Ted Talk to Myself

‘Real Art’ in ‘Real Galleries’ holds the attention of a viewer for about 11 seconds. It has been proven by major galleries who have videotaped visitors, that those visitors spend longer reading the ‘explanation’ of a piece of art, than looking at the thing! Outrageous! What a lot they miss out on by not spending time looking at something and making their own observations and stories. I can’t think of a single piece of art that I’ve seen anywhere….including skimming FB …that is worth that little attention……..I once spent an hour in a room with a sculpture by a Brazilian artist called Tunga. It was at Whitechapel art gallery. I couldn’t leave the room. People drifted in and out. It was something like a giant metal hair comb…metal strands of ‘hair’ leading to a kind of metal ‘club’ ….it was incredibly powerful. Which not a single other person who entered and left the room during that hour would have been aware of…..For me, the value in getting art students to sit down and do ‘their version’ of a piece of art, is most certainly not so they learn how to copy things. It’s to get them to look closely, spend time with a piece of art. Learn to take their time just looking, so they absorb the values a particular artist instilled in the piece. Question it. Hate those values if they like. Then they will be able to make their own decisions about what they want from their own work……In one of my previous Ted Talks to Myself, I brought up ‘With a Poet’s Eye’…an anthology produced by the Tate gallery, yonks ago….and how I liked Ekphrasis poets who looked closely at a piece of art….and used it as a Massive Springboard for writing something original and true to themselves. I hate when writers use art in a lazy descriptive way…but even then…people are looking closely!

Art/Therapy

I’ve found a dozen drawings I did for my therapist a couple of years ago, ‘to explain my mood this week.’ I wasn’t keen on explaining it in numbers (explain your mood: one to ten)….especially as I have dyscalculia….and numbers are meaningless to me. I can’t say he appreciated them….but I did them anyway. It’s interesting for me to look back at them….

Sunday Self Portrait

I remember when Sunday was a hollow day. Lonely. That was when the rest of the week was so vibrant with people and life….that in contrast it felt empty. I didn’t know how to fill it. Now, every day is Sunday. And I love it.

Doing a thing ….my own way…

Long ago, drawing under the kitchen table while all kinds of chaos surrounded me….I realised in order to escape it….I had only to draw what was in my head. I was too young to think about where that would take me, far too young to care. It is still my only escape.

Issue Eighteen

Fab online magazine. My artwork happens to be on the cover 🙂

Riggwelter

Welcome to the eighteenth issue! Riggwelter keeps rolling on. This issue contains work from: Christy Alexander Hallberg, Caris Allen, Rosco Baldini, Stephen Briseño, Alyssa Ciamp, Geraldine Clarkson, Rachael Clyne, Jude Cowan Montague, Jessica Siobhan Frank, Samuel T. Franklin, Alison Gibson, Marissa Glover, Fiona Goggin, L. Mari Harris, Emily Harrison, Deborah Harvey, Seanín Hughes, Helen Kay, Kevin Latimer, Janice Leagra, Gayle Ledbetter Newby, Karen Little, Eleanor Mae, Brian Martin, Dan McKeon, Victoria Nordlund, James Northern, Robert Okaji, James Owens, Theresa Reagan, Bethany Rivers, Kelli Simpson, Gerri Stewart and Grace Velee and is edited by Amy Kinsman.

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Addiction

Have I mentioned ‘I am not a silent poet’ webzine? Maybe…..it’s worth checking out…and seeing if some of your poems are a fit…if you are a submitter….or if you like that kind of  writing as a reader. This is one of my poems that went up on the site a few months ago. I’m on with a project…art/writing….so it came up today:

Addiction

Clouds lower, proving the curves of sky in broad strokes.
Sea should soothe, its enviable power override the black dog
bounding towards me. I watch sprite shadows scamper

along sea walls, see him hook twin trout wriggling
on the end of taut lines, reeling them in, hugging
their slippery bodies.  I no longer lust after him;

my addiction to unreality, found at the bottom of wine bottles,
gives me extra layers of skin as he flays them.
We’re angry as gulls squabbling over ham baked by the sun.

Doing My Own Thing….(some would say, shooting myself in the foot)

I’m working towards an exhibition/event. This is one of twenty hand -drawn ink covers…each of which contains a random group of eight of my poems. They will form part of the exhibition. I’m hoping to do some printed versions from the originals….to sell to fund the exhibition. What could go wrong?  Nobody giving a fook I suppose. I don’t have the time or people skills to create a fan base…..

I Will Not Be Silenced

I’m having chats with a printer person….looking through tons of my images….for a few ideas I’ve had. I’m okay with coming up with ideas, but I get distracted by doing the actual ‘work’…the drawings….and am not great at getting them a home. She thinks this one might  make an interesting ‘business card’ (I don’t have a ‘business’ really….but as I can never remember my phone number….it might be useful)

Fast Roar

When I need to ‘have a proper think’ I often take a walk. Today the weather was too hot to take the pooches out after 6am and before 6pm…..so I did the other thing that helps me concentrate my thoughts…I had a doodle. (Not a euphemism…see drawing above.) While doodling I received something in the post that made me realise the way I’m living my life doesn’t need as much revision as I’d been thinking it did. It also gave me the energy and resources to make a couple of practical moves towards something I’m hoping for……

Amy Winehouse’s Bees

A writer friend and I were chatting about Amy in the early hours, and she said if she was a painter she would draw her with actual bees in her beehive, humming the songs, keeping her awake all night long. I loved that idea, especially as it sums up the way thoughts buzz your brain at 4am, and how brilliant it is when you can turn the dark thoughts into a piece of writing, music or art. So I drew this…..