News Flash!
It is the first anniversary of this blog at the end of the month, and with that in mind I have a new and exciting development to announce.
I am very pleased to announce that this blog now has an official illustrator – Philippa King.
Philippa is an extremely gifted individual who writes and paints about her experiences with Schizoaffective Disorder. Having suffered from mental illness for 19 years of her life, Philippa has found solace in her art explaining “I live to paint and paint to live. Time spent not painting is time spent not breathing”.
Philippa’s art is a very powerful tool in portraying how it feels to suffer mental illness, which is precisely the reason why I contacted her to ask if I could use some of her art on my blog. What happened next can only be described as having a whirlwind romance with her art, as I quickly went from falling in love to owning a piece of my own within days.
I was blown away when Philippa agreed to actually illustrate my blog, and her first piece “Because I Love You” (for this post), sold within two days, really demonstrating just how moving her art is.
I don’t recall ever being affected by art in this way before. Philippa’s paintings really provoke an emotional response in me, and it is a privilege to have her illustrate my experiences with Mr Man.
Thank you Philippa.
When I looked at this beautiful piece close up it provoked a very strong emotional response in me. If you look closely you can see a girl standing behind the glass wall.
"Behind a Glass Wall" by Philippa King
Philippa displays her art in her blog Loaded Brush. Not all of her art relates to mental health, and some of her pieces are playful and funny. For a person who is knowledgeable about art it is easy to see who her influences are, including Van Gogh, Lucian Freud, and Francis Bacon. There really is something for everyone.
6 comments:
And we are all green with envy, we all want our very own 'artist in residence.'
Delighted to hear art has found you, or did you find it!
Thank you Uphilldowndale.
My relationship with art is a long and sad one, which I will probably write about at some point in my other blog...
your wife is amazing !
I’m an educator and bought a copy of this film recently that deals with schizophrenia and was truly impressed with it. It really depicts the profoundness of Schizophrenia in ones life. After I watched the film I went back the film makers web site and read his biography and it became clear to me why the movie was so powerful.
This is his amazing story and theres a link at the bottom to his web site:
Jorge Moran was raised in rural Waverly, Tennessee by his great-grandmother, his mom who suffered from schizophrenia and his Cuban father. Early on Jorge was drawn toward the arts, spending much of his time drawing and watching films. He recalls how film even at a young age had a life changing impact on him. In the 4th grade he saw Rocky for the first time and it inspired him so much that he went from being a heavy kid of 139 pounds to a normal weight of 100 pounds in just three months. Jorge says that film has always been therapeutic for him, and that most of the personal revelations he has had in life have come from watching films. Films such as East Of Eden, Roots, Being There, 8 ½, The World According To Garp, The Shinning, E.T., Breakfast Club, Eraser Head, Dead Poets Society, Glory, Steel Magnolias, The Color Purple, Blue Velvet, Forrest Gump, Amelie, Lost In Translation, Mystic River, and recently; The New World have had a particular influence on him both personally and creatively.
In 1985, at the age of 18, he was awarded a scholarship to the Savannah College of Art and Design for a drawing competition that he had won. Jorge left home and moved to Savannah, Georgia, majored in Video Production, and in his spare time performed in many theater productions. In 1988, Jorge won Best documentary and Best Drama at the SCAD Video Awards. However, Jorge struggled with depression while at college and due to the unexpected death of his great grandmother he left college his senior year without graduating. Jorge left his dreams of being a filmmaker behind and moved back home to help take care of his sick mother.
A few months later with his mother feeling better and after being laid off from a factory job in Waverly, he decided to move to Los Angeles, California to pursue his dream of being a film actor. Jorge found depression to be worse than ever in Los Angeles and struggled to audition as well as pay the rent. A profound loneliness began to overwhelm him. After three years in Los Angeles, in 1992, just after the Los Angeles riots, his dreams of being an actor were once again left behind and he moved back home to be close to his mother and father.
Jorge was diagnosed with Clinical Depression and began taking medication for his condition. He knew he had to conquer depression before his dreams of being an actor or filmmaker could ever come true, so for the next 10 years he began to make small but positive changes in his life, which led to his depression going away. At the age of 35 free of depression, he decided to pursue his dream of being a filmmaker once more. In 2002 he moved back to Savannah, Georgia to continue his education at the Savannah College of Art and Design. In 2006, with his first dream fulfilled, he had finally graduated, produced, directed, and written an original short film entitled “Theodore”.“Theodore” was inspired from his mom who suffers from schizophrenia and his personal struggles with depression and loneliness. After twenty years of trying, he saw his dream come true. And out of 65 senior student films his was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay.“Theodore” has went on to win and play in 10 Film festivals around the world. And now he is writing this biography to pursue his next dream of finding investors to turn his Award Winning short Film “Theodore” into a Feature Film.
To all my friends and supporters God Bless you and thank you !
“Theodore” is Available at his DVD Store:
http://www.jorgemoran.com/DVDSTORE.html
Thank you Anonymous, I presume "your wife" is er... me? :)
Thanks for providing the link and a bit of background information to go with it. Not having seen the film myself I can't recommend or endorse it, but I will leave your comment for other readers as it may well be of interest to them.
It certainly is inspiring to know that he overcame depression and pursued his dream, rather than concluding that his opportunities had passed him by.
The thank you message at the end kind of makes me wonder if this post was actually written by Jorge Moran himself...
I probably missed it, so happy anniversary!
Thank you Catherine! I feel like I should have done something special to celebrate... but I'm not sure what. Oh well, maybe next year. :)
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