FLOORED!

            Something amazing happened to me yesterday, and so here it is from yesterday's post from my journal:

            Okay so I’m just going to say it: I AM FLOORED! But first, I’ll start from the start of this story. My sister Jessie and I got talking about how God talks to her and how having a relationship with Him is important because having a relationship with Him is the only way to get into Heaven. She asked me if I had a relationship with God and I said that I had one but it’s not as strong as it used to be. I asked her where I would start reading the Bible to get to know Him more and she said, “Don’t ask me, ask God!” and so she wanted to pray about it. So Jessie prayed for me first and then it was my turn. I basically asked “God, I need your help, I can’t do this on my own. Please show me where to start reading the Bible.” It was here that Jessie stopped me, saying, “Just listen.” After a few mere seconds, I heard God in my thoughts like I used to way back when, saying “Matthew.” So I went onto my iPhone, opened up my Bible app and like any other time I’ve opened up this app there is a “Today page” that has picked out a bible verse for the day. And the first thing I see on this today page was “Matthew 22:37-39”. HOLY CRAP! And what does it say? “And He replied to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (intellect). This is the great (most important, principal) and first commandment.”

            So to say it again: I AM FLOORED! The reason why? I was also wondering what I had to do to start living more of a Christian life again.

"Snake Eye"

This was a Grade 12 Art project. 14" x 11".

"Citrus"

This is my bird Citrus, and she was a budgie. I drew these when I was attending ArtBeat.

You probably won't know this by looking at these drawings, but she was dominantly yellow and green. The shaded areas by her legs are green and most of the areas that I left white are yellow. Not for sale.

"Leopard"

This is something I made as a Grade 12 Art Project. The idea was to do something in the "pop art" style. Not For Sale.

A Father's Portrait

I drew this for a project in my Grade 12 art class. (It's my dad.) Not For Sale.

"Extrovert"

Extrovert, $15.00

I made this piece at Studio Central. Studio Central is a project of ArtBeat Studio in Winnipeg, MB, Canada.

"Mr. Deere"

Mr. Deere

This was my first commissioned piece of art, made for someone from my church.

"Strudel"

Strudel, 8" x 10". $10.00

I made this during a workshop at Studio Central. Studio Central is a project of ArtBeat Studio.

ArtBeat: The Big Screen

   In three days, it will be the big premiere of the ArtBeat Studios documentary called "Out of Mind". It will feature some of the artists from my ArtBeat group (the 14th ArtBeat group), as well as the founder of ArtBeat (Nigel Bart), the executive directors (Lucille and Ernie Bart), the ArtBeat Chef, and some other alumni of ArtBeat. Oh- I almost forgot to mention that it will feature me as well. I'm going to be on the big screen!

   It will be showing at the Winnipeg Art Gallery's theatre for no charge at all, and eventually it will go up for show on Winnipeg on Demand for those of you who have MTS TV. You won't have to pay to rent and watch it through MTS TV either.

   So here is the poster for the event:

Round Two

            In a couple months, I plan to register for university again. It’ll be round two, two years after my first crack at the bat. Hopefully it will be different this time. I hope that I will be able to focus much easier and retain as much as possible, all the while having more of a life-balance between studies and leisure. In the past, I’ve found that retaining as much as possible meant reading what I had to read at a slower pace. I think that somehow I’m going to have to change that and find a better way of retaining things in order to have more of a balance this time. But one way I know for sure that will give me more time for other things is that this time I am taking fewer courses. This time around, I’m only taking one course per term. It may not seem like much, I know, however last time I was taking 2 courses and I fell behind, making it too stressful to keep up. Thus I had to drop my courses and get an Authorized Withdrawal (AW) so that the courses I was taking wouldn’t affect my GPA or appear on my transcript.

            So taking just one course will not only will help me out by giving me more time for other things, it will also help me out by presenting me with less stress. This factor is an important thing for everyone, but even more so for me because I have schizophrenia. Too much stress is not good at all for someone with schizophrenia. I not only know this because I’ve been told so, but also because I have experienced it first hand. It happened last time I was in university. When I was experiencing the overload of stress that I was, my mental health started going downhill, and fast. This in turn triggered a relapse. At the time, I was lucky enough to have a psychiatrist to tell me that I had indeed gone through a relapse and to tell me that I should drop my classes. Following through with what he recommended was the first step to getting back to where I was before. But the reason why I was so lucky to have a psychiatrist say these things to me is because had I kept going in the direction I was going, I would eventually had reached a point where I would not be able to get my mental health back to where it was before I got sick. Maybe close, but not all the way.

            Thus this time around will be a chance to prove myself: to prove myself that I can do it; to prove myself that I can do better than last time. And to prove myself again that I can get back on track after some trouble regarding my mental health. In the end, it’ll be like a new beginning.

Not-So-Symmetrical

All right, people! After a long time of not posting to my blog, I am back! As per usual, here is some art that I've made:

This one by far is my favourite one out of these five.

Basically what I've done is taken the technique where you put paint on one side of the paper, fold it in half and open it up and just made it multi-colour. Purely experimental and simple.

A Little Update

   Just letting you folks know that I am now done posting my works that I have made from the duration of the time I spent at ArtBeat Studios and I am moving on to posting other works of art either made on my own outside of ArtBeat or through workshops at ArtBeat's Alumni Studio, Studio Central. Feel free to drop by Studio Central because it is open to all (I mean the general public)!




PS: Studio Central is located at 444 Kennedy Street, Winnipeg, MB, Canada.

"Snow and Mud" and "Untitled"

I made both of these paintings at ArtBeat.

Snow and Mud, 14" x 14". $60.00

Untitled, 16" x 16". $50.00

   I actually made this one ("Untitled") for a documentary that I am going to be in, which will be about ArtBeat and some of the artists in my ArtBeat group including me. I was filmed while making this, giving the editors some 'filmage', if you will, to show something other than just my face while I'm talking. They also did the same thing for part of another painting I made earlier, called "Skyburst". You can find that painting among my older posts on this blog if you just go through the archives.
   The documentary will be featured for free under "Winnipeg on Demand" on MTS TV and also on Shaw digital TV. But before that happens, it will be premiered at a certain theatre, however I do not know which one it will be shown in. Stay tuned for details.

My Life as a Child on Memory Lane

   About a few months ago, I had a dream where my family and I got to go into a house on memory lane. Throughout the house were some things on showcase from the life and times of my family from when my sister and I were just kids (elementary school age or younger). I was really privileged to see some of my childhood drawings and paintings posted up on a wall that I had/have long forgotten about. I was so moved that I think I almost cried. But what was just as interesting, if not more, was that the house was really unkempt and dingy. Almost to the point of being as bad as a hoarder's house. Now my memory of this dream is a bit vague, but I'm pretty sure the house stunk of something rotten and gross after going through some garbage on the floor. One weird thing that happened as a result of going through that stuff was that some green smoke escaped.

   Now I didn't really think much of this dream at the time except for the fact that it was kind of bizzare.

   Then after some thinking later on, I realized that there was some symbolism involved in this dream. I hadn't been tending to my memories from my childhood by way of not trying to keep them as long as I could. There were some unimportant things (or stuff that wasn't cared for) that were there, i.e. some of the stuff on the floor. There were also some important things that were put on display for the family, including myself, like my childhood drawings and paintings (for those of you who don't know me, those pieces of art are not only important because they were a part of my childhood, they are also important because they were the start of my development of me becoming an artist). Finally, another big thing was the house itself. The house symbolized the part of my memory that housed my childhood. It was showing me that you can't keep up to everything in your brain, but you can keep to the things that are important in life. What's more, I realize now that it was also showing me that I should take care mostly of the good memories and things in life, but also the bad. Because if you don't remind yourself of the bad experiences in life, you are bound to repeat them and have to go through the learning process again.
   Since I've written this down, I have found myself recalling more memories that I have forgotten about and I hope that this post will remind me to keep to my memories from all parts of my life. Here's to holding onto life's memories!

"People Call it Candy" and "Volcanic Entity"

People Call it Candy, 16" x 20". $70.00

Volcanic Entity, 16" x 20". $75.00

I made these paintings at ArtBeat.

"Raku Jack" and a Raku Coil Pot

"Raku Jack", 3.5" x 4" x 4.5". $30.00

       Raku Coil Pot, 4.5" x 4.5" x 7". $65.00

I made these pieces at ArtBeat.

Lotus Flower Magnets

I made these lotus flower magnets at ArtBeat. The colours of flowers I've made that I have not shown are light purple, dark purple, and a darker blue than the blue shown. $5.00 each.

"Patchwork" and "Ribbons of Life"

Patchwork, 12" x 12". $50.00

Ribbons of Life, 15" x 30". $70.00

I made these paintings at ArtBeat.

Lion #2

"Lion #2", 17" x 14". $70.00

I called this piece "Lion #2" for a simple reason: it was the second lion I drew while I was attending ArtBeat.

the Season Series

Fall/Spring, 40" x 12". No longer available.

Summer/Winter, 40" x 12". No longer available.

I made both of these paintings at ArtBeat.

Monday's Mix

Your Yellows are in my Blues! , 24" x 18". $65.00

Greenfields, 20" x 16". $55.00

Keep the Change, 5" x 5" x 2". Not for Sale

I made each of these pieces at ArtBeat.

"What a Hoot!" and "Toucan"

What a Hoot! , 20" x 16". $65.00

Toucan, 17" x 14". $65.00

I really should come up with a name that's more clever than just "Toucan", but I think it's fine just the way it is.

I made these pieces at ArtBeat.

"Tides of the Dawn" and "Drizzle the Flag"

Tides of the Dawn, 14" x 14". $60.00

Drizzle the Flag, 20" x 16". $80.00

I made these paintings at ArtBeat.

My "Energy Burst" Series

"Jungle Burst", 22" x 28". $100.00
The colours in the actual painting are more bold than the colours in the above picture of the painting.

"Pow!", 18" x 24". $85.00

"Skyburst", 16" x 20". $75.00

"Spectrum", 16" x 20". $80.00

I made this series at ArtBeat.

Clay Dragons

I chose some names for these pieces that are so basic, I almost don't even need to make a note of them. Yet I will anyway.

Red Dragon, 4" x 15" x 8". $85.00

Laying Dragon, 4" x 14" x 7". Not For Sale
This is the dragon I like the most mainly because of the colours I managed to achieve. The process that got me these colours is called raku firing. Basically,first you make the piece out of raku clay (clay with grit in it) and glaze it with special glazes meant for raku firing. Then it gets bisk fired for preparation and fired again in a kiln outside powered by a torch (the second firing is the raku firing). Once the outside kiln reaches 1000 degrees or so, you take the piece out of the kiln while it's still piping hot and put it in a pot full of combustibles like paper shreddings, newspaper and hay, close it and cover the bin with wet rags. After a certain amount of time (I forget how long), you take it out ( it may be still hot, so use tongs), hose it down, and voila! A one-of-a kind piece. Don't quote me on the sequence of steps for raku firing because I may be wrong. With raku firing, you can never really be certain how the colours and patterns will turn out, but to give you an idea, I think I used a glaze called "oil spot" for the main body of this dragon above.
A little side-tip if you're going to try this: don't hang your head over the heat source/vent because your hair and eyebrows could singe up.

Black Dragon, 4" x 14.5" x 6.5". $80.00

I made each of these dragons at ArtBeat.