Self. Don McLean - Vincent (time-lapse painting)

You loved this last time...

This lovely planet is over 4.5billion years old, which is very old. I am unsure if this means that this is the age of the universe too or if the earth is quite young compared to the rest of the universe, but it doesn’t really matter. What I want you to think about is the age of the universe. For arguments sake let’s say that the universe is 10billion years old.

So, what was around 10billion years and 1 millisecond ago?

Nothing?

Ignoring the fact that time is a man-made concept and no other creature on the planet feels the need to wear a watch, except humans, I believe that the concept of time doesn’t exist in space and the only place the idea of time exists is earth, so anything that happens outside the earth and away from humans (who constantly clock watch and count every precious minute of every precious day) can’t be counted in time; seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades etc.

As far as we know everything that exists does so within the universe, we also know that the universe is forever expanding and one day it will collapse on itself and then once again begin to expand, like a never-ending loop. That’s what we know. With this in mind, I would say that as soon as the universe ended it immediately began again as time cannot be counted between its ending and beginning, as there is no concept of time in space – time can only be counted between its beginning and end.

So that’s what we know.

Therefore, if we return to the question “If the universe is 10billion years old, what was around 10billion years and 1 millisecond ago?” the answer should be “the universe.”

The reason this should be the answer is because there is no time between the universe ending and the universe beginning again.

So the universe is continuous, it’s only everything that is within the universe which starts and ends; planets, animals, vegetation etc.

Stay with me…

So the universe is continuous; it continuously expands and then collapses in on itself time and time again. The universe starts from a big bang of nothing, therefore nothing can possibly affect the big bang, as there is nothing there to affect it, so it must be the exact same big bang each and every time the universe starts again.

Now bear in mind the ripple effect, this is the thought that each and every action you do has a reaction e.g. if you smile at a stranger in the street they will feel happier and they may go on to be nice to someone, who in turn is nice to someone, who in turn is nice to someone etc – this also works on the negative too. All of our actions affect each other and the people we affect go on to affect others, who go on to affect others and so on.

So, if the big bang is always exactly the same as it has no outside influences as nothing yet exists to influence it, then the ripple effect comes into play where everything effects everything else, action and reaction, on and on and on. Well, if that happens, then I would say that we have all done this before 10 billion years ago and 10 billion years before that and 10 billion years before that. I would say that because the initial reaction which caused the big bang must have been exactly the same each time it happened, therefore all the reactions which happened after that would also be exactly the same.

So, even though life often seems chaotic and sometimes it doesn’t seem to make sense, I would say that everything is as it should be and we have done everything exactly the same in this lifetime as we have in many lifetimes before, as many times as the universe has had lifetimes. The universe may be a billion lifetimes old, 10billion lifetimes old or just 10 lifetimes old, or as there is no time in space the universe could just ‘be’. No matter what it is, it means you sat exactly where you are sat right now and wore exactly what you are wearing now and you have read this before, many many times, and you loved it just as much as you did last time you read it and it will affect your life as much as it did – or didn’t – last time.

***

Now, 6million scientists disagree with me, like they always have, but they all agree with me in the end, like they always do, it just takes them a little time to catch up.

There is no way to prove or disprove what I think, as there is no way to do two exact experiments to test my belief as there will always be differing outside influences which will affect the test, except where the big bang is concerned as there is no outside influences which will effect it as the universe is everything and there is nothing outside of it, so really I can think what I like.

Anyway, see you in 10billion years when you ‘like’ my paintings all over again.

Time-lapse paintings

It's very difficult to get noticed in the art world and really get someones attention with a painting as people only really look at a painting between a few seconds to a minute, so I decided to put some time-lapse videos together to really 'show' people my artwork in the hope of keeping my viewers attention for longer.

My first time-lapse painting is of crows flying over Glastonbury Tor. Crows are very intelligent birds and the rhyme "one for sorrow, two for joy..." was originally about crows, therefore I decided that I would include two crows in the painting. Glastonbury Tor is a very spiritual place, linked with the King of Fairies, Avalon, King Arthur and the Holy Grail. If you ever have chance to visit it and look over the surrounding countryside I would strongly suggest that you do and take some time to sit at the top and breathe in the fresh air.

In mythology crows are linked to reincarnation and the souls passing, therefore due to Glastonbury Tors spirtual links I thought it would a great place for them to fly over. The white ribbon symbolises our delicate soul.

Crows over Glasonbury Tor

Music by Dj Food - The Crow: I believe the music goes really well with the video and I am very pleased with the outcome.

After my first time-lapse video I wished to paint something much bigger to really show what I was capable of. I felt the song was very important to the paiting and shouldn't simply be background music, therefore I chose an emotional song which moved me and really meant something to me.

Running up that Hill is about men and women wishing to change places so they understand each other better in their relationship, but I didn't think that wish would stop at simply men and women in relationships. I strongly believe that everyone yearns to be understood and lots of people wish to understand each other better, so I included many different people running up the hill. In the front of the picture there is a woman and a man talking to an angel. The man is ready to run up the hill, but the woman is more reluctant as she doesn't know if a complete understanding of each other is always a good thing and maybe some things should be left unknown.

Running up that Hill

Music by Placebo

With my next time-lapse painting I searched through 100's of songs to find the right piece. I was torn between using music that was significant to me and chosing music that I thought people would like. After some thought I decided not to try to please people with my music selection and I also decided not to use a piece of music that was significant to me in in some way. I have already painted my feelings of the past, so I decided that I wanted to create something new and I came across this piece of music and completely fell in love with it.

The painting came from listening to the music.

The Barn

Music by Yann Tiersen - Comptine d'un autree ete

I was incredibly flattered by the responce and support I recieved from people who watched these videos and I will no doubt make another in the future, but there are so many thoughts and images in my mind that I could paint, which would work with music, that it is hard to pin-point where to start.

Time-lapse video

Have you guessed what it is yet?

Crows flying over Glastonbury Tor.

What do you think it symbolises?
What does it mean?

My Inspiration - part 1

Here's a FREE novel for you all, you don't need any fancy devices to read it, you can read it on Google; for all of you who bought the paperback version of this novel I must just tell you that it is now out of print and I will not be printing anymore, so the copies you have are the only copies on the planet, when I die they will be worth a fortune so look after them x

One for Sorrow is the first story in this series of stories, this novel is where it all started, it is where my writing turned into something that I could publish. My other stories were personal; I used make believe characters to tell twisted rambling stories about my personal thoughts and feelings to work through issues I had with my life, but this novel is different. This is the first novel I wrote for someone else.

The inspiration behind this novel was a little girl who was scared of death. The little girl had spent her life living with her mother and watching her father leave her to go to foreign countries and fight wars, he was a soldier. Then one day her father was in an explosion, but he didn't die. The stress of watching his friends die in front of his eyes was too much for him so he was discharged from the army. A few months after her father returned to England her mother was killed in a car crash. Even though she hoped her father would be safe as he fought in our wars, she was always ready for the news that he had died and she was elated every time she saw him as she knew it could be the last time, she never expected her mother to die. Her mother was everything to her, she was always there for her with loving open arms, ready to wipe away her tears and make her feel safe and secure, but all of a sudden she as gone. The little girls world changed in the blink of an eye and where she once felt the warmth of her mothers hugs she was now left with a traumatised soldier who was just back from Iraq and under psychiatric supervision. The little girl learnt at a very young age that in a matter of minutes your whole world can be turned upsidedown and at the innocent age of 12 her biggest fear was death.

It deeply upset me that the little girl was scared of death at such a young age and I realised that other people must be scared of death too, so I thought I would write a story to put everyones mind at ease, in the hope that it may help the living that the dead leave behind. It is a story of fiction written to help people, it is not beliefs, it's simply a nice idea.

As a lot of you know, I grew up with lots of animals, which obviously all died at some point, everything dies, that's just nature. When our animals died we burried them in the garden, so I never questioned where they had gone. I knew where they were, they were in the garden. I may have been told a story of heaven when I was a child, but I can't remember being told about that, and I never really listened as child, so in my brain the dead were burried in the garden, full stop. Due to the fact that we had so many animals and they died all of the time i've never feared death as I saw it as part of life, everything dies, so it was a huge deal to me to hear that a little girl was scared of death.

Fearing death seems strange to me, fearing death is like fearing breathing. We breath, it's a fact, we die, that's a fact too, so why waste your life worrying about it? Worrying about things is like praying for bad things to happen.

I feel incredibly lucky as religion was never discussed in my family, there were no arguments for or against religion. It wasn't a dodgy subject, it just wasn't ever bought up as I knew where things went when they died, they went in the garden, so as a child my brain was completely free from other peoples religious views. It was taught at primary school, but I wasn't listening, I was just looking forward to blowing eggs for Easter or making colourful stained glass windows out of crate paper and glittery cards and decorations at christmas. At secondary school I always made sure my violin lesson was during Religious Education lessons, if I timed it right I could leave 5mintues after everyone was settled in class and return 5 minutes before the bell went. When I was older I took some time to read about many different religions, regular religions, spiritual religions, witchcraft type religions, etc, but there was nothing which agreed with what I thought about God, so I never took one on. With that in mind, I was able to make up anything I liked about what happens after death to appease the young girl, my mind was free to roam, so it did.

***

One for Sorrow

Edward had carried the engagement ring in his pocket for over a week as he tried to pluck up the courage to ask Nicole to marry him. Had he known that he would die before the question would leave his mouth he would have asked her sooner. Edward refuses to cross over to his new life on his path to enlightenment until the deed is done, even if he has to return to earth as a ghost and risk his very soul.

Edwards actions are driven by Love, but what is it that drives Tim's? What is it that drives him to treat Marie the way he does, and what is it that makes her stay?

Find out here...it's FREE!

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=m7JdB6lIL-AC&lpg=PP1&ots=XrxIm-Hhzn&dq=one+for+sorrow+stacey+clarke&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false

***

We Come in Peace is the sequel to One for Sorrow and written for my boyfriend as he wanted to know what happened next.

My inspiration - part 2

The reason I started writing this novel was due to a comedian who was moaning about police brutality. Basically someone filmed the police beating up a man - a little, i've done worse! - and then the press went mad and made everyone unhappy with the police yet again.

In my brain the point of the police is to make people feel safe, safe in their homes and safe when they walk down the street, that's the point in the police. And when the press continually attack them it not only makes the police look bad, but it also makes people feel unsafe and that's no good to anyone.

How can the police be seen as a figure of authority if they are constantly 'told off' like little kids for their actions. They're either in control or they aren't, if they are supposed to be a figure of authority then let them get on with their job and do it.

I say bring back the 60's/70's cops that set people up and beat the crap out of people just to get a confession. At least then they could get things done, these days they are strung up by red tape and can't lift a finger to help, then they get told off for not being able to do anything. That's got to be frustrating.

If it wasn't for all this red tape then maybe the police would be able to get to places quicker, hopefully before someone is beaten to death. The whole situation is ridiculous. Society has made the police accountable for their every little action, so it is society that is stopping the police from doing their job and getting to places on time, and it is the very same society who is complaining about the situation that has caused the situation by complaining.

Personally if I had a job where I had committed myself to serve and protect people, then I got harrassed by people as I walked down the street and made out to be worse than the devil by the press, then I would say 'f&ck you' to the people I was protecting and I just wouldn't bother or I would wait until such a time that I could beat the crap out of the people I was trying to protect and then let loose when I thought nobody was watching.

You can't expect someone to show you any respect if you don't show them any.

At the end of the day the police are human beings and if they are faced with 1000 angry people screaming in their faces, ready to trample them to the ground, then they are well within their right to attack and fight back. The police are human beings and just because they are wearing a uniform doesn't mean that they don't get scared. I have nothing against a fellow human being defending themselves or even attacking someone when faced with a mob. I have nothing against that at all.

Fair enough hold them accountable for their actions, as you would with anyone else, but don't make a song and dance about it. All that does is promote fear and make people stop respecting someone who is supposed to be in authority.

You can't have it both ways, either stop complaining and let the police get on with their job, or keep complaining and stop the police from doing their job.

I've been wrongly arrested and treated incredibly badly in a cell, but I refuse to tar every police officer with the same brush just because I was faced with a Nazi police officer who was obviously bullied at school and hated women. You can't judge everyone on the actions of a few.

This is not a third world country, we should be able to trust the police, we should also be able to trust doctors, but the press wont let us trust either of them and instead they use their voices to poison our minds with disturbing stories. We should loosen the leash we have put around the police's neck and see if society has trained them well enough to behave properly, because if we make this leash any tighter we are going to strangle them and then they will be no use to us at all.

Rant rant rant

Anyway.

So, thinking about the relevance of being informed about police brutality made me wonder "is ignorance really bliss?" Do we really need to know every single little thing that happens?

I knew if I wrote the above piece of writing on my former blog then it would cause a blog riot about the police and people would entirely miss the question, so I decided to change the question and ask "if a bloody big comet was about to hit the planet and we were all going to die, would you want to know?"

I explored this question in the novel. The whole novel is a metaphor. In fact it's not a metaphor, it's a simile as the police are not mentioned in the novel at all and in order to be a metaphor they would have to be.

UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/We-Come-in-Peace/dp/B004LROOIM

America: http://www.amazon.com/We-Come-in-Peace-ebook/dp/B004LROOIM

I think I just don't understand why we are being told about something that we can't change, tell me news that I can do something about, tell me about the tigers and how to save them, tell me about the childrens hospital that needs people to raise money to buy new equipment to save little babies lives, tell me how to stop racism, tell me how to house the homeless and feed the hungry, tell me things that I can help with, that I can change, but don't waste my time by telling me that men are fighting, because that's human nature, men fight, I can't change that, nobody can change that.

Tattoo

www.thegallerio.com

You don’t have to be an Artist to be a Tattooist.

At present I am a self-taught professional artist and trained tattooist, I am not yet a ‘Tattoo Artist’ as that takes years of practice.

I have been working as a full-time artist for 4 years so far and I have sold my artwork all over the country. My main mediums are acrylics and watercolour painted on paper or canvas. I decided to change my medium to ink and my canvas to skin as I wish to be able to financially support myself with my skill and even though I have sold over 50 paintings and held my own small private exhibition of 1st edition prints, it simply isn’t enough to substain myself financially, therefore I decided to look into tattooing and the more I learn about it the more I love it.

I finished my tattoo training in October 2010 and I am looking forward to the future and becoming skilled enough to move out of my home studio and into my own shop. I have lived all over the country and in the summer I will be touring in a campervan around Cornwall and tattooing as I go. I am also an avid writer – I have written 7 novels so far – and on the ‘Tattoo Studio’ page of this website I intend to write about my travels around Cornwall and the people I meet tattooing.

After my travels I wish to open an Art Galley and Tattoo Studio where I can practise tattooing and exhibit my artwork. Some people find art galleries intimidating and some people find tattoo studios intimidating, so when I bring the 2 together I may well have the most intimidating shop on the planet, but hopefully people will leave their preconceived notions of art galleries and tattoo studios at the door and come and explore my private little corner of the artworld.

That’s the future, but at present it’s practice, practice, practice.