Still alive....

A leisurely Christmas period - cooked, read, drank, watched films, but painted nothing and drew only a little.  The conventional wisdom states that one should paint every day - but I find that a rest from art work now and then is important; to reflect on what you're doing, or not doing; and to gain a different perspective.  I'm not fond of just churning work out - it's also said that waiting for inspiration is the mark of the amateur.  Perhaps it is.  On the other hand, I don't live by painting - I'd starve if I did.  So, if I don't actually wait for inspiration, I do wait for a subject that engages my interest.

At 65, I should care whether I'm regarded as an amateur or not..... (as in: I don't).

So my creative impulses over Christmas and New Year went into cooking pheasant, brisket of beef, and a rather splendid steak and mushroom pie.

But now what?  The new year has dawned - damply - and I need to work out what exactly I'm going to do.  Certainly, I look forward to participating in the work of the National Association of Painters in Acrylic.  I'll continue, for as long as he wants me, to contribute to Mr Pratim Das's online Coloured Canvas magazine.  I will try to re-cast my e-book Oil Paint Basics, available only on the Amazon Kindle Store at present, into a form which I hope will be publishable in paperback.  I will continue to hope than an article I sent to Leisure Painter magazine months ago will actually get published, as the editor assured me it would -- getting a little tired of seeing the same old faces and the same old stuff in magazines, to be quite frank....

I shall probably continue with such of an interest as I currently take in the Labour Party - more in hope than anything else.  But I'm abandoning Twitter, not that I was ever a frequent tweeter - because it's such a cess-pit.  Sharing things there is one thing; don't mind doing that.  But the number of politicians who have dropped themselves right in it up to the neck and slightly beyond is incredible - incredible that they should be so stupid as to think they can say anything worthwhile in a sentence or two, or anything that won't get them into trouble because they're bound to be misunderstood.  Facebook too is going to take a back seat - the social media might better be described as the anti-social media so far as I'm concerned.  (There was a last straw with Facebook, but in characteristic kindness on my part, I shan't reveal what it was since that would also reveal who was at the centre of it.)

I will try to wean myself away from the Guardian's Comment is Free pages, on which I appear all too often, as Wightpaint: it's not worth the effort: the Guardian needs a complete clear-out of its political staff (and its arts staff, but then its coverage there has always been abysmal).   And there are one or two medical issues to attend to............ as you'd expect.

Which only really leaves painting, unless I'm to loll around all day doing nothing.  Hmmm.  It's a thought.....

Politics is best left to the young.  They'll make a mess of it, that's the trouble....................  and they think you can do politics via Facebook.   Bless 'em.

Ah well.  Happy New Year.....