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Every contributor of $20.00 (Plus best shipping) or more will receive a signed copy of Book 1
of the trilogy "Dancing with Rejection: A Beginner's Guide to Immortality" (The Trilogy)

Sample Excerpt of "Dancing with Rejection"

After chatting this morning with my editor, I am reassured that the publication date of "Dancing with Rejection: A Beginner's Guide to Immortality" is drawing near. Many of my writer friends have cautioned me "not to rush" going to press. Thinking of their council, I am taking a deep breath as work continues to refine and polish the manuscript, as we speak.

Now, I've decided to start posting sample excerpts as a "teaser" that will also serve to count down the days remaining until we witness the completed, edited, formatted version go to press.

Please enjoy at your own risk. Cautionary note: this book is written with unflinching honesty and frankness. I have not held back any punches.

                                              ONE 

I was one of the few who managed to deflect the powerful 

influences that would sway me away from my artistic life while 

growing up. There were several times as a youngster that 

people close to me made very calculated efforts to dissuade 

me from my idealistic ambition to become an artist. The 

phrase “to become an artist” is not precisely accurate in my 

case. Strange as it may sound, I was already an artist when I 

was born. I was really left with no other option than to carry 

on with my work, as only time and experience would permit. 

Looking down at my infant hands, I felt a pang of anxiety, 

relieved only by a feeling of being suspended on a silvery 

filament, as a softly glowing pearl in a shining spiral of likewise 

glowing pearls, whirling out in all directions. I was two and a 

half years old when this sustained investigation of my palms 

began. Holding my hands palm up, elbows crooked, I

experienced a peculiar phenomenon...

Artist Working to Promote Kidney Health

In mid-May of 2014, I returned to dialysis treatments at St. Paul's Hospital in Saskatoon, after thriving for over 34 years, with a wildly successful kidney transplant. My brother Steven donated a kidney to me on October 17th, 1979. It was at Sunnybrooke Medical Center in Toronto, where I was living and working at the time, that I was originally diagnosed, at age 19, with End-Stage Renal Failure. Only a scant fifteen years prior to this, ESRF was pretty much an assured death sentence. At Sunnybrooke, there were highly trained kidney specialists who immediately recognized my symptoms. Thanks to this, I received an emergency operation that allowed the life-saving intervention of dialysis, the following day. Dialysis is a technological marvel that allows the kidney patient to have their blood cleansed by an artificial kidney machine. 

At age 19, I designed and painted the mural "Recovery 1", which I donated to Sunnybrooke Hospital in Toronto.

My first response, after I felt better, was to design and paint a mural called “Recovery 1”, that I donated to Sunnybrooke Hospital in Toronto. My brush with an early death greatly influenced my artistic direction. Thinking of my artistic heroes, who had painted monumental murals that earned them a certain sense of immortality, I decided early on that I would not leave this life without leaving my mark on the art world. It was with this in mind, that I decided early on to carve out a career as a mural-painter. With this focus, I have in the interim designed and painted well over sixty large murals from coast to coast in Canada, with an emphasis in the past couple of decades in Western Canada.

Working on the mural "March of Trinity" at Sacred Heart Chaldean Catholic Church in Saskatoon, SK.

I've lived and worked for about twenty years in the beautiful Resort Village of Manitou Beach, since I met the love of my life, fellow artist Sharon Gibson. Together, we have established the seasonal business “G-G's Gallery and Gifts”, that has enjoyed modest success over the past six years. I am also an easel painter, and G-G's has created high-quality, sustained exposure of our artwork to thousands of visitors since its inception. The great thing about G-G's is, it has generated many exciting commissions for “heirloom-quality” portraiture (another of my specialties) and other artistic projects, along with generating many sales of original artwork.

While my decision to pursue the career path of “monumental mural-painter” has been very fruitful, the question of precarious health lead me to reach out to the renal (kidney) community, to create a Facebook page called “Kidney Transplant Donors and Recipients”, where we welcome and embrace the renal community worldwide. We welcome anyone with a “kidney connection”, in all stages of their health journey. My wife Sharon originally came up with the idea to form this group, and she and I were the first members. After about two years, the group has grown to over ten-thousand strong! So, much as I hoped that my career as a muralist might assure a certain measure of immortality, the formation of KTDR has superseded this goal, as it is a living, thriving community. It has far exceeded my expectations, to say the least! And, it continues to expand its reach on a daily basis.

Since I re-started thrice-weekly, four hour dialysis treatments, I have fast-tracked a writing project that I've dabbled in for a few years. Thanks to this dedicated “me-time”, I am just about ready to release Book 1 of a trilogy called, “Dancing with Rejection: A Beginner's Guide to Immortality”. Thanks in large part to my friend and mentor, the best-selling Saskatchewan author Wes Funk, I'm going ahead to self-publish. You might say, I don't really have the luxury of unlimited time to wade through “rejection” letters from the publishing houses. Don't you think it might be a bit ironic to stare down these notices for a project of this sort? 

With Canadian literary darling Wes Funk, host of "Lit Happens" on Shaw Cable TV.

To read more, and to follow the trajectory of the impending world-wide launch, please crank up your high-speed internet to visit www.mrgaudet.com.

Not a Broken Heart

My mom called me yesterday with an amazing...and frightening...story. She related to me that on November 23rd this year, she experienced a severe pain in her chest. She checked into the ER, suspecting that she might be having a heart attack! 

An ECG confirmed that no, she was very healthy and the cause of her pain was deemed a "mystery". After she settled down she thought about it, and realized with a shock, that the time of the onset of the pain corresponded precisely...to the minute...of my dad's death (of kidney failure) 51 years ago! 

She then asked me what I thought of this...and the best I could come up with was, "Maybe it was a case of anxiety memory?" She did not sound convinced, preferring to keep her thoughts on this to herself.

 She did not sound convinced, preferring to keep her thoughts on this to herself.

Have you ever had an experience like this? 

I told her that this story sent chills up and down my spine, and that it would most likely be included in "Book 3" of the "Dancing with Rejection: A Beginner's Guide to Immortality" trilogy. Man, what a zinger!

I told her that this story sent chills up and down my spine

About “Dancing with Rejection: A Beginner's Guide to Immortality” ​(the Trilogy) Book 1..

​

Michael Robert Gaudet begins his story with the early realization of his fate as an artist...whether he likes it or not. The "proof would be in the pudding", as he went on to become an acclaimed, monumental mural-painter.
He very nearly suffered the same fate as his father Robert, who died of kidney failure at age31 in 1963. Robert was a tenacious and determined young man, even as he contemplated the epic unfairness of his impending, early demise. He set out to stitch together a daring and courageous plan for his own immortality, that involved genetic engineering and a brazen act of manipulating time and space.

Book 1 of the Trilogy "Dancing with Rejection".

"Dancing with Rejection" is at once a romping adventure that sketches vivid portraits of the mentors that would change his life, and the women that would torment and beguile him.
Gaudet chronicles his harrowing journey to the edge of oblivion, and his ongoing quest to
make the best of a precarious health picture, that haunts his dreams.
Part medical drama and part "rags to riches", this book is a kaleidoscopic, sweeping tale of
tenderness and tenacity, as seen through the eyes of an artist.

This book explores the primal, human need not to be forgotten, as if you never set foot on
this planet.

"Dancing with Rejection" on "Lit Happens" TV

Best-selling author Wes Funk requested an interview with me to help launch "Dancing with Rejection: A Beginner's Guide to Immortality". I was happy to comply.

Best-selling author Wes Funk made me feel relaxed and at ease during our TV interview.

"Lit Happens" is a literary showcase of up and coming, as well as the old guard, of the Saskatchewan writing community. I appreciate the opportunity to discuss the story-line of Book 1 of the Trilogy for the historic record on this show. I can only imagine how much more succinct I will become as we drill deeper into the project.

"Lit Happens" host and literary darling Wes Funk puts his guest at ease.

Wasn't that a particularly interesting ten minutes? As usual, Canadian literary darling Wes Funk was the best host you could hope for. He was gracious and friendly, but also willing to ask the salient questions to keep the interview flowing. It flowed along seamlessly, just like his writing style.

Last year, Wes commissioned me to paint an over-size portrait of him. I guess this is another bid for "immortality", if you get what I mean. Thinking, this is a primal human urge, to leave some kind of mark or testament on this planet. It is a desire to be remembered.

We conferred and decided YES, I would make a special presentation on air!

 Wes asked me to bring the portrait to him at the time of our interview. I agreed, and after a brief huddle, Wes, his producer Dean and I decided to make the presentation live on air. It was a very full eight minutes!

Word on the street is, the interview will be aired sometime in early December 2014. Stay tuned for that, coming to this space.

Near-Death Experience. Now what?

Seeing as how the imminent release of Book 1 of my memoir “Dancing with Rejection: A Beginner's Guide to Immortality” (the Trilogy) is coming up in the next couple of weeks, I thought it would be a good idea to offer a synopsis. The book consists of several intertwining themes.

These include, but are not limited to: 

1) the last year or so of my father Robert's short life, who died of kidney failure on November 22nd, 1963, at the age of 31, 
2) Robert's vivid presence in my life as a (not always) benign spirit, 
3) my life-long fascination with the mystical power of the number three 
4) the early realization of my fate as an artist...whether I liked it or not, 
5) the sometimes turbulent, messy love life that ruined many sleepless nights, 
6) the kidney disease that very nearly cut my life short at the age of nineteen, 
7) my ongoing quest to make the best of a precarious health picture, 
8) the heroic “Gift of Life” that changed everything, 
9) my response to a “Near-Death Experience”, which was to carve out a career as a monumental mural painter.

After my NDE, I decided instinctively that I wasn't prepared or willing to settle for a non-eventful, conventional life. I determined that if nothing else, I would set out to do my level best to somehow “leave my mark” on the world in this temporal, mortal life. I believe this is a primal, human need. The need not to be forgotten, as if you never set foot on this planet.

Come join the pre-launch...and later the launch...party for Book 1 of the Trilogy at the 
Facebook page. (  www.facebook.com/groups/dancingwithrejection   )                                                
See you there. 

Proof Copies of "Dancing with Rejection" (Book 1 of the Trilogy) Arrives!

After plugging away on this pet project for months and months (years really, but who's counting?) I was thrilled (no exaggeration) yesterday when my friendly Purolator Man pulled into my driveway with a plain brown box in his hands.

Our friendly neighborhood Purolator Man was gracious enough to pose for a photo as he arrived with a plain brown box.

After investing SO much time and energy into creating Book 1 of the "Dancing with Rejection" Trilogy, I was thrilled to finally get the first Proof Copies into my hands. It was only thanks to the unflagging efforts of my editor Christina George, the indefatigable Annaleigh Sage Bergman (who stepped up to offer her Interior Formatting skills), and my darling wife Sharon...who never wavered in her support and encouragement, that this day arrived.

Knowing how much you, dear reader, enjoy opening such an alluring package, I decided to hold my enthusiasm in check just for a few seconds longer to faithfully photograph this process, step-by-step.

The plain brown box that arrived on 06/11/2014.

Burning up with curiosity, and about ready to burst with excitement, I couldn't wait a second longer to slash the packing tape and dig in!

WHAT oh what is inside? The tension mounts!

The box was well packaged with a long, twisted piece of plain brown paper to prevent the contents...very slippery...from sliding around. Let's pull it out, shall we?

I bet the length of twisted paper was at least ten feet long. 

The length of twisted paper, once it was pulled out of the box, was at least ten feet long. I appreciated the care and attention to detail that the packers had lavished on ensuring that the contents stayed put. It was confidence inspiring, not to mention the fact that the package arrived only one day after it was promised on the CreateSpace website after I requisitioned the shipping.

What's that I see inside the dark interior of the box? 

Let's get rid of that packing paper and take a peek inside the box, shall we? It was such a massive head rush to see (even the back cover) of the first Proof Copies of my long-awaited Book 1 of the "Dancing..." Trilogy!

After juggling so many moving parts, it is exciting to be finally holding physical copies.

I must admit, it feels kind of surreal to be holding physical copies (albeit "Proof Copies) of Book 1 of the "Dancing with Rejection" Trilogy. Book 2 is written already, but Book 3 is still ricocheting around inside my cranium, a little unformed. The best part of this whole project is, it injects a heightened sense of urgency into my life, even as I am undergoing "dialysis therapy" three times a week, for four hours each session.

Dialysis is a blood-cleansing therapy for people with kidney disease. It's all part of the story!

Plot-line for "Dancing with Rejection: A Beginner's Guide to Immortality"

"Dancing with Rejection: A Beginner's Guide to Immortality"  Book 1 chronicles the premature death of my father Robert of kidney failure, my initial diagnosis (Near-Death Experience...medical drama!) leading to my transplant 17-11-1979. There is also a lot of adventurous story-telling about some of the more outstanding characters I met in those days. And of course, I go into my early steps that lead to a career as a monumental mural-painter. My reaction to the "NDE" was to paint the 1st "Recovery" mural that graces the cover of Book 1 and also our masthead here. All in all, Book 1 was written to appeal to my fellow dialysis warriors, transplant patients, and generally EVERYBODY.
Book 2 is already written as well, but will be published after a bit of rest. That is the story of my rise to "fame" as a mural-painter...along with the deterioration of my health...leading to dialysis after 34+ years as a wildly successful TX patient. Both books are wrapped up in angelic encounters, as well as, of course, an ongoing love story!
Book 3 is being written as we speak!
My mission with the Trilogy is to engage a wide audience to increase awareness around kidney disease and kidney health, as it affects an everyday guy and his family across three generations.

The original design for my "Recovery 1" mural was slightly altered to feature the figure on the far right stepping off the edge of the canvas, to represent "getting on with life"...people to see, things to do.

In the next day or so, we will be receiving the first batch of hard copy Proof Copies of ook 1 of the trilogy. Excited? Oh yeah! 

Awaiting Proof Copies of "Dancing with Rejection"

After much deliberation that involved the intimate perusal of first, my long-suffering editor Christina George, followed by interior formatting by the indomitable Sage Bergman, I was finally ready to order the first Proof Copies of my upcoming memoir "Dancing with Rejection".

My tenuous health status does not permit me the luxury (if you want to call it that) of mucking around with publishers in order to get this thing out. There's no way in hell I'm willing to wait for somebody out in the big bad, cruel, indifferent publishing world to actually recognize the validity of a book called "Dancing with Rejection"! Just the thought of receiving multiple rejection letters kind of smacks of irony, don't you think?

So, the long and short of it is...SELF-PUBLISH and damn the torpedoes!

Very soon now, you will see a photo of yours truly holding actual hard copies of this book, with a very wide grin.

That's what I'm a-gonna do!

Apparently, many self-published books have been known to catch the eye of publishing houses, ultimately leading to the adoption of the poor little self-published orphan. Well, if something like that happens in this case, I would have to very carefully analyze the pros and cons of such a phenomenon before I changed my course. So far, from everything I've heard and read, self-publishing is definitely the way to go, just as long as the author has the wherewithal to promote, market and/or flog the book.

Oh yeah, the book also has to extremely GOOD!

Cool New Fine Art America App

After  enjoying membership with Fine Art America for about three years, this amazing artist-driven firm has come up with yet another valuable contribution to my marketing tool chest.

Now, for the first time ever, FAA has created the opportunity for you to purchase Museum-Quality (acid-free inks and paper for extreme fidelity and longevity) Prints directly from the artist's website and blog! How cool is that?

When you click on any of the images below, a complete array of options will pop up with your shopping cart. Easy, fun and affordable.

Art Imitating Life

I started writing my "memoir" almost 20 years ago. I had some time to myself and a nice thick sheaf of foolscap. There was a pen nearby. Some sixty or more hand-written pages later, I'd laid down the foundation for what would eventually become a full-blown trilogy called "Dancing with Rejection: A Beginner's Guide to Immortality"

The premise of the book is...EVERYBODY has a story, but it needs to be written down. Otherwise, it will be simply lost to the passage of time. Predicated by the fact that my father died at the tender age of 31, on November 22, 1963, I realized with a jolt that life on this planet is a temporal thing that we ought not to take for granted. As a life-long artist who has dealt head-on with the ravages of kidney failure...that damn near wiped me off the face of the Earth at age 19 in 1979, I started to think early on about the prospect of simply dying an ignoble, anonymous death.

This gloomy scenario was met with fierce resistance by my young, vibrant spirit. It would not do! After I was diagnosed with End-Stage Renal Failure at Sunnybrooke Hospital in Toronto, the doctors there initiated emergency dialysis therapy to save my life. Only 15 years prior to this, my Dad wasn't so lucky.

Once I felt a little more human...as in, less like a walking toxic waste dump...I designed and painted my first "monumental mural" and donated it to the hospital that saved my life.

"Recovery 1" was designed and painted at age 19 and donated to the hospital that saved my life.

I went on to receive the "Gift of Life" aka a kidney transplant from my brother Steve on October 17th, 1979. This allowed me to thrive and prosper for almost 35 years, during which time I carved out a career as muralist, painter and gallery owner/operator. 

In May of 2014, my doctor told me that I must return to dialysis therapy, as my graft was failing. The toxins were accumulating once again to potentially lethal levels. This news injected an increased urgency for me to to juggle all of the moving parts required to finish writing my memoir, and to get it published. It is only by the grace of God and all of my personal angels, along with "a little help from my friends" that this dream is achievable. By the look of things, the first two installments of the trilogy "Dancing with Rejection" will be published in the 2015 calender year. 

The time I've spent (4 hours, 3x a week) on dialysis has been fruitful. Blood cleaning to keep me alive, and pecking away on finishing my manuscript!

Ordinarily, I would have simply paid for the initial cost of production, publishing and marketing of my book(s) myself. My career as a professional mural-painter and gallery owner has been very good to me over the years. But, these are not "ordinary" times. Three days a week dependent on dialysis has impacted my earning power, to say the least. With this in mind, I have reached out to my family and friends for help with a GoFundMe campaign. This was initiated only about two weeks ago, and has been incredibly successful, generating almost 30% of my target and over 100 "shares" in this short time! 

Please click through this link to read more, and to share the story if the spirit moves you. Thank you in advance for your generosity of spirit.

"Dancing with Rejection"...the NYC connection!

My last post lamented that fact that the "Interior Formatting" of my upcoming memoir "Dancing with Rejection: A Beginner's Guide to Immortality" was making me crazy. Sure, I was able to figure out the formatting on my own computer...no problem. But when it came to uploading my impeccable file to my online publishing platform, everything went squishy and stretchy in a completely random way, or so it appeared to me.

After trying and retrying about fifteen times, I grew increasingly  frustrated. Seeing as how I am a exemplary specimen of male pattern baldness...I take after my Dad in this respect...I really do not have that much hair to pull out, so I was left without this pressure valve. All I could do was gnash my teeth and pound my fist on my desktop. Didn't help. I was still stuck, with my nose pressed against the glass, merely desiring to make it work, but left feeling impotent.

I did, however, reach out to my social network and was richly rewarded when a friend named Annaleigh Sage Bergman, herself a recent kidney donor, stepped up to announce that she has the expertise to create the interior formatting. This is a crucial step that we must take in order to go to press! I was like, WOO-HOO!  Sage is based in New York City and we recently met through the Facebook page Kidney Transplant Donors and Recipients that I founded about three years ago.

As I drill deeper into this writing project, I am meeting more loving, supportive people who are all combining their unique skill sets to make it a reality. I'm humbled and grateful to everyone who has offered their help. You will read all about it in the "Gratitude" section of the book after it hits the press in the near future.

Zoning in on the Dreaded "Formatting" of Upcoming Memoir!

If you thought "formatting" was easy, then think again.

I am discovering...the deeper I drill into this...that it is a nasty, unforgiving business. Everything you do affects the remainder of the manuscript.

In other words, it is a juggling act of many moving pasts, like around 150,000 words or so. I was originally thinking about including both Book 1 and Book 2 inside one cover but alas, I have found that this is technically difficult, if not impossible. Bearing this salient fact in mind, I have now opted to publish...
"Book 1" and "Book 2" as two separate entities.

The more I thought about it, the more sense it made.

Now, instead of having a big honkin' BRICK of a book...at almost 1000 pages...I will have two more manageable volumes. After all, as my friend Sarah so succinctly pointed out, a book must be "ergonomic" at the very least. That is to say, not too bloody heavy. It's not supposed to be an exercise regime!

Now, just to keep up the tradition in this space of being "very image-rich", I am posting the latest version of the cover!

While I realize that this version is not drastically different from the previous, there ARE some changes.

Please note that this cover art now signals this is "Book 1". See? I told you I was on a steep learning curve.

Crowd-Sourcing Cover Art Yields Good Results

After all of the insightful comments and suggestions from my friends from around the planet in the past 24 hours, I am nudging the cover art design for the soon-to-be-released memoir "Dancing with Rejection: A Beginner's Guide to Immortality" further along. Graphic Design is not my strong suit, but I feel I'm making good progress thanks to a little help from my friends.

The text on the back reads as follows:

I am discovering as I get closer to publication that my publisher offers a plethora of distribution options, including hard copies made available at Amazon.com, Ebook format at Kindle, etc. Am I getting excited? You bet.

Passion Project Progress Report (Cover Art for Memoir)

Every day I am pushing my Passion Project ahead a notch.

Working with a world's leading hand's-on publisher makes all the difference in the world, but there's no substitute for taking the initiative on the design side of things.

I've mulled over the design concept for the cover art re: "Dancing with Rejection: A Beginner's Guide to Immortality" and it was one of those pillow moments that changed everything. I thought, there needs to be some human touch on the cover, not so much the abstract, surreal image of the pill mosaic.

My aim, as the graphic designer, was to come up with something eye-catching and impacting, but also extremely legible, above all else. There may very well be changes yet to come. Thanks for your patience.

And then I thought, oh, how about the "Recovery" mural from back in 1979, when I was 19 or 20 years old? The human touch touch would've been a good idea, too bad I painted a bunch of weird red and blue androids. So I guess it isn't that human after all, but hey, it was created by a human, albeit a human in recovery mode after a near-death experience.

Extracting from the back cover, "Dancing with Rejection: A Beginner's Guide to Immortality" is a romping, adventurous yarn that chronicles the life and times of a long-term kidney transplant, and his rise to become a monumental mural painter.
Excruciatingly honest in its scope and breadth, this story shines a light on the reality of kidney disease, a condition that affects millions worldwide."

Did I mention I am publishing a memoir?

A Passion Project of mine for the past several years has been first the collating, transcribing and then finally the writing and attending to the editing of the memoir/novel 'dancing with rejection: the beginner's guide to immortality'. It's a rollicking, adventurous drama that traces my life from the early death of my father, through to my own brush with death and on to chronicle the rise in my fortunes as a monumental mural painter and advocate for patients' rights. There is an early illustrated synopsis that you can view here: Near-Death Experience Fuels Quest for Immortality.

Getting closer to creating the official cover art for my upcoming novel 'dancing with rejection:
the beginner's guide to immortality'.

My latest project is to promote the cause of, wait for it, 'Reasonable Efficient Notifications and Action Law (RENAL)'. This begins with a petition that I invite you to sign. Takes like 15 seconds in total. We are asking for better, clearer, more timely communication between kidney transplant centers and their millions of potential kidney donors and recipients. Please, take a few seconds to sign, if you know anybody with kidney disease. Chances are, you do.

'55 Cadillac Convertible Mural!

I have always loved the challenge of creating illusory surfaces with acrylic paints, including the effect of a bottomless finish on, for example, a painting of a vintage automobile. It just so happens that one of my all-time favorite "finishes" is so-called "Candy-Apple Red", that is one of the classic colors of the pre-nineteen sixties American-Made cars. A noteworthy example of this would be the classic 1955 Cadillac Convertible.

An early shot of the work-in-progress, after about five glazes.

I was especially happy to be awarded a design contract a couple of months ago to create an articulate cut-out silhouette of both a '55 Caddy along with a vintage Texaco fuel pump, as decor to compliment the candy-apple red painted doors in a private Saskatoon residence.

Getting serious with glazing, about ten layers in. 

I am happy to share a few pictures of the work-in-progress with my readers, and also the finished montage. Just FYI, both of the objects were cut out and painted with professional artist's acrylics on "cresone" which is a high-grade painter's panel. Cresone, also known as "M.D.O" or "Medium Density Overlay"  is an exterior grade plywood with a waterproof super-smooth paper coating, that makes it idea for mural-painting applications. In many cases, this is superior to working directly on an existing surface. Remember, a mural is only as good as the strata that it's painted on!

The wall that would eventually receive the cut-out panels.

We decided after our preliminary discussions that the preference would be painted (aka removable) panels in favor of painting directly on the wall. The advantage of this approach is, if the occupants ever decide to move, then they can easily detach the panels and retain their original artwork.

Finished! The panels may be removed at a later date if required. See the advantage?

I was happy to complete and install the painted panels on schedule. Also, I can report that my clients were delighted with the result. It's funny, I had mentioned to my wife not that long ago that I would love to create some artwork with an articulate cut-out silhouette and then "bam", it happened! 

Two Succulent New Paintings

I was inspired by a stunning view...of a shaft of early morning sunlight that illuminated the vapors rising out of my coffee cup. It was one of those moments that demanded to be captured for posterity.

Sometimes an artist HAS to pause to appreciate the natural beauty of everyday objects.

As a longtime member of FineArtAmerica.com, I have been enjoying lots of activity at my site. FAA is an artist-friendly community that reproduces original artwork in a wide variety of professional-quality formats. These range from prints on canvas to acrylic prints, to greeting cards. This link points you directly to my FAA site that features "The Magic Cup".

I have always loved the mystical color violet, so it was a sublime pleasure to create the still-life "Amethyst Mountain".

An Amethyst geode shimmers in the light of Ruby Red candles, set against a luscious backdrop of Prussian Blue velvet.

Click on this link to explore the various formats of "Amethyst Mountain" reproductions.

eduPOW

I will keep this real short. These guys are really on a mission to change millions of lives through their cloning experiment and they were nearly bought out for millions. But they rejected it and wait till you see why.

Trust me, it's not what you think.
Watch that video at https://www.edupow.com/?a=119049 and then you tell me :)

Michael

Painting Class at Dauphin MB ''Watson Art Center'' a Success!

  I was honored recently to be invited to facilitate a two-day intensive Acrylic Glazing Workshop at the ''Watson Art Center'' in Dauphin Manitoba. The class was held in the lovely old fire hall in downtown Dauphin that is being refurbished to house all things artistic in the district.

The beautiful old Fire Hall in Dauphin MB is being refurbished to house the artistic activities of the district.

The class was attended by seven participants who all came equipped with their acrylic painting kits including the signature "matte medium'' that is fundamental to the technique that I teach. The only time I allow water to be used is to clean out brushes. The so-called ''glazing technique'' involves the application of many transparent layers in a certain order of hues to at first accomplish a ''full-chroma'' tonal study.  We set up a still life in the center of the room that all of the participants were invited to study with the aim of ''zooming in'' on an interesting detail that would serve as the starting point and reference for the exercise to follow.

After the glaring white base is tinted a warm golden yellow, the first glaze of transparent orange is applied.

The first step in my approach is to ''sketch" with a transparent orange against a warm golden yellow base what appears to be ''dark'' versus the remaining light. In other words, separating the light from the dark. This process of identifying the dark forms and shapes carries on through the entire spectrum as you will see.

Separating the light from the dark with the initial orange glaze.

Once the participants established what detail(s) of the still life they would focus on...and I encouraged everybody to ''think big'' as in work on just two or three objects ''writ large'' on their canvas...we all proceeded in tandem to work on each successive glaze. Nothing random whatsoever in this process; rather, it is an organized and systematic approach that emphasizes a ''global approach'' to the painting process. This is in stark contrast to the haphazard approach of ''micro-managing'' that is often the downfall of amateur painters who struggle to maintain continuity in a copy and paste method that sees isolated areas of their work being lavished with attention while other tracts remain unfinished. The result is a constant struggle to create a visual harmony throughout the composition.

The first transparent orange glaze is reinforced with a transparent red glaze.

The participants are asked to designate ALL of the areas, shapes and forms that are darker than the golden yellow base. This initial step is reinforced by all of the proceeding steps in the tonal study.

I think the most powerful advantage of the glazing technique is that the artist is obliged to discern the entire picture field as the work progresses. This is in my opinion the most intelligent and organized way to tackle any subject, as the artist becomes increasingly familiar with the subject with each step, while realizing that the entire composition is coming to life simultaneously.

This is the rich effect of the full-chroma tonal study.

The participants were invite to line up their paintings for comparison after the study was completed.

 Once the first  six glazes were complete AKA the full-chroma tonal study, the participants were invited to line up their works-in-progress for comparison and study.

Making progress after a full day's painting to create the tonal study.

After a full day's painting we made a lot of progress. The tonal studies were complete and we were now poised to introduce for the first time...the ''local" or ''native'' colors. In other words, the colors that we wished to end up with to faithfully reflect the colors that our eyes perceived in the actual still life.

Right Hand(some) Portraits

Here's your opportunity to participate in the alluring and intoxicating world of Art Collection. Hot off the press, this little series of four paintings explore the dynamic tension of  "hand gestures" and their attendant symbolic potency. What, you may wonder, is the meaning derived from common hand gestures in different quarters, under varying circumstances and in disparate locales?

Love and Peace...isn't that what it's all about?
(Acrylics on Canvas...11"x 14"...$299.00 includes shipping and taxes anywhere in Canada)

"Hitch-hiker's best friend, meaning 'pick me up, I'm such a positive person.' "
(Acrylics on Canvas...11"x 14"...$299.00 includes shipping and taxes anywhere in Canada)

"Is it OK to do this?"
(Acrylics on Canvas...11"x 14"...$299.00 includes shipping and taxes anywhere in Canada)

"Thinking it is bullsh*t...in a manner of speaking."
(Acrylics on Canvas...11"x 14"...$299.00 includes shipping and taxes anywhere in Canada)

You can purchase any one of these original paintings immediately via Paypal c/o mrgaudet@gmail.com