Small Art in the Big Apple

Two beautiful women awaiting the arrival of a subway train

The weather has suddenly improved and after a weekend away in Southend it was great to have lunch in the sunshine in our garden. Not much action in the Cabine today as I have had to clear a blockage in a down-pipe from the guttering on our house. Luckily the job turned out to be a lot easier than I thought and now any further rain will be adequately collected.  On the way back from Southend Toot and I were surprised at the level of flooding in Essex and Suffolk south of Ipswich.. I suppose we should not have been surprised.  It is usual, if not inevitable, for floods to follow declarations of drought and hose-pipe bans by statutory water authorities.

Will and Rachel have decided to sell their house. In order to create a more minimalist environment and whilst they show prospective buyers around their home, Toot and I are currently providing a temporary gallery for several of their more avant-garde art works . I thought I would make a virtual loan of the painting "The artist's wife ...." to the New York City Transit Authority in thanks for the courteous and efficient service they provided for us when we visited 'The Big Apple' in October last year.

On the gastronomic front, courtesy of Bimbar, and for supper tonight, Toot is having calves liver and I am having smoked haddock. Delicious!

Spinal Tap Part 2

"Taken from behind"

Having now seen the spinal surgeon from the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, I am delighted to announce that, subject to awaiting my turn, I will be having an operation to correct the ruptured disc and spinal stenosis which are currently and adversely affecting my mobility.

Hurrah for the NHS and the staff of the Orthopedic Clinic at the James Paget Hospital, Gorleston.

Thanks also to all my family and friends who have been concerned and continue to support me.  In particular, love to Toot who for the last three months has had to do all the stuff integral to life that I have been unable to do because of my back problems.

I hope to make a full recovery and to booking more holidays in exotic places, like Tibet, Peru and Rotherham!

In the words of Arnold Schwarzenegger ......."Oil me back"! ..

Falling Leaves

Fall Montreal 2011

When we visited Montreal last year the maple leaves were "sweetly turning" a bright red.  My virtual and monumental sculpture celebrates the 'chaos and colour' of falling leaves and contrasts with the formal transparency of the monochrome  skeletal dome.

Inside the dome, which is located on an island in the Hudson River near the entrance to the St Lawrence Seaway, there is a museum-gallery dedicated to sustainable development and the protection of our environment.

As a long-time admirer of the late Richard Buckminster Fuller, engineer and environmentalist, I was pleased to take Toot to see the 'Geodesic Dome' designed by him for the 1967 Montreal World Exposition.

Richard Buckminster Fuller

The Geodesic Sphere

Geodesic structures have been used by many architects and engineers for rooves and walls in numerous projects around the world.


More recently,the geodesic dome was
chosen to encapsulate the various
environments at the Eden Project in
Cornwall.


In the last ten years, naturally forming carbon molecules have been discovered in clouds of molecular gas around distant dying stars. These molecules take the form of 60 carbon atoms arranged as a geodesic sphere. These molecules have been nicknamed 'Bucky Balls' in honour of a brilliant engineer and early environmental pioneer.

Lemon sole, chips, peas and fried tomatoes for supper. "Man cannot live by art, science and engineering alone" Brilliant!!

Spinal Tap

"Quick Jim, the ship's doctor  is giving away 
free parrots with  all minor amputations" 

The Doc at the James Paget Hospital gave me the heads up regarding my recent MRI scan. I appear to have at least one prolapsed disc, arthritis of the lower vertebrae and spinal stenosis (pressure from bits of bone etc pinching the spinal chord and causing neurological problems). I have now been passed on to the spinal surgeon, who I hope to meet on Thursday. With any luck he or she will agree to undertaking a spinal decompression operation which" will sort me out good and proper". "The screens nurse, the screens"!  Failing surgical intervention, its up with the crutches, down to "Pets are Us ",  purchase a parrot and a life of swashbuckling adventure on the rolling Main.

National Stereotype

La sphère d'oignon

As Mr Sarkozy seems to be having a bad time just at the moment,  I thought I would cheer him up with a proposed new sculpture to complement the fine work of Monsieur Eiffel.
The proposed large and highly polished ceramic sphere would be overlaid with an applique 'Cor-Ten' rusting steel onion motif.  A full time elderly and bad tempered French concierge would be employed daily to scrub the resultant orange rust stains from the sphere. The 'scrubbing' would be an integral part of the sculptural installation and represents the futility of man's struggle against the physical environment in particular, and entropy in general.
Should the French Nation decide to purchase this work, I will use the money generated to prepare a sister commission for Blackpool involving a 10x10x10 metre tripe cube.

Enlarged Detail of Sphere

For my French readers:

Comme M. Sarkozy semble avoir un mauvais moment, juste au moment, j'ai pensé que je lui remonter le moral avec une sculpture nouvelle proposition pour compléter l'excellent travail de Monsieur Eiffel.
Le projet de grande sphère et polie en céramique serait recouverte d''Cor-Ten'une applique en acier motif oignon rouille. Un à temps plein des personnes âgées et de mauvaise humeur concierge française serait employée par jourpour nettoyer les résultantes d'orange taches de rouille sur la sphère. Le«lavage» serait une partie intégrante de l'installation sculpturale et représente la futilité de la lutte de l'homme contre l'environnement physique en particulier, et l'entropie en général.
Si la nation française décidez d'acheter ce travail, je vais utiliser l'argent générépour préparer une commission sœur pour Blackpool impliquant un mètre cube10x10x10 tripes.

Child's Play

The Matrix has a strong Dinosaur theme due to
Archie's influence and prolific production rate.

Over Easter; Maisy, Pixie, Tabby, Jasmine, Archie and Ozzie visited the "Cabine" and all had a go with paints and crayons (apologies to Felix and Custy if they were involved - actually the space ship- chess notation C6- might be their work). I thought their drawings and paintings would look good as a matrix or quilt.  I also decided to display their work monumentally in a virtual Tate Modern environment -after all its only child's play.
I am very pleased that so many of our grandchildren enjoy art and making marks. One day perhaps one of them might have a piece of work on display in the real Tate Modern or Archie might discover a new fossil dinosaur. How good would that be!
Yesterday,Toot made scones and butterfly buns so tea is  ready whenever we want it. I might however, make myself a chopped egg sandwich (as a starter) which is always "Mmmm stuffed crust" in my book!

"The Leaning Tower of Power"

Apologies to Sir Charles Barry and Augustus Welby Pugin

The National Collection

"Virtual sculpture" offers many opportunities for the amateur artist. In my last post I explored abstract themes in the landscape. In this offering from the 'Cabine' I have focused upon creating an archetypal political parody set within a historic urban context.

Virtual Sculpture

Hydroplane Canada 20011

Whilst eating my boiled egg this morning, it suddenly struck me that by using SketchUp, Photoshop and my now growing photographic archive creatively, I could not only pursue my original career choice of sculptor by designing in virtual 3D but also place my works within a variety of 2D contexts, locations and landscapes. Having spent the afternoon playing around with this idea, I think the above image demonstrates that with more time and effort virtual sculpture has much to recommend it. 3D forms can be created as real solid objects that could be made in real space and time or as unreal or hybrid forms that cannot exist outside of a virtual world.  The scale at which you can work is limitless. Textures, colours and lighting can be varied to suit context. No materials, locations or landscapes are lost, affected, or compromised by an art form that is almost entirely environmentally green.