The Hepworth Sculpture Prize, A Child's Eye View

The Hepworth, Wakefield, is just a hop, skip, and a ride on the free city bus away from home and it is, and has been since it opened, The Boy and I's go to place if we're at a loose end and want to spend some time together.

The gallery is currently running the first Hepworth Prize for Sculpture, the exhibition is the biggest and most ambitious that  has been mounted in it's five year history and is part of The Hepworth's anniversary celebrations,

Tattoo You: Once More, With Feeling

A couple of years ago my now 21 year old twin daughters got their first tattoos, of the recently deceased family cat (you can read about that here) as it happens.

They were, are, nice tattoos, despite breaking Rule 5 of the Tattoo Rules I drew up when they decided to get them done .....
 

The Tattoo Rules

Rule 1: No tattoos anywhere that can be seen by other people in everyday, normal life.
  
Rule 2: No tattoos behind the ears, top of the neck, inner wrist , ring finger, or foot.

Rule 3: No names.

Rule 4: In fact no words at all because spelling.. grammar... bad handwriting. ... SO many things that can go wrong.

Rule 5: No all black tattoos.

Rule 6: Nothing designed by a friend.
  
Rule 6: Think very, very carefully about what you are choosing to have tattooed into your epidermis for the rest of your life. 


But one tattoo is never enough, apparently. Daughter 1 recently took herself to be inked for a third time and managed to break at least four of the rules all in one go.

This tattoo can be seen, it's on her ankle, it's black, it's words, and it's in handwriting.

I can't be too dismayed though, because having asked me to write the words down, she took them away and came back with my handwriting forever tattooed in her skin. I think I love it almost as much as I love her.....

....Even if it the words are taken from a Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode and not the collected works of Shakespeare. *Sighs*

Maybe next time.

My Favourite Photos of 2016

My annual photographs seem to come up with much the same subject matter year after year. There'll be shots of the family, but they get increasingly less and less as the children grow older and don't so much pose anymore as run away screaming.

There's usually photos of Whitby, and photos of steam engines, and photos of steam engines in Whitby. There is, very probably, photos of sheep, for no other reason than on days out in the Yorkshire countryside, the least unwelcoming being you'll meet is probably a sheep.*

Nevertheless do not be deterred, here are my favourite photographs of 2016...

Saal Digital Photo Book ... A Review

I'm one of those people who take photographs all the time. Of everything and anything, and mostly of other people who shout: 'Oh, mum. Don't.' at me shortly after. I'm also one of those people who never, ever gets their photos printed out, thousands languish on my hard drive unseen for years

Until, that is, Saal Digital came to the rescue with the opportunity to create one of their photo books. Saal Digital is a German company specialising in printing services and they offer a range of photo books in a number of sizes and formats: Landscape or portrait, with soft covers, hardcovers, or luxurious leather bindings. 

There's a choice of glossy or matt pages, lots of colour options for both the cover and pages, you can add your own text, and there's loads of page templates to help you design your photo book. You can even freestyle it your own way using the software's page grids and resizing tools. Either way you can truly individualise each page cherry picking from the templates or not, depending on how you choose each double page spread to look.

The front cover of my Saal Design photo book

Happy New Year 2017

For 2017

Run at life. Grab it, squeeze it, wrestle it. Appreciate it, enjoy it, use it. Love it. 

Take it for long walks in the woods, for picnics on the beach, and dancing at weekends.

Life is what you make it. Make it matter.

Happy New Year 2017