MARCH 20,  2012

Recently I had the privilege of participating in the filming of a pilot episode of a Docu-Reality show “KNOCKOUT“.  My participation was in the capacity of being an EXPERT in my field, that of Acrylic Painting.  The production involved  three contestants who were followed and coached for 28 days in an effort to encourage them to follow their “passion” which had been abandoned for other pursuits in their lives. One wanted to be a competitive pole dancer, one a TV journalist, and the other a painter.  My role in assessing and teaching my contestant to paint and encouraging her to make the time in her life to follow this pursuit, was challenging in terms of fast-tracking her level of painting skill, but enjoyable when I saw first=hand the joy it brought into her life.  It also made me realize how fortunate I have been in my life in that I followed my dream and clung onto it through all of life’s hurdles.  In the final shoot the 3 contestants “reveal” the progress of their passion in front of the public, and I was thrilled to see mine rise to the occasion and emerge with a large canvas that she had painted on her own steam.  In the final analysis it was not the artistic merits of the works being displayed, but the exemplary commitment and dedication to one’s passion that was being judged. Happily for my contestant, (and me too), in the final judges evaluation she emerged the “KNOCKOUT” of the episode..

“KNOCKOUT” travels to the BANFF WORLD MEDIA FESTIVAL, in APRIL 2012

ENTRANT:   ELLEFACTOR ENTERTAINMENT INC.   TORONTO

“I don’t want to make money, I just want to be wonderful. I want to be an artist, an actress with integrity……If fame goes by, so long, I’ve had you, fame.  If it goes by, I’ve always known it was fickle.  So at least it’s something I experienced, but that’s not where I live. A career is wonderful, but you can’t curl up with it on a cold night.I knew I belonged to the public and to the world.  Not because I was talented or even beautiful, but because I had never belonged to anything or anyone else.

My work is the only ground I’ve ever had to stand on.  I seem to have a whole superstructure with no foundation…….but I’m working on the foundation. Hollywood’s a place where they’ll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss, and fifty cents for your soul.  I know, because I turned down the first offer often enough and held out for the fifty cents.”

MARILYN MONROE

Here are some quotes I love.

“We are  shaped and fashioned by what we love.”  – Goethe

“A Man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul” – Goethe

“There is no reality except the one contained within us.  That is why so many people live an unreal life.  They take the images outside them for reality and never allow the world within to assert itself. ” – Herman Hesse

“There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot, but there are others who, thanks to their art and intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun” – Pablo Picasso