Very Santa Problems No3

 

" I will find out, which one of you added  'sprouts' to the Reindeer feed"

Very Santa Problems No2

 

"Since we outsourced and digitised the 'Naughty and Nice' lists there is absolutely no need to check them 'once' let alone 'twice' Santa!

The lonely moose under the Northern Lights no8

 

Moose thought of the Day

" Do I go 'Turkey', 'Goose', or stay with the herd pleasing and traditional 'small willow twigs au naturel'?"

Very Santa Problems no1

 

" Does anyone here know where I put down my spectacles?"

The lonely moose under the Northern Lights no7

 

Moose thought of the Day

" I'm conflicted by my esoteric life choices! - Moose by day and Elk by night". 

Christmas at the Cabin 2024

 

The Editorial Team wish all our friends and readers around the world a very Merry Christmas and hope you will continue to read the blog in the New Year.

Christmas Past, Present and Future

 

This year, I will sail through my seventy-fifth Christmas on this unique planet Earth.

I can recall many memorable ‘Nativities’, one including a boy in a ‘Scooby-Doo outfit’.

Who, repeatedly poked and punched a shepherd, in celebration of the Virgin birth.

 

I remember one very merry ‘beery’ Christmas Eve, singing carols with Paul in chorus.

And in the railway underpass near Oulton Broad North Station, sitting in something damp.

And hoping, when we had sobered up, that no one who knew us professionally, saw us.

 

Do I still enjoy Turkey with stuffing and the seasonal over-cooked sprout?

Nowadays, meat, poultry, and processed food – “ne’er will pass my lips”!

And sadly imbibing, just one cup of hot Marmite, promotes the onset of gout.

 

Now I dine on fish and veggies and have shown all meats the door.

Can I still drink beer by the gallon and dance the night away?

No chance but nostalgically, I might venture out onto a disco-floor.

 

Which year did ‘Dad’ dancing become a slow ‘Grandpa’ gavotte?

And why do I involuntarily grunt, when I bend to pick up all the bloody stuff I drop?

And when did my personal story run so short on pages and plot?

 

Now ‘Yules’ are much less rowdy and run on ‘reduced’ or ‘alcohol-free’ fuel.

Because men of a certain age, get to love ‘staying in’ their favourite chair.

If the frost forecast for the ‘Feast of Saint Stephen’, is all too even and cruel.

 

Then again, life is good and far too short, to be sad Grinch or solstice hermit.

So don hats, scarves and gloves, load up the sleighs and go reindeer handed into the night.

And be as ‘Santa-Merry’ and ‘seasonally-bladdered' as old age and body permit!

 

George Roberts Dec 2024

The lonely moose under the Northern Lights no6

 

Moose thought of the Day

"Really thrilled, when by chance I discovered, that someone had named a 'Jaw' after me"

The lonely moose under the Northern Lights no5

 

Moose thought of the Day

"Has anyone thought about an 'appointed drover'?"

The Snowman Cometh

 

Regular readers of this blog will know that Christmas celebrations at Cabine du Jardin Deux cannot commence before the arrival of 'Barry the Snowman' . This year the editorial team were becoming concerned but last night whilst all good children were sleeping, Barry rocked up! We think that December the 14th is the latest entrance ever made by our very favourite 'Snowman'.

"Barry is in his office - so let the revels begin"

A very very small Christmas joke

 

Just returned from Berlin and like Werner Heisenberg, I'm feeling a bit uncertain about posting this.

Thoughts in a line waiting for a jet-plane home

 

Anita's iPhone image of the wingtip of BA983 with Venus shining in the background.

Inspired by the great gift of a book of poetry by Roger McGough from our dear friends John and Eileen, I wrote a poem in my head whilst waiting in line to pass through 'customs control' at Berlin Airport. Strangely, whenever I approach the obviously bored person at the desk, I am overcome with a compulsion to start 'Morris Dancing' and 'declare' it to be a 'British Custom'.

'Here I stand Passport in hand' a short poem by George Roberts.

Standing in line awaiting Berlin Airport Security

It occurred to me

Synchronicity!

The three year old boy crying in front and the seventy five year old me lagging behind

Both hate to queue and would rather be at Berlin zoo.

Viewing Giant Pandas eating bamboo.

Shoots, then reloads and re-holsters passport!

Out of the corner of my good eye,

I noticed that both of us roll from side to side when we walk towards ‘Departures’

Perhaps we were both sailors in former seafaring lives?

Or maybe its because he’s learning and I’m forgetting where and how to go?

Man who taught me a lot about patience and making stuff.

 

Front row far left, my Great Uncle Bob, somewhere in Burma World War 11. A bit of a 'handful' but always very kind and nice to me! He featured strongly in many of my best memories from childhood. He had a cellar under his house, an 'Aladdin's Cave' full of tools, nails, screws and bits and bobs. All my sheds have been mini replicas!  He made me stilts and a soapbox cart, which provided me with many adventures. He was a builder and probably kindled my interest in a career in construction. I still remember him  and think of him with love. RIP Uncle Bob and Aunt Alice.

The Beaver Moon

 

The Beaver Moon in November 2024 imaged with a hand held Canon 600d DSLR and a 135mm Samyang fixed lens.

The Southern Pole and Southern Highlands of a waxing gibbous Moon imaged, a few days before full, with a 66mm Altair Astro Lightwave Doublet and QHY5111462c camera on a Star Adventurer EQ mount.

" The Moon is such a beautiful sight, even when wreathed in cloud. It is astronomically so very close to Earth but far too far for us to easily visit. The latter explains why it remains unexploited and uncontaminated by indifferent greed. 

From a distance, whether we view it with the naked eye, through binoculars or a telescope, the Moon never fails to please. Living on the eastern coast of the United Kingdom as we do, we love to watch its phases cycle over the Lunar 28 day month and to observe its affects upon the North Sea tides. Emotionally, 'Moon watching' helps us to achieve equilibrium and ride out the stress of mankind inspired chaos here on Earth. 

Why someone felt empowered to name it The 'Beaver' Moon, God only knows! Thankfully no beavers were killed in its naming and none are kept on its airless surface over night. So, both Moon and beavers have much to be grateful for"

A perfect example of a 'Crepuscular Sky'

 

When our kids were little we used to refer to this as a 'Charlton Heston Sky'. A crepuscular sky is one that features 'crepuscular rays' of sunlight filtered through clouds. This photo was taken with an iPhone from Lidl's carpark Lowestoft. The world around us is a joy to perceive, you just have to look and observe.

Jupiter Rising

 

'Winter is on it's way'
-  arty rendition of the eastern sky over our hedge. The bright planet
Jupiter can be seen centre-right  above the hedge, with the
open star cluster the 'Seven Sisters' just above and to it's right.

'The Plough' asterism
as seen with a painter's eye,
from St Michael's Church graveyard in autumn.

'C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS)'
- the last naked eye glimpse from Lowestoft on 18-10-2024

The night sky is a beautiful place to let your mind wander. Celestially, much stays the same in the short context of a single human life. Every now and  then and in the words of Wilkins Micawber - " something will turn up". 

In the night sky, this might be a sudden bright flash of light, witness to the demise of a grain of dust, a pebble or a rock that ventured too close to the Earth and burnt up in our atmosphere as a meteor. It might be the glow from a passing comet, illuminated by the Sun. A cometary visitor to our skies for a few days a few weeks or months but eventually destined to fade as it sails off into the dark cosmos. The planets of the solar system 'wander' across the sky following elliptical orbits around the Sun and move against the backdrop of apparently fixed stars. 

Even the stars, with distances from our planet so great that they are measured in the years it takes for their light to reach us,  move and change. Starlight from some of these remote suns may grow brighter and then fade, either because of the star's intrinsic variability or, after running out of hydrogen to fuse, brighten temporarily in a cataclysmic supernova.  The Universe is truly a dynamic entity but the vast distances and timescales involved render it apparently static within life-span limited perception of us poor mortals. 

Even passing jets and man built satellites can provide a beautiful ballet in the night sky and engage our imagination of their destination and purpose.

All in all, - 'Distance lends enchantment' and this is never more true than when stargazing!

My old iPhone died this week

 

Hugging a tree - you know it makes sense.

Sometimes I become overwhelmed with emotion and perhaps this is not such a bad thing. I guess all of us feel sad at leaving things behind, people leaving us and the inexorable process of moving on. I find that writing words to describe feelings I barely understand helps me to come to terms with life, loss, ageing and death. 

Thankfully, I am not ill or depressed but accommodating a difficult two years on this planet in the best 'creative' way I know how! At the very worst I might get offered a job by Hallmark.

We’ve been to too many funerals lately

The very old and lovers share a secret.

Hands grasp as if lives depend upon the bond, 

holding expectations and memories secure.

Eyes meet and engage for far too long as if focus alone 

might, capture and hold frozen, a moment in space and time.

Ears do not hear and evidential proof is overwhelmed by preferences, 

established in life from birth and every subsequent moment of existence.

If we are lucky, we find at least one absolute love, which lasts forever.

So is there an end to you, me and time?

Are, just days conjoined with us and being here so very important?

When my body fails, as ultimately fail it must, I can only hope:

I am holding another human hand in shared experience and affection,

all my expectations and memories merge in a timeless wrapper of love

and that this is comfort enough for those I leave behind 

and will continue to love literally forever.

George Sept 2024

Wilko Johnson's 'Thames Delta'

 

 A composite of two images, one taken of the 'Forts' from a boat in daylight and the other of the Moon captured in video format from our backyard in Lowestoft.

Whilst visiting my grandchildren in Westcliff-on-Sea, I would often pass Wilko Johnson's house with his 'Observatory' precariously perched on the roof. When trying to get Dr. Feelgood  a record deal and when asked where the band came from, Wilko said "The Thames Delta". Top bloke!

Wilko Johnson 1947-2022 - Rock on Wilko.

Max Off Grid

 

'Max Off Grid' - George Roberts -digital art- 17-08-2024

" I love to make images from mixed media. This image is a blend of fractal-math and photography, which some how creates for me a concrete moment in time art-deco redolent " 

Then again and throughout history even gifted artists, when they stop making art, talk unutterable bollocks!

'Bee on Linden Tree Blossom'

 

'Bee on Linden tree blossom' - George Roberts Digital Art - June 2024.

In bright Sicilian sunlight, the perfumed blossom on Linden trees lining the streets in Giardini Naxos, were alive with bees going about their honey sweet business.

Old tree in sunlight

 

'Old Tree' - George Roberts Digital Art June 2024

Engaging pictures sometime arise spontaneously created by 'happy accidents'.  On the other hand, trees have taken millions of years to evolve and become the magnificent bits of life that they are.

Uplit Palms

 

Warm summer nights under the stars.Been like this since pagan times!

Archaeological Gardens

 

‘Three palms and a building’ George Roberts June 2024. Watercolour and pencil sketch on paper.

Sometimes I am intrigued by buildings that ‘nestle’ in the landscape giving no hint to their purpose or occupation. Probably I shall never know who or what calls this shelter home!

The Swallow

 

‘The Swallow’ watercolour and pencil on paper.
George Roberts June 2024

Old Moon in the arms of the New.

 

No Aurora but a lovely crescent Moon above the fields.
Tripod mounted Canon 600d DSLR with a Canon 50mm lens at F1.4.

A lovely crescent Moon in May, seen across the fields in Suffolk. The summer night sky can be so very beautiful if you go to a dark location and take the time to look!

Its life Jim but not as we know it!

 

'Its life Jim but not as we know it' No2
- surreal digital imagery - George Roberts April 2024

I really should stop messing around with fractals and astronomy in the digital domain. 

This year, I must get back to doing some serious analogue drawing, printing and painting because once I get the turps out I really enjoy it.. The modern world is just so full of easy-peasy distractions!  Having said that I reckon Max Ernst would have loved Mandel Bulb software and 'pooters' in general.

Rhino on the Square

 

'Rhino on the Square' - digital art - George Roberts, April 2024
Credit: Incendia Next software and Affinity Photo2

" No Rhinos were endangered in the making of this surreal fractal work" - Sir David Attenborough.

Under the water under the sea how many Nautilus can you see?

 

'Captain Nemo dives again' -digital art George Roberts March 2024.

The Nautilus both extant and extinct, are characterized by involute or more or less convolute shells that are generally smooth, with compressed or depressed whorl sections, straight to sinuous sutures, and a tubular, generally central siphuncle. Having survived relatively unchanged for hundreds of millions of years, nautiluses represent the only living members of the subclass Nautiloidea, and are often considered "living fossils" -Wikipedia

The shells follow the mathematics of a logarithmic curve. All but one of the above were generated as fractals created in the software INCENDIA. 

Spring

 

'Spring' digital art by George Roberts
 March 2024 INCENDIA software.

I have become digitally obsessed by the magic of fractals and recursive algorithms. They are literally a force of nature. I will need to join a support group - 'Fractals Anonymous'

"Thorns and briars grow around the Castle, and soon it is almost invisible and nearly forgotten. A passing Prince, and his father the King hear of the legend of “The Sleeping Beauty”, and Prince Florimond declares he will rescue her from her sleep"

Ferntastic fractals

 

'Seeds and ferns' - digital painting by George Roberts
 using INCENDIA fractal software and Affinity Photo2

The infinitely recursive universe of fractals, provides a multiplicity of brushes, colours, textures and lighting for the digital artist to explore. This is such a surprising journey full of wonderful artistic and unconsidered events at all possible scales.

The ancient dragon swallows it’s scary, scaly tail

between

two mirrors parallel and recursive bound.

The artist daubs a painterly fairy tale,

between

 two dimensions and with marks on gesso ground.

All protagonists and time

await an unexpected and infrequent visitation,

 which in itself will announce an act of creation.

George Roberts

 

The fractal universe in a nutshell.

 

'Fractal blossom' - digital painting George Roberts March 2024

'Tardigrade' digital painting - George Roberts March 2024

'It's life Jim but not as we know it' - digital painting George Roberts March 2024

These images were constructed and rendered using the mathematics of fractals and the excellent and powerful freeware INCENDIA and Mandelbulb 3d. Many thanks to Prof GP for recommending this software. The above images were finally composed using Affinity Photo 2 software.

All fractals show some self-similarity. If you look ever closer into the details of a fractal, you observe multiple replicas of the whole.

Fractals can often be seen in nature. A fern is a classic example, with each of the branches coming off the main stem being similar to the entire frond. They are self-similar to the original but on a smaller scale.

These self-similar patterns are the result of a simple equation or mathematical statement. You create  a fractal algorithm by repeating this equation through a feedback loop. This process is called iteration  with the results of one iteration forming the input value for the next.

The patterns created by these algorithms often have fractal dimensions that are not whole numbers. Fractal dimension is a measure of shape complexity. Fractals are also recursive irrespective of scale - repeating themselves endlessly.

What is important is to spread confusion, not eliminate it.

 

'Salvador Dali in the 3rd Person'
digital painting by George Roberts March 2024
The image was created using
Mandelbulb 3d and Affinity Photo 2 software. 

In memory of my university flat mate Paul, who had tea with Dali in his surreal garden with the giraffe in Spain many moons ago.

The longer I live the more surreal the world in which I live becomes - here's to you Paul and Salvador!

“Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.”

― Salvador Dalí

.

A Goat by moonlight in a fractal landscape

 

'A goat by moonlight in a fractal landscape' by George Roberts digital art . Credit:: Mandelbulb 3d software

Thanks to the excellent Greg P for bringing 'Mandelbulbs' to my attention. Credit to the brilliant freeware Mandelbulb.3D, which was used to create this fractal landscape. Mathematics is the digital artist's infinitely flexible brush and medium. 

"On a bluff, on a bluff, on a bluff stood billy-goat Gruff"

Cake and Chiaroscuro

 

.Josephine Wright portrays her grandson's Birthday Party - Oils on Canvas - Josephine Wright of Derby 1736-1800.

Joseph's lesser known younger sister Josephine, painted more domestic scenes than her older and more famous artist brother. Some art connoisseurs have argued that Joseph couldn't hold a candle to his sister when it came to chiaroscuro, baking birthday cakes and making a good 'Sunday Roast'. - John Ruskin.

The Man with Two Brains

 

The Cowboy Angel and the Gates of Eden

 

'The Cowboy Angel and the Gates of Eden' - Mixed media digital and otherwise - printed, painted and arranged on canvas and board.- George Roberts January  2024.

Eventually finalised what was originally a digital image /sketch - see 'Fermi Paradox' post. When I got around to making a submission for the Royal Academy Summer Show they had already reached their self imposed limits for registration (165,000 submissions). Anyway, I was reasonably pleased with the completed collage, which differs in a number of ways from the original idea in addition to the title. The new name for this collage alludes to a Bob Dylan song 'Gates of Eden', which I used to sing way back in the late 1960's. Since then full internet access to and from millions of personal mobile phones has industrialised  the movement of information, sanctified money and generated a multiplicity of affordable 'keys' to the Gates of Eden.  We have collectively made gods of celebrity and created heroes from rogues. We have mixed the truth, lies, science and faith to such an extent that we struggle to  make decisions in our collective best interests. Perception of the Universe is now so corrupted by our shared beliefs that evidential reality has become subjective. Why is Paradise  perceived  as somewhere else, ever something to be gained or lost but always locked away and gated beyond our current reach? Beats the shit out of me!

"Of war and peace the truth just twists

Its curfew gull just glides

Upon four-legged forest clouds

The cowboy angel rides

With his candle lit into the sun

Though its glow is waxed in black

All except when ’neath the trees of Eden"

Mr and Mrs Briggs go Paddlin' - 2023

 

Mr &Mrs Briggs go Paddlin'  by courtesy of Mr &Mrs Briggs
- traditional watercolour on NOT paper - George Roberts 2023 

Eynsford, Kent - a nice summer's day by the river to remember with friends. It's re-mailed and on its way folks! 

I always wanted to be a sculptor

 

'Red Kites' a mobile by George Roberts November 2023

With apologies to Alexander Calder and with the kind permission of Mr and Mrs Boon behold the wonder of 'Red Kites' a mobile constructed from mild steel.

The Fermi Paradox - a digital collage of my astro-imagery and mark making

 

'The Fermi Paradox and fake views'  - digital collage - January 2024, George Roberts

This piece of work started off  in my head when I read on line that the Royal Academy had made a call for 'entries' for their 2024 Summer Exhibition. The theme for this year is "to explore the idea of making space, whether giving space or taking space. This can be interpreted in various ways: to make space can mean openness – making space for something or someone, also making space between things". Clearly the RA were not looking for a "one step for man one giant leap for mankind" sort of thing but hey that's where I like to go. My 'day job' experience of  'Architectural Competitions' might well be summed up by " No one ever won a coconut by observing the rules of competition". So I ploughed on with the ideas whirling in my small brain (or 'filbert' as it's known in the South) mindful that I might buck the RA's rules and astound them with my conceptual insight and brilliance.

So what is the Fermi Paradox? Well the gist of it is: 

• Space  is mindbogglingly large and contains trillions of galaxies each containing billions of stars and countless more planets, therefore there must be very many many places in the Universe suitable for life to occur and flourish.
• The Universe is very very old so consequently there has been more than sufficient time for civilisations in multiplicity to advance beyond our comprehension.
• So if this is the case "Where are they and why haven't we heard from them?"

The bleak answer probably can be surmised from the comments section of all social media platforms where even intelligent folk can vehemently deny demonstrable facts and scientific proofs because they don't conform to their own particular world view. Sadly, this is not a reference to the UFO debate but directly related to the average lemmings liking for dangerous sports and precipitous cliffs.

My collage is all about the experience of  'space, time and light'  which appear to be wrapped up tight and filtered through the optic of a Proscenium Arch. I sometimes wonder if there are audiences on both sides and whether we are all watching the same play?

I shall not be submitting this to the RA as a digital collage would appear to break their rules concerning unique copies. On the plus side I've saved myself the £40 entrance fee and still had the fun of making the marks. I have some board, glue, a photocopier and  a ink jet printer, so will probably convert the digital into the real sometime soon.

A day in the life of ‘Waterfront’ the Penguin No2

 

Gone fishing’

Get tanked up with Syd Carp no3

 

“It’s important to keep the fish in your tank happy! Clean water makes for happy fish, so once a week I change a third of the water in the aquarium. Look how happy this Yo-yo loach is ! Bless his little Cotten fins!” Syd 

Glass and steel sculpture

 

'Poppies' by Anita and George Roberts - fused glass and
stainless steel bar and fixings.