Clocking on

Posted on April 21, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Clock, clocking on machine, Forty years ago, History, holiday job, Life, Summer, Work, Youth6 Comments

Have you ever clocked on? I did for a few weeks one summer when I got a holiday job. The clock machine we had to use was a big grey box with cards in slots next to it.

I also clocked on for an art project. Each time I went into my studio I clocked on, and off. The cards were collected and turned into an artwork later on.

So seeing this at the museum rang a bell… Some forty year old thought woke up and reminded me of a dirty grey factory floor, oil splashed on the machines, knurling air filters for cars (joining the concertinerd paper together) with two clogged wheels that pressed the ends together to hold them in place before they had cages and the rubberised circles fixed to the top and bottoms, then clock off and go home at the end of a long, boring day. So clocking on? I’ve done that.

My old cat Jinx

Posted on February 9, 2021 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Cat, Forty years ago, Ginger Tom, jinx, old age, Photo, Rehomed, rescue catLeave a comment

A rescue cat. Another photo from forty years ago. This was our old cat. He was due to be put down because he wasn’t wanted so we took him in. He lived another year and died of old age and kidney problems. I did a painting of this photo on an old wooden cupboard door as I didn’t have the money to afford any canvases while I was on holiday from college. The painting was exhibited and sold to someone at Stoke Garden Festival I think? And I did love him, even though it was for a limited time.

Fuzzy photo

Posted on February 9, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Factories, Forty years ago, industry pollution, Life, Memory, Photo, Scene, TimeLeave a comment

photo across the ages from forty years ago when I first went to college. Why? The sky was dirtier, there was dust and smoke in the air from places like the Michelin Tyre Factory. I don’t know if that’s a chimney in the distance or a crane.

Why keep blurry old photos? They link you to memories of a time long gone, of a changed world. Where there was some interest in pollution and ozone holes, but not enough pressure to improve things.

Maybe I should just delete this, but this was a prompt I wanted to use.

Celtic art illustrations.

Posted on October 29, 2020October 29, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Black and white, Celtic art, Drawing, Forty years ago, Illustrations, Ink pen, the Silent Eye, Thesis2 Comments

Illustrations I did almost forty years ago of pre Christian Celtic art for my thesis.

This is in response to a post on the The Silent Eye by Steve Tanham this morning on Celtic Art. It was very interesting and informative. It reminded me how I was influenced by the patterns they created. It also made me think about the Staffordshire hoarde of Saxon treasure that was found in this area about ten years ago. Similar but different.

The skills of the artesans that made these was immense. In an age that had no technology except for the hand eye coordination of the makers it is incredible what they could make.

They want me to use wordpress editor?

Posted on June 24, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Forty years ago, Grumpy, Humour, New editor, old self portrait, Painting, Thinking, Time, WordPress13 Comments

selfex

I’m an old fuddy duddy, I do things how I like to.

I try and make original paintings and write as spontaneously as I can here.

I’m getting pretty nervous of the new editor. Yes I could try it but what happens if I like this one? Will they switch it off. I’ve invested a lot of time in WordPress and I hope my blog isn’t too boring. It would be a real pain to learn it all again. I’ve got enough on my plate without having to be doing with it .

I’m getting old and cermudgenley. I’m also trying to confuse spell checker with old words!

Goodnight one and all . X

Ghostly

Posted on April 2, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Black and white image, Figures, Forty years ago, Ghostly image, Photographic paper, Photography, Photos, Pin hole, Pin hole photographLeave a comment

Have you ever used a pin hole camera? This was me and a friend at our neighbours house. The pinhole camera was a biscuit tin, sealed with sellotape and with a sheet of black and white photographic paper in the base. The lid had a tiny hole created by hammering a small nail through it. I used a piece of card, I think, to cover the hole. In this case I stayed still for about a minute, but my friend moved after about thirty seconds if I remember correctly. The image was created by lifting the flap over the hole, then covering the hole up again after the exposure.

I don’t remember developing it. I’m sure I did, it was part of the coursework at college to do some photography. I did a few more. One of an old man, standing in front of this window, and one of me sitting on a setee inside the house by this window. In it I had turned my head right for thirty seconds and then left. The result was my body was visible, but my head was missing, just a stump where it should be.

That was forty years ago, a long time ago. The dim and distant past.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Forty years ago