Blog
Oskar
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One month ago today, Oskar my Maine Coon cat unexpectedly died. I was inconsolable, he was beautiful, and a big character and I miss him.
Do grief and creativity mix? Well, I have tried to lose myself in the process and the small sketch above was one idea that came forth. I may produce a larger painting based on it one day.
I collected Oskar’s Catalogued Dreaming yesterday from the gallery and it now has pride of place in my living room.
Namaste Oskar . . .
RECENT INSPIRATIONS (Summer and Autumn)
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ART
William Blake – Tate Britain
Cy Twombly Sculptures – Gagosian, London
Antony Gormley – Royal Academy of Arts, London
Lucian Freud: The Self-portraits – Royal Academy of Arts, London
Keith Haring Tate – Liverpool
PV Windows and Floorboards – Rose Wylie, 2014 – Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
The Liver Building, Liverpool – Laurence Stephen Lowry, 1959, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Bridget Riley – Scottish National Gallery
Cut and Paste: 400 Years of Collage – Scottish National Gallery Of Modern Art
Out Of Sight Out Of Mind exhibition, Summerhall, Edinburgh
Lady Lever Art Gallery – Port Sunlight Village, Wirral
BOOKS
Lennon: The Man, the Myth, the Music – Tim Riley
Year Of The Monkey – Patti Smith
Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead – Olga Tokarczuk
The Death Of Bunny Munro – Nick Cave
Basquiat A Graphic Novel – Paolo Parisi
MUSIC
After two recent trips to Liverpool I have become a little obsessed with The Beatles! Of course I have always liked them but now I hear them in a different way. Compelling, mesmerising and inspiring I am still
in awe at their brilliance and sit at their feet to absorb creativity! Sitting in Strawberry Field last month was one of those truly profound moments in life.
The Beatles (white album) – The Beatles
Let It Be – The Beatles
Abbey Road – The Beatles
Approximately Infinite Universe – Yoko Ono
Milk And Honey – John Lennon and Yoko Ono
Imagine – John Lennon
Crocodiles – Echo & the Bunnymen
Wings Of Desire Soundtrack
Free & Zombie Birdhouse – Iggy Pop
Power To The People And The Beats: Public Enemy's Greatest Hits – Public Enemy
Supper – Smog
Bitches Brew – Miles Davis
FILM/TV
Joker – Todd Phillips
Distant Voices Still Lives – Terence Davies
Werckmeister Harmonies – Béla Tarr, Ágnes Hranitzky
As Good As It Gets – James L. Brooks
Ad Astra – James Gray
The Frankenstein Chronicles – Sean Bean
Children Of Heaven – Majid Majidi
I Am Ali – Clare Lewins
Nebraska – Alexander Payne
LIKES
Liverpool
The Pen Factory, The Art Bar, The Grapes and Baltic Fleet, Liverpool
Double Fantasy, John & Yoko – Museum Of Liverpool
Patti Smith – Kelvin Grove Bandstand
Linda McCartney Retrospective – Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow
www.instagram.com/busytinsnips2/
Moonstruck: 500 years of mental health exhibition – Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
BBC Radio 4 – Desert Island Discs, Wendell Pierce
Topping and Company Booksellers, Edinburgh
QUOTATIONS
“There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be...” – John Lennon
“Nothing is real” – John Lennon
“No one I think is in my tree” – John Lennon
"Art has always been to me a stimulating influence; it has always taught me without upbraiding me; elevated me without humbling me; and appealed to me because of the fact that only the best and truest in art survives... Art can be to everyone an inspiration. It is within the reach of all of us..." – Lever at the opening of the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight Village, Wirral, 16 December 1922
Out Of Sight Out Of Mind
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I recently designed another A3 poster for the Out Of Sight Out Of Mind exhibition to be shown in Summerhall, Edinburgh in October.
Out of Sight Out of Mind is part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival year-round programme and features digital artwork, installations, films, projections, animations, sculptures, photography, paintings and drawings from people who have personal experience of mental health issues.
This year’s theme is ‘connected’.