it's the time of year when every good blogger looks back at the past 12 months and tries to sum it all up.
i have a notoriously bad memory for dates and times, so trying to remember what's gone on is always a bit of a challenge.
anyway, here's some highlights of the year...
our holidays in dorset [with the mintys, the faulkners and the hydes], and cardigan bay. i have to admit that i wasn't particularly enthusiastic ahead of our trip to wales, mainly because in a cash-saving measure, we'd opted for a week in the in-law's caravan. it was a lovely week though, with the highlights being the discovery of the 'howies' clearance store, and watching a pod of dolphins feeding and playing off the coast of mwnt.
greenbelt - sue and i both worked on the visual arts team this year and it was great. the visual arts programme gets better each year [this year's 'visionaries' exhibition was utterly brilliant] and it's an inspiring and energising thing to be involved with. the kids love it there too, which helps!
the 'advent' exhibition - which i've gone on about more than enough on here over the past few weeks. [it was really great though]
***
this has also been the year where sue has returned to uni [sheffield] to do a phd and train as an educational psychologist. so far it's been really positive - she's handling the workload ok and relishing the challenges that the course is throwing up.
eddie continues to net-mind for the yorkshire amateurs u-13 colts team. last season they got promoted, so it's been a bit more diffcult so far this season as they try to adjust to the improved standard. he's doing pretty well at school, where they're luxuriating in the surroundings of their new £28 million school buildings...
he's also getting quite good on the guitar.
joe meantime is beginning to master the cornet [the first few weeks were the worst!] and doing really well with his football team where he plays alongside gary mcallister's son.
towards the tail end of the year i've begun to think that maybe the recession is hitting the illustration market - i've had plenty of work to keep me occupied, but none of it that well-paid, so it'll be interesting to see what the new year brings. i've been hoping for a while now to develop a better balance of commercial and more personal, art-y work - if current trends continue i may find that i have more time for the non-commercial stuff, the issue will then be how to make it pay...
***
best gigs of the year - dan le sac vs scroobius pip at greenbelt, welcome wagon [also at gb], the fall at the leeds academy [even though it was a pretty short set] and jeffrey lewis at the hyde park picture house [despite the dismal lighting]
our LOVEFILM subscription has meant that cinema trips tend to be to see films with the kids - this year we really enjoyed 'monsters v aliens' and 'coraline' [well, i liked coraline a lot. opinions varied between other members of the family]
of the few grown-up movies that we got to, 'the damned united' was easily the best.
i also loved david peace's novel [upon which the movie is very loosely based] - bitter and incessant and weirdly uplifting at the end. the other novel that has made a big impression this year has been 'the grapes of wrath', which i've been meaning to read for years. should've got round to it much much sooner. most of my other reading has been graphic novels - this has been the year that i finally began to find my way into the superhero end of the comics world with a batman series borrowed and bought from simon hall.
i'm currently loving robert crumb's 'genesis' and reinhard kleist's johnny cash biography ['i see a darkness'], also worth a mention are tom gauld's 'gigantic robot', mawil's 'we can still be friends' and frederik peeters' 'blue pills'...
music-wise, this was the year that i properly discovered the fall, mogwai and bon iver, and rediscovered the joys of half man half biscuit, the welcome wagon and everything but the girl.
it's also been the year when i've been able to express paternal despair at some aspects of my kid's taste in music [x-factor, cheryl cole, tinchy stryder] whilst being secretly quite pleased with some of their other choices [dan le sac, eminem, the streets] - i guess it's a rites-of-passage thing, on both sides... ;-)
sports-wise leicester's triumphant march to the league 1 title was a thrill; after years of frustration it was nice to be winning again. even if it was effectively division 3. the best individual moment was steve howard's injury-time winner v leeds at the walkers, which all but secured promotion for us. me, my bro and the boys were there to see it, and it was a wonderful thing to behold...
***
finally, the saddest and most momentous events of the year have been bodge's death, funeral and memorial service.
there's not much i can say about this than i have already on this blog and elsewhere; it's such a tragic loss for his family and all of us who were privileged enough to have known him.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
show's over...
the advent exhibition closed on sunday. spent most of sunday evening and then yesterday taking art off walls and bubble-wrapping it; pulling picture hooks out of boards, sanding and repainting; mooching about tidying the place up; nursing a bad back with hot water bottles and feeling a bit melancholic...
left bank suddenly looks very big and empty. still beautiful, but a bit stark and barren without the art in it.
it's been brilliant - it's taken me way out of my comfort zone, i was so proud of what gav and i and all the contributing artists achieved in there... huge thanks to everyone involved...
left bank suddenly looks very big and empty. still beautiful, but a bit stark and barren without the art in it.
it's been brilliant - it's taken me way out of my comfort zone, i was so proud of what gav and i and all the contributing artists achieved in there... huge thanks to everyone involved...
another downloadable music freebie....
go download a freebie track by gav here...
[if gav ends up in the top seven by this time next monday it'll earn him a bit of cash, so it's worth doing...!]
[if gav ends up in the top seven by this time next monday it'll earn him a bit of cash, so it's worth doing...!]
Monday, December 21, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
garden of eden...
on the macbook at the mo...
a ten page comic strip about an aged rhino and a wombat in the garden of eden, written by caleb monroe...
a ten page comic strip about an aged rhino and a wombat in the garden of eden, written by caleb monroe...
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
catching up post...
sorry for the lack of postings here lately...
that's partly because i've been a bit busy blogging stuff elsewhere [here and here]
just to catch up a bit...
a lot of folk have asked me how bodge's memorial service went...
i'm not sure that i have the words to describe it really. it went well, it felt like we did right by him, and i want to say that it was good, except that something so sad can't really be 'good' [if you see what i mean]
there was a big turnout, and an opportunity for folks to mourn and to show their love for bodge and to maybe express some of what he meant to them. it felt momentous and surreal and desperately sad.
taking things to the opposite extreme, the advent show that i curated with gav has been a tremendous success. a brilliant preview night, great art created by lovely artists displayed in a beautiful space, plenty of visitors, lots of very enthusiastic and appreciative comments... it's been a huge effort, it's taken me way out of my comfort zone, but it's been utterly brilliant. go visit the blog [if you haven't already] and have a look. we're open for one final weekend - 11am - 4pm saturday 19th/sunday 20th - so if you're up this way it's your last chance to see it in the flesh...
on a way more trivial level, our family weekends have recently been blighted by joe and eddie's sudden and peer-inspired enthusiasm for the X-Factor :-(
it is, of course, unbearably crap tv and thankfully now over for another year. i discovered that the best way to watch it is with headphones on playing mogwai at very loud volume. that works for me...
that said, i won't be joining the anti-cowell rage-against-the-machine-for-number-one protest though...
[steve lawson blogs intelligently about all that nonsense here...]
lastly, work's gone a bit slow of late. that's partly because i haven't gone looking for it - i knew that i'd have to make some space in the schedule to do the exhibition; also i had a large job lined up for january, but unfortunately that's just fallen through. it's hard to know if the recession is beginning to bite in the sort of markets that i work in [mainly educational and religious publishing] or if it's just a little blip for me - i'm hoping that it's the latter... but if you know anyone who needs some illustration doing...
that's partly because i've been a bit busy blogging stuff elsewhere [here and here]
just to catch up a bit...
a lot of folk have asked me how bodge's memorial service went...
i'm not sure that i have the words to describe it really. it went well, it felt like we did right by him, and i want to say that it was good, except that something so sad can't really be 'good' [if you see what i mean]
there was a big turnout, and an opportunity for folks to mourn and to show their love for bodge and to maybe express some of what he meant to them. it felt momentous and surreal and desperately sad.
taking things to the opposite extreme, the advent show that i curated with gav has been a tremendous success. a brilliant preview night, great art created by lovely artists displayed in a beautiful space, plenty of visitors, lots of very enthusiastic and appreciative comments... it's been a huge effort, it's taken me way out of my comfort zone, but it's been utterly brilliant. go visit the blog [if you haven't already] and have a look. we're open for one final weekend - 11am - 4pm saturday 19th/sunday 20th - so if you're up this way it's your last chance to see it in the flesh...
on a way more trivial level, our family weekends have recently been blighted by joe and eddie's sudden and peer-inspired enthusiasm for the X-Factor :-(
it is, of course, unbearably crap tv and thankfully now over for another year. i discovered that the best way to watch it is with headphones on playing mogwai at very loud volume. that works for me...
that said, i won't be joining the anti-cowell rage-against-the-machine-for-number-one protest though...
[steve lawson blogs intelligently about all that nonsense here...]
lastly, work's gone a bit slow of late. that's partly because i haven't gone looking for it - i knew that i'd have to make some space in the schedule to do the exhibition; also i had a large job lined up for january, but unfortunately that's just fallen through. it's hard to know if the recession is beginning to bite in the sort of markets that i work in [mainly educational and religious publishing] or if it's just a little blip for me - i'm hoping that it's the latter... but if you know anyone who needs some illustration doing...
Friday, December 4, 2009
light relief
i found this great site via drawn.ca.
[from this day forth i will never grumble about a client again.
probably.]
ps if you're one of my clients and you're reading this, it's not you that i grumble about, obviously. it's the other ones... :-)
[from this day forth i will never grumble about a client again.
probably.]
ps if you're one of my clients and you're reading this, it's not you that i grumble about, obviously. it's the other ones... :-)
writing stuff for a memorial..
i am writing a tribute to read at bodge's memorial on monday.
there's so much to say, and such a small window to say it in. and most of it i don't have the words for.
such a huge privilege to be able to do this, and yet such a big responisibility.
[i can't even write the words without breaking down, over and over.
so how the hell am i going to be able to stand up and read them in front of his family and a packed church...?]
it's utterly exhausting
there's so much to say, and such a small window to say it in. and most of it i don't have the words for.
such a huge privilege to be able to do this, and yet such a big responisibility.
[i can't even write the words without breaking down, over and over.
so how the hell am i going to be able to stand up and read them in front of his family and a packed church...?]
it's utterly exhausting
Thursday, December 3, 2009
more advent pics
it's a great show. i'm immensely proud of it. the contributing artists created some amazing work, and gav did an outstanding job with the event management.
mark waddington blogs favourably about the preview here.
brilliant photos taken by barnaby aldrick
mark waddington blogs favourably about the preview here.
brilliant photos taken by barnaby aldrick
Monday, November 30, 2009
advent preview pics...
taken by barnaby aldrick
for images of the some of the other work in the show and the preview itself, try the exhibition blog.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
lows, highs
friday was a huge day.
up early and on the train down to london and the swedish church for bodge's funeral.
it was heartbreaking. beautifully led by the vicar there, but devastatingly sad and absolutely tragic.
it's a swedish custom for the congregation to pay their respects at the end of the service by each laying a flower on the coffin at the front.
it's an incredibly powerful and painful thing to do, but in the face of such a terrible loss, i'm glad we were there to do it.
afterwards we shared a table and swedish cakes & chocolates with aila and leiva. there's so much of bodge there in their personalities, so much mischief and warmth. they're beautiful kids.
then a quick dash back to kings cross for the return journey up to leeds for the advent private view.
the opening evening of the exhibition was everything we'd hoped it might be, and then some. despite a last-minute wobble when i'd convinced meself that no-one would come, we had about 200 folk through the show during the evening and the feedback was incredibly positive. gav, lloydy cat and nic had got left bank looking amazing, and the artists had all really stepped up to the mark with their work. it was just great.
[...pictures to follow as soon as i can get hold of some...]
up early and on the train down to london and the swedish church for bodge's funeral.
it was heartbreaking. beautifully led by the vicar there, but devastatingly sad and absolutely tragic.
it's a swedish custom for the congregation to pay their respects at the end of the service by each laying a flower on the coffin at the front.
it's an incredibly powerful and painful thing to do, but in the face of such a terrible loss, i'm glad we were there to do it.
afterwards we shared a table and swedish cakes & chocolates with aila and leiva. there's so much of bodge there in their personalities, so much mischief and warmth. they're beautiful kids.
then a quick dash back to kings cross for the return journey up to leeds for the advent private view.
the opening evening of the exhibition was everything we'd hoped it might be, and then some. despite a last-minute wobble when i'd convinced meself that no-one would come, we had about 200 folk through the show during the evening and the feedback was incredibly positive. gav, lloydy cat and nic had got left bank looking amazing, and the artists had all really stepped up to the mark with their work. it was just great.
[...pictures to follow as soon as i can get hold of some...]
Saturday, November 21, 2009
no words
we've had some well-meaning friends trying to offer us some words of consolation over bodge's death, and i love them for the intention.
but don't tell me that we can be happy that he's in a better place now. don't tell me that he wouldn't want us to be sad for too long. don't tell me that there's some higher purpose in his passing. just don't.
today i went down to see towe. and on the way i thought long and hard about what i wanted to say to her.
there were some heartfelt, honest, truthful things that i worked out, but when i got there, and in the shadow of that huge loss, those things that i tried to say were pitiful and small and insignificant. still true and utterly from the heart, but useless and dwarfed by the absolute desolation he's left behind.
when it comes down to it, like job's friends in the old testament story, there's only silence and weeping for times like this. no words.
but don't tell me that we can be happy that he's in a better place now. don't tell me that he wouldn't want us to be sad for too long. don't tell me that there's some higher purpose in his passing. just don't.
today i went down to see towe. and on the way i thought long and hard about what i wanted to say to her.
there were some heartfelt, honest, truthful things that i worked out, but when i got there, and in the shadow of that huge loss, those things that i tried to say were pitiful and small and insignificant. still true and utterly from the heart, but useless and dwarfed by the absolute desolation he's left behind.
when it comes down to it, like job's friends in the old testament story, there's only silence and weeping for times like this. no words.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
bitter perfume
my piece for the advent exhibition.
not sure if i'm happy with it or not - i probably need some distance from it, but won't have time for that now [we start to hang the work on sunday...]
it's informed by the verse from 'we three kings' - "myrrh is mine/it's bitter perfume/ breathes a life of gathering gloom/ sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying/ sealed in the stone cold tomb"
not the jolliest of christmas sentiments, but there you go...
remembering bodge blog...
...here.
a place to post your memories, tributes and photos...
[email me if you have something that you like to put up there on the site and i'll sign you in as an author. or you can just leave a message in the comments on any post we make]
a place to post your memories, tributes and photos...
[email me if you have something that you like to put up there on the site and i'll sign you in as an author. or you can just leave a message in the comments on any post we make]
Friday, November 13, 2009
bodge
bodge hollows died suddenly yesterday afternoon. we're still in a state of disbelief. he was only five years older than me. 48 is no age to go.
not sure what else to write except that we were tremendously fortunate to have known him. i don't have the words to express this.
[pic is of something joe made in blu-tac on his bed headboard last night]
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
a good thing...
george lamb's off... lauren laverne's in.
and i can start listening to 6music in the mornings again... :-)
and i can start listening to 6music in the mornings again... :-)
stuff i've been working on...
this one above was going to have an air ambulance in it - i even got sent some awesome reference by the heroic ianbee - but i couldn't get the composition to work and sadly ended up drawing a police 'copter instead... [sorry ian!]
[...the pencil roughs are always more satisfying to look at than the finished artwork...]
Friday, October 9, 2009
eddie argos - a true gentleman of pop
so, in my attempts to get contributors on board for this advent exhibition [did i mention that i'm curating an advent-themed show...?] i contacted a whole load of different artists and creatives - including a little personal wish list of people who i didn't really expect would reply, but thought were worth a punt - nothing ventured, nothing gained and all that.
so yesterday i got a very lovely email from edie argos, lead singer of art brut and glamchop [amongst others], apologetically and very politely declining the invitation to contribute to the show [he's off on tour to the states very soon]
eddie argos, you are a gent.
so yesterday i got a very lovely email from edie argos, lead singer of art brut and glamchop [amongst others], apologetically and very politely declining the invitation to contribute to the show [he's off on tour to the states very soon]
eddie argos, you are a gent.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
advent
more lloydy-love. here's the poster he's designed for the advent show.
the exhibition is getting excitingly, and frighteningly close now - but i finally have every theme allocated and am working with a local school on a project to involve them in the show, which is really cool.
please do go and have a look at the exhibition blog; leave a comment, tell your friends. it's going to be great...
the exhibition is getting excitingly, and frighteningly close now - but i finally have every theme allocated and am working with a local school on a project to involve them in the show, which is really cool.
please do go and have a look at the exhibition blog; leave a comment, tell your friends. it's going to be great...
Thursday, September 10, 2009
downloadable greenbelt 09 self portrait desktop wallpapers...
...[as seen below] are awaiting your attention at the gb visual arts flickr pages
big kudos to the redoubtable lloydy for scanning them all [over 350 of 'em!]
[see if you can spot my lads in this one...
...and have a read of this blogpost, which manages to explain very eloquently - and much better than i ever could - why greenbelt is such a great festival...]
big kudos to the redoubtable lloydy for scanning them all [over 350 of 'em!]
[see if you can spot my lads in this one...
...and have a read of this blogpost, which manages to explain very eloquently - and much better than i ever could - why greenbelt is such a great festival...]
Monday, September 7, 2009
more greenbelt stuff...
i've been meaning to post more about greenbelt, but to be honest i'm finding it a bit hard to do the festival justice...
there's so much that goes on there, and it's such a rich experience, and i'm probably not that great with words - it's kind of hard to communicate it adequately...
[i'll have a go though...]
one thing that i have noticed in a lot of the media coverage of the festival is the way that gene robinson's appearance has been made to sound very divisive. that certainly didn't seem to be the case on site, as at the festival itself there was very little aggro or visible difficulty around him or his talks.
in some reports there was a lot of talk about folks boycotting the festival because of his presence, but ticket sales and attendances were up on previous years, so if there were stay-away protesters they didn't make much of an impact...
this year we did the self-portrait thing again and it was just as popular as last time. there were more of us involved in running it this time, with a crack team of artists - mark, dave, simon, wanja and rich - supplementing the brilliant team of volunteers - ed and liz, deidre and dominic, dan and sara. we had about 350 draw-ers inover the weekend and they produced some really great drawings - it's really rewarding to see folk surprising themselves with their own work! we're hoping to get most of the drawings up on the greenbelt website as downloadable desktop wallpapers sometime soon.
i'll let you know if and when they're available for download, but in the meantime here's a few samples to whet your appetite...!
other things that we ran this year were '(shhh!)' - an hour of no talking and quiet tuneage [dj-ed brilliantly by matt stevenson] with folks invited to come along and do something creative, and the inaugral photoflash swap - an open exhibition for festival punters with a big swap at the end [bring one of your photos, take someone else's home with you]
both events went really well, with the photo swap turning out to be a very sociable and enjoyable way to end the weekend... there was a great buzz around the event with the exhibitors really getting into the swing of the event and spending a long time before and after the actual swap chatting and discussing the work. very pleasing...
[more later...]
there's so much that goes on there, and it's such a rich experience, and i'm probably not that great with words - it's kind of hard to communicate it adequately...
[i'll have a go though...]
one thing that i have noticed in a lot of the media coverage of the festival is the way that gene robinson's appearance has been made to sound very divisive. that certainly didn't seem to be the case on site, as at the festival itself there was very little aggro or visible difficulty around him or his talks.
in some reports there was a lot of talk about folks boycotting the festival because of his presence, but ticket sales and attendances were up on previous years, so if there were stay-away protesters they didn't make much of an impact...
this year we did the self-portrait thing again and it was just as popular as last time. there were more of us involved in running it this time, with a crack team of artists - mark, dave, simon, wanja and rich - supplementing the brilliant team of volunteers - ed and liz, deidre and dominic, dan and sara. we had about 350 draw-ers inover the weekend and they produced some really great drawings - it's really rewarding to see folk surprising themselves with their own work! we're hoping to get most of the drawings up on the greenbelt website as downloadable desktop wallpapers sometime soon.
i'll let you know if and when they're available for download, but in the meantime here's a few samples to whet your appetite...!
other things that we ran this year were '(shhh!)' - an hour of no talking and quiet tuneage [dj-ed brilliantly by matt stevenson] with folks invited to come along and do something creative, and the inaugral photoflash swap - an open exhibition for festival punters with a big swap at the end [bring one of your photos, take someone else's home with you]
both events went really well, with the photo swap turning out to be a very sociable and enjoyable way to end the weekend... there was a great buzz around the event with the exhibitors really getting into the swing of the event and spending a long time before and after the actual swap chatting and discussing the work. very pleasing...
[more later...]
Thursday, September 3, 2009
greenbelt '09 - part one...
we're back from the greenbelt christian arts festival.
throughout the year i've been involved in the festival organisation as the deputy visual arts co-ordinator bloke, and for the first time sue worked at the festival as a volunteer on the info desk in the hub [greenbelt's dedicated visual arts and literature venue]
i'll post a more detailed report later maybe, once i've got my head around everything that went on there, but in the meantime here's a list of my festival highlights...
billy childish
the welcome wagon [missed them on the mainstage, but caught them in the more intimate performance cafe venue and they were superb]
dans le sac vs scroobius pip on the mainstage.
gav mart and the saturday vandals in the hub.
david shillinglaw - painting 'live' at the new leads event in the hub and up on the grandstand... fantastic.
the visionaries exhibition [jaw-droppingly great]
our photoflashswap which went off brilliantly well for a first stab. we'll definitely be doing it again in 2010...
pie minister [serving possibly the finest pie and mash on the planet]
stan's cafe - all the people in the world exhibition [terrible venue but a great show]
camping with good mates, and meeting up with old friends [cliff, matty, tonymate and cathy, stuart, jenny...]
the va volunteers who are an awesome bunch
some of my festival stats...
sightings of steve lawson - 1
meetings with steve lawson - 0 :-(
sightings of simon mayo - 0
sightings of nick park in dark glasses hanging around outside the beer tent trying to look inconspicuous - 1
visits to the over-priced beer tent - 2
showers - 0
pie minister pies consumed - 3
times i saw gav mart and the saturday vandals play - 4
gav mart and the saturday vandals shows that i missed - 2
[more soon...]
update : i forgot to include haronell and dubb in the proost lounge in my highlights list [missed dubh as i was dragged out to the music store while he was on...]
meantime this review of the festival from artrocker magazine is pretty much on the money imho. sums up why greenbelt is great so much better than i ever could... :-)
throughout the year i've been involved in the festival organisation as the deputy visual arts co-ordinator bloke, and for the first time sue worked at the festival as a volunteer on the info desk in the hub [greenbelt's dedicated visual arts and literature venue]
i'll post a more detailed report later maybe, once i've got my head around everything that went on there, but in the meantime here's a list of my festival highlights...
billy childish
the welcome wagon [missed them on the mainstage, but caught them in the more intimate performance cafe venue and they were superb]
dans le sac vs scroobius pip on the mainstage.
gav mart and the saturday vandals in the hub.
david shillinglaw - painting 'live' at the new leads event in the hub and up on the grandstand... fantastic.
the visionaries exhibition [jaw-droppingly great]
our photoflashswap which went off brilliantly well for a first stab. we'll definitely be doing it again in 2010...
pie minister [serving possibly the finest pie and mash on the planet]
stan's cafe - all the people in the world exhibition [terrible venue but a great show]
camping with good mates, and meeting up with old friends [cliff, matty, tonymate and cathy, stuart, jenny...]
the va volunteers who are an awesome bunch
some of my festival stats...
sightings of steve lawson - 1
meetings with steve lawson - 0 :-(
sightings of simon mayo - 0
sightings of nick park in dark glasses hanging around outside the beer tent trying to look inconspicuous - 1
visits to the over-priced beer tent - 2
showers - 0
pie minister pies consumed - 3
times i saw gav mart and the saturday vandals play - 4
gav mart and the saturday vandals shows that i missed - 2
[more soon...]
update : i forgot to include haronell and dubb in the proost lounge in my highlights list [missed dubh as i was dragged out to the music store while he was on...]
meantime this review of the festival from artrocker magazine is pretty much on the money imho. sums up why greenbelt is great so much better than i ever could... :-)
Monday, August 24, 2009
come dine with us...
over the past few months joe has gotten really into the channel 4 reality food thing come dine with me. despite myself, i've also ended up pretty much hooked on the show too, and between us we came up with a plan to stage our own family version here at home.
if you don't know the programme, the format is fairly simple - four strangers each take turns to host a dinner party for the other three, who mark their cooking and general hosting out of ten, and once the marks are added up the winner gets £1k.
we've competed for a grand prize of 20 quid, and whereas the tv contestants have to provide a three course meal, we decided to dispense with the starters and just make main courses and puddings...
sue kicked things off with this jamie oliver-inspired chicken with banana and swetcorn [that's right, banana...] followed by a rather fine fruit cobbler...
joe followed his mum with a chicken and ham pasta dish [taken from this book] and an incredibly rich [but still quite light] chocolate mousse cake. [the cake went down very well indeed...]
eddie went next with a main course of sundried tomato and cheese sauce pasta with chocolate pancakes to follow...
i closed things with a chicken tikka massala [which contained one large chili too many i think, though the boys bravely ate as much as they could!] and maple pecan tart for pudding...
the results were close - sue and i tied for last place with 19 points, joe finished second with 21 and eddie triumphed with a mighty 22...
i am now utterly stuffed, but it was all great fun and we'll definitely be doing it again sometime soon :-)
if you don't know the programme, the format is fairly simple - four strangers each take turns to host a dinner party for the other three, who mark their cooking and general hosting out of ten, and once the marks are added up the winner gets £1k.
we've competed for a grand prize of 20 quid, and whereas the tv contestants have to provide a three course meal, we decided to dispense with the starters and just make main courses and puddings...
sue kicked things off with this jamie oliver-inspired chicken with banana and swetcorn [that's right, banana...] followed by a rather fine fruit cobbler...
joe followed his mum with a chicken and ham pasta dish [taken from this book] and an incredibly rich [but still quite light] chocolate mousse cake. [the cake went down very well indeed...]
eddie went next with a main course of sundried tomato and cheese sauce pasta with chocolate pancakes to follow...
i closed things with a chicken tikka massala [which contained one large chili too many i think, though the boys bravely ate as much as they could!] and maple pecan tart for pudding...
the results were close - sue and i tied for last place with 19 points, joe finished second with 21 and eddie triumphed with a mighty 22...
i am now utterly stuffed, but it was all great fun and we'll definitely be doing it again sometime soon :-)
Sunday, August 23, 2009
[probably] one last plug before greenbelt...
"Not long to go now and we are looking forward to the visual arts programme coming together after a year of planning.
As well as all our exhibitions that you can come to see, we've got lots of things you can take part in so here's a round up of what you can do & what you need to bring with you to the festival...
photoflash swap:
bring a photo [preferably mounted] to the hub on friday when you arrive where we are having an exhibition of everyones images over the weekend. then on Monday you can come back & swap your pic for another one in the exhibition.
(shhh!) :
a little moment of space on Saturday afternoon in the hub to come & be creative - knitting, drawing, writing, reading - whatever, with a mellow dj set playing in the background.
But remember - Shhh!, no talking just creating ! Some materials will be provided or bring your own.
SATURDAY 6PM THE HUB
greenhaus :
Bigger and better this year, we have 27 classes. [Take a look on the festival website for the full line up]
Last year the classes were booked up very quickly so this year we are changing things a little & its first come first served, choose your class & then queue up outside cottage rake before the session is due to start.
self portrait :
Back again this year, bring yourself and an open mind and have a go at your self portrait, teachers will be on hand to point you in the right direction and you might just surprise yourself.
comic book portfolio surgery :
Following on from the Marvel Comics panel, an opportunity for all you budding illustrators and graphic novelists to get advice from some real life comic book professionals. Bring a selection of your artwork along to the hub.
SUNDAY 2.45 THE HUB
art for all
ALL VA VENUES
Billy Childish one of our Visionaries artists and Speakers has created a limited edition print for us and we are giving 100 of them away free. Visit 6 of our visual arts venues to collect a rubber stamp on the back of your daily diary then come to the info desk in the hub to collect your print..."
As well as all our exhibitions that you can come to see, we've got lots of things you can take part in so here's a round up of what you can do & what you need to bring with you to the festival...
photoflash swap:
bring a photo [preferably mounted] to the hub on friday when you arrive where we are having an exhibition of everyones images over the weekend. then on Monday you can come back & swap your pic for another one in the exhibition.
(shhh!) :
a little moment of space on Saturday afternoon in the hub to come & be creative - knitting, drawing, writing, reading - whatever, with a mellow dj set playing in the background.
But remember - Shhh!, no talking just creating ! Some materials will be provided or bring your own.
SATURDAY 6PM THE HUB
greenhaus :
Bigger and better this year, we have 27 classes. [Take a look on the festival website for the full line up]
Last year the classes were booked up very quickly so this year we are changing things a little & its first come first served, choose your class & then queue up outside cottage rake before the session is due to start.
self portrait :
Back again this year, bring yourself and an open mind and have a go at your self portrait, teachers will be on hand to point you in the right direction and you might just surprise yourself.
comic book portfolio surgery :
Following on from the Marvel Comics panel, an opportunity for all you budding illustrators and graphic novelists to get advice from some real life comic book professionals. Bring a selection of your artwork along to the hub.
SUNDAY 2.45 THE HUB
art for all
ALL VA VENUES
Billy Childish one of our Visionaries artists and Speakers has created a limited edition print for us and we are giving 100 of them away free. Visit 6 of our visual arts venues to collect a rubber stamp on the back of your daily diary then come to the info desk in the hub to collect your print..."
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Friday, July 31, 2009
advent exhibition update...
i posted a while back about an advent-themed exhibition at leftbank leeds.
well now it's really starting to come together and i'm getting quite excited about it - there are some great people on board and promising work; i've just added some more info to the blog that i set up for the show so you can begin to see what i'm getting all enthused about...
go have a look and feel free to bookmark the site so you can keep bobbing back to see what developing. i'm hoping to update the blog there with information about the contributing artists every week or so...
well now it's really starting to come together and i'm getting quite excited about it - there are some great people on board and promising work; i've just added some more info to the blog that i set up for the show so you can begin to see what i'm getting all enthused about...
go have a look and feel free to bookmark the site so you can keep bobbing back to see what developing. i'm hoping to update the blog there with information about the contributing artists every week or so...
Thursday, July 23, 2009
iTunes randomness and most-played...
been meaning to blog these blog meme-y things for a while [and i won't be posting much for the next few weeks, so maybe it's a good 'holding' thing to stick up here, just to keep the thing ticking over...]
the first five tracks that my iTunes - set to shuffle - selected for me this morning...
good times bad times by led zep
the life of the fields by the occasional keepers
psycho magnet by spearmint
right on by marvin gaye
come to the water by church of the apostles
[that could have been a whole lot worse - since eddie got an ipod for his birthday there's a lot of fightstar, my chemical romance and recent oasis cropping up on my iTunes...]
the five most-played tracks on my iTunes...
your english is good by tokyo police club
either way by the twang
how long by clamateur vs steve lawson
bill is dead by the fall
myopic books by american music club
the first five tracks that my iTunes - set to shuffle - selected for me this morning...
good times bad times by led zep
the life of the fields by the occasional keepers
psycho magnet by spearmint
right on by marvin gaye
come to the water by church of the apostles
[that could have been a whole lot worse - since eddie got an ipod for his birthday there's a lot of fightstar, my chemical romance and recent oasis cropping up on my iTunes...]
the five most-played tracks on my iTunes...
your english is good by tokyo police club
either way by the twang
how long by clamateur vs steve lawson
bill is dead by the fall
myopic books by american music club
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
bunny and croc
[originally, these were vector images; hand-drawn and scanned, then coloured up in Illustrator, hence the little pixelated bits in these lower resolution versions...]
Friday, July 10, 2009
Friday, July 3, 2009
advent art show...
later in the year i'll be curating an advent art exhibition at leftbank leeds, a beautiful old church on the outskirts of the city that fell into disuse and is now being lovingly nursed back into life as a community arts space.
the idea for the exhibition is not a huge departure from the walk-through-advent-calendar that we've done in the past, except that this is definitely an art show, and not set up as a worship event. but there will be twenty-five different bits of work there, each created by a different artist, designer or arts group, and each one relating to a different character, place or 'thing' from the advent narrative.
today i had the fourteenth contributor confirm their involvement, so it's shaping up nicely [ and now i'm confident enough to start posting about it here :-) ]
there's a bloggy thing that i've set up to plot the progress of the show and to allow folk to see how everything is developing - i have this idea that the contributing artists and art groups will be able to post images [and video even] of their work as it comes together, which will hopefully generate some interest and a bit of a communal buzz around the exhibition...
there's not much on the blog right now, but feel free to bookmark it and check back occasionally to see how things are coming together...
the idea for the exhibition is not a huge departure from the walk-through-advent-calendar that we've done in the past, except that this is definitely an art show, and not set up as a worship event. but there will be twenty-five different bits of work there, each created by a different artist, designer or arts group, and each one relating to a different character, place or 'thing' from the advent narrative.
today i had the fourteenth contributor confirm their involvement, so it's shaping up nicely [ and now i'm confident enough to start posting about it here :-) ]
there's a bloggy thing that i've set up to plot the progress of the show and to allow folk to see how everything is developing - i have this idea that the contributing artists and art groups will be able to post images [and video even] of their work as it comes together, which will hopefully generate some interest and a bit of a communal buzz around the exhibition...
there's not much on the blog right now, but feel free to bookmark it and check back occasionally to see how things are coming together...
fat croc, coloured cityscape...
on the desk this week...
this is the coloured-up version of the rough that i posted a week or so back. it took me ages - the best part of a day to ink up, and two days to colour...
and this is a rough from a batch that i've been doing for yet another educational thing - some interactive software this time...
this is the coloured-up version of the rough that i posted a week or so back. it took me ages - the best part of a day to ink up, and two days to colour...
and this is a rough from a batch that i've been doing for yet another educational thing - some interactive software this time...
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
camping...
we have a camping trip coming up... so i've had the tent out to check for mould [none discovered, thankfully] and we've located the camping stove, foldable chairs and sundry other outdoor essentials.
so this rough for a job that i'm working on seemed quite appropriate...
so this rough for a job that i'm working on seemed quite appropriate...
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
martin wilson...
last year at greenbelt an undoubted highlight of the visual arts programme was martin wilson's little exhibition of photographs. each composite image was meticulously shot in sequence and printed up as contact sheets. [and if he makes a mistake he has to go back and start the whole sequence again from scratch, there's no photoshoppery allowed!]
he's just gone live with a new website and you can see some of the images here.
or, if you're in leicester, you can go see them in the flesh next month at the bishop street methodist church.
he's just gone live with a new website and you can see some of the images here.
or, if you're in leicester, you can go see them in the flesh next month at the bishop street methodist church.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
if you're in london on wednesday...
...then this guided tour of an exhibition that's coming to greenbelt is really worth seeking out.
and while i'm banging on about greenbelt, the monthly festival podcasts are worth a listen. you can access them from here - in this month's episode there's an interview with vito from the welcome wagon and a guy called mark vernon saying some good stuff about why the church needs agnostics. april's 'cast has loads of stuff about the festival's arts programme and why it's important [and includes an interview with our good mate derek sounding ever so slightly camp in a cafe]
and while i'm banging on about greenbelt, the monthly festival podcasts are worth a listen. you can access them from here - in this month's episode there's an interview with vito from the welcome wagon and a guy called mark vernon saying some good stuff about why the church needs agnostics. april's 'cast has loads of stuff about the festival's arts programme and why it's important [and includes an interview with our good mate derek sounding ever so slightly camp in a cafe]
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
half term etc
we went away for half term, down to dorset with the mintys, faulkners and hydes [old friends from our time in exile down south] and stopped off overnight at steve and moira's in bristol on the way there. apart from brief bumping into's at greenbelt, we've not really seen the broadways since we moved up here to leeds, so it was great to catch up and drink and eat great food [spicy chicken, soda bread, apple meringue] and wander round bristol with them.
here is a picture of steve doing the washing up.
steve and moira have a really inspiring home - art everywhere, a gallery space in the basement - and big things are happening in their little garden. [you can see some of what they're up to, horticulturally-speaking, in this handy video...]
dorset was lovely - good conversation, guinness cake, beer, the traumatising of the local crayfish population, sunshine, beaches, only one day when it absolutely tipped down, man u losing the champions league final [sorry minty]...
and so now it's back to work.
[sigh]
here is a picture of steve doing the washing up.
steve and moira have a really inspiring home - art everywhere, a gallery space in the basement - and big things are happening in their little garden. [you can see some of what they're up to, horticulturally-speaking, in this handy video...]
dorset was lovely - good conversation, guinness cake, beer, the traumatising of the local crayfish population, sunshine, beaches, only one day when it absolutely tipped down, man u losing the champions league final [sorry minty]...
and so now it's back to work.[sigh]
Monday, May 18, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
easter sunday otley chevins panoramic view thing
for this stations of the resurrection project i've been taking a lot of reference photos in and around leeds lately, then chopping them together in photoshop and basing the compositions of the drawings on them...
tonight i was sticking together some pics that i'd snapped early on easter morning up on otley chevins* and i'm loving this panoramic view which emerged pretty much accidentally from the various photos that i'd shot...
*they have an easter daybreak service up on the chevins each year. someone told us that the giant cross there is made from timbers reclaimed after the IRA manchester arndale bombing [don't know if that's true or not]
tonight i was sticking together some pics that i'd snapped early on easter morning up on otley chevins* and i'm loving this panoramic view which emerged pretty much accidentally from the various photos that i'd shot...
*they have an easter daybreak service up on the chevins each year. someone told us that the giant cross there is made from timbers reclaimed after the IRA manchester arndale bombing [don't know if that's true or not]
Sunday, May 10, 2009
fuseleeds and jeffrey lewis - belated reviews...
so in this post i said that david gedge performing with the bbbc big band could be amazing, could be terrible. well, it wasn't amazing.
gedge was great, but i just don't get big band music. don't enjoy it, don't understand it.
and i was kind of hoping that the band would meet gedge halfway and it'd be an interesting meeting of styles, but it turned out that they'd just re-written his tunes in a very big band stylee and asked him to sing over the top. then when he did sing he was quite often drowned out by eleven assorted trumpets, saxophones and trombones all going "BADDA-BA-BA-BWAA-BADDAP-BWWWAAAAA" as loud as they possibly could. gedge was funny and engaging and the lyrics survived the orchestral mauling, but the result was a bit disappointing tbh. but you don't have to take my word for it as the gig will be broadcast on radio two on the 1st and 8th of june, apparently...
vessels were the support band though and they were brilliant - go look them up here. they're a bit like a prog-rocky version of mogwai [progwai?] - and my enjoyment of their set wasn't even dampened by a dopey geordie bloke stumbling down the steps behind my seat and tipping half a cup of hot coffee down the back of my shirt...
later in the week i was back at the playhouse, this time with sue, for a triple bill of nancy elizabeth - inventive low-fi folk with harps and guitars and pianos and hitting chairs with a drumstick... really very good - the acorn, who were great and sue took a shine to the lead singer - and a hawk and a hacksaw who were excellent [of the three acts they were the ones that i'd been least sure of, but the musicianship was brilliant and there was something almost punky about them - excellent]
lastly on sunday i bobbed down to the hyde park picture house to see jeffrey lewis and junkyard. it was probably the worst-lit gig i've ever been to - just the red cinema-screen footlights to illuminate the band so you could hardly see their faces... but the music was great - funny, quirky [one song was an illustrated history of korea] and strangely moving. very very enjoyable indeed.
gedge was great, but i just don't get big band music. don't enjoy it, don't understand it.
and i was kind of hoping that the band would meet gedge halfway and it'd be an interesting meeting of styles, but it turned out that they'd just re-written his tunes in a very big band stylee and asked him to sing over the top. then when he did sing he was quite often drowned out by eleven assorted trumpets, saxophones and trombones all going "BADDA-BA-BA-BWAA-BADDAP-BWWWAAAAA" as loud as they possibly could. gedge was funny and engaging and the lyrics survived the orchestral mauling, but the result was a bit disappointing tbh. but you don't have to take my word for it as the gig will be broadcast on radio two on the 1st and 8th of june, apparently...
vessels were the support band though and they were brilliant - go look them up here. they're a bit like a prog-rocky version of mogwai [progwai?] - and my enjoyment of their set wasn't even dampened by a dopey geordie bloke stumbling down the steps behind my seat and tipping half a cup of hot coffee down the back of my shirt...
later in the week i was back at the playhouse, this time with sue, for a triple bill of nancy elizabeth - inventive low-fi folk with harps and guitars and pianos and hitting chairs with a drumstick... really very good - the acorn, who were great and sue took a shine to the lead singer - and a hawk and a hacksaw who were excellent [of the three acts they were the ones that i'd been least sure of, but the musicianship was brilliant and there was something almost punky about them - excellent]
lastly on sunday i bobbed down to the hyde park picture house to see jeffrey lewis and junkyard. it was probably the worst-lit gig i've ever been to - just the red cinema-screen footlights to illuminate the band so you could hardly see their faces... but the music was great - funny, quirky [one song was an illustrated history of korea] and strangely moving. very very enjoyable indeed.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
on the desk...
illustrations for an ELT-type project...
hand-drawn, scanned and converted to vector images, then coloured in Illustrator...
spaces left in the centre are for text.
[and i'm a bit disappointed with that gorilla]
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