New paintings and regular art updates.
What is this thing called grey matter?
How does it work?
A controller of movement,
A creator of language
Emotions pull decisions
One way or the other.
Joined up letters and thinking.
Science explores and probes
Into the thing that created science.
Art and Music flow,
Pain and pleasure,
Athletic prowess.
Genius and idiocy,
Two sides of different minds.
What motivates you?
When I was little I used to get very bored on a Sunday. We would go to Sunday school in the morning but afternoons were interminable, nothing much on the TV, with only one channel to start off with, or the old radio on in the background. My parents didn’t like pop music so it was either religious programming or comedy or documentaries.
The boredom pushed me to do art, I was experimenting with oil paint on cardboard when I was about 12. Or playing in the garden, climbing up to the top bar of the swings and hanging upside down… My parents had finally been able to afford a bike so I would cycle up and down the street and practice tricks on it. Getting as close to trees as possible without hitting them. We had water fights with other kids in the street. Throwing plastic bags full of water at each other and getting soaked. I also made hurdles using my dad’s saw benches and running as fast as I could over them. I remember climbing an old gnarled Laburnum tree as high as I could get, and climb up the outside of the big slide using it’s steel frame to get up and over the top instead of the steps..
Those games and playing made me adventurous. I wanted to learn everything. It motivated me in other ways too. Because I got bored easily I would get lots of books out of the library. Not just adventure stories, but ones about atoms, and galaxies, and art, and volcanoes. I loved finding out about things. So I stopped being bored because I was motivated to keep myself occupied. And I’ve stayed motivated to do things all my life. I try not to get bored anymore.
What strategies do you use to cope with negative feelings?
Each day I try and write three things. Simple things I’m grateful for.
Not wondrous things, but little ones.
Traffic lights staying on green, getting to an appointment on time, a phone call from a relative, an unexpected laugh with a friend. Maybe seeing the first tadpole or daffodil of the year.
Just list 3 things, with today’s date, maybe add a little sketch of what’s happened. Each positive gratitude trains your brain to feel less negative. I’ve dome it for a couple of years now. It helps X
Scenery painting from a few years ago… I think I got the arms too long, the flame too small and the head too small too! But anyway it gives an impression of lady liberty. This was done for a pantomime just before or after the pandemic. I can’t remember.
And….. I think all that is happening in the USA at the moment has pantomime qualities. The two ugly sisters are obviously two billionaires. The fact that in a pantomime they would be men wearing drag is very ironic!
Who is Aladdin or the hero of this panto? Who can say, but it needs to be someone brave who will stand up to bullying! Maybe he should be a Robin Hood character instead, taking from the rich and giving to the poor?
Lady Liberty could be a Cinderella figure, she is there to support the huddled masses and the poor. She understands their situation as she is an immigrant from France.
Finally the whole thing is stage managed with boos and hisses… Evil takes control for a while but Good will triumph in the end. And the baddies will be banished!
If you had the power to change one law, what would it be and why?
The scales of justice weigh heavy, there are so many laws or orders I would repeal, but I would need to be convinced that any of them improved the lives of millions or even billions.
My influences are stories like Robin Hood, mythologies and historical tales where support is given to all, for instance the tale of the good Samaritan and the healing by Jesus, and St Francis’ care for the animal kingdom.
I’ve been told by people I’m too naive, too forgiving, too caring. But I don’t care, for the world to continue as it is, is too cruel and damaging. Somewhere there must be a kernel of decency.
The world is tilting to a right wing view. People are the victims. The world is too chaotic, and somehow we need to find a balance between human needs and environmental issues. Maybe instead of letting the richest people take over let’s gently tax them and make them pay? A small contribution from their gleaming gold would help so many.
So my one law is “Tax the Richest”.
How do you express your gratitude?
With a note or in words
To receive and to give
Make good your gratitude,
Or say it with flowers?
For work of many hours
Giving back your pleasure
Of deeds well done
Or welcome support
In adversity.
For service rendered
Time spent in caring,
Thanks are required and accepted.
What’s your favorite thing about yourself?
Not their colour
Not their shape
But the fact they work
That I can see,
So I can paint and draw.
My fear is losing my sight
Finding one day the light has gone
No more views
No more staring at stars
Seeing friends faces
Letting paint flow
Hand eye coordination
My favourite feature
Keep them safe X
In a gallery
But looking outside
Fresh green against brick red
Daylight catches the wall
As sun starts to set.
Always look outside the box
The view might change
Your thoughts too….
Chances are
You’ll see something new.
I was feeling spiky
A bit annoyed today
Something like a cactus
On a hot summers day.
Then I thought of flowers
The way they emerge
Sometimes out of nowhere
When the cactus has a surge
Of growth when it’s ready
To make a new plant
It made me feel happier
My mood more valiant.
We sat and planned places to go. He wanted to go to the East coast and Scotland. I wanted to go to Devon and the Lake district. We thought over the next few years we would visit places like Cardiff or the Angel of the North.
It would be our big adventure. The time would be set aside, we would get cat sitters and take a few days away. Not months, but enough to explore places.
What was stopping us? I was nervous of driving long distances after developing shakes a couple of years ago. He didn’t drive because of his anxiety. But I’d hoped that I would have a diagnosis and get better. I would have loved to go to those places.
But things happened, Covid came and went, trains were unreliable, neither of us liked coaches, we preferred the freedom of our car. In the last year though we drove less than 500 miles. We stuck to places we knew and enjoyed.
Why am I mentioning this? Watching TV, seeing a destination that I might still visit, but without him? What’s the point? He was my partner, life time companion, friend, and I want him back!
Mallaband-Brown