Yes, I’ve been pretty shaken up over the last week. Who hasn’t. The drawings here were all made before last Tuesday’s news.
This week I’ve been putting all my energy into redecorating our kitchen, so I haven’t managed drawing yet.
Hopefully soon though.
Be kind. Be useful.
You can follow me on Instagram for more immediate updates, or support my art by purchasing a print here.
I took this photo 374 days ago, after a chest biopsy. The doctors had detected a large something in my chest that was causing me difficulty breathing. I had a few dark months not being sure which direction things were going in, I couldn’t even walk down to the shop to get lunch without pausing to catch my breath, and I was being told I should prepare myself for bad news. I was injected with radioactive fluid, put through a large electronic donut, and had bits of me taken away for examination.
Fortunately, it turned out the something was a non-malignancy known as sarcoidosis. The cause is unknown. There is a theory that it is an auto-immune reaction, triggered by perhaps an infection (or stress, or grief, or tiredness, or not stopping). It produced a granuloma in the lymph gland in my chest which was pushing into the lungs. But it had appeared to have stopped getting bigger.
So one year, one week and a day later, the sarcoidosis has receded. I look a bit older, but I have given up sugar and alcohol, lost a big chunk of the weight I put on, have seriously reassessed some priorities, I’m writing every morning and on Friday last week I ran for twenty minutes straight without stopping.
With a bit of luck and application, I might even try a half marathon in the autumn.
Hope all is well with you guys.
Be kind. Be useful. Et cetera.
After some interesting conversations with friends and some on-line encouragement I’ve decided to start the Animated Journal again.
As always it was always about turning the process of animation into an accessible and ephemeral thing rather than the extremely lengthy and complicated process of tradition, and to really try to show how something felt in a particular moment.
These are from elements captured in Leigh Woods a few weeks ago.
Since I completed the first one we’ve had the progression of things like Vine and Instagram video which mean many more people have been playing and being very creative with the very short form. You can find the original Journal here.
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Early Xmas present for me from the team at We Are Hermits, my contributor’s copy of issue one of Strange Altars!!
The theme for this issue is food.
It features beautiful work from Molly Broxton, Eliza Gauger, Erin Albrecht, Gant Powell and many others.
This print version is limited to 250 copies, but PDF is also currently available and digital, audio and boxed versions are forthcoming.
It’s been a real honour to be part of such a beautiful thing.
Submissions are open for the next issue and the theme for that one is ☆☆magic☆☆.
Hi. Sorry I’ve been a bit quiet. My Mum passed away yesterday. She had two massive heart attacks whilst visiting South Shields on the 15th and never regained consciousness. I’ve spent the last couple of weeks with my dad, looking after each other. We were by her side when she passed and she went peacefully.
We would like to thank the extraordinary staff at the ITU Ward South Tyneside District Hospital for their compassion and dedication and the people of the Little Haven Hotel for making a very difficult time as easy as possible.
The picture above is of South Shields harbour. I took it just before we went back to the hospital to say our last goodbyes.
Also thank to everyone for your messages of support and sympathy they are very much appreciated.
I’m on my way back to Bristol today (27th November). Speak soon.
Paul x
A week or so ago I travelled across England to pick up a car. So the away journey was by train and the return by car.
There’s a lot of enforced down time during a trip like that so I took a few photos made a few drawings, read a bit of Vonnegut, thought about stuff. Very enriching in all.
I liked the idea I could sample the sea on opposite coasts in one day. This was not possible on the way there as I was effectively on food and couldn’t get to Clevedon.
So my morning photo of the West that day was this one:
Caught the 11:05 to Paddington, with the express idea of drawing, a possibly trying to catch up on the 365 drawing thing I’ve been going. Not sure if you have tried drawing on a train, most people are too close for you to study without causing a uncomfortable situation and generally stuff is going passed so quickly outside you need a super fast photographic memory to get it in your brain before you can decide how to represent it on the page.
So I decided to go for the horizon, because that goes pass slower and if you miss a bit it doesn’t look too weird if you just join on to the contiuation.
I added the times and locations at points, also a few announcements from the guard to add some
.
I got as far as Didcot Parkway on that then got the I’ll-miss-my-stop-fear, even theough the train was terminating. The connections were really tight as I got a super cheap ticket I had to make everyone.
Managed to take a picture of Yea Olde Saint Pancras as I got to Kings Cross.
Then there I was in the East. It’s quite flat there. We picked up the car somewhere in the middle of the Fens, this is what it is like there.
Mostly sky.
I stayed over night at my folks place. There’s a lot of amazing old photos there. They should write a book.
Here is a picture of my Grandad at a Grasstrack meeting at Bourne in June 1949, less that 4 years after the end of the Second World War. Two Soldiers looking on. (Grandad’s on the left):
So the next day I set off as early as I could (which wasn’t that early), this time because I had wheels I could take a picture of the sea, here known as the Wash. It’s quite shallow there so the sea is often very flat compared to the ocean that crashes in on the West coast.
Wanted to draw on the way back too. But you can’t draw when driving. That is bad. So I took breaks (7 hour drive altogether), and when I took a break I drew the backend of whatever I could see.
I got caught in a nasty jam on the M62 so didn’t get back home until late. But just in time to catch the end of the light in this picture of the opposite Sea.
Paul Greer 