In Memory of the man i nearly knew… Ray Ferrer, artist extraordinaire

[i wrote this post a week ago because i wanted to get permission from Ray’s wife Rhian before posting it, but am glad to be able to share it now]

UGH, Cancer.

i woke up this morning to the news that an insanely gifted man i had befriended on the Twitterer had succumbed to the brain tumour that had taken him hostage, and died a few days ago. His wife Rhian, had just shared the news on the Twitterer. What can you say? There are no words, but i hope that my message of strength and love in the midst of a no-word time were the smallest bit of encouragement to her.

His name was Ray Ferrer and he painted with spray paint some incredible works of art such as these ones:

i mean this guy was ridiculously talented. Spray paint? This work is incredible. And do a little googling and see a bunch of his other stuff. Phenomenal!

And with a following of 30 thousand plus people, he still took the time to interact with the individual. Which is why i kinda felt a little bit like i knew him. We back and forthed a bunch, especially when he started tweeting with the hashtag #DownWithThisBrainTumor

And why this day has been a bit of a difficult day. Thinking of him and his lovely wife and their people, having to do life without him from now on.

In Ray’s own words:

That is a strong testimony to his wife, Rhian, who was that rock for him.

As i said, i have no helpful words. Each and every day i hate cancer more and more. i just wanted to take a moment to stop and give some recognition to a kind and gentle soul, with an exceptional gift and a lovely wife who stood by him right until the end.

Ray Ferrer. You will be missed. And celebrated. And remembered…

[For some other cancer-related stories, click here]

The dolphin No_bob rises…

 

It’s been a while since i shared about No_bob, the world’s most famous stuffed dolphin [can you name any others] who i was going to call ‘Bob’ [largely due to this amazing Blackadder scene] but then realising that he was made out of material and fluff and would not in fact bob, he became No_bob.

When i was a speaker on the youth/school speaking circuit in South Africa i would usually take No_bob with me and introduce him to the crowds and pretty soon he started getting more cheers than me and i knew my ‘fame’ had been eclipsed by an inanimate object [that’s right, unlike a lot of people’s stuffed toys they pretend are real, No_bob is just a toy and knows it, or would if he was real, which he’s not]

He has had a song written about him by a then famous South African punk band, Serving Suggestion. He has been kidnapped and borrowed for overseas travel [see above pic] and used to ‘bring the rings’ in a wedding [mine, to the beautiful Val] and featured in magazines and more.

HERE’S WHERE YOU COME IN

Since coming to Americaland though, both i and No_bob have kept a low profile as the pond is much bigger and not many people know me here, but recently he has been introduced to the Re:generation church in Oakland and he ‘got to know’ an amazing bunch of youth and leaders in Florida Keys when i went to speak there, and so his fame feels on the rise again.

For years i have been trying to get Stephan Pastis, the cartoonist behind my favourite strip, ‘Pearls before Swine’ to include him just once in a cartoon, but even after meeting No_bob and signing a book in his name, he is yet to do that [but i won’t give up, so you might as well Stephan, if you can handle the fame and increased book sales!].

I have also recently been introduced on The Twitterer to an incredible artist called Ray Ferrer [@Ray_artist] who makes these unbelievably insane pictures using spray paint which i can’t even wrap my head around they are so good:

 

He has favourited a tweet or two of mine on the Twitterer despite having like a gazillion followers and i have interpreted that as a desperate plea to have permission to do a spray painting of No_bob. Ray, you have my permission…

So what you, my friends and general following public can do to assist is one [or both] of the following:

[1] Email Stephan Pastis [theratandpig@aol.com] or tweet him [@stephanpastis] and let him know how much you would love to see No_bob, the world’s most famous stuffed dolphin appear in his strip.

[2] Tweet Ray Ferrer [@Ray_artist] and encourage him by telling him how much greater his body of work would be with a No_bob piece or tell him you don’t really believe he has the skills to create a great resemblance of the most famous stuffed dolphin in history.

And add this link: https://www.facebook.com/Nounderscorebob – to make sure they know exactly what he looks like.

Finally, just to help you on the spelling of his name as there are many variations and mess ups as people get creative, but the official spelling of No_bob is Capital N, small b’s and an UNDERSCORE between…

Who else do you think we should get involved in No_bob’s fame revival? Any contacts you have who could up his profile?