Alright, so tonight after work, which was a whole ordeal in itself, I hurried home to my new place to meet Nate and Julia at the apartment, where we quickly left to go out to a conscious dance in Scottsdale. I’ve never been, so wasn’t sure what to expect, but if you know me then you’ll know my propensity toward open mindedness…

So anyway, we drove to the back of this church, got out of the car and walked into a small room with wood floors and decorative flags and tapestries around the room…

To my surprise, we weren’t late! (I’m late to everything in my life…) Anyway, to make a long story short, I had an awesome time at the conscious dance because I had the chance to dance to a SUPER-WIDE variety of music that I wouldn’t normally dance to…

And what’s more than that was that we were encouraged to dance our own way, however we wanted, whatever our bodies told us to do… Having that freedom to express myself was liberating and healing. It was nothing like dancing in public or at the clubs…

It’s like being a kid again, dancing to music you’ve heard for the first time… You don’t care what you look like, or what you’re doing… It feels right, and even though I probably looked like a fool to most people, I had an awesome time.

But we spent a lot of energy and were tired after dancing for 2 hours, so afterward we went to the Hyatt and went pool hopping in their awesome water gardens. If you’ve never checked out the pools at the Hyatt I suggest you do…

They have so many different pools of so many different sizes, it’s almost unreal. What really took me away were the plants. The palm trees and cacti were growing tall and healthy… Signs that this place had been around for a long time… It kind of reminded me of what it would be like if I lived in ancient Greece or Rome.

And who could forget Nate’s quote… “I feel like a flower pedal”

Now it’s been a long day and it’s time to get some rest… Leave me a comment if you’ve ever attended a conscious dance, or if you’ve ever pool-hopped at the Hyatt… or if you’ve ever been to Greece or Rome…

Cheers

- Josiah Jones

Half-joking with my roommate I said, “Maybe I’ll put some of these jalapenos in my smoothie”

She replied with something like, “You can use my chocolate powder to make it a super energy smoothie if you want”

When I awoke this morning I thought I’d give it a try… I wasn’t exactly sure why I wanted to put jalapenos in my fruit smoothie, but I like spicy food and I like smoothies, so why not, right?

Alright, so here’s what went into my smoothie this morning after I got back home from my morning exercise…

• Banana
• Mango
• Blueberry
• Blackberry
• Raspberry
• Strawberry
• Orange Juice
• Broccoli
• Jalapenos
• Almond milk
• Hemp protein
• Raw cocoa powder

My initial reaction when I tried the smoothie was a big “Uh-oh!” because it was a lot spicier than I anticipated. Then it seemed to get spicier with every sip, so I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to finish it all… It really had some KICK to it!

It kicked me in the mouth when I tried it for the first time and it’s kickin’ around in my stomach right now… but it’s AWESOME! The chocolate and the jalapeno combined with all the raw fruit and protein makes my body feel awake from the inside out.

The jalapenos I used were extra ripe from my own garden, instead of the normal green color they were bright red, which is probably why this smoothie was so spicy. If you need some extra energy in the morning and can handle some extra zing in your day, you should give this one a try!

It wasn’t just any custom painting, either! Of course he wanted me to paint it on a HUGE canvas that was nearly 4′x5′ , this thing is massive! So here’s what I did… cause I knew I couldn’t afford a canvas so big: I went to home depot and bought a couple pieces of  1″x1″ and cut them at 45 degree angles so I could make the “stretcher bar” for the canvas…

Once the stretcher bar was assembled, I stapled the canvas in place using a cheap staple gun… and guess what, the canvas wasn’t even really canvas, it was a linen curtain my mom had pulled down and was going to throw away, but I salvaged it and look what it became!

One YEAR in the making, this painting was nothing short of a challenge! For many months I would completely ignore the painting, and try to find a way around it, because I never painted people before, much less POP-ICONS that were supposed to be recognizable!

After spending so much time and energy fiddling around, I finally put the effort into this painting that it always needed. Of course it took me a while to get it all completed, and there wasn’t anything telling me “this is when it will be done,” I just let my paintbrush tell me what to do. Add a gentle stroke here, paint over a smudge and a small mistake here, fill in the details here and there… and BAM! The painting came to life!

As I mentioned before, this was unlike any painting I have ever completed in my entire life, and I’m glad to know that this was the first of many larger-than-life portraits, and it even instilled in me a returned interest in the old renaissance paintings that were so angelic and beautiful.

There’s plenty more to say about this painting, but as the saying goes, “a picture’s worth a thousand words” and all the details speak for themselves here.

It reminds me, that I should get back into the habit of carrying a notebook around so I can draw whatever comes to mind, or whatever inspires me. That notebook is filled with random, crazy abstract images, and also drawings of teachers while I was bored in class, and friends that I set with during lunch.

Keep a notebook, and do your best to define what you see…

Did I get lost? Of course not. I followed the water downstream and that took me into a wild world of adventure. Of course, I had a lot more fun by myself than I would have if I was with anyone, because I was stopping and taking photos, and jumping around from rock to rock like a hobbit. It was all an adventure to me, and I was just happy to be outside in nature. This video is just a short creation to try and portray my hike that day. Enjoy!

Many people say the colorful clouds look like spirits in the sky, and the footprints trailing through the sand dunes might resemble the path of an adventure, or one man’s journey through the sands of time.

Originally, I remember writing a poem to accompany this painting, but I have since forgotten and lost it in the clouds of memories and fleeting moments of rapture so abundant since then.

As you can see here in this painting, it’s a personal perspective, invoking the idea or question “What do you see?”

Many times, after superficial inspection of many of my paintings, I have been asked “What does it mean?” In which I respond “What do you see?” or more profoundly, “What does it mean to you?”

As a matter of fact, writing about this painting of mine now, reminds me that I’ve forgotten about another painting of the same concept. It’s a landscape painting of the “main meadow” at the 2009 National Rainbow Gathering in New Mexico.

I’ll be sure to update this page when I’ve finished that painting! So in the mean time, what do you see in this painting? More importantly, what does it mean to you? Feel free to leave a message…

I realize now, more than ever, that there is a fundamental difference between the use of words in thought and the use of images to think. Much of my artwork is created as some sort of abstract expression of the things I encounter in my daily life, and sometimes in my dreams.

Although I would like to do my best to explain all of my artwork through words, that makes my work as the artist twice as hard to be able to articulate myself not only through the use of images and color, line, shapes, and form… but through the use of words, description, details, and explanations.

With that being said, let me leave you with this… As you notice, there are many faces in the painting, and you might even liken the style to or notice my influence by Pablo Picasso. The faces are many colors, blue, green, yellow, purple, and red. There are eyes, some star gazing, some lazy, some angry, and some calm.

There is no method to this madness, and if there were, it is clearly the joy of colors and expression of faces.

For now, let me explain what you see here. When I was traveling through Costa Rica in 2006, I took the photo you see below. It has always been one of my favorite photos from the area, and I’m glad to have it in my gallery. Not long after my return, one of my co-workers asked me to create a custom painting for him. He wasn’t specific, he just said he wanted a lot of color, and he wanted a cool beach scene, so that’s exactly what I made for him. As you’ll see, the picture from Costa Rica largely inspired my painting, but oddly enough, I never printed the photo out as a reference.

If you like this then keep checking back often, because I’ll update this page with more of my random, cool, unique and bizarre artwork.

I want to start my blog off with that excellent quote because I believe that is true. In all my experience in school, I have been taught knowledge and how to ingest it and regurgitate it. However, IMAGINATION is not something that can be taught as easily as knowledge. You cannot teach someone how to be creative and think extraordinary thoughts.

With my blog, I want to share with you the power of Imagination. In my life I would like to harness the creativity of those who seek my help. Here is where I will do my best to begin working as a creative teacher to show my talents to the world, and share the insights and gifts I find along the way.

Thanks for visiting my blog, I hope you find an extraordinary amount of value in the upcoming posts! Stay tuned, this is just the beginning!