Modern art in Barcelona

I gave two friend a lift to London the other night, so that they could go and see Moby playing at the Palace theater. On the way home we soon all got chatting about Art and Barcelona as it is a place we have all visited at one time or another. I spent 5 wonderful days in this city with my girlfriend a couple of years ago. While I was there I managed to visit a number of art galleries and exhibitions that where going on at the time which was brilliant. Although the Picasso Museum was fabulous and is so well known I am however always surprised that the museum of modern art in Barcelona MACBA is hardly talked about. Not only is the building a brilliant example of modern architecture, the collection of painting, art and sculpture is stunning and well worth the time spent immersing your self in for an hour or two....
the beautiful photo from: MorBCN

Adding and Improving links

I have not been feeling very well for a while "got a cough to my cold" as Forest Gump put it so eloquently in the movie. However I have not been Idle and sitting around feeling sorry for myself (with "Man Flew"), instead I have spent my time doing research and adding or improving links to my website. Content might be the flesh on the bones of websites but Links are the life blood of the Internet allowing users to follow threads and develop or gain new knowledge. This is all part of my plan for the new and improved website which is slowly taking shape with lots more new content, paintings, information with HTML coding and all fully Search Engine Optimized to enhance my visitors experience of the site...

I have added links and uploaded pictures to places like My Space, Local artists, Digg, and Devaint art to list just a few I have also put together a new free website on snappages as an experiment both to test the simplicity and applications of the platform, as a number of people have asked me for different ways to develop a web presence that is free and easy to use. Clearly this is not the only place you can get a Free website but many sell advertising space or have banner advertising which in my opinion down values any site. This Snap Pages site took me an afternoon to put together and I have to say that it is simple and effective, although it lacked the flexibility that I have become accustomed too...Anyway give it a look and let me know what you think.  


A link to: My site on Abstract and Modern Art 
A link to: Snap Pages for Free websites

Hope and the essence of life it's self

This post has taken a long time to write it has been a long and difficult and personal challenge to compose forcing me to confront many difficult issues.... so where to start! well since this financial recession started which I have to admit has had a huge personal effect on my both personal and working life drawing me away from painting and imposing financial restrictions that challenged my core beliefs, attitude and sense of personal value

last year was the worst for me! It forced to take a Job for a time as a chief just to put food on the table and keep the wolf from the door, the emotional and psychological effect was devastating at a creative and imaginative level drawing me away from painting, drawing and any creative act’s, even activities like reading, writing and play where affected. For a time I believe that I had lost hope its self….. But art and the very act of painting is what makes us alive it drives the soul and feeds the mind it is the blood that courses though my veins it is the very essence of who I am…. Without it. I am nothing!

Finally I can now, with all honesty say that the worst is over. I have begin work on improving and enlarging my studio space although this might take some time as it is economically restricted to a degree. I have started work on updating my website Mjoart.com with a new layout, copy and images. I am also helping a number of individuals and business with marketing and web design projects that all involve creative applications and solutions. I have become involved with Marketing and website of a local cleaning business D.K.M. Cleaning in Essex and is doing very well and I am writing. Writing about all sorts of things, things that I had never seen myself writing about such "Small business websites!" on Hubpages.. But I have! I am writing about myself, about self help and improvement, about marketing and business, and about art, painting and the essence of life its self.

But best of all I am Painting and Drawing.

making a small business website work

making a small business website work

Improving and updating my web-site

The week before last I had the chance to visit some close personal friends in the north of England for a week of rest and contemplation. I had been severely limited by one and all to only two hours a day of work, which for me offered a real challenge of what would I do while I was there.

They had all insisted that I spend some real and meaningful time with the people that I love and care about and I have to admit they did have a point as I invariably soon find myself getting absorbed by what ever it is that I'm doing at the time and as a result don't spend the sort of time I should with my kids or friends.

Chilling out, reading, walking on the beach, chatting, seeing a live rock band, driving in the beautiful North Yorkshire moors and visiting local attractions all did me a good deal of help after the recent period of intensive work and the resulting stress and pressure's that come into our daily lives reducing our time and energy to be truly creative and adventurous in the endeavours we take on.

Resting and relaxing as did I had the chance for the first time in what felt like an life time to really find the time to think and explore ideas in a refreshed manor, free from the restraints that I had forced upon myself I was able to make a number of important decisions that I knew needed to be made but had avoided for the most part for the wrong reasons.

Despite buzzing with all the new images, ideas and excitement that are struggling to free themselves onto the canvas that is constantly in my minds eye I realised that my web-site was in desperate need of improvement and a new lease of life which is long overdue and is one of the decisions that I had the chance to make during that wonderful restful week away.

After a few days of planing and thought I have finally started to create a temporary web-site while the new pages and layout are being constructed and fully developed making it essayer and more interesting for my visitor's to get the most from the contemporary art and modern abstract painting that characterise my painting style and I will be making regular posts so that every one will have the chance to be kept fully up to date with my progress.

What do i find....?

This blog is all about art or that's what i believed but even I have a sense of humor especially when I pop onto the blog to make a quick post about what I have been up to lately and find a Google advert in the sidebar promoting Laser Vision Surgery which I just found so amusing considering my last post "Discovering myself again" which concentrated on an injury I had to my eye! well we are all entitled to a giggle once in awhile.

Discovering myself again

Its been some time since I had the chance to write anything for this blog which I have found very difficult from a personal point of view. It forced me to review a number of aspects of my day to day life and all the feelings that are associated with that. The simple fact is that I injured my eye and also had to weather the recent financial storm that threatened to overwhelm me.

The injury to my left eye has left a permanent scar on my retainer along with a 2mm cataract which has affected my depth perception and light tolerance making it hard for me to focus for prolonged periods resulting in a deep sense of frustration and self doubts that I have struggled with.

As an artist I fully except that financial security will always be a challenge however I found that the recent extreme financial climate forced me to go out and find a job just to keep the wolves (banks) form the door for a short while but even part time employment drained me of enthusiasm and inner energy that any creative activity and self motivation demands.

As I became accustomed to the fuzzy and blur of my eyesight and have driven the monsters from my door I was approached by a friend seeking to exploit my skill and knowledge of internet and design to create and develop a website for their new business venture. She was putting together a cleaning business and after showing me the numbers and business plan I quickly got involved in this enterprise as the marketing Director.

The resulting web-site www.dkm-cleaning.co.uk has for me proved an enormous success in creativity, design and confidence offering as it does the chance for its clients to improve the quality of life and huge time saving benefits that such a simple act of cleaning someone's home really has to offer. I personally am delighted to say that even with my limited knowledge of the internet I have managed to create a web-site that is ranked on Google and achieves good placement (page 4) on Google and (page 1) on Yahoo which is already winning customers for this growing domestic cleaning company.

Now I feel that all my trials and tribulations in creating a unique artist website to promote my work, paintings and artistic beliefs is an accomplishment that I can truly be proud of as a creative process in its own right.