Nelson's 8

Once I've finished the lady in the foreground, I've only got one more figure to do....and a bunch of pigeons! Today I have been 'Taxi Man'..Jan is in Scotland so I've took Annie to and from school, given lifts to Will and his friend...several times...cooked Chinese ...had moral support from Devilmood (thanks!) and made a pile of washing up!...

I think the 'So what IS art' question has frightened most people off...believe me..E.Gombrich wrote in his seminal book 'The History Of art'..that "Art is in the eye of the beholder"....it's as simple as that..when you realise that no number of Art History degrees can make a pile of trash 'Art', it means freedom from the toffee nosed 'intelligentsia' who would have us eating out of their hands...and pay for the privilege.

I'm currently reading 'Small Island' by Andrea Levy. It's about Jamaican immigrants to UK in 1948..It follows the story of Joseph Gilbert who has laid his life on the line for Britain in WWII..joined the RAF and hoped life in England would be good and pleasant. However, he found it anything but. I mention this because there's a passage in the book where Joseph gets off the boat, his thoughts full of stories that the 'Streets are paved with gold'..despite the dull grey day, he glances down and spies what he thinks is an emerald brooch lying on the floor...he cannot believe his luck..should he take it for himself or go to the police?...as he moves to pick it up he realises it's a pile of dog crap covered in flies!..a metaphor illustrating the dream as opposed to the reality.....a metaphor we can all use in so many situations!