John’s notebook

John Vernon Lord sent us these fabulous images from his notebook.  It includes a wonderful set of illustrated palindromes and if you don’t know what a palindrome is then shame on you and go look it up.  For those unaware of the legendary Mr. Lord or think he used to play keyboards for Deep Purple rather than having designed one of their iconic album covers then enjoy these fabulous offerings!

Goodbye Stan

Sadly, at the age of 95, we say goodbye to Stan Lee the founder of Marvel comics as he sails off to join artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko in the unknown realms beyond.

I first encountered Stan Lee in the pages of FANTASTIC (UK b&w reprints of Marvel comics) when I was ten years old and he has been involved in my life in some way or another through comics and films ever since. That’s not all though. Like many millions the world over I was strongly influenced by Stan Lee’s humanistic life philosophy and that’s what I think we should recognise most. Stan Lee’s legacy of morality, accountability and good-naturedness that are needed in this modern world of terrorism and cybercrime more than ever before.  Stan Lee also realised that no matter how young someone is they have something to offer and that we shouldn’t treat anyo9ne differently because of their age, gender or anything else.  You can see this aspect of Stan Lee as early as the first X-Men comic way back in the 1960s where Bobby Drake complains of being treated like a kid compared to the others.  Later on the intelligence and skill of a young girl was well-demonstrated by Kitty Pride as she polished off a malevolent alien single-handedly.

We need Stan Lee to help us show the villains in the world that they should wake up and realise that knowledge and power do entail responsibility, that compassion is a great strength, that humanity thrives on differences and that external appearances don’t tell us what is inside. We need to see like Stan Lee did that many different skillsets are required for us to meet the challenges of our ridiculously fast-growing world population (for every 151,000 who die each day a staggering 352,000 are being born!), the pressures invoked by using up limited natural resources and the dangers of an indefinable but clearly possible threat of global human extermination as a result of our abuse of the planet.

If humanity survives the challenges ahead of us well then I think that it will be to some degree or other due to the messages that Stan Lee proclaimed all his life and we should thank him for that. I know I do.

Ed Org shows for the remainder of 2018

Here are your very last chances to see Ed Org in person at the shows he is attending this year:

30th September  – Bath Vintage and Collectors . Green Park Station . Bath .

6/7th October  – Antiques & Collectors Fair . National Botanical Garden of Wales . Llanarthne . SA32 8HG

20/21 October  – Art & Antiques . The Mona Showground . Gwalchmai . Anglesey . LL65 4RW

28th October   – Vintage & Artisan Fair . The Cornhall . Cirencester . Gloucestershire . GL7 2NY

10/11 November  – Detling Antiques & Collectors Fair,  Kent County Showground, Maidstone, Kent, ME14 3JF

17/18 November  – Art & Antiques Fair . Devon Showground . Westpoint . Exeter . EX5 1DJ

24/25 November  – Ludlow Medieval Fair . Ludlow . Shropshire . SY8 3AR

If you having spent most of your life living in Alpha Centuri and are therefore not yet familiar with the amazing work of this incredible artist then just take a look here.

Will you be getting some painful untruth tomorrow?

Okay, sounds bad, but actually it’ll most certainly be brilliant as that is the title of the new exhibition at the Waterfront Arts Project in Southport that opens tomorrow Sunday 11 September 2016.

You’ll find it between the Ramada Hotel and the Casino that are both across the road from the beginning of the pier. It opens at 2pm and there is usually a lovely buffet of snacks and drinks. The exhibition and the food and drink are all free so you might want to show your appreciation by making a generous donation since that’s all the income these guys and gals get for their very hard work creating one of the most brilliant contemporary art shows you’ll find anywhere.

So; if you are anywhere near Southport get along to “The Painful Untruth” and if you can’t make it tomorrow it will be on for a few months afterwards so plenty of time to catch up with it even if you miss out on the free food and drink tomorrow.

Phew! That was close!

When I started Artists UK over 20 years ago I was aware that the fortunes of various art and artists might wax and wane over time but I always thought the UK would remain intact so it was quite a shock to see the possibility of Scotland going independent. After all, Artists IWANI doesn’t quite have the same appeal or brevity does it? You did work that out, didn’t you – England, Wales And Northern Ireland. So I’d like to say a really big thank you to all those lovely Scottish folks who voted to stay in the UK and stopped us from being renamed Artists IWANI. I’d come and give each one of you a hug if it wasn’t going to take so long to get round you all and I’m not much good at running up and down highland hills nowadays. But leave a funny comment and you might just get a very nice discount coupon back by email …

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