Further Creative Projects and Trends

Hello again as this time, my creative juices ain't stopping. For 4 or so years ago since I've taken up art again, my journey has been a decent one. And apart from working on my latest portfolio of paintings which is on hold at the moment, I've been branching out using more mediums and opening up on more subject matters as well as carving up my own style of art. This post will be the testament for more to come.

This is one of the subject matters to unfold.

From here, if you're seeing this peculiar dinosaur which is like a vegetable, it is. As the titles have illustrated, this is a Broccolisaurus. I hadn't came up with that idea but back when I was a boy, I was involved with the Mansfield Autism Centre undergoing processes of integration into daily lives. The idea came from one of the travelling teachers in their attempt to get me eating vegetables which I wasn't keen.

Their idea is to combine my obsession with dinosaurs and vegetables and once they've made a little book for me to have a look, I went about eating vegetables.

Other than the Broccolisaurus, there was also the Carrotosaurus, Tomatosaurus and Peasaurus. All of them in one composed book.

Not only they're useful tools for the likes of raising autistic children, that has brought up some nostalgia just to look back.

And speaking of nostalgia, I have unearthed my original design for the 2005 magazine cover for the secondary school I've attended. Towards the end of that year, I was assigned by the school to come up with that extravagant work to be featured on the years magazine. 

So every year when they come to an end, each of these magazines get published. They're like journals giving insightful moments about the school and their students who've attended along with the school photos for each grade then to be handed out to every family at their presentation nights.

Looking back at these moments has helped me open up more about myself and the way my thought processes go but as certain things in life interfere, it does become a pain even when I was having troubles being part of society as a young adult not entirely knowing who I really am as an individual. That was a decade ago. From the moment I've made my official life decision to give up my Gippsland life as things hadn't panned out the way I wanted to and into a new lifestyle within the urban areas of Melbourne, things have changed.

From a visit at the National Gallery of Victoria 3 years ago, that moment persuaded me to take up art again. From my initial paintings to eventually showcasing my artworks through exhibitions, my movement has been branching out to other things including my own Instagram account for other users to see. But not only that, some others including some Repco employees who I work with taken a keen interest.

Also from the moment I like to say I've had my second and better diagnosis of Autism (originally diagnosed when I was 5 years old), I've been factoring more of my further traits such as my literal mindset, having direct picturing in my head, a meticulous eye for detail, having my own perspective on anything and being highly imaginative especially when I tend to get bored. I shall give credit to some recent autistic people I've met and got to know and I don't wish to put an end to that.

With all these factors, I have decided to take on those rather surreal drawings but also literal from whatever influences brought up. On the top left is my Copperhead drawing. It's a mashup between a Copperhead snake and an interesting hose branded the 'Copper Head Pocket Hose' which was seen on our television screens as infomercials. The 2 peculiar things about that hose is it lengthens when you open the tap and shrivels when you're done and turn off the tap. Their idea is to make their hose compact to address the hassle of long hoses. However given its appearance, it featured stripy black and copper patterns giving the impression of a tiger snake. You'll now know what the whole idea is all about.

The picture on the right is the one I've titled Insert Wife Here. My idea is to illustrate the dilemma of marriage whilst being single. Earlier, I've had a troubling social life but it had been steadily improving. And I should point out I'm not entirely single. There have been moments people endure certain hardships for a long time and even when things improve, it gets challenging to shrug off bad moments in their earlier lives.

Annoyingly, the project has coincided with the current season of Married At First Sight which I've never been a fan of let alone their idea of matching acquaintances to become couples as their social experiment. So it's mentioned.

The bottom pairs have some certain coincidences. With Boris the Bronotsaurus, the idea came about when I was a boy, Beanie Kids were trendy as children at the time along with my sister collected them. One of them I had was a Brontosaurus named Boris. With its longish blonde hair, it came about when I came across Boris Johnson distinguished by the same style of hair. The Merry Mythmas drawing brought up my inspiration of watching Mythbusters. I can even remember back when I was a teenager, their website featured quizzes for visitors to test their knowledges on certain urban myths whether they're true or not. One topic is on Christmas myths which was titled 'Merry Mythmas'.

Coincidences are funny moments in our lives. Everywhere I go and witness, coincidences appear when anything else occurs with some kind of similarity or connection. I can still remember the connection with an AFL player Ben Brown and Ben 10, probably too awkward to talk to other passionate fans who've been religious to the sport. But how's this for a coincidence I have spotted?

With the picture of my car's front wheel, that was a few months ago when I bought a set of new Kuhmo tyres. The replacement from my car's previous set has been worthwhile. On the right and if you can recognise the KPop Demon Hunters, you're correct. Once you all see the main Korean connection, this is when I feel at odds contemplating what the hell I've got myself into. Well, in terms of whatever goes on inside my head.

Anyway, we better move on. The new year brings forward another set of art exhibitions to participate.

Using my faithful Mechpro trolley from last year's Noble Park Art Show and my storage unit, showcasing my art will continue for the third year. It kicked off with the Upper Beaconsfield Art & Photography Show and next up, SECAN's exhibition for us members to showcase our best artworks for this month. More will follow.

And then, there are other creative projects like those horned dinosaur heads. What started off as a new challenge of 3D paper and these as the result, another idea opened up to sell these as model assembling kits. That unfortunately will have to wait until later but apart from that, SECAN's revamped gift shop will be worth making good use.

I've previously mentioned about this project using this car model to work out my ideas as a mockup for my idea of my very own project car.

But now, we shall all go to conclude this post. Being creative and even expanding to do other things, anyone can perhaps initiate trends. Even doing something different and having other people spot then thinking it'll be any good, you kind of feel proud not being a random person but a unique individual that anyone else is willing to admire. And considering the years of struggles I've had fitting in a community setting, I came a long way to get to that point in life.

Not only that, I've been establishing for a few years that autism can been an even better condition, like a superpower. I've had a good privilege to be participating at the Autism Valued's new Passion Projects group this year. 

That's all from my end. See you next time!