prisoner arts and crafts for you as thankyou gifts for donations

This is a selection of painting this incredible artist has donated. Prisoners are not allowed to do "enterprizing". i.e.- they cannot make money from their work.. Through FFUP fundraising , however, we can help prisoners without funds with the basics.

ON his site are many more paintings we have photographed but these are the ones we can give to you as thank you gifts. More are coming. At this point we are eliminating a minimum donation requirement.

Email us if you decide to donate, and give us the number of the painting you would like to receive as thank you gift. We are just developing this and will clearly mark which paintings are available and what size they are and of what type material . Also a guide of a minimum donation will be set. All proceeds after mailing expenses will go to prisoners- most for stamps, hygiene supplies, books and the like. We are also sponsoring a prisoner to prisoner mentoring project which requires much copying of texts, as the prison does not allow used books.
The explanations under the paintings come from Darren's blog: darrenmorrisartist.blogspot.com/.

"bird landscape":this is a 16x20 (Guessstamation) Acrylic painting...(note: acrylic on fabric over cardboard- a little beat up- done early-but still beautiful)
Painting is a sort of meditation for me, to me that gives me a chance to still my mind, and connect with my natural self. What others may refer to as the spiritual or supernatural. This allows me to hear my center speak to me, and sometimes like this one, I envisioned I was sitting on a large rock on the rivers edge. The soles of my feet together completing my circuit. Taking a moment to visually take in the majestic mountains in the distance, the trees that sway and rustle in the slight breeze. The sound of the water, slow and hypnotic, setting the tone for deep meditation. Slipping into Jah blessing, seeking H.I.M. face, inhaling Jah air. I can almost smell it. I can almost hear Jah birds singing unto H.I.M.. For those moments, I'm not here, smelling this thick stale (One Destiny...Rastafari!-missplaces words) air. Prison has a smell you'll never forget... You can smell the hatred, anger, & depression clinging to every breath. I find peace in prayer & meditation, In all forms of I meditation. Painting brings it all into a reality...

"Girl and Globe" 11.5"x16.5" visible) (fabric on cardboard)

I really enjoy painting Native American themed pictures. Often I can look at a native picture, or hear a concept or belief and it gives life to something I've felt or spark something new, simple, basic. Nothing fancy, over standing woman was created by the divine. Woman is to be loved and appreciated. Woman is an earth, a mother of creation. Rasta must love woman, but don't fall in love. Rasta stand in love, love so much Rasta look hungry. When I began reading up on different aspects of history, I was shocked & saddened by the burden our women have had to endure. I have to acknowledge that I was not a champion for women, I was not abusive or anything, but I would pass on my way allowing wrongs to go un-checked. Hopefully my paintings will inspire a thought in young men, to cherish women. Not only the women in our family and our lives, but all women..
Love, One God, One Aim, one Destiny!
Daren

3) "self protrait; letting it all out"(above)Acrylic, 11 1/2 "x 16 1/2", I was tired of holding it in & I just let it go for awhile & had fun.

4)"woman in White" 18x24 Acrylic (home made canvas) mounted on a board. I met this woman that had inflamed my passions, she was very sexy and fun to share with, upon completing the picture, we parted ways and I threw water from a paint glass on it that happened to be glue. Expressing that sense of loss, and preserving...her.

H.I.M. Haile Salassic"Haile Salassie" (above)18x24 Bristol paper. Graphite pencil & chalk pastel. Minimum donation #20
I drew this soon after I got to Columbia Correctional Institution. I hung it on my wall for nearly a year and a half, a friendly face in the mist of this strange environment.

6)" Chief Joseph" Acrylic painting on canvas panel 9x12 (I believe), I'm not sure who this is, I believe it to be Chief Joseph, no real meaning, I just like the picture, (I seen in a book), so I painted it.

7)"Rastafarian man with earth with dreadlocks "(no title) (10"x19") (acrylic on paper)

8)Eagle Wolf (no number) (painted 9-28-08) (acrylic on canvas panel) (18"x24")

This is a canvas panel, if memory seves me, with aicrylics- 18x24... There is no grand story about this, it was a photograph in a magazine of some sort of sculpture. I liked the piece first for the color, then for the curve in the wings. I've never seen anything like that in real life. A real Eagle, or that slice of nature. I can only imagine how nice it must be to sit atop of a mountain like that...

Egyptian woman with Pyramids (no title) (9"x12") (acrylic on paper)

Bob Marley (no number) (acrylic on paper) (8.5"x 11") (gone)

Rasta rising from heart, (Title: Thinking) (5" x 8") (acrylic on paper)

Act of Affection, Part 1 of 4 (acrylic on canvas paper with varnish) (16"x20") (on blog)

This fantasy is from a dream I had. I had seen paintings in a magazine that was very similar. I “tried” to duplicate this work and for me it represented King Solomon and Queen of Sheba as I just read the story in the KEBRA NAGAST ( The glory of Kings) by Miguel Brooks ( translation) After many years apart, I seen her, she has her own family now and three beautiful children. But for me she was ( is ) that first great love, bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. I’d give her that painting. It was a 18X24” on masonite I believe. It’s been a few years although the dream is of recent vintage. Somehow all of this got dreaded up in my dreams and when I awoke at like 3 am I began painting. I wept . My tears were mixed in with my painting , it was finished in one setting. The ‘Halfpint” ( I nickname we gave here because she was so short, we had just seen a Spike Lee movie school daze. She ‘s 4’12” although she’ll claim 4’11”. Birth stone is garnet and that stone is suppose to represent constancy. I’ve never seen a garnet. However in my dream, the stone was blue, so I called it sapphire which represents clear thinking, the necklaces are kind of like marriage rings , the triangle pointing skyward represents the male and one pointing down represents female , based on the reproductive organs. Also God (spirit) man/woman ( material, together, we represent thar Star of David Shield of Jah. Ruby is my birthstone which represents contentment.

Act of Affection, Part 3 of 4 (#113) (acrylic on canvas paper with water-based varnish) (9.5"x16") (on blog)

The act of affection sets my love in motion part 3
9 ½”X `16” acryllic on paper
This one is based on a fantasy I had about this woman while looking at a painting by someone else. I don’t even know who the original artist was. I drifted off and imagined a hot summer day, with the kind of humidity that produces sweat from thinking too hard. Taking a hike up the side of a small mountain,Stopping to take it all in, I imagined what it would be like to see her standing there , with one of those long thin summer dresses. I have a weakness for them. To be there in a moment with such a beautiful Queen. Again this is not a portrait of the person, but a representation of a feeling.She is a very attractive woman who inspires fantasies that appeal to my animal nature. At other times it is my intellect that is stimulated.

(above)Card: Man & woman in hot tub (5" x 8") (acrylic on paper)

Old Pirates (acrylic on linen-covered board) (9"x12").gone

9# 10# 11# below

The concept...Is as I was going through, experiencing some emotionally trying times, so I tried to not focus on the pain and turn my face towards my God, hoping that the light of my creator will shine on me.

"For some reason"... Some reason other than I'm estranged from my kin people. Some reason other than I have no voice to speak my mind, to give rise to the injustice done within the confines of these tortured chambers & tombs, The souls of the walking dead cry out, with silent screams. I see it, the pain welled up in the eyes of adult males, stripped of the title of men, no longer functional...

For some reason other than I lie awake at night listening to my cellmate snoring so loud it seems to be coming from inside of me...Staring at the ceiling fantasizing of spending time with my son, trying to at times forget that I have failed him, his mother, and society.

Finding out that people close to me are crackheads...For some reason other than living souls all over the world suffering... #9 reflects this pain, the pain of losing my great grandmother, pissed off & heart broken, such a loving & gentle soul. As many things in this life I turn to the source to sustain me.

self portrait /

Next two go together

Two part card: dark (above & Self-portrait )below) (each are 4.5" x 7") (#40) (acrylic on paper) (#9 and #11 on blog). See explanation for 9 thru 11 above.