Simon's Blog

I love charcoal .. I just enjoy pushing and pulling the material … it feels really alive and the added bonus is that it is nice and messy…you just can’t take the little boy out of me.

Simon Marchini
http://www.simonmarchini.co.uk

In the studio for the first time in a while and I’m really pleased to be away from all things HTML … Yesterday after feeling sorry for myself I got down and proof read five pages. This doesn’t sound much but it is a start and as the website is only made up of only 10 pages then you would assume job half done. Wrong. The main body is still to be attacked… but at least it is a start …which is what this charcoal drawing is…

Let’s go suffering, come on baby

Simon Marchini
http://www.simonmarchini.co.uk

For an awful long time I’ve been working on some  research about salt ways in the prehistoric period.  I finally have written up much of the research on my web site – however, I haven’t published it yet as I need to proof read it, which for some one who suffers from some form of dyslexia/word blindness  is easier said than done.  I have put it off and out it off for a while and now I just don’t seem to be able to sit down and do the blasted thing.  This is so so frustrating.   It also means that  other things I wanted to do are having to be put on hold.  In the end I just find my self doodling instead of getting on with things.   I must get a hold and read the dame thing…I really really must.

I’m in a bit of hands free mode at the moment.   I’m not trying to make things in proportion but rather just try and capture things as I see them – which is something completely different as I always get things out of proportion without rigorous checking.  I guess the reason for this that I’m sinking under all things Iron Age and earlier – especially the ice age art which is quite exquisite and at the same time raw and powerful.  They were creating images of things that they knew intimately.  Well it makes sense to me.

Don’t stop believin…

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=619387341431584&l=4897586169289778953

First off may I apologise for the poor video handling in this post.  I’m a novice at this aspect so am stumbling about.  I guess the easiest thing I could have done would have been to scrub this through YouTube but that is another story.

So the Curve.   For those of you who do not know the The Curve is the newish theatre complex in Leicester.  It is a huge building slapped down in the middle of the city with no real feel for its surrounding.  However, yesterday I attended my son’s degree ceremony at the venue when he was ‘officially’ awarded his Doctorate and so I’ve been through two other of these ceremonies but none of them compared to the experience of the Curve.   Yes the actual degree ceremony was a bit of a shambles, the wrong Professor stood up to announce the wrong graduants  which caused some confusion and why do Vice Chancellors insist on boring the audience rigid with long speeches that are at best adverts for the University and at worse incoherent ramblings…yesterday’s was somewhere between the two.    None of the audience cared – they were there for their children/friends to walk on to the stage and get their certificates.

That was the magic that the Curve brought to the proceedings … it was presented as a stage show with the students the centre of the show – quite literally as they appeared from behind a curtain at the back of the stage at the start waving to the audience – this got a great cheer from all.  The only thing they got wrong was the sound system which spoiled the DMU Gospel choir by almost drowning out some great singing.

The proceedings outside the ceremony were also handled in a much more professional fashion.  The building is designed to deal with a large audience and so there was plenty of space inside, this was the middle of winter after all, to meet and greet as well as capture all those smart phone shots.   The official photos were  well handled as well with a large room set aside for the purpose and a bank of six photographers ready to capture those all important family shots.

So all in all and great day in a great venue…just wish the vice chancellor speech wouldn’t go on and on.  They are not the centre of the proceedings the graduants were and they were the only ones who mattered.

It has been one of those days today…can’t get excited about anything and equally have no motivation to finish the work I’ve already started…oh it’s so unfair…boo hoo…still I’m now old enough to know these things happen and tomorrow I’ll fell a whole lot different.  Even the Mac is on a go slow.