{"id":19856,"date":"2024-12-16T04:04:27","date_gmt":"2024-12-16T04:04:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iamnow.today\/?p=19856"},"modified":"2025-05-22T00:38:35","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T00:38:35","slug":"december-15-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iamnow.today\/?p=19856","title":{"rendered":"An unexpected portrait"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

December 15, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can all use a good laugh during the holidays, and my favourite way to get the giggles is to watch shows with Sir Billy Connelly. He is my all-time favourite comedian. Recently, he asked artists to send their paintings to him and I figure that was as good a reason as any to devote a portrait to him. It was a bit of a last minute thing before I fly off to Europe in a few days, and it is kind of exciting to see if my painting merits a personal reaction….<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Billy has changed his hairdo multiple times. Although, today, he sports a full beard, the above ‘look’ was one of my favourites. He looks a bit like a naught pirate, don’t you think?<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Let me give you a little bit of context. If you have never heard of Billy, and if you are a lover of English humour and don’t mind a heavy Scottish accent and some well-placed swear words, I can recommend this guy wholeheartedly. There is a lot available on YouTube<\/a>, so you can get a taste and decide if you agree with me that this comedian is a perfect anti-depressant!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past few years, Billy has made it no secret that he has been hit with Parkinson’s disease. It is quite tragic, because he did a lot of physical jokes on stage, running and jumping, when he was still performing. I was blessed to go to one of his last shows, the High Horse Tour, in Toronto and honestly, I had to cry when I saw him bring his jokes while standing so still. Not at all like the Billy we have seen in his career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Billy in Toronto, just a stone’s throw from my seat…<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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But far be it from this extraordinary man to sink back into depression or self-pity. On the contrary. Humor continues in him even while he is sick. And he is now expanding his creative gifts – he already produced quite a few interesting pen drawings before, but this has now exploded in a beautiful new book entitled ‘The Accidental Artist’. If you are quick, you may be able to get an autographed copy from the first print. When not in England, go to Ebay<\/a> to purchase it. It is a delightful book with a mix of paintings and, of course, funny stories, that will sound familiar to those who know his work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The BBC dedicated a documentary to this Scottish icon a number of years ago (“Portrait of a Lifetime”), and it can be viewed in full online, provided you can set your VPN to Great-Brittain. It shows what a wonderfully funny and humble guy Billy is. His drawings are original and funny and can be bought online as art-prints, or, if you have enough money, as originals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is a short video on YouTube<\/a> where he talks about his art. Keep in mind that his voice has changed quite a bit as a result of Parkinson’s, but you get used to it quickly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Example of one of Billy’s creations: a zebra crossing a zebra crossing….<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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This unique artist has helped me through quite a few dark moments in my life. I do not travel without taking his DVDs with me. The context of my portrait is this: to celebrate the art book, Billy has asked all fans to send their art to him, accompanied by a voice or video message in which they ask him a question. If the combo of painting and question are deemed interesting enough, the team surrounding him will present them to Billy for commenting. This will be filmed and published on his website and on his Facebook page. So I will wait and see if I made the cut! Will keep you posted if I do!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

December 15, 2024 We can all use a good laugh during the holidays, and my favourite way to get the giggles is to watch shows with Sir Billy Connelly. He is my all-time favourite comedian. Recently, he asked artists to send their paintings to him and I figure that was as good a reason as any to devote\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2671],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-artists-blog"],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Nicky","author_link":"https:\/\/www.iamnow.today\/?author=1"},"featured_img":null,"coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Artist's Blog<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Artist's Blog<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 1 year ago","modified":"Updated 12 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on ","modified":"Updated on "},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on ","modified":"Updated on "},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iamnow.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iamnow.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iamnow.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iamnow.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iamnow.today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19856"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.iamnow.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19894,"href":"https:\/\/www.iamnow.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19856\/revisions\/19894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iamnow.today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iamnow.today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iamnow.today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}