Wednesday 28 December 2016

2016 - review of the year


set the controls for the heart of the sun


 don't let the sun go down on me


daylight has a way of arriving
at just the right time
Southampton skies December

Saturday 24 December 2016

Free Art for Christmas



Time for some Free Art.  Just three pieces this year, scattered around Southampton on Christmas Eve. With a bit of luck these pictures will find their owners and they'll all live happily ever after.  Of course this might not happen and they'll be swept away with the rest of the post partying detritus.

This is where to find them:



going underground, being looked after by Stewie


muscling in on British Art Show #8


I've been onstage at this venue, as have Bob Dylan and The Beatles.  Not all at the same time.


So what is inside the wrapping paper? A couple of portraits, a pair of elegantly wasted wastrels, and a view from a window in a verity naif style (ie, painted by a 12 year old).




 Let me know if you find one.


Friday 23 December 2016

just because you're starving doesn't make you an artist

 DG
Close to me

@sketchesforsyria
Without a woman


Trash man


Love is a wonderful thing


Standing in the way of a good thing


You really know how to hurt a guy


Live & let live


Destroyed

Sunday 18 December 2016

Staring at the Sky


For argument's sake, 
lets pretend we could stop arguing
Over which of us is wrong 
and why it isn't you
Golden Age of Aviation, The Lucksmiths


We're barely awake before your head's up in the clouds again
There's nothing you like more than having nothing much to do
Golden Age of Aviation, The Lucksmiths


 A passing interest in the past



 I'll never forget the morning we went running around before the sun came up, so new to this town


We stood together but there was some reason we never kissed
And it was something akin to being in love
I guess it's love
We left it up in the air
We left it to fate
We left it a little too late
Before the sun came up, The Lucksmiths


And even though the weekend doesn't really make much difference
You spent Thursday on your backside whistling "Friday on My Mind"
Smokers in love, The Lucksmiths

Sunday 11 December 2016

Watermark


There's a new shopping development in Southampton city centre.  To quote Swift "Haters gonna hate" (sorry, that was Taylor S not Dean S).  There are those who see change as a negative, wishing we could return things to the way they were.  You can never go home.


Turning the clock would return this spot to the sea (it's all on reclaimed land) or, if you didn't go back that far, a Pirelli factory. The housing in the area closest was simply slum housing. What is there now is big, brash, shiny, definitely a shrine to rampant consumerism, full of people, life, vigour.  It's a spectacular building - or a bog standard off the shelf mall - I don't know, I'm no expert.


There was a time a while back Ikea came to Southampton.  What will happen, said the critics, on a Saturday, when there are several cruise ships, Saints (Southampton FC) are playing at home and Ikea is there too?  The answer they were looking for was gridlock, parking problems, queues in the shops.  The answer I would give is a busy thriving city looking to the future, drawing business to itself, creating new jobs, creating new opportunity.  If it doesn't come here it'll head for Portsmouth or Brighton or Swindon or who knows where.


 I'm not a fan of rampant commercialism but I would rather live in a city that was reaching for the future not living in the past.  I commend the developers of West Quay phase two, or Southampton Watermark or whatever it is called.  Hammerson (the owners), ACME (architect and master planner) Grant Associates (landscape designers).  Nice job.



Photos by TheCornPoppy

Here comes Santa Claus

Holyrood

Queen Mary

 Mayflower 1620

Gateway to the World 

 Community Gardening in the City

 Getting about in Southampton

 Sailing

Southampton at war 

Changing face of Holyrood

All art from Holyrood Estate, Southampton, UK