Moleskine Pages- The Crazies

My 'crazies' are in a particularly active phase at the moment, sigh! It is interfering with my output, my sleep and my sanity!

Moleskine Pages - Blackmail

The meat had the colour and texture of a flesh wound. They still tucked in greedily and soaked up the blood with bread rolls.

Moleskine Pages- 1666

" In the mind of the baying mob, her baby chicks were in fact fire bombs that would destroy their city."
The Great Fire Of London that almost wiped out the City of London in 1666 was such an overwhelming catastrophe, citizens couldn't accept that the cause was a mundane spark that took hold and spread from a bakery. They preferred to attribute it to a supernatural factors. A young woman approaching the city centre  carrying a clutch of chicks to sell, was beset by a mob shouting that the chicks were in fact 'fireballs', whatever they are and that she was a witch ready to cause mischief. The poor woman was beaten almost to death and both her breasts were hacked off. This true story tells us that violence against women is nothing new, and that a mob is an irrational energy that is dangerously suggestible. A true lesson for these troubled times.

Moleskine Pages- I Couldn't Forget

I couldn't forget until I completely remembered, so I chose to live with my nightmares.

Moleskine Pages- Sometimes Everyone Loses

Once upon a time, in an imaginary place. Angels staged an imaginary coup. We counted commas and empty full stops, we cleansed all colons and questioned  marks and dashes... Bullet holes rained like rocks. We lay low in fields of snow and tried not to fall backwards.
Sometimes the bad ones win, sometimes everyone loses.

Moleskine Pages- Little People

When we ran for cover, the only cover was brutal with a stony breast and an evil eye. Why we didn't fight back is a short story; short without sweetness. Common, sad and boring; we were the little people.

Moleskine Pages- We Lived Inside Our Heads

'Our wings were clipped, we all lived inside our heads.'

Moleskine Pages- Roses Are Red

Moleskine Pages - It's My party

' She cracked her heart into a pan and watched it sizzle, an emotion omelette, a meal with feeling. Oral healing Mother do you love me yet?'

Moleskine Pages - Velvet Curtains

' Three acts formed a working play. We watched the beginning, we lived the present, and the end swallowed us up in a black velvet curtain as the darkness absorbed us. The circle is still round, it is still around.'

moleskine Pages 'It's In The Blood'

" The child's cries tore apart the fabri of his familial blanket. It was reduced to it's elemental components. Strands of safety snaking their way to someone else's songbook. What did we expect from our selfish children? What did we want from our saving disgraces?"

We are a patchwork of DNA gathered from those who went before. There is nothing original or unique about our component parts, We give ourselves special status and our hubris will be our downfall.

Jess collins Collages

Jess Collins, (1923- 2004) took up art in earnest after leaving his job at the Hanford Atomic Energy project. He enrolled in The California School Of Art and began to produce the work you see here. You can find more about him on Wikipedia so I don't need to go into great depth here. Jess's work ties into my current interest ( and Lucy's) in the Horror Vacui.

A new moleskine March 2011

So much of my work reaches back to my childhood, I feel a great need to give a voice to my 5 year old self. At the age of five I was a master at reading people and behaving in a way that would save me from trouble. My antennas were on constant alert, it was exhausting, but it was a survival mechanism. As an adult I am free to say whatever I want but why then do I still feel afraid?

I used to fantasize as a child about having superpowers, I was convinced there was a way to acquire them, all I had to do was wait for a sign. It is obvious now that these fantasies stemmed from a deep sense of powerlessness and frustration. Ok, enough with the amateur psychiatry, the less said the better.

I am posting a couple of pages from my new sketchbook. There is not much to say as they are pretty clear.