This is only interestingly boring

#Letter365 No124 gets posted
No124 goes in the box in bright sunshine

I successfully completed the tasks required by myself in this project today without fuss or bother and even got it in the post before the collection had gone so there is nothing much else to say really.

The repetitive and in a way boring nature of a daily task is in itself one of the key aspects of this art process, the sort of process that is endlessly fascinating to me whether it is found in nature or people or the processes of society or our entertainment. This conversation with Ersi Marina Samara  on Twitter gives a hint.

Screen grab of Twitter stream
Screen grab of Twitter stream

On the other had it could be just some kind of madness. This diagram posted on Twitter by @Omdenken could be how it is!

How to be an artist diagram
How to be an artist diagram from @Omdenken
Back of #Letter365 No124
Back of No124

The strong take advantage of the weak

#Letter365 No123 goes in the box
No123 or is it 1-2-3?

When I did my #Collage365 project I gave a title to each piece and often gave clues to strange, oblique connections in the hope that someone with the same references and a similar mental bent would see what I was on about and smile. They would smile the same smile that you might if you had just worked out a hard but almost “closed circle” clue. Recent days have seen a return to that kind of thinking with musical references. Question is, do I give the answers here on the blog? I will today.


Today’s solution is of course Len Barry’s song “1-2-3” in which he suggests that falling in love is something that you just decide to do and which is as easy as “taking candy from a baby”. Seems to me that it is a very cold, manipulative and oppressive attitude and if you watch the video you may feel, like I do, that the cheesiness of his performance is laced with a fair helping creepiness. You could believe that he has actually taken candy from a baby. There is a moment when he actually demonstrates how he did it. Now of course he could offer a defence of being a health watchdog, aiming to save the child from bad teeth and obesity, but his glee says it is just an act of bullying and the misuse of power. This could open up all kinds of angry feelings in me about politics and the suppression of the weak by the strong so I will move on to say that the artwork … well I could get het up over art or depressed about it so I will stop it now.

Back of #Letter365 No123
Back of No123

One third of the way through

Sealing wax on the tip of a scalpel blade
Who says I am mean? Waste not want not!

I half hoped that I would accidentally (or “accidentally”) find the blazing wick would fall out and set light to the envelope but I was far too controlled.

#Letter365 No122 goes in the box
No122 means I have crossed the third of the way mark

So I have managed 122 days straight and that is one third of the year passed and I am still going strong/ Not that there is any doubt that I will finish the job and do all 365.

Back of #Letter365 No122
Back of No122

Close to deadline but I have been most of the day

#Letter365 No121 goes in the box
No121 goes in the box

We went over to Frome today to check out the town (we have heard good reports of it) and particularly to see Paul Newman’s wonderful graphite works as part of Frome Open Studios. To be honest we ended up only seeing Paul’s stuff as we spent ages there and after a nice late lunch we had run out of time on the car park ticket. I’m sure there was plenty of nice stuff to see, but from the brochure Paul’s was clearly the shine out show. Instead of art we decided to drop in on friends in nearby Mells.

So by the time we got home and after cooking a very fine meal I was pushing it a bit and even got this posted (just) before midnight.

Back of #Letter365 No121
Back of No121

Rain again so this one may be damp outside…and in?

#Letter365 No120 goes in the box in the rain
No120 goes in the box in the rain

The reference to damp inside is my fear that I had chosen the wrong media today as noted in the previous post. As for the stuff on the envelope I feel I need to explain a little.

You may have noticed a musical theme over the last few days. The Morning Glory reference two days ago just popped into my head and yesterday’s Emile Ford was a bit more “manufactured” following on. (I saw Emile Ford’s band the Checkmates on the same bill as the Rolling Stones and the Hollies – a long time ago!) I had forgotten that I was going to say hi to the postie and ask if he had had a good holiday. That was because I stumbled across this post on Twitter from Helen Atkin-Roach about a mystery item:

Photo od an old trouser press
Helen’s mystery item is of course a trouser press

As a time-served Bonzo’s fan I had to enter into a dialogue about it and ended up posting  this video of the Bonzo’s:

This led me to referring to the trouser press in the “Do Not Bend” area and alluding to the album title at the other side. Sad isn’t it? Or maybe it is art of the highest kind! Certainly the Bonzo Dog Band (or Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band as they were then) must have a  right to be labelled art!

On the back, however, I have probably lost the plot and maybe the will to live:

Back of #Letter365 No120
Back of No120