Hi all!

So the other day I was in Wal-Mart (a fact I’m not proud of. I usually champion the little guy but I currently have no money) and I was witness to a scene that I found quite amusing. In fact, it made me laugh out loud in the faces of the people involved.

You know how all stores have central aisles and branching off from those at ninety degree angles are secondary aisles? And you know how at the end of the secondary aisles they’ll have special products or displays set up in the central aisles designed to catch the eye of unwitting shoppers? Well, my story takes place around one of those displays. When I worked for Blockbuster Video they were called ‘end caps’. If you ever have or currently are working retail then you know what I’m talking about.

Let me set the scene. I had a selection of inexpensive “mom and pop store destroying” items in my hands and was walking towards the one thru fifteen item checkouts. While walking down one of the central aisles there was a woman a few paces in front of me pushing a shopping cart. In front of her standing in the central aisle was another lady looking at an ‘end cap’ display of items from the pharmacy department. I believe it was a selection of pain killers such as Tylenol and Aspirin.

Well, as the woman with the shopping cart approached the lady who was looking at the analgesics the lady who was contemplating killing her pain stepped two paces back, away from the display to allow the woman with the shopping cart to pass. I thought in my head, ”How kind for her to do that.” Well…

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Hi All!

This is an article all about standing up for yourself because no one else will do it for you.You should find this amusing, I sure did!

Recently I had the opportunity to do a portrait for a nice young family who wanted to commemorate the first birthday of their only son, Aris. Seems Aris was a bit of a miracle baby and his parents wanted to remember the end of his first year in a very special fashion.

I answered their ad for a portrait painter on the buy and sell website KiJiJi. It wasn’t a lot of money, at least not what I would have liked, but they couldn’t afford more and I was game regardless.

I have to tell you, I really enjoyed doing the piece and seeing as how the subject matter is a little less fantastical than I’m used to I think I did a pretty good job as far as portraits go. I haven’t done one since I was in University, well over a decade now.

I thought, since I had such a good time doing it, I would offer up my services as a portrait painter on KiJiJi, see if I could drum up a few more commissions, make a few more dollars.

The very first reply I received about my ad actually came twice and it was from some tool who didn’t think my painting was very good and that I would benefit from taking classes with him. Here’s what he wrote:

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Hi all!

Welcome to the pilot article for a new section on my blog. I’ve got a lot of thoughts rattling around in my massive head (that’s not hyperbole. You ask anyone, it’s massive — physically that is) thoughts which have nothing to do with art or art related topics so… I’ve created this new section on my blog for rants and other articles which are non-art related.

Now, there may be a few topics in here that I discuss which might be described as inflammatory or that might be designated as a little controversial and I may, from time to time, use some strong language that one might consider to be ‘adult’. Be forewarned. If you are easily frightened, have a heart condition, are not 18 years of age or have the I.Q. of a grapefruit (not to put down grapefruits. I have nothing but the utmost respect for them) then perhaps this section of my blog is not for you. If you’re an intrepid explorer, have a curiousity like mine which is now piqued or are just up late, drunk on the computer and have nothing better to do, then please read on.

I consider myself to be more than just an artist. I’m also a sociologist. Cath is too. I think we’d consider ourselves to be avid people watchers. We’re fascinated with the society outside our windows and we’re always analyzing it, breaking it down trying to understand how the insanity that is the modern world hasn’t led the way to full scale anarchy. Give it time.

Although I’ve never formally studied sociology, I find my curiosity drawn to humans and human systems and today I saw something that I thought was noteworthy.

Cath and I went out to see the new Roland Emmerich film 2012 tonight. It was actually quite good. I’ve read a few reviews of the movie and they weren’t glowing but after having seen the movie both Cath and I thought it was very well put together. If you get the chance to see it on the silver screen, do so. It’s the type of movie that will lose a lot of it’s impact when it hits your television.

While we were waiting for the movie to start we watched as the theatre filled up quickly. It was a smaller theatre and therefore there weren’t a lot of seats. We were sitting in the upper section of seats. The lower section of seats (where you have to crane your neck upwards to enjoy the film, if you can from that angle) was still empty.

As it is with people who are strangers, when they enter a common seating area they generally won’t sit directly beside each other. They’ll at least leave one seat between themselves and the next patron. This happens everywhere. On city buses and the subway, at movie theatres, even in public bathrooms. You know what I mean. Why stand hip to hip with another man at the urinals getting a birds-eye view of his junk when you can stand comfortably at another urinal, abashed perhaps but separate from this other relief driven stranger? Go ahead stand hip to hip with him if you like. One of two things will happen. You’ll walk away ashamed at the minute stature of you penis or you’ll walk away questioning your sexuality – again.

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On July 7th, 2008, I quit my job of four years at Highland Equipment to pursue my career as a professional artist. Highland is a stainless steel equipment manufacturer. I spent most of my time in food and pharmaceutical plants running stainless steel piping and then welding it for production. While it was a decent paying job and the work was engaging to a degree, it wasn’t what I wanted to do with my life. In July of 2008, I’d saved up enough money to finally pursue my dream of being a full-time artist, so I quit Highland and started the pursuit!

Since then I’ve been living on savings, working to build a viable, self-sustaining artistic business. In order to do this, it has been in my best interest to try and make my savings go as far as possible. I’ve done this in a number of ways and I’d like to relate them to you today.

For all of you out there who are ready to take the plunge and make Art production your livelihood, I’ve made some observations about making your money endure while you bring your dream to fruition, which hopefully you may benefit from. Let’s get started…

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If you’ve got artistic leanings but are feeling doubtful about starting down that path to personal fulfillment, or if you’re already one of the chosen but are having misgivings about your current practice, then this article is for you.  Hopefully… it will inspire you.

Inspiration.  Ah, to be inspired — to create, to think, to feel.  Inspiration comes in a variety of wrappers and being an artist as I am, I encounter it in a myriad of forms.  I find it in colours and shapes (natural and manmade) and in ideas both intellectual and insane.  But the inspiration that matters the most to me is the one that comes in a lovely little package I like to call, “The Inspirational Quote”.

This form of inspiration doesn’t inform what I’m going to create.  It doesn’t present itself as a physical stimulus.   Rather, it shows up as a mental one, reinforcing a set of personal beliefs and values that tell me I am going to create, and that it’s okay.  Gleaned from music, writing and movies, these are snippets voiced by other artistic personalities that I’ve found beneficial to my own practice, keeping me doing what I love to do especially when I face criticism about my choices.

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