J.B. Sommerset

So, I do a lot of art, it's sometime that takes me away from the current state of affairs. Me, being an introvert (for the most part), need to recharge. Art is a perfect way to do that, so I do mandalas to relieve stress from time to time. I am starting to amass quite a portfolio of these things. So, I decided to start posting them here. These are my original works, any if I get enough feedback, I might start selling them. So email me if you think that would be a good idea. I hope you enjoy them.  "Crosshatch Mandala- (c) 2025 J.B. Sommerset Cheers!

Last week, a crazy man, I will not mention his name, was giving a speech at a Utah college campus. He has been known for a lot of hate speech, ignorant rants, bigotry and values consistent with an angry little German man with a odd mustache. He felt that woman should do what their told, have babies, stay in the kitchen, and never vote or question the authority of the white gentile. Children should be seen, never heard. Slavery might be a good thing and he believed that people of color and diversity were a blight upon the earth, he also believed that gun deaths were a necessary price to pay so that we could  have guns. He spread those ideologies everywhere he went. Not just online, but in person, in front of crowds, and for sponsor money.  The right, with all their "godly" values, idolized this man. By now you might have guessed who I am talking about.  The problem is, the man who shot him was also crazy. One crazy man shot another. The world is now down two crazy men. One...

"Up in the woods" J.B. Sommerset (c) 2025 Sometimes I like to do "stream of consciousness" exercises. I often write these down, and over the years I have amassed quite collection of notebooks full of disconnected pages with no direction or format. Some share themes, others share forms, but there is very little that would connect them, other than the days of my life. The pages of my story. I find that it is easier to access a place that holds that stream of consciousness if I am alone, and the world is quite- like when I am in the woods. There are plenty of stories here in the woods. Each tree has a tale to tell, a lifetime of knowledge trapped in the rings of it's growth. From it's birth to the time it falls, most of the time, up here, that's a good while after it's death. Most of the trees in this area don't ever get logged because the slopes they grow on are too steep. So they stand long after they have expired, at least until the wind takes th...

Living way out here in the woods, there are things that need done each year. The firewood needs to be chopped and stacked, the house needs to be weatherized, the garden space needs cleaned up, and so on. This year, for some reason, we decided to get chickens. I was unawares of "chicken-math" before the wife picked up a couple-12 <cough> chickens. Then four more... so far.  While I like chicken, especially nuggets, these are the "laying" type of chickens, meaning they are not for the smoker, the stove, the oven or any other thing that turns them into food. Besides, the wife already named them. Which apparently means they are people now.  The crappy part is that I don't like eggs unless they are in other foods. This isn't so bad, those foods include but are not limited to CAKE! And even though one of the chickens grew a penis and started yelling at the break of dawn, there are still over a dozen more chances for me to get said cake.  Now, here's the ...

"Beyond the Clouds." (c) 2024 J.B. Sommerset It's been a rough year. It's hard to watch the news these days, for a myriad of reasons, none good. Sometimes I suffer from "news fatigue", which is, apparently a very real thing. This weeks quote helps me to laugh at the news cycle, because I desperately need to. This quote was derived after I watched a rebroadcasted clip from a certain "news network" that isn't really a news network. I hope this one makes some of you chuckle. "The world is largely populated by people who use statistics in the same sentence as the word boner..." J.B. Sommerset Cheers!

It's no secret that Uncle Sam is having a hard time smiling right now. To all you people in the U.S. of A., have a fourth of July. I hope it's happy, and I hope it gets better.