lifes journey

' OVERLOAD' acrylic on canvas 24" x 24" Information, knowledge, geography, history, appointments, tasks, time management, news, wars, misery, poverty, ill health et al, it is all that0 we store in our heads, is it any wonder that 1 in 4 people in the UK have a state of mental ill health i n one form at some level from the extremes of severity which effects our lives or by some lesser extent that is lost in perceived normality, however, and on a person al note separate from the statistics, it is not the one in three that cause me concern regarding the mental health of this countries peoples, it is the other three, the ones who imagine throughout their struggles in life that they are the normal ones. I overheard it once, that it is commonplace in the US to stand by the philosophie that, "If you dont have shrink you are ill", sadly I believe that this, all joking aside is the true state of the UK. One only has to stand and watch people in the ...

' TOSSER ' Acrylic on Canvas 40" x 50" With the War in Afghanistan really bringing the British Forces into the headlines I can only hope that the attitude of the British Public toward the Veterans of this and earlier conflicts becomes a little more real however scenes like this reflect the reality of the public view of our young men. A couple of years ago the stats for homeless veterans suggested that ' on any given night throughout the year 1000 veterans are homeless ', I dont know how accurate this is for the present time however I would imagine that there is little change other than perhaps a rise in this number. Each of the people in this painting represent real people that I have known, the 'time served' veteran of many conflicts, now tagged and under a curfew for some misdemeanour despite now being homeless and off the radar of the authorities, he sleeps while the younger, and sicker veteran still sits and begs, keeping watch as it were over his...

It is now 16 weeks since my last Blog Post, it is only now however that I find time to sit such has been the past few months. Without transcribing my entire Journal for this period I would have difficulty sharing all that has happened during that time, Jessie, my Collie ran away and was missing for some time before being returned safe and sou nd, my partner sheila became my lodger as a snap decision to sell up and move brought her into my space, as if that were not enough to slow down the creative side of life she asked me to project manage the entire process which now settles her into her new home less than 50 metres from my front door; a bitter winter, Flooded town and friends and associates slipping in and out of the light, a birthday, but all of this was nothing compared to my spiritual growth borne of constant miracles. The overall effect of the months events has brought me to a wonderful slowing down of life in General seeing several works of most personal importance completed, w...