Sleepwalking

I was fortunate to be in New York City for a day and had time to visit the High Line for the first time. This old elevated railway line ceased to be used in 1980 but was saved and converted into a 1.45 mile walk over the last 15 years or so. It first opened to the public in 2009 and includes planting and art installations as well as great views of the city. It is well worth the effort to see when visiting Manhattan.

Like many of the other visitors on this bright, but windy day I was particularly struck by Tony Matelli’s amazingly realistic painted bronze sculpture, “Sleepwalker.” Initially I thought it was a performance artist but quickly realized that there was no way he could have maintained that pose in the strong gusts of wind, and without goosebumps! It is a very interesting piece and got me a-thinkin’…

~ Sleepwalker ~

Immobile he stands

With arms outstretched

Reaching for something

Unseen

What triggered his moment

Now frozen in time?

One thing is clear,

We all need a door.

Even those who sleepwalk

In daylight…

~Richard

May 16, 2016 5

DaDriver

I have been meaning to create this graphic for a while and finally got around to doing it after being on the periphery of yet another “shall we, shan’t we” conversation regarding a trip (or not) to one movie theater (or another) and what time to go. All this of course assumes that the in house chauffeur will drop anything he had planned and then deliver said daughter (via friend’s house for a pick up) to the theater and then will return at time to be confirmed for a repeat of collection and drop off.

So, for those under-appreciated soccer moms and dad drivers (which I concatenate to Dadriver) here’s a little tribute and reminder to our kids…

~Richard

May 14, 2016 0

Paraskavedekatriaphobia and more…

Today is Friday the 13th, a day full of fear for those who suffer from triskaidekaphobia, the irrational fear of the number 13, and an extremely rare scrabble word. If that were not enough there is even a subset of quivering individuals who suffer from paraskavedekatriaphobia, specifically the fear of Friday the Thirteenth.*

Personally, I have no issue with superstitions and I find it quaint that people will go out of their way to avoid certain activities or places because of these afflictions. Corporations even pander to this on occasion: how often do you see a room 13 or 1313, or even a floor 13 in some hotels? This of course makes no logical sense and is somewhat called into question when examining such superstitions across the globe. For example 13 in China is considered a lucky number! Go figure the logic…

One other superstition that always amuses me is that associated with the black cat. Again, in some cultures they are considered lucky whereas in others they are seen as harbingers of bad omens, to the extent that they have been persecuted historically.

As an owner (or adopter in modern parlance) of a black cat I offer up an antidote to all this superstition through this depiction of our own roaming feline. Some days are lucky with him, others not so.

Of course for most of the rodents he meets at night it is a very unlucky day indeed …

*pointless factoid – Friday the thirteenth can only occur in a month that starts on a Sunday.

~Richard

May 13, 2016 0

Men’s Health

Tomorrow I need to get stuck like a porcupine as I get myriad vaccinations for a trip to foreign climes that has been sprung on me by my corporate overlords. Unfortunately my records aren’t up to date, and my memory is unreliable for this type of thing so I shall have to have a raft of these to ensure coverage. And yes, as a biologist with some history in medical microbiology and human immunology, I wholeheartedly ascribe to the effectiveness of this tried and tested preventative medicine as exemplified by Jenner back in the late 18th Century.

The same cannot be said for the quackery that surrounds the scientifically untested homeopathy, and various other “alternative” or “complementary” therapies which, in my opinion provide only a placebo response at best, but this got me thinking about all those old advertisements for patent medicines that filled the newspapers of the past.

It’s interesting just how many men from the Edwardian era seemed to require remedies from certain types of diseases, some real and others not so much 😉

Oh how things have changed… or have they?

~Richard

May 12, 2016 0

Haiku: Tolerance

~ Tolerance ~

Tumbling, the words fall

onto paper, unstructured.

A great speech takes shape.

I created this artwork over six months ago when the Republican “race for nomination” was already well underway. It has been a long haul so far and is now going to become even more interesting…

~Richard

May 11, 2016 0

Patently Obvious?

It always amazes me that there is a regular and consistent market for framed patent drawings from bygone years. I wonder if it is a fascination with technical drawings, or perhaps just a sense of nostalgic escape from our modern technology-filled world. Perhaps it would even explain the rise of the concept of “steam punk” over the last few decades. I mention this only because I recently stumbled across the novel “The Difference Engine,” which is a collaboration between William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. I am unfamiliar with the writings of Sterling but this seems to me to be a big departure form Gibson’s usual mind-bending, cerebral work.

Anyhow, this prompted me to resurrect the patent drawing of George Stephenson’s Locomotive nearly 200 years ago, which I have tidied up a bit.

~Richard

May 10, 2016 0

Thelonious Monkey, felonious monkey

Several years ago I wrote a a few poems on a fun theme for no other reason than I liked the sounds of the words. They were inspired by: Robbie Williams’ “Me and my Monkey”, the children’s book Slinky Malinky, by Lynley Dodd, and the the wonderful sounding name of the phenomenal jazz pianist Thelonious Monk (obviously).

Here is one of them:

Thelonious Monkey, felonious monkey

Thelonious Monkey is marked as a felon

For down in the market

He pilfered a melon

He hasn’t been caught yet

But oh, he was seen

Rolling his booty

Down to the green

The policemen were called out

To put into detention

This fruit-stealing anthropoid

Who’s just seeking attention.

160509_Thelonius — Adapted from *“Mr.Crowley amuses himself with sawdust”* ca. 1888 (I added the melon!)

~Richard

May 9, 2016 0

Happy Mother’s Day

Back in March I wrote a post on Mothering Sunday for my UK friends. Now it is the turn for my American friends: Happy Mother’s Day!

~Richard

May 8, 2016 0

Holding a Mirror to the World

Today was meant to be a blog entry on politics per my schedule, but to be honest I’m sick of politics at the moment and a lot of my posts have already covered that topic over the last few weeks. So today I took advantage of a break in the rain and, as we had what ended up being a brief bit of late afternoon sunshine, I ventured outside for some photographic therapy. Several weeks ago I purchased a 10” x 8” mirror from the dollar store in the hope of using this to make some interesting compositions. I had left in in the trunk of my car and there it had languished. Today, I finally decided to start on this project, especially as I just found out that May is National Photography Month (NaPhoMo). I began by removing the plastic frame from the mirror so that it had no defined edge and would be able to blend into the background for a better optical effect. Unfortunately this also meant the cheap card backing was detached too, so I had to cover the back of the mirror with duck tape to protect it from being scratched*. Five minutes later with prop in hand I started playing around in the garden.

No sooner had I placed the mirror down then one of our hens came over for a look. I thought she might be frightened, or angry but she simply regarded the bird in the mirror, was mildly confused when she looked over the top and then wandered off looking for bugs (good girl).

160507_MirrorHen