Listen in on Julia Colquitt Roach

A charming drawing rendered in charcoal and ink which JCR says was started after overhearing a conversation on a bus.

 

I have to mention this. It’s more than my jobs worth not to. My employer Mr Alban Low is known for his own drawings based on conversations overheard on public transport. There’s an excellent example of one of these in Freedbook by the way. Perhaps it’s a coincidence. Or possibly being a thoughtful type JCR selected this drawing for Patternotion with exactly that in mind.

 

“This might just be in accord with what Alban is trying to accomplish” she could have been thinking. I should quickly point out that her finished artwork looks nothing at all like any of Alban’s overheard conversation pictures. It is a unique and remarkable delineation of her own audio-voyeuristic travelling experience.

 

Nevertheless it got me wondering. Is it possible that over time the intuitive, intelligent and highly empathic contributors to Sampson Low publications might develop between them if not exactly a house style then at least some kind of loose shared aesthetic? Themes, symbols, systems even, whether unconsciously or deliberately would be shared. A clumsy new word “sampsonlowesque” would be brought into use in an attempt to caption this phenomenon.

Inevitably thuggish and undiscriminating minds would miss out on all this and their contributions would continue to stick out like a sore thumb. Yes, I’m looking at you David Bushell.

 

The drawing portrays a cycle of naughtiness where the characters seem trapped in a cheerful(?) slapstick existence. There’s clearly some sort of physical struggle for superiority going on. At the bottom of the page someone has gained control and sits triumphantly on a rival’s shoulders. Bizarrely the victor is depicted with a giant sick note on his/her head!

 

PJD

 

Patternotion is now in the shops, buy your copy here, visit the buy page and receive it in just a few days. AL

Buy Patternotion Book

Patternotion Book
Stella Tripp (left)
Patten Smith (right)

The Patternotion book has just arrived at Sampson Low Ltd and it looks absolutely fantastic. Over the next few days we'll be sending out copies to all the artists and selling the remaining 1st Editions.

If you would like to BUY your Patternotion book then click one of the BUY NOW buttons below and pay securely with PayPal.

60 artists and authors reveal the secret blueprints of their lives. Get inside the heads of these creative system makers, learn from their endeavours and be inspired to make a change in your life.

Patternotion is a 72 page softback book, There are 100 copies printed in each Edition.
ISBN 978-0-9534712-3-2
Each book is individually numbered.
Freedbook costs £4.99

Sampson Low Ltd Catalogue Number SLB0002
Currently selling 1st Edition
P&P is £1.20(UK), £3(Europe) and £4(Worldwide).

Order extra copies and pay no additional P&P



Buy a Copy and send to an UK Address (+£1.20 Postage and Packing) CLICK BELOW

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Don't forget to join us for the Official Patternotion launch on Saturday 9th March 2013, 10am, Books For Free Bookshop, 147 Fortess Road, Tufnell Park, NW5. Where we'll be visiting 20 local blue plaques and placing some of own on the streets for people to find and pick up.

The Patternotion book is published by Sampson Low Ltd

Bill Mudge - Jazz's Renaissance Man

Bill Mudge Trio's
Skylight

 

Bill Mudge is reputed to be a highly creative player of jazz organ. When I googled his name I found (on Youtube) an animation by Alban Low which is meant to accompany Bill’s composition ‘Skylight’. I say “meant to” because I was in my local library and all their headphones had been filched. I watched Alban’s graceful black and white images glide around that screen and tried to imagine the enchanting sound sequences which had inspired them.

(if you're curious listen here)

 

At various times there seem to have been Bill Mudge Quintets, Quartets and Trios. No doubt he also plays solo as well as in duos, sextets etc. I shall definitely make a point of checking out his music at some stage but at the moment I’m meant to be focusing on his fascinating visual contributions to recent Sampson Low Ltd publications.

Freedbook
' Let Me Show You To Your Room'



 

The photograph in Freedbook ‘Let Me Show You To Your Room’ triggers all kinds of associations for me, I’ve spent a lot of my life in small rented rooms. Your first glimpse inside reveals the end of a bed, a chest of draws, a wonky lampshade and bright sunshine streaming through a window. The door itself is scruffy, its paint flaking off but I’m sure everything’s clean and very few of the tenants will turn out to be serial killers.

 

 

 In contrast his photocollage in Patternotion documents an entire house. Before the Mudges moved in it belonged to Albert and Betty. The Albert-and-Bettys of this world should definitely be celebrated I think before they go the way of 8 track cassette cartridges, pennyfarthings and the eohippus.

 

In Albert’s own hand we read the cheery message, “Betty and I still enjoying life/modern sequence dancing/allotment garden etc”. Above and below these words are thoughtfully chosen patterns and textures from their home plus objects such as a lightswitch, a clock etc.

 

This week I took a photo of a local building which is soon to be demolished. I recall it mainly as having been a shabby charity shop in the late 90’s but when my Aunt saw the picture she told me it had been “an important piggery” during the war. Memories such as this are precious (to me at least). I’m grateful that Bill Mudge has chosen to give us an impression of how Albert and Betty’s place looked and felt before, as he says “embarking on the journey to make this house our home”.

 

PJD

 

 

(If you would like to find out what Bill Mudge sounds like for real then he's playing with the Kelvin Christiane Big Band at The Bloomsbury, Staines Road, Twickenham on Tuesday 5th March,2013 at 8pm. Free Entry. AL.)

Artist Series returns - David Bushell

David Bushell's ill fated 'Rate My Menhir'
website

 Today the Patternotion artist series returns with a post about author Daivd Bushell from Philip Deed, who will be our guest writer/blogger for the next few weeks.

David Bushell

Following the withdrawal from bookshops worldwide of his controversial “The Scotch Egg Diet” David Bushell retired to Penzance to reconsider his position. There, with his wife Edith and young son Mark Edward Smith Bushell, he enjoys the delights of the cornish countryside and in particular the prehistoric sites which are so plentiful in the west penwith region. His popular “Rate My Menhir” website was voluntarily closed down in 2011 to avoid legal action.

He continues to work on an autobiography which may once again prove too hot for the world of publishing to handle. Excerpts from this along with his forthright views on music, lifestyle etc appeared in early issues of a certain publication. It’s editor, dismayed at some of the subject matter and fearing that his own job might be at risk, decided to discontinue Bushell’s contributions. On the subject of his dismissal David has no comment beyond “The man is an arse”.

Now Sampson Low Ltd have thrown caution to the wind and decided to include excerpts from “More Farted Against Than Farting” first in their delightful Freedbook collection and now in Patternotion. I applaud their good judgement.

PJD

Patternotion - Life's delicate balance

Life is a delicate balance. Drift in a perfect bliss of ignorance and you can find your personal Nirvana or find yourself lost. Structure our unpredictable lives and we harness our potential, achieve greatness or send ourselves to the edges of insanity.

So when I contacted our 1000+ artists with the book’s theme, I felt more like a therapist and just a little bit unhinged myself. The task was to analyse their lives and to root out the personal systems that helps them function in life and work.  I suspected that artists and authors were excellent exponents in the secret art of system making, with the flair and skill to explain them. What I hadn’t expected was such a swift and varied response: within 6 hours of the call-to-arms we had to close submissions and the pages of the Patternotion book were all reserved.

We at Sampson Low Ltd are unusual in the way we select our artists and authors..... Everyone is welcome. We run a first-come first-served basis and have never rejected an entry. This has given the book a varied palette of ideas from artists, authors, children, train drivers, research directors, company bigwigs and unemployed geniuses from all over the world including England, Scotland, Wales, Denmark,  and for the first time The Democratic Republic of Congo (see Thomas Yocum's submission below)

Thomas Yocum

The book is split into two sections. The first contains both prescriptive and open systems that may require some thought. In the second part I asked 9 artists to interpret systems from the previous section. With a mix of instinct and structure they have channelled their intellects, producing fascinating and unexpected results.

Read the book and you realise that a good system contains as few ingredients as possible and has a short shelf-life before being re-invented or adapted. In this book you’ll find over 60 recipes to inspire and amuse you. In its best known form a life system is the New Year’s Resolution, where the participant declares their intentions and like a social gladiator lives or dies under the gaze of the populace.

Patternotion is not a dramatic ‘do or die’ ultimatum of course, it is just a book. Read it though and the ideas inside could influence the next chapter in your life.

The Book is now at the printers and we have removed the slideshow with all the submissions, so you'll have to wait for the real thing. It will go on sale in the week of the Blue Plaque launch which is Saturday 9th March.

AL