Going old-school

I have been reading Fiona McCarthy's biographies of Burne-Jones and William Morris and feel shamed and inspired by the productivity of the Pre Raphaelites and Arts and Crafts guys. I woudn't in any way compare my work to theirs, but to not even find the time to get on with my poor scribbles... They achieved such a body of work in such a variety of media AND kept a wide circle of friends, raised families and traveled abroad long before the advent of phones, cars, air travel, let alone the interwebs... All this technology that is supposed to facilitate communication, education and contact, maybe it just makes us lazier. Spoilt by such a wealth of easily accessible entertainment and information, are we becoming spectators – witnessing but not truly engaging? I certainly feel the need to clear my head, as my brain becomes crowded with more trivia and I constantly compare myself unfavourably with my perception of other people's dynamism. To top it all, not content with turning out huge canvasses, illustrated volumes of poetry, designs for stained glass and tapestries, furniture and tiles, the aforementioned would knock off a prodigious amount of letters, often adorned with cartoons and caricatures I would be proud to show off. Some like this example are even actual comic strips.

Edward Burne-Jones, 'The Artist Attempting to Join the World of Art with Disastrous Results', 1880s, British Museum

Gone girl

I have left facebook. Let's see how that works out.

The trouble with facebook