Tag: Paintings

Cluttered

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Someone’s house

The inside of my head is like the inside of my house, cluttered and gunged up with stuff…

Books, fiction, non fiction, science fiction and fantasy, train and engineering books, philosophy, illustration, history. Anything and everything. I could probably send the books off to somewhere that needs a library restocking, although a lot of the, books are probably outdated or out of print.

I have a very visual memory and “see” places in my mind. If I decide to paint something I can remember what it looks like and describe it to myself in my thoughts.

You could almost describe my house as a physical memory palace. Ornaments, books, paintings, even tubes of paint link my mind back to a place I had visited or a person I knew.

The clutter hides my house. How pleased I would be to winnow out the best bits and suddenly have space. Honestly it’s like a, space station at the moment, full of things, floating around metaphorically, waiting to be tied down or ejected, I want to do it but physically ita beyond me, slow process and progress may be made. Talking about it might help.

Anyway, I do just like the word, cluttered, (and higgledy piggledy)……..

Annual Orme exhibition

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Another year on…

Our Orme group continues to meet and create new art.

We are holding our annual exhibition, with paintings, sculpture, jewellery and other art and crafts available. There will be festive refreshments available.

We have new artists who have joined this year so there will be different work amongst the art on display. If you are in the area of Newcastle under Lyme, Staffordshire, on 23rd November 2025 why not come along?

Murals remembered

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Found an old photo of my mural of Walter a regular at the Leopard Hotel in Burslem, the other picture is my reimagined  portrait of Molly Leigh, based on the mural I did of her. Both murals were destroyed when the pub burnt down a couple of years ago. I might try and recreate the Walter one too. The final photo is of my Molly Leigh painting and my Spode circular window painting in the Orme Art Group Exhibition at the Brampton museum and art gallery in Newcastle under Lyme. It’s on at the moment.

Trying to work at art…

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At the Owen Project

There is a new community project nearby and I went up yesterday to have a chat and try and feel a bit more engaged with people. Various things are happening including knitting and crochet, crafts, painting, and writing. It got me out of the house and helped save money on heating. While I was there I did a sketch of a couple of the attendees.

They called me their resident artist which I thought was rather sweet, although there are lots of other people creating artwork there, so it’d not really an accolade I should accept. But it is giving me the opportunity to maintain my skills. I don’t shake as much when I concentrate.

Today was different, I went to my group meeting for my mental health, it’s another craft group, but after I’d had a bit of breakfast I felt really icky, I ended up coming home early, mostly feeling overwhelmed and tired now. But I must try and continue with art, it’s really the only thing that keeps me going.

Four years ago

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I had just gone through an artists block. Sometimes I can’t paint, I come to a standstill. I don’t think what I was painting was that good, but I’m sure I felt better being able to pick up a paintbrush.

Since then my painting work has been up and down. I don’t always feel up to painting, and various stuff makes it more difficult. Painting isn’t just a physical ability, it’s a mental one as well. Both of those things are affecting me. Life sometimes gets in the way of intention. But I don’t give up. I will probably carry on somehow till the day I die. Art is my imperative in life.

Mirrors removed

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Portrait of my friend.

Today was a sad day, leaving my studio at Spode is a real wrench. I have had to gather up my belongings including paints, canvases, an easle. Even the mirrors on the walls and the nails that supported my paintings over the years I’ve been there.

How do you remove hexagonal mirrors that are glued to a wall? With a claw hammer and very carefully is the answer. Now some paintings are at a friends studio and others are here in my living room. Hopefully I will soon get sorted out.

Waves

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I had these two paintings together and I realised they both represent waves. Water waves in my copy of Hokusai’s Great Wave of Kanagawa, and the waves in the atmosphere of Jupiter with it’s Great Red spot (and they are both ‘Great’ too). If I don’t sell them I am going to hang them together if I can find the space. The Hokusai on the left flowing into Jupiter on the right. X

I have too many!

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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..

Too much?

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Pictures behind pictures, a wall full of images. The chimney brest is concrete so it took an effort to get the nails in!

It also has a mantlepiece with lots of ornaments, mainly cats. I’m not proud of my clutter, but I’m attached to it. I took a monochrome photo because the colours are a bit riotous!

Are you a clutter nutter? Do you ‘collect’ or ‘hoard’? I’m on the verge, I might slip into hoarding soon, but recently I have been trying to declutter. It’s not a rapid process. But I’m trying.

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Today I went to a breathing workshop, I’d been invited by a friend. It was good, I was with other people who had different health problems to me, but I felt welcomed. We eventually sang some songs and the participants and although they were not a choir as such they were really good!

My friend had asked me to bring my small paintings so we could raise some money for the organisation she volunteers with. I was only selling tiny paintings, so I donated £1 per painting (between 20% and 50% of the prices). But it didn’t matter because they were wanted and liked. It was a good morning.