Friday 14 January 2011

Hugh's Fish Fight

Today I am posting without any illustration, a rarity if not a first for me.
I would like you to consider joining the Fish Fight, a campaign that I believe is a chance for us to help overturn the European fisheries policy which forces fishermen to return perfectly edible dead fish to the sea, simply because they have caught their quota of a given species.

This waste is not a new problem. I remember discussing this ridiculous situation at least half a dozen years ago with local fishermen. However, the campaign IS new and I applaud Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstal and his team for having the balls to fire us all up.
www.fishfight.net


Rant over.

Tuesday 11 January 2011

New Year....new start ?


So, it would appear my little vacation from writing this blog has turned into a gap of over a year.

I think maybe that the extended gap is an illustration of two things; firstly how compressed time has become for all of us, and secondly how stale my online output was becoming.

A fair amount of water has flowed under my creative bridge since we last spoke. Sales have been appalling, but the lack of commercial pressure has created space for me to reflect on the work and try to come to some conclusions about where I am heading.

Teaching has become a much larger, and much more rewarding part of my week, than I imagined.
I am surprised on at least a weekly basis, by how inspiring teenagers can be. The best of them throw themselves at creative tasks with a clarity and bravery that makes me think hard, and work harder.

The result of these and many other things has led me back here, to try and record my artistic path......no matter how erratic the frequency of the musings, or the quality of the results.

When I thought about it, I realised I missed the time and reason to reflect, and I missed the sense of disparate community and support from you, dear readers.

I am, it transpires, glad to be back.