfolio website:
http://www.LCurtin.com

Thank you for stopping by, hope to see you back soon.

New Paintings Coming Soon

I picked up the digital copies of my newest painting from the photographer today. He did a great job and worked quick. I took him two other paintings that had never been photographed and he finished digital files for those. I sent the files to my son Dan so he could cut them up and get them ready for the website and the Etsy store. I will be posting new paintings soon.

I did get 3 hours of painting in today. Stuff always happens at work, like working, and I don't have as much time to paint as I would like. Over the weekend I painted the new canvas completely with the first underpainting.  Today I started over with the second complete coat to start refining details, painting highlights and darks.  Here is one of my cellphone photos of "Cougar Ledge" with the first underpainting of the rocks.  This is pretty much how all my paintings start out.

This painting came a long way from this first picture. 100 hours of detail went into this painting after the picture was taken. I can't wait to premier the finished painting in a day or two.  Tomorrow I will post one of the other paintings I picked up today.  Hope to see you all back tomorrow.  Very Excited.

Thanks for reading.

Please click the FOLLOW button above so I know you are out there. 

PURCHASE 8x10 painting prints, holiday & birthday cards!

I am helping to support a great animal rescue center with portions of my sales from my Etsy sales site.  I am giving 10% of all sales to this fantastic animal rescue center.

Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary
http://foreverwildexotics.org/

Visit my personal portfolio website:
http://www.LCurtin.com

Thank you for stopping by, hope to see you back soon.

New Date for Blog Radio

Well the blog radio show didn't happen today as planned.  The host was ill. The show is rescheduled for next Monday September 24 at 6 pm EST.  My friend Greg called me and disguised his voice like he was from the radio show and fooled me into thinking someone else was going to do the interview.  Funny.

The last of my business tax clients came in today and picked up their tax returns so I could file them by the deadline.  Now I am free to paint tomorrow.  I have big windows at the office and great overhead lighting, it's a wonderful space to paint and there is air conditioning.

I hope my work is ready to pick up from the photographer tomorrow. I am really excited to premier the new painting, "Cougar Ledge." He may also have the transparencies turned into digital images so I'll be able to post those soon too.  Well off to bed.

Thanks for reading.

Please click the FOLLOW button above so I know you are out there.

PURCHASE 8x10 painting prints, holiday & birthday cards!

I am helping to support a great animal rescue center with portions of my sales from my Etsy sales site.  I am giving 10% of all sales to this fantastic animal rescue center.

Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary
http://foreverwildexotics.org/

Visit my personal portfolio website:
http://www.LCurtin.com

Thank you for stopping by, hope to see you back soon.

Keep Going

Saturday I painted 7 hours and today, Sunday, an additional 5 so I have a good start on the new painting.  If you look at my Etsy site you'll see I've painted many different animals, felines, primates, canines, birds and the lone elephant.  I wanted to paint something totally different this time.  So I decided to paint a desert tortoise.  Actually I'm splitting my painting time between the tortoise and the little bobcat "Chloe" for Forever Wild Animal Sanctuary.

"Chloe"

Between the 12 hours this weekend and the 3 during the week I have the canvas covered.  I didn't just sail away into Lala land and lose myself in the painting but I was able to keep focused and on task.  Sometimes that's what happens with a painting.  I think because the tortoise is something so different than my usual furry animal I am learning that I have to relearn how to paint every now and then.  I realize once again that my motto, "Keep Going!" is always relevant when I think the painting looks bad. The part of my brain that creates knows what it is doing and if I keep going all will be right.

Remember I have the blog radio show on Monday September 17th at 12pm PST 3 ET http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thepluggedradioshow/2012/09/17/the-plugged-radio-show-2

Thanks for reading.

Please click the FOLLOW button above so I know you are out there.

PURCHASE 8x10 painting prints, holiday & birthday cards!

I am helping to support a great animal rescue center with portions of my sales from my Etsy sales site.  I am giving 10% of all sales to this fantastic animal rescue center.

Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary
http://foreverwildexotics.org/

Visit my personal portfolio website:

http://www.LCurtin.com

Thank you for stopping by, hope to see you back soon.

Lost in Painting Land (I hope)

It's Saturday morning I'm planning on painting all day, unless it gets so hot I can't sit out in the sunroom. I usually don't notice the weather when I paint but it's been really hot and I don't have air conditioning out in my painting room.  I hope to get lost in my painting today, not noticing the heat, forgetting about food getting up out of my chair and realizing my back is frozen in place. Hmm.  If I struggling with a concept I'm highly aware if I'm hungry or hot or uncomfortable.  So, I hope today it's smooth sailing, paint wise. I'll let you know how it went.

This is Daisy, she is pretty good at getting my attention when I'm painting.

Please click the FOLLOW button above so I know you are out there.  

PURCHASE 8x10 painting prints, holiday & birthday cards!>

I am helping to support a great animal rescue center with portions of my sales from my Etsy sales site.  I am giving 10% of all sales to this fantastic animal rescue center.

Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary

http://foreverwildexotics.org/

Visit my personal portfolio website:

http://www.LCurtin.com

Thank you for stopping by, hope to see you back soon.

Blog Spot Radio interview Monday September 17th at 3pm ET

I am going to be interviewed on blog radio Monday September 17, at 3pm ET.  Please listen and tell me what you think. This will be a first radio show appearance for me since I was 5. I hope I don't sound like a nervous artist.  I have another show set up for November with a different host and I will let you know the details as soon as I have them.

Here is the site to listen.

 http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thepluggedradioshow/2012/09/17/the-plugged-radio-show-2

Here I am being really happy.

Thanks for reading.

My new killer website is complete.  Thank you Dan.

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www.lcurtin.com

What do People think I'm saying

I've been painting 28 years. When I first painted wildlife I had time to promote my work. I entered art contests, joined wildlife groups, made contacts and participated in art shows.  It was hard work but I did make progress commercially.  After a while I spent more and more time working in my tax office and less time promoting art.  I didn't stop painting.  I always paint. I have paintings stacked up in closets, storage and in my family members homes.  Most of my pieces are professionally photographed. In the past the photographer took photos and I would order a copy negative, transparency, slides and prints.  Now the paintings are photographed, laser color corrected, and burned to a cd.

This is a transparency of a painting that is no longer available to me for digital photos.

A few weeks ago I was talking to my photographer and he told me he may go out of business. He isn't getting work he needs to keep the doors open. How terrible for him, his family and the artists that use his service. Today I called him to see if I could bring him negatives for digital copies and two paintings I've never had photographed.  I also wanted to pick up the Panda's I brought him last week and drop off the new painting I just finished. He told me he had to replace his sink and garbage disposal at home and wasn't sure he would have much time this week.  Next week his daughter is coming with the grand kids and he's not sure when he can get me the digital files.

It seemed like he was saying he has more important things in his life than photography and his business. I am going to conduct a serious search for a new photographer.  This one is going out of business.

What I want people to hear from me is; your business is important to me. I will work hard to provide great customer service. If you order anything from me I will get it out to you as soon as possible. If you have questions I will answer them timely.  I want my business to grow and only you can make that happen. 

Dan and I have been very active promoting my artwork.  We've built the Etsy store and we're developing an online presence with the help of social media. Dan is rebuilding my website so that it operates on all the different devices available at this time.  I'm writing blogs, posting on facebook, pinning photos and curating a online newspaper for artists. You get the idea. I'm new to this type of promotion and I'm sure I have volumes to learn before I ever sleep soundly again.   

Thanks for reading.  

PURCHASE 8x10 painting prints, holiday & birthday cards!

I am helping to support a great animal rescue center with portions of my sales from my Etsy sales site.  I am giving 10% of all sales to this fantastic animal rescue center.

Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary
http://foreverwildexotics.org/

Visit my personal portfolio website:
http://www.LCurtin.com

Thank you for stopping by, hope to see you back soon.

Crazy is in the Details

I finished my new painting today.  I had to call it quits.  Enough is enough.  I kept track this time 114 hours on the new painting and I didn't sign it yet.  (So you can't see it yet.) If you paint or do projects you probably know what I mean.  The details of the painting never end.  A few years ago I did two theme paintings, big cats on fancy beds in garden settings. Sounds weird but the results were cool.  Anyway, the reason I brought them up is, in Koshi's Garden to the left of the bed there are steps.  The steps are little tiny rocks.

I was nearing the end of this painting and I was putting in shadows and highlights on all the little gravel rocks on those stairs and I thought to myself that I might be a little crazy.  I was at the very least making myself crazy with detail.

I like the results.  The steps belong in the painting.  I mean I already put a Cougar on a black lacquer bed with gilded dragon finials so what's the big deal with all those rocks. At this point in the painting I realized I was done. No matter what else I could see, what small detail might be left, I was done painting this painting.

That's the point I got to today.  No more moss and scale on rocks, no more little hairs on their faces, 114 hours is enough for the new painting.  I think I'm crazy, a slight case of OCA (Obsessive Compulsive Artist) maybe?  I'm now free again and on to the next painting obsession.

You might as well see the other Cat on a bed in this theme set. This is Jasmine Garden. Jasmine is a real tiger that lives in Pasa Robles California in a place called Zoo to You. This is a wonderful animal rescue center that takes in abused and abandoned exotic animals.

Well I'm off to my own bed now.  Not quite the gilded beds in these fantasy places but nice.  If you would like to look at the website for Zoo to You it's here:

http://www.zootoyou.com/

PURCHASE 8x10 painting prints, holiday & birthday cards!

I am helping to support a great animal rescue center with portions of my sales from my Etsy sales site.  I am giving 10% of all sales to this fantastic animal rescue center.

Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary
http://foreverwildexotics.org/

Visit my personal portfolio website:
http://www.LCurtin.com

Thank you for stopping by, hope to see you back soon.

Chloe, the Exotic Wild Cat

This is Chloe!  Isn't she beautiful!  I received my sponsor package from Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary this week along with a picture of Chloe a rescued American Bob Cat.

According to the Sanctuary, Chloe arrived at Forever Wild on June 21, 2009 at an approximate age of 8 weeks old.  She was a little handful for her first set of rescuers that found her abandoned on a roof of a school.  The local animal services called the center to take her in so that she would not face having to be put down.  Unfortunately for her, she was to young for most rehab facilities to try to teach her to be a wild bobcat or fend for herself.  As of yet, humans have not been able to perfect how to raise very young wild cats to be wild enough to survie without being imprinted in someway. This would not be good for Chloe.  She was old enough to not need mom's milk but had not been taught by mom to hunt.  She was very healthy and a tuff little cookie.  

At one point, this little girl’s life was a big question mark.  Now the she has found her way to Forever Wild they have promised her nothing but happy days, unlimited food supply and many humans to serve her every need.

Since Chloe is no longer a baby, she has a new best friend and roommate Boogie. But don't let her princess look fool you, she likes to play ruff with Boogie and show him who is boss of the enclosure even if she is half his size.

I was introduced to The Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary in a odd way.  We had an electronics company come to our house to hang a tv and rewire some video connections.  The business owner, James Almquist, is the brother of the one of the founders of the Animal Sanctuary.  We started talking about my paintings and he told me about his family always taking in wild animals.  He relayed how his home would have a monkey and birds and other exotics.  He then told me about his brother Joel and the Sanctuary, how Extreme Makeover Ty Pennington was so moved by the way the Almquist family was living with nothing and giving all to the animals that the center was remade by the show. Here is short video about the makeover.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsVYxzvj_CI&noredirect=1 

 I looked up the center right away and made friends with them on facebook.  

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Forever-Wild-Exotic-Animal-Sanctuary/159907361929?ref=stream

I've been reading about the founders of the Sanctuary and the volunteers, what they sacrifice for animals and all of the time they donate.  I've connected with two of the volunteers on facebook and they are always taking in to their own home a bird or dogs or any other animal in need.  These are people that have jobs and families yet find the time to help.  

Right now these are the items on their wish list. 

http://foreverwildexotics.org/Wish_List.html

Check it out.  Sponsor an animal. Maybe you can find a way to help.  

Here is a small portion of a bobcat and kestrel painting I did last year.  I love the kitties.

Please click FOLLOW my blog so I know you are out there.

PURCHASE 8x10 painting prints, holiday & birthday cards!

I am helping to support a great animal rescue center with portions of my sales from my Etsy sales site.  I am giving 10% of all sales to this fantastic animal rescue center.

Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary
http://foreverwildexotics.org/

Remember the first person to be able to tell me what painting won the Gamblin paint company's Torrit Gray art contest the year I entered Torrit the Tiger will win a small print of this painting.

Visit my personal portfolio website:
http://www.LCurtin.com

Thank you for stopping by, hope to see you back soon.

Why did I pick Stripes

I love painting animals.  They are all so unique and beautiful.  I get and idea in my mind and it fills up my head until I have a  painting.  I will search photo purchase sites and purchase just the right line in the animal, just the right type of background, every angle meets my approval.  I know what the painting looks like in my head I only have to get it on canvas.  So it really should come as no surprise to me when I'm shaking my head back and forth saying to myself, "Why did I pick another animal with stripes?"

In this Tiger painting I have a white and gray cat with black stripes.  I rarely paint with anything but oils so I have a problem with wet paint and putting different colors next to each other to make fur stripes.  I laid in all the black stripes first with linseed oil being careful to follow my drawing. I let the paint set up a bit so it would be a little more stable when I added the whites and gray of the rest of the fur.  Too much brush work between stripes and all I have is a big mess and I've lost the drawing besides. I think that's why I go crazy painting stripes.

 I use a brush I buy from a portrait workshop teacher to get the feeling of fur right from the start. He calls these Chinese hair brushes and I've never been able to find them except from him. I have many, many of these, (someday we will talk about my brush addiction), and find if one of them isn't working I can get another one out and try that one.

Here you can see the black stripes are on and I am adding the white and gray over the stripes to make the fur.  

I was really happy with this so far.  I had the face on and the eyes somehow appeared to have color even though they were black and gray. I could see from my photo that the stripes fit the muscles of the cat and I had good shadows on the side.  The whisker area is always a little problematic for me, I don't want it to look like spots painted on but I was going to give myself time to work on that.

If you have a special technique for painting stripes or spots on animals please post here in the comment section or send me to your blog or website so I can have a new take on what is probably a common problem for artists.

Thanks for looking at my blog about painting, creating and other things so far.  I will post more pictures of this one getting done in a few days and hope you check out my Etsy site. Remember the first person to be able to tell me what painting won the Gamblin paint company's Torrit Gray art contest the year I entered this will win a small print of this painting.

Visit my personal portfolio website:
http://www.LCurtin.com

PURCHASE 8x10 painting prints, holiday & birthday cards!

Thank you for stopping by, hope to see you back soon.

Thursday is the Wildest Week Day

Have you read the saying, "The worst day fishing, surfing, (insert your passion here), is better than the best day working?  That's the way I feel about Thursday morning painting class.  I've been going to Barbel's Art Studio in Huntington Beach on Thursday mornings for more than 20 years. We've lost a few students over the years and gained new people, some come and stay, some go.  Class is so much more than painting and we've run off more than a few new students being loud and irreverent.  As a group we can tell each other nearly everything, we support each other through marriage, divorce, babies and death. I miss Thursday morning painting class terribly when it's tax season and I can't go for 3 months.  I don't take lessons anymore but I can count on everyone to help out when I have a color dilemma or I need a fresh eye and critique.

This is Barbel in front of the art studio.  Isn't she lovely?  She keeps the studio open for all of us even though the economy makes it difficult.  Barbel is super talented, she can paint anything her students bring to class.  Her paintings are in collections all over the world. Everything Barbel paints is beautiful and her flowers are exceptional.

This is Bee.  Bee turned 99 this year and still drives herself to class.  Her painting is amazing.  She picks out something she wants to paint in the morning and 3 hours later it's nearly done.  She actually had a blank canvas in front of her this morning and this picture is about 2 hours into class.  She does have the advantage of tuning us out and concentrating on painting rather than all the yakking some of the rest of us do. Oh and 50+ years of painting experience.

Betty and I laugh a lot.  All of us laugh a lot mostly because we're picking on Betty.  Betty paints wonderful unique paintings.  She's a world traveler and likes to get the best pieces of her trips on canvas.  Her paintings are colorful and full of interest. Betty is a good sport and puts up with us. 

Katrina drives 90 minutes to get to class each week, that's dedication.  She has been a member of this class longer than I have. If you want a truthful answer with no boloney ask Katrina.  Katrina is painting her beloved dog Fritz.  It's great!

Evelyn paints beautifully detailed paintings.  She really takes a lot of time perfecting each of her paintings. Here she is with Barbel finishing up a beautiful floral painting.  

Mary is fairly new to class, only 2.5 years or so but she fit in so perfectly it's like she was always here.  I have to confess Mary and I went to high school together so it really is like she has always been here for me.  Our lives have criss crossed over the years and this is the best time ever for me.  

Joan is new to this class.  Joan is an accomplished watercolorist.  She teaches classes and has been painting in Barbados for the last ten years.  We are very lucky to have Joan join the class with her keen observations and dry humor.  

I brought my Panda tryptic to class today.  I needed to take them over to Rogers Photography in Santa Ana to get new digital photos taken so I can have cards made for my Etsy store.  

We were missing quite a few ladies today.  Linda had some tests, Patricia had company, Kathy our part time student probably had to work. Bobbie, TK and Judy have all been ill and we miss them a lot. I love my friends from painting class like sisters. I hope you enjoyed the introduction.  

Please check out Barbel's website and if you are nearby Huntington Beach, drop by Thursday morning or better yet sign up to take a class with Barbel. 

http://barbelsartcenter.com/

Check out Joan's Blog, she has the most beautiful watercolors here plus a schedule of watercolor workshops. 

http://joanboryta.wordpress.com/

Please click FOLLOW my blog so I know you are out there.

PURCHASE 8x10 painting prints, holiday & birthday cards!

I am helping to support a great animal rescue center with portions of my sales from my Etsy sales site.  I am giving 10% of all sales to this fantastic animal rescue center.

Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary
http://foreverwildexotics.org/

Visit my personal portfolio website:
http://www.LCurtin.com

Thank you for stopping by, hope to see you back soon.

I'll Paint Rocks, (if I have to!)

I joined facebook in 2009 not knowing very much about it. After stumbling around for awhile I got the hang of posts, friends and likes. In 2010 I posted my paintings in an album on facebook and shared them with my friends. The positive response to the paintings was really overwhelming.  I am always hoping people will like my work and the comments my friends left on the pages showed they did.

Brenda, a high school friend, saw the paintings and contacted me.  Her husband Jack Leustig is a premiere print maker in the United States.  His gallery, JLI Gallery, is located in Taos New Mexico and uses the finest print equipment. Jack believes that reproducing art is an art itself.  Brenda, showed her husband my paintings, he was impressed and asked me if I would like him to make prints and greeting cards of my work and sell them in his gallery.  I said SURE!  Jack told me that since his gallery is located in the Southwest he would mainly be interested in animals from that area.  I thought, "I want to get in this gallery so bad that I would paint rocks if that is what he wanted."

I painted fox kits first.  It was April 16th tax season was over and my brushes were dusty and I was anxious about painting.  I wanted this project to appeal to Jack so he would put it in his gallery.  I really put a lot of pressure on myself to do a good job.

 This is a photo of the original block in of the painting.  I was going to make the kits in front of a mossy den in a wooded area.  I had all the reference material for the habitat but after I got the painting this far the den looked like a big pile of, I'll say, mud???  This painting is a good illustration of how I had to fix something I didn't like after I already spent 20 or more hours painting.  Sometimes I have to just let it go and paint over it or if its wet wipe it off.

Here is another 30 hours or so later. I had painted the whole den area with rocks,  Once again it I thought it was too much brown round rocks.  So I covered most of the rocks with a desert plant.  I thought the green next to the orange of the foxes was a much better composition anyway.

This painting ended up being one of my most popular paintings. I've sold quite a few prints and cards of these guys. You can see in the finished painting at the top of the page, I added more plants to cover up even more of the rocks.  Oh well, you know there is a really detailed den behind all that foliage.

Here is the link to JLI Gallery in Taos New Mexico

http://www.jliprints.com/

Please click FOLLOW my blog so I know you are out there.

PURCHASE 8x10 painting prints, holiday & birthday cards!

I am helping to support a great animal rescue center with portions of my sales from my Etsy sales site.  I am giving 10% of all sales to this fantastic animal rescue center.

Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary
http://foreverwildexotics.org/

Visit my personal portfolio website:
http://www.LCurtin.com

Thank you for stopping by, hope to see you back soon.