Mr. Monline Store

Oil paint is a vastly different substance than other paints, specifically acrylics. Perhaps you are thinking about purchasing some oil paint supplies? There are several distinct advantages in working with oil paints, depending on the type of project you are considering:

•     Oil paints are considered one of the fundamental forms of art media. If nothing else, an art student needs to learn to appreciate an oil painting for the history that it carries. The most popular and recognizable artists in history have used oil paints to create literal masterpieces, and they should be studied closely.
•     Oils take a remarkably long time to dry. In fact, it can take several weeks for an oil painting to fully dry. This can be a great benefit to an artist. Instead of rushing to complete the job before it dries, you can allow inspiration to work through you over several sessions of painting.
•     Oil paints also blend very readily into each other. Depending on the type of painting you want to do, this can be of great use. Subtle blending of colors can be a beautiful aspect of a painting if done correctly.

You should strongly consider doing some work with oils and stocking an inventory of oil paint supplies. If you ever want to consider doing a portrait or feel the connection to art history, purchase some oil paints and let the creativity flow.

If you ask ten employees how you could best ensure their loyalty, the answer from nine would no doubt be a resounding: RAISE, PLEASE! It’s true that in this day and age, employees feel that the only thing that should bind them to their employer is the promise of a higher paycheck or a job with greater responsibilities. This is in part due to what is surely a lack of inspirational managers nationwide, but is also attributable to the decline in what consultants call ‘internal marketing’ – efforts that attempt to elicit loyalty from employees.

Human relations consultants agree that two of the best ways to instill employee loyalty are through comprehensive training and through the establishment of an collegial corporate culture. Oddly enough, both of these methods of increasing employee loyalty can be far more economical than just doling out Christmas bonuses, when you consider that video has the power not only to teach but to instill values and inspire. Training videos are the most cost-effective tool for any small-to medium-sized company where employees have basic competencies in their respective positions. They require an instructor to instruct once on video as opposed to ad infinitum for each ‘training session,’ and can be watched by employees when they are off the clock. And as far as building corporate culture is concerned, videos showcasing the highlights of the company’s achievement – cheesy sports music and all – will remind employees that they are doing good work for a company so unique as yours.

Yet if you’re going to implement either or both of these two strategies to improve employee loyalty at your business, you’re going to need to hire someone familiar with corporate video production. These are often the same firms that will produce your television commercials, etc, who will generally produce training and/or ‘internal marketing’ (read: propaganda) videos for a fraction of the price of a commercial, and for less than it would cost you to produce in-house. Besides, if you really want to improve employees’ respect for your company, why do a shotty job of trying to convince them you’re worthy of their respect by producing some thrown-together piece of video garbage made in-house on an iMac? Shell out a couple thousand bucks for better-educated employees with higher morale; you’ll be glad you did, and so will your employees, when they see that you care enough about their career development to allow them to ‘train on their own time.’

Jerry Reed Hubbard, the son of cotton mill workers, was born in Atlanta on March 20, 1937 died yesterday of emphysema at the age of 71.

Mr. Reed was a dynamic performer who had distinguished himself as a session guitarist supporting Presley, Waylon Jennings and others before emerging as a major solo talent. He was most remembered for using an intricate guitar-picking style known as the “claw” because it used the entire right hand where earlier guitar giants such as Chet Atkins and Merle Travis favored a two or three-fingered approach.

What is “the claw”? Well it is not for a player with the skills of a new guitar for beginners student, that is for sure. To put it as simple as possible:

Claw(hammer) is sometimes known as frailing. It is primarily a down-picking style, and the hand assumes a claw-like shape and the strumming finger is kept fairly stiff, striking the strings by the motion of the hand at the wrist and elbow, rather than a flicking motion by the finger. Typically, only the thumb and second or first finger are used and the finger always downpicks, flicking the string with the back of the fingernail.

A common characteristic of clawhammer patterns is the thumb does not pick on the downbeat, as one might in typical fingerpicking patterns for guitar. For example, this is a common, basic time signature|2/4 pattern:

1. Pick a melody note on the downbeat (quarter note)
2. On the second beat (music)|beat, strum a few strings with your strumming finger (roughly an eighth note)
3. Immediately following (on the second half of this beat), pick a note with the thumb, usually the shorter fifth string. (roughly an eighth note)

Here, the thumb plays the high drone on the second “and” of “one and two and“. This combined with the second finger strumming provides a characteristic “bum-ditty bum-ditty” sound.

Some people, however, make a distinction between frailing and clawhammer:

• In frailing, the first fingertip is used for up-picking melody, and the second fingernail is used for rhythmic downward brushing.
• In clawhammer, only downstrokes are used, and they are typically played with one fingernail as is the usual technique on the banjo.

To play the guitar using “the claw”, is perhaps one of the most difficult methods to strum a guitar, taking tremendous amounts of practice and patience. Good luck and Enjoy