Community Project... latest news

This afternoon, after a bit of email chivvying and a cancellation last week, I was lucky enough to host my latest sitter for the community portrait project, Mr Patrick McLoughlin, MP. It's a bit of swizz because he happens to be the local MP for Matlock, but having probably the second most influencial man in the country sit in your kitchen and share anecdotes about your shared hometown is quite a humbling experience. He was at once charming and amiable, and not just in the professionally sociable manner that MP's and politicians are often prone to- a slightly clumsy and unpolished manner in his small talk belied his honesty and integrity as a fellow human being, rather than the all too easy chit chat of a top 100 CEO or other 'professional personality'. We spoke of house renovations and nuclear disasters, of bi-elections and ice cream vans with equal fervour. Rhubarb (our Springer Spaniel) thought that this was a particularly good moment to sit on his feet and devour a stick freshly brought from the garden, clearly her way of making him feel welcome and demonstrating our gratitude at his visit. This Patrick tolerated with professional ignorance, and presently we began to shoot a few photo's. Patrick chatted of certain memories of Matlock life that stuck out. Particular personal tragedies of certain constituents, the death of a devoted supporter took precidence over fond memories of time spent with his then young son at the ice cream van on the road over the top that runs to Belper. He was in no hurry to leave, but I felt that I had already been too greedy with what must be some of the most precious time of anyone that particular evening. With a constituent surgery still to attend before an AGM later that evening, my small interview was surely nothing more than an inconvenience to a lesser man.  Especially considering that man had been called to an urgent cabinet meeting in London, on a whim, earlier in the morning.

I have been left with some suitable photo's, an enlightening experience and a chastised dog, and am looking forward to capturing the exchange as a pretty wholesome portrait.

I hope the Duke is as approachable, and tolerant of errant pets, should the opportunity arise for a dialogue.

Dog Walking as Art

With the Spring tentatively projecting her fingertips into the early weeks of the year, teasing us with odd radiant days of sunshine, the romp through the woods has become less of a chore and more of an undistracted meditation. Adding to the sense of oneness are the bird calls and general chorus of life that summery spring days tend to engender. This rather spiritual dimension to the activity, and the general sense of well being that walking the hound tends to encourage, have stiumulated various meditations on the essence of life, art and everything in general. Adding to this healthy mindset is the fact that the dog now  pretty much enjoys being on the walk with me, and seeks my companionship at various times through the expedition- doubling back to check that I am OK, my mind relaxed and demenour agreeable before she again shoots off into the undergrowth in a constant quest to be everywhere at once and at least 500m ahead of my next move. This new affectionate trait to her otherwise wild habits has really set me feeling quite at ease with the world and its myriad lifeforms, each expressing- nay celebrating- the perfectness of life in general asI experience them and nothing else for the hour or so it takes me to walk the dog. Bathed in sunshine, among reverent, obediant company, cosseted in a plethora of beauty that is existence itself, religious epiphany has many times become indivisible from canine exercise.

I cannot quite now recall how, but am pretty sure that this act of walking the dog has become synonymous with the act of creativity (and is that distinct from creation- or as King James might say- Creation? but not in a creationist way, of course!) and thus the small intellectual leap from dog walk to pure art seems to me complete. In persisting in the act of creating Art, to the exclusion of any more purposeful or financially viable activities, I feel I am achieving something that one day may be looked upon as of benefit to the wider sphere of human endeavour. I suppose, strictly speaking,  Financial Advisors can to an extent say the same thing, but somehow I feel my case, on this sunny day, sounds more plausible.

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David luiz. It is not fshionable for artists to love football, but that goal eclipsed rooneys earlier potential for goal of the season :)