Icon painting #2

This is my second day of icon painting with my instructor, Peter Pearson at the Holy Cross Monastery. Here are the next in process photos of an icon of St. Michael the Archangel.

Icon Painting

I am staying for the week at the Holy Cross Monastery in West Park NY, where some may know that I am considering becoming a monk of the order. I’ve come here this time for a retreat called ‘A Brush with God’, a retreat taught by Peter Pearson, a renowned iconographer, priest and teacher. You can see his website at www.nb.net/~pearson. I am learning the art of painting an icon. What a fascinating history icons have had andthey have very specific rules to painting them. Some of the techniques I am learning have reawakened me to techniques I used to use in my painting, (like glazing, which I stopped doing for some reason) while some are totally new and are ones which I will start to use. The most important thing I’ve learned about painting an icon is that it is to be done as a prayer, and in an attitude of submitting your painting to God. It doesn’t matter if the final image is “beautiful” or not, it’s all about your attitude. I thought I’d share the stages we’ve done so far. We are painting an icon of St. Michael the Archangel.

The Happy Pens Have Arrived! What a great gift for the Holidays! Free Shipping!

Guess what time it is! GUESS WHAT TIME IT IS! It's time to get moving on your Holiday gifts and a great gift is a 'Happy' Rollerball Pen, Business Card Case, or the 2 piece Duo, at thomreaves.com, designed by Thom Reaves for ACME Studio. This is my first pen design for ACME Studio and I'm so proud to have my work included with the likes of other famous designers, architects and artists. ACME Studio fine writing instruments make great gifts for anyone who loves a fine writing instrument that feels great in your hand and writes especially smooth. Acme pens and card cases are collectible with a hand-applied lacquer finish. Each pen comes in a custom, embossed, foam-lined tin in a black slipcase with one ink cartridge. The Happy Business Card Case comes in a black slipcase and holds 12-14 business cards or 2-3 credit cards. You can order right from thomreaves.com. My supplies are limited, so order now for the Holidays! Free shipping! Happy Thom

Interview with Natasha Sherman: Artist with Bipolar illness

This is a TV interview I did for the Natasha Show with Natasha Sherman, regarding my living as an artist with Bipolar illness. http://vimeo.com/10613186

Natasha from Princeton Community Television on Vimeo.

#bipolarartist,

Thom Reaves now has two blogs

Thanks for visiting I now have a second blog. Whereas this one focuses on my art in relation to my bipolar illness, my newer blog focuses more on my artwork only. Please visit the "Imagery of Joy Blog!" at www.thomreaves.com. See you there. :-)

A French Peacock

Happy New Year to everyone! Just thought I’d post a new work- my first finished piece of 2012. Paon – French for peacock – its peculiar, I guess, that I always seem to like to use French words for my pieces. There’s an air about France that I am attracted to. Its actually the dream of France or fantasy of France, since I have never been there. It’s one that’s on my itinerary. Till then I’m gonna keep dreaming.

Remembering The World Trade Center

Here is a sketch of the World Trade Center I drew back during my New York years - around 1989 - 1990. It was drawn from one of the piers at the end of Christopher St. I thought it appropriate in order to remember the September 11th attacks and all who died that day.

Coffee Art Poster

Just got a photo of a commissioned piece I did a few years ago. I was inspired by Capiello on this one.

Fruit Tarts

Its funny how my art sometimes does what it wants to. My original sketches for these two paintings looked nothing like the finished product. Anyway, I'd been wanting to do a fruit tart series for some time.

Some new work

These 2 new pieces I am hoping to have licensed for a national company.

Thom Reaves Bookstore: Art of Joy

Art of Joy THOM REAVES | Make Your Own Book

Biblical Watercolors

Lately, I’ve been inspired to do some painting using watercolors. I don’t consider myself to be a master of the medium by any means, but I enjoy using them.
It seems I find a lot of satisfaction in biblical subject matter, for I keep going back to it. They’re the stories I grew up with.

My first picture is that of Jacob wrestling what most call an ‘angel’. I prefer not to call the person an angel because the verse says that he wrestled with a man who, from the language, can be inferred as being God. For this reason, there are no wings. Whenever I’ve seen this depicted in paintings, the wrestlers are usually both standing with their arms locked. When I think of wresting however, I think of a down-and-dirty, on the ground power match, so in my depiction, that’s how I made it. It’s not a realistic pose by any means, but I think it shows some emotion.





My second picture was inspired by Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments. I had always wanted to do a picture of Moses but never did, so here is one. It depicts Moses removing his shoes in front of the Burning Bush.

My contribution to Quark Park

I haven't posted in awhile, but I'm creating. As regards to bipolar, when you're happy, its great. There just seems to be much more to dissect and pick apart when you're down. I'd much rather be up - and I am. I'm managing my illness and that's the goal.

The other reason to post today are these photos of Quark Park: A collaboration of science art and architecture. This was sculpture garden,an art installation built in October 2006 in Princeton, NJ in an empty lot. It was a spectacular venue and I'm glad to have been a part of it, although I came in at the eleventh hour. I was given the opportunity to paint an oil can/fountain to be titled The Cosmology of Cosmetology. I painted a very fun image of Albert Einstein on a Cosmopolitan cover. For the life of me I can't remember what the rationale for this was (It wasn't my idea)but it was great to paint. Here's some photos taken by Chris Tengi.

Southborough: A drama of families and the city. My latest creative endeavor

Who says an artist has to have just one outlet of creativity? I admit I haven't been doing much painting lately, but I have been filling my artistic time with a major creative endeavor. I have written a pilot for a soap opera! That's right, a dramatic serial. It was written years ago, but I came to a place where I said that I need to stop talking about it and just do it. So, I'm doing it.
We haven't started filming the story at this time, but we have created our first promo for the show by showing "portraits" of characters, short bits to give the viewer a hint some of the personalities of the show.
You can find out more about the show at my website www.southboroughproject.webs.com.
We are looking for donations to help make the show if you should be so inclined. There is a button on the website for that. I hope you enjoy what we've done so far. Enjoy.

Becoming Normal

Becoming normal; it’s like just waking up one day and realizing “I’m back to myself”. That’s honestly, how it is. You don’t feel the change as you’re going through it; it just happens and there you are – back to where you should be. I know normalcy is different for different people. For me, as much as I am outgoing and friendly, I am just the same, quiet and introspective. It’s about 50/50. My doctor, my therapy and my medicines have brought me back. I’m here, life is LIFE, and I’m home; back to normal.

Being on the other end of Mental Illness

A close friend of mine recently tried to commit suicide. I was the one who took him to the hospital. Although he did not injure himself very badly, it was imperative that he go to a place where he could be helped mentally as well as physically. As he was driven away in an ambulance I started to cry. It was at this point that the realization came to me about mental illness and its effect on loved ones. I was now on the other end of mental illness; one having to watch as this disease saps the sanity from a person’s mind and chronologically sets a course for its self destruction.

My helplessness was tangible. I could do nothing but watch as they drove off down the road trying to make myself feel better knowing that he was going to get help. MENTAL ILLNESS IS EVIL!

He’s home now and the combination of medicines, therapy and a lot of prayer are helping him to start from scratch in managing his situation. There is hope. I've learned that for myself and now him.

Hospitalization - Abandonment

One thing that has come up in my life regarding episodes leading to hospitalization is that of abandonment. I have the pleasure of having very close relatives and friends whom I can count on through thick and thin, yet acquaintances that couldn’t care less about my problems, bipolar or otherwise. I am sad to say that that statement was turned on its head, and that turn slapped me hard. I sat in that hospital under a cloud of despair, hanging on to anything that gave me hope; anything that I could grasp to prevent the yearning for the void of death from consuming me. I needed someone. I needed someone who loved me to tell me so – to come to me and tell me so and what I got was “I can’t come”, “I can’t bear to see you there with those people”. Talk about darkness! It was one time that I could say unselfishly that it was about me and I was handed a reason that was about them. These are people who I love and whom I thought loved me. It made my darkness even darker. The only ones I could count on were my parents and those in the hospital along with me. I was abandoned. Now I know how it feels. It makes me feel even worth less than the worthlessness I already feel. It makes me realize that all the “I love you”-s and “I’ll be there”-s perhaps don’t mean anything at all – or at least not as much as one had hoped.

“Look at it from their side” I tell myself. A mental hospital to them is straight-jackets, padded cells and people screaming and banging their heads on walls. What else are they to think, for that’s all they see and are shown. Television, radio, history in general has given us this vision. And they’re scared to see us in this environment, so they say – broken, literally at the end of our rope. I must say, it’s not like that! Not that it was a pleasant experience by any means, but it was for the circumstances of my being there and the things needed to help my mind become even; not for any of those perceptions.

Going forward, I do not know how this shall affect me. It cut deeply. It ripped a hole with a jagged edge; one which I can’t say can be mended. I will remember. How else can I protect myself? Which leads me back around to isolating. Conundrum.

So where’s the hope? I guess people aren’t perfect. And there is a saying about not throwing the baby out with the bath-water.

My Book

I've had alot of time on my hands; time to recoup, regroup and get myself better so that I can get moving with my life again. I feel almost embarrassed to be talking about depression again, but depression is morbid and that is the tunnel that I am working my way out of right now. I should not be up this late writing this right now, as I am disregarding one of the first rules of my recovery - to stay on a schedule and get enough sleep. My excuse is that I felt that I had to write something - that's it(Operative word here is Excuse). I understand that my manias heve been a bit more apparent the last few months (like Easter Sunday I decided in a split second that I was going to come home, pack my clothes and drive off to who knows where, forever). In that same manner I've decided that I'm going to make a book about me and my art. I've spent the last 2 days retrieving photographs. It started out to focus just on my posters, but I'd like to talk about myself and what I go through in this life that is so highly spiced with bipolar illness; something like I do in this blog already, but with a bit more detail. I suppose that someone may want a copy at some time, though that's not the reason I'm making it. I kinda want something "substantial"; something I can hold in my hands. I'll definitely make an announcement when its available.

Hospitalization post #2: Restrictions

I was not very happy to be in the hospital. In fact, I was downright depressed over that fact alone. There were many restrictions. For one patients were not allowed to go outside, among other things. In this frustration I started to write my feelings. This was how I felt at the time:

Animal in a cage.
Impulses of rage.
Imbalance in the brain.
Depression, guilt and shame.
Branded like a cow.
Not nuts before till now.
Herding us around.
No straps or strings allowed.

It was rough those first few days. I must say though, that it has helped. Funny how no matter what I'm going through, I'm still creating in some way.

Interview during 3 Guys Art Exhibition