Iconic Doors and an Apothecary

Hello everyone! Hope you are enjoying the summer sunshine. I'm feeling particularly blessed at the moment living in our stunning Yorkshire hills and cloughs with the sunlight dappling through the trees and the running water giving a cooling fresh effect. I could stay out all day, walking with Hector, but work beckons and work I must!

Work wise, this week, I am continuing on the Todmorden project and have painted a few quirky buildings on watercolour paper 300 gsm and acid free, that will be going up at Legacy Arts Gallery in Todmorden. I shall be swapping the colourful Catrina paintings, now that the Pushing Up Daisies festival is over, for the Todmorden project. If you can't make it to the gallery, you can buy the work here on my Shop. Or, perhaps you would like to have your own or a relatives quirky building painted as a lovely gift/affordable artwork for your walls. If you do, enquire within, it would be lovely to hear from you.

To die or not to die, that is the question

Framing the images ready for Legacy Arts Gallery

I have been musing over death for the last two or three weeks recently. It all started when I was asked to show my work at Legacy Arts Gallery in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, for the month of May to coincide with the Pushing Up Daisies Festival, 12th- 19th May.

After a lot of exploring I ended up painting a set of very colourful images that are Mexican Folk Art (Day of the Dead)/Pop Art even kitsch inspired! You see, they defy death! Death is a harsh word our western society knows little about since the experience is subjective only. If we are lucky enough to be with a beloved when they die, this can give us a much deeper understanding of the process and maybe into the nature of reality.

This is a controversial subject. There is a kind of blindness that most of us have about the nature of reality, unless we are jolted out of our sleep. My own story reads a bit like the DEATH card in Tarot (meaning transformation). This is centred around the death of my Pa. He phoned to say he had a couple of months to live. I packed my things and drove 8 hours so I could look after him for the remainder of his life. Brought up in an atheist family, he said, ‘when you die, you die, there is nothing’. Having seen, felt and heard the unseen at times in my life, I was less sure, I said, ‘can you let me know, though, if you are alive when you get to the other side? He agreed anyway. A few days before his death, he looked peaceful and very happy. He told me, with a big smile on his face that Granny was in the room with us, which, I thought, was strange coming from an atheist, but a clue that all is not as it seems. I held his hand when he died and waved goodbye to him, opening the front door of his house so his spirit could depart. And off he went.

I was grief stricken when he died and the emotional turmoil of my experience made me feel flat for a very long time. But then I started to look into this life and death thing. I started to read the cutting edge news within the scientific community about consciousness. I started to revisit ancient spiritual beliefs with a fresh understanding. I joined dots. Worked things out. I started to watch interviews of people who had died and then resuscitated to tell a fascinating tale. I learned how the Double Slit Experiment (quantum mechanics) showed us how observation, which requires awareness, changes the behaviour of light particles.  I learned that people are projecting astrally/leaving their bodies with evidence of non-locality all the time and were very common experiences, indeed, it has happened to me. But could this be real? I collected a wealth of discerned evidence, both personal and from others, until, one day I could deny it no more, ‘We might lose our body but the sense of ‘I’ doesn’t die'!

So, did Pa let me know that we don't die after we die? Well, we can never be 100% sure what happens until we have experienced it for ourselves, but, yes, in many ways, because he taught me how to listen to him as a radio tunes into a frequency and that life is primarily a mental construct and not a physical one, which is what we are taught to believe. But don't believe me, it is down to you to join the dots.

If you got something from reading this blog, if you are going through grief or that you have experienced something similar, I would love to hear your story and perhaps you would be interested in attending the Pushing Up Daisies, here is more information: 

http://www.pushingupdaisies.org/

To find out more about Legacy Arts Gallery, click the link:

https://www.legacyartsgallery.com/

. 

Can you spot yourself?

Just wanted to share this lovely vid with you lot. This is by a film production company, The Art of Time-Lapse Productions, who are filming a documentary in Todmorden over a period of one and a half years in time lapse. This is the pop up fair at the beautiful Old Co-op building I was involved with a few weeks ago. If you know me, you can see I 'pop up' quite a lot, if you are from Tod, maybe you can recognise yourself or your friends, but you have to be quick, one blink and the film has moved on! Enjoy.

Arty Thoughts by guest vlogger, Chris Gill,

This week, my guest blogger (or should I say vlogger) is anarcho creative powerhouse, Chris Gill. Chris can be spotted, from time to time, in our little village in Cornholme, Todmorden, where he grew up and has a wealthy knowledge of the history of Tod and the people that live here. But mostly, he is globetrotting and has many fascinating stories and experiences to regale of his life around the world, working as an artist and journalist.

His story, as an artist who happens to be undergoing (but not to be out-done) the process of living with Multiple Sclerosis, is a fascinating one,  but I will leave him to tell you his story. Today he is reporting to us from Toronto, Canada, sticking to globetrotting tradition, of course. He has posted a vlog, plus a little teaser, which made me chuckle, so I will post them both. I have also posted links below where you can see many of his wonderful and prolific work. Many thanks for sharing your story Chris.

Arty think

"Corridor at the End of Time", Installation by Chris Gill

Shanghai, 2011

Chris Gill, Shanghai Art Gallery: 

http://www.shanghartgallery.com/galleryarchive/exhibition.htm?exbId=7450

Lost and Back/Corridor at the end of Time:

http://blog.stage-back.org/tag/lost%20and%20found

Thank you!!

Hello everyone! Hope you had a great Easter break? Had a great weekend myself at the Old Co-op Art & Craft pop up fair in Todmorden, which was very busy and buzzy throughout. Have to say the tea and cake was delicious (ooh yes, the vegan pecan & cherry brownie mmmmm). Thank you to all those who came and said hello and also to those who bought my work.

The Old Co-Op Pop-up Art & Craft Fair, Todmorden

Very excited to announce I shall be selling my images, this weekend at the Old Co-Op, Todmorden. Some of you will know that I have fallen in love with Tod and have drawn (literally) inspiration from about town and will be showing it for the first time at the fair!! I will be selling art prints and original drawings. Please do come along and say hello. There will be some amazing art & crafters selling their work, so I am in great company and there will be something for everyone to enjoy.  The event starts on Saturday 31st March (my goodness, last day of March already!) to 1st April. Each day starts at 10am and ends 4pm. It is right in the centre of town, you can't miss it!