Yesterday, in the midst of the UK’s non-existent summer, Sawyer spent the day at the seaside. It was a school outing, so thankfully I didn’t have to deal with any of the problems shown above. A day off school the previous day, to hopefully rid the little man of the germs he’d recently picked up had seemed to do the trick; he’d simply passed them onto me!!! The trip was an early start and we wanted to make sure he was fully up for the journey. We needn’t have worried. An excited 5 year old was up, dressed in . . . → Read More: Seaside…]]>

Yesterday, in the midst of the UK’s non-existent summer, Sawyer spent the day at the seaside. It was a school outing, so thankfully I didn’t have to deal with any of the problems shown above. A day off school the previous day, to hopefully rid the little man of the germs he’d recently picked up had seemed to do the trick; he’d simply passed them onto me!!! The trip was an early start and we wanted to make sure he was fully up for the journey. We needn’t have worried. An excited 5 year old was up, dressed in record time, loaded up with pack-up, bucket & spade and beach wear (aged 18-24 months. He’s not grown an awful lot!!!). At 7.45 AM we arrived at school (we were the 1st people to arrive!!!) and I said farewell to the little man…

Nine hours later the little man returned. He was wearing 2 pairs of trousers (apparently he’d been cold) Most of his packed lunch remained uneaten, he was minus 2 buckets & a spade, and had sand in every sock, shoe, bag & orifice. All in all, a good time had been had by all. Back home we plonked our sandy little boy into the bath, whereupon he found a razor and attempted his first shave Let’s just say that the tiny little cut on his lip could’ve been a whole lot worse…

Life-lesson No.16 - Razor-blades are very sharp.

U.S. marine, Sergeant Nicholas Brody returns home after 8 years in captivity in Iraq. C.I.A. officer Carrie Mathison suspects that Brody has been turned. Is Brody good or is Brody bad? Is Carrie losing the plot? Is there a mole in the C.I.A. ? Abu Nazir, can we really blame him for wanting revenge? 12 episodes. 765 minutes. And 764 of those minutes were truly glorious, edge of your seat, gripping television. Easily one the best things that’s been on the box for a long, long time… My only moan; the final minute. For 764 minutes this . . . → Read More: Homeland – A mini review…]]>
Homeland (2012)

U.S. marine, Sergeant Nicholas Brody returns home after 8 years in captivity in Iraq. C.I.A. officer Carrie Mathison suspects that Brody has been turned. Is Brody good or is Brody bad? Is Carrie losing the plot? Is there a mole in the C.I.A. ? Abu Nazir, can we really blame him for wanting revenge? 12 episodes. 765 minutes. And 764 of those minutes were truly glorious, edge of your seat, gripping television. Easily one the best things that’s been on the box for a long, long time… My only moan; the final minute. For 764 minutes this drama had been brilliantly building to a nail biting climax, and then the writers clearly remembered that a 2nd series had been commissioned, and it seemed a wee bit of a let down… Well worth watching though.

I’m now 6 years into my exploration of collage, which is about 5 years more than I ever thought it would last At the time I felt it was something I simply . . . → Read More: A return to collage…]]> Well to be fair, I’ve never really been too far away from my beloved mixed-media collage, but a lot of time recently has been spent teaching this art-form in Leicester. As enjoyable and enlightening as the teaching is, it has detracted me slightly from making my own artwork. So, I thought it was probably about time to redress this a little…

I’m now 6 years into my exploration of collage, which is about 5 years more than I ever thought it would last At the time I felt it was something I simply needed to ‘get out of my system’, whereas now, I feel my system is well and truly intoxicated with the many wonders of this art-form. And to be honest, even after 6 years, I’m still finding new techniques and new ways to approach this work… Maybe collage will never get out of my system? And maybe this wouldn’t be such a bad thing after-all…

Twigs (2012)

Assorted twigs, pine cones & snow.

Derby UK

This film was a birthday present way back in July, and only now have we managed to get the thing into the DVD player It takes us a while!!! But it was certainly worth the wait… One of those awfully sweet films based around the workings of a  small boy’s troubled mind. Had me thinking back to my own childhood & had me thinking about what really goes on inside Sawyer’s little head a times (I dread to think!!!). Overall, a very, very sweet little film indeed.