I have a new Facebook Page [link] Drop by for a virtual cup of tea.



UPDATE: The Big Art Book is closed to submissions. The jury/ judging process begins. WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON MARCH 1ST AT THE DORIS MCCARTHY GALLERY AT U OF T SCARBOROUGH.

IMPORTANT: SUBMISSIONS OVERLOADED THE SCARBOROUGH ARTS WEBSITE. IF YOU SUBMITTED TO THE BIG ART BOOK BETWEEN JAN 13TH AND 17TH, CONTACT SCARBOROUGH ARTS, programs@scarborougharts.com TO MAKE SURE YOUR ENTRY WAS RECEIVED.



I decided to go with criteria similar to dA's premium critique feature:

Jurying Publication in the “Big Art Book”

Scarborough Arts’ “Big Art Book” will be a celebration of a ‘fresh assortment of creativity’ by local artists, craftspeople and writers of all ages. To have your work included in this digital anthology, simply follow the guidelines on the submission form: [link] Along with your signed submission form, submit high quality copies of your artwork, not your actual artwork, via email or snail mail by the deadline. Note that submissions may be rejected due to poor quality or offensive content.

Judging Visual Arts and Literary Awards

As an artist, art instructor and aspiring author, listing the qualities that go into a good piece of visual art or writing isn’t difficult. However, quantifying what makes any given piece outstanding is hard to put into words. To me, it’s the glimpse a painting, story or poem gives you into the heart and soul of its creator. Hence, the connection that forms between art and appreciator is always highly personal and subjective. For this reason, I feel it is essential to give the greatest weight to objective criteria, and to be open about my judging process.

My final decision will be based on assigning each piece a score of 1 to 5 for each of the four qualities listed below. If two or more pieces in the youth and adult, art and literature, categories are tied for the highest score, I will judge each against the relative artistic merit of one another to determine the winner in each category.

Impact
• First impression draws the viewer or reader in and maintains interest.
• Final impression is memorable and/or leaves the viewer or reader with something novel and worthwhile to ponder.

Technique
• (Visual and literary arts) The work exhibits a sufficient level of maturity and technical skill in the chosen medium and/or genre.
• (Visual arts) The work uses the principles and elements of art and design to create a unified composition (whether harmonious or controlled chaos).
• (Fiction and biographical short prose) The work uses language, literary devices and storytelling techniques to allow a main character to develop or work through a conflict in a well-realized setting.
• (Non-fiction prose) The work uses language, researched or experiential information and reasoned arguments to explore a question and/or express an opinion about an issue or subject; or the work uses literary techniques to describe a topic, event or place.
• (Poetry) The work uses language, visual presentation, literary devices, rhythm and/or rhyme, in accordance with the chosen poetic form (ex., free verse, concrete poem, and sonnet) to create a unified composition.

Vision:
• Conveys a theme, which is a statement, observation or question about humanity. Themes can be subtle or bold, personal or universal.
• Every aspect of the piece, including the title, works to realize the theme. (The artist or author doesn’t digress or become self-indulgent.)
• Elicits the artist’s intended response from the viewer or reader, which includes leading the reader or viewer to make his or her own interpretation.
• Changes how the viewer or reader felt about the subject matter; or leads to self-examination, or re-examination of an aspect of human nature or the human condition.

Originality
• Expressive and in execution and/or subject matter or theme.
• Imaginative and creative in approach, subject matter or theme.
• Experimental and/or pushes artistic, personal or social boundaries.
• Deals with novel subject matter or themes; approaches common subject matter or themes in a novel way, or it puts seemingly unrelated ideas together to create something novel.




Oh, and my poem 'You and I' was published in Source and Symbol, which is Scarborough Arts quarterly news publication.

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Members, I notice there are a lot of views on the group's latest blog regarding ch-ch-ch-changes to our Ideological and Stamps galleries. I've not only decided to keep the Ideological gallery, but I'm going to split if off to create a new gallery for "Ideological Lit". However, all new submissions to The Controversy will have to meet the group's standards for artistic merit. Also tremendously exciting -- awesome contributors *Marthfador and ~Odeena will be moderating Controversial blogs and the Ideological galleries respectively.

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I HAS KITTEN!!!

I have three cats, actually. The youngest is pictured below. All were rescued in one way or another. They keep my feet warm in winter and keep the mice (and other rodents) away from my home. There's a dead something (rat? shrew? I'm afraid to look) frozen to my patio, no doubt a gift from one of my cats. I'm so squeamish, I have to pay my kids a loonie to bag the rodent corpses and put them in the compost.:/


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My lovely and talented daughter, Adele (she was 12 at the time), on YouTube:
[link]

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Below is a gift for moi from the lovely and talented She has progressed as an artist at breakneck speed. I knew she had it in her! She should be very proud of herself.



Thank you svetlana! I love it!
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PROMOTIONAL STUFF!

`fllnthblnk is editor-in-chief of this elegant non-profit arts zine. [link] See submission guidelines.

~Vindicta38 has published a book of poetry via Lulu. Grace, Grime, Life and Death may be found here: [link]

Canadians! You can find Counting Clouds: A Collection of Poetry, by Joseph L.M. Sturm, a.k.a =Mattiello, at Indigo Chapters online:
[link]
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WRITERS' GUIDES & RESOURCES

*Visit !bekkia's Writing Guide Folder: [link]
*For SF Writers, the Turkey City Lexicon is a must read: [link]
*My fave manuscript format guide: [link]
*SF writers check out Robert J. Sawyer's "On Writing" columnns: [link]
*My guides and tutorials are here: [link]
*My fav'd writing guides and tutortials folder: [link]
*!lovetodeviate's Writing Resources news item:
[link]
*Visit :devthephotographicpoet:'s forum for lit contests and news you may wish to have announced: [link]
*For Lit News of all sorts go to `ATrue's [link] for the most recent issue of Lit News and see *Lit-Twitter for the latest tweets.

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FEATURED JOURNAL: Meet She has the most readable, heart-warming journals I've ever read. Her stories of farm life will keep you coming back for more.

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GROUPS & CLUBS:
I'm co-founder of

I'm a contributor at

I'm a member of
and

Other Writing clubs and groups that I watch or belong to are I am Canadian, eh? Check out the art and lit of the Great White North at and and .