• Whitstable Beach Christmas Tree (2024)

    A few images taken at Whitstable harbour by which to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

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  • Short Story Anthology: Even the Most Shunned of Things (2024)

    So yesterday, I posted about a new short story, The Advent Calendar—written for The Kick-About and shared here in the knowledge that, really, no one likes to read short stories on a blog (or rather, on their phone). The Advent Calendar is but one original story written in response to The Kick-About’s fortnightly prompts and

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  • Short Story: The Advent Calendar (2024)

    For our festive-themed Kick-About No. 120, I got stuck into writing a new short story but was unable to complete it for the submission deadline. I’ve finished it since and am sharing it here to continue the tradition of cutting the schmaltz and sentimentality with a soupçon of spook. You can read The Advent Calendar

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  • December Dog (2024)

    December Dog (2024)

    These photographs of Whitstable beach were taken a few days in advance of the ‘shortest day’—for the Kick-About’s Solstice prompt—though daylight has been in very short supply, what with the storms battering the UK and the stubborn low grey cloud characterising every waking day of late. I went out at low tide, when I knew

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  • The Kick-About #121 ‘Solstice’

    Our last Kick-About was inspired by the Advent Calendar—a prompt that invited us to explore anticipation and twenty-four windows of time. This week we turn our creative gaze towards the Solstice. A point of stillness and transition, the Solstice marks both the longest night and the promise of light’s return. Enjoy this latest collection of

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  • The Kick-About #120 ‘Advent Calendar’

    Our previous Kick-About celebrated the blending of customs old and new, with the textiles of Melissa Cody, whose work combines traditional techniques with computer gaming. I suppose Advent calendars are a form of gamification in their way—each day a hidden reward revealed, a small but tangible thrill that keeps us moving forward. Enjoy this latest

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  • Sock Box (2024)

    Sock Box (2024)

    I have a cardboard box in my wardrobe full of socks. The socks often escape their confines and proliferate like tribbles. Inspired by the digital glitches and ‘missing pixels’ that feature in Melissa Cody’s wonderful textiles—muse for The Kick-About No.119—I decided to scan my socks, while moving them fractionally in different directions; by moving them

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  • The Kick-About #119 ‘Melissa Cody’

    Our last Kick-About together was inspired by the Perseid meteor shower—a dazzling display of celestial lights streaking across the sky. Asteroids, meanwhile, was an iconic arcade game released in 1979, capturing imaginations with its simple, vector-based graphics, and the aesthetic of computer games inspires this week’s creative muse, textile artist Melissa Cody. Enjoy this latest

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  • This Island Earth (2024)

    This Island Earth (2024)

    These long-exposure images—produced for The Kick-About No.118—were originally produced ‘in-camera’—with a table-top covered in black dustbin sacks and a strip of mains-powered LED-lights. The blurs and distortions were produced by photographing through some thick glass tumblers. The curvature of the planet surface was then produced digitally—just by grabbing the horizon line and giving it a

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  • The Kick-About #118 ‘The Perseids’

    Our previous Kick-About had a touch of spookiness about it; this week, it’s less spook more sparkle, as we cast our eyes skywards to catch a falling star or two… Enjoy this latest collection of new works made in a short time, and be sure to browse all previous editions of this fortnightly creative challenge

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