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So, not everyone can be a unicorn. Unicorns are mythical creatures who drink coffee in the morning and focus on the magic of life. Usually they are referred to as Pollyanna or someone who wears rose colored glasses. I take it back, EVERYONE can be a unicorn, but some don’t find it practical.  They think you have to keep your eyes open and live in the REAL world.

Honestly, the real world is just a subjective interpretation of what you see with your brain, the meaning you’ve attached to said items or circumstances is all you. Basically, we are all simply making this shit up as we go. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that, it simply is the way it is. It’s the reason two people will argue two completely opposing views and both believe that they are completely correct in their argument.

I figure, if we are all just making it up as we go, why not just be a unicorn and make every day awesome.

I’ve been working on some pieces lately that are slightly out of my comfort zone. I’ve been interviewed on TV, in the newspaper and was asked to write a guest article for a magazine recently… Things like that are also outside of my comfort zone. Usually when I am doing something that makes me slightly nervous or is beyond what I think I can do, there is that voice of negativity that says,

“You know, you’re going to mess this up and make an ass of yourself.”

Luckily, my unicorn self is also there and says

“You’re going to be amazing, just be yourself and have fun… you’ll be great.”

That’s why I think, sometimes you just gotta be a unicorn.

 

 

If you are a creative person, chances are you’ve asked this question.

I find that if you feel joy constantly as you are refining and tweaking your ideas of what you want to accomplish, then you’re on the right track of inspiration. It is so important for you to get everybody else out of the equation. Just remember that they’ve got their own thing going on; they cannot possibly fully understand your vision. Let them off the hook; stop asking them what they think. Start paying attention to how you feel. Just create what you want to create… A lack of inspiration is nothing more that your focus being on what other people might think of your creation.

-Rafi

 

Art for Interior Designers. Bespoke, hand-painted art for residential or commercial interiors.

I understand some of the challenges faced by interior designers when it comes to sourcing appropriate artwork for your projects. Rather than spending increasing amounts of time sourcing existing artworks from shops, galleries or catalogs, you can now commission artwork exactly how you want it. In short, I turn your ideas into original works of art.

I can create any number of paintings for you, from a single canvas for a domestic interior, to the artworks for a hotel with 100+ rooms. Depending on the project, your paintings will generally take 2-6 weeks to complete.

All works are created to a museum quality finish, and to the exact size.

 

So, how does this work?

How I work is largely up to you. Usually, I’ll start by having an initial chat and discuss what you have in mind and the amount of wall space you’re looking to cover with artwork.

We can discuss the location and details, I will need as much info as possible.

– Size of The Art Work in Exact Inches or Centimeters.
– You might choose to supply fabric swatches, pantone numbers or Paint Color Swatches and Names.
– You might like to forward several existing designs or artwork that you’d like your me to use as inspiration.
– You May want one of my pieces, but with colors that match or complement your designs.
– The initial conversation is very casual, and we’ll go from there.

 

Once we’re agreed on all the details, I will list the piece with all the details of our agreement for your review. After a partial payment, I’ll get started on your piece.
From date of commission to delivery will take 2-6 weeks.

I’ll will send you photos of the artwork at various stages of completion if you request it. This keeps you up-to-date with progress and allows you to request alterations if necessary. Once you’ve given your final approval, piece will dry and then be delivered or shipped to the location you request.
All pieces are ready to hang. If you would like the pieces framed, that is also possible.

Dear Awesome You,

It’s all about the journey. Eventually, we all have the same destination. I would much rather stop and smell the roses, than blindly Stomp through them to get to the end.

Love Rafi

It seems that as an artist you are given license to be out of your mind a bit. I enjoy this very much, because honestly I would much rather be out of my head than in it. In my opinion something important is lost when we try to act like adults, whatever that means. When you watch adorably happy children play adults they suddenly acted stressed and carry serious expressions on their cute faces. Once we get older and play adult, the serious face isn’t all that cute.

I think being weird has huge benefits. For the nature of this article I mean weird as in bizarre, fantastic, and uncanny. Like Klee dressing up like a character in Harry Potter for the book release kinda weird. I don’t mean anything negative… So Let’s get to it.

 

Reason Number one – Make The Mundane Interesting

You can dress up for a Harry Potter book release. Not a book signing by the way, not an opening for anything grand… Just a book store in a suburb. What makes this awesome is how you can turn something mundane, like waiting in line into an epic adventure. I remember having to wait in a line that was going to take a few hours to get through. I played a game of name that tune with people around me. I began by saying “Excuse me, I’ve got this song in my head and I can’t remember where it’s from, can you help me out?” Then I sang.

Reason Number dos – You Get To Be You

You don’t have to worry so much about reputation or what people think of you. I mean, c’mon you’re weird, you don’t have a reputation. This is the part I love most about being a weirdo. You basically get to be yourself, everyday, every moment and not try to follow some facade of normal that doesn’t actually exist.

Reason Number Three – You Get To Live In Excitement

You can get super excited about things that no one else thinks is exciting. I have to say, my wife is quite possibly the most awesome nerdy chick I have ever met in my entire life. She gets SO excited about things that no one else even thinks twice about. As you know, she designs beautiful jewelry for a living, what you may not know is how excited she gets about the stones, their history, how they were formed, how they were mined, cut, polished, and on and on. She gets really excited and doesn’t even care if no one else shares in her excitement… That’s awesome.

Reason Numbero Quatro – You Get To Go Against The Norm

No matter what is going on, even if the weather is bad, you stubbed your toe, and everyone around you is in a bad mood, you can act weird. This means that no matter what is going on in your life you get to smile and laugh as if every day is the best day ever. You get to interrupt patterns of behavior by hanging upside down from a tree to get a different perspective. Or walking backwards and rewinding the moment that just happened so you can experience it again or differently.

Reason Number Five – The More The Merrier

Like attracts like and when you are weird, you attract other weirdos to you that are your kind of weird. What a great way to live life, surrounded by others who are weird enough to be themselves, happy, easily excited and seem to make everything fun.

Have fun weirdos and I love you!

I remember being in class and being told to get my head out of the clouds and pay attention. This was usually followed by me pretending to pay attention and figuring out ways to day dream without anyone noticing. Of course, I also thought I was a bad kid or there was something seriously wrong with my ability to focus. I imagine if it happened today I would have been labeled with some kind of attention deficit disorder and given drugs or something to fix me.

Honestly, I was just bored. Not all the time, some of my teachers were fantastic at capturing my imagination and taking me on a fun learning adventure where I just soaked in every detail of the experience. Other teachers were bland and it was much more fun to venture into my mind than to listen to them yammer on about the boring text book.

Either way, I spent a lot of time developing the skill of purposefully creating pictures in my mind and playing out complex scenarios that involved slaying dragons and saving a damsel in distress.

I think everyone has the ability to create pictures and complex scenarios in their mind. Whether or not they are practiced at doing it on purpose is another question. I know people who walk around for days frustrated and angry because they create an entire story in their mind that is completely false. What’s worse, is they believe it actually happened.

I think this is really powerful, I mean think about the last time you flipped your lid because you thought something was going on that wasn’t actually going on. You felt all the emotions, all the anger, sadness and momentum as if it had actually happened right in front of you. Now imagine if you could use that power of emotion on purpose.

Instead of letting your thoughts run away with you, you can decide to think whatever you want to think… I mean, they’re your thoughts, you actually decide to entertain them or not. I think it just takes a little practice and consistency. Creating new habits of thought and connections in the brain actually doesn’t take to long, but consistency is key.

Just imagine how awesome it would be, to put your head in the clouds and let your imagination soar and take you wherever you want to go. I know that if you do this enough times, eventually your life catches up and a new story is told all around.

I spend a lot of time imagining myself on the cover of Time magazine with a headline that says, “One of the greatest artists of our generation.” It’s fun and feels pretty awesome.

We spend a lot of time in our head anyway, might as well think about stuff that makes you feel awesome. Because honestly, it doesn’t matter if it’s right in front of you or in your head, it all feels the same.

Just a thought… We’ve got no one telling us to get our head out of the clouds anymore, and if someone does, well that’s what the finger next to your ring finger is for.