Please explore and anticipate something new every 10 days in either the art gallery, writing section, or blog. I hope you will drop by often. Thank you for visiting my website.
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About the Artist - Michael Rhodes |
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Michael Rhodes took apart grocery bags at the age of five to create pads of drawing paper. Decades later, he had not stopped, although he switched from grocery bags and crayons to charcoal, paint, pen and ink, and computer. He taught web design at Silicon Valley College and taught cartooning classes to elementary school children. He illustrated Tales of the Living Room Warrior, an eight-part fable written by Janet Rhodes, which follows the epic adventures of cats from their creation of the world to their domestication of humans.
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Michael also created Thingies, a fantasy comic book series in which a reporter uncovers secrets of her universe. Michael's talents encompassed both artwork and writing. He is the author of Manga Studio 5 Beginner's Guide, which was published by Pakt, a publishing company in the UK.
Throughout his life, Michael was immersed in art and storytelling. He was working on a fantasy novel, A Wish for Wings, which was nearing completion at the end of his life. The purpose of this website is to provide a place for Michael's rich imagination, so that this part of him remains alive.
Throughout his life, Michael was immersed in art and storytelling. He was working on a fantasy novel, A Wish for Wings, which was nearing completion at the end of his life. The purpose of this website is to provide a place for Michael's rich imagination, so that this part of him remains alive.
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About the Writer - Janet Rhodes |
While Michael was taking apart grocery bags to create pads of drawing paper in Three Rivers, Michigan; I was exploring the basement of my family home in Muskego, Wisconsin. Alongside the usual boxes and laundry equipment, was a black metal trunk with a hinged lid and leather straps and handles. Plastered with train station stickers from Milwaukee, Fargo, Chicago…this was evidence of the far flung and exciting travels of my mother’s youth.
That trunk concealed a treasure. It was a typewriter. Not an electric one, but a manual typewriter of the sort that Mark Twain could have typed on. It was a severe-looking black metal box. The keys were round and sepia-toned with stern black letters printed on each one.
I was fascinated by the typewriter. I soon discovered that I was determined to create my own books. I wanted to be a writer. Since then, writing has been the straight line running through decades of my life. Jobs, relationships, a college degree, and various adventures and misadventures have zigzagged across that line.
As a contributing writer for Bay Area Business Woman, I wrote approximately fifty feature or cover stories. I also wrote and edited copy for websites, brochures, newsletters, and other advertising pieces for micro-businesses in the Bay Area.
I wrote and self-published two books, Chocolate and Cabernet, a novel; and Tales of the Living Room Warrior, an eight-part fable. Michael did the cover design and page layout for both books, and he illustrated Tales. It was due to his talent at computer graphics that I was able to see both books published.
That trunk concealed a treasure. It was a typewriter. Not an electric one, but a manual typewriter of the sort that Mark Twain could have typed on. It was a severe-looking black metal box. The keys were round and sepia-toned with stern black letters printed on each one.
I was fascinated by the typewriter. I soon discovered that I was determined to create my own books. I wanted to be a writer. Since then, writing has been the straight line running through decades of my life. Jobs, relationships, a college degree, and various adventures and misadventures have zigzagged across that line.
As a contributing writer for Bay Area Business Woman, I wrote approximately fifty feature or cover stories. I also wrote and edited copy for websites, brochures, newsletters, and other advertising pieces for micro-businesses in the Bay Area.
I wrote and self-published two books, Chocolate and Cabernet, a novel; and Tales of the Living Room Warrior, an eight-part fable. Michael did the cover design and page layout for both books, and he illustrated Tales. It was due to his talent at computer graphics that I was able to see both books published.
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