Devine Artivention

The Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima (disturbing footage)

2010-11-02T15:45:00.000-07:00

Mad Mind 2010

2010-10-27T16:34:00.000-07:00

Levitating Bombshell 2010

Ghouls and Reapers Come to Feast 2010


Schizophrenic 2010

New Design for Logo

2010-10-27T16:26:00.001-07:00

The End of Culture?

2010-10-21T02:48:00.000-07:00

Good God, what will happen to the people of this country?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUzOHckX-Ns

Is this the end of the arts culture too, with the cuts devastating the funding pots of Arts Councils up and down the country?

As a former volunteer Youth/Arts Worker, I understand (from a volunteer prospective) the strain local councils are under (already), to keep organisations alive and kicking which provide vital support to local communities. Youth schemes and community projects are in place to improve the areas affected by poverty, crime and unemployment. Without these schemes what will these young people have to strive for?

What are the long-term repercussions of these cuts, which have been made so 'carefully' by the Conservative government?

From the BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11569160

Communities and Local Government

Annual budget: £33.6bn
What's being cut: Local Government - current spending down 27%; capital spending down 100%: Communities - current spending down 51%; capital spending down 74%
Councils will see a 7.1% annual fall in their budgets. But ring-fencing of local authority revenue grants will end and councils will have freedom to borrow against their assets. Funding for social housing to be cut by more than 60%, with new tenants having to pay higher rents. But the government hopes these changes will free up funds to build 150,000 new affordable homes over the next four years."

Culture, Media and Sport

Annual budget: £2bn
What's being cut: Current spending down 24%; capital spending down 32%
Administration costs to be cut 41% while core arts programmes will see a 15% fall in funding. Free museum entry to remain in place. BBC licence fee to be frozen for next six years. Corporation will also fund World Service and BBC Monitoring. Adds up to equivalent of 16% savings over the period.

Granny Got a Mobile and Didn't Get Killed by the Hitch-Hiker

2010-10-20T03:09:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog!

I have finally decided to join the online world (aside from Facebook, which doesn't really count)! All the cool kids are doing it, so I accepted I must evolve with the rest of the world.

For years I approached technology, like an old granny with a mobile phone "it's too complicated for me; I don't need it!" What happens when granny runs out of petrol on a country lane (on a dark misty night) and needs to call someone, to save herself from the killer 'hitch-hiker'? YOU NEED A PHONE GRANNY!

For someone merely born in the seventies and not of that actual age, I have no excuse at all...

Maxie

Hell: The Dark Side of Life

2010-10-18T12:01:00.000-07:00

Reflections on Hell 2010

This collection was inspired by my intense fascination of the world, the human mind and the infliction of pain upon the creatures that wonder the planet. Inside the micro-universe of our minds, we have the ability to be consumed with anger, enveloped in tranquility, tormented by pain or overcome with happiness.

"If we long to believe that the stars rise and fall for us,

that we are the reason there is a universe, does science

do us a disservice in deflating our conceits?" - Carl Sagan

"There's a pang in all rejoicing, And a joy in the heart of pain; And the wind that saddens, the sea that gladdens, Are singing the selfsame strain." - Bayard Taylor

"For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love." - Carl Sagan

"Pain and pleasure, like light and darkness, succeed each other."
Laurence Sterne

"Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were.
But without it we go nowhere." - Carl Sagan

Schizophrenic

Raging Bull 2010

My pieces evolved from playing around with oil paint, using white-spirit to create a layered effect when the oil had dried. I abandoned the use of oil following this collection (for a while), as my impatience and love of immediate gratification was no marriage for something that requires patience and time

Max da Silva

Pencil Sketches of Jimi Hendrix 2009

2010-10-18T11:44:00.000-07:00

Jimi Hendrix Pencil on Paper 2009

Jimi Hendrix and Girls Pencil on Paper 2009

Times gone by... Auctioned piece for GlobalGiving Charity 2010

2010-10-17T16:15:00.000-07:00

This is the piece I wrote, to support my painting for the auction at The Crystal Summer Ball, 3rd July 2010 in Manchester, which is raising awareness of people in Nigeria with disabilitiies, who are often outcast from society.

'Like You'

"From the shadows I appear
Please do not be afraid, for I am just like you.
My lungs fill with the same air as you,
My heart beats with every second that passes, like you.
I long to be loved, like you
And dream of happiness in my future, like you.

For now I'll step back into the tenebrous gloom,
Into the darkness that consumes my waking hours
I wait for the bleakness of my future to unfold
I look into the crystal ball and cannot bear
To accept the person I will become
Sombre with exquisit anguish"

Like You 2010 Indian Ink on Canvas

Fringe Arts Festival Bath 2010

2010-10-17T15:43:00.000-07:00

The FAB art fair (Fringe Arts Bath www.fringeartsbath.co.uk/) joined up with the Fringe’s Bedlam Sunday, outside the Theatre Royal in Bath on Sunday 6^th June, for music, art and shenanigans. Amalgamating music, art and food, with a touch of crazy, FAB brought one hell of a day to the people and visitors of Bath on Sunday.

The weather was sunny and hot most of the time, despite a constant threat of rain, which did nothing to dampen the upbeat spirit of the crowd and artists. Setting up the stalls was a great way to meet and mingle with fellow craftsmen, all of whom displayed their own style and creativity from paintings and prints to illustrations, cards and hand-made toys. After wrestling with the wind, my gazebo was set up and ready for action, with the hope that the sporadic wind gusts would give up the ghost and change direction or vanish!

My big paintings and prints were rested against the display table, enticing the crowd to peruse and enjoy at their leisure. The colours attracted a lot of attention and the womanly shapes of the naked women (in much of my work), proved a crowd pleaser (especially with the excited husbands). A brazen child walked past with her family audaciously covering her eyes with one hand, shouting loudly that she wasn’t allowed to look at ‘rudie’ pictures! Exactly what I wanted – controversy!

Speaking of controversy, the Bedlam performers caused quite a stir! Laughter resounded around the square, as ‘Skate Naked’ performed daring acrobatics, donned only in tiny pants, causing astonishment with their fire-torch-antics – ouch! St. Joan’s Ambulance was next, a man and woman duo involving more acrobatics, a banjo, audience participation and dancing! The walkabout performance from students from Circomedia, ‘Bristol’s world-renowned academy of the alternative performing arts’ treated the crowd to a spectacle of weird and wonderfulness! A very tall old(ish) man, donned in a fantastically-gaudy (yet amazing dress), massively extravagant hat and white tights walked around, towing a very cute, wooden toy dog – marvelous! The grand finale were Newcastle native ‘The Baghdaddies’, a ‘Balkanistic boogie dance’ band – wowing the audience and creating a mass of dancing revelers, swinging their hips to the groove.

As the day drew to a close, the buzzing revelers got ready to go home. Sleepy and satisfied from the wine, sun and delicious food from Gascoyne Place (the official bar and restaurant of Bedlam Sunday), we began to pack up the stalls. Chatting and exchanging news on the success of the day, we all parted ways and vanished to all four corners of the country.

A FAB day had by all.

Black ink and white wine...

2010-10-17T14:35:00.000-07:00

On Friday night, the weather was gloomy and wet and I'd had enough of the misery. Playing some tunes, from The Death to Angry Anderson, my sketch book emerged along with a thick, cheap marker pen from the pound shop.

I decided to start experimenting with this unforgiving medium, with the knowledge I could rub nothing out, if I felt I wanted to correct an error. I am usually so focused and particular, when drawing portraits and have to get it just right. I often rub out and start again, which allows me to draw with a safety net. Using the non-erasable marker, I began to draw John Lennon. I thought he would make a great guinea pig (would he laugh at this?), so started to draw my interpretation of him. A friend of mine asked me to draw John Lennon, which led me nicely onto the other pictures.

In making my dark, black, permanent mark on the blank page, I began to feel nervous about committing myself to it. At first my strokes were tenuous and feeble! I cursed my inability to let go and be free! When I paint I am free, but drawing (my first love) traps me and taunts me into being meticulous. By the way, I personify everything!

The more wine I drank, the more relaxed I seemed with the pen... Within fifteen minutes I had my first piece!

As I reviewed the work, I was mixture of emotions. Part of me enjoyed my new-found-freedom and ability to commit myself to something I couldn’t change and the other part of me felt like I had cheated on my more particular, precise drawing-self!

The rain was relentless through the night - and so was the wine, so I carried on with the affair...

Stepping into the 21st Century...

2010-10-17T13:36:00.001-07:00

Welcome to my blog!