Memory – interesting articles in New Scientist
I saw the New Scientist “Instant Expert” was on Memory recently. I like the way they introduce the topic and explain some of the complexities & incorrect assumptions about how it works.
Every Little Helps – November 2011
“Just pedal and go!” As a keen cyclist, increasingly feeling the hills, it was great to feel the quiet green surge pick me up and take the strain.
Ace Cafe in Stonebridge, home of performance bikes and bikers, had their Green Day this May. I went with a neighbour with a Tazzari Zero electric car, to find out about owning electric vehicles.
Around 1912, there were more electric cars than other power sources but they couldn’t compete with later petrol engines … so what’s changed? Batteries much improved but still costly (around half the cost of the vehicle). Performance good – the Tesla and the Quantya off-road bike are astonishing (F1 are considering electric Grand Prix). Batteries work for vans and buses even better than family cars – but range is low: 60-100 miles per charge.
They are very low-cost (tax, insurance, parking, “fuel”) to run, very green and make a quiet statement about the future as they whisper by.
As to practicalities: charging (sometimes free, need to plan long journeys); lifetime cost (replacing batteries is a big deal); capacity (G-Wiz is tiny for someone over 5ft tall – ask Jeremy Clarkson – the Tazzari is fine and the Citroen C-Zero is a 4-seater). There was clearly huge affection for these cars – or perhaps the idea of these cars – with evangelical early adopters showing us the way. Perhaps they are a way forward, but if everyone got electric cars tomorrow, the UK grid couldn’t cope.
So back to bicycles. I tried a couple and was surprised how easy they were – different, particularly when cycling (driving?) slowly, but exhilarating feeling the kick when I wanted it. They are similar in price to un-assisted, high-spec bicycles: around £500 – £1,000 (hello Bike & Run). Security of the battery pack can be an issue – some can be removed almost as easily as bike lights. Range for pedal assisted bicycles – as opposed to electric scooters – can be 40-60 miles: plenty for most commutes.
Would I buy an electric car? Not yet, for a family car, but if I had to have a second (weatherproof) vehicle I’d consider it. I would buy an electric bicycle: love those hills!
Ace Cafe
Newride: recharge points
Info on Electric Cars
Info on Electric Bicycles
Every Little Helps – October 2011
October already (note to self: time to look out the thermal underwear for cycling) and the evenings are drawing in. A natural reaction is to turn on more lights and crank up the faithful old boiler thingy, trying to pretend it’s not happening (autumn that is).
On a trip to Rye recently, I was delighted to see the wind farm waving its arms at us as we struggled against the (admittedly warm) ocean breeze. Also delighted to see quite a collection of both domestic solar thermal and solar electrical (PV) installations making the most of the intermittent sunlight: maybe the councillors (and neighbours) there are a bit more tolerant or – dare I say it? – switched on to the idea of renewable energy.
I was also delighted to read the Archer article about local PV and to hear a work friend say how cheap it was to get her loft insulated. There’s more of it going on than we know, perhaps, but always room for more.
It’s well worth considering early insulation of loft and windows as I’ve mentioned before. It’s also worth considering getting to grips with reducing usage of some things which might seem trivial but overall make a real difference: the lights you switch off in your workplace overnight; the charger you unplug when it’s not in use; the clever extension cable that switches off all the computer bits when you shut down; the TV switched off not on standby; the shower you take instead of a bath – it all adds up.
I’m going to have a “Dad Day” every week, where I’ll promise not to nag everyone about turning off lights etc … provided they do it themselves! Next time, I’ll (finally) be writing about electric cars and bikes … watch this space.
Light Painting
I’ve decided I’m going to explore my Memory drawing using light painting. Memory drawing is where I make a picture using a series of overlapping continuous lines, often in several colours, to represent a memory I have of a particular pose or relationship between people. I’m hoping I can use light painting to bring a “3D” feel to the drawing.
What’s Light Painting? Well, Wikipedia says: “Light painting, also known as light drawing or light graffiti is a photographic technique in which exposures are made usually at night or in a darkened room by moving a hand-held light source or by moving the camera.” There’s a great flickr site called lightjunkies which has many examples of this.
My take on it is that I’m going to be drawing with light on people in darkened spaces (ie no ambient light). Could be outside at night, could be a darkened room. Could use (soft) torch light or (hard-edge) LED/laser lights. What I’m interested in are the surfaces of people, not particularly their whole body.
So, I think I’ll be scribbling on their skin with light, rather than trying to outline them. Very experimental at this stage – watch this space.
Any volunteers for being a model?
Every Little Helps – September 2011
Last month saw the worst and best behaviour I’ve seen in London. It’s still with me as I write this. I dislike moralising: being “the first to cast a stone” would be hypocritical and rather ironic. However, rampant consumerism must have influenced decisions people made to steal what they wanted: electronic goods, designer clothes but not books or (much) food. Unthinking, uncaring of consequences, selfish, rapacious, devastating.
Then came the amazing heart-warming local community response to the aftermath: donating goods and services, voluntary clean ups, sharing homes, remonstrating and standing up for what’s right. Generous, mindful, creative, energising, cooperative.
In bringing people together with a common purpose, what permanent positive changes will this have? I can’t avoid thinking of parallels with how our day-to-day buying decisions can effect the local and global environment, directly or indirectly.
Last year I wrote about over-buying and waste management – this year there’s a real possibility of two-weekly rubbish collections, charging for household waste tipping and the collapse of the waste disposal market (for lack of commercial places to put it). This could lead to an increase in fly-tipping and littering, but it would be great if the community response to waste was as effective as that following the riots.
Clearly it takes a lot to get the majority of people even to voice opposition to wrong thinking, let alone change the ways of life they are used to. That’s why there are scare stories about climate change: people who want change to happen try to motivate us through visions of the apocalypse. That doesn’t really change what we do.
Small acts of random kindness; thoughtfully choosing what we actually need; returning unnecessary packaging to sender; disposing of all waste appropriately – we can all do that. When we do it together, it makes a real difference, locally and long-term.
Here’s a place to help in Haringey
Learning how to paint … how to links
Here are some links I’ve found useful when trying to learn how to paint.
I should stress, what I’m looking for are practical techniques and artistic motivations: I’m not really looking for “inspiration” or “follow me” guides.
So, if there’s a tutorial, I’m expecting it to give reasons why and some examples of what the outcomes of different approaches might be. If an artist says why they are using paint for expression, as opposed to (say) drawing in pastels, then I’m interested.
Ok, so here’s some I found earlier (more when I come across them):
- www.artpapa.com – lesson in “classical” oil panting – a rose
- painting.about.com – hints & tips for good oil painting
- painting.about.com – pain like (a few of) the old & modern masters
Learning how to paint …
For 2011/2012 I think I’ll learn how to use paint to explore Memory. Since there are [add a number greater than 20] ways to paint, it could take me all year to come up with:
- a set of ways I like to use paint
- a method which incorporates memory in the process
- a size of image I’m happy to tackle
- a colour palette / set of paints I like to use … starting with oil paints
I’ve started exploring some “how to” sites so I can get a feel for what paint is like, what some of the processes and approaches are and why people use different types of paint&process in their work.
Here’s hoping that by the end of the year I’ll be happy in my painting.
Every Little Helps – August 2011
The point about shopping locally is that it’s got “green” all over it: if only it was easier to do. Sometimes I think I’d get better prices at a large supermarket, which seems a good idea in these difficult times. Sometimes, when I’m walking in the rain, pulling a heavy trolley between shops, I think about driving to a mall. Then I think about the huge amounts of unnecessary packaging there, on everything from apples to ham. I think about the “Buy One (more than you really need) And Get One (which goes off before you can eat it) Free” and I reconsider.
While we tend to walk to the shops on the High Road or Fortis Green for the nicest meat, fish and veg, we also use Ocado deliveries (amongst others) for some of the really bulky or heavy stuff. Apparently their vans use half of the fuel that the equivalent households would use picking up their shopping. Other interesting delivery services include organic veg “group shopping” drop-offs, outside schools and community centres.
Farmers’ markets are still – just – viable, bringing locally produced food to a suburban market. We’ve had occasional French ones (lovely but pricey deli food and cakes) and the Alexander Palace market every Sunday. Local food means reduced transportation, so reduced CO2 , which is all to the good. Local also means seasonal food (which as I’ve mentioned before, doesn’t really limit your food variety if you’re OK with traditional foods).
Of course, seasonal fruit is popping out all over the place from now to the end of the autumn. Fruit trees in our road include greengages and plums, apples and pears (several varieties), cherries and even apricots. We’ve got quince and grapes, figs and blackberries in abundance. Wouldn’t it be lovely if we could leave some of the excess out the front of our house, or somewhere locally, for others to help themselves? Seems a shame for them to go to waste. Pickling&Jam club anyone?
Farmers’ Market site – www.weareccfm.com
Every Little Helps – June 2011
I’ve been writing these articles in The Archer for a year, so lets see how little changes have helped. I started out thinking that if everyone tried to do less harm, overall some big changes could take place – amazingly it seems to work.
I’ve had many comments about these articles, where something stuck in someone’s mind as being both practical and a positive effect. People shave tried some ideas, been inspired to look into others, overall been more thoughtful and prepared to consider changing what they do.
However, there have been big changes in government-level thinking about “climate change”: it’s become clearer how difficult fixing the world’s climate will be. If anything, there’s less support for “big projects” and more attention on changing people’s lifestyles. We’re all re-defining what basic, normal and luxury mean, but brought about more through reactions to financial crises than from worried scientists.
So my articles – in that context – will update progress on how “every little helps” and cast wider for what can be done by us, as individuals.
One idea that’s loud and clear is: reduce, re-use, recycle. A snappy summary of an approach to doing less harm day-to-day. Measure and cut down on use of materials, packaging, food, water and energy. Make stuff last longer by re-using it (or letting other people re-use it). Minimise real waste (land-fill) by recycling as much as possible into raw materials for new stuff, through buying stuff that can more easily be recycled.
Re-use and recycling are on the increase, apparently, with more people passing stuff on through Freecycle or Gumtree web sites (and local charity chops). Recycling of Haringey municipal waste has doubled to 25% in the last 10 years – but needs to reach 50% in the next ten. Apparently recycling leads to more jobs than waste disposal (much of the stuff needs sorting by hand) so there’s even more positive benefits.
As to re-use, anecdotally it seems it’s more acceptable now to pass things on and more acceptable to receive stuff too. It’s always in my mind to ask friends first, try Freecycle or DontDumpThat or take advantage of Haringey’s white-goods pickup service.
Let’s see how much we can reduce, re-use and recycle this year.
www.recycling-guide.org.uk/rrr.html
www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/sep/14/recycling-jobs-england
archive.defra.gov.uk/evidence/statistics/environment/waste/kf/wrkf16.htm
2 New ideas for Memory-related art work …
I’ve been thinking about different ways of incorporating Memory into my art work.
First off, I was struck by an article in The Archer about a young girl who lost her favoutite doll on the tube (note: she did get it back again). I remember when I lost my first bike – a Claude Butler 531 butless-joint frame which I’d looked after and tricked out for years. I was gutted when I lost it because it meant a gap in reminders of my experience which it would be impossible to fill. I think I’ll do a series of Visual Poems on “lost favourite objects” and the stories behind them …
Second, I was trying to recall when I first heard about Sama bin Laden (can’t think why) and realised that my memory of that was very confused: part info from a documentary, part recalling the twin towers falling, part watching arab terrorist videos on the news … In any case, it’s neither consistent nor comprehensive – just a vague grey image and generally high concern … sometimes. So I thought: maybe I should write a series of brief recollections about events and stuff. It’s no more “true” to me than what other people tell me is “true”, so I think it’s just as valid (but as art).
Thoughts anyone?
