Charles Dickens Great Expectations

When I was much younger I used to enjoy reading the Classics. This summer I decided that I don't read enough, and have made it my task to read as much as I can over the summer break. For light reading I have read a couple of Sidney Sheldon's books, a biography about Oliver Reed and a great classic Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. I found Kate Aidie's autobiography in a charity shop, this will be my next read.

Great Expectations is the story of Pip. At the beginning of the story Pip is a young boy living with his sadistic sister and her gentle husband Joe. Pip runs into a convict in the graveyard near his home. He steals food from the larder of their home for the starving convict.  This is a secret that he fears to disclose, and never does disclose, because of his sisters vicious temper, and the disappointment it would cause his brother in law Joe.

Throughout the story there are numerous colourful characters, the narrative follows Pip's misunderstandings  and misinterpretations of events until the effect of all the people in his life, lead him to the realisation that his life is dogged by guilt at his own arrogance and stupidity. The final three chapters are incredibly touching and sad as he realises what he has done, and how badly he has treated the people in his life who deserved his love and loyalty. Pip atones for his foolish behaviour and tries to put the wrongs, right.

Great Expectations is a timeless narrative that is as relevant today as it was when Charles Dickens wrote the work. Once I had started reading it, I couldn't put it down, and at the end, I was sorry to have finished it.


http://www.archive.org/details/GreatExpectations1946e

Plymouth Museum Exhibit

Curtesy of Plymouth Museum Website

Camden Town: Exploring Themes

23 April to 30 July 2011

View works by a group of young progressive British artists who flourished in the early 1900s.
This exhibition marks the centenary of the Camden Town Group, an association of British impressionist artists who were led by Walter Sickert and who gathered frequently at his studio in the Camden Town area of London.
The group were inspired by the French Post-impressionists and influenced by artists such as Van Gogh, Gauguin and Camille Pissarro.
Established in 1911, the group was made up of 16 men who were united by a fascination with depicting ordinary life through their work using themes such as:

• gritty, urban scenes of the city
• figures and portraits
• still lives and interiors

Though the group existed for less than two years, its influence was extensive and long-lasting and many of the 'original 16' are represented in this show including Sickert, Spencer Gore, Harold Gilman and Lucien Pissarro.
Their work is accompanied by paintings and artists from and of the region, such as R. Borlase Smart and Rose Hilton as well as contemporary responses by local children and groups.

© Plymouth City Council, Armada Way, Plymouth PL1 2AA Tel 01752 668000

West End Project Meeting

We met at Frankfort Gate today to discuss plans for the project.  Matt explained that a shop was available to us for exhibitions, workshops and interviews, but that Fotonow are waiting for confirmation that we can use the shop for artistic purposes. It will be great to have a space to work from.

There will be several events taking place over the next few months. Karen and I are going to work together photographing the West End area of the city, Pannier Market, and finding older people in the community to interview about their memories of Plymouth, and making portraits of them.

        

A Grey Day on The Hoe

July........ Summer......



Leaf Cutter Bees

Busy Bees in our Garden

The Leaf Cutter Bees have made their home in our Garden. They are a protected species and have been used to pollinate farm crops where Bee numbers are dwindling. Without Bees we could not survive. We feel privileged that they are sharing our home.

Photographing them wasn't easy, they move very quickly, they dart around, they fly in a straight line and make 90 degree turns very quickly. I've tried to capture them carrying their leaves into their nest but as yet haven't managed this. But it is a wonderful sight so I will keep trying.

I am concerned about our planet and our environment; having the Leaf Cutter Bees in our garden makes me feel that I am helping protect them, and contributing in a very small way to the welfare of our planet. But every little helps and all of us can make a difference.



WBL with Fotonow - Robert Lenkiewicz Archive

Self Portrait c1994

Christmas Dinner

Fotonow have been assigned a project to archive the work of Robert Lenkiewicz. I have volunteered to help with the scanning of negatives of his paintings. Today I worked on this project for two hours in the Digital Scanning Room at the Art College. Dom was there to remind me how to use the scanner. He and Mike are overseeing the project.

Scanning of each negative took six minutes, at that rate we completed twelve in two hours. It is a long process as the negatives each have to be scanned at a high resolution. There are 200  negatives in total so it should take us a while to get them done. But we have until November to complete the task.

Most of the negatives of Robert Lenkiewicz paintings, are works that I have not seen before. I am not a great fan of his work and I find some of the pieces quite disturbing. But I acknowledge his talent and I am interested in the task. It is a privilege to be part of the archiving process of a local artist who is not only known to us here in the South West, but is known in many countries across the world.

Working on West Hoe in the 1980's I used to walk to the Barbican (where Lenkiewicz lived and worked) quite often during my lunch breaks. I saw Lenkowiecz many times. He would have coffee at the cafe on the corner of Southside St where I also frequented. He was a giant of a man with a mass of hair and bushy beard, there was no mistaking that he was an artist although he could have been mistaken for a tramp. His clothes were always scruffy. I never spoke to him though now I wish I had taken the opportunity to do so.

This task and the West End Project, together with the Stewarding I am doing at the Port Elliot Art Festival this month on the Martin Parr Stand, will go towards my Work Experience for the Work Based Learning Module next year. I am hoping that I can complete the two weeks Work Experience that we need for the Module during the Summer Break.

(Images courtesy of The Book Project http://www.lenkiewicz.org/)

Central Park Competition

An Exhibition of all entries to this competition will be held at Pounds House, Central Pk from

27th to 29th July 2011, 10am - 4pm.

 

I spend a lot of time in Central Park as its only a stone's throw away from our house in Peverell.  I love watching the changes over the four seasons.

A second aspect of the competition is to write a sentence explaining why the particular image depicts your feeling about the park.

For me the sentence will be something like ...... the park is a daily gift of colour, beauty and healing.

Abstract Expressionist Art

Its raining so I thought I would work on my personal sketch book for a while. I've enjoyed putting together sketch books since I started at the college, and find that they are a very useful resource for my continued learning. There isn't any pressure involved with this sketch book, its just a random book of art and photographs with daily emotions and feelings stuck on the pages. Today its Abstract Expressionist art, yesterday it was Child's Play, the day before I was philosophising about the nature of "being all that you can be," tomorrow and the next day may be something completely different.

Pages from My Sketch Book

I felt like doing some painting and the artist who sprang to mind was Mark Rothko (1903 - 1970). The critic David Sylvester said of Rothko's work that "we are faced with a highly ambiguous presence which seems, on the one hand ethereal, empty, on the other solid and imposing, like a megalith. It possesses the sort of sublimity to be found in a wild landscape and clearly springs from the Romantic tradition in western art." (Bedoyere. C. et al (2006) A Brief History of Art Flame Tree Publishing London)

Rothko was a self taught painter, a leading figure in Abstract Expressionism. He worked on a large scale. He wanted to immerse the viewer in a total colour experience. He said "I paint large pictures because I want to create a state of intimacy."

Mark Rothko Paintings

Rectangular expanses of intense colour