I don’t!

What brands do you associate with?

Brands? You can keep them. Expensive, exclusive, snobbish, wasteful, fashion victims.

I have never really bought brands, especially clothes. I don’t feel they mean anything to me. I can see how expensive brands exclude the majority. Or people spend money they can’t afford to go one better than their neighbours.

In some ways I can see the manufacturer Ford’s argument that you could have any colour of car so long as it was black! Now people want exclusive sports cars, or utility vehicles. But to me as long as a car gets me from A to B safely and at no great cost? I’m happy. It can be shabby, growing moss on the bodywork. As long as I can use it for transport that’s fine.

Imagine the savings? You don’t have to spend too much to get something decent. If I can I will try and choose reliability and boring mundanity over glitzy, showy brands. And with those characteristics you can have something that is less likely to get stolen. It makes life easier not to bother with brands.

Play using photodirector

I started drawing circles, then decided to run it through several iterations of photodirector using it’s AI style button and adding a background of butterflies, then sending it through the AI texturiser again. I think it makes a quite gentle image, I like the colours, enhanced in the Clarendon Instagram filter. I do enjoy experimenting.

Robin Hoods Bay

A painting I did in situ in a house in Robin Hoods Bay in Yorkshire about 7 years ago. We were away on holiday and we’re impressed by the house which had it’s living room at the top of the building to give views of the cottage rooves and the sparkling sea in the distance. Sometimes I want to visit there again. .

Yin yang cats

My attempt at wax resist printing that I did with the brilliant Belinda Latimer a few years ago. I enjoyed trying to do Batik in her workshop, creating layers of colour. I also did a print of a couple of fish that I called Pisces had framed in a deep wooden frame. Another example of my experimental art practice.

Art

What could you do more of?

Old digital mouse drawing

I have been ill and down for a while and I need to start feeling better and reclaim doing some real art. Yes I can work on my small phone screen and create small pieces of digital art, and yes, over the years I have done a lot. But I begin to need to paint again. It must be a good sign? I’ve got to stop being frightened of creating, fear of failure is holding me back. Will I ever get through being blocked? At least now I can admit I want to.

Mince pie?

It’s September, obviously time

For Christmas mince pies!

The Winter Solstice

Is three months away!

How many sweet desserts

Will be eaten before the season?

We are in mists and mellow fruitfulness

Autumn just begun, not winter yet…

Not Angels and jingle bells!

Eat by date?

Best before 7th October!

Will be spoiled by Christmas!

Floating building

A picture I created five years ago. Collaged from an angled view of part of the old spode factory in Stoke on Trent. I love it because it looks like it’s floating in a beautiful blue sky, with patterns of wispy clouds creating a tracery of waves like the tide coming in around the buildings. I should do more….

Poison words

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

I used to be hurt when people said things to me to upset me. I would take on board what they said, and it could lead to several sleepless nights, or mistrusting my judgement or feelings.

After a few years of this I talked to a new friend who explained a way of getting through or over the uncaring words.

What they said was imagine the nasty words are poison. The words are absorbed by the victim (in this case me) and the poison works it’s way into the mind of the person they want to hurt. This affects that person’s confidence, thoughts, security.

But in the meantime the person doing the poisoning walks away scot free. With no effect on them, able to go and place poison elsewhere, spreading their cruelty and getting a rise out of others.

The trick is to realise what they are doing and train yourself to ignore their jibes. Inoculate your mind against their poison and learn to stop their tricks before they can get to you. It really does help.