Information on the creator of "La Pequeña Princesa Rosa"
Martin Shellabarger is currently (May, 2012) studying for his Master's degree in Creativity Studies online at the Union Institute and University (UI&U). A professionally trained classical figure and portrait painter who has been creating art all his life, he studied landscape painting with noted painter Jerral Derryberry in Santa Fe, New Mexico, then majored in Drawing and Painting for four years at the Art Institute of Southern California (now the Laguna College of Art and Design), and received his Bachelor's of Liberal Studies degree while attending the Adult Degree Program at Vermont College. He lived in Madrid for over 11 years, studying the materials and techniques of the paintings of the Baroque masters, especially Rubens, Rembrandt and Velazquez.
A combination of a passion for animation and teaching along with the birth of his first grandchild has resulted in the creation of the children's series La Pequeña Princesa Rosa, which will be his master's project at UI&U. Over the past 30 years he has taught a wide variety of subjects, both in formal and informal settings. A former Navy Hospital Corpsman and Marine Corps Company Aid Man ("Medic"), some of the subjects he has taught are: hatha yoga; martial arts; computer applications; emergency medicine (EMT-Basic Instructor/Coordinator, EMT IV certifications); drawing and painting, and English as a Second Language. Before he started painting in oils he had a fourteen-year career as a computer support and repair technician, Information Services Manager for the Western States Arts Federation, and as a Programmer/Analyst II for the State of New Mexico.
He currently lives in Quito, Ecuador, with his wife, Giovanna, and relaxes by painting landscapes and street scenes when he is not working on LPPR or his degree.
SMALL AXE PRODUCTIONS
The production company, "Small Axe Productions," takes its name from the Bob Marley song (Marley got it from a Jamaican proverb) its refrain goes:
"If you are the big tree, "We are the small axe "Sharpened to cut you down, (well sharp) "Ready to cut you down, oh yeah!."
Here is a link to the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgWUnuB6quc
There is a beautiful website with the same name, devoted to a critique of Caribbean culture: http://smallaxe.net/project/ it is well worth a look.