Chili Thom - Artist and DJ in Whistler British Columbia

Well it's almost that time of year again!  It seems to sneak up faster and faster every year and we all know Christmas can be an expensive time of year... so I'm going to do what I can to hep that out.
For the next week (until the 22nd of Nov) I am offering 20% off my paper and giclee prints.  In addition to that any purchase made over the next week gets a free art card with their order...still not good enough??? any purchase over $250 gets a free print of "Right place Right time" as a bonus!  Sounds like a total 'As seen on TV' offer I know, but heck, you've helped me to live my dreams and create all the fabulous art that you love so I need to do something for you as a thanks.

The coupon codes for the sale are here.  Just enter them in at checkout on my site:

Giclee Prints:
happy_HoHo_2011

Paper prints:
happy-Ho-Ho-2011

Feel free to share these codes with friends and family!

A lot of the prints available on my site are made to order so please allow 3 weeks for shipping.  Timing should work just fine to get your gifts before Christmas with no stress.

Wishing you all a fabulous fall and for those of you who ski and snowboard...OPENING DAY soon...get out and shred!!!!

10 years ago, while making pom poms for a Doctor Suess party with my best friend Feet Banks and partner KLC, an idea was sprung.  We were listening to a Fat Boy Slim album and there was a track called Green Jesus...jokingly I said to Feet "he would make a great superhero!".  we babbled on about making a movie about him and came up with a script idea.  The problem then was why would we make the movie and who would we show it to????  "Let's start a film festival!" I said to Feet.  There were so many talented ski and Snowboard film makers in town that sat around with Idle hands during the slow season and it was a perfect event to get the community involved and creative.  That was the birth of the Heavy Hitting B-Grade Horrorfest

We started off with only a handful of films in the first year and it was a real hack operation.  We had a projector balanced on a ladder in the middle of the Garibaldi Lift Company bar and showed the films played directly off the cameras.  Over the years we slowly evolved and then changed venues to Millenium Place in Whistler.  This venue would repeatedly sell out every year...the fastest sell out was 5 minutes after the tickets were released.  After this had gone on for several more years we decided that we had created a monster and we were ready for the big time.  So we got together with some more friends, Stu MacKay Smith (artistic and computer genius), Stu Andrews (Whistler Creek Productions) and Travis Tetreault (Heavy Hitting Films Founder) and made the move to The Chateau Whistler hotel where we could host 1100 people, which was a big up in size from the 250 we had had in years past.

Now 10 years later we have created the largest Horror Film Festival this side of Montreal and possibly the most savage event in all of Canada!! (we are currently looking for sponsors for next years event...if anyone can help out??!! )

This year I teamed up with friend Miles Wilkinson to create a Conan style EPIC with sword fighting and lots of skin.  The idea for this one sprung up as a child, but recently when I started to take Western and Japanese style sword fighting classes, I was hooked on the idea.  IN October we spent nearly 500hrs each, working day and night on the film.  Hiking 35 km to exotic locations for a 3 second shot, breaking fingers sword fighting on top of the chief, calling in favors and organizing plane and heli-cam fly-by's to get some amazing shots...this film definitely is an epic.   The Humor is a little twisted, but so is the event so it was a perfect fit.  WE split our film in 2 parts for the festival and made the cuts super fast paced with non stop action, comedy and blood.  After spending so much money and time on our film we are stoked up with costumes and props. So... over the next year we intend to shoot a bunch more scenes and piece together a solid hour long film out of our little idea.  I have never been so committed and worked so hard on a project in my life... I hope you enjoy!!

There is a link to the film on my last Blog post as well as on my Facebook Fan Page

Here is the first half of the film I did with my friend Miles Wilkinson for this year Heavy Hitting B-Grade Horrorfest.  An event i started with my best friend feet Banks which has grown into the largest horror film fest this side of MOntreal...WOW.
I'll have some more stodies about ths hooting soon... gotta run to the city now.
Enjoy the flick!
http://vimeo.com/31815803

Back in August I had the great pleasure of accompanying a family who is commissioning me for a painting on a 7 day sailing trip up in Haida Gwaii and I must say it was a trip of a lifetime!
We had one day on land where we had a great tour of lots of the native cultural sites, a museum as well as the spot where the Golden Spruce was cut down.

The next day we hopped on board of MAPLE LEAF, a 92 foot wooden Tall Ship.  This beautiful vessel is over 100 years old and an absolute pleasure to be aboard.  On the trip south from port we were witness to the immense amount of logging that happened in the recent past as the logging companies, who knew the end was in sight of logging in Haida Gwaii, went on a rampage to collect the massive trees that inhabit the islands up there.  One of the coolest moments on the trip was passing in to Park boundaries.  Immediately I could feel the ancient forests untouched by man and see nature in it's finest form...pure.

Over the 7 days of the trip we were witness to a multitude of old native village sites which are protected within the Park and manned by the Watchmen, Haida Natives who act as greeters and teachers to all those that visit the sites.  We bore witness to countless poles in various states of disrepair.  It is a tradition to allow the poles to fall to the ground and return to the earth and not attempt to prop them up or alter them in anyway other than what mother nature wants to do...that's a pretty cool philosophy I must say.  It was really amazing to see the very same poles that Emily Carr painted and immortalized so many years ago.  It was truly inspiring!

One day when the winds were in our favor we set sail heading back up North and to our amazement, after searching for whales the whole trip, were greeted and followed by at least 20 Humpback whales and 3 Fin whales for nearly an hour an a half.  They surrounded the boat and played with us until they became bored and the wind picked up and carried us off at a faster pace.  At moments every direction you looked we were greeted with spouts from their blow holes or flukes in the air.  It was so amazing I actually had a tear in my eye.  To look a creature of that size in the eye and know they see you and are connecting with you is a pretty powerful moment.

On the second to last day we woke early in the morning to a bit of sunshine and after breakfast we hopped in the Zodiaks and headed to Burnaby Narrows. An absolutely amazing tidal narrows that boasts some of the richest intertidal life in the world.  This was the area for which I was being commissioned to paint.  I dawned my wetsuit and plopped into the FREEZING cold water and snorkeled around snapping as many photos of all  the marine life I could.  There were Bat stars, sun stars, sea urchin, cauliflower anemones, moon snails, bull kelp, octopus...you name it, we saw it.  Not to mention there was a huge jellyfish bloom and there were lions mane jellys almost every 10 feet...this made it a little treacherous to snorkel I must say!  I remained in the water until I began to shiver and my memory card was full on my camera FULL of inspiration.

If you have not been up that way I would highly recommend it!  Especially soon because the poles will not be standing forever.
You can sea kayak around the park or charter a boat, either way is amazing!  I have done both and they both offer a much different experience.  The boat is a great way to go if you have the money and don't like camping in the rain (it rains a lot up there).  My experience aboard the Maple Leaf was amazing.  The crew was fantastic, the vessel was stunning and the food was fabulous.  You can get more info on Maple Leaf HERE

I had such a great time on this trip and became so inspired that I am thinking about doing a week long sailing art class aboard the ship.  If anyone is interested in partaking on such an adventure please let me know as I would love to share some experiences up there in one of the most spectacular places on earth...and teach you what I know about art at the same time!

here are a few of my favorite photos from the trip:

A few exciting new things in the world of art.  I have been in hibernation/creation mode for the past month and have created some amazing new works and limited edition T-shirt as well.
For the past 5 years I have had a certain painting on my list of to-do's and for one reason or another it has been moved from list to list to list for years.  It has been one of those things that has always been looming over my shoulder giving me a little poke every time I was painting saying "paint me now...paint me now".  Finally I listened to what it said and created this piece.  I still haven't decided on a title for it yet, but it will be soon to come.  The piece is 24"x48" image of an alpine meadow at sunrise looking across the Whistler Valley.  It took a long long time due to all the detail, but it was well worth the wait.  There will be a very small limited edition run of Giclee prints of this one and I will be posting info for that soon.

Another piece that I just finished was a commission by Parks Canada for Glacier National Parks 125th anniversary.  The piece is of Swiss Peaks.  One of the prominent peaks you see while driving through Rogers Pass.  The piece will be displayed at the Visitors Center in the Park.  Another painting is coming during the summer and it will be of the same peak, but in summertime with a field of alpine flowers in the foreground.  I totally lucked out with this arrangement with Parks and I will be selling prints out of the visitors center...AMAZING!!!  I'm hoping to team up with Parks Canada and do paintings of various Parks across the country, fingers crossed on that one.

I also have just released a limited edition run of T-shirts featuring my painting "Basscoast Beauty". they are available for one month and can be purchased or ordered from Studiotique at 617 Kingsway in Vancouver.  The phone number is 604 736 5651.  I don't have a link yet for online ordering, but I should have it soon.  I've attached an image of what the shirts will look like.  There aren't very many out there so grab one today and be one of the lucky ones.

Whistler Art Workshops on the Lake are rapidly approaching.  I am teaching a 3 day beginer acrylics class and I think there is still one slot left.  I will be going over everything you need to know to get started as a painter as well as tips to make you a better painter.  This will be my third year of teaching and I have had great feedback from all my classes.  You can book online HERE

Another cool thing on my plate is some design work.   I am doing a series of paintings to be used for packaging and marketing for an organic fertilizer company caller Rainworks.  It's was a bit of a weird opportunity, but a really neat one as well.  the more ways to get creative the better I always say.

Keep your eyes peeled for weekly specials on my Twitter and get the scoop in the inpsiration behind my paintings on my facebook FANPAGE