End bit.

 “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” (Charles Dickens).

Mostly, it was the best of times. For sure. From 2006, having a painting being shown in Thoresby Gallery, just a short walk from my one-time primary school, to 2019, and exhibiting / selling a print in the Harley. Thirteen years of fun, creativity, making art, writing. I thought of it as a continuing series of adventures, and it was. Until the world suddenly turned on its axis. Or was it just my world? Either way, the people and places of those adventures would never be the same.

The Covid pandemic, 2020 / 2021, with its dubious vaccinations and lockdowns, seemed to set the mood for what followed, though was not entirely to blame. Significant places for my sketchbook activities became forever off-limits. Significant people moved on. I am sure everything is alluded to, one way or another, within this blog. But no regrets. 2022 found me once again exhibiting and selling. 2023 had me publishing. 2024 has me mostly wondering, “Okay, but what shall I do now?”

I’m not really sure. But whatever it is, I shall write about it on a new blog. ‘Bye for now.

All text copyright ian gordon craig.

The Homeland.

 

I still like to wander around the homeland from time to time. I guess I always will.

All photographs copyright ian gordon craig.

Out with the old, in with the new.

It is one year since the publication of my first book, “46 Contemporary Poems in Various Styles”.

It’s been a year of sketchbooks, keeping my Twitter / X page active, as a place to promote my book and my art. One might say it’s been a year of promotions. But it’s also been a year, at least the last few months, of starting my second book. And this I have done.

So, I’m thinking the New Year is going to be in need of a new blog. The blog you are reading now is totally public. The new blog won’t be public for a while yet.

All text and photographs copyright ian gordon craig.

Photographs.

All photographs copyright ian gordon craig.

Twitter / X sketchbook.

 

All artwork copyright ian gordon craig.

#Sketchbook November.

 

Top to bottom: Parliament Oak, the Major Oak, a witch, and Byron's Oak (only the stump remains).

All artwork copyright ian gordon craig

#Sketchbook October.

 

A woolly hat might be a good idea in the cold weather, but perhaps not in blue...

All artwork copyright ian gordon craig.

#Sketchbook September.

Sketchbook pages from my walks around Thoresby Park.

 All artwork copyright ian gordon craig.

Twitter / X musings.

 

More Twitter / X silliness. The challenge was to interpret a famous art work.

All artwork copyright ian gordon craig.

a chance poetic encounter.

 Today I made a trip into town to place copies of my book inside those venues I once frequented, and wherein some of the inspiration came from. The trip resulted in an encounter which left a lasting impression.

I don’t give money to the homeless, but I always buy them a sandwich & drink lunch if I see them outside the store I get my groceries from. The guy I came across today was situated nowhere near a food store. So, in high spirits, I asked him if he read poetry, and gave him a copy of my book.

It transpired that not only does he read poetry, he writes it as well, and commenced to recite two for me. They were incredible! So there were, exchanging poems on the pavement. Good times.

I encouraged him to self-publish. But I don’t know how the homeless could access that facility.

All text copyright ian gordon craig.

Hari Krishna.

 Strolling around town today, with no particular intention. A young Hari Krishna guy asked me for a donation. I have no cash on me, not that I would have donated anyway, but offered a verse of the song instead. So, there I was, middle of a busy central city side-walk, singing a verse of “Hari Krishna, Hari Hari”. (You know the tune). His face lit up.

 All text copyright ian gordon craig.

Aliens.

 

Some silliness on Twitter / X, when I know I really should be writing. This is the problem with social media, even when one is not really sociable. The urge to get noticed overrides all sense.

All artwork copyright Ian Gordon Craig

My garden.

 

Top: If garden benches could only speak, what stories they could tell.

Bottom: I had to replace the heavy stone with an alternative arrangement in my tree-stump sculpture.

All artworks & photographs copyright ian gordon craig.

Spring 2024.

 

All artworks copyright ian gordon craig.

Looking at things a different way.

 

 Bored (for a while) with observational drawing, I decided on marker pens, imagination, cardboard sheets, and see what happens.

All artworks copyright ian gordon craig.

Landscapes in March.

 

March is my favourite month. The bleakness of January and February hopefully passed.

All artworks copyright ian gordon craig.

My first book's reception.

 

I personally regard my first book as the most important thing I’ve ever created. In my own opinion, my artworks aren’t always as successful in achieving what I was trying to say. I like to think that those persons I especially wanted to read it, did so. Little else matters. Certainly not any hopes of commercial enterprise.

The reception was positive, albeit at the same time rather silent in some quarters close to home. If you actually knew me in the real world, between 2006 and 2020, you would have totally “got” it. Feedback from those who have “known” me via the internet in more recent times, has been positive. Those who had formed opinions of me over many, many years, may have found it harder to assimilate and comment upon. I understand that. C’est la vie.

I am now intending on a second book, either 46 short stories or (more likely), the novel I’ve been toying with for years. Art is now taking a back seat called sketchbook, rather than canvas and exhibitions.


All text & artwork copyright ian gordon craig.

Pastels in the Park.

 

Weather was fine enough to visit Thoresby Park. I needed a bit of an art reset. So, oil pastels on large, cheep brown wrapping paper was the challenge of the day.

All artworks copyright ian gordon craig.

Published.

One might think that having done all the writing & editing work, then the Kindle Create and upload stage would be easy. No.  However, all is done now. I am published: "46 Contemporary Poems in Various Styles".

My original idea was to include 47 poems, the family's lucky number, but I rejected one piece. Reading one’s words on Kindle, as opposed to all the weeks of reading through them on my laptop, is a little odd at first. Seeing them through the "lens" of a Kindle screen, as indeed the audience will, takes a bit of getting used to. But by bedtime, I got over that.

I am thinking ahead now to a possible "46 Short Stories & Pros"...

All art and text copyright ian gordon craig.

Writing through October.

 I have spent the past couple of months preparing for self-publishing an eBook of my poems.

I think the earliest piece comes from the late-80s, but all the rest certainly from 2007 – 2020. However, everything chosen has been re-edited and improved. A lot of my writing used to be basic, stream of conscious stuff that I put on Blogger or sometimes even set to music. Those original posts provided just a starting point to now edit, embellish, or indeed mix together to make new works.

Today, after reading various self-publishing guide lines, I reached that point where all are now “ready to go”.

All text & Photographs copyright ian gordon craig.

October sketchbook.

 Bridge over River Maun, Ollerton; clouds over Thoresby fields; Thoresby Park country lane. On the look-out again for new subjects. It's getting tricky!

 All artwork copyright ian gordon craig.