St. Lucia
My favorite pieces that I've written, either for St. Lucia or for myself, have always had a transporting quality to them, where they take you out of the moment and somewhere positive that feels nostalgic and happy but sad at the same time.Collection: Positive
The '80s definitely influence my music in a big way.Collection: Music
[My mother] was the one who encouraged me constantly and always reminded me that God gave me a talent and I have to use it. I should not keep it locked inside.Collection: Mother
I was constantly drawing and colouring. I had an immense love for art and anything which involved art fascinated me.Collection: Art
I have noticed that these days, people don't want to take their time to succeed.Collection: People
You may be surprised to know that growing up, I wanted to be a writer of children's books.Collection: Children
I believe that people have to be sensitized more about the many jobs an individual can branch out to after studying an art form.Collection: Art
I think it's important to just be in your subconscious mind - at least when you're starting an idea.Collection: Thinking
From as long as I can remember, I was always fond of drawing.Collection: Drawing
I must say that the first person to realise that I was talented in art was my mother.Collection: Mother
My family still lives over there [ in South Africa] .I miss them terribly. I would say that most of my life over there was probably very similar to the sort of life someone would experience growing up somewhere like Australia or in the US.Collection: Growing Up
Normally the meaning of the songs, if there is any, occurs to me after I've written the song.Collection: Song
A true artist is practically married to his or her art form so I just couldn't turn my back on it.Collection: Art
As I got older, my ambitions changed and I wanted to be a graphic designer. In form five, I did Art for CXC and got a grade 2 at the general proficiency level. I was devastated because I was aspiring for a grade 1. I took a break from art when I went to A level because I could not cope with the disappointment of my Grade 2. But I guess when you love doing something you just can't turn you back on it completely.Collection: Art
ACID Kreationz was founded in 2008. I formed this business with the purpose of paying my university tuition because my teaching salary would not be able to cover school payments.Collection: Teaching
Of course I had the parallel of having the early years of my life being spent during apartheid, and then having a lot of awful poverty going on around me while I lived in this bubble of middle-classness, but I was a child, and I only really started to (I hope) understand all of that fairly recently.Collection: Children
When I was 10 I went to the Drakensberg Boys Choir School, which is this idyllic Harry Potter-esque music boarding school in the mountains in South Africa, and that's when everything started to change for me and I realised that music is my thing.Collection: School
We lived in a suburb in Johannesburg, which is a massive city of about 8 million people, and my parents would drive me to school every day and over the weekend I would go to the mall and then occasionally on Safari. Pretty normal stuff, apart from the Safari.Collection: School
I was extremely frustrated, almost at the point of giving up on coming up with a name for the project (because I'm awful at it), when I decided to play the 'put a pen somewhere on a map with your eyes closed' game with South Africa. About the 5th try was St. Lucia in South Africa, which coincidentally also happens to be an idyllic sub-tropical seaside resort town. The name seemed to fit with the mood of the music, and so after a while it just stuck.Collection: Giving Up
A pretty pivotal moment for me was having a songwriting class with Paul McCartney when I was at LIPA, and then being called in a few days later by the headmaster of the school to tell me that Paul McCartney likes what I'm doing.Collection: School
Music has always moved me really deeply, and it's always been more about that than about the desire to rebel or annoy people (although, I've had my moments of that as well). I think it was just years of maybe moving slightly away from it but always coming back to it as the thing that I'm best at.Collection: Moving
I went to this boy's choir school when I was growing up, and I think that the first time that I consciously started making music was when this one kid joined our class. He was an amazing pianist and would come up with all these ideas. I've always had a really competitive side, so I saw him doing that, and was like, "I have to try writing songs as well."Collection: Song
I tend to keep my mind open to the different forms of art out there and I am always willing to try new stuff.Collection: Art
Like all businesses ACID has its ups and downs. There are actually seasons when business will pick up such as Christmas time and carnival time. There are other times when business will run very slow.Collection: Running
I am home grown St. Lucian. Born in 1980 I have spent most of my life on this island. Apart from the few summers I spent in the United States I spent most of my time in my homeland.Collection: Summer
I didn't see [Luigi St. Omer] as a teacher. I saw him as a comrade I respected and I could go to see anytime something was bothering me. He was indeed my "big brother". He praised me when I did something exceptional and scolded me when I did things which were out of the way.Collection: Teacher
The racial conversation in the States is so multifaceted and multilayered. Obviously it's not always a positive conversation, but it's just so much more detailed than it was when I was growing up in South Africa.Collection: Growing Up
Unfortunately, there are very few facilities which offer courses in the arts. Not all the secondary schools offer the subject for CXC examinations.Collection: Art
[I] was always my dream to attend the Art Institute. I have always had this zeal to become the best that I can be and I saw that this institution will act as an avenue to me achieving that goal. I applied to the institution and got accepted based on my impressive portfolio.Collection: Dream
I think that there is always room for improvement so I am seeking to reach as far as I can in my field of art, film and animation.Collection: Art
Many of my students learn different techniques online and I have learnt a lot using this medium. Art is picking up in the Caribbean but it's unfortunate that we still have people looking down on it. Many persons who don't know better think that having a career in art is a waste of time. I guess the public just needs to be educated some more.Collection: Art
I had my first exhibition in September, 2012. This was when I first introduced the public to my style of the incorporation of cloth in my paintings. It was well received and everyone was fascinated with the work on display. I also invited other young aspiring artist to display they work which was also well received.Collection: Artist
We should not let negative influences get to us.Collection: Negative
While painting I noticed a piece of madras cloth on the floor. As usual, my mind started working overtime and a pair of scissors and a small amount of glue later...I created THE COMEDIAN. Everybody loved the uniqueness of the painting. It was indeed a hit.Collection: Comedian
We need to understand that there is a process of learning and experience and success will stem from this. The painting represents life and the brushstroke represents the steps we take in life.Collection: Needs
Sometimes, I even learn new techniques from my students. Although I am still a student at the Art Institute, I think that I have learnt a lot from the classes that I have already taken.Collection: Art
An opened mind will eventually lead to a more well rounded artist and this will thus heightenen his or her level of professionalism.Collection: Artist
I developed this guiding statement to stress on the fact that every good thing takes time to develop.Collection: Stress
For now ACID Kreationz has only one body and that's me. I have intentions of hiring persons when I am through with university. For now it is only me but off and on I contract sound producers and other persons when the need arises.Collection: Sound
I am trying my best to stay above the water. Right now ACID does not only offer animation. I offer real life productions as well and also compositing (animation composited into real life video)Collection: Real
I view the art scene as an industry which is slowly developing. These days, technology has mad the world smaller. Meaning that information is a website away.Collection: Art
Apart from the traditional paintings I also dabble with a little photography.Collection: Photography
"St. Lucia We Love" is actually a song produced by Stratosphere music (also St. Lucian). The CEO of Stratosphere music approached me and wanted me to produce a music video for this song which was already a hit in my country. I felt privileged to have been chosen to do such a video. So every time I went out to shoot a scene from the video, I would get a still shot from the scene to tease the public. The photo of the amazona versicolor is is an actual scene from the video which was released on St. Lucia's Independence day (22nd February, 2013).Collection: Country
I find that I have improved in my craft and I have improved considerably in my ability to critique other people's artwork. I forgot to mention that my course of study at the Art Institute is BSC in Media Arts and Animation.Collection: Art
I am really enjoying media arts and digital painting.Collection: Art
Generally I'll keep 95% of what I sing on that first scratch vocal take. Sometimes that idea will ferment for a long time, and sometimes I"ll be close enough to my studio and have enough time (kind of rare these days) to go and work on the idea. Not every song is super easy though.Collection: Song
Most of the writing that I do is a complete train of thought process. I'll just be walking down the street or sitting on the toilet or whatever and something will pop into my head and I'll record it on my phone and then over the next little while it'll develop a little more in my head.Collection: Writing
Musically, some of the acts that I've really been identifying with are: Fleetwood Mac, Roxy Music, Vangelis, Jean-Michel Jarre, Earth, Wind & Fire, in general music that seems to have a lot of romance to it and a certain glamorous idealism.Collection: Fire
Don't get me wrong, I have the utmost respect for anyone who has the nerve to even attempt to do music today, but this is just about what excites me.Collection: Nerves
Sometimes it's just the creative intent of an artist or band that inspires me. I'm generally drawn to artists or bands that put themselves out on a limb somewhat and do something that infuriates both the mainstream and the indie purists, but that can't necessarily be classed as either. To me it seems somewhat convenient to be on either end of that scale.Collection: Artist