Hectic crowded Preston

Just back from Christmas in Preston,it's like arriving in a deserted landscape,I do like it though,my next job is to repair the damage wreaked on the back garden by the hens,who are on permanent holiday at Chicken Al's place,or at least until mid march 2012.

New Year-New Order ?

After watching Downton Abbey I lay awake thinking how it reflects capitalism,bigwigs who do nothing and have a cossetted life, and the less fortunate who work to maintain them in their favoured positions,substitute bankers for aristocracy and wealth creating workers,for servants to bring it up to date.
The problem is the parasitical ones are admired and revered, ie; royalty, and servile glorification rather than the big boot is the norm.
An old poem springs to mind; "When Adam delved,and Eve span, who was then the Gentleman?"

"Oh the rain of old Preston"...

Arrived yesterday in deepest Lancashire,woke up this morning to " Lancashire Sunshine" or rain as we know it to be on the dry side of the pennines,after a harrowing evening playing a board game with our hosts,brightened up only by a couple of John Smiths and a drop of wine with a small whisky for dessert.
We have been delegated last minute shopping duties Andrew and me as porters with Sheila as boss,Gina is working today so is excused,hopefully we may come across a parched pea art installation ,or outdoor black pudding sculptors at work,which would add a touch of culture to the day.
Everything now hinges on Father Christmas coming up with the goods,and the board game mysteriously disappearing,for a memorable vernal equinox event.

Emperors clothes

I wish I couldn't draw,it seems that it is a pre requisite to being appointed drawing professor at the royal academy,a conclusion I reached on seeing that the alleged artist Tracy Emin has been appointed to this very post,I invite my reader to look up her drawings on the internet to arrive at their own opinion on this subject.
Emperors clothes?

New design

So, this is my first blog from my newly designed format,not much to report at the moment,I was employed as a driver last night to take Sheila to the W I Christmas dinner venue,and spent the evening having dinner in the bar with a farmer friend who was also filling the "driver to the stars role",not much booze sadly but a pleasant evening, with both of us talking the hind leg off a donkey.
Farmers and Artists are both solitary occupations and I think this is why we turn into chatterboxes at the least opportunity.

Economic diatribe

The economic situation is doom and gloom,but exposes the reality of governments lack of power to influence the bankers lust for money,the ordinary people working just as hard as they ever did,are blamed for the bankers fear of reneging debts,who caused the problem?it was'nt the builders,steelworkers ,car workers,farmers,miners,and other wealth creators,it was the bankers,
people who speculate with wealth created by others,who produce nothing , but amass fortunes from gambling with created wealth.
The voters of Greece and Italy elected their governments ,only to have imposed on them governments consisting of bankers acceptable to the bankers and multinational companies who really run the world economies,the Germans and French want to impose a permanent unelected government on Europe,overseen by the Germans who having failed in two world wars to achieve power over Europe by force of arms , but are now using economic pressure to achieve the same ends,but they fail to see that they too are tools of international finance,and just as likely to go the same way as all the rest.
This results in governments usually composed of super rich people imposing unending misery on the citizens of their respective countries and not governing for the people but for the paymasters who they have a vested interest in maintaining in power to keep their personal coffers full.

Happy New Year in Queensland

It looks as if the poms have had a couple of close shaves,first the "World Renowned Artist"(me) had to cancel a january visit,and now the "Kansas City Trick Cyclist" has cancelled a january visit,so the poms will be breaking out the champagne.

Exhibition

The information for visitors to my Rotherham exhibition,I hope it raised a few quid.

Brief encounter

While browsing in the factory shop for part worn boots,I encountered my old playmate and his wife who have moved back to Sheffield,but were here visiting their daughter,he looked a bit subdued, unusuall for him,and it seems he is undergoing treatment next week for a serious illness,we managed a little banter about coloured wigs for watching his beloved blades,and he asked about Sheila's sister and neice and I had to give him more depressing news,anyway I hope it goes well for him.

Preston Guild

Back from Preston North End and everything seems less frantic after city life, it seems that next year is Preston Guild year,they only have this meeting every 20 years,hence the local saying which refers to infrequent events,"Every Preston Guild"though we like the convenience of restaurants and supermarkets,I think the country life suits us,but we will be back for the next Preston Guild no doubt.

Good deed for today

This morning I was up at dawn as I am looking after ducks and chickens for Chicken Al,he is visiting southern softy relatives,the ducks were out of the hut like greyhonds from the traps ,but the hens I think were after a sunday lie in, the journey is 5 miles each way and it was foggy when I left home but coming back it is unbroken sunshine in a cloudless sky, so it looks like a nice day may be on the cards.

Who is this ?

Who is this young lady ?

Jerry warning!

I sold a couple of Oz pictures yesterday to a local aquaintance but just small things ,so I am still awaiting "salvation" just like Italy with "Super Mario".
Looks like the Germans are in the driving seat yet again in Europe,luckily they have run out of Panzers in 1945. they have imposed unelected governments on Greece and Italy without firing a shot,lets hope they still take notice of our England football chant,"Two world wars and one world cup,doodah doodah."

To booze or not to booze...

I had a chat with Chicken Al and his missis yesterday and we are of the opinion that the British Isles is an artistic appreciation graveyard,Vic's wife is a potter and sculptor and is convinced that there is something in the British psyche that has a distrust/dislike of art.
Al says my miners are too Russian,I think he means they are too working class but he is a southern softy so he has an excuse.
Its enough to drive you to drink,as if we need an excuse anyway if only we could sell a few pictures to buy the booze.

Berlusco

This is a cartoon I came across in the Italian papers online the Croc. is Berlusconi ,cartoon by Sergio Taino,I am responsible for the translation.

And bugles calling them from sad shires...

I just read a poem by Wilfred Owen the Poet killed in the first world war and this line came over strong," And bugles calling them from sad shires" I thought of young lads once again being sent to fight old mens wars,if pits and factories were still in full production,these"old warriors" would have more difficulty finding volunteers,it's sad that being killed and maimed is one of the conditions of economic survival.

Show over

Closed the exhibition down early as poor weather is probably putting people off visiting , and when they visit I think it has more to do with escaping the weather than buying art, I visited another art show in the town and they were also having a poor time as well.
I still have the exhibition in Rotherham going until 28th november,so all is not lost.

Exhibition latest

Today I had a visitor to the gallery from Perth West Australia who was surprised ,in a pleasant way to see my OZ paintings and said how realistic the colours were, she was very complimentary in general but had no room in her luggage to take anything back.
Judge Dread and his lovely wife visited this afternoon,and some banter was exchanged but sadly no money! and this after describing me in the visitors book as a GENIUS! they soon lose their innate generosity when they leave Rotherham,
Quite a number of visitors are fellow artists and I enjoy swapping stories and artistic likes and dislikes with them.

Exhibition latest

The gallery is a little out of the way but quite close to the town centre of louth,after conversing with some of the locals,I have decided to open up on Wed. Friday,Saturday market days when most people are in town,and close down the exhibition on Sunday the 6th.
Most people are very enthusiastic about the mining pictures in particular,but no money is changing hands yet,at least I have got a little exposure and more importantly another exhibition on my CV.

My exhibition

This is my Louth Exhibition from whence I have just come home,I spent a couple of hours straightening up the pictures and putting out publicity boards and a banner, had a few visitors in perusing and compliments galore,sadly not reflected in any sales as yet.
Back tomorrow for more punishment,and there may be some "staff" to help out,not usual for the exhibitor to have to man the barricades but I shall soldier on.

Chaotic

It was a bit of a mess going up to Louth with the paintings,the bloke who should have met us at 11am did not show up , I remembered seeing a number for the gallery in the local rag so I went up and got the number from the office,rang it and after much of nobody knowing what had happened an old bloke turned up with the key,turns out he was from Rotherham originally,and is a little forgetful.
I was not able to fit all the paintings into the space available so some culling took place,the whole set up seemed a bit chaotic and it looks as if I shall be running the show myself,this will entail being in the gallery for the duration of the show.
I shall take the camera with me tomorrow and get some pictures for the blog,it is a nice little gallery but a bit out of the way so more publicity may be needed, I have contacted the local tv stations and papers but I suppose it all depends on how much news they have whether they run anything,I hope I manage to sell some stuff if only to liberate storage space at the little house on the prairie.

Most handsome of all !

Now that's what I call handsome !

even more handsome

Who's this even more handsome chap?

Emperors clothes

This week I spent about 12 hours painting all the interior doors and surrounds in the little house on the prairie,I am thinking of removing them and putting them in my exhibition on wednesday,and calling them installation art.
The downside to this would be some wag coming in and saying "I have seen them cheaper at Wickes DIY."

Louth exhibition

Revised date of my exhibition at Spout Yard Gallery Louth is,28th October -6th November,I met up with the organiser today and looked around the gallery which is a very professional exhibition space with good artificial lighting and is in a very nice spot close to a small park.

"It's just a gate" (F.Saif)

Once pristine,
Standing proud.
A future bright,
With expectation.
Now ruined by,
The ravages of time.
A metaphor for,
Humankind ?.
Eventually,
Sans everything.

One of ours

Yesterday I heard a familiar aero engine sound from my childhood,when I looked up it was a Spitfire about 1000 feet directly over the little house on the prairie,I thought the Jerries had come for a rematch at first,luckily Sheila saw it too so it was no mirage,she asked me how I knew it was a Spitfire,my reply was I used to draw them and Lancasters all the time as a kid shooting down Messerschmits,we could always recognise one of ours us wartime kids.
I know there are Spitfires at RAF Coningsby so it probably was out on a training flight,on a visit with the WI we were allowed in the hangar and were able to look inside them along with the Lancaster Bomber,normally visitors are kept away behind a roped off area,I have a baseball cap Sheila bought me for one of my birthdays there ,with a Lancaster on the front.

New date for exhibition

Alternative dates are now to be arranged due to mix up at gallery administrators end,I am meeting with him next monday to fix new dates watch this space.

Thanks to His" Workshy"

Thanks to" judge dread" my local judicial aquaintance ( not on official business I may say) informing me of the existence of a local gallery in Louth"Spout Yard Gallery,"I have lost no time in arranging a brief exhibition there from 23rd November to 4th December 2011, his "workshy" is cordially welcome to the opening along with his dear wife, should the judicial calender allow of course.

Miner memories

Charcoal drawing 9"x7" approximately, drawn 2005, found in one of my folders I think an apt illustration for this prose poem I drafted last week.

DAAHN T ' PIT(Memories of the 1950's)
Musty earth odor,
Pinewood pit props pleasant scent.
Steel rails streaming away,
Into infinite black distance.
Glimmer of a distant lamp,
A fellow miner
Voluntarily entombed,
By economic need.
Both dreaming of shift end release.
Hauled up at breakneck speed,
In the steel "cage".
To witness,
The bluest of skies,
The fluffiest cotton wool clouds,
The greenest ever trees and grass,
The symphony of bird song,
Our starved lungs.
Filled with the freshest air.

Latest painting

This one is acrylic on canvas 14"x10" title "Meers Bank Farm House" a little cottage on Stain Lane Theddlethorpe.

Palette and etc.

This is the stool, palette and painting, featuring in my last blog,it is easy to see why I missed seeing the palette,there is more paint on the stool

Arty Farty Error

I rarely offer advice on artistic technique,but today I made the mistake of placing a round palette on a round topped stool,then I picked up a brush and sat down ,reached for the palette and realised I was sitting on it what a colourful bum I am.

Nostalgia and Sadness

My Miners exhibition at Rotherham runs for 2 months ending on 28th November, so another trip up on that day is called for,we did not see much of the town but like most towns and cities the centres are becoming full of empty shops,and strangely enough there was programme on TV last night which featured Rotherham and it seems that like Sheffield the shops have suffered from the building of meadowhall ,and to a lesser extent a smaller retail complex at parkgate,one of the problems is parking charges in town centres but free to park at the malls.
I looked at Brinsworth on google, my home village and it was a very small community until the Rotherham Main Colliery opened and boosted the population with an influx of people from all parts of Britain, google Rotherham Main Colliery and you will see a photo in the background behind the smoke and pithead gear you can just make out the houses where I was born and spent my early life.
The sight of any pit headgear has the effect of reminding me of my childhood and is in itself a stark but strangely beautiful and nostalgic sight to me, as kids we spent much time in summer on the water meadows at Whiston the next village , the pit ponies were given a two week escape from underground at that that time,and put out to grass on Whiston meadows, and we would try to ride on them in the fields without success as they were a bit wild and frisky I think as a result of their new found freedom.
Sadly on a more serious note following on from the four Welsh miners who recently lost their lives, another miner 49 year old Gerry Gibson was killed two days ago in Kellingley Colliery Yorkshire, once more emphasising the dangers of the job and the courage of brave men who risk their lives every shift.
It seems there is some concern about safety at Kellingley as Mr Gibson is the third fatality in the mine over the last four years.

Rotherham Show

The very professional and youthfull staff at Rotherham Arts Centre displaying my paintings with no help from me whatsoever ,a good day,rounded off by a visit to my brother Joe who is recovering from a serious illness,and Joseph Saif for advice on online selling methods.

Paintings for Rotherham

I spent this morning packing paintings in the car ready to get off to an early start tomorrow morning,I have arranged to be at the gallery in the town centre at 10.30am so I need to leave here about 8am,I am taking about 20 but will probably only be exhibiting between 8 and 12,but I thought it best to give the exhibition organiser plenty to choose from.

Neslyn Farm

A little diversion from drawing gates,a pen drawing from which I painted the 12"x10" acrylic on canvas, of our neighbours farm from a track on their land looking west toward the wolds,a different technique to the one I use on my paintings of miners,which is more cubistic expressionist,a technique which suits my mining memories and emotional outpourings.

Home town show

I have been asked to provide at short notice(one week) a number of paintings and prints for an exhibition in the entrance foyer of Rotherham art gallery,so I have been busy this morning sorting some stuff out,this is a forerunner to holding an exhibition early next year around April in the new gallery being built near the new Rotherham United stadium .

Gordy

This weeks sad loss of life at the welsh mine was a reminder to me of my brother Gordon's fatal accident in a steel works over 30 years ago on the 18th of September, you leave for work and never come home,one of the perils of working in heavy industry,real men in real jobs.

Gleision Colliery 15th September 2011

Old gate on green lane

This is escapism in the countryside,I am now an old fogey down to drawing rickety old farm gates,though a galeforce wind yesterday made the job difficult ,blowing the sketch pad all over the place,the colours and different plant shapes were interesting and may lead to a painting on a small scale.
I am trying to arrange an exhibition of my mining theme pictures in Rotherham and Barnsley, but exhibition opportunities are thin on the ground,so barring a lottery win and buying my own gallery,I shall have to continue as a "picture stacker", the welsh poet Dylan Thomas's description of painters.
The technical properties are,graphite on cartridge paper 12"x 10" approx.

Bill Tidy

Amusing quote from Bill Tidy the cartoonist(yes he is still alive),"Blatter is not guilty of corruption,I had confirmation in a brown envelope through my letterbox today"

Red Miner

Acrylic on canvas 12 inches x 9 inches final version from a digital study posted in on earlier blog, based on my friend Piero Baral an Italian talc miner in the Italian alps,now retired from mining but active on a number of humanitarian issues.

Waterhole,"Tim's World" number 5

Acrylic on canvas board 12inch x 10inch,Western Australian outback landscape , where Tim Millson chooses to spend his life with the indigenous population both animal and human.

Red Miner

Digital computer painting of a miners head.

Autumn wind

Oil on canvas 7inch x 5inch
From a digital study last year