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In our last Kick-About, we played with the bright, decorative possibilities of the bauble. This week, things take a livelier turn with Saturnalia—a prompt drawn from an ancient midwinter festival known for its loosened rules, reversals, and moments of mischief. As always, the works that follow were made in a short time—and for all previous
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This response to The Kick-About No.146 began with an earworm—the phrase,‘You’re a bauble, Barbara—a toy—nothing more!’ After that, as is the way with stories, it was a matter of figuring out to whom this scrap of dialogue belonged—and who ‘Barbara’ might be. The resulting ballad, if you can call it that, was fun to figure
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In our last Kick-About, we explored the calm forms and considered spaces of Barbara Hepworth, thinking about shape, balance, and the quiet language of sculpture. This week, as December arrives, the prompt turns to something a bit more festive: bauble—a decorative object that can be bright, playful, curious or absurd. As always, the works that
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A very simple thing from me this week for The Kick-About No. 145. I acquired some moulds for chocolate Easter eggs – a large one and a small one. I filled one half of the large mould with filler and then pushed the curvature of the smaller mould into the top of the larger filled
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In our last Kick-About, we channelled the wild colour and restless energy of the Fauves. This week, our focus turns to Barbara Hepworth—an artist of form, balance, and quiet intent. Her sculptures, with their open spaces and smooth tensions, invite us to consider touch, rhythm, and stillness. As always, the works that follow were made
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This idea for The Kick-About No. 144 began with that criticism often levelled at expressive, Modern paintings etc… the one that goes, ‘My four year old could do better than that!’ I imagine similar comments were made as people stood before Fauvist paintings with their mouths open in outrage. I tore a few pages from
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In our last Kick-About, we found ourselves in the world of Diane Arbus, drawn to her quiet intensity and the way she revealed strangeness within the familiar. This time, our prompt looks to a very different kind of wildness: “Donatello Among the Wild Beasts.” The phrase, first used to describe the explosive arrival of the
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In addition to Diane Arbus’s richly unsettling ‘Halloween’ images—our prompt for The Kick-About No.143—I’m channelling Nicolas Roeg’s classic film, Don’t Look Now (1973) in these photographs. I enlisted the help of a friend’s 10 year old son to help me stage these images in one of Whitstable’s famous alleyways (which run between its various streets).
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In our last Kick-About, Arcimboldo’s Vertumnus invited us to see identity reshaped through the shifting forms of nature. Now, as autumn deepens and the light grows thinner, our focus turns to Diane Arbus—an artist who found mystery in the everyday and empathy in the overlooked. As always, the works that follow were made in a
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There is a long-running radio programme on the BBC called ‘Just a Minute’, in which contestants are given one minute to talk about a given subject for a minute without repetition or deviation. Fittingly, I was listening to this half-hour programme in the kitchen while pinning a selection of foliage and flowers from the garden
Red's Kingdom 