Bird Blog

Blue Ridge Mountains

2010-06-21T15:50:00.000-07:00

'That's why they're called the Blue Ridge Mountains' I thought. I walked a long way with this bird, I wanted to leave it at Raven's Peak, close to Cheroke. There is nothing more to say when we see the view.

Wood Cabin

2010-06-21T15:01:00.000-07:00

Perfection is not beauty. A painting I did taken from Pennsylvania and Maryland sketches. The dappled light that filters through leaves in woods finds gaps in country barn timbers.

Appalachian Trial

2010-06-20T15:01:00.000-07:00

It's scarey to be lost in the night, sometimes things don't turn out how you expect. There is always a different way. I lost my money in Florida and had to Camp throught the Appalachian mountains back to Allentown, Pennsylvania. To be on the side of a mountain in the woods with bears and no people is not what we're used to in England. Sometimes there is no imagination, I've learnt to draw in the dark... (The dawn was so pretty).

Let it Brew

2010-06-18T15:43:00.001-07:00

Bardstown Kentucky, is the place for bourbon. It's similar to Scotch in that, with the risk of sounding like a guiness advert, there are not many things left in life that are not simulated to save time. Wiskey, Wood Worries and Wisdom benefit from the eb and flow of seasons at work. I visited Jim Beam, Maker's Mark and Heaven Hill. After learning about yeast and burnt caskets I camped with my bottle of Elija Craig.

Porch Painting

2010-06-18T02:37:00.000-07:00

I've always been welcomed in Nashville, is it a cliche because it is true. We painted on the Porch in the sun and there was nothing to think about.
Thankyou to my friend Ruby for being so hospitibal, she is a wonderful singer and songwriter. see myspace.com/samandruby

Bird Watch

2010-06-17T15:08:00.000-07:00

The feeling is less, but still remains. To see the creature, its colours and its shape you have studied on a page, now with its own character, now alive. We can still be bird watchers just by noticing. On this East American drive Birds I saw that are not or seldom seen in Britain are. Redwinged Blackbird, Turkey Vulture, Cardinal, Red Tailed Hawk, Sharpshinned Hawk, Grackle, Mockingbird, Tufted Titmouse, Cormorant (looks different), Osprey, White Heron, Great Egret, Chickadee, Downey Woodpecker, American Kestrel, Black Skimmer, Brown Pelican, White Pelican, Boat Tailed Grackle, Little Blue Heron, White Ibis, Spoonbill, Flamingo, Black Vulture.

Savannah Summer

2010-06-10T05:39:00.000-07:00

Savannah, Georgia. A ghost town. What history. There is something you miss about age when you spend time in new cities, it is hard to define, but it is the same reason that trees and shorelines give peace, because our existence has grown with them. Thanks to my friend Summer Welch for showing me round. He is in a great band called Baroness and congractulations to John Dyer Baizley for his beautiful artwork.

Santee

2010-05-21T15:30:00.000-07:00

I take a pad with me, some beautiful things don't stick if your mind doesn't want it. I stopped at the Santee Wildlife reserve in South Carolina for a break from driving, I met Eulander here, she took a break everyday here after work before she went to the craziness of home. She stuck, she'd found something good.

2010-05-21T14:55:00.000-07:00

Tyme Gallery Exhibition, in Havertown, Philadelphia. I did say I'd put 'the J's' on my blog. So here you are. Thankyou to the tireless Edna and her soon to be published husband.

2010-04-15T16:09:00.000-07:00

I painted this series of my friends hut in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Fashion Shoot.

2010-03-20T11:53:00.000-07:00

NY Fashion shoot by www.emilybleasdale.com, I like to do backdrops, its nice to do artistic work for a specifc purpose, giving imagination boundaries can bring a different creativity to the surface.

Sharp Shinned Hawk

2010-03-20T11:25:00.000-07:00

This Hawk watched me whilst I made a bird cast in Pennsylvania. I am English so a hawk still has a certain awe. There is something that happens in time being around some creatures, the world they inhabit is something lost in our minds that we were once a part of.

'I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed. Inaction, no falsifying dream
Between my hooked head and hooked feet,
Or in sleep rehearse perfect kills and eat.' Ted Hughes

Snow shadows

2010-03-20T11:21:00.000-07:00

You have to remember to look up when walking. Sometimes we star at our feet in life. Aren't these snow shadows beautiful.

Dear Dairy

2010-03-20T10:55:00.000-07:00

I'm lucky enough to have outdoor friends. You see things that your brain does not expect on walks. Weird is normal now, like films and tatoos, like our dreams. Ordinary dreams are harder to decipher, unusual combinations of the ordinary in life make pictures in our memory. What were those cheap ice lolly's called? Milkies? I used to get a 99er! or possibly the big feast.

The king and I

2010-03-20T10:45:00.000-07:00

Darts is great. (at the Lakeside) It's like a kids Christmas party for drunks! This is Kong. He's going to be big. Well he's already big. but he's going to do well I mean.

Slow Grown

2010-01-08T13:53:00.000-08:00

These volcanic rock formations have inspired recent work and I the colours I see in nature are a constant reference . I take time with sculptures and paintings, I want sculptures to have 'eroded' and paintings to 'grow', in this way time becomes a part of them, like slow grown wood or evolution, they are stronger creative pieces.

bare essentials

2010-01-08T13:47:00.000-08:00

The joys of naked hill walking.

GUMS II

2010-01-08T13:25:00.000-08:00

This years kayak trip was to the Isle of Mull, West Coast of Scotland. Within the first hour of being on the Water I had seen a Golden Eagle and an otter, two of my childhood dream sightings. The trip continued with views of the magnificent Sea Eagle, pygmy shews and the woderfully inquististive basking sharks. It is difficult to imagine the size of these fish, the best way I can describe a basking shark travelling beneath you in kayak is think JAWS, (without the teeth...crucially).

Rubbish Sculpture

2009-11-18T12:22:00.000-08:00

This too in Norfolk… a ‘rubbish sculpture’. I presume it is to collect the plastic, non-biodegradable materials from spoiling the coastline. I felt inspired to add a favourable blog on this in the hope it might maroon itself on a mind and be repeated on a ‘defaced’ beach somewhere.

Broad Daylight

2009-11-18T11:57:00.000-08:00

On my second trip to the Norfolk Broads I understood that perhaps what was so pleasing about the boat hire was an enforced 3mph speed limit. After spending so much time in London it certainly teaches you a thing or three about pace, and a pace that brings a quality not only to time but to the thoughts in time.

F**ing

2009-11-18T11:38:00.000-08:00

I was lucky enough to embrace a little maňana in a fabulous, fun trip to Frigliana with friends, in Malaga, Southern Spain. Each time I return from Spain I am left with the same feeling, of a nation of tolerant, hard working people that place family, friends and food at the top of the life’s ‘to do’ list which also sees a big tick on, for example … forward thinking architecture. I wonder if there isn’t a lesson there for some visions of life in Britain or if, not for the first time, I simply let myself participate in another philosophical holiday romance.

Frigle Rocks

2009-11-14T12:55:00.000-08:00

Food, Fun and Friends in Frigliana.

Arty Choke.

2009-08-31T13:37:00.000-07:00

Please correct me if I'm wrong, I think it was Magritte who used to sit with the Artichokes for a time each day. This makes sense to me, not only is the presence of vegetation important for drawing lines, but witnessing natures work ethic helps awaken it in ourselves. These are from my allotment, I call them chaos beans. And these are purple carrots, I think the Dutch turned them orange. I don't really like Granny Smiths. Seasonal food is sustenance, it turns the TV off!

VesPapa

2009-08-27T11:46:00.000-07:00

Finally replaced the stolen vehicle. Some things have a history, it makes it better. Scooters look right in London I think, Like Golden Eagles in Mull, or Scousers in TK Max. That's where I got my shirt, but not my genes. I found this photo of my dad, spot the difference.

Green Paint

2009-07-12T14:58:00.000-07:00

I've finished building my new painting studio. It has a green roof, made up of grasses, herbs and wild alpine flowers, plenty of thermal mass. It has a wood burner and I am researching solar panels to power lighting for night time sessions. Feel free to ask construction details. I am very pleased with it, sustenance.

Kitchen Appliance

2009-07-12T14:44:00.000-07:00

I don't recommend driving a JCB through your kitchen unless you really think its necessary.

2009-04-08T16:03:00.000-07:00

Allotments are my new thing; I have one in Tottenham, its stopping me from turning weirdo, I think. I planted my potatoes last week. Allotments are structure from chaos; each thing in an allotment has its own currency seperate from the outside world. An old broken window is used to produce a greater crop, I find the reality of this more functional and satifying than modern living.

Radio Time

2008-11-25T07:57:00.000-08:00

Claire Hamilton is very nice and The show on BBC Radio has helped publicise Liverpool Arts in the Capital of culture year no end. I should have thought a little more, when I offered to paint a free commission for someone before christmas! Late nights I fear. But I think radio talk is not as easy as it sounds, I also accidently said I had run a half marathon in 1 minute 40 secs?

Bird Exhibition

2008-11-13T17:12:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all who came to birds in Calderstones park. Please take a look at all the interesting bird writtings at my site www.joelbird.com
A nice flask of coffee, radio 3 and chats with the dog walkers, this is a nice little gallery with a friendly breeze.

birdy beardy

2008-11-13T16:06:00.000-08:00

Scotland is absolutely beautiful. I canoed with some friends through loch long, holy loch, around the kyles of bute and through loch fynne navigating a few rivers along the way. Mackeral was top of the menu, steamed on the beach. Remoteness is not only elsewhere, these wild places are but a petrol tank away. All the best places in the world make men want to grow beards.

That's a lot of bracelets.

2008-11-13T15:41:00.000-08:00

pictures taken by my friend Emily Bleasdale.

Rubber Soul

2008-11-13T15:35:00.000-08:00

Everybody should change a tyre in a wet suit once in their life.

con tent

2008-11-13T15:31:00.000-08:00

Camping = Instant Happiness

Learn to Waltz

2008-07-23T16:56:00.001-07:00

Ibiza will be a retirement home. What are we going to do? mosh the power zimmer. I'm going to practice. The lady with the butterfly belt and a bald patch, she shone like Blackpool tower Ballroom.

HAL=IBM-1

2008-07-23T16:22:00.000-07:00

I'd like to give Leonardo my eyes for a second. I'd put a calender and a helicopter in them. I actually wrote to my local cinema in 2001, suggesting it would be a good idea. Had to wait. 3 in the morning. Houston, NY I think. The cinema was full. They said it would finish Kubrik at the time. It's nice to hear laughter 40 years after "I think you should sit down and take a stress pill." I'd give him my ears instead.

Angel Delight

2008-07-23T14:29:00.000-07:00

I sometimes like posh deserts. I still like Angel Delight though! Go see the art, It's not the same as in a book you know? I think hearing is the last sense to go, there is no sound in a vacuum, just remember not to imitate.

The Philly Gum tree.

2008-07-22T14:44:00.000-07:00

People love it. Because its in their hearts, it in their atoms. Some people smash bus stops up and make the universe die a little quicker. But start them off and they'll stick it back together again with gum.

Have frame will travel

2008-07-22T14:30:00.000-07:00

Blur the edges. Retire at death and take your work with you.

Frozen Wheels

2008-07-22T13:52:00.000-07:00

TV and Frozen Meals are very strange, not the strange. I bought a vespa from Madrid and tried to drive it back to england. I got stuck in the small moutains of Burgos and my scooter froze! I fixed it and manged to get to Bilbao. I got the ferry to Portsmouth and then I broke down again and slept in a bush. I finally got it back to London with a Euro haemorage, I parked it for one day and somebody stole it. I never seen it again and my insurance didn't cover it?! I had to tell somebody about this. What's the point. There is no point. I think that's the point.

Parasites and Pigeons

2008-07-22T10:56:00.000-07:00

I, like alot of 'Scousers' leave Liverpool alot and then talk about how good it is?! How did Liverpool people get everywhere. It reminds me of nature. Parasites and pigeons. The social skill, evolution's occupation. I once flew to New York and walked out of the airport and a guy walked up to me and said 'Eh mate, d'you wanna buy a coat'.

Bird Place

2008-06-10T19:00:00.000-07:00

There are those that like To shoo them and there are those who like to shoot them, but the clever ones amongst us soon become aware that birds are one of those things, brought into existence by the laws that be to help us out with our condition. So we just watch and listen and soon our thoughts concern themselves with what is outside our minds, and this is a better place.
This is a Jackdaw accident, (similar to the murder of crows.)