Modern Art

Well, I have to take back most of what I thought of as modern art. I paid a visit to the Biscuit factory in Newcastle and was quite amazed. I am, at heart a traditionalist and have always poo pooed modern art as childish rubbish that could be produced by a ten year old with a paint pot.

I was absolutely blown away. It wasn't right at all - the pictures looked like things and were pretty colours. Some of the paintings were more real than the real thing! There was one artist I was particularly taken by; Susan Lincoln. Her work is original, colourful, well produced and if you take the time to look, amusing.

I always thought of modern art as spatters or blocks of colour on canvas that was supposed to represent the inner feelings of the artist, but this was good.

Don't get me wrong, I still prefer high art, especially the woman with the pot of basil

 

Other favourites include the work of John Martin, such as the Deastruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and The Astronomer (which always makes me think of Iron Maiden for some reason!)

 

Brilliant idea!

The kids in this painting had a brilliant idea. They weren't happy with the holiday arrangements so they barred out the teacher and went on strike. I bet they

had a little union and Union leader. My best similar trick was to wait for the teacher to go out for something then the whole class hid in the walk in cupboard. His face was a real picture: pardon the pun! 

Painting

I like to paint, it's relaxing in a way. What I tend to do is get to a critical point in the work and scan it. This way, if I make a balls of it I can go back and do it again with knowledge gained. The problem comes when the pc misbehaves, like it is today..It can't see the scanner and I've tried just about everything. 'Just copy it I hear you say.' Not a bad idea, but sometimes I like to cheat (sorry, use a different medium) and add a difficult bit using the art software on the computer myself.

I have battled with myself whether this is truly cheating and have convinced myself that it isn't. New materials that were more easy to use or gave better results have gained popularity throughout history and the computer is a modern extension of that, because you still need certain  skills to get it to work.

Beginning to think I'm going to be on with this all day, but we shall see.

Jerome - 3 Men in a Boat

Time for some literary art I'm thinking. If you've neve read 3 Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome you have missed some witty dialogue, a gloriously escapist story and considering it was written in 1883, some words of wisdom

It is a most extraordinary thing, but I never read a patent medicine advertisement without being impelled to the conclusion that I am suffering from the particular disease therein dealt with in its most virulent form.

• Ch. 1

• Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need - a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends, worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, a cat, a dog, and a pipe or two, enough to eat and enough to wear, and a little more than enough to drink; for thirst is a dangerous thing.
  • Ch. 3

• It is very strange, this domination of our intellect by our digestive organs. We cannot work, we cannot think, unless our stomach wills so. It dictates to us our emotions, our passions.
  • Ch. 10

• It always does seem to me that I am doing more work than I should do. It is not that I object to the work, mind you; I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours. I love to keep it by me: the idea of getting rid of it nearly breaks my heart

Modern Art

As I've mentioned a few times modern art is not my cup of tea. I prefer the spectacular creations of the past that suck you in.

But and it's a big but there is still art that has that effect on both children and adults. The video game has come a long way

This shot from Skyrim is typical of modern games. While we worry (rightfully) that our children are not getting out enough, in the bad weather is it not better that they appreciate art and socialise with others while exercising problem solving skills?

Planting cat

A cat on the farm (Pepe) used to leap into the bird table and it had a roof on it

Lying there for hours (sometimes through the night) he would wait. I don't know to this day whether or not he was successful. There was an oddity that summer; sunflowers sprung up all over the farm. It took us some time to realize that Pepe was picking the bird seed up on his fur and it was being scattered all around when he was on his forays. So a little tip by bags of seeds from pet shops instead of the more expensive garden centres 

Happy planting next year

Heat

God I love my new heater. We had a shop with an electric fire, but the shop went bust and I had the heater straight away.

We live on a farm, out in the sticks and the only central heating comes from the downstairs coal fire. It's a bit of a waste when I'm by myself in the bedroom. So I got the heater and I love it. Switch on using remote control from bed and get up in the warmth! I'm sure a lot of you are used to central heating but just imagine there wasn't any-you wouldn't want to get up!?