Sharing A Smile or Three!!!!

About a year ago, my parents joined a group that works with underprivileged children in different countries around the world. A few months ago my sister became inspired to do the same. Each month a small amount of money goes to these organizations and they use it to buy families and children food and clothing. The money also goes to support the building of homes, schools and clean water supplies. I think that this is a great thing to do, if you have the spare cash.

Most of my spare cash is spent on stickers, T-shirts and other prizes that I share with the students who ride The Peacebus… I’m an artist, therefore I am poor! LOL!!! However, I do make a monthly contribution to Amnesty International each month for the huge amount of $10.00. I wish that the amount was greater, but I still do what I can to help others in need.


Since I can’t afford to sponsor a child in another country (yet!) I have found another way to contribute to their lives in a positive way. Just a few days ago, I spent a few hours getting some stickers, poems and a few colourful art prints together to send to the children who are being sponsored by my parents and sister.


I wrote a letter to each child, telling them a little bit about my children’s art classes that I have taught throughout Canada - with lots of colouful photos! I also included many photocopies of two art assignments that I have created within the last year and I included a few boxes of coloured pencils for them use.

My hope is that they will share all of these stickers and fun activity sheets with their friends and teachers. I think that it is really great to be able to share these things with children from Ethiopia and the Dominican Republic. It makes the world feel just a little bit smaller!

I will have to use my imagination to envision the children’s happy faces when they open their parcels. The children will delight in these gifts on the day they receive them as well as on all the other days when they are creating art using the coloured pencils.

Over the years I have become fond of the expression, “Think Globally – Act Locally”, but sometimes I think that it’s important for each of us to act globally every now and again, too!!!

Jim

About The Prizes

Well… I’ve had a few other people enter my art give-away, since my last story. I’ve already reached the twenty winners, but I’ve decided to share some of my artwork with these folks anyway!!!

The last three people who will soon be receiving a small package full of peace Stik-ers and a few other items are…

Sam B. – British Columbia
Toby B. – Barrie, Ontario
Rowan L. – South Africa

Congratulations to all 23 winners!!!

I thought that it would be appropriate to share the stories that tell about the why the artworks ‘New Horizons’ and ‘Sol Storm’ were created, since I’ve been sharing these images in my last few blogs.


The story for ‘New Horizons’ is a very short one! Way back in 1996 I began to create artful images. Most of the artworks that I created used geometric lines, grids or patterns as a part of their design. This is because of my architectural background – instead of using straight lines to draw walls, windows and doors I had adapted to use many straight lines to create textures for skies, trees or rivers.

About a year later I decided that I had enough artwork to put on a small display at a downtown London market. It was a few weeks before christmas and I thought that I might interest a few people in purchasing my artwork for gifts. Indeed, I did sell a few – which made me very happy.

I had many delightful conversations with a variety of people, during this time. Then there was a time when one man came to look at my art and he seemed to be studying each peace, very closely. He turned and looked at me and said, “This art isn’t bad… considering nothing is free-hand!” and then he turned and walked away. I looked at all my artworks on display and noticed that he was right. I did have many ‘free-hand’ art creations, but none were on display.

Quite simply, I took his remark and decided that I should create some more images that did not use geometry in their design.

As it was soon to be New Years, I was inspired to create an image that gave the viewer a sense of distant space – a far off horizon with expanses of the Earth ascending to a foreground where the viewer was contemplating their journey into the future. As each New Year approaches we should take a moment to contemplate our tasks and aspirations for this time, to set goals and create priorities as we seek our own ‘new horizons’!!!


The story of ‘Sol Storm’ takes us a few years into the future, to the time when Joanne and I were living in Nova Scotia (2002-04) – when we were working on the fourth art peace for my project “Canada: Glorious To Be” - .

Soon after our arrival to Nova Scotia I had joined a local artisans group. I participated in many of their art events and this allowed me to share my artwork with the community.

It was a year later and this art group was having a meeting to discuss their annual ‘Art Fair’. I must have blinked and suddenly everyone was looking at me to see if I would accept the task of creating the artwork that was to be used in advertising for this exhibition. I’m not sure why I was selected – I guess a lot can happen in a blink – but I accepted the job.

For the next week or so, my mind was a blank slate. I had many other projects on the go and they were taking most of my attention.


A few days later, a most delightful astrological occurrence happened. Our sun went through a three-day explosive volley, which showered the Earth with fireworks of intense colour. For each of these three nights I found myself sitting on my back porch for hours watching these displays of light. I’m wondering if many of you – now reading this – are remembering this time and your own experiences.

Well… this experience inspired me. I had heard on the radio that scientist were saying a sun storm of this magnitude may not occur again for many many years. I felt that I should capture this event in colourful inks and ‘Sol Storm’ was born!


I took the image to a local printing shop to make the flyers for the upcoming ‘Art Fair’. We lightened the image significantly so that the black text that was added could be read very clearly. You’ll notice on the flyer the announcement “Special Musical Slideshow Presentation”. This was an event that I had asked to do, to share my story about the Temagami forestland and how this experience had shown me that I was to be an artist.


At 2:00pm I shared my story, using a prerecorded musical selection along with many slides that I had photographed while in the Temagami region. If you look really closely at this picture (almost right in the center) you will see the mini-print ‘New Horizons’ on display.


Whenever the opportunity presents itself, I always talk about the Temagami forestland. It is very important to me. My experiences from my journey to this region were filled with magic and I tried very hard to use my photographic skills to capture these feelings. In this photo, just a small cropping of pine tree branches is in focus in the foreground. The rest of the photo is blurred, but just to the perfect amount, where the essence of light and shadows creates a feeling of spiritual energy that lives in this forest.

I’ve often thought about creating a painting based on this photo, but as of yet that hasn’t happened… maybe one day!

Jim

And The Winners Are…

Last Friday, I thought that I’d have a bit of fun with this blog and with my facebook friends – I had an art give-away. I thought that this would be a great way to kick of the New Year. I had created a total of twenty prizes that I would award to the first twenty participants. All anyone had to do was simply send me an email with their mailing address so that I could mail the prizes to them.

I thought that for sure, I would receive about forty or even fifty emails and I was a little surprised when, the next day, I had only received nine. The very first email was simply a quick note with no address attached. This person told me that she was a big fan of all the artwork that I post on facebook and that she thought my art give-away was a really great idea. She continued by saying that she did not send me her address because she thought that for sure, that she would be about the 500th entry! All these ‘for sure’s made me laugh.

I replied to her and told her that she was in fact, the first entry! She replied to my reply with a few laughs and her mailing address. There were two other similar stories within these nine entries.

To help further this ambition I had made a comment about these responses in my ‘status’ on facebook – to encourage others to participate. I wrote something like, “Peaceman Jim Kogelheide thinks it’s funny that so many friends think that everyone else is entering his give-away, so they aren’t entering… when in reality very few are actually entering! There are still 11 prizes up for grabs.”

This helped me find the last winners…

New Horizons is a mini-print and only 30 have ever been made. When I created them in 1998 I had also numbered and signed each one. Through the years, I had lost track of the remaining prints – I have about fifteen left – so when I found them I thought that these would make nice gifts. They are very small… but once a matte and a frame has been placed around it they look rather nice.

Five of these prints will soon be traveling around the world to find new homes!!! The first five winners are:

Kate G. – England
Carla J. – Manitoba
Deseree R. – California
Debby C.– Florida
Rob C. – right here in London, Ontario

Rob and I have met a few times and once we worked on a community arts project together. He thought that my art give-away was a great idea and he wanted to do something nice for me, in return. Rob asked me to send him a photograph of someone in my life so that he could draw a portrait for me. I told him that I have many portraits of my wife, already – ones that I’ve created over the years – so I asked him to draw me a funky peaceflower!! I’ll be sure to share his art creation once I receive it. Thanks Rob! That really made my day!!!


Sol Storm is an ink painting that I created while I was living in Nova Scotia. I have used this design to make prints and stickers over the last several years. This series however, was made at a slightly different size than normal and only ten were created. Each of these ten were numbered and signed.

Five of these prints will be travelling to the following people:

Julie P. – Gibraltar
Anne E. – Montana
Esha M. – Vancouver
Jennie F. – Connecticut
Tim Lane – again, from London, Ontario

Last Friday, when I created this art give-away, I made an announcement about it to the high school students who ride The Peacebus. When I had pulled up to the last stop, Tim told me that he had visited my website, linked to my blog, read the story and then emailed his entry to me… using only his cel phone!!!


Each of these ten winners will also be receiving a copy of the premier edition of Ecovox magazine!


To add a personal touch, on page 7, I wrote a personal message to each of these ten winners, “When moving a mountain, begin with the small rocks!!” and then I signed each magazine.

The mountain refers to the enormity of all the environmental, social, religious and political problems facing our world today. There are soooo many problems that are threatening humanities continued existence on the Earth and if we are to survive as a species we must move and transform these ‘mountains’. When people become aware of these issues it is often so overwhelming to think that solutions can be found. We do not need to give up, before we’ve even begun. We need to start small, with solutions that are easily accomplished – the ‘small rocks’. As we become more educated through these smaller efforts we build strength of mind and will to then begin to tackle the larger problems.

Now… I would have loved to have been able to give all twenty winners one of my prints and a copy of Ecovox magazine, but I didn’t want to overstep my small budget.


So… the last ten winners (I included these items in all twenty prizes) will be receiving
sixteen of my peace Stik-ers…


and two newspaper articles that talk about my environmental ambitions to raise awareness about the clear-cutting of the Temagami forestland – an ambition that dates back to 1996. It was this experience that guided me to become conscious of my creative abilities.


Since my peace Stik-ers are all black & white images, I decided to add a little splash of colour into these packages. I made a quick trip to my local copy centre to print some more sticker designs that were created over the last four months (inspired by the elementary students of The Peacebus!)

The last (but certainly not least) ten winners are…

Grace W. – Nevada
Angie W. – Dundalk, Ontario
Zeineb A. – Tunisie
Kim L. – South Africa
Dyhana L. – Florida
Mike Y. – California
Annie B. – England
Hal – British Columbia
Alex K. – Ajax, Ontario
Tara M. – New South Whales


I always have a lot of fun when I do things like this. It makes me feel really great to be able to reach out around the world and share in people’s lives.


I enjoy the time I spend designing my stickers and going to the copy centre. I’ll listen to an LP (yes – I listen to old vinyl records) while I cut the sticker sheets, sign the magazines and address the envelopes.


I enjoy decorating the envelopes with my peace Stik-ers, thinking about all the people that will see my artwork as each package moves from place to place.

And… the thing I like most is thinking about all the smiles that will shine on each face when my package arrives at their mailbox!

Thanks to all of those who participated in my art give-away! Thanks to everyone else for enjoying this story!!!

Jim

Why I’m Always Poor

Joanne and I had a very quiet New Year’s Eve. Christmas saw our house full of family and so we simply wanted a bit of quiet time, on this day.

We walked to the corner store to rent a movie at around 9:00pm and were surprised to see a colourful display of fireworks being set off at nearby Boler Mountain. We assumed that they were set off at this time cuz a lot of children wouldn’t be awake to enjoy them at midnight.


The next morning, we relaxed and watched the snow fall while we warmed up with cups of tea. Joanne busied herself with the animals and I sat back to read the very first issue of Ecovox Magazine.

I am interested in this magazine for two reasons. 1- It’s a local magazine that is ‘designed to enable Londoners to gain a high awareness and understanding of local and global environmental issues and to find practical solutions’. 2- I’m in it – LOL!!!

The editor, Maryanne MacDonald and I have worked together on several local environmental projects in the past, and a few months ago she told me about this upcoming magazine. She had asked if I would like to contribute stories and artwork for Ecovox. Of course, I said yes… and now my story about the Temagami forestland (Part 1 of 7) and one of my landscape ink drawings inspired by this region of Northern Ontario fills half of page 7.


The magazine is only 12 pages long – I hear that it will be growing over the next few issues – but it is filled with many interesting stories. There are a few book reviews that highlight mostly Canadian authors who write about environmental ideals. There is a story that highlights what Londoner’s have done to raise their voice in support of global organizations such as http://www.350.org/ (My face appears in two of these photos as I was a participant in this event). Hints and suggestions for living ‘lightly’ on the Earth focus on things that we can do over the winter months. Many community personalities are spotlighted for their participation in environmental activities and there is an inspiring story about how Girlguides are reusing plastic milk bags to create blankets for the homeless!

There are a few other columns in the magazine that I’ll let you find out about for yourself. Ecovox is a free magazine and it is distributed through all 16 London Library branches.

The paper that is used to produce this magazine is 100% post-consumer material. It has been processed using chlorine free methods and the printing company uses bio-gas energy! These processes will be the wave of the future as more consumers demand environmentally friendly products from manufacturers.

So… what does this have to do with me being poor?!!!

A few blogs ago, I shared the story about a pet portrait that I was commissioned to do. Michael loved the portrait of his dog Digger so much that he gave me a bonus on top of the agreed upon price. Whenever these kind of surprises happen in my life I’m always compelled to use the bonus to help me share my artwork. My wife always says, “No wonder you’re always poor… everytime you make any money selling your artwork you turn around and spend it all on stickers and prints to just give away!” Ha! She’s right and she knows that it brings me a lot of personal satisfaction so it’s a bit of joke around our house, after all these years!!!

Hmmm… what am I planning on giving away?!!!

A few days ago, I was going through an old file box and I stumbled upon a few series of prints that I had forgotten about. One series dates back over ten years and the other series of art prints dates back to 2004. Both series’ are limited edition, numbered and signed! Hey – if I ever become famous these prints just may be worth an extra penny or two!!!

I thought that it would be a fun idea to create 20 packages to mail to you – my blog readers and facebook friends. The thought of my artworks travelling to different countries around the world really excites me!

These packages will include copies of Ecovox magazine, an art print and lots of my personally made peace stickers.

Here’s how it works…

All you have to do is send me an email – peacefulwarrior333@hotmail.com – and tell me what your mailing address is (please include country, etc.). That’s it! It’s that simple!!!


The first 5 mailing addresses that I receive will be sent 1 copy of Ecovox magazine (I will be writing a personal note inside for each of you), 1 numbered and signed ‘New Horizons’ print and lots of my personally made peace stickers.


The next 5 mailing addresses that I receive will be sent 1 copy of Ecovox magazine (I will be writing a personal note inside for each of you), 1 numbered and signed ‘Sol Storm’ print and lots of my personally made peace stickers.


The next 10 mailing addresses that I receive will be sent a business sized envelope filled with lots of my personally made peace stickers.

I will write a future blog about this ‘art give away’ to let you know where in this world my artwork has traveled. The only information that I will share in that story – about you - will be your first name and city or country where you live.

With 2010 just beginning I thought that this would be a great and fun way to spread some inspiration around this wonderful planet of ours. I hope that you agree!

Looking forward to hearing from at least 20 of you, soon!!!!

Jim