Monthly Archives: November 2018

Art

Art

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On my recent trip, I ferreted out the location of an interesting destination.   I had seen an advert for the place on a friend’s website, so I decided that it was a must see.

And what might Novelty Automation be?   Well it’s got coin-operated machines inside, but they are not like regular commercially produced arcade machines.    They are all artist created, satirical machines (the only similarity to arcade machines is that it takes one’s coin).

Right inside the front door was this machine.   You put in the coin, crank the handle, and the spinner above the figures whirls around while the lamb on top shakes it’s head.  And then the decision.

The diorama spins up or down to show the final disposition of the lamb.  I got ‘pet’ which is how I would treat a lamb.   The other diorama has the lamb as the main course for dinner.  (Noooooo).

This artist has made a variety of machines, I hope that this one was not based on personal experience.

Of all the machines, this one was my favorite.   It is the art critic who will give a yea or nay as to whether something is art (note the plastic cow encased in lucite on the side, obviously it must be art).  I could not resist the challenge and so I put Pteri into the little box on the side of this machine.  Pteri rose up to be judged by this critic, how could he not be impressed?   Well it just goes to show the fickle nature of art criticism, Pteri was declared to be not art.  The judgement was obviously flawed, I assert that any picture (or art) can be improved with the addition of a pterodactyl.

 

Ephemera

Reflections

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It is always interesting to see what turns out when one takes a photograph (although nowadays with digital photography one can quickly check the image).   Your brain sees the thing in front of you, and what the camera sees is what’s actually there.  And what’s there is often a reflection of the nearby buildings, cast upon the window glass.   I sometimes like the reflection better, because it is two images in one.

This reflection was taken deliberately as I liked the juxtaposition of the clashing styles.  The imposing classical dome of the V & A is reflected against the 60’s architectural add-on of the Natural History museum.

I liked the contrast of the smoothly modern shop selling Italian design, reflecting the townhouses that rise above shop fronts tacked on at street level.

This cow is well on her way to jumping over the moon, as she is already about to soar over this tall building.

Although the sky looks plain and formless ahead, the glass in this modern office block shows that somewhere quite near there is blue sky and fluffy clouds.  Lost in the concrete canyons of a city, it is lovely to be reminded of this.

Ephemera

Looking through the glass

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There is a certain voyeuristic thrill in observing people unaware.  And large un-curtained windows, brightly lit on a dark night make this voyeurism inevitable.

These folks are enjoying the cozy ambience of the pub.   I wasn’t really aware of the people, I actually took this picture for the sign, which I thought was hilarious.  It was only when I was picking images for this post that I noticed the people.

Not shown are all the folks standing in front of this building, smoking cigarettes and drinking beer.  This side of the building is across the street from a church which bears the sign ‘commit no nuisance’.  So I assume that is why the smokers are not on this side.

Who could resist taking a glance into this shop window?  It is obviously the sort of place a very hip person might patronize.  It’s minimalist, modern and spare, yet there stands  a statue of wrestler Hulk Hogan in the window.  Why?  Perhaps it indicates that they only cater to professional wrestlers, although surely one’s glasses would be toast in the ring.

Nearby hipsters were getting a new do.   Most likely something cooler than before.  It’s not the sort of shop where old guys hang out and swap lies, which is the sort of place my brothers would go to.

Here’s another view of across the street.   Again, it seems to be a sort of hip, minimalist office.  Perfect for a early evening meeting before heading out, perhaps to the ancient pub.

 

Doings

Fashion

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I am not much of a fashion plate, I typically spend about a minute to decide my fashion choice of the day:  is it a short sleeve or long sleeve black shirt, is it denim shorts or leggings.  Then the ultimate deciding factor:  is it clean enough to wear?  But I do enjoy looking at fashion, and when I am on holiday I like to stay in a very fashionable neighborhood.

This was the view from my recent vacation flat, an atelier with worker bees busily making incredibly gorgeous clothing.   I’m not sure who’s design workshop this was (maybe Carolina Herrera or Stella McCartney?), but I found myself envying the people who would wear this and I wanted them to make one fitted to me,

 

And right around the corner is this ready to wear boutique of a designer.   I admit that I like the dark coat, but I would probably balk at the price for such a utilitarian item.

This is much more to my taste, although as they are not in plain black, I don’t think I could wear them.   (Also, I would probably resemble a sack of potatos rather than a goddess).  But I would definitely cut this fabric up and use it in a quilt.  Right in front of this shop the Petticoat Lane street market was going on, where one could buy a man’s shirt for 10 pounds (more my price range).  😉

 

Just up the street from the flat was this tempting display (okay, now I am being sarcastic).   Pretty much everyone has stocking cap for when it is really cold, or when one needs to rob a bank or gas station, but I suspect that this one might cost a bomb.  The hooded puffy jacket with the skirt might cause one to think that one was a recently escaped mental patient, so I think one should leave the price tags on the outfit.  (Does this remove the doubt?  I doubt it.)

 

Doings, Ephemera

American Football

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In some places football is more than a sport, it’s more like a religion.   But as I grew up in a city with a fairly awful professional football team, and went to university with a terrible college football team,  I never became a fan. (Except that football is a great excuse for parties and boozing, so I guess I am a fan of sorts, sometimes).   My college was playing against the local team, and my friend didn’t want to go, so I thought ‘what the heck (or something quite similar)’.  I had been to a game of the same two teams about 30 years ago, so perhaps it was time to do this again.

And as this local university is a military academy, they had a military pre-game show.  It does require a certain talent to be able to jump out of an airplane and land in the center of the stadium.

It’s a lovely stadium, the sun was shining, and we had been drinking delicious Bloody Marys in the parking lot.

The teams had to do a bit of running about before the game starts, so there was no excitement just yet.

Whenever the home team scores a goal, a squadron of cadets comes out and does the same number of push-ups as the score.   And the score was rather large at the end.  😉

Halftime means that a marching band must come out, but I must say that I found their outfits rather drab, even though they were excellent musicians.  (Marching about in formation is certainly something everyone in the military does.)

After the game was over, I realized that I had not taken any pictures of the actual football players.   So here’s a picture that shows some of the football action on the giant stadium screen.   When one is at an game, the players are the ants down on the field.  When one watches at home, the television cameras always bring the action close.   And this game was being televised, so there were camerapersons racing up and down the sidelines.   All in all it was an interesting experience, but perhaps I shall wait another 30 years before I do this again.

 

 

Art, Doings

Inktober

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We here we are, just past the month of Inktober ( a month in which one does a drawing, in ink, every day of the month).  This year I decided that I would give this a go.   Why?  Well not because I am good at it, rather that I am bad at it, but hoping to become better.  And here are a few of the results.

This was one of the first drawings that I did.  The subject is Wyatt B.  I did a pencil sketch first, then used ink brush pens to make it truly inky.   I’m a novice at the pen, and I half like this, and half don’t.  I think I over-worked the picture, but it does look like Wyatt.

This sketch is of Freya B, done in an extra fine Sharpie, so I don’t think it came out too bad.   I usually draw dogs and I think this may be the first time I ever drew a cat.

This is a portrait of her brother, Thor B.  I did these first three drawings from photos that I took, as I am not fast enough to do animals from life.

As I usually draw pictures of dogs and since there wasn’t a dog handy, I made this from a photo I took in front of a fancy butcher shop.

I didn’t have any interesting photos to work from, so this is what I saw on the nightstand.

Once again I didn’t have a photo, so this is a drawing of part of the living room.  I worked hard on getting the proportions right, but I am obviously not very good at shading and filling in the backgrounds.   Perhaps that is something to aspire to when the next Inktober comes around.

Art, Doings

Artists

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When I was a young teen (which would put this at a very large number of years in the past)  I loved to walk the 2.3 miles to the local art museum and draw.  What I didn’t love was people coming up to me and asking what I was drawing.  (It would be the thing in front of me.)  So I was careful not to disturb these artists at work, but I did appreciate that they all were taking the time to get out and about and do the work of drawing what they saw.   Well done, random people.

This seemed to be an organized outing for this group of folks, as there was a large number of artists working on the same bit of statuary.

This solitary artist was making a large drawing of a small object (and doing a fine job of it too).

This young woman was in a different part of the hall of statues.   It’s a lovely thing that the museum provides these chairs (I used to just sit on the floor to sketch).

I don’t know why I think this, but I somehow got the impression that this young woman was doing this for a school project.  Perhaps it’s because the statue is so ugly.

This brilliant portrait of Sir Francis Drake was done by a five year old artist.   I wish that I had been this talented at that age.   I did tell her how much I admired this picture too.

Just off a very busy street, this fellow was doing more than a sketch.   He was painting the scene (there is a bit of license taken with the view, the sky was not very blue on that day) and I imagine that it must be hard to concentrate in this busy setting.

So I say bravo to all of these artists.  Out there in public and pursuing their muses.