umanbn

New Year 1012

umanbn — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 18:16:13 +0000

Wanted to post these up last week. Wanted to do more of them. Wanted to do them all nicely in colour. But wanting and finding the time and energy are not always compatible. Still….they’re here now! I was fascinated and just a little appalled, but not surprised by the antics of New Year revellers in the UK on New Years Eve. The thing is if you don’t live in the UK you might be mistaken for thinking that this happens only on News Years eve, so that would be okay. But it pretty much happens all over the country, in small towns and cities, every weekend. It don’t know what it says about the state of the UK at the moment. It’s certainly a pressure valve, with out which, the frustration of living there would likely bubble up somewhere else. It does however make great subject matter for my art. I love the resemblance that some of the prostate drinkers have to dead bodies…i guess that’s why they call it dead drunk. You can see the originals here….

Udo di Fabio

umanbn — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 17:19:37 +0000

This is Udo di Fabio. Udo is a grey haired man with glasses. He loves to play golf and buckaroo and Udo’s favourite food is beans on toast and boiled winkles. Udo’s mum was a basketball player and his father a train driver. He likes dressing up in suits and his favourite colour tie is blue. Udo wears black suits and sometimes navy. He’s Argentinian but he doesn’t like sausages. His best friend is John. John also likes blue ties but his hair is brown.

Its a wonderful Life

umanbn — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 18:22:50 +0000

New Year has always been a time of mixed emotions for me and I guess everyone has their own way of celebrating it. When I was younger it definitely involved a long night and lots of alcohol and other substances. As I grew older and out of that, it became a struggle to decide where to go and what to do, which was more often than not an anti-climax. I’m also not one for New Years resolutions but whether I like it or not I always end up analyzing and evaluating the past year. My pet hate though is the self or otherwise imposed pressure to have a good time and feel super elated when the bell for midnight goes. So now its a good meal, a glass of something strong, the company of my nearest and dearest and a showing of one of the most uplifting and life affirming movies I know.

Frank Capra’s Its a Wonderful Life, staring James Stewart is the story of a man who has come to the end of the line and is ready to kill himself. His time on earth seems to him to be one of missed opportunites and personal failure, until his appointed guardian angel, (who is out to earn his wings) replays his life, to show him how much poorer others lives would have been had he not been around. So if your still struggling for something to do or your stuck in on your own, grab your self a copy and fill a large glass with something strong and heart-warming and put yourself on the right foot for 2012.

sketch book project

umanbn — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 20:22:10 +0000

I just added a new link to a very cool website/blog which is part of the Brooklyn Art library called, the sketchbook project. You can sign up to this and receive a sketchbook which is yours to fill in and send back. It is then put on display with all then other entries. Not all the work is of the highest standard or skillfully executed, but it doesn’t matter, what is fascinating is the incredible diversity of the work on offer and how it offers a brief insight into a huge variety of different peoples lives. What a great idea and what an interesting archive for the future it will make.

Crisis, what crisis?

umanbn — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 16:29:46 +0000

Nick Clegg on David Cameron’s decision to put Britains interests first……

‘Cameron’s made us a pygmy in the world’

‘There’s nothing bulldog about Britain hovering somewhere in the mid Atlantic, not standing tall in Europe, not being taken seriously in Washington.’ warning that the UK, ‘ was retreating further to the margins’ of Europe.

The world is full of interesting people and things…

umanbn — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 20:52:39 +0000

Here are some lovely new blogs for your perusal…..Well, not really new, but new to me!

Everydayaperture…I would like this blog even if the photos in it weren’t already fascinating and just because of the opening line in about which says; “When I have my camera with me, I notice the world is full of interesting people and things. It makes me appreciate the world a little more instead of focusing on where I am supposed to be and when.” I guess we just have to stop and open our eyes sometimes.The second arestlesstransplant, is the photojournal of a guy who left his design job in New York, bought a VW van and set off on a visual journey of the U.S.A, with beautiful results…….and theburninghouse which asks simply, ‘what would you take with you if your house was burning down’ and which ends up being a collections of the things people find most precious in their lives. What would you take with you?

Paris

umanbn — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 20:05:43 +0000

My favourite pastime while traveling…and no better place to do it than the metro and cafes of Paris…I would have liked to have had the time to get a few street shots in….maybe next time….Looking at these has just made me realise again how closed and introspective most people look in large cities, especially on the subway or metro…or maybe its just the ones I pick on?

Pulp Fiction

umanbn — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 18:02:55 +0000

I read a lot and normally when I start a book I HAVE to finish it. But I currently have three books by my bedside which remain, as yet, unfinished. So in desperation I recently turned to some pulp fiction to help me get through this difficult period or at least what I consider pulp fiction; easy to read, entertaining and not too taxing on the intellect. The book, The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness is the first in a trilogy, aimed at teenagers, (that’s me then) and in the fantasy horror genre, which I have to say is also not my first choice when it comes to subject. It follows the frantic flight of a young boy living on another planet where everyone can read everyone else’s thoughts, except that is for women who can’t be read, (no change there then). It also features a cool and funny talking dog, who’s main preoccupations center around poo and squirrels, or alien squirrels, as we’re on another planet!. The book recently won the Guardian children’s fiction prize. Another pulp fiction novel I read in the same genre, which I could recommend is Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games. Also set in an alien world and also part of a trilogy and similarly fast paced, it is darker and more morally complex than The knife but without its wry humour. This is reality TV taken to the extremes and follows the adventures of Katniss Everdeen a sixteen year old girl, who is forced to appear in a live event called….The Hunger Games, which start with 12 children in a live televized event and ends when there is only one! And while we are on the subject of horror and fantasy I will give you a recommendation for a third fantasy novel though this time I wouldn’t consider it pulp fiction. If I’d read the synopsis first I guess I wouldn’t have read this book but it came recommended to me and although I’m really not a vampire enthusiast this one really is in another league and takes a completely new twist on the genre. Justin Cronin’s The Passage is superb and an extremely dark and unrelenting story set in a post-apocalyptic world, where humans fight for their very existence against a legion of vampires which spread like a virus. If you have never read a horror novel before this would definitely be a good place to start!

How pictures tell stories

umanbn — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 20:19:48 +0000

How simply can a picture tell a story? A girl, a boy, happy smiling faces and a rainbow seventies, disco ball. This one is courtesy of my seven year old daughter. Life starts to get more complicated and difficult when you turn seven years old, but love is still very simple. I was going to tell you about my new link to slowear, but when I found this sitting on my desk, it somehow felt more worthy of a mention.

The Power of Making

umanbn — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 21:02:14 +0000

On my travels I have stockpiled a fair few objects, toys, dolls, books, stamps and textiles… as well as a heap of sketch books. Why I picked them and what I love about them is man’s and women’s innate use of creativity in describing his world, through the making of toys and objects, whether practical or decorative. The art or craft of making is as old as we are. Mankind has being trying to shape his world in one form or another since he fell from the trees. Either as a way of expressing his thoughts or describing his surroundings. Or, as a way through craftmanship, to improve his life. The art or craft of making objects exists at all levels of skill, from the master craftsman and model-maker to the very elementary figures we carved from plasticine as children. I was hugely impressed by this level of craftsmanship and skill when I visited Museum Rietberg, in Zurich recently. It has a hugely impressive array of artifacts and objects, tracing the global history of mankind’s endeavours to shape his world, dating back thousands of years. Though what actually triggered this post was a look at the current exhibition at the V&A in London, entitled ‘The Power of Making,’ which celebrates the role of making in our lives, in presenting an eclectic selection of over 100 exquisitely crafted objects. I am just annoyed I won’t get chance to actually visit but I would love to hear from anyone who has or will, it looks fascinating.
Peru

Lesotho, South Africa

Peru