John

Restarting the use of my blog after a long layoff has turned into a power struggle between me and the machine. The layout of the editing page is totally different from the one with which I am familiar. I am determined, however, to establish the fact that I am in charge. Now, let’s see ….

I know that the life and work of an artist might be regarded in some quarters as far from “normal”. It only struck me last night just how true that might be. I took part in the weekly figure-drawing class I attend at the Art School in Ilkley. Driving home afterwards it occurred to me … Read more

At last, after several months, I am up and running again! It has been an eventful period with, on the up-side, three solo exhibitions, and on the down-side illness and injury. I hope that from now on I will be able to return to something that feels like a normal existence. Thanks to the sterling … Read more

I don’t think that in the past I have appreciated sufficiently the importance of the daily postal delivery. An accumulated problem of the holiday congestion, the recent severe weather and the sheer inefficiency of the Post Office has resulted in the fact that yesterday we received our first delivery in two weeks. Oddly this has … Read more

Actually, no, I’m going forward. I made a booking today for a short stay in a small Derbyshire cottage in which I have stayed on a previous occasion. I do hope that this experience will have the stimulating effect I have experienced when I have done this kind of thing before. My enthusiasm has been … Read more

Yes: I know that we are more than half way through January, but today has been important to me as an occasion on which I have (at last) begun to think properly about the coming year. I had a very good meeting with the person who is taking on the reconstruction of my website, giving … Read more

I am well into the process of preparing a revised version of this website. It is turning out to be far more of an effort than I anticipated …. even with the backing of a web-designer who actually knows what she is doing. My major task has been to decide which pictures to keep, which … Read more

What a difference a week can make! This is true both of the weather and life. Suddenly we find ourselves surviving a week in which the constant sub-zero temperatures have done nothing whatsoever to move the foot of snow with has fallen …. with no prospect of change for some time. It’s funny! I almost … Read more

It is a curious fact that the Christmas-New Year period induces a kind of internet hibernation. Life becomes very introverted, with attention being centred on the family and close friends. This state of affairs has been intensified in my case by two factors. The weather has been spectacularly “seasonal” with several falls of deep-snow, which … Read more