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When I started painting in April 2024 I concentrated mostly on painting buildings or landscapes in which any significant living elements such as trees, animals or people were sufficiently distant that I didn’t have to worry too much about their details. After a while, as I discovered my natural style and approach to painting and … Continue reading "Trees #art"
Do not start at the topWith no foundationsFor another shattered dreamBuilt in a rushOne of manyBorn from a momentary sparkTo lie in tattersAs it tumbled downDuring a hurried buildWhen mistakes were madeAnd no-one saw The monument to creativity. All can seeThe fruits of careful labourWith no mistakes madeBLOCK after BLOCK after BLOCKThen BLOCK after BLOCK … Continue reading "Foundations #poem"
Following on from my previous art post (Quantock Paintings – Part 1), here are a few more of the paintings that I did during, or shortly after returning home from, our short break in Crowcombe, at the foot of the Quantock Hills in Somerset, last June. First, here are a couple of pictures depicting views … Continue reading "Quantock Paintings – Part 2 #art"
I read Robert Seethaler’s novel A Whole Life last summer, after it was recommended to me by a student that I teach (a recommendation that shows a remarkable level of insight from someone who doesn’t really know me or much about my life at all). Published in 2015, and shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize … Continue reading "A Whole Life – Robert Seethaler #reading"
Last year, despite not really knowing why (i.e. who I was writing for other than for myself) I decided to make a concerted effort to get into the habit of writing posts for this website on a reasonably frequent basis. By reasonably frequent I was hoping to add three or four entries each week or, … Continue reading "How I killed my blog post writing streak #other"
Sometimes I find that I cannot move forwardsto follow the path that I want to take.The gears whirr noisily inside my head,and The Controller shouts“STOP. What If?”,“STOP, What If?”,again and again,at the top of his voice. Racked by doubt and paralysed by fear, Ifind that I have lost my willto continue, and so I grind … Continue reading "What If? So what? #poem"
In recent summers we have take a series of summer holidays walking in the Yorkshire Dales – first in Swaledale (staying at Low Row near Reeth), then in Wharfedale (based in Ilkley) and last year in ‘Bronte Country’ near Haworth. In each case we combined our week in Yorkshire with a day or two staying … Continue reading "Quantock Paintings – Part 1 #art"
I listened to the audiobook of Swallows and Amazons, Arthur Ransome’s classic novel for children during the period from late March through to early June this year. It was a fairly long process, almost 9 hours of listening, accomplished mostly on my walks to and from work. There were two reasons for my choice of … Continue reading "Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome #reading"
I painted this little watercolour picture of Mevagissey harbour back in June. I was looking to paint a picture to use for a birthday card for the son of one of my wife’s best friends, and brother to one of my elder daughter’s closest friends (by which I mean that the son was also the … Continue reading "Mevagissey #art"
In the early months of this year I read and heard several references to a soon-to-be published book: Wild Courage by Jenny Wood. My interest was piqued further after I viewed a Livestream of an episode of the podcast ‘A Productive Conversation‘, in which the host, Mike Vardy, chatted with the author about her book … Continue reading "Wild Courage – Jenny Wood #reading"
