Dear LPG,   


I think that as we get older, those things that we have never achieved seem to play on our minds and some of our personally-preferred bucket list items can appear to be really odd from other people’s points of view.    

One thing that I have always wanted to have is a wall painting somewhere in my home that I personally produced.  Perhaps I crave a visual conversation piece that I can use when people come to visit.   I do have a few framed pictures, but only because other people gave them to me. 

When it comes to art, I have always believed myself a philistine.  I am the person who feels really out of place in an art gallery and any explanation of what is going on when I see a canvas is often wasted on me.   When at school, I used to think that art was a relatively easy subject, but my exam results told a different story.   

However, all these years later it seems that there are so many types of art these days that I now believe that there has to be a closet artist in everyone.  If you can drop a bit of colour on some paper, you have to be halfway there.  I have seen people throw balloons on a wall, even give the paintbrush to a pet and we will never forget Damian Hirst’s sheep cut in half in 1993.  

Now, with a bit more time on my hands, I have occasionally tried a bit of painting, but I still end up with a squiggly mess that, to my mind, looks like something a very young child managed to create.  I think that I must be pretty unique in quite a negative way to have reached retirement without any appreciation of, or ability to produce something pictorially recognisable with paper and some colour. 

I cannot say that it is the most pressing problem that I have ever had but I have found the answer is as simple as one two three.   

I recently spent an afternoon with my 4-year-old grandchild and a join-the-dots drawing book. I bought it in the hope that it would help us pass the time.  I always thought joining numbered dots was designed to help children learn to count with the added bonus that they produced something recognisable in the end, but there is so much more.  

Having bought a children’s book, I discovered that there are quite a few designed to inspire adults, even adults as old as me, and I have since gone on to learn about all the interesting ways that you can use un-numbered dots arranged on surfaces other than paper.  

I have to say that another look at the simple dot taught me to produce recognisable art, and now that I have graduated on to YouTube, I have worked out that something home-made, dotty, and artistic can make the perfect present for that person who has everything else when you are trying to find that gift for Christmas or for their birthday.   

I have discovered a bit about what can be achieved when you start with a dot and move onto Mandala Art.  From what I have learned, these pieces start off with a need for precision rather than the free-hand art approach which has always left me unhappy with my artistic results, and dots can lead to all sorts of effects that a more steady-hand can produce.  I also find that the intricacy of the work can leave the artist quite relaxed in much the same way that some knitters find therapy when they work. 

I have decided to mention this because something dotty might be the answer when it comes to finding a gift for the friend who has just about everything else.   
I always thought that joining the dots was the way to go for a failed artist but you can do so much by starting with a few numbered dots.  You could end up completely dotting the page!  


PP, Lewisham 

 

 

PP offers us an insight into Mandala art…

 

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