Almost perfect

I take a moment away from work and go outside to catch the late night air... I need a moment to breathe. I love how she's tired and has already fallen asleep but wakes when I move, follows me outside and lays down on the cold ground at my feet. I sit drinking hot tea, the only thing I can hear right now is the wind blowing the big old tree far above me.

It's almost perfect... almost.

Model: The new BGD collection

I recently modelled some of the new BGD collection. Some of the images are featured in the latest issue of Devolution Magazine.

Photograph by me for Digital Data Corruption, additional artwork by Tairrie B for BGD

Artwork by Tairrie B for BGD

You can grab a copy of the magazine here: Devolution Magazine Store

Out of sync with the world until now...

I've always lived in topsy turvy world mainly fueled by insomnia. I sleep when the world around me is awake and in the past have spent many a lonely night awake while everyone else is asleep. Always in time with myself but out of sync with the rest of the world.

I have friends in other parts of the world, who due to the time difference, keep similar hours to me so there has always been someone to call if I wanted to hear a voice but that's always been a juggling act... holding a phone to one ear whilst doing other things. It's not always practical and can be expensive if you don't have a cheap phone package.
All this is now a thing of the past, thanks to finally discovering the wonderful world of Skype!
I know it's not new and everyone else has probably been using it forever but it was just something I had never really looked into properly until now...

Suddenly my solitary night time existence is no longer a solitary affair and it's going to take a while to get used to that BUT I think it's amazing.
It's moments like this that my old fashioned, analogue heart loves living in a thoroughly modern digital world.

-A

'Deco Pop'

Inspired by Art Deco and Pop Art.

-A

The Embrace

My birthday occurred during the weekend that just passed.
It was a rather strange, surreal affair involving a low-key picnic in Regents Park with a few close friends and family. It’s not the event itself that I want to write about … instead I would rather make a note of something I learned.

My grandmother had travelled to London to spend the day with me. My aunt had escorted her on the trip and was having problems with her back, which she attributed to her age (she is in her 60’s). My grandmother laughed and remarked that she wished she were in her 60’s again, for how wonderful that would be. How she would paint London Town red if she were such a YOUNG age.
She has always been incredibly young at heart and has a raging passion for life and it’s only now in her 80s that she is slowing down due to the constraints of her elderly shell. So yes, she truly believes that life is full of endless possibilities when you are 60!
It made me realise that we spend too much time believing we are ‘too old for this ‘or ‘too old to achieve that’. Most people I know are in their 20’s or 30’s and spend their birthdays complaining about how old they are and wallow in the misery of knowing they are marking yet another years passing. How they will be too old to do things and achieve certain dreams.
Yet it’s the exact opposite, we have so much time to do all the things we want. We are lucky to have many years ahead to paint the town red, black and blue if we so choose...

A photo of my Grandmother Feb, 09

The following morning I went for coffee with my grandmother in St.Pancras Station before she boarded her train for home. We sat upstairs, in the coffee house situated at the feet of ‘The Meeting Place’ statue.

It felt a little weird sitting there, smiling and chatting in the station that houses the Eurostar trains as Paris has been on my mind a lot recently. A few years ago I spent my birthday there and I had recently remarked how I longed to embrace Paris once more.

As I looked up at the two figures entwined, I wondered why it had never been officially called ‘The Embrace’. For if I had just departed a train and this statue came into my sightline, I would know I was about to truly embrace London Town and all it had to offer. It also made me think of the beautiful elderly lady sitting across from me, and how she would continue to embrace life until the very end.

It made me realise that time is on my side and that you have to reach out and embrace the things you really want.

-A

'The Meeting Place' St. Pancras Station. London

“The extent of your consciousness is limited only by your ability to love and to embrace with your love the space around you, and all it contains”

“I think I don't regret a single 'excess' of my responsive youth-I only regret, in my chilled age, certain occasions and possibilities I didn't embrace.”

“Never anticipate a moment or day in your life, instead learn to anticipate every moment and embrace everyday. Find greatness in everything and purpose even in the hardest times.”

“Why are you afraid of death? I mean everybody fears death but it’s the ones who live life to the fullest are the ones who embrace it and have no regrets.”