28th February 2018: Playing In The Snow / Job Opportunities / Second Version Of Triptych 1944

Today, to be thankful / to be grateful,

for a road absent of moving cars, and children and adults playing in the snow.

for job opportunities to apply for.

for Second Version Of Triptych 1944

27th February 2018: Mum's Good News / Electric Toothbrush / Al Cummin's Book

Today, to be thankful / to be grateful,

for Mum receiving some important and positive news at work.

for a new electric toothbrush

for an old friend’s book being published.

26th February 2018: Fiberoptic Cables / Barry Fox's Art / Relief

Today, to be thankful / to be grateful,

for Fiberoptic cables

for Barry Fox’s art-life and artwork.

for relief, and the practice of collecting evidence to help to shift emotions into a more peaceful place.

25th February 2018: Outside Of Money / Joan Cornellà / Mother’s Curiosity

Today, to be thankful / to be grateful,

for those that see no glory in money.

for Joan Cornellà’s mind, artwork and storytelling.

for my mother’s curiosity whilst showing me her coin collection.

24th February 2018: Understanding Vice/Virtue Beyond Law / Brave People At Yarl's Wood / Detained Voices

Today, to be thankful / to be grateful,

for those that understand that there are criminal acts that are illegal, and criminal acts that are legal. That there are virtuous acts that are legal, and virtuous that are illegal.

for the brave people at Yarl’s Wood. #HungerForFreedom

for Detained Voices for providing important reporting on this shameful conditions.

23rd February 2018: Resistance Of Arms / Lost & Found / Stacy Keach

Today, to be thankful / to be grateful,

for anyone who creates any resistance to the selling of arms - for someone who does not purchase arms, for someone who votes out politicians that support arms sales, for those that destroy weapons, render them ineffective.

for finding something that someone else had lost, and for being able to find it, and bring them relief from worry. To lose. To find.

for Stacy Keach’s performance as Cameron Alexander in American History X. It’s subtle, but yet creates a powerful air of aggression. Control issued through manipulation and suggestion. I keep coming back to this movie. I've watched it a lot, but it never weakens. I never feel like repeat watching of it is a waste of my time, either something new, or it triggers another thought. 

22nd February 2018: Trust / Girls On The Edge / Aid To Eastern Ghouta

Today, to be thankful / to be grateful,

for being given trust in something specific.

for the programme, Girls On The Edge. For Jade, Jess & Erin and all involved.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b09srk9h/girls-on-the-edge

for those helping to get aid to the people of Eastern Ghouta.

21st February 2018: Amplifying The Voices Of Children / Clive Wilson / Edith Beales

Today, to be thankful / to be grateful,

for my friend encouraging her class of children with their enthusiasm to combat the unnecessary use of plastics, and littering with plastics. For helping create a community spirit around this issue.

for Clive Wilson’s paintings. I can’t find much online, and unfortunately I can’t reach him to ask permission to share the postcard copies of the images we have of his work back here, but keep an eye out for this wonderful artist. He achieved some notoriety in Ireland where he used to live.

for the two Edith Beales. Grey Gardens is a fascinating window.

20th February 2018: Carnage / Itchy Arsehole- Sticky Finger / Mixcloud

Today, to be thankful / to be grateful,

for Carnage by Simon Amstell. I watched it on iPlayer. It has a humour inspired by the Iannucci Show/The Day Today for sure.

for two telephone conversations with two close friends. 

for the expression ‘those who go to bed with an itchy arsehole wake up with a stinky finger’

for Mixcloud. It really has cultivated a space where curators want to add thoughtful mixes.

19th February 2018: Siam Surgery / The Waiting Room Bump Into / Feeling Bodies / Lucien Freud

Today, to be thankful / to be grateful,

for the Siam Surgery and its excellent Doctors.

for bumping into an old friend in the waiting room at the surgery.

for feeling your body, identifying your true shape and shapes. You can only really do this by using it in different ways. I’ve been using my mine in a very repetitive way of late and forgotten about its limits and possibilities. I think of Lucien Freud’s wonderful portraits when I think of bodies. He really gets into the skin, the fat, the muscle, the bones and shape. The stretching, the drooping. The irregularity. The peculiarity. The beauty.

18th February 2018: Walter Murch / Wild Field / Single People

Today, to be thankful / to be grateful,

for Walter Murch’s sound design.

for a wild field behind some expensive houses.

for all the single people.

17th February 2018: Tea stains / Moving Without Travelling / #NationalSchoolWalkout

Today, to be thankful / to be grateful,

for the gradient staining of a cup of tea made with hard water and the bag left in.

for pleasure of moving without travelling - an anti-Jamiroquai if you will - skipping, treading water etc…

for the #NationalSchoolWalkout organised by the people behind The Women's March. Getting people in the  streets,  some amplified sense of the votes that  representatives would  loose, demonstrate to those who are choosing a cowardly path.

16th February 2018: Removing Sponsorship From DM / Meeting Up With Friend / The Year Of The Dog

Today, to be thankful / to be grateful,

for the Southbank Centre being another to make the decision to pull advertising in the DM.

for meeting up with a close friend, and sitting in an unusual part of a familiar pub.

for The Year Of The Dog.

15th February 2018: Granni's Coddled Eggs / Elephant Film / Teachers & Students In Dangerous Environments

Today, to be thankful / to be grateful,

for Granni’s coddled eggs.

for Gus Van Saints ‘Elephant’ - and the humanity he captures.

for teachers and students continuing to brave practicing in dangerous environments.

for those who understandably do not, will not.

14th February 2018: Inside Of A Microwave / Byway / Love: Thoughtful & Often

Today, to be thankful / to be grateful,

for seeing the inside of a microwave.

for walking a new byway, hidden in well-trodden landscape. It had escaped me!

for responding thoughtfully and often.

13th February 2018: The Girlfriend Experience / Walking Away / Mum Staying At Home To Get Well

Today, to be thankful / to be grateful,

for Stephen Soderbergh’s ‘The Girlfriend Experience’.

for the understanding more than ever to walk away from certain voices, situations, if the context informs me that a reaction would not help at that time.

for Mum taking the day off because she is unwell. Through her life, she has always felt an authoritarian pressure to go into work when she needs to recover her health. I’m pleased she is recognising it does not diminish ones identity to put your health before the work. I worry for those in less secure situations, where making such a sensible choice would be punished with being dismissed. Such places are symptoms of a failed system. May we correct this.

12th February 2018: Morning Light / Nimco Ali / Conflict Of President Portraits.

Today, to be thankful / to be grateful,

for a gentle morning orange light, and the indication of brighter, longer days. It’s not just feeling the present beauty, but the sense that feeling includes an incorporation of a future truth, a future optimism.

for Nimco Ali

for the conflict artists have accepting commissions to paint those in positions of power. There are many traps towards sentimentality and romanticising as terrible system through a humanising lens. However, with these Obama inclusions, as an act of confirmation that people of colour can achieve such a privileged position in the context of a country famous for its abuse and oppression of people of colour is a hopeful expression within that context.

11th February 2018: The Ballad Of Shirley Collins / Graveyard Supermarkets / Hail

Today, to be thankful / to be grateful,

for Tim Plester & Rob Curry’s The Ballad Of Shirley Collins.
http://player.lush.com/channels/lush/tv/ballad-shirley-collins-film-tim-plester-rob-curry

for walking through graveyard supermarkets.

for Hail. Hailing. Spits of hail. Showers of hail. Rattling hail. Rush of hail.

10th February 2018: A Visit / The One's Below / Gil Hova's The Networks.

Today, to be thankful / to be grateful,

for an unexpected suggestion of a visitation, and consequently, for a friend visiting. 

for the film, The One’s Below. A tense and painful story.

for Gil Hova’s board game, The Networks.

9th February 2018: Films In Darkness / Spot / Ewan Spencer's Photography

Today, to be thankful / to be grateful,

for watching films with the lights off.

for Spot, and the idea of technology aiding the process of reporting sexual harassment in the workplace.

https://www.talktospot.com/about-us

for Ewan Spencer’s photographs of UK Garage nights in the late 90’s.

8th February 2018: Counselling / Ariana Grande / Conversation

Today, to be thankful / to be grateful,

for agreeing a mutual farewell to a relationship that has been of profound value to me. A person who’s help and generosity I shall not forget. Counselling for all who need help, whatever the cause, now!

for Ariana Grande, and the her immediate bravery in response in the Manchester attacks. Got to thinking back to that event, and I am still astounded that she used her power and connections to turn around a concert within a week and invite bravery from so many with another concert in the same venue. When faced with no doubt personal trauma, to engage outwardly and creatively like that was an incredibly healing act.

for a great conversation with a close friend.

7th February 2018: Being Cared For / Bottle-Return Policy / Early Night

Today, to be thankful / to be grateful,

for Dad kindly making me some food and a number of lemon tea’s as I woke up with with flu-symptoms, developed from those I felt at the end of yesterday. 

for the bottle-return policy nationwide in countries like Sweden, Norway… I’m lucky to have observed it in action, visiting my brother. We must implement something similar here as soon as possible. Such a straightforward, clear idea.

for the first early night in a long while.

6th February 2018: Telephone Call / Pictures / Equity.

Today, to be thankful / to be grateful,

for a lovely telephone call with a close friend.

for pictures (I am drawing for my new album) developing freely, organically and well.

for all steps towards equity/ fairness. Power is rarely freely relinquished, corruption needs to be exposed and opposed. Often people suffer personal loss for the greater progression of a society. They are truly brave.

5th February 2018: #ChildrensMentalHealthWeek / Waskerley Way / The Kindness of Memory

Today, to be thankful / to be grateful,

for the mental health of children being highlighted this week #ChildrensMentalHealthWeek. Like many issues, the impact of events early in life guide towards effects later on. A child's health is very important, and it is important that those who impact their upbringing, (in the home, in their schools, in their friendships) are informed and equipped with the resources to best help.

for new sounds from Waskerley Way. The day has come... get your ears around Firelight.

for a warm radiation feeling of kind and open times with friends over the last few days. The mood repeats in positive variations in the memory. Memory is often a harder teacher on me, both over positive and negative issues - I'm glad to recognise a more gentle relationship with it.

4th February 2018: Taxi Driver / Comfortable Bed / Returning Home

Today, to be thankful / to be grateful,

for the taxi driver who kindly waited when I told him I was locked inside.

for friends kindly giving me a comfortable bed when I stayed over.

for the feeling of returning after a wonderful weekend away.

3rd February 2018: Singing Scarecrow / North-East Intertwined / The Folk Horror Festival

Today, to be thankful / to be grateful,

for a charming scarecrow, singing about murder.

for discovering present North East worlds within worlds.

for the curation and celebration of The Folk Horror Festival in Manchester.

2nd February 2018: Mountain Slice / Music / The Hanged Man

Today, to be thankful / to be grateful,

for the sliced side of mountains revealing a stack of sheets; copper, red and brown.

for the opportunity to perform music to an audience again.

for The Hanged Man, imagined with a mannequin of a female anatomy

1st February 2018: Restringing / Counselling Ending / Black History Month

Today, to be thankful / to be grateful,

for the process of restringing instruments.

for the emotions that coming to the end of a course of counselling, a mixture of excitement to move forward with what I have learned, but also nervous in letting go of this incredibly generous support.

for the cause and support of Black History Month.