Continue reading »]]> Crossroads

This crossroad I face must be passed

The reason – to enjoy what remains of my life

They tell me I have two or three years

It could be shorter or longer

It finally dawns on you – they’re talking about you

Like Alice in Wonderland trapped behind a mirror

Forced to stop and face my fears which blanket me

Should I work? It’s laughable why?

I want to be free

So I choose life and start to break out

I have chosen the long road

The hard road - the one nobody has travelled

Finally I look back on a crossroad passed

Life verses the unthinkable

Today just happened to be my day to decide

Continue reading »]]> One Battle

A story of a life

Just one person’s brief existence – My life

Amidst the jargon – the pleasantries

The story was told I think my death occurred

Oh at least five or six times during the trial

Not to mention of course being reborn again.

After all I was sitting in the center of this mess

And not in a coffin

Liked some believed or wished

The emotions flare up like a furnace fed to much fuel

And becoming dangerously close to exploding

It is extremely hard

To conquer the anger boiling away

To stop making any passing word

Becoming knots of frustration and wishing

Oh so much wishing

To be able to strike out and hit someone… something

Prejudice – That inhabits the phobic assholes

Who sit there and say what they have done

The destruction of my life

Caught between the facts

The way it is, the way it has to be

And wish, dream, hope,

That it will be over one way or another.

Continue reading »]]> Today some time was scheduled to do some more work on the column project started before christmas. A few paint touch ups and most of the “Black Lining” has been done. This makes the edges a bit more crisp and clear. There still has to be mirror( or mirror like) pieces to be added were the faces are and a key word in the blue area above the characters heads. Below is the latest pictures with most of the black lining done on the main characters.

Continue reading »]]> Shadows

(A short passage of the decision to fight this thing – AIDS and to hold the military accountable)

A fear of what they are…

All the things I do not want to think of –

All those things

Everyone locks away deep inside themselves.

This ailment has opened Pandora’s Box

And now I run in vain

I trip the question hangs in the air

“What if there is no one to help me as I fall?’

I am aware of the shadows tricks

Running not only behind

But hidden as well ahead

So I continue

That gritty smile on my face

Anticipating and determined

I will make the best of the worst

And hopefully will not fall

Under the weight of this path.

Continue reading »]]> “Community Reflection Pillar” update.

Last week (Dec 17th) the majority of the painting is finally completed. Still to be done is attaching the mirror’s or some such facsimile to be placed were the face ovals are. The key word(s) also need to be inscribed above the larger people but below the top trim. Black-lining – a processes to make the images “pop”. Then the final phase – a sealer for protection. It looks like we’ll be waiting till the new year now to do more work on this piece.

The four sides of the Community Reflection Pillar

Continue reading »]]> This piece now sports a new title ”Community Reflection Pillar”

A little background behind the planning and images: The Executive Director of ACNS approached local Artist and HIV+/Aids volunteer Simon Thwaites to brighten up the new office space by coming up with a design and painting the pillar just within the entry. After a few days an image was agreed on and the “Pillar Mural” was started,

ACNS (AIDS Coalition Of Nova Scotia) is a multifaceted and volunteer driven group offering support, education and advocacy for those affected by HIV+/AIDS.
Simon’s idea and imagery for the Community Reflection Pillar is derived from the essential services offered by the group. Due to time restraints others where asked to assist in the painting portion of the project making it truly a “community” effort.
Each side reflects a harmony of what one can bring to the Organization. This is further enhanced by the support from the community indicated by the houses at the base. The small images of people around the legs representing a person’s unique support-network they bring to the table. The main image is a reflection of the self this is further enhanced by using a mirror (in the face area) to reflect back ones own image. This reflection showing how you could be this person and the support you offer. Higher up on the pillar will be words added in the blue background to bring home the area of expertise. At the very top is a silhouette strip which is representation of the physical activities one might enjoy while part of the ACNS. The images below are how much has been achieve todate.

Continue reading »]]> In late October 2010 Simon was approached to create something unique for the new ACNS office space. They had a marvelous blank pillar which just begged to be painted.

After the initial consolation with the powers that be a rough design was approved.

This design incorporated four major themes that the ACNS offers. Support, Remembrance, Compassion and Advocacy was chosen to focus on. Each side of the pillar would host a theme. Central to that idea would be a figure to represent the embodiment of that idea.

The initial design was plotted out on tracing paper over a weekend then transferred to the pillar.

The transfer to the pillar took one day for all four images to be ‘penciled’ in. The next phase would be painting.

As one can see the project is progressing well and is achieving one of its requested design parameters to be “Very Colorful”.

An added feature to the mural is a silhouetted relief running all around the top depicting individuals and events the group participates in.

With the backgrounds all being a nice bright blue it was decided to add texture to enhance each side and create uniqueness for that panel.

This particular background made from applying paint then ‘scrubbing’ some back off with a sponge created a rainy night effect. Adding the slight shadowy outlines of people added to make wonderful effect.

Today the above work from initial creative ideas to the first application of paint had taken about a week in accumulated time. One delay, which is not a problem, is that the space is used by people who are environmentally sensitive so painting has to be done when those people are not accessing the space.

Continue reading »]]> …Trying to understand,

To cope

Pushed by despair I stumbled and fell into a seemly endless gaping chasm.

For three days and nights cold darkness ruled over me.

Cast adrift in the endless sea with no hope or care to carry on.

I knew even then I was dead.

In the early days my head would spin at the possibilities

How far? How long? Should I fight?

Dizzy from all the choices

Yet the decision to make life simpler was easy.

Cutting of the trappings of stressful projects became the first of many casualties.

Like burning bridges to conserve strength

My battle – my war

Though fought by many was mine alone

And in saying that only the weapons I found and could wield myself would work.

It was like being thrown into a medieval battlefield

Each of us jostled for advantage and like some huge army,

For indeed our numbers were vast.

Learning to cope with one another – our differences

Was harder than anyone could imagine

Some could not and fell.

Even in death

Is a choice

Mine is to do all that I can

To be happy – to be smiling

To be proud in myself and my doings

To do that I laugh at this wound I have.

It is an inconvenience.

It is just a part of something I am.

It can be made gross and indecent or shown

As the sliver of a shadow

The reality it is a small and insignificant

To the fact my life is more than

It’s pitiful dent in my armor.

When I die

It will only be a cause.

I will make it honorable not to be cherished and loved.

But understood for what it is.

Thus it came to be that the discovery did not kill me.

Even though at the time I was sure it would.

My life continued changed

…The ignorance, shame and persecution

I will not let it absorb me

Making itself the only passion to continue

It is a part of many things I will do

And it will become one of many things

I will have done.

Continue reading »]]>

In life many battles all sorts of scars are won.

Some are worn like an honored badge, others concealed behind shame,

Buried like some forlorn treasure no eyes may view.

…

But imagine my surprise-my horror in discovering the wound.

It had slipped neatly between my ribs and grazed my very existence.

It had reached my soul.

Continue reading »]]> Simon Thwaites was born In Portsmouth, England 1962 at the age of 13 his family immigrated to Canada. He now resides in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

As a child Simon has always dabbled in art. One of his first paintings; A finger painting at age 6 of a scene from ‘Wind in the Willows’ was displayed with pride in a local art show.  That experience laid part of the foundation of Simon’s love of drawing and painting.

Simon’s work is a natural extension of himself not chiseled to a fine edge by art colleges or university degrees but developed over the years simply because of a love for using his hands and creating art as an outlet to express emotions and feelings. Using various mediums and techniques his work is interpretive, embodying a masculine solidness to most of his work. This allows one to be inspired for a brief moment escaping the everyday world and be lost in the message of the art being viewed.

His focus over the last few years has been on exploring acrylics and oil painting embracing new projects which challenge his abilities.

The Inspiration behind the Artist;

One sometimes wonders were an artist gets his ideas from. Simon’s life has had many twists and turns. Starting in England as a small boy in a closed environment in Boarding Schools and then exposed to the vast openness of Canada. His art has elements of both a ridged solidness but at times reflects the wanton lust of freedom. His experience of being in the Canadian Navy opened up numerous cultures and artistic styles. The affect of becoming HIV+/AIDS in the early 80’s has been a major player in the last 20+ years and reflects a deeper spiritual connection one can develop when faced with death.

His personal favorite artists are Spanish Cubist painter Pablo Picasso, surrealist painter Salvador Dali and wildlife painter Glen Loates. From each you can find some of the inspiration Simon draws on from the Cubist slicing of images into raw geometric forms and use of bold color. The incorporation of surrealistic and hidden messages within Salvador Dali’s paintings and in some the connection with nature as expressed by Glen Loates. Their influence has created the unique bold, colorful, inspirational, hidden meanings that Simon employs in his work.