the corn poppy: December 2016

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

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

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

Monday, 12 December 2016

Watermark light show

Another form of street art

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.