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Showing posts from August, 2020

Joan Eardley (1921-1963)

Really looking forward to a trip soon travelling up the east coast of Scotland - will call in at Catterline, and hope to visit the home/studio where artist Joan Eardley lived (with no electricity or running water).  Her landscapes and seascapes made while there are wonderful, and a contrast to her more famous paintings of children she befriended on Glasgow streets.

When I Paint My Masterpiece (Bob Dylan) - cover

350 years

Just walking along one sunny October day a few years ago, (to Newport cemetery on the anniversary of my mum's death), I wondered what would be a sufficient lifespan, and after a bit of calibration came up with 350 years. (I recently discussed with Alexey at work and she's going for a much fuller 800, after an initial rather pathetic 80.) Dipping into ' Ikigai: The Japanese secret to a long and happy life ' a while ago my takeaway was that you have to keep yourself busy.  The writers analysed communities in Japan where life expectancy is 120 years. (120? - obviously inadequate, but a starting point, I suppose.) 2020 is my first year after about 14 years of doing continuous personal photography projects. I got to the end of what I needed to do and it was great. Inevitably through Jan and Feb I got a growing awareness of having nothing much to replace that. So began the plan of doing random things. Including things I'm not very good at doing, and doing things again