Chocolate Menagerie
Bit short of words at the moment. Tis the problem with doing lots of drawing – right brain definitely In Charge at the moment. So instead I will leave you with the menagerie I spotted in my hot chocolate this afternoon.
I saw 1. diving killer whale, 2. sad-eyed man, 3. seahorse, 4. heart, 5. baby vulture, 6. flying swift, 7. wide-mouthed frog, and 8. salamander with a curly tail.
How about you?
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Passing through this world but once
You all know I love things with stories. I especially love things that hint at stories. It’s why I collect these, among other things, and why I love my family history and wander around charity shops and antiques stores with eyes as wide as a seven year old’s in a sweet shop. There’s one antiques shop I walk past every day that I finally had the courage to venture into this week. I don’t know why, but I’ve always been too scared to go in before. It’s kind of dark and gloomy looking from the outside, and has that ‘serious collectors’ vibe about it that makes me a bit nervous. But an old Humpty Dumpty moneybox in the window forced me in to ask the price, and there I found a kindly older gent who seemed delighted that I wanted to look round and was enamoured with so many of his treasures. And it was HEAPED high. It was like a library of stories, hidden in old watches and books and jewellery and everything you could think that lives could leave behind them. I shall be back soon, an warm invitation offered for me to come and browse whenever I like, and although I didn’t leave with Humpty Dumpty, I did leave with something much better.
Read MoreThings to do when you’re sad no.2/infinity
I have decided that everyone should have a tiny garden in their bedroom. Waking up to flowers every day may just be about the best thing ever.
Read MoreArt and Fear
We romanticise the artist’s life, don’t we? The writer, the musician. We envy their talent and the easy way they seem to do something that many other people wish they could do. But it turns out there’s something they don’t tell you about trying to live a more creative life and that’s that you will feel shit scared all of the time. And I mean really scared. Paralysingly, stomach-churning, brain-burning scared.
You imagine that just getting going will be the hard part, making the decision to step away from more conventional paths and make something unique and your own. And that IS hard, all those boogey men on the starting line getting in the way of you trying. If you manage to fight past them you think YES! – of course it will be hard to follow any kind of artistic dream, you don’t imagine it will be easy, but the most difficult bit’s done. I’m learning that’s not true at all. Fear’s with you for the long-haul.
Every piece of work will make you scared because you care about it. And you have to care. If you want to produce work with passion and soul and life, you have to care, there’s no avoiding that. You’ll fear it before you start, and your heart and your body will do its damnest to try and put you off doing it all. Every day you’ll have to fight off bears and tigers just to sit down and start something. A thousand tiny fingers clawing you back, voices whispering at you not to bother while pushing guilt through your skin. You’ll be afraid of the process. Afraid of the inevitable, cringe-worthy mistakes.
Read MoreWeird things found on the street: Found Art
I’ve been having one of my magpie days. Emptying out my pockets and the pushchair today yielded leaves the colour of fire, tin bottle tops, and this – muddy plastic packaging from a toy tool set. Looks kinda like a piece of installation art, don’t you think?
Previous weird stuff found on the street: Bernard.
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