New paintings and regular art updates.
Where do you fit them?
Nooks and crannies
Squeeze in gaps
Force them onto shelves
Net them to prevent collapse.
Gabions of books
Insulating walls
A bookworm super highway
North to West, East to South
A myriad of subjects
Choose a favourite book!
Where can you reduce clutter in your life?
I once counted our books. When I got to 1000 I gave up. Some are precious and I devour them regularly. Others I dust off occasionally, but a few I have never read. Mainly because they were my hubbys and generally are about wars, trains or tractors. I like some of them, but they are generally big and heavy, full of pictures and technical details. I think some of them will go to a charity shop.
I guess they could act as insulation! Some of them are high up on tall shelves. I would have to climb up ladders to get up to them. I’m not sure if anyone will ever read them!
What would you do if you lost all your possessions?
Books, ornaments glass, clothes, paintings… Clutter.
In some ways to lose all my possessions would make life simpler as long as I had somewhere to go? Our house has got crowded with ‘stuff’, we have collected things over years and years, and we are trying to get rid of some of it.
But it’s easy to become attached, an object can encompass memories, look at it and you look back in time. Does losing your possessions give you freedom? Or is it oppressive? What if you only have the clothes you stand up in, no credit or debit card…. Knowledge of where you live would be important. Knowing how to light a fire, keep warm, find food and clean drinking water. The inhumanity of men to the homeless is a fear if I went through with disposing of my possessions.
An artist did do it. He crushed all of his belongings I think. It was a very powerful art ‘happening’, but what happened to him? Was he paid to do it, has he replaced things, did he survive? The problem is that in a world of thousands or millions of wonders each day, does anyone even notice.
It would be good to dispose of my belongings, to free up myself, but I’m getting too old to survive such a thing. I will have to keep at least some of my things..
List 30 things that make you happy.
1 icecream
2 chocolate icecream
3 strawberry ice cream
4 toffee icecream
5 mint choc chip icecream
6 lemon sorbet
7 raspberry sorbet,
8 Lime sorbet
9 Strawberry sorbet
10 choc ice
11 grape juice
12 blackcurrant juice
13 pancakes with sugar and lemon juice
14 omelette
15 beans on toast
16 decaff coffee
17 Sunday roast
18 library books
19 science fiction
20 ceramics
21 ornaments
22 paintings
23 curry
24 Chinese food
25 Greek honey
26 hummus
27 olives
28 salad
29 fish and chips
30 Birthday cards
Why list 30 things? What if none of them make me happy. I’ve just chosen mainly food because it’s easy to list. Not much effort needed, and it’s not disclosing much about me. I might like things on the list, it doesn’t mean I eat them all the time!
Jupiter, biggest of the planets. If it had a bit more mass it might shine slightly as a brown dwarf star? In the story 2001 a Space oddessy it’s converted to a second star in the solar system. That would make the solar system a binary star system
How would it affect Earth? More light, more heat? It depends on its solar output. It might make plants grow more, but it might add to current global warming. Birds are being affected by the light pollution from streetlamps, imagine having the extra light of maybe a full moon when Jupiter was close to us in its orbit. Someone can probably work out the ramifications. I think in the original story in the book was set at Saturn and the aliens that turned it into a star wanted to heat the moon Europa as it was supposed to have organisms living in an ocean below it’s frozen crust.
Have a read of the books (it’s a series) or watch the film. I think Arthur C Clarke was a very interesting writer.
List three books that have had an impact on you. Why?
Cosmos by Carl Sagan
Surely you’re joking Mr Feynman by Richard Feynman
Chaos by James Gleick
I’m surprised the books I have chosen are all about various science subjects, are all by male writers and all white American writers.
I don’t have a preference for science books or something written by men, but these stuck in my mind because they pushed the boundaries of science fact books.
Cosmos was written in the 1970’s I think, and is a glorious look at the universe and how it is made up. It might not be the most up to date book about astronomy, and obviously we have learnt a lot since it was written, but it got me hooked when I was young and I have two copies of it in the house.
The Richard Feynman book is an autobiography/humourous book. Feynman was a physicist, but the book is much more than a historical retelling of his scientific work. It ranges from his penchant for safe cracking to his interest in art, teaching, and questioning authority. Along the way he talks about nuclear physics. I have another of his books, which is about QED. Quantum Electro Dynamics… No I can’t explain it!
Finally I have chosen Chaos by James Gleick. Chaos is about Chaos theory, it introduced me to fractals and the Mandelbrot set, an infinite pattern of twirling and dizzying shapes that can be created by using a small set of coordinates that make the pattern repeat. I tried drawing patterns using some of the ideas in the book
All three books are 30 or 40 years old but I think they would still hold the interest of someone coming at them from a new interest in science. They helped me navigate some concepts I would never have come across without them. If you feel like expanding your knowledge have a look.
Do you have any collections?
Stones, rocks and crystals. Glass paperweights. Books. Plants (mainly Christmas cactuses). Cat ornaments. My paintings and art.
One small terraced house. Two bedrooms, one living room. Cluttered. I’m trying to declutter a bit, but it’s hard when you collect (or is it hoard?) things.
I tried counting the books once, but when I got to 1000 I gave up. I collected Terry Pratchettand and Ann McCaffrey books, also Ellis Peters (Brother Cadviael books). I might have spelt it wrong. I like science and biography, novels and history, too many…
Cat ornaments range from sculptures to small home made clay objects. I have most of them in the living room, sitting on the mantlepiece.
I also collect too much art supplies. I have lots of felt pens, brushes, paints, canvases. Yes it’s cluttered. So I need to organise everything. Have a spring clean. Dust off the glass paperweights, the cats, my paintings. If something happens to us goodness knows what my relatives will think!
What topics do you like to discuss?
If you know my blog, it’s full of different things, ideas, thoughts. I try and explain things sometimes, although I might not have accurate information. But I try and get the gist of things. I like working things out. I also talk a lot about my art (which is what the page was originally set up for). Then I sometimes write poetry, although again, I wouldn’t say I was brilliant at it. And sometimes I write short stories. So all in all I try to vary things and hopefully not be too boring?
I suppose this all reflects a varied, comprehensive education. I’m definitely not a narrow minded specialist. I try and listen to both sides of an argument, but I’m not wholly impartial. If a subject seems important for the world or the environment, I will generally support it. I try not to be fooled. There are a lot of strange ideas out there, and the Internet can be an effective (and bad) way of spreading misinformation.
I enjoy science, particularly astronomy. You can find posts I’ve written where I ramble on about things like galaxies or eclipses, or disagreeing with strange ideas about the shape of the Earth.. It’s an oblate spheroid. I have collections of books, glass, paintings and other objects, so I try and keep myself enthusiastic about many and various things. And then there are Cats. That’s a whole separate post…
Recently I’ve talked about my health, but is this the right forum? Will I miraculously come across a solution to my problems? no, I think I just have to get on with things. But I certainly feel supported and I’m grateful for that.
I was looking for this drawing because there was a prompt on one of the Art groups I’m on that asked people to post #thisisme. I looked and looked for this and could not find it, and yet its on my WordPress media gallery! It was originally drawn for a college project ‘I’. As you can see it includes a self portrait, a canvas and pencil and brush, some poppies, an x-ray, books, an old pottery, a cat and finally the willow pattern on a plate. Each thing means something to me. It was drawn in 2020 so I have changed slightly since then. No bits have dropped off but I’m not as well as I was. Life eh? Gets to us all….
Books, important things
Full of knowledge
Truth and lies
Freedom to think
Words have strength
Shout out loud
Of time and history.
So many subjects
Art, Biology, Cheese and wine
Gullivers travels
Earth and sky.
Let them live,
Don’t ban books
Or burn them
Fahrenheit 451
Flames lick away
Knowledge, peace, understanding
A bookshelf a day
Keeps misunderstanding
At bay.
Mallaband-Brown