My first thoughts online for 2010 and it's a doozy!
My start of 2010 hit the ground running; I spent most of January preparing for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Winter Conference in New York. During the conference, a Mentor and Friend died.
John Gould was not only one of Canada's finest draughtsman, he was a progressive creative entity whose work and ideas,embraced all mediums old and new-just look at the picture above for a sampling of his talent. His laureates include being elected to Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, official portraitist to Marcel Marceau; Commissions from the National Film Board of Canada and the National Gallery of Canada.
See the link below for more on John
His personal laureates include a passionate unrivaled love of drawing and the creative process, a devoted husband, friend and father, a fun-loving bon-vivant, who enjoyed good food, good wine and company; a raconteur and sagacious teacher.
Although I took formal drawing lessons from John, it was my informal time with him that I learned about art, an artist's life and life in general. It was an osmotic process, simply sharing meals, conversations and the like that galvanized my choice to pursue an artist's life. My music education was enriched by John as well. He was an accomplished saxophonist and clarinetist, reinforcing my love of jazz and I remember my first time hearing "St. James Infirmary Blues," was when John played it with his group: The Fig Leaf Jazz Band.
Take note: I'm going to come back to this.
Buddhism states that we are all interconnected and interdependent with all life and people; that their presence influences our own lives whether we are conscious of it or not. I'll go further and say that those who are close to us, have a sublime and profound effect that will manifest itself on a quantum scale; even metaphysically. Case in point, during the conference unaware of his death I spoke to many of my colleagues at the the conference of John's incredible talent and skill; later that week on the W14th subway platform, a busker played a haunting rendition of "St James Infirmary Blues," on her accordion. Coincidence? I think not. The universe was acknowledging John, and with this posting I acknowledge you John; thank you for everything you did for me.
