As this post-new year time of coming out of winter and heading into spring is usually a process of reflection and refining, I’d love some feedback from you on which topic(s) interest you most.
Category Archives: Art
Porto-ohohoh!: Reflections on my recent salsa travels #2
Something about this arty, intriguing and deeply romantic city, with its air of failed colonial grandeur, has well and truly got into my veins
Un-Earthing meaning: Colin Caffell’s ‘Reflections on the Feminine – a visual essay’ at Penwith Gallery, Cornwall
It seems strangely fitting that artist Colin Caffell, who typically works with earthy materials (clay, bronze, wax, resin, wood) as a potter and sculptor (see his beautifully multi-hued seascape-theme ceramics below), should have chosen to highlight the very fragility of Mother Earth in his solo exhibition, ‘Reflections on the Feminine – a visual essay’ atContinue reading “Un-Earthing meaning: Colin Caffell’s ‘Reflections on the Feminine – a visual essay’ at Penwith Gallery, Cornwall”
Taking a Pulse on Climate: The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2022
In view of imminent annihilation if we continue our current trajectory towards 3°C of warming, what can art say? Considering 18th century romantic artists were already mourning the loss of an innocent, agrarian lifestyle by invoking classical pastoralism in their landscapes, is any time left for discussion as the Earth burns and everything in it dies?
The Long and Short of It
Dear friends and readers, Since I began this blog in January 2020, I’ve tended to publish mostly long-form articles on topics of interest or concern to me, as well as interviews with various salsa personalities, etc. As most of you probably don’t have time to read longer pieces, however ‘worthy’ they may be, I haveContinue reading “The Long and Short of It“
Writing… about writing
“The writing process for me is very much like a cha cha: the rhythm is definitely a slow–slow–quick–quick–slow, as often I need to revise.”
Recent artwork
Creativity is not in lockdown – I have a long way to go in developing my skills and style, but am grateful to lockdown for the chance to practise
An Amsterdam All-Sorts
They say if you like Amsterdam, you will love Europe; while every European city is different, it is true that, being a seafaring country and having both a Catholic and Protestant heritage – not to mention all those amazing canals, frequently superior in construction to their Venetian cousins – Amsterdam reflects some elements of nearly every European country.
Art — for Sanity’s Sake
Over the past few years, one of the things that has helped keep me sane, positive and creatively productive is developing my drawing and painting skills through joining various Shoal of Art Meet-up groups run by Mark Lovelace, as well as other working artists and teachers such as Debra Collis and others.
Small Writer at Large 