Joel at the ANCA awards

On September 23rd, 2011, the time has come for me to be one of the hosts for the 2nd annual Naturally Autistic People Awards. I'm going to sing, sell my art, and announce the nominees for the ANCA awards from the United States of America. The next day, I'll be at the art workshop and the music workshop, and on Sunday, I'll be at the awards gala dinner and dance.

Where did my art go this Summer?

Sea Lion 8x10  $175 framed

I got to go to Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Washington, and Oregon this summer.

My artwork, on the other hand, got to go to the Hamptons,  Glen Neck, New York, Soho, Edinburgh, Scotland, Hollywood, Carpenteria and will soon be showing in Vancouver, Canada.  Must be nice!

Edinburgh, Scotland

the Hamptons

Video from Glen Neck, New York; I'm featured about 5 min in

Back to school!

Next week, class is at Mira Costa College on Monday. I have classes on Flash Animation and Video Production. I'm really excited to do stuff. I don't know these professors, but I will be with some returning students along with new students. I expect these classes would be about 20 students since they're lab classes and we each get a computer.

My life skills coach, Lindsay will go with me to class this semester like Blake and Becca have before.  They help me stay focussed and take notes with me.  Lindsay used to live in Minnesota.  She moved to California and is also a personal trainer and nutritionist. I look forward to having her help with my public speaking.

I'm gonna miss going to the beach with Blake now that summer's over and Blake's going to college at Santa Barbara.  We had some fun times at The Wave water park also.

Inspiration from the easel: Capernaum

Often people ask me to donate paintings for fundraisers.  Sometimes I give new paintings I've made for fundraisers and sometimes I give some old paintings I already have on  hand. This week, I've been working on a painting called Capernaum for the Young Life Capernaum event on September 8th.

Last fall, I first met Tobias Haglund, the Area Director of Young Life Capernaum. Tobias and I got to know each other and to do stuff together. He comes up to my house to see me, and once took me to the Pirates dinner theatre, or to the beach. I was able to help him at the Capernaum Talent show by filming with two cameras.

I painted Capernaum which is a town described in the Bible where men lowered a sick man through the roof of a house in the book of Luke and Mark. They named the ministry Capernaum since people like Tobias find a way to get people with disabilities to Jesus, no matter what it takes.

I am not done with this yet but here is a picture of the work in progress.

Me and Adi

What I like about Adi is that he is my best friend in need.

Adi has been my mentor since the second annual Autism Tree Project Foundation - 

University of San Diego Football Mentor Program. 

Adi's real name was Al Rilwan Adeyemi. He is originally from Nigeria which is the country of the continent of Africa.

Adi's family now lives in Santa Monica, California, and he lives near the 

University of San Diego campus. Adi goes there to be a football player under supervision by Coach Ron Caragher.

Sometimes, Adi and I go on outings together.  I have fun with him.

Adi is like my adoptive brother just like Kyle Negrete who is also my best friend.  

Football season is about to begin. I look forward to seeing Adi play and hope the Toreros have a winning season.  Here are some pictures of us and a video of Adi speaking at the new ATPF office.

on the field at USD

Tio Leo's with Adi,(Far left), Joel, Kyle, and Jon Jon(Far right).

Locker room

My caricatures of Adi and me

another picture

Inspiration from the easel: Music

This painting I've made was entitled "Tres Musique". That painting consists of a musician with six arms playing the piano, the violin, and the guitar. These are all the instruments that I've practiced throughout the first decade of the 21st century.

I'd rather listen to music than play it. Especially Joshua Bell who is my favorite violinist. My favorite guitarist is Christopher Parkening.

Do Everything without complaining or arguing

"Do everything without complaining or arguing." Phillipians 2:14

I learned this verse from a music video for kids by Steve Green called Hide 'em in Your Heart.  I listened to it many times and it is very useful still when my mom asks me to do something.

Saturday though I got to remind her of it.

Inspiration from the easel: Crab

I saw the crab on a photo from Google. I painted it for anyone who likes sea creatures.  It's been exhibited in the Barnsdall Gallery Theater in Hollywood. I had to paint a new one when the first one was purchased. Crabs are part of crustaceans; they remind me of the beach.

Today I am headed to the beach with my friend, Blake and my mom.  I'm going to swim. I tried surfing when I was 13 at San Onofre. It was wonderful.  Some day I might do it again. I've seen a crab the other day at Oceanside when I was 10. It looked like this:

Joel's Excellent Montana Adventure

I swaggered through the saloon doors at the only place in Calico ghost town. In my best Clint Eastwood voice, "I'll have a rootbeer, please."

"We don't serve rootbeer here, how 'bout a Sioux City sarsaparilla, the granddaddy of rootbeer?" said the bartender.

Without reservation I replied, "I'll take two of those!"

I treated mom to one.  They went down "smooth and easy!"

That was the first stop on Mom and Joel's Excellent Adventure that turned out to be 3,500, nine states in 13 days.

Hu Hot is a Mongolian grill restaurant originally in Kalispell, MT. I went to that one as well as the second one in Spokane.  I ordered myself a make your own meal of meats, rice noodles, and vegetables.  For dessert, s'mores! My grandma and grandpa take me there every time I visit so now I have a hat and shirt to wear.

The other thing we always do near their house is visit Glacier National Park.  This time we had lunch at Lake McDonald Lodge. We ate emu burgers which you can't get at home. Tastes like chicken!  The huckleberry lemonade is pretty tasty too.  This shot of my grandpa and me was taken at the Lake McDonald Lodge. 

Inspiration from the easel: Pirates!

Long John Silver 5 x7" $150

The movie, Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean, inspires me to paint characters from the movie. Also my favorite thing is collecting Playmobil pirate sets for making movies of my own.

This pirate is Long John Silver, inspired from the old Disney Treasure Island.  It's available for sale for $150 framed.  I have about 8 other pirates so come and get 'em, mates!

Or...you'll walk the plank!

Last Tuesday, Tobias and I went to the "Pirates' Dinner Adventure" in Buena Park, California. I had a meal of tossed salad, chicken with spanish rice and broccoli, and filling from apple cobbler.

Music time

Last week, I worked on the song, "The Colors Of My Mind" with the help of Marc Zimmerman.  He is a local musician with a recording studio in his home.  He is developing his own computer software for language development to be released in September called Language Express.  He also has 9 year old twins on the autism spectrum.

I wrote my song with Vanessa Contopulos three years ago. I first recorded a rough draft song, and three years later I re-recorded it with Marc.  I like this one better because it more music sounds like the bass, cello and strings.  This single will be available for sale soon thru my website--and for your listening pleasure while browsing.

Thank you Marc! I look forward to working with you on future projects.

Joel Anderson and Marc Zimmerman and his studio

Joel singing into the microphone

Happy Fathers' Day

My dad is a good person who loves his family. He takes us out to eat, or does stuff with us, and goes to church with us.  Probably his favorite thing to do is dogsledding.  We go with him.

This video I made has my song, "The Lonely Musher" and shows my dad dogsledding. Foresthill is a race in Northern California. My is dad is wearing #10.  His husky team is Kiera and Rameses.  It's exciting watching the races.  I'm proud of my dad.

This Father's Day we will be training our two new huskies, Kyjo and Taser.  Kyjo is named after me and my friend Kyle.

Commissioning Dogs

German shepherd puppy 10 x 10" $150

Two people we met at Love Letters want to commission me to paint their dogs-- a pit bull and a schnauzer.  I will be in touch with them soon.

I painted this from a picture I used on computer of a german shepherd.  That's my favorite breed of a dog, even though we don't have one. We do have 4 huskies, an Australian shepherd and a sheltie.  My dad is recreational musher.  He does races in Northern California.  Huskies have pointy ears just like a german shepherd. So dogs are my good friends.

I love New York, do you?

Statue of Liberty 8" x 24" $350

 I participated in Love Letters, a Broadway show by A. R. Gurney at the Normal Heights Community Center in San Diego last Saturday.  My work was exhibited in the lobby as people entered.  "The Statue of Liberty," "Brooklyn Bridge" and my new crab were on display. I also sold greeting cards, necklaces, photo clips.  The necklaces were the bestsellers and a few are still available for $10.

Brooklyn Bridge 24 x8" $350

Karen Searcy-Bair, Director of the Crimson Center, and her husband, Stephen Bair, invited me to do this since it was their two-person show.  The creative evening was a fundraiser for scholarships to their speech and language pathology center.

Necklace $10

Lucky winner received my new necklace

The Big Apple

Debbie Hosseini announced that she wants to include me in an art show in New York City!  The Soho Gallery of Digital Arts will highlight several artists from her book, Art of Autism opening July 7th.

The show benefits Reach for the Stars Learning Center which is "dedicated to the education of children with autism spectrum disorders utilizing every possible tool to further their development."

I think I will send them my "Big Apple," since that is the nickname for New York, and "Vanessa," because she was named after my music teacher.  She helped me play music on the guitar and piano.  We wrote songs together, one which I will post soon when I get it recorded.

Inspiration from the Easel: In Toto Color

I was inspired to paint Toto from The Wizard of Oz in many different colors. A play at the Mission Theater inspired me to do this.  It was for The Art of the Dog show at the Fallbrook Art Center in September of 2006.

This piece is still available for sale for $350 if you need a gift for a dog lover.

Fantastic Art Show in Hollywood

Last thursday, May 19, 2011, Joel met up with Kyle Negrete at Barnsdall Gallery Park in Hollywood and together they set up his art pieces, his easels, his table, and even his business cards.

Keri Bowers greeted them, and so did Dani Bowman, Scott Siegel from the Arrest My Sister band, Nick Guzman, Debbie Hosseini, and Joel's buddy, Al-Rilwan Adeyemi.

Joel gave his friends gifts like caricatures he made of his friends, including Keri Bowers.Joel was thrilled that he sold a few paintings, cards, and photo cubes with art in them. He worked at his art sale from 5 pm to 9:30 pm until he got really tired and started to pack up and ready to head for home.

Inspiration at the Easel: Concert of Prayer

I painted this girl praying for the posters and flyers for the very first Concert of Prayer in 2009. My teacher, fine artist Paul Ryker, helped me with many new techniques such as light to dark. Those techniques gave a whole new dimension to my work.  Sometimes I paint what I want. Other times I enjoy getting a specific assignment.  This one conveys what happens at the Concert of Prayer.  I sold prints of this piece at a Joni and Friends event so that a little boy with autism in China could afford to go to a special school.

Wonderful worship @ Concert of Prayer

On the morning of May 21st, 2011, Joel Anderson and his family arrived at North Coast Calvary Church in Carlsbad and began to set up his art pieces on a table. Also, Kyle Negrete, Tobias Haglund, Jasmine Prince, and Pastor Orville, the leader of the church, showed up and got ready for the concert. After the Cullum family prayed to God for Joel and Kyle, the two shared about each of their stories on how he and Kyle got to know each other. After the concert is over, Joel noticed that someone has brought Gluten-Free cookies and lemonade for the guests, especially him. Boy, is he lucky? Later, the participants packed up and left the church.

Joel shared his story about Kyle became his friend, mentor and then brother.  He used the verse Proverbs 18:24b which says, "There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother."  Afterwards, Joel went to eat pizza on a food holiday. It was then that he said, "It went good. I felt included."

My website is going live!

"Joel's Vision Arts" is a business I started eight years ago.  This business focusses on selling art and cards to customers in public and online, produce videos which feature past events from Autism Tree Project, and videos with animation.  My art shares my vision. Jesus Christ has blessed me with a love for art.  I want to use my skills to bring Him glory and to make people smile.  Hopefully, my art can be used to change the attitude of the world to love each other even if they are different from me and you.

My website for the business is new and improved with the help of Kelly Anderson who is a graphic artist and web designer. She won an award for my first web design and lives in Riverside.

Take a look at it here!  The store will be open in June and new things added each week.

The sky's the limit! Public speaking Saturday at Concert of Prayer.

I am going to speak at the Concert of Prayer at the North Coast Calvary Church in Carlsbad on May 21st, 2011. I'm going to have my friends, Kyle Negrete, Tobias Haglund, and Jasmine Prince to accompany me for this event. Mom made a bulletin board to display pictures of me and Kyle throughout the years.

Kyle is my friend who was a college football player who was in University of San Diego and University of Southern California. He and I first met at the first annual ATPF/ USD football mentor program since 2009. He became my mentor and team liaison for the first year until the next year the team liaison was given to Al Rilwan Adeyemi. He and I are gonna talk about how much we love God. The Concert of Prayer event is at 10 am, if you live in Southern California, come on over.

Hooray for Hollywood!

Debra Hosseini and Keri Bowers are working together on an event in Hollywood, California. At Barnsdall Gallery Theater on May 19 at 6:00pm, they will launch a national art tour and release the book Artism, The Art of Autism.

I am featured in the book on page 54-56.  Many talented artists from around the world are also in the book, including Temple Grandin, Jason Cantu, and Donna Williams. It felt famous to be included!

Ask me anything

My interview with Tim from ANCA went well. I did very successfully with a speaker phone at my house. It lasted for an hour.  I practiced reading my answers I had written down. It really helped to have the questions in advance.

In case you missed the interview, here is my personal favorite:

You took up painting at age eleven.  How had your art progressed at that point?

I first used paints when I went to a local painting class for kids. The teacher’s only rule is to fill the whole canvas with paint. My big improvement was me painting a 30 in. x 40 in. painting of Mona Lisa, a classic painting by Leonardo Da Vinci. These inspirations from art history books including Van Gogh, Picasso, and Raphael inspires me to develop my talent to paint replicas of famous paintings.

This is my third painting ever which I painted in that kids class when I was 10 years old.  It's titled "The Big Apple."  It was inspired by the video Animated Hero Classics, Leonardo DaVinci.

On the Air!

I'm going to interview with the Blogtalkradio.com this Sunday.  The people from Naturally Autistic in Canada gave them my name.  Last October, they chose me as the winner of their inaugural International Award of Achievement for Adults with Autism in Community Service. I was nominated for my work with Autism Tree Project Foundation.  I felt blessed when they gave me the award.  Here is a video of my acceptance speech and a video I produced showing my achievement.  (Start the counter at 5:55.)

I met Tim at the awards ceremony in Vancouver at the the University of British Columbia.  He presented the ANCA award to me. He will host the radio show.

Click here to listen. Live at noon on Mother's Day!