IS THIS THE CRAZIEST TREE YOU HAVE EVER SEEN? taken somewhere in Northumberland not too far from Walkworth, not exactly sure as I got a little lost!

wot you lookin at ?my blog I hope!

ARTS MUTABLE ONTOLOGIES

really just a dauble done to amuse myself without much thought or effort, nice paper though: Sanderson Waterford or sandyford waterman or something like that.a photo with my new camera.

I used to keep art quotes that took my fancy but I think I lost them, This one (ARTS MUTABLE ONTOLOGIES) has stayed in my mind although I can't remember where it came from. I sometimes think the less art says the more has to be said about it, but I could be wrong, still sometimes I wonder about the stuff said or written about art, especially when literal or literary titles are given to abstract work: a big green puddle of paint with a dab of red may be called St Paul after his visit to the barber . Today I was reading some stuff about current exhibitions and one item was about an artist whose representational work I admire but who often does (to me ) very obscure and difficult abstraction: 'he continues to employ the use of light, atmosphere and psycological narrative as a means of engagement' whaaaaat?????? mind: that does sound good; I myself shall continue to employ paint, brushes and various degrees of skill and/or otherwise to depict the fundamental (mental?)human condition as well as paint some very very mediocre pictures.

Just read Eric Clapton's autobiography, 2/3 of it he seems a bit of a prat but then he grows in the end and seems to end up a nice bloke (with a yaght, yot?) was never much of a fan but he has produces some reasonable stuff, he does talk a bit about the spirituality of music and I have always had some difficulty in accepting any art as being intrinsically spiritual, art can easily be as much about self ptomotion and plain ego tripping as anything elevated in spiritual terms, but that's just my opinion, but Ive read a few biographies of artists and they sometimes come across as rather empty people again just my opini-onion and my own 'art' seems fairly chaffish (is that even a word?) to me.

I don't know if it's a good thing or not when within a couple of paragraphs of a new book you have to reach for the dictionary to find out what the author is on about. Thought I had learned a new word: attenuated, then realised I knew it in a different context, usually in court cases, there were attenuating circumstances.

My daughter says that that should be extenuating circumstances and she's doing a degree in English so she must be right. So I have learned a new word:. attenuated; meaning lightened or made fainter. As in: he was feeling attenuated; having eaten fewer cakes than usual. or: he felt attenuated, having skipped breakfast that morning. Only kidding, but as I have said before isn't the englandish langwedge faskinating?

So if it were a court case there were attenuating circumstances in that the accused didn't see the sign: keep off, as it was in fact extremely attenuated by weather and age.

Anyway here are a few watercolours I did yesterday. Love snow scenes, do em every year weather it snows or not. this is Durham from the east I think
st Mary's island again, often featured in the brother blog dave-davetakespictures which I do, easily reached by clikking at the top of this blog, more comments therein required to keep me going.

I don't know if the lighthouse is slightly wonkey, should have drawn it rather than just painted it in.

the word Draw in fact is related to draught its meaning initially being to draw an instrument across the page rather than having the emphasis on depiction, so a draught is air drawn through a gap or hole, or perhaps liquid drawn from a container.

well: this am an example of the elusive but legendary anticrepuscular rays! I had to enhance the photo to make them seeable; first time Ive been conscious of seeing them if you know what I mean, sometimes you might be looking at something but until you know what it is you don't see it!

I knew it was going to be an interesting day when I cut myself shaving with an electric shaver!!!!

went for my customary bike ride , lovely sky (see photo blog later in the week) went down a steep bank there was a kind of mini mudslide at the bottom but it being freezing I thought that mud will be frozen. It wasn't; ended stuck up to my knee in freezing (but not frozen) mud, lost my shoe! had to burrow down to retrieve said shoe and put it back on full of freezing ooze, washing one's hands in freezing seawater is incredibly painful, still got a couple of reasonable shots before camera battery conked out!

later my key broke in the bike lock so had to carry bike home! this morning (that was yesterday) went on rocks at tynemouth and fell in the sea! well my right foot did, coooold!!!!! all in the service of art!

talking of art sometimes when you have looked at paintings or photo's you see the picture in reality, the other morning with mud on and in my shoe I saw this bloke walking his dog against the morning sky and thought it looked quite like an alexander millar picture, although, in the forground was a big pile of dog poo, dirty dog owners! so I call this painting: 'walking the dog' with apologies to the aforementioned artist.

woh!: you got it twice!

give a woman a camera! left a bit she said....only a 600ft drop!- wondered why she asked if I was insured. And what a surprise to find a nudist on top of a mountain! chilly; isn't it I said.

yet more morning photo's check out the other blog to the left just give it a click and you'll be there, davetakes pictures yes he does! many are rubbish but I don't tend to put them here for folk to mock, nothing but not bad ones.

EXTRA LARGE!!!

probably posted the first of these already but if Scrubs can show repeats and still be more funny than most else on tv why can't I do some blog repeats, the other I think I haven't put on, a common but all my own picture of Holy Island, now if that little boat was just a little to the right.

well is there anybody out there? and does it really matter? (I'm having a bit of a negative existential moment- whatever that is!; bit of a: what's the point of painting? and while I'm at it what's the point of anything (could just be the cold germs talking))

Anyway went to town; North Shields that is, Not Newcastle which although many people mean there when they go to town, it is of course a city, North Shields however is a town and thence I went. iT IS THE cHRISTMAS vICTORIAN market thing, there were Morris dancers and I couldn't help thinking is there anything less rock and roll then mORRIS DANCERS? then turning into the shopping precinct Salvation army dudes playing a particularly mournful hymn, there i HAD MY ANSWER.

Not that I have anything against either in fact with today's obsession with being and looking (or being thought to look or be)Cool both groups are in fact kind of rebels, they don't give a monkey's nuts for being cool so there!good on them, although I prefer hymns that are less mournful myself, Charles Wesley there was a man who could write Hymns, also William Cooper and John Newton.

Bought a coat: am I really EXTRA LARGE? I like to think I am about average for a man who likes to eat cakes!

sunrise again

intense or what? winter skies are brilliant! This is just outside of my front door, last year. this is nice!

full of cold this week and can't be bothered with art. Hve bought myself a nice brush and a new box of paints, but cant be bothered to use them so have just been looking at them as if they were a box of chocolates. Couldn't sleep last night so sat up reading about Cirrus cloud formations:fascinating stuff.

Thought the end of Heroes wasn't as good as the one before the penultimate episode but I do like the word penultimate whereas I don't like the word serendipidy so there!..