Lynne D Jones

Self Portrait 'Green Pinny - Silly Smile'

2011-12-02T06:24:00.000Z

Self Portrait 'Green Pinny - Silly Smile'
Acrylic on canvas 22''x16''

I can be glum alot of the time. My friend told me that maybe it is because I am Welsh and we have a tendency to be melancholy!
Anyhoo, I have made a conscious decision to cheer up! Starting with this self portrait of me with a silly smile, which makes me chuckle every time I post it!!

4am again...

2011-11-23T04:29:00.000Z

Hoorah! It is 4 am again. I am awake. The reasons for this are as follows: Being achey (bad back ect); My husband snoring; The menopause (not sure about this one, but I am 44 years old and this is a possibility); Having ideas running around in my head that I have to write down because they prevent me from sleeping.
So, what have I been thinking about? I have been thinking alot about memory lately. I don't know if I have mentioned it before but I work alot with people who have dementia. The condition of dementia is rising rapidly and it is a very real possibilty that I may get it at some point later on in life...and so could you for that matter. This has to be the best reason for writing down my thoughts, my memories and my connections to things, because one day I may lose them and then they will probably never be known.

The statistics below are taken from a page on the Alzheimers Society website...

There are currently 750,000 people with dementia in the UK.

There are over 16,000 younger people with dementia in the UK.

There are over 11,500 people with dementia from black and minority ethnic groups in the UK.

There will be over a million people with dementia by 2021.

Two thirds of people with dementia are women.

The proportion of people with dementia doubles for every 5 year age group.

One third of people over 95 have dementia.

60,000 deaths a year are directly attributable to dementia.

Delaying the onset of dementia by 5 years would reduce deaths directly attributable to dementia by 30,000 a year.

The financial cost of dementia to the UK is over £20 billion a year.

Family carers of people with dementia save the UK over £6 billion a year.

64% of people living in care homes have a form of dementia.

Two thirds of people with dementia live in the community while one third live in a care home.

Life Drawing

2011-11-19T10:49:00.001Z

These drawings are from the first life drawing session I have had for about 6 years! I spent all day in Studley Green at a life drawing session that was organised by the artist Clarissa Galliano. I loved being back in the type of setting that involves silence, concentration, looking and recording form with different media. The day went so quickly and although I had not drawn like this for so long, I don't think I did too badly. Non of these drawings were more than 20 minutes long. I can't wait for the next session.

How it is for me...

2011-10-28T07:32:00.001+01:00

5.30 am
How it is for me...
If my life were a pie and I divided it up into proportions to be shared amongst my family and time it would be like this (greatest first) :
Motherhood (the greatest of all, full of love, many many chores and things to remember)
Housekeeper ( the less said about housework and at least 10 loads of washing every week the better)
Person (ie social/relative/daughter/wife etc)
Artist (me)

Thinking about how it is for women artists who try to make art a large part of their lives and still manage to keep all the balls in the air is something that occurs to me alot.

As this entry is about me (and women artists) I will not feel guilty about writing about myself...
I have made a discovery lately about getting older as a woman, with the condition of age and hot flushes comes insomnia. Now, after complaining about not being able to sleep in the early hours and trying to correct it, I have embraced insomnatic beast. (Is insomnatic even a word?)
As a person (with 4 children) who has little time to think without being asked for something or where something is or what time dinner is ready, I have decided to use this extra time as a gift to myself.
I write alot about being awake this early, recalling memories which I write in this blog, finishing paintings, getting organised for an easier day or week.
I have made a claim on these sleepless hours and these hours are mine, they are for thinking and painting and writing, without disturbance. I have been awake since 5am and up since 5.30.
My 3 year old is now awake at his usual time of 7.15 and I am ready for the day because I have fulfilled some parts of me with the goodness I need to keep me going.
I may crash like a rock in the ocean later when having not much sleep catches me up, but, I don't actually care at this moment in time. I have to take what I can get.

Another early morning memory

2011-10-22T04:18:00.001+01:00

I have been awake since 3 am. I don't think it is the hamster running a half marathon on her wheel this time that has kept me awake. I see this time in the morning alot now...maybe it is my age.
Any how, I want recall another early morning memory and share it with you.
I was in India, Tamil Nadu I think, it was the late 1980's and I must have been 19 or 20 years old. We had been travelling by motorbike, not a very good one, a rajdoot which is a kind of Indian british bike. Some nights we didn't manage to make it to a lodge for a decent nights sleep. On these nights we would pull off the road and find a cosy little spot to sleep, cosy usually meant under a tree that had a bit of tufty grass around it and not sand or dust.
So this one particular evening we had pulled over and made our camp which consisted of:
The two of us; a dusty motorbike;a carosine gas stove for cooking on; a couple of candles for light and two single quilt covers (we had one each to sleep in).
So another beautiful long Indian night was spent out in the open underneath a sky that was so close and dark and deep that you could have put your hand into it and pulled out the stars one by one.
After some hours of sleep and darkness I became semi-conscious to a rustling sound in the field and landscape behind where we were sleeping. The sound was long and was travelling backwards and forwards and closer and it went on all night long. It was such a beautiful rhythmic swoosh that it didn't frighten me and I managed to sleep on its gentle hush.
Morning came.
We awoke to many pairs of eyes, staring at us strange pale people sleeping beneath a tree. We must have looked like a fable to them, like two travelling pixies all dusty and sleepy. They looked like a dream to us.
The 15 or so women brightly clad in saris had been working in the fields behind us picking the rice all night long. I suppose they were doing it to avoid the blazing heat that day light brings.
They had a good old talk amongst themselves and stared at us for about ten minutes or so while we gathered up our things and hit the road again before the rest of the village arrived...

mornings

2011-09-28T06:57:00.002+01:00

Early mornings make me feel alive. When I say alive I mean in the sense of travelling the world with a single piece of luggage: Breathing in the cold morning air before the world stirs and being awake before the birds. This is the kind of 'Alive' that comes hand in hand with a sense of freedom.

I once awoke in a forest in Germany, en route from India to Amsterdam. We had been travelling for about a week with our friend Hans Peter who we met on the boat that brought us from Greece to Italy.
That particular night, (which was one of many sleeping rough), we bedded down with our blankets on the edge of a forest. It was beautiful and the dark shadows and silent noises took me into sleep.

I woke in the morning to another pair of eyes looking intently at me, it was a rabbit. I dared not breathe because I didn't want to scare it away. For about a minute we stared at each other, myself wanting to stay in the magical moment and the startled rabbit frozen to the spot. Then it turned and hopped off pretending it hadn't been seen, the kind of pretending that would involve whistling a little tune and kicking an imaginary stone along pretending you had not been there atall.
It is one of those memories where although it is not a thrilling story, it is a connection with nature that I need to remember by writing it down.
So, now I have and idea...
I think I will write about all those nights of sleeping rough on my travels over the years. And, when I say 'sleeping rough' I mean that most of the time we didn't even have a tent!

Southbank Lullaby

2011-08-12T13:26:00.002+01:00

London feet
shuffling
towards tv and beer
switching off switching on
until the next day

music by the prolific Daniel Knox
video by Lynne D Jones

5 Ideas for a mural for pre-school

2011-04-16T23:19:00.000+01:00

I wonder what would happen if...

2011-04-07T09:17:00.002+01:00

Really! I really wonder what would happen!

hand drawn postcard, a photo by Lynne D Jones on Flickr.

Happy Mothers Day!

2011-04-03T13:30:00.001+01:00

HAPPY MUMMIES DAY!

Happy Mothers day to all you fab Mums out there.

I drew this card for us!

Keep up the good work!

XXX

'New Baby' Card

2011-03-17T20:36:00.000Z

I found this jpeg on my computer recently. I had forgotten all about this picture. It is a little drawing in pencil and watercolour on a blank postcard. I made this for a friend of mine after she had her baby boy in 2010.
My friend is well known for her coloured hair, her favourite colour being pink and for her love of leopard skin prints. I cut the animal prints from an old Charlie and Lola annual and used sequins for the 'eyes' on the wings...I really enjoyed making this.
I was not going to send this highly original person just any old 'New Baby' card!
It is always lovely to at least attempt to make something original, even if it doesn't turn out the way you want or expect it to.

shine so clean - PARKBENCH

2011-01-26T18:58:00.002Z

New music video - music by Parkbench

produced directed and edited by Lynne D Jones
January 2011

Silent Night

2010-12-24T23:02:00.001Z

My husband and I made this the other night...hope you have a lovely Christmas XXX

visual poetry

2010-12-22T20:11:00.002Z

Found object...on the bathroom floor.

Old Drawings

2010-12-22T20:08:00.000Z

The Twelve days of Christmas - Just for Fun!

2010-12-09T17:35:00.004Z

I was asked to draw these as a favour for my mum in law last week and I only had a few days to do them. They were made for her Christmas singing party where different groups in the audience would hold up a certain picture at the right time...'...and a partridge in a pear tree...' and so on. So, it is just for fun and a bit of festivity.
Drawn on A4 card and paper with water colours and pens. They are up in Beaconsfield library for December.
I am feeling Christmassy nice and early this year!!

work progressing( IP5)

2010-12-01T10:29:00.003Z

Changing personality and hair. Red hair.
Shannon dyed her hair red again just as it was almost back to blonde.
I like it better red.
She looks stunning.
I like it that she enjoys changing her appearance and has a fascination with hair dye, just like me.
Makes me smile.
Good old Shans.

Imaginary people #5 ( work in progress ) (IP 5)

2010-11-26T18:04:00.004Z

My Imaginary People seem to be getting bigger and bigger. I much prefer to work on a larger scale but have tried to work small for a while. I love fabriano paper and this is my last piece. Must buy some more.

I drew around my eldest daughter for this drawing but I made her lay down for it, in hindsight I should have drawn around her standing up. I like this classic type of drawing, I think I enjoy the (almost) religious theme of this kind of subject matter. This is my temporary studio space for a while, its good to have some where to tape my pictures up so I can see whats going on with them.

Imaginary person #4

2010-11-14T08:14:00.000Z

Imaginary person #4

Painted in the kitchen studio on top of the washing machine,(when it wasn't on!)

I paint where there is a little space.

I would love a studio!!

Painting Angels and Godesses

2010-11-04T15:07:00.001Z

imaginary people #3

2010-10-29T09:51:00.000+01:00

Imaginary People #3

Hengistbury Head

2010-10-29T09:49:00.000+01:00

Hengistbury Head, Dorset.

2005

Pastel painting.

Due to be shown/sold at

The Beaconsfield Art Fair

October 2010.

company

2010-10-28T20:13:00.003+01:00

(27/10/10)

untitled set with titles (drawings on photographs with pen and tippex)

2010-10-23T15:37:00.001+01:00

I Love Peas

2010-10-20T16:30:00.001+01:00

I Love Peas

Imaginary People#2

Last Nights Doodle

2010-10-16T16:39:00.001+01:00

Imaginary People
#1

Fly by Night

2010-10-15T10:05:00.002+01:00

Superhero Jape

Fly by Night

Be unseen

Hide behind the cover of a magazine

Use your dark coat as a

Cape

And swirl around to

Make dark shapes

In the night

Like a moth

Around light

- Dance to the sound of the Superhero Jape

A Mums work is never done, especially if she's an artist

2010-10-14T22:18:00.002+01:00

A Mums work is never done especially if she is an artist. Art work for me, revolves around the washing up, school runs, making baby bottles of milk and cooking tea. It has to fit in anywhere possible or it never will.

SOS short film

2010-10-14T08:41:00.002+01:00

I made this short film a couple of years back when I was living in Bournemouth. The film reflects a time when the repetative nature of life was starting to take it's toll.

The morse code sound was made on my home phone and the typewriter noise was made on a clunky old computer keyboard. I enjoyed mixing the sound of the keyboard up with the image of handwriting.

Enjoy.

More mail art

2010-10-11T10:05:00.000+01:00

Mail Art is allowing me to be prolific without considering the restrictions of sale and exhibition. The pictures from top to bottom are on blank postcards. Fly by Night is going to Indonesia. Art Club to the USA. Be Creative hasn't got a destination yet and Long Brown hair is going to Canada.

Having studied art for so long I seem to have lost any playfulness may have had because every thing I have made over the last few years has had to have meaning and weight. I have not really played with art since my first year or so of my fine art degree at The Arts Institute at Bournemouth.

So, this is why, at the moment I am being a bit flighty and not really trying to pin myself down to anything in particular. I love making the video work that I concentrated on for so long, BUT, I seem to have lost other important skills because I have been away from 2D work for so long.

I am seriously considering applying for my teacher training very soon, so I need to brush up on all forms of communication involving art processes.

self portraits

2010-10-07T13:34:00.000+01:00

Self portraits - they are harder to make than you think.

Although any kind of drawing does not have to be recognisable, it is satisfying at least to be able to get some kind of likeness.

My two year old exclaimed 'MUMMY!' when he saw this drawing...however it is odd because it's out of proportion and more of a caricature, the type you get from a street artist on holiday! Hey! Maybe I could do that as a job!

At the moment I am spending time drawing with a group of elderly people and we are concentrating on portraiture. This is one reason to try to draw again for me, I have become so rusty through not drawing that I feel as though i am starting from the beginning again. Ah well, it is always a good journey!

IUOMA

2010-10-03T09:22:00.001+01:00

I have recently joined the INTERNATIONAL UNION OF MAIL ARTISTS (IUOMA).
Needing to connect with a larger group of artists I decided to join up. There are all sorts of projects going on that artists from all over the world take part in. It is a way to exhibit remotley and check out what other people are up to. Here is the link to my page.

This is my first piece of mail art that I posted of to Ohio USA yesterday. It is for a Cat exhibtion which will be in Ohio, there are pictures that have been sent to the orginser which are shown on her blog 'for the love of cats'.

The picture shown here is of my friends bengal kitten, it is a quick sketch on a blank postcard.

Here is a link to the recieved artwork on her blog...http://fortheloveofcats-mailart.blogspot.com/2010/10/21-from-beaconsfield-bucks-uk.html

Cerys with Cerys

2010-09-27T20:31:00.000+01:00

Cerys with Cerys

2010

flight

2010-09-27T20:26:00.000+01:00

Flight

2006

pen, tippex and paint on photograph

stay and go

2010-09-27T20:22:00.000+01:00

Stay & Go

2006

pen, tippex & paint on photographs

'15'

2010-09-27T20:18:00.001+01:00

'15'

going on 16

(2010)

acrylic on canvas

GUIDE

2010-09-27T19:59:00.000+01:00

GUIDE

oil on canvas

2003

Tweet Tweet Little Birdie

2010-09-27T19:56:00.000+01:00

Tweet Tweet Little Birdie

Acrylic on box canvas - flower studies partly concealed by the number eight

Cerys

2010-08-26T14:47:00.000+01:00

This painting is being donated to FOOK charity art raffle on Saturday 28th August 2010. This art event is raising money for deaf children with cochlear ear implants.

Cerys (above) is drawn on a2 cartridge paper. It is a portrait of my youngest daughter.
She sat for me twice, approx 2 hours in total, but as with most kids her age she wanted to be off riding her bike, so I let her go!

The journey of this painting has involved around 13 hours of enjoyment for me. I used pencil, acrylic paint, ink, glitter paint and fineline pens.
I wanted to adorn this portrait with jewels and wings, she has moths flying above her head and a fixed gaze which invites you to say hello. She has become a winged princess of the highest order and sits proudly inviting the viewer to take a closer look at all her finery.
I hope she finds a nice place to live as she sets off on her journey at the raffle tomorrow night.

WHAT THE FOOK?

2010-08-17T08:34:00.001+01:00

The Jerwood Drawing Prize

2010-04-07T20:53:00.001+01:00

http://www.jerwooddrawingprize.org/

The registration for the Jerwood Drawing Prize opens at the end of this week.
The Jerwood Drawing Prize aims to promote and reward excellence and talent in contemporary drawing practice, through the support and recognition of the work of established and emerging artists in the field of drawing. This open drawing show has been developed as a forum to test, evaluate and disseminate current drawing practice, and to gain knowledge and understanding about the field through the artists currently making work within the discipline.

The Jerwood Drawing Prize project was established in 1994. The co-founders are Anita Taylor and Paul Thomas, who have worked continuously on the project since its origination in the Painting department at Cheltenham & Gloucestershire College of Higher Education, now the University of Gloucestershire. The project relocated to Wimbledon School of Art in 2003 on the appointment of the project director, Professor Anita Taylor, as Head of School of Fine Art, then Vice Principal and Dean, and subsequently the Director of The Centre for the University of the Arts London.
In 2009, Anita Taylor became the Director of the National Art School in Sydney, Australia. She established Drawing Projects UK in April 2009 to develop, organise and promote projects in drawing that contribute to and enhance knowledge and understanding of drawing in the UK. The Jerwood Drawing Prize is a major project organised by Drawing Projects UK. Paul Thomas continues to work on the Jerwood Drawing Prize and other associated projects led and managed by Drawing Projects UK.
The day-to-day administrative support for the Jerwood Drawing Prize project is now provided by Parker Harris, who also organise the Jerwood Sculpture Prize and Jerwood Contemporary Painters, projects within the Jerwood Visual Arts series. Drawing Projects UK continues to work in collaboration with The Centre for Drawing and Wimbledon College of Art at the University of the Arts London for the selection process of the Jerwood Drawing Prize, and provides professional work experience for their students.
The Jerwood Drawing Prize is part of Jerwood Visual Arts, a year round contemporary gallery programme of awards, exhibitions and events at Jerwood Space, London, and on tour nationally. Jerwood Visual Arts aims to promote and celebrate the work of talented emerging artists across the disciplines of drawing, painting, sculpture, applied arts, photography and moving image. It also aims to make connections and provoke conversations within and accross the different disciplines.
Jerwood Visual Arts is a major initiative of the Jerwood Charitable Foundation.

http://www.jerwoodvisualarts.org/
http://twitter.com/jerwoodjva

The Icarus Girl in My Life in The Bush of Ghosts by Lynne D Jones

2010-04-05T06:25:00.000+01:00

Written when Helen Oyeyemi was only 18 years old The Icarus Girl is a tale of Jessamy Harris, an 8 year old little girl lost in a confusion of parallel worlds.
The tale is a taken from Yorubu African lore that twins inhabit three dimensions, the bush, the normal world and the spirit world. Although there is no reference to the Greek Myth Icarus during the storys length, I can only assume the reference is describing how she is plunged into fever when she is ill.
The bush is an african place inhabited by folk lore and ghosts, it is a wilderness and a maze akin to a hypnotic dreamworld where a soul can become entangled.
My Life in The Bush of Ghosts was written by Amos Tutuola in 1954. This book is also based on Yorubu folk lore.
This tale follows an abandoned 8 year old boys journey through the bush during slave raids. His journey through the Bush is also confusing the real with the unreal and parallel worlds brought on by hunger and fever.
His tale is akin to The Icarus girl as they both become entangled in The Bush, the minds of these children becoming snagged on branches and ghosts.
Both of these tales, for different reasons, are split in two. The Icarus Girl because she doesn't really know who she is, whether she is African or English, white or black. Throughout most of this story it is also hard to tell what is real and what is not. She is tormented in school because of her dilution which does not help what is going on inside her head.
My Life in the Bush of ghosts is split because it is a fusion of Yorubu folk lore and western morale. It is said that Amos Tutuola has used the tale of the boy lost in the Bush to highlight the Western influence and greed that seeps away from the west and into other countries. It is also said that Tutuola was critisised by fellow africans because the folk lores that he would have heard from his mothers mouth had been diluted with western references.
By adding these references to the ancient tales, he is making a social comment on how the world changes and dilutes as the races of the world intermingle and infiltrate each others history by becoming part of the present and the past.
Very little on this earth is pure anymore, both books use The Bush to illustate this. This is also shown in the title of Oyeyemis book as she is already combining Greek Mythology with African Folk Lore before the book is even opened.
It is said that Tutuola would have been a famous village story teller had he not have had the opportunity to go to school and learn to write.
My life in the Bush of Ghosts influenced Bryan Eno and David Byrne to make an album of the same name, which was released in 1981. It is not hard to see how such a visual book can inspire sound.

What matters most is how well you walk through fire

2010-04-03T05:09:00.001+01:00

I love the words of Charles Bukowski.
They are a raw, real, true, documentation of his life, drunken, dirty and prolific.
The words he wrote really blow me away. It was like he could reach the places that other poets couldn't. I don't think I had ever heard poetry as less flowery as this before.
He writes as Freud paints.

one sentence

2010-04-03T04:43:00.000+01:00

I have just submitted a one line story at http://www.onesentence.org/ .

It is all about telling a tale in one line. Sharing a snippet of your life. Having a thought and then simmering it down to its purest form.
Then, there is a man who approves it.
If my one liner is approved I will add it to this post.

DANIEL KNOX & GIDEON REELING @ THE BAC

2010-03-07T09:46:00.000Z

I filmed Daniel Knox at Red Death Late Nights at Battersea Arts centre London, october 2007 .

I was at the BAC filming Gideon Reeling Purveyors of bespoke theatrical experiences who were a huge part of the afterparty at Edgar Allen Poes Masque of the Read Death.

http://www.myspace.com/reddeathlates

FROGS

2010-01-18T09:39:00.000Z

FROGS

Frogs sit more solid
than anything sits. In mid-leap they are
parachutists falling
in a free fall. They die on roads
with arms across their chests and
heads high.
I love frogs that sit
like Buddha, that fall without
parachutes, that die
like Italian tenors.
Above all, I love them because,
pursued in water, they never
panic so much that they fail
to make stylish triangles
with their ballet dancer’s
legs.
-Norman McCraig

I learned this poem off by heart when I was in Ysgol Bryn Offa Secondary school a long long time ago. I used to sit on a bean bag in a HUGE green home made A-line dressing gown my mum made for me and recite this poem.

The first few lines of 'Frogs' has been rattling around in my head on and off for a few months now. It was not until I found this poor dead frog after the snow had thawed, that inspired me to find the poem online.

I love this poem because it is so visual.

Finding a little corner to paint in.

2009-12-15T12:36:00.000Z

I have found a little corner to paint in. I made a space by pushing other things out of the way.
My old box of oil paints is out and a canvas of something I had been messing around with for about 3 years.
Spending time pushing a bit of paint around and needing to knock some of the colours back with Paynes Grey.
Smelling of oil paints it reminds me of years of struggling with pictures and trying to get them right. I went to Art School in Bournemouth and Wrexham and Amersham.
The Arts Institute at Bournemouth was an amazing place to study. Our studios where these HUGE white metal buildings which were like small aircraft hangers, a bit chilly but dead modern.
Painting is an enjoyable struggle. Sometimes it surprises me.
I want the familiar world of getting paint on my clothes and hands and walls and furniture again.

Folksy!

2009-12-15T09:48:00.001Z

I have just discovered a wonderful online craft/art and design shop.

This was introduced to me by Teasemade who makes wonderful brooches and little animal friends out of socks!

Check back for more info about this site and the lovely things they sell!

OLD CASSETTE (AKA DJ CLASSICO)

2009-12-07T10:53:00.000Z

CLICK HERE FOR A VERY VERY COOL BOX OF AUDIO TREATS ...

DRENCH! (ALWAYS READ THE LABEL)

2009-12-07T10:02:00.000Z

DRENCH!

50p for two bottles at Wilkinsons in Aylesbury last weekend. A Bargain!

'OOOOO', I thought, groovy water, cheap, good for you, better than coke and pepsi. .. great!
On further reading, 'ALWAYS READ THE LABEL!
Bottled at source...(THIS IS GOOD)...in Huddersfield! Erm, OK! Now, I don't think I have been to Huddersfield , but it doesn't exactly bring to mind ice capped mountains and rushing streams. This I have to say makes no difference to the taste of the water, which tastes very very good indeed,it is bottled at source, not from a tap! It is all that you would expect from a bottled water on a Saturday afternoons shopping in Bucks. I presume that the source of the water is not pumped from the city centre but from the rolling hills beyond! It is just that when I read the label I was a bit shocked to see 'bottled at source in Huddersfield'

A picturesque Huddersfield

Never judge a book by it's cover. Never judge a water bottle by it's design? In this case the water was good and the design wasn't too off the mark.

This report from the Guardian in 2004 tells the story of the biggest water scam around.

Karin Farrington likes Coca-Cola and Coca-Cola likes Karin Farrington. The 40-year-old Asda cashier lives opposite Coca-Cola's giant bottling plant on Cray Road in Sidcup, Kent. She drinks Diet Coke 'with everything' and sometimes Coke delivers free cans to her door. 'It's Coke's way of saying they care about the people who live around the factory,' she says. Yet Farrington waves a reproachful finger at the Coca-Cola logo emblazoned in red flowing script on the grey gates of the bottling plant. 'How could they be so stupid?' she says. 'How could they do it?'

The 'it' she is talking about is a plastic bottle with a blue label which is lying empty on her kitchen table. 'This bottle of Dasani water was produced at the factory over the road and I'm keeping it as a souvenir,' she says. 'You can't get Dasani any more, unless you buy it on eBay. I'm going to fill up this bottle from the tap. It will be the same product that Coke was making - only 3,000 times cheaper and 100 per cent safe.'

Coca-Cola wanted Dasani on everybody's lips last month and it was - for all the wrong reasons. Coke dumped its new bottled water following a cancer scare and an unprecedented consumer revolt. In spite of Coke's claims that its 'NASA-approved reverse osmosis multi-barrier filtration system' created water so pure it was better than the real thing, consumers thought they were getting little more than Brita filtered water at 95p a bottle. When illegal levels of cancer-causing bromate chemicals were discovered, Coke had no choice but to recall 500,000 bottles and abandon the drink's launch.

The Dasani scandal has left Coke nursing a £25 million loss from cancelled production contracts and advertising deals. The damage to the firm's reputation is 20 times that figure, analysts say. The launch was an extraordinary gaffe for a company which has marketed its way to become the world's most valuable brand, worth $70 billion, and which has often joked that one day every kitchen will have three taps: cold water, hot water and Coke. 'Coke is a marketing company. Customers drink the image of youth and vigour it creates,' says Allyson Stewart-Allen, a London-based marketing analyst who was born in north America and has studied the rise of Coke. 'Anything that threatens that image strikes at the company's future - and you don't get much more threatening than selling tap water which turns out to be an expensive disaster.' (John Arlidge The Observer, Sunday 18 April 2004)

I think that a £25 million quid loss is a drop in the ocean for Coke bosses, and serves them right for their bloody cheek!

GOLD COLLECTIONS

2009-12-06T10:29:00.000Z

I had a really sad moment yesterday in Aylesbury . I was shopping with my daughter. In the smaller shopping centre there was a new shop-stand where you could take you 'unwanted' gold to be weighed and sold.

When I first walked past there were younger people there selling their unwanted gold fashion jewellry, this felt acceptable, nothing gut-wrenching there.

The next time I walked past there was a pensioner having her gold rings and bracelets weighed. I felt a stab of sadness. She was probably selling them so she could buy Christmas presents for her grandchildren or to pay her heating bill. I know times change and we are in a recession, but some people really do rely on a captive audience to take advantage. It shows good business sense of course to set up shop amidst a world of temptation, but blimey, I really felt for that little old lady.

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Wrexham Swimming baths (in progress)

2009-12-01T13:25:00.000Z

Wrexham's first proper swimming baths were here on Tuttle Street. Many local people have fond memories of the baths. They were ahead of their time environmentally. The town's incinerator created the heat to keep the water warm.

This is my favourite building in Wrexham. I used to go here alot as a kid and I was always really in love with the shape of the building.

The shape of the roof reminds me of a diver in mid-air or the shape of a swimmers arms as they swim butterfly stroke.

A long time on and the building is still amazing, just a bit older and more dog-eared in places.

Wrexham baths were described on their opening in 1970 as "hyperbolic, parabolic and diabolic". The building required a £4.1m overhaul in 1997, but is now a locally admired landmark.

The building has a hyperbolic paraboloid roof , of which, it is said, that there are only two in Europe.http://mathworld.wolfram.com/HyperbolicParaboloid.html

I am yet to discover who the architect was who designed the building.

The Rule of Thirds

2009-11-28T15:35:00.000Z

The Rule of thirds.

Rules or intuition?
Personally I work intuitively. I make work first and then stumble across the rules second.

I have heard about the rule of thirds before now, and just stumbled upon it again the other day on a friends flickr photostream.
(Tim Croston)

So, anyway, this is my bit on the rule of thirds.

So, above is the scientific chart of the rule of thirds.
The eye line is above the line of the horizon.
In this picture below you can see a very obvious sample of the rule of thirds. ( I also love goats which is also why I chose this image from the thousands off the internet).

So, it seems that the rule of thirds suggests that the image that is to be highlighted should sit upon one of the intersections of the divided canvas. This image (above) in particular works for westerners as this is where we read from, the top left hand corner of the area.

Here it is explained better than I could put it into words...

3. The golden Rule of Thirds

An image with the Rule of Thirds being applied. (See how the bicycle and the man are positioned on the intersection points.)
(Click here for the bigger picture)

Too often, photographs have their subject placed smack in the middle, making the image look dull and uninteresting. A simple shift in composition can change all that. The Rule of Thirds is probably one of the cardinal rules of composition. Mentally divide your viewfinder or LCD screen into thirds, using two vertical and two horizontal lines to create nine smaller rectangles and four points where the lines intersect. It has been repeatedly shown that by placing objects over these intersections, a pleasing and balanced arrangement often results, whether the composition is horizontal or vertical. When an image's center of interest is placed at one of these intersections, balance in the picture can often be achieved by placing a secondary object (known as a "counterpoint") at the opposing intersection.

As mentioned earlier, the "Rule of Thirds" is not a rule at all; it's a guideline, intended to help you when you are uncertain as to the placement of elements in a scene when you are framing the picture. By ignoring the rule, you may still have a great picture, depending on the content of the image and how well its elements are balanced. For example, if you want your viewer to ignore all other parts of your composition, then place your center of interest smack in the middle, like a bull's eye. The important thing is to note the reasons for object placement in your images. Knowing why you do something and what effect it will have leads to good composition.

vanitymusicproject.com

2009-11-28T14:53:00.001Z

http://vanitymusicproject.com/

This is a four part podcast by a friend I studied with at Brookes.

THE VANITY MUSIC PROJECT is hosted by Angharad Jenkins and Tim Croston – two avid music makers and listeners from either side of Offa’s Dyke.

Our weekly podcast aims to introduce you to the music we listen to – unconfined by genre, time or place.

Join our official forum on FACEBOOK, where you can leave us your thoughts and suggest music you’d like to hear on the show.

Alternatively, leave COMMENTS on this website underneath any episode.

Or you can EMAIL us! info [at] vanitymusicproject [dot] com

I really like Angharads contribution with her offers of Welsh music which is quite hard to come across if you are not 'in the know' or involved with such people or places.

Coming from Wales myself I am not familiar with any of the music she plays on these shows. It's really refreshing and is like unwrapping tiny little audio presents.

wall of life

2009-11-26T23:03:00.001Z

I registered to be an organ donor a few months back. I wish I had done it years ago. I suppose I was scared. Now I am not. I feel kind of liberated. It is a really important thing to do, to give the gift of life when yours is over. So, I have just joined the wall of life, because I am proud of myself for signing up!

http://www.walloflife.org.uk/

"The Wall of Life is a unique way of showing your support for organ donation. It is also an exciting new way for us to acknowledge and celebrate the hundreds of individuals who sign up to the NHS Organ Donor Register every day. This register is a confidential, computerised database that holds the wishes of more than 16 million people who have decided that they wish to donate their organs after their death."

RUMI

2009-11-23T10:45:00.000Z

I have just discovered Rumi, have I had my eyes closed all this time?

My heart, sit only with those
who know and understand you.
Sit only under a tree
that is full of blossoms.
In the bazaar of herbs and potions
don't wander aimlessly
find the shop with a potion that is sweet
If you don't have a measure
people will rob you in no time.
You will take counterfeit coins
thinking they are real.
Don't fill your bowl with food from
every boiling pot you see.
Not every joke is humorous, so don't search
for meaning where there isn't one.
Not every eye can see,
not every sea is full of pearls.
My hart, sing the song of longing
like nightingale.
The sound of your voice casts a spell
on every stone, on every thorn.
First, lay down your head
then one by one
let go of all distractions.
Embrace the light and let it guide you
beyond the winds of desire.
There you will find a spring and nourished by its see waters
like a tree you will bear fruit forever.

Photo by Brooklyn Bridge Baby
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23021987@N06/3426905505/

Royalty Free Footage...

2009-11-23T09:40:00.000Z

I have been looking for a bit of footage from the second World War to drop into my LES PAYNE documentary. It looks as though it may not be possible, having no budget whatsoever.
This article is really good and explains alot, hence it having a space on here.

Making video
How to spice up your film for free

Hours of fascinating online footage are waiting to be spliced into your video - you just need to know where to look, writes Ben Frain

Ben Frain
The Guardian,
Saturday 26 January 2008

Regardless of a project's existing merits, there are times when you'll want to splice (and spice) up your footage with a little something extra. Well, you can. Be it a sequence from a classic silent movie or footage of an Arctic icesheet breaking apart, the internet boasts achives full of wonderful (and weird) footage just crying out to be in your film.

Sadly, but obviously, you can't just take your pick of footage from any TV or film, as almost all video (and music too) is subject to a strict licence agreement. Making use of such footage, even for personal use, is illegal without the consent of the copyright owner. However, help is at hand in the form of "royalty-free" footage, of which plenty is available for download on the web.

Free, or not so free

However, royalty-free simply means that additional fees are not due to the originator every time the item is used. This kind of footage has either been shot with the express intention of being royalty-free, or for other reasons has passed into the public domain (as part of a national archive, say).

But before you type in "free footage" on Google and go download crazy, note the word "additional" is in italics. That's because most royalty-free stock footage still costs money to use - it's just that you only have to pay for it once, with a simple flat fee. This is known as "payable" stock footage: once the fee is paid, you can use it in any setting, from personal movies to a cinematic blockbuster, and never have to pay another penny. But given that payable royalty-free footage ranges in cost from £50 to £1,000, as an amateur film-maker you have to be pretty certain you can't live without that shot.

Thankfully, there are also plenty of absolutely free stock footage sources, and many of them boast incredible footage. In the UK, the Creative Artists Licence Group (CALG) - which includes Channel 4, the BBC, Open University and the British Film Institute - makes a wide variety of exceptional footage available for download for creative, non-commercial use (for this and similar sites, see below).

Download differences

Most stock footage websites make their content available for immediate download. Downloading footage requires a couple of considerations: format and download speed.

Video around the world is recorded to differing broadcasting standards. As such, the camcorders we use here in the UK (Pal format) create footage that is slightly different to those in the United States (NTSC format). This discrepancy is largely transparent when editing, as programs like iMovie are smart enough to know the difference. However, these programs can get a little unstuck if different formats are inadvertently mixed in the same project. In short, if you shoot footage with an everyday MiniDV camcorder, look for clips marked as "standard definition Pal" (sometimes also described as 720 x 576). If your project is in HD resolution, look for footage that matches your HD settings ("1080i", for example).

Be aware that any lengthy sections of full-resolution footage may download at glacial pace, even on a fast broadband connection. Therefore, it is worth considering the destination and the audience for your project. For example, if you only ever intend to show your video project online, don't remortgage your house for a slice of footage in HD resolution that will take three years to download, as all the extra detail contained in the footage will be lost when viewed online.

Three Minutes

2009-11-22T23:27:00.000Z

THREE MINUTES OF SILENCE

I have been playing around with this for a while and I think it boils down to

THREE MINUTES.

(pardon the pun)

THREE MINUTES

Three minute warning to leave

Three minute mile to run

Three minutes to boil an egg

Three minutes to remember the dead

When I was at the rememberance day parade at High Wycombe a few weeks back, i stood with others outside the church.

I watched the hands clasped behind backs, old gnarled hands as aged as tree trunks.

One of the last leaves fall from a branch above the crowd and followed it with my vision as it fell, very slowly to the concrete street below.

John Cage Rocks...

2009-11-20T12:36:00.001Z

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/04/john_cage_on_a_.html

I found this article about the amazing John Cage.

John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer, philosopher, poet, music theorist, artist, printmaker,[1] and amateur mycologist and mushroom collector. A pioneer of chance music, electronic music and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde. Critics have lauded him as one of the most influential American composers of the 20th century.[2][3] He was also instrumental in the development of modern dance, mostly through his association with choreographer Merce Cunningham, who was also Cage's romantic partner for most of their lives.[4][5]
Cage is perhaps best known for his 1952 composition 4′33″, the three movements of which are performed without a single note being played. The content of the composition is meant to be perceived as the sounds of the environment that the listeners hear while it is performed,[6] rather than merely as four minutes and thirty three seconds of silence,[7] and the piece became one of the most controversial compositions of the twentieth century. Another famous creation of Cage's is the prepared piano (a piano with its sound altered by placing various objects in the strings), for which he wrote numerous dance-related works and a few concert pieces, the best known of which is Sonatas and Interludes (1946–48).[8]
His teachers included Henry Cowell (1933) and Arnold Schoenberg (1933–35), both known for their radical innovations in music and coincidentally their shared love of mushrooms, but Cage's major influences lay in various Eastern cultures. Through his studies of Indian philosophy and Zen Buddhism in the late 1940s, Cage came to the idea of chance-controlled music, which he started composing in 1951. The I Ching, an ancient Chinese classic text on changing events, became Cage's standard composition tool for the rest of his life. In a 1957 lecture, Experimental Music, he described music as "a purposeless play" which is "an affirmation of life – not an attempt to bring order out of chaos nor to suggest improvements in creation, but simply a way of waking up to the very life we're living".[9]

FIG(1) GROUND meeting on the 27th November!

2009-11-20T12:11:00.000Z

The FIG(1) GROUND meeting on the 27th November.

Participant Review day

Friday 27th November at the Arts Council England offices in London
starts 11.30am for 12, and finishes at 4pm.
The purpose of the day will be to share experiences, expand on our personal responses to issues/ideas raised, and think about next steps..
If you didn't attend one of the figure ground events but are interested in coming along, please email us at figuregroundprojects@gmail.com

It will be interesting to see what people have been up to and possibly catch up with a few collaberations. Check it out on facebook

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=photos&gid=56498558616

FACE 2 FACE on Shooting People

2009-11-16T11:13:00.000Z

These self-portraits were collected from the general public between July and October 2009. They are proof that I have connected with these people and asked them to engage in the process of drawing. Each portrait contains the essence of the person who drew, kind of like a pictorial DNA with eyes, nose and a mouth!Over 800 people took part. This film contains approx 600 drawings.Music by NEOTROPIC.Film by Lynne D Jones

I have just uploaded this film to Shooting People.
It is the last part of the journey of my FACE2FACE project.

Mainland 30th Anniversary Gig

2009-11-12T19:56:00.001Z

The Legendary Les Payne and his band Mainland.

The name MAINLAND is a reference to Les moving for the Isle of Wight to mainland UK during the 1960's.

This gig was to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the band. They had not played together for ten years.

They hope to play together every year from now on.

500 self portraits on Flickr

2009-11-12T11:43:00.000Z

500 Self Portraits on Flickr!
I have yet to add the other 200 collected from Oxford.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lynnejones/sets/72157622663360881/

Halloween night with Fireworks.

2009-11-04T11:27:00.000Z

Fireworks and bonfire night at Princes Risborough was on Halloween this year.

Halloween Cake(& recipe)

2009-11-02T19:18:00.000Z

This is the finished Halloween cake after the creative team had decorated it! And THEY WON!!! Yippee!

Here is the recipe I made up for the cake.

Weigh your eggs.

(For this cake I used 6 organic free range)

Add an equal amount of

Organic Butter

Organic Flour

Sugar

Choc Chips

plus approx 3 tablespoons of Cocoa powder

and two small Fromage Frais fruit pots (apricot), you could use any flavour you fancy. I have used this because I wanted to use something a bit more interesting than milk.

When the mixture is ready stir in the choc chips.

Bake at approx 160 until it is cooked!

Then pass it over to a talented creative team who could make it look like this!

This is how it looked after it was demolished!

Scribble Image 1

2009-10-31T15:53:00.000Z

How young do you have to be to make art?

Dylan is drawing for one of the first times in his life. It is a very beautiful thing.

FIG(1) GROUND blogspot

2009-10-31T12:15:00.000Z

I went to an art event by FIG(1) GROUND in Brighton recently
http://fig1-ground.blogspot.com/

http://youhavewonapieceofart.blogspot.com/
More soon...

Looking for work

2009-10-31T11:56:00.000Z

Now that the reality of finally finishing my degree has settled in I am now actively seeking work.
This Arts Council website was suggested.

http://www.artsjobs.org.uk/

My list if job wishes are as follows

PT lecturer
PT teacher
PT youth worker
PT arts co ordinater

OR
I would like to expand on making adverts and music video's.
I have made some adverts/youtube virals and various other bits and pieces for companies.
Maybe this could be the way to go.
Mmmmm

every10steps

2009-10-30T12:15:00.001Z

One photo taken every ten steps....

Housekeeping my mac

2009-10-30T11:36:00.000Z

Since finishing my MA I have had a right good old look through all the files on my Mac and finished off a whole heap of things that were half finished. I was using my stills camera for a while to make video's.
This is a great way to make film like the old style flicks. It is nice not to worry about sound for a change.
I am using my Nikon D50, still my favourite camera.

Services

2009-10-28T11:40:00.001Z

Pease Pottage

Breakfast

Hot

Coffee

Cold

Makeup

Wakeup

Breakfast Rock'n' Roll

(Trendy Granny Texting)

In the pot 9 days old.

OVADA Take Down

2009-10-27T11:15:00.000Z

Today is the day that the exhibition comes down. 700 portraits to unstick from the wall.

OVADA http://www.ovada.org.uk/

have been so hospitable. It has been great to be a part of 'The Mobile Edge' degree show

http://mobileedge.org/

Here are some of the pics of the portraits...

I am hoping to get an exhibition in Princes Risborough next, probably about 80% of the portraits are from there.

It is quite hard to find a shop to put them up in even thought there are plenty of empty shops.

It may be a projection instead.

More will be written about this another time.

Now this bit over and it's time to move onto new things.

Such as

http://youhavewonapieceofart.blogspot.com/

Bring it on!

THE GREAT BAKE OFF!

2009-10-26T17:21:00.000Z

Tomorrow I am going to bake a big flat ginger cake to be decorated for a BAKE OFF where Bob works. Go Go Team Creative!

Here are the pics from last year!

UPDATE

2009-10-26T11:44:00.000Z

In short it has been a long road to the end of my Masters. The show has finished. I take my work down tomorrow.

The road to Oxford has been travelled and my favourite bus the 280 can do without my moaning about it.

So, unless something really go's very badly wrong, I can say i have passed.

NEXT PLEASE?

PLASTIC IS DRASTIC

2007-11-22T14:21:00.000Z

PLASTIC IS DRASTIC is a project set up in conjunction with my MA.
You can find out more at...
http://uk.youtube.com/plasticisdrastic
I continue to make work of this nature as adverts or short films as research into communicating ideas through video.