Apples stacked on the stove...

Today I checked my email to discover an mail with amazingly great news that I have been awaiting for some time now. That news is....THAT I AM ACCEPTED into the Milwaukee Avenue Arts Festival. I was asked to show 3 new pieces which I am still finisheing up. One is the Buddha painting that a posted a few posts back, yet I will be adding a tank rolling through some urban streets. The second canvas will be homeless guys chilling on a sidewalk with the wall behind them covered in graffiti. The third will be a piece with the chicago skyline and lake Michigan in the image with a narwhal carrying a kid on its back...the piece will be titled "ESCAPING the OIL.
The show will be on July 23rd-25thin and around LOGAN SQUARE. My three stencil paintings will be in the "Ensemblage Gallery". Checkout MAAF.org for more information.

On that note, this show has sparked a fire under me and I have been drawing more and watching more current events within the news and such... kind of like when I was in college. One of the triggers of my becoming concerned with the political/current events reently was the BP oil tragedy. More and more I see of this oil showing up on the shore where I use to go on Vacation to during the summers just breaks my heart... especially hearing the stories of these poor people who make there lifes from the gulf and all its beauty... all ruined by some huge corporation designed to make massive profits off societies consumerism and greed. just an all around sad story that possibly could have been prevented. Our government should step up and demand the resources needed to keep this oil contained...we can't just half-ass this issue. Look at th people struggling to survive now with all they know being taken away.
Here are a couple Links to some stuff that I have been looking at on this issue:
-PhotoEssay of the People of the GulfCoast by Ryan Marshall.
-Photos of the day from the Gulf by the Huffington Post.

Another issue that I have been following recently( yet is kinda dying down currently) is the Israeli/ Palestinian issues... most directly the blockade of aid to the Gaza Strip. Utterly ridiculous in my opinion.Israel should be the ones being punished. They are bullies and think they can do whatever they please... I don't think we should aid them and there military. The Palestinian have a right to this land. Its all over who's religion is right and who's is wrong. Stupid! Just let the people who are innocent live prosperous lifes and raise there children without a cloud of fear from getting shot at for "being Palestinian". Aid is needed in GAZA and those people who sailed their ships into harms way just to help the unfortunate and trapped people in the strip... were heroic. Israeli soldiers executed some of them without justification. Just adds to my disgust of Israel's dominance and America's placing them on a pedestal. I hope change comes to the middle-East and peaceful actions can be found.


All of that being said, I have several projects in the works:
- working on the MAAF show stencils.
-Working on the "ZINE" Courtney and I will be making every month.
-Possibly some charity work/art prints for The GULF FUND and MAKE-A-WISH.
-Finding a Cafe job possibly
-Buying a bike/ riding more


Anyways here are a few sketches and things that inpired me today:




Also BANKSY'S ZINE inspired me today after reading it.
HOPE you guys enjoyed all that I had to say today and find the stuff inspiring, I love comments!!!
Also please checkout my website for my art at Christopher Bell illustration.
Laterrr,
-Chris.