Those of you new to this site may not know that it is crowd funded.

What started as a free love offering on my part has now turned into an expensive venture. Because of the sheer size of this site with over 5,800 posts over 16 years with hundreds of thousands of photos, this little project of mine has morphed into what they call an “authority site.” That means hosting companies assume I’m making a lot of money on it either through sales or advertising, and they want a piece of the action.

Since both myself and you readers far prefer an ad-free site, we have turned to a donation model to stay afloat. Despite so many of you being generous, we have yet to meet our expenses on the blog, but your contributions have become essential to help us defray the costs. So now, to keep this necessity as seamless and unobtrusive as possible, I request donations twice a year, in May and on “Giving Tuesday,” the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.

Some of you have already set up automatic monthly donations, or donate sporadically when it is good for you. Thank you all for that! It is really appreciated.

For the rest of you, if it has been a while, I hope you consider making a contribution to help meet the cost of operating this website. Click this button below, or a similar one in the sidebar of every post on the computer, or down below every post on the phone, or through the “support the blog” button in every subscription email. Together we can make this blessing continue. Thank you in advance for your generosity. Additionally, I’ve recently added a new way to donate, with an affiliate link that you’ll find living on the footer of every website page as well as in the sidebar on posts on the computer. For your convenience, I’ve also included it below in this post. Access the whole Dick Blick website by clicking through that portal, and everything you buy there via this site, all year long, will bring 10% to help fund this website. Dick Blick is my favorite way to buy art supplies on the internet.  They have a huge selection of wonderful products. Maybe you need art materials or gifts now or in the future? Click on the “Shop Now” button and a portion of sales will go to support this website: (And if you have an ad-blocker:Click here to purchase anything from the Dick Blick catalogue, which will give this site a 10% commission.)

Again, many thanks for being here and for helping make this little inspirational corner of the internet an ad-free oasis.