Spirit of the Season

I enjoyed making this painting and am delighted to place it under the title - Spirit as my Friday Illustration submission.... which was a star this season for I used this original for one of my new line of Greeting Cards.

I also made this Elf Illustration in 3D space on a blank canvas known as an 8" tall vinyl for any artist to make any character as he or she pleases. I made an elf this time and I must say he certainly added to the Spirits I worked with this season!

I had represented both of them in the recent artisan festival I took part in Dubai @ Arte

Thank you for stopping by!

A tribute to a favorite portrait subject!

KATO!!! was lost in LA a few months ago.

On July 4th I made this portrait of "KATO".

But today we remember him fondly while he remains Missing

Kato Rosen was a registered Feline in California who disappeared from his LA home barely a couple of months ago with still hopes that he will find his master.

Thank you for stopping by while I remember this lovely pet who I too had grown fond of with stories of his pranks.

An Arabic Culture Dubai Art Show commemorating 9/11 for the message of peace - Opening night & coverage

This 11th September was opening night for an Art Show in the Ahmediya Art Gallery where more than a handful of Dubai artists united to display their works of art.

Do take a look at the pictures taken on location: 

And here we artists stand with a symbolic gesture to pledge the evenings message, "Against the Tides, United for Peace".

Thanks to Zareen Knan and her dedicated team of lovely art facilitators!

                           Against...

source: http://www.facebook.com/AgainstTheTidesArtists

              the... 

source: http://www.facebook.com/AgainstTheTidesArtists

                                         Tides...

source: http://www.facebook.com/AgainstTheTidesArtists

                                                      United...

source: http://www.facebook.com/AgainstTheTidesArtists

                                                                     in...

source: http://www.facebook.com/AgainstTheTidesArtists

                                                                                         Peace.

source: http://www.facebook.com/AgainstTheTidesArtists

Uh oh! I almost missed posting these pictures below.... Introducing my artist friend with her new passionately created lovely pieces of art with air-dried clay on coffee-base (truly eco)....and a couple of mine in oils and charcoal.

An exciting post featuring Manisha's lovely art....IS COMING SOON...stay tuned for that!

I am so glad to be part of such an ethnic art exhibition organized by the group "Against the Tide" supporting several good causes in a single show which makes me want to donate part of the proceeds of the outcome of my participation to a peaceful cause in the region.

What I want to take away from this show: 

• Is the opportunity to connect with my fellow local artists, art lovers and facilitators. 
• Observing that every artist is a winner as each one of them has their persona impressed upon their masterpiece. Hence contesting each has no room among passionate fine art. 

However the show will pronounce a winner on the last day based upon vote-counts from visitors to the event. 

What I would love to see 

• A winner chosen from a random vote from the general public unknown to the artist except for his or her art, who at the instant of the visit finds a connection to an art-piece/pieces and decides to vote for one which truly has intrigued them. 

Do you agree with me when I say that it is a personal preference which could never be induced. My take anyway is that it is difficult a choice to make among so many beautiful works on display.

• The grand prize (of a solo show sponsored at Ahmediya) to go to such a deserving artist!

The show is running @ the Ahmedia Art Gallery till the 14th September 11am - 8 pm.

I hope to speak to you but only via my paintings at the show as am at work this weekend. Although, I am very glad I could steal some moments to key in this post.

Take care! and Thanks tonnes for having a read!!

An Arabic perspective Art Show in Dubai - Open Invitation!

Welcome to this special group art show in the heart of Old Dubai just a stone's throw away from the 100 year old Ahmediya School at the Ahmediya Heritage Guest House, now a full-fledged art gallery.

I am pleased to be part of the 16 Dubai-based artists who will be participating in an Art Exhibition via Against the Tides 2013, themed "Celebrating the Arabic Culture & Heritage starting this 9/11.

If you are in this part of the world, at this part of town, all set to enjoy a day at the centre of Dubai's heritage localities, do head to the Al Ras area in Deira to experience that diverse flavor of artists' works....just past the Spice Souk, before the Gold Souk where the huzzle and buzzle of Dubai City maybe felt the most.

Have a great week ahead!

Illustration Friday - Theme Hidden

Hello there and thanks for stopping by again!

Here is my submission for this weeks theme @ Illustration Friday - "Hidden".
I was wanting to participate this Friday by drawing specially for the theme when an almost perfect topic was declared which has a metaphorical reference to this charcoal and watercolor pencil piece.

This piece will be in an art show called "Against the Tide 2013" in Dubai on the 11th - 14th @ The Ahmadiya Heritage Guest House.  She is part of a series where I portray women from various regions in the world. I call this lady the "Damsel-Arabia".

I am so thankful for Illustration Friday that I have a good reason to make a few posts on my blog at least sporadically so I don't get all lost in my real-life work activities.

See you the next time when I plan to make a few posts showcasing some amazing independent talents here in Dubai.

It would be interviews with some award-winning versatile commercial artists in Dubai. These freelancers are examples of warriors in this battle of true talentship (just made it up :o)) with a weird world in a typical post-recession environment where it is good against evil business practices and an answer to people who think talents are available at their own disposal. For they who think they could have works of art exchanged as cheap stakes. These talented individuals demonstrate how they defy this phenomenon.

Talents have so many options and so many perspectives to make it a success even if the market turns against them.

And so my experiences the past 2 weeks makes me realize that such posts are the need-of-the-hour for a passionate artist surviving on his/her own to take away from.

So please come back for a useful read.
Happy crusading in your passions and keep the high spirits going, no matter what!

Illustration Friday Jungle theme submission

The Jungle theme of Illustration Friday was an interesting theme and looked forward to it.

So here I am making a submission of some quick sketches I made of Indian Jungle animals from a live backdrop....a good reason to enjoy the nostalgia too....back in the days when I did frequent outdoor sketches and animals-in-motion studies as a growing animator.

At this point I'd like to add a very interesting incident that happened while sketching the elephant rushing-off shown on this piece.

It was a warm summers afternoon back in the early 90s when I set out with a pal to capture jungle friends from a local zoo. When I sat down comfortably under an Indian banyan tree gearing up to sketch this beautiful elephant by its caretaker....perhaps 500 meters away. 

No sooner did I look away for a 30 seconds...and look back, I was startled and almost fell off the platform when I spotted a zoomed-in view of Mr. elephants foot....within inches away from where I sat....he stood right in front staring down at me.

I did not see my friend next to me then for she had made a split second decision to run as far away as quickly as possible in fear :o))). This animated experience sticks with me whenever I pull out this image and am very pleased to make this mention, at this time.

A cartooned-up version of the hilarious scene of that day is somewhere in my archives and will have it up here in a while when I get back to my physical work days. 

Am back at work again and am glad to find you the sketch of the humorous scene here, I promised you I'd upload about a fortnight ago: (Upload date 20 Aug 2013)

It has been Eid in Dubai and I just took a part-holiday this festive-summer holidays in Dubai.

Had the best time enjoying the rains in the peninsula.

Take care!

My Lightpen lightens up my day as I do a very complicated Vector pattern

Today's a big day for me...Am on a deadline to recreate an original sketch I made for a website. Thanks to this favorite client of mine, working for him on this gives birth to a new chapter in my fine art works. Do check back on an extended update on this soon.

Meanwhile I am quickly making this post while I hurry through creating this pattern made up of millions of inanimate shapes on Adobe Illustrator, simply to shout-out to anyone out there working their days out with shapes inside of Adobe without a tablet.....It is your best treasured investment.

The lightpen is helping me make a crazy-complicated pattern digitally in half the time I have taken to create the whole layout.

source: pcmag.com

Considering I took considerable time to sketch it out on paper.... am so excited that I may take just half the time I had imagined it would take with my light pen to draw it out into the computer....in vector format all hires.

It's for an upcoming Website so it is too early to reveal any of the design. Will post an update once this amazing interactive site gets launched. I promise it is going to be a different kind of visual treat....Courtesy of my techy client....who constantly helps complement my designs with his brilliant technological magic to take the design to a whole new realm.

Be right back on this soon. 

Illustration Friday Theme: Surveillance

Happy Friday

It is my pleasure to post here my submission to Illustration Fridays weekly theme "Surveillance" put out there for the participation of the global community of illustrators.

Desert Surveillance

There was a funny twist to how I made this illustration. Will keep the discussion of the making-of-this for another session or for a how-to article as it is too wordy to include on this post.

This illustration was made into something that tells a story of surveillance by adding a few elements like a few frightened wide-eyed people inside the rusting-abandoned vehicle and a couple of other curious desert-lings (like a hare & a hedge-hog) by the vehicle, with the shadow of surveillance-aircrafts on the desert sands.

Thanks to IF....for while making this picture using pencils, watercolor & ink, I realize it has opened up a whole new avenue for an interesting story for me to build upon in the new future.

Really appreciate your visit.

So long until next time!

Soft Pastels - SWOT Analysis

Greetings folks!

Todays lunch-break I did not want to lose the opportunity to make this important post for all the pastel artists out there.

Ferrari Dino 246 GT/GTS

I am here to talk about Fine Soft Pastels. It's my take on them! Simply because I felt I need to share some important facts about working with them and what one may want to get sorted before setting out doing a piece with these materials.

Soft Pastels are such a pleasure to work with. And as usual I get fully immersed into the unique experience that it offers us. This week once again I am on a spree of creating some pieces using my Rembrandt's Soft Half Pastels. These are one of my most treasured possessions which I got all the way from Denver Colorado, way back in 1999. It was a valuable gift from a cousin when I was taken for a memorable evenings outing to a Denver Art store. Man that was an evening to cherish!!

I made the above piece yesterday on a Daler-Rowney, dark-shaded paper which I had purchased a long time ago pending the right time and the right subject to use. As it meant I had to use a new technique to draw using lighter colors and a lot of blending. I will be rolling out some more works in the coming days on Canson paper and cold-pressed Winsor & Newton Cotman Water Colour Paper. Aah! I can't wait to get to work on those. When I do, I will talk about my experience with them.

Actually while I did this little automotive project I did indeed dabble with my charcoal sticks. And when the mono-colour got me a bit depressed, I jumped back here to do some more layering on my Winsor & Newton Fixative sprayed Ferrari sketch. By the way the fixative helped the brought yellows over the orcres to settle down a bit. Interesting to note that the layer of fixative on a freshly-made pastel especially on dark paper makes it look earthier, sobering down the bright highlights. So I think am okay to see that it maybe adding to the vintage look.

Another point is that I am not getting overly worried if my proportions are not measure-out at the first shot as I want to give it a hand-drawn look than a commercial mechanical drawing look.

So here it is....it is my pleasure to show you this freehand piece of the work accessible on http://remy-francis.fineartamerica.com/

One other important thing you may want to do before you even open your box of pastels.

If you are allergic to dust... these pastels create a smokey fine dust. What I missed out was wearing either a mask or gearing myself with an anti-histamine before creating this Pastel drawing. So it kept me busy taking breaks for some bouts of uncontrollable sneezing. :o). Anyway, as all chalks and pastels are non-toxic and mine showed that it is certified with a Health label from the Arts & Crafts Materials Institute conforming to ASMD-4236 I did not worry a lot.

The ingredients of my Rembrant extra fine soft pastels are well-know-infact world renowned for their pure pigments. And doesn't otherwise pose any health hazard aside from some physical allergic discomfort.

For those who don't want to go through any of this they can just do some clean business on an Adobe software like what I created here....after my daring trip to the Ferrari world last weekend. All I needed to do is work with the mouse and graphic tablet.

A drawing made with no sweat, no mess, and no violent bouts ;o) are easier but then one is left with a commercial-looking piece with missing characters of natural pencil strokes....and blend of colors. I somehow think a traditional drawing looks vibrant and alive than a digital piece.

A Ferrari Vintage Model (Original color - Emerald Green)

The message of this post is that I give "three-cheers" to another therapeutic experience which my precious pastels have given me. And encourage all you artists and artists-in-the-making to indulge in using these to enhance your masterpieces. That's right! I say masterpiece! I am rather pleased to use my Rembrant's pastels for its high degree of lightfastness and unique warmth, first-class strength and velvety softness. In their own words, this softness is achieved in part by kaolin (a clear china clay). So why not take the opportunity and create one yourself! To make you feel a true creator of a masterpiece!!

Thanks for taking part in my discussion. Welcome to visit again.

Children-themed fine art

Children in Children's Art make great subjects for a therapeutic moment in sketching....where we get to use pastel shades and use subtle blending technique. In a few strokes we could bring out the cuteness and spontaneous innocence in the characters.

This sketch is a repost of one of my favorites, I made for a greeting card. In later years I made it in vector graphics (using Adobe Illustrator & Microsoft mouse) which gave a whole new look.

It was a treat to do the piece and make it come to life especially the blond curls. I hope to create some more children's-themed works in the coming weeks. Will post it on here as I roll out each piece.

Digital Paint on Paper sketch - Posted on IllustrationFriday.com

Do click through a couple of more children's' themed illustrations:

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Children/9237195

Children's Art - Testing my new Genius Graphic Tablet as opposed to my Wacom

Hello there here I am again peeping in after a long break.
with a sketch I made for my first participation in Illustration Friday's this weeks theme "Sweet".

Come July and I hopefully can schedule a regular hour everyday to share my part of the art world here.

I have a lot of writings I would like to share here as soon as possible but I wish I had a couple of more hands to assist in just maintaining my blogs. I keep writing on my sketchpads with a hope of regular transfer to my posts here but work-life is getting too crowded that my sketchbooks are running out of pages... all filled in and waiting to make that leap into the digital world soon. And I keep telling it, day in a day out...."I promise I'll make it happen!" The passion reflects if typed in by ourselves!

While I promise I will be back more often ... let me leave this note with this Children's Art "A Windy Day in Candy-Land" sketch I enjoyed making using a new Graphic Tablet which I recently purchased as a stand-by to my Wacom tablet. Looks like it pretty much does the job I want to.

Having started drawing digitally much before the light-pen age during the mid-80s, subconsciously I usually take to the mouse to sketch within my photoshop or Illustrator. And have to make a special effort to pick up the light-pen (as behind my head there's this voice that asks me technology has made it so simple for artists so the least I should do to challenge myself is to draw using the mouse and get the same effect.

Anyway I must admit though, that once am with the light-pen, the enjoyment of drawing is a whole other world with accessibility to much more easy pick of the tools which technology has to offer to make life easier where boundaries could be limited only to one's imagination. For instance to use certain custom-brushes inside of photoshop, it makes better sense to use a light-pen like I have done for this sketch....and the pressure sensitivity too does volumes to enhance our experience. Just my take!!  Sure... everyone would have their own custom preference! (in order for you to perhaps to look at the brush-strokes more closely I have placed the drawing once again:

Thank you for visiting my space. I will be back in a wink! 

A St. Patrick's Day Wish !!

Though many of us are not from the Irish Origin, an international scenario as we are in now with a world-reach in seconds, there are enough population in the world today who want to share the peace and happiness spent on Paddy's day.

So I take this opportunity to wish all well-wishers. Though I haven't worn a Patrick's day cap like this one, I at least can clad my profile mascot and get into the moment eh? What stops an artist to do that!? ;o)

Happy Patrick's day everyone!

Hands to heal the world

Hi folks

I must apologize to my readers for my long absence from the blogging-online world.
Blogging about art has been such a healing experience for me as I get while I give and share.
The healing when we create art or write to share has a 2-way effect and I can't express how not being able to blog for a few months has slowed down the therapy to my mind and soul. I am sure you all share this opinion. But heck this is only my take!

Real-life caught up well enough to pull me away from any online interactions which has its pros and cons. Came September 2012 and the markets especially in Dubai showed a steep curve up, much to my pleasant surprise. But alas all/most of my leisure got sacrificed in the name of work. Up until then, business has been comfortable and laid-back while some markets were still recovering from the recession with the seasonal stumbles in the UAE. Then came the quick change which took all especially the newbie independent business people like myself by surprise. Being a one-man army I have had to juggle with my projects as well as administrative duties which go into running a business. So there... I had to take a long break from my dear blogging. Since I believe this online-world holds a promising potential for my future occupation I want to be able to come back more often by striking a balance between the real world and online world in business.

See you all very soon. Meanwhile, wish you a Happy, Stress-free business season.
Make hay while the sun shines! :o)

Small talk series: Creative Entrepreneurship

I had a very interesting conversation with a successful self-made Dubai businessman a couple of days ago. Every statement he made was something thoughtful for serious/aspiring business people.

With this interesting "title" (hilariously coined by him) cautioning me to look out for (I totally have encountered such individuals too in my career). He calls them "Catalogue Technicians".... Defined as people who are very good with technical terminologies/has bookish knowledge, who gets all too savvy theoretically by studying a manual, whereas in practice knows nothing yet puts undue pressure on the service provider to deliver with perfection, does not allow any creative freedom and holds the creative provider on a leash, demanding a fabulous job.

Who is representing whom?? ARTE

It is the 2nd month of the Art Season in Dubai with @ARTE back in full swing this time too.

Oops! This is no place to help recession recover!

My visit yesterday to the festival was one to cherish as it was an opportunity to connect with local Artists. An excellent pool of Fine Artists, Jewelry makers, paper crafts men etc. I use the word pool because there were so many of them.

Arte is a good place for new artists to showcase themselves but if they are thinking of selling their works they better sell only their prints or duplicates because nobody wants to spend more than $25 dollars for any piece. That too a weekend family-crowd who wants to get handicrafts and artworks at throw-away prices. It was interesting to notice, crowds gather in front of artists' tables if the offer is free or next to nothing. So if one wants to give away for goodwill purposes this is the place to be. These days it is so over-crowded with artist-participations that some are provided showcase-space wherever there is a pillar in the mall however far it is from the perimeter of the main fair. Too bad the last time I was allocated space it was a sad location I wouldn't want to mention here. But I was okay as I was not there to sell but to network with fellow-artists. All said and done that became my last presence there.

But what if an artist is there counting on selling some pieces to make a living!? O dear! Talk about treating art lesser than a commodity. My take is that it does not benefit the artist but the organization facilitating such an event who charges $75 approximately to artists who want to display their works for a max of 3-5 hours....and the public who visit a typical flea-market/garage sale scenario.

In horror I also noticed that I seemed to be one of the few or the only person around there holding an authorized license to practice and showcase my work. Wow!!

And so I decided this is not a place for a licensed artist to showcase among 150 or more artists most of whom have no license to practice and are doing this as part-time and who have still been given a platform to conduct business, paying 20 times less than I am to just exist here as an artist.  If the proceeds went for a noble cause I am game for this.....else what is the message here? Something to ponder upon. Really to ponder upon in this age where our young ones have to college-graduate really well to make a living in art in order to get competitive. When the rules of the game is not only to have talent but to be university educated to pull some serious strings.

New Fine Art Showcase Blog launched

It is my pleasure to announce my new fine arts blog. I am looking forward to having regular updates here about my fine art related activities.

Am @ ARTE this time.

Wow! what a day for my internet connection to disappear on me!


Now that it's sporadically back. Let me make a post to all of you who are here in Sunny UAE and in Dubai so you can take a detour on your way to your weekend niceties to visit an Artisan's Market.

Everything Hand-made!  by "Artisans of the Emirates". Being a Dubai-based artist qualifies me to take part.
:o)
The Art Fest season is back here in Dubai and I am so looking forward to taking part....more so because I am quite curious about the turn-over to visit this fest. And also because I am going to launch my new live-art project....making art interactively with my audience with a twist. I will also be having just a handful of my canvas paintings for sale at the Souq-rates. :o)

ARTE is going to be held tomorrow the 7th Sept. at IKEA festival city between 12 noon and 9 pm.

Perhaps you could print-out the flyer here and keep for your reference when stepping out into the city.

Before I stop.... I must give my respects to my Winsor and Newton Fan Brush which has (like today) stayed by me to save my day for many years now.

What painting is complete without finishing it off with the Fan Brush? 

The No. 5 Fan brush helped me happily complete all my paintings this week with a much satisfactory touch to finally let me name it before I send it in for my final display.

I recommend that a fan brush is a "must have" for every artist. So what are you waiting for. Go get one and experience the shear enjoyment of taming your paints on your canvas.

See you back here after the ARTE fest. Will try to capture some snap shots to post here.

What is Entertainment Art?

There are 2 types of Entertainment Artists:

1. The Traditional/Digital Live Artist who entertains an audience 'live' where there is an immediate gratification leaving both the entertainer and entertained in a win-win situation.

This Entertainment Artist is an artist who is in the truest sense a 'traditional artist' who makes drawings/sketches in the presence of a live audience. He/she who purely uses pencils, paints, pastels etc. on paper, canvas or wood respectively.

Like you see here my very talented Live Entertainment Artist friend "A renowned Italian Humorist Roberto Mangosi making one of his enjoyable art performances to an audience in Rome:

 

The picture below is from one of my small performances yesterday at a Dubai BNI meeting (part of my 60 sec. pitch) with their Regional Director Mr. Bijay Shah who accepted the honor of being my audience-participant to help in the making of my quick live caricature. 

My Live Art is a bit different where I allow any member of the audience who wishes to volunteer to participate in my performance to demonstrate the fact that there is an "Artist Gene" in every human being where anyone who may think he or she does not have it in him/her "the artist material" at the end of the show will indeed be pleased they were able to contribute in the making of a drawing worthy of a display-piece.

 
2. The Entertainment Artist who creates works to Entertain an Audience via media, by way of Animated Films, Commercials, Short Stories where there is a certain amount of rehearsal. This is not a live performance and hence the gratification happens once it is released to a wide audience.

Here the artist is one who relies on digital tools too but has advanced traditional skills to use these tools so that with these skill-sets flourishes into visual development artists, art directors, character designers, environment designers, production designers, or any of the other plethora of designers in the entertainment community (these entertainment art positions as quoted on laafa.org).

Funny I did not realize all through my journey as a Creative.... Right from my first job as an animator in the early 90s I was wanting to carve myself a niche as an "Entertainment artist" forgetting the fact that I was already one, many years ago.

All my life I have anyway been asked to perform making portraits and caricature at parties....getting little time to actually do the typical childhood playtime pranks. That became very a convenient escape from any emotional hassles if I had to deal with any in the growing stressful world we live in. Entertainment Artists have a blessing to get into their own blissful world of illusion which they create with their pencils.

Pleased to see you again on my posts. Be back in a while with some more food for artistic thought.

A Disgruntled Designer whose Passion is Art

Hello again this is my typical art-space when I practice my dearest passions.

However....

For the first time I am stepping out of this rosy-rosy world I would like myself to always stay as an artist to voice out my 2 cents so as to request real Artists .... "Please don't contribute to the world of Starving Artists."?!

Just an hour ago I was taken aback by a sad statement made by an associate who should be a mediator to put designers at a better wicket....entertaining clients to conduct business by unpaid designs in order to help kickstart a proposal. I decide not to quote anything from his words because I am still an active member of the industry.

I am glad my niche keeps me safe from this kind of batter-y!! I guess. But thanks to such shockers, it encourages me to take some action....Diversification has continued to be my main soup for a while now and I don't regret it.

In the past couple of years, though I am humbled by the fact that fans for my art have grown... astronomical have been the requests for free or pro-bono work I have received. If people love art they must want to pay for it, right? If people love an artist's music they must want to pay for that goodwill. Then...How so, is it not?!

In 2012 alone, I have received the following asks-for-free: 

• 26 requests for free work from the general public. (2 I could afford to do.)
• 4 free requests from friends and relatives (1-1/2 of which I could afford to do.)
• 4 free requests from live new clients wanting to test Design skills unpaid manhours.
• 3 free requests of logo-design/redesign stating "this should be a child's-play for you a pro".
• 2 free requests to do concepts for pitches absolutely free with no payment guarantee.
• 2 requests for charity. (1 I did for a deserving cause.)

Don't these good Samaritans in search of free-to-work-artists ever think that authorized artists are doing this job for a living? After the job is perfectly done after tens of changes, then...artists have to worry about a a disappearance-without-paying-act which happens all too often whether large corporates or not unless held by strong legal papers. Where there is no jurisdiction ever covering artists....Where is the answer to that?!

My take!

Now hasn't the whole world got an over-dose of hitech art, animation etc etc. and pleasure of watching it at down-to-earth prices or no rates. Thanks to the fancy words of crowd-sourcing, 99designs, elance etc etc.

As we speak.... there are many animators even in Hollywood out of jobs for a very long time. So those who have jobs let's count our blessings but realize this is not a blessing in disguise...it's time to find better blessings :o) A Hollywood animation studio is getting 70% of their animators filled by students who they will not pay a cent. The Students' incentive is that they get to work in a Hollywood Studio. The business house's incentive is? They have 70% of their animators working for free. 

Dear Design students - after your 2-year free work experience with your ex-Hollywood Studio employee certificate, what salary-scales would you new animators' community ever get? Congrats! you would have officially set your bar so low that you have made the whole global design community a commodity.

My take!!

Art & Design & Animation with computer tools coming of age is now taken for granted that.... nobody has the time to differentiate between quality or mediocre work. Unfortunately for true artists! You may want to take the red carpet march out rather than be ushered in... while you still have the spirit.

Perhaps you could do well building your own gallery and housing your pieces in it.

My take!!!

... to people who are truly passionate about doing art (this maybe a "Note to self" too to constantly keep nudging me back to reality) is to just keep it as your passion "FOREVER". The moment you depend on art alone to make a living....the way things are panning out!? You don't want to hate your passions... do you? That would be killing your own spirit!! FOREVER.

I would be glad to hear your thoughts too. Before I stop may I ask of one thing.... do not be in a hurry to make judgements yet... we may not generalize and make inferences based upon this post for.... 

I am just throwing these pointers your way to ruminate upon. It is still a hypothesis as it still depends upon the Art of the Artist to handle such ugliness to come out of it in handsome colors. But until then the Artist must have strong options to fall back on.

Thank you again for sharing my thoughts.

Poetry Scintillates Visual Imagination

This Illustration... below... is one of my latest children's illustrations which I made for an an Abu Dhabi-based Poetess for her very special Kids Poem "An Angel without Wings."

Copyright Notification: The Illustration and Poem are strictly copyright protected respectively to Remy Francis for the Illustration and  the Poet and may not be copied or found anywhere else. 

I learnt the pleasure of listening to poems way back in primary school when I was called in as the kid in class to visualize poems covered in every term. 

Being a crazy artaholic, I was only too pleased to share my visual imagination with my fellow classmates and have the pictures hang in my classroom all year round. These paintings were replicated out of poems from English Romantic Poets such as William Wordsworth's The Solitary Reaper, John Keats' La Belle Dame Sans Merci et cetera and even pictures that came out of some unforgettable Non-de-tail sessions. 

I have my 5th grade teacher Mrs. John to thank for giving me this very special grounding in art & studies, which may have played an important part in rescuing me from the clutches of a point-less Exam-focussed learning system. A system which made me in later university days to not opt (for what would have been an amazing move) Astronomy (for the worst reason that I would not win high grades with it) over a subject titled "Linear Programming". Although this won me a centum in grading it has played to be of no use in any form in my career or life today. 

Getting back to the actual motivator for my making this post....

....how an organised method of utilitarian visualization makes me still relive some very famous poems taught to me in elementary school as if it happened today, with the same strength of freshness as when it was introduced to me more than 20 years ago.

Thank you once again for coming by!