Commissioning Artwork

Lots of people get in contact with me for various reasons these days , which is great , the online world can make a great platform for collaborative concept building and data sharing, but one of the more frequently asked questions or FAQ''s if you will. Is do I undertake commissions? ......Well yes is the short answer to that. simply get in touch via the e-mail address provided or via any of the social media links and we can discuss your own personalised requirements, produced bespoke for you .....

Plymouth..........Ummm, Yes , Well......

Now Plymouth is a strange attempt at a metropolis, that in actuality is a horrible concrete carbuncle that just happens to be stuck between the land and the sea right between two beautiful counties.

If you were to stand on the edge of the docklands and look west you can see cornwall, and this is actually a view worth celebrating, of course this is a huge swathe of real estate that is currently in the ownership of the Mod or the Royal navy or Babcock or something, surrounded by housing estates of poor repute and tower blocks of poorer design. However cross the river Tamar and look back east and the view takes a spectacular downturn.

Plymouth is a city of sorts. with all of the right ingredients. A fine historical prominence, a wonderful location surrounded by water and Dartmoor National Park, its people by and large are friendly accommodating and welcoming, but I am afraid that is about the sum of it. Its a bit like having the finest delicatessen ingredients cooked by a blind rat and served in a smelly old dustbin lid!

By and large from personal experience here with the local authorities I can see why.

The majority of the authorities probably take their disproportionately high salaries and use it to buy homes out in Tavistock and outlying areas, and so give up caring that the city they were supposed to be managing smells of piss and looks like shit!

There are some positives that can be found on the up side , but not many .

The historic Barbican - or whats left of it , is a wonderful little spot on the waters edge, but little it remains to be , and it is probably getting smaller as some sorts of vermin attempt to encourage its zeal as ' Britains Ocean City ' (apparently ) by slapping additions to a grotesquely modernized marina - that I personally would not moor my own boat up in even in the event of a hurricane!

But the historic Barbican that is currently being walled in does feature some interesting little galleries and shops. Some of the older crumbling buildings do lend it its antiquated charm, Many of these old buildings have suffered some degree of renovation and modernization and unfortunately been filled with that horribly fashionable Tapas food establishments, restaurants and wine bars but amongst all that Tat ( and yes unfortunately those bloody whistling fish and Rowsbury's can be found here as well- imitation art for imitation people )

There are still good old greasy spoon type establishments and brick a brac shops , local food retailers character pubs and genuine art galleries.

Even the late Robert Lenkiewicz had his home and gallery here for some time and even completed two wonderful murals on the exterior of buildings along the main through fare featuring the portraits of numerous local characters . Unfortunately these have fallen into a shameful state of ill repair , probably due to the artists controversial position with the aforementioned local authorities. ( Indeed it is well worth looking into the artist and his works , as an artist that found the time to concern himself with so much more than the mere production of naff pretty scenes for a simplistic majority )

Works by the prominent Beryl Cook and contemporary cartoons by Brian Pollard can all be found en mass in picture framers posing as genuine galleries. Yet small independent artists studios and galleries showing a variety of contemporary living talent still survive here. Original acrylic artworks and commissions can be obtained from the white lane gallery featuring the work of celebrated Artist Sue Wills. The Kaya Gallery offer a wide range of prints and originals by local producers, and many of the small bric a brac stalls and boutiques show a better range of Plymouths historic and artistic heritage than the city museum and art gallery combined ( however do check out the latter for a fine example of contemporary classical inspired architecture! )

Architecturally though the city is a mess, most of which is blamed on the bombings during the second world war some 80 years ago , when the luftwaffe managed to miss most of the prominents military targets ( despite the acres they cover ) and instead managed to focus most of their fury on a lot of near derelict and outdated residential areas , that were quickly rebuilt into a kind of prefab commercial centre in a hideously slap dash fashion . Running through this ill repaired commercial centre is its one saving grace . Plymouth actually has a stunning botanical reef that runs all the way from the train station to the sea front and Hoe area where the infamous Smeaton Tower lighthouse resides overlooking the tinside Lido, the best part about this linear oasis is that when you are in this very narrow corridor of augmented nature, by and large you cant actually see too much of the city and what it has become!  No shortage of coffee franchises and fast food outlets. oh there's also some manner of mall or something , but any self respecting consumer would steer well clear of this!

There was some effort to create a trendy little hotspot out of some derelict barracks to the west of the city as well , but as is the case with so many of these modern developments they have taken some wonderful architecture made up of old granite edifices , thrown millions of ponds at it , and simply marketed it as ' trendy inner city living ' but its really just a mortgage trap for those with more money than sense.

The university, the leisure facilities and transport links are all stuck somewhere between the past and the future with no real style or tact in their considerations.

North hill and mutley plain with its single remaining tree are now just student accommodations and supermarkets, filling old period town houses, with more extensions than gardens and wheelie bins as far as the eye can see. destined to be tomorrows slums. but follow the route north by road out of the city to the edge of Dartmoor National Park which although offering little in the way of commerce is a far better way to spend the day upon a visit to the region.

Turning with the Tide , A New summer Project by The Hot Blooded Artist!

the Real Art News is once again going to be adressing just that....

 Downsizing ! its a funny term really , I hear it an awful lot these days , and to many it means relatively different things! to me the idea of downsizing was meant to be a means of retaining additional revenue than I otherwise could from a conventional square footage, to simply reduce the scale of outgoings on a month by month basis. so that over a scheduled time frame superfluous revenue could be channelled into larger projects.

But as we all know all to well sometimes the best laid plans can go somewhat arigh!

I was completely fed up with the conventional cost of rents in this country whether you are looking to rent from a private landlord , or even a housing association, from an estate agent that represents some buy to let scheme or even direct from a local authority , the cost of just maintaining a roof over ones head can prove to be something of a complete chore , especially when you tally in rates and the colossal escalations in the standard costs of just living .

So as some of you may know , I decided to buy myself a little boat,I am a homeowner!! thats right .No Mortgage or anything , the overall outlay for the vessel was a very small investment really by comparison of all things , not only a means of accommodation , but also a means of travel , to be able to get about from here to there relaying stock across all the relevant countries that presently represent the elusive ' Art by Valerio' 

its funny how things can come about if you just let them ,

It has been a little while since I had anything overly constructive to say here on my blog , but over the last few months, it seems that I have a multiple of angles to explore , well now I could have written a nice little piece about how to go about turning an old bus of a GRP into comfortable living accommodation so that anyone else that had the inclination could have a rough guide to read through. I could also have tackled it as a step by step guide ' how to learn to sail ' seeing as prior to this escapade I had literally no idea myself. I could document all the little places and peoples that I have come across during this beautiful summer, and what a summer it has been. 

In the spirit of following possible divine intervention,I will just be going with the flow ( although most of you will already be aware of the long term strategy I will be implementing in the new year ) 

 I have decided to retrace some of the more memorable elements of all of these things , and to try and compile it into a ' no bullshit ' mix of all of the above , I will look over the next few entries at boats, places, people , and of course Art . I will be exploring the whole of the south west here in the U.K and taking a critical look at the contemporary art scene , exploring historical context and even specific areas of historical and contemporary Architecture. hopefully as you read along you will learn things that you didn't know , about places you haven't yet had the time to visit and maybe even be afforded outlines of dialogues and characters that make this little spit of land .....just what it is, and together maybe we can figure out a mutual ' what we would like it to be '

Some people say that ' a boat is just a hole in the water to pour money into ' well I suppose that is true to some extent, but to me I can assure you it is a much smaller hole than rent or a mortgage in the farce that is known as the great british property ladder, and you get a few immediate advantages become instantly apparent , namely the views are unparalleled and ever flexible also , if in the unlikely event you find a neighbor that really gets on your tits , you are not locked in to a fixed position with them . you can just sail on up river a bit or off round the coast. 

there are a few things that could be seen as a draw back like the lack of space , or the winter temperatures here in these northern climes , but well space wise , we all have sentimental attachments to far too much crap anyway , and as far as temperature goes , well I will readdress that when the autumn starts turning to winter , but as far as I can see for now , I will remain optimistic !

so keep checking in and I will be updating the outcomes of these little travels and experiments and hopefully having a bit of fun in the process, so yo ho me hearties lets find us a trade wind p x