Sunday, February 01, 2009

A good brush is for life

I've mentioned Pete before. I used to work with him and his brother Dave at Anfield and learnt a lot from both of them. Pete reads my blog regularly and posts comments to me.

This year Pete started a Project 365 on Flickr. The deal is that he posts a picture every day for a year - it's is a kind of visual blog. Pete has a good eye for composition and a great sense of humour. I look forward each day to seeing what he has posted. His pictures and their captions never dissapoint me.

Actually Pete's brother Dave has a keen eye for design as well. It is disconcerting that two science graduates should be so damn creative.

Yesterday Pete commented on the picture I posted of my art set up. Not the composition or the standard you understand but rather the content. That made me think. The easel in the picture is over forty years old. I have a palette which is even older. The paint box is thirty as are most of the brushes.

I find it reassuring that there are some things you can buy and keep for life - things that are not affected by fashion. As long as they don't break or wear out you just keep them and they work. Perhaps it is as well Microsoft and the likes don't make art materials otherwise I'd have to renewing them every couple of years.

1 comment:

Pete said...

No pressure at all to keep it up then Keith!?! I'm glad you're enjoying it - I certainly am. And it means I'm using a camera every day which it's too easy not to do.

I hope you start one soon.

Your art stuff is brill, and it reminds me a lot of Finnish culture, which seems to be the antithesis of our disposable society. You save up and buy the best you can and you keep it until it breaks. And if you've bought well and you treat it right - it doesn't break.