London, ON Tesla Takedown Protest #2

 The post below this will show the history behind the first successful protest that we had just a few days ago. So many people were excited to do this again... so after some thought... and a change in protest site... we've got some new plans in place for this Saturday, April 19th, 1-3pm

I have held several protests on the Wortley Street Bridge cuz so many cars can see you... and your message so clearly! Street Parking along Beaconsfield Ave (south/west corner of bridge).

All signs are made! We just need people to hold them! There may not be a Tesla dealership in this area... but it is a great place to reach a lot of people!

A Whole Heck of a Lot on the Go...

I'm always multi-tasking... working on several projects and life ambitions at the same time! Busy! Busy! But this last month has seen me almost drowning in all the projects I've gotten involved in!  Keeps me busy... but when I find time to sleep... I sleep deeply! Haha!

So... here's a little update about what I've been working on...

With so much news about the fall of America filling so much space in all of our minds... I needed to find a way to turn it all off!  So... I started creating a new artwork.  This is a 12" x 12" canvas and I plan on entering it in this fall's Square Foot Art Show in the Westland Gallery. It's been a while since I've submitted a piece, so this will be exciting! 

It's just so relaxing cutting up little pieces of magazine advertisements and gluing them onto this canvas while I spin LPs on my record player! I can forget about the world's wars, collapsing ecosystems and the madness south of the border for a good 2-3 hours when I'm working away on this! 

I'm also working with Devon on his latest artwork!  He's in Grade 8 and soon to graduate. He's had an incredible music teacher through his entire elementary experience... so this will be a 'thank you' that he'll give to her nearing the end of this school year.

It's not often I get a photo of a bee this early in the gardening season! I'm loving this!!! For the last few years, I've been thinking about creating a series of Youtube videos to share my gardening adventures with others. For over 15 years I have been doing this by creating photo albums on FB... but I thought I'd reach more people by making videos. So... this is a new adventure for me!  Here's a link to my Youtube channel... just click on 'shorts' and you'll see these gardening videos... While you are there - check out my featured videos as well... most of them are music videos Devon and I have made! Lots of fun!!

My Youtube Channel

I've underlined 3 things for you to check out... my featured videos (mostly music), my shorts (where you'll find my gardening tips videos)... and my playlist (this is a HUGE list of Rock'N'Roll videos that I love to listen to!  I've also circled on the left side the list of who I have subscribed to... mostly independent media outlets... a few mainstream (I love Rachel Maddow). 

If you subscribe to my channel you will be supporting me! Thanks! If you actually want to get a notification whenever I post a video or a short... you gotta hit that 'All' bell! 

Many of my newest subscribers must have gotten a shock a few weeks ago. Until this time, all my shorts were about sharing gardening tips.  Then... suddenly... I started uploading protest videos! Haha! Now... it's a complete mix! In the morning I'll share a video about how to prune red currant bushes... and later that same day you'll see me painting protest signs! Ya never know what you'll see! Haha!

So... what am I protesting these days. Well... until a week ago I was focused only on a Tesla Takedown.  It started off innocently enough. A fellow London, Ontario gardener/environmental/political activist made a Facebook post about a new Tesla dealership that's soon to open. I made the comment "Hey! Wanna protest?" to which she answered, "Yes!"

Days later she had a meeting at her house and seven people showed up... including me!  We made many plans! First... we began organizing a protest at the new dealership on Wonderland Road just south of Bradley Ave.  Soon... we had our event planned... it's happening in just a few days... this Saturday - April 12th 1-3pm. Here's the flyer...

We also learned that a Tesla showroom recently opened in the north end of London... in Masonville Mall. Sadly... we can't protest legally inside the mall... so we came up with another plan...

We've had 20 T-shirts made... with several different sizes of this design and we're going to share them at this Saturday's event.  The idea is simple... this design is printed on the back of the Tshirt so more people will read it... especially when we are walking around Masonville Mall... shopping! Haha! We aren't protesting... just walking around... sharing our message!  Here's a hilarious 'short' I recently made...

Not protesting at Masonville Mall

I want to make a series of these videos... The first one was just me walking around. The next one I want to have 3 people doing the same thing... the next one... a few more people! Should be fun to bring this idea to life!

Next idea...

To keep this conversation going, I've made 4 000 mini-fliers that are designed to be put on windshields in parking lots filled with shoppers! 

These can be put of parked cars anywhere in the city, whenever I have a few minutes to spare!  I've been fliering cars for 30 years... mostly to promote art or environmental events. Nothing like getting a bit of fresh air while raising awareness about important matters!

Here are my Top 3 Tesla Takedown videos...

Signs Signs Everywhere A Sign

Paint It Black

Sewing the Seeds of Love

OK... 2 things about these videos... 1) The live cover of the Five Man Electrical Band song Signs... is by a 90s band name Tesla! Oh... I love the irony! 2) The Sewing the Seeds of Love video shows many hands working on a 60 foot dragon that will be at this Saturday's protest!

YUP!!! YOU HEARD ME CORRECTLY!!! There will be a 60 foot long dragon at this Saturday's protest! Haha! This is what happens when you get a bunch of artist activists inspired to take action!

And there's more...

If my plate wasn't already full... I am now also involved in a second protest... there is one planned for tomorrow evening in St. Thomas and another one planned on the same day as my Tesla Takedown.  I'm hoping people will start their Saturday with my group... then drive to St. Thomas for their protest.

So... what's this one about...

We're in the middle of a Federal election in Canada and Pierre Poilievre has some nasty candidates running.  Andrew Lawton is the one running in St. Thomas!  I met him over 20 years ago and our paths continued to cross from time to time over the years and he makes my skin crawl like a poison!  There's actually been a lot of coverage about him on CTV News, CBC News and several independent media services. Every day some new kind of action is being created!

Before we get to these actions... here's a 'short' I made that shares a bit about Lawton's history...

Why is Andrew Lawton not a Desirable Politician?

And this is just scratching the surface...

So... what's being done to get him booted from the election...

This is where I will be tomorrow at 4:20pm... before the event starts! From what I'm hearing... so will a couple hundred other people!  The media will be there and we want to be loud and get pressure put onto the CPC to boot Lawton from this election. St. Thomas & District Chamber of Commerce is hosting a Federal All-Candidates Meet & Greet - Thurs. April 10, 5-7pm - CASO Station, 750 Talbot Street.

Today, LeadNow actually started a petition. I spent the better part of an hour posting this all over social media to get more people involved...

LeadNow Petition Against Lawton

There's a protest scheduled for this Saturday, as well.  It overlaps with my Tesla Takedown... but people can go to both! At tomorrow's event I'll be handing out these fliers that I've just made to promote both protests. Hopefully this will get more people at BOTH protests!

The April 12th Lawton protest will be at his campaign office - 626 Talbot St, Unit 4, St Thomas, Ontario

There's gonna be a lot going on this week... and for the next several weeks. Be sure to check my webpage, here, for updates! My group will soon be discussing future Tesla Takedown events and we'll be wanting your support! 

* * * * * 

First update... April 12th... just after the #teslatakedown London, ON protest...

I know everyone is very excited to see what happened today, so I've made a quick collage sharing just a few photos from this event...

OK... first collage of many to come... I'd like to encourage everyone to post them... use the hashtag #teslatakedown and spread the word! It's gonna take me some time... but I've got a few amazing videos to share... and soon a link to CTV News... I was interviewed and we put on a great show for them! I'll be sharing all of this stuff - here - on my website... and future protest dates! All in all... EVERYONE was so glad that this event happened and I'd say we hit a total of nearing 50 people at our peak! Check out bitsandpeaces.com for more photos and updates over the coming days...

I recorded 4 videos while at the event... be sure to check them all out... one video has our 60 foot long dragon in it!!!!

Tesla Takedown Protest London ON April 12th #1

The Nunavut I Knew - My First Novel

 

I was fooling around with an idea that popped into my head, a short while ago, and had some fun creating this image for the cover of my soon to be published novel, The Nunavut I Knew. I doubt that the actual cover will look like this when my novel is published... but I thought that this would be a good way to begin this story.

This novel is about my adventures as an artist when I traveled to Rankin Inlet in 2006.  I had some peculiar adventures when I went trekking through the tundra, I was a radio DJ for an afternoon, I hosted a community Earth Day celebration and I had a couple of inspiring afternoons teaching my Art For Earth environmental art workshops for a handful of Rankin's youths.

I am now in my fifth year working on this effort.  It took me two years to write this novel and another two years editing it.  Last October, I decided that it was time to get a professional editor involved to smooth out the wrinkles in my writing and help me along the process of getting this novel published.  My editor is awesome!  I am very glad that she is working with me on this journey.

Obviously, there is a cost involved in this process and it's a cost that I am more than prepared to pay. I have calculated that by my own efforts I will be able to have my novel published nearing the end of this year... and that's perfectly fine with me. However, someone suggested to me that I try to get some financial support so that I can get my novel published sooner... and this led me to create my first gofundme page.

Haha! I love this photo of the students I worked with while in Rankin! We did indeed have a lot of fun. I'm glad that I chose this photo to be the main image on my gofundme page. And, look... what's that?? Yup! I've already received one donation... for $25.00.  It really made me happy to see that after just one promotion of this page that someone checked out all the info I shared and decided to support my effort.

So... here are a couple of links that you may find of interest...

This first link is to another page on this website where I share how this novel got started.  At the end of that story, I share an excerpt from Chapter 1.

The Nunavut I Knew - In The Beginning

This link is to a short Youtube video that was published during my stay in Nunavut.  The Inuit Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) came to my community Earth Day event and put together this story to share with its viewers.  Boy... I sure do look a lot younger! Haha!

My IBC News Interview

And lastly... here is the link to my gofundme page.  If you would like to support my efforts and help me get my novel published sooner than my own efforts will be able to allow... I thank you in advance!

Please Support This Effort With A Gofundme Donation 

Devon's First Youtube Channel

 How exciting!!! Now that Devon is thirteen he's allowed to have his own Youtube channel... so we got busy the other day and made it happen!  On this channel, he'll mostly be sharing his music videos.  He's already posted three videos and there's many more to come... so be sure to support his effort and subscribe to his channel!!

Several months ago, I shared the story about Devon's first song writing experience!

Here's a link to that story...

Story behind the song Hungry Words on the Wind

In the story, I mention how Devon and I were working on a video for this song!

We finally finished the editing process a short while ago... 

and this video is now ready to share with the world!

This is also the first video to be uploaded to his Youtube channel.

Here's the link to this video...

Hungry Words on the Wind - official music video

To see his other videos... and subscribe to his channel...

follow this link...

Devon The Uke Guy - Youtube Channel

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT

&

Enjoy you visit to his video collection!!!

Over the last week, Devon has been creating images

to promote his channel on his Snapchat feed...

This is his most recent one.

I'm sharing this just so you can see that Devon is very

dedicated to his channel and he's taking a lot of effort to

make this a success!

Thanks for your support! 

215

 2024 had been a 'year of completion' for me!  If you scroll down, you'll see that I've recently finished writing and editing my first novel - The Nunavut I Knew!  This was a four year effort!!  You'll also see a post highlighting the completion of a 3' x 3' artwork that took me five years to complete using puzzle pieces as my medium.  Now... I'm proud to showcase my latest artwork, that I just picked up yesterday, that is entitled 215! When you click on the link below you will see how this artwork started several years ago, as well!  I kinda like seeing many of my efforts coming to an end... although their ends are more a beginning if you ask me.  Now that these works are done, I've got to find ways to share them with the world!  I'm about to start looking at finding a publisher for my novel.  My puzzle artwork needs to find a home and 215 is about to begin a journey of it's own, as this story will show...

215

Please enjoy this effort! 

More Than Meets The Eye...

  It recently came to my attention that many people are checking out my website on their phones!  This is great... but this site is created for laptop viewing and many phone users are missing A LOT of content!

I asked one visitor to my site if she had viewed my poetry or video tabs.  She didn't know what I was talking about and it became clear that she thought I only had 5 or 6 posts on this site.  These 5 or 6 posts are what you are now seeing just on my 'home' page.

So... here's how you can access SO MUCH MORE content on this page, if you are using a phone...

If you simply click on the small black arrow that's pointing down on the right side of the small bar that (on my phone) says '(Move to...)' that is located right above the first post... another page will appear with all of my tabs... including 'Art Gallery', 'Video Gallery', 'Poetry Gallery', and soooo much more!

There is literally enough content on this website to entertain and inspire you for days on end!!!

So... have fun investigating all that bitsandpeaces.com has to offer!!! 

Ohhhh... and don't forget to find me on Facebook & Instagram! 

FINALLY!!!! DONE!!!!

 

This is a 3'-0" x 3'-0" wood canvas!  

The artwork was created using puzzle pieces!  

This project began in January 2019!!!  

This project was completed on March 8, 2024 at 6:16pm!!!

I am so happy that the finale for this project was such a success!

I've spent the last 4 hours finishing my story and getting

the photos posted so that I can share the entire story with you...

Please enjoy...

Puzzle Artwork by Mr. Jim

Whoot! Whoot!  A fun update...

Until just two hours ago, I have never been able to share a good quality image of this artwork.  All my photos create an image that is not square... mostly because the art is so big that I can't get a decent photo of the art.  A few days ago, I tracked down a photography studio in downtown London, Ontario where they have a scanner that was big enough to handle a 3' x 3' image!  I'm very excited to share this scanned image with you all...

Just click on the link above... to the longest blog story I've ever written... haha... and right at the end of the story you will be able to see the scanned image!

Oh... I've finally figured out a name for this artwork, as well!  I share the title with the scanned image!  Please enjoy...