'Smokin'

 

The smoking pipe with the finished smoked salmon overlaid.

"In between showers, I managed to smoke the salmon fillets I cured in salt earlier this week for 36 hours. After removing the salmon from the 'smoking pipe', I let it recover and air for 4 hours, before coating it in a glaze made from olive oil, peaty whiskey, honey and black pepper. Tomorrow, after a night in the fridge, it will be ready for eating. 

Many thanks to a random American blogger who provided the excellent tip to ensure the hardwood dust and pellets burn long and slow. " Remove the moisture from the hardwood dust and chips by giving them two minutes in a microwave prior to burning in the smoker". (Health and Safety warning to all - don't take his or my word for the safety of this process or the continued working of your microwave afterwards) 

Sudden Rush of Art to the Head

 

'When the last teardrop joins the ocean'
 George Roberts February 2025 - mixed media.

" Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?" - The Joker.

Finger friendly Chubby Wax Crayons

 '

'Trilobite Fossil Death-bed Assemblage'
 George Roberts - February 2025 - mixed media organic and digital

I love a bit of 'wax-resist', ink and water-colour paint. Fell in love with wax crayons at St Michaels 'All Angels' infant and junior school over seventy years ago. I was the third angel from the left with the descant recorder in Mrs. Street's class. 

I still like 'the smell of the wax-paint  and the roar of the crowd'! And who doesn't love a Trilobite? Every-ones' favourite Paleozoic arthropod!

"Keeping it Loose"

 

Suffolk Landscape with Mere and Trees (Slight Return)
-  George Roberts mixed media February 2025.

We often watch Landscape Artist of the Year on Sky TV,  just so we can get angry with the judges, when they pass over the one with obvious talent, to give the prize to the artist with rudimentary draftsmanship and complementary 'added bullshit'. 

However, it has to be said that we can all learn from our peers. It is also a fact, that of late, I have become very techno - and detail fixated in my drawing and painting. As 'Tai-Shan Schierenberg'  might say - "I need to loosen up".

So, today I went out into the 'Cabine'  and stuck some sheets of water-colour paper on my easel. I then spent thirty minutes, literally throwing, splashing and flicking homemade ink and concentrated 'builders tea' at the paper. I had made the black ink, a couple of years ago from 'oak galls', which I had harvested from local hedgerows and sadly it has remained since then virtually untouched, in a screw-top jar in the Cabine. The tea was fresh brewed and sourced from Yorkshire (as recommended by Oxfordshire's very own TJ)!

When I was done slinging and flicking, I photographed the results and downloaded the images onto my 'laptopamabob' for general digital fun and 'muppet mayhem'. 

It occurred to 'arty-farty former architect' me that I might construct a landscape from these organic marks.

At some point I drank the tea, which was bold, as it had got a bit mixed with the 'oak gall' ink, which may or may not be poisonous - time will tell. "Don't do this at home children" - Health and Safety tip from your Uncle George!

The mere at Blythburgh is an 'archetypal Suffolk landscape' but given  the season and the appropriate light, the elements from which it is formed, lend themselves to representation as strong abstract forms.

So here are the elements of my 'loose' pallet from which I constructed the above digital painting.

And here is one that I digitally 'coloured-in'  to make an interesting abstract design. I have yet to come up with a suitably impressive title! - "Wassily Kandinsky meets dodgy kebab"? - discuss

' I can see two seated women - can you Tai'?
- George Roberts mixed media February 2025

"It doesn't pay to take yourself too seriously in either art or blogging" - Joel Cairo (noted falconer)
 

Poseidon Adventure

 

'Poseidon'  George Roberts Jan 2025 digital media

One hell of a statue 'wrestling' one hell of a 'sea-serpent'!