Goodbye Great Artist

I don't want to say goodbye anymore.

Not to great personalities that I wish I will meet one day, and suddenly, even though the dream was far-fetched, I realize that it now will never happen! First was the abrupt end of my Knight's Tale then now my new found favourite artist, Tony. Just a few weeks ago, I blogged about him and his work as I was very impressed and wanted to share him as Helena did. I usually don't go through my Spam on my mailbox, but today, just less than an hour ago, something prompted me to it. I was scrolling past the make millions in a day, and get paid to read emails junk when I saw Helena's mail. It was dated 28th March, at 21:31. She was thanking me for blogging about Tony (no problem Helena) and informing me that Tony was very ill. I have to admit that in my traveling and the planning days before that, I had not been active in reading any blog, not even updating my own as regularly as I usually do, and had no idea about Tony's health. I quickly replied, assuring her that Tony would pull through, as I believed it so hard then. I mean, he is an amazing, extraordinary being. I then log onto his blog page. The heading hit me...hard. In memory of Tony it read. As I scrolled down the post, I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. And I'm crying for two reasons; That Tony is no more, even though his memory lives on, it's just not the same and I have just written this optimist mail to Helena. I did not live with him , but just thinking of the effect he has on me all the way from across the seas, I could only imagine the impact he had on the people he lived with, and the feeling of loss they must be experiencing.

He was cute
and creatively talented and he will be missed.

PS - I just went back to Tony's blog to pick the image above, and I noticed one thing- Tony passed on on 28th March at 20.15 (UK time), which translates to 22.15 Kenyan time - about an hour after Helena had written to me.

Rest in Peace Tony, enrich Rat Heaven with your incredible art...

Read More

The Artist Formerly Known as...

I have been following a certain blog with interest. One about Tony Blair. And no, i did not just see the light (or darkness) and decide to follow British Politics. This is of a self-taught artist that highlights the development of his career from his childhood to present. I'm not an artist buff, but i have to admit that his work did catch my attention. He works with paper, rather, that was his first raw material, before graduating to foliage, fabric and electric cables. I am concerned about the last one though.. one of this days, Tony won't post on his blog as he would be looking something like this:


Tony lives on, no wait for it, not Downing Street but Newcastle upon Tyne with his two brothers and a foster mother. I'm yet to establish how they ended up in that home. Lucky for him, Tony's foster mother is an artists too, could be it runs in the family, and now exhibits Tony's work along side hers in the 36 Lime Street gallery. His brothers do help once in a while too. Helena, his foster mother says that she first noticed his creative prowess when he first walked across some clay tiles and left his paw prints and has not looked back since.

Some of my favourite works of art from this artist are;

&

Every time i see beautiful work, I long to see the artist or creator at work. It's something I have with watching things take shape, forms getting defined, ideas coming to life. It's more of me challenging my mind to visualize the canvas as a complete art material, (the canvas here meaning any raw material - including that full formerly whole Avocado - that the artist uses to create his art). I then keep the idea of what i think the finished product will look like, then hold my breath (depending on how fast the artist is) until he / she finishes. I would not want to swoon and faint on an artist, and give him the impression that his art took my breath away, though I think that would be a good selling point for the artist. Thus being said, there is nothing I'd love as much as watching Tony in action. Apart from the fact that he is very talented and a lively, Tony is very cute, and you can be sure that he works hard, not taking advantage of his looks.

Here is Tony with one of my favourite of his works.


Oh, I forgot the tiny detail that Tony is The Artist Formerly Known as the Rat.

Read More