Homage to Mark Pawson

 I found this a lot harder than I expected.

I have always loved Mark’s work and his small artist books.

His plug wiring diagram book was always a favourite of mine and I always saved my plugs wiring diagrams to give to him one day…

So here they are…along with a basket of plastic babies and garbage patch kids, which Mark also collected.

He left us far too young…1964 - 2025.

Books , Badges and T-shirts......................Badges and T-shirts (Line Up)

Collages from my sketchbook pages.

books-badges-t-shirts: T-Shirt Sale!

Books Badges and T-shirts................................Badge Designs

From the archives (1990's) Collaged designs on a grid sent out by Mark. I posted them to him to make into 1 inch pin badges. He usually did 100 very quickly and cycled over from Hackney in East London to deliver them and collect payment and stop for lunch or dinner. Most of the badges were sent out with mail art works or for projects we did at the time. Some were for Hazel's "Lucky Bags" that were sold at the V&A shop and various other places.

Theme Of The Week...................Books, Badges and T-shirts (Homage to Mark Pawson)

Our old mail art chum Mark is no longer with us sadly. If you don't know his work look him up. A genius at making and selling books and all manner of underground artifacts. A collector of Konks, plastic babies, pop art ephemera of all kinds. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him.

cooking-up-a-storm: One I Made Earlier / Catch a Falling Cake!

Cooking Up A Storm.........................Old King Coleslaw

COOKING up a STORM -- Gladys immersed herself in salad...

 ...to preserve her slender shape.

Cooking Up A Storm...........................Energy Foods

Dinners served.

 I made the frog one first but then decided I wasn’t entirely happy with it so made the star fish one..

It kept me amused…I think the little girls face says it all.

Theme Of The Week...........................Cooking Up A Storm

This weeks theme is food and and cooking in all its many forms. We have recently discovered the delights of the air fryer so have been enjoying fish fingers and burgers cooked up in record time. Hoping this will save on the gas bill! We shall see. Anyway - have fun!

old-tech-v-new-tech: Glasses.

I tried contact lenses but I prefer my Gregory Pecks.

OLD TECH vs. NEW TECH -- typewriters vs. computers

Collaged on an antique book cover is a ROYAL manual typewriter that came in some new-fangled colors when it was manufactured back in the day. The girls, lending their vintage presence, are from an antique stash of paper I purchased years ago at a Paris flea market. 

All that said,  for my career I worked as a keyline/pasteup artist & typesetter AND as a secretary (primarily dictaphone). I am a very fast typist (clocked in at 125 words per minute back in the day -- average typing speed is around 50 WPM) and the first time I encountered a computer with a screen situation (I remember it like it was yesterday) I froze. By the end of the day I knew I could never go back to my IBM Selectric or the ROYAL manual clunker I learned on in secondary school!

Old Tech v. New Tech.......................................Sketchbook Pages

Old tech/new tech

 No matter which era we are born into we think we are the bees knees and have the best tech going..the sharpest flint which sliced through a mammoth must have amazed at first…

I am very pleased I was born into the age of central heating, sat navs and automatic washing machines…my favourite technology.

But I am also very pleased I don’t have to ride a Penny farthing!

Theme Of The Week..................Old Tech. v. New Tech

What were the best inventions? Have they been invented yet? Have fun!

HAPPY CAMPER

 

I thank artist Fairfield Porter (1907-1975) for his depiction of a gent enjoying a read in the painting

The Screen Porch (1964)

Happy Campers.........................Dismantling The Red Tent

Apologies to R.B. Kitaj.

happy-campers: Gerr Orf My Laaaand!!

Happy Campers......................Unhappy Campers Leave The Camp Site

Used an old postcard by the excellent Tom Phillips as the basis for this collage.

Happy Campers

 The international space station has been in the news a lot lately…and Elon Musk seems keen to destroy it as it is coming to the end of its life.

I thought maybe it could be bought to lower earth orbit and used as a glamping pod.

HAPPY CAMPERS under the Milky Way

 We had a snowstorm this morning! So I stayed in my pjs and came up with this collage.

(It took me about an hour to find a tent...I have many vintage books and I actually found

one in one of the last books I paged through!)

.

Happy Campers.........................Auntie Brenda's Tent Flaps

One from the archives.

Theme Of The Week.....................Happy Campers

Ah the joys and the perils of living under canvas! I went camping a couple of times when I was young but it seemed a very perilous occupation - the weather was usually rotten so you were awake most of the night with the rain battering the tent flaps and the wind howling round the fly sheet. Triping over tent pegs and guy ropes! No wonder a cosy B&B seemed a better option! Anyway, have fun!

the-divine-comedy:

THE DIVINE COMEDY -- "Inferno", "Purgatorio" and "Paradiso"

This challenge inspired me to create a triptych (ATCs) to portray the three parts of

 Dante's Divine Comedy.

Inferno: "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here"

Purgatorio: "And I'll sing, now, about that second realm where human spirits

purge themselves from stain, becoming worthy to ascend to Heaven."

Paradiso: "The love that moves the sun and stars."

Divine Comedy

 Not sure I have hit the brief…but having viewed Dante’s paintings I just went for the odd and distorted.

The Divine Comedy - Heaven Or Hell?

Sketchbook page.

Theme Of The Week................ The Divine Comedy

The Divine Comedy Hell or Heaven? Which is best? Have fun with this theme.

spring: Spring Veg Reg...

Spring.............. Matchless Spring

Collage made on a matchbox label so quite small.

SPRING -- March showers please bring some April flowers!

 

Spring has sprung…off to buy some seeds…

 It finally feels like spring is here…crocus are blooming and I went out today and bought some seeds..so it must be spring…

Soon be caterpillars eating my plants and butterflies flitting around the garden.

This lady looked like she was coming out of winter hibernation.

Theme Of The Week..............Spring

Collages on the theme of Spring. New green growth - the birds are twitterpated - the sun is out - have fun!

Your Favourite Book................................The Lord Of The Rings

A sketchbook page.

your-favourite-book: Billy Liar (1959)

A favourite of mine as a teenager.

Billy Liar is a 1959 novel by Keith Waterhouse. The semi-comical story revolves around William Fisher, a 19-year-old working-class youth living with his parents in the fictional town of Stradhoughton in Yorkshire. Bored by his job as a clerk for an undertaker, Billy spends his time indulging in fantasies and dreams of life in the big city as a comedy writer.

Your Favourite Book - 20,000 Legs Under The Sea

Excuse terrible pun and the repeat from a while back - given a new airing.

Favourite Book pick of my earlier years were any of the Nancy Drew mystery stories by Carolyn Keene

 NANCY DREW and THE CASE OF THE RADIOACTIVE CORN

(that's one I missed ha ha!)

Book…Treasure Island

 Michael couldn’t guess this was Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson….

It was the best picture of an island I could find…and I covered it in objects I would think of as treasures…

Job done. 

Theme Of The Week - My Favourite Book

A book that inspired you from childhood or even adulthood? Famous stories that history or the future! Have fun!

inside-the-factory: Strike! Everybody Out!

Industrial unrest at The Toy Car Factory.

Inside Two Factories - The Factory By The Sea and the Robot Assistant

I keep forgetting to add these that I made recently. I was hoping to improve them slightly but gave up in the end. Hopefully a better one before the next theme on Thursday.

INSIDE THE dog statuary FACTORY

 

Inside the Garage Factory

 

Inside The Factory - Brain Factory

From the archives.

Theme Of The Week - Inside The Factory

What goes on in those vast industrial buildings belching steam and smoke? I've often wondered. Probably not what you think! Anyway, have fun filling your factory with stuff.

They opened their doors to a new "HOBBY"...

 And the local press captured the moment they proudly displayed their latest acquisition,

the holy grail of cast iron doorstops, the coveted Cobalt Blue Basket of Flowers.

new-hobby: 'B' Keeper.

Bernie Barnaby-Bright of Bolton has Britain's Biggest Bundle of Letter Bs.

Bordering on One Billion!

"People think I'm Blooming Barmy. But, I'm not..." says Bernie.

New Hobby.............................A Collector And His Piles

New Hobby

 In the quiet suburbs of England the residents often find an artfully crafted pile of random shoes and slippers. This Hobby has spread throughout the Home Counties , a hobby we can all admire and take part in.

Try it..it’s fun.

NEW HOBBY or PASTIME: Chicken Juggling

 I guess this is what could be happening to all the poor chickens that had to be destroyed

due to avian flu.

(From my archives.)

New Hobby..........................Collecting Gadgets

Theme of The Week - NEW HOBBY

Invent a new hobby or pastime. Collecting twigs ? Fainting in coils? Dustbin dancing? Snail tossing? I'm sure you can come up with something even better than these!

year-of-the-snake: Swamp Snake

Here's the musical accompaniment from The Sensational Alex Harvey Band

with their track Swampsnake from 1973

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w2D6kW2YQY

Year Of The Snack