Rembrandt Declares Insolvency Jul 26 Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn declares he is insolvent after living beyond his means and spending too much on artwork and rare items. Leads to the most experimental and exuberantly creative period of his career. Miles Sindercombe tried to assassinate Oliver Cromwell On a walk not far from the River Severn yesterday, a great day out with my good friend Robin, we looked in on this ancient church and happened upon the tombstone above. The people standing around this tombstone when it was installed would have had Oliver Cromwell at the head of Government and in the same … Continue reading Rembrandt goes bust in the same year

I call this Robin’s drawing, as it’s from a fine photo from my good friend Robin. Black and white ink drawing done some time ago now, certainly pre lockdown. I’m not sure exactly where it is but somewhere on the Cotswolds. There’s grey pastel added and one attempt at the sky was done again and the drawing glued together again. Cut out the old sky with a scalpel and transplanted the new one, with the help of today’s version of cow gum. So you should be able to see the join. It was also scanned in sections and joined together, … Continue reading Spot the join.

First of all when you do ask them a question they’ll thank you for ‘reaching out’. They mean ‘ Here we go, another grumbler ’. I come quite high in the league table of grumblers. Am I always complaining? Well no, I hope not. I think of myself as someone who engages with people, I ask check out people how they are and resist the urge to grumble at them, even when they ignore me. Which they do at times, but not often. I generally ask if they like working where they are, “ it’s alright” I take to mean … Continue reading An impression of customer service.

Wandering around an antique type of warehouse in some old industrial buildings today in Elsecar, it’s in the Heritage Centre and look at what I found. I bought none of these, after all what am I going to do with cuckoo snuff. Like the bird it’s an endangered species if not extinct these days, but there is a tin of it in South Yorkshire. If that does not suit then try something made from cow’s heels. Invalid Jelly, what a find, I wonder what you did with it? Smear it on the affected parts or eat it. Not exactly pc … Continue reading Heritage jelly, not to be sniffed at.

I was saddened that my kids never met Dave. They’d have liked him and he would have liked them. It was n’t to be. In a sort of flat spell after his death just a couple of weeks ago I spoke to my daughter in far away Los Angeles where she and family live ( I thought about calling it far fetched LA at first, which is close to the truth ) and she was comforting and interested in Dave and Mo. She’d heard about them but never met them. Dave and Mo lived in a flat above a butcher’s … Continue reading ” She’ll know that I was waving”

Very sad news today when I heard that my old friend Dave Smith has died. Dave was a tutor at Manchester College of Art when I was there. He didn’t teach me but he was a frequent football companion when my friends and I used to go to watch United play at home and were treated to the likes of Best, Charlton and Law in their heyday. His Dad, Harry always went too, but we slummed it in the Streford End, whilst Harry went at the other end. Dave’s frequent refrain was “Chewy anyone?”. He always brought along a couple … Continue reading Dave Smith

This post got a touch of Facebook ‘fog’ when it was sent there a couple of days ago. Just seeing if this one works… It was forecast to be a brilliantly sunny day, all day. That’s a bit rare around these parts so I planned ahead. Walking and taking photos on a sunny day, but where to? Sharpness is on the end of the Gloucester canal alongside the River Severn. It did not take much persuasion to get Mike, my good friend, to take us both out there. We had a grand afternoon out, Mike armed with Judie’s home made … Continue reading Take your chances…again.

A poetry workshop for me and a few others in the historic Folk building in Westgate, Gloucester. Our leader for the evening: Jon Seagrave, a performance poet from Stroud. A quick stroll around the Street outside to get a feel of the place. For those not familiar with the place it runs down from the very centre of this small city at the Cross, and they make it simple, four streets run off from the cross, Westgate being one, the other 3 parts of the compass bring the others. All have a character of their very own. Westgate runs closest … Continue reading Words workshop and Dickens in Westgate

First of all please refer to football as football, not soccer. Here are a few easy translations from the footy page for you to chew over: Flat back fourThe screws missing from an Ikea self assembly kitchen unit or some sort of magical defensive arrangement, could be both of course when explaining that you could not finish the kitchen due to a missing flat back four. Over the topA reckless challenge, a little like asking one’s life partner if she has made that cup of tea yet and what’s keeping her? Or a method that professional footballers have perfected for … Continue reading Footy Talk

I’ve been working on a reprint of a book that I did with my late friend Gordon, now available as a paperback from Amazon. There’s an opportunity to publish a hard back version but it needs to be a few pages bigger. Now, rather then do that thing where you can’t think of anything and just put in pages with ‘Notes’ over a blank page as if anyone will write them, I’m attempting to replicate Gordon’s style with a few extra spotted people. One of these is Clippie, more about her later, but suffice to say I needed to know … Continue reading When ideas cross pollinate

Starting work soon on the finished drawings for the next Henry book. Not sure if it will make the finals, but it seems to work well. We’ll see. The last book did well for the Kingsway Primary School in Gloucester. My good friend Andy Harden is crafting the words, we are also hoping to get our books, all three of them, on to Amazon. So, quite a lot going on. Bad weather helps as it keeps me off the allotment and garden and close to the drawing board. Continue reading Bouncing birds