An Imagined Dialogue Scene: ‘Crown Hill’ – Stoke Golding, England after the Battle of Bosworth 1485 (written while living at the location of ‘Crown Hill’ in Stoke Golding, December 2020). Lord Stanley: Upon this place today is discovered a new king of England – as one that will honour all the pledges of fair justice… Continue reading Crown Hill, Stoke Golding 1485
The Spiral Collection
Introduction Software packages that process data invariably require effective tools to display outcomes. While the priority of such packages is often to produce the charts and figures of academic research papers, there is some scope for artistic expression – if you can find it. A basic output mode of packages such as MATLAB is to… Continue reading The Spiral Collection
The Half Life of Stuff
It was an idea to make a statement about the fragility of family objects with the passing of the generations. It seemed appropriate to make a photographic record of assorted items with specific associations. Access to a Canon Compact camera simplified the photography with choice of a square image format. The images captured were mainly… Continue reading The Half Life of Stuff
Silicon Playground
Introduction The project seemed like a distraction but was to open doors to projects of future scope. There had always been encouragement in the family home to make things – plaster of Paris moulds of scottie dogs and ladies with large dresses. There was undoubted skill here to add just enough water to the white… Continue reading Silicon Playground
The Tale of the Aqua Skye
The sight of a new ship of moderate size in Ullapool harbour was always going to arouse curiosity. The Aqua Skye was in fact recently arrived from a shipyard in Turkey and fitted out with state of the art systems in Norway and would provide services to the various salmon farms on the West Coast… Continue reading The Tale of the Aqua Skye
Surprising Salisbury
After moving from North Wales to Warwickshire so began a process of exploration of the surrounding counties. This tended to be undertaken without the immediate access to all manner of information about intended destinations as is now available. This made travel then more of an unfolding experience than one of matching experience to expectation. It… Continue reading Surprising Salisbury
At the Sign of Valentine Fine Art
All conversations are valuable but perhaps conversations involving art are more significant. Conversations among art experts may be intricate and contain the discussion of fine detail known to both parties. Conversations between a gallery owner and an individual with a passing knowledge of a particular art topic are likely to be of an unmatched nature… Continue reading At the Sign of Valentine Fine Art
Monticelli – the Marmite Artist
It is in human nature to assimilate beliefs, prejudices, vices, virtues and techniques of painting pictures. Even the briefest of biographical notes of the major painters of the modern era describe how artists influenced each other and adopted/borrowed the skills of their associates. The painting by the French artist Adolphe Monticelli (1824-1886) in the Burrell… Continue reading Monticelli – the Marmite Artist
Witch Wood – A Novel by John Buchan
Witch Wood – old ways and old words Specific writers have the skill of reaching back to a historical past and breathing life and vitality onto its circumstances. This was certainly the role of Sir Walter Scott though in the novel ‘Witch Wood’, John Buchan brings to life the circumstances of life in Scotland in… Continue reading Witch Wood – A Novel by John Buchan
A Last Work of Eric Gill
In Coventry The city of Coventry has a preoccupation with looking into the past and also anticipating and planning for the future. It is today the ‘City of Peace and Reconciliation’. A link with the past has in recent years been removed from the city in the form of one of the last sculptures of… Continue reading A Last Work of Eric Gill