The What Goes Around Blog

A Flash of Blue

On a recent walk with Carole, our route took us along a stretch of riverbank by the River Wandle, near Carshalton. In years past, this stretch of the river was pretty grotty, with lots of litter and rubbish floating around, along with the archetypal abandoned shopping trolley or two. More attention is paid to the river now, and thankfully it now looks and feels in better shape. We noticed this as we strolled along – and then something special caught my eye. Something which really signalled to me that the river is now healthier.

An unmistakeable flash of electric blue fizzed past us parallel to the bank, a kingfisher! This beautiful bird darted downstream almost too fast to see, but when you are as striking as that, you’re almost impossible to miss. I didn’t have a camera on me and even if I had – there would have been no time to photograph this wonderful kingfisher in flight, but the flash stayed in my mind, and when we got home, I tried to recall it on paper as best I could.

Santa had given me some new tools for Christmas, in the form of these silicone tipped paint appliers. I used them to push some acrylic paint around, over a pale blue water colour base which I had first allowed to dry. It felt unusual using a tool that doesn’t absorb the paint, you have to work the material quite differently. I think I’ve managed to capture the flow and movement of the bird quite well. Update July 2015 – this picture has been sold.

My Favourite Thing Is You

A few observations on what makes for good networking, sparked by #Culturevist

On Wednesday I spent an interesting and enjoyable evening at a Culturevist networking event. A few of my friends have been to some previous Culturevist get togethers – but this was my first one. Networking often gets a bad rap, and we’ve all been to at least one session that’s ended up as a total cringefest, it’s not just me, is it? This event was a little different, so in defence of the art of good networking, here are my first impressions of this interesting group.

Welcome

On arrival I was immediately made to feel very welcome, by many people. This wasn’t an in your face, full on experience, just plenty of encouragement. Thank you to everyone who helped ease me into the swing of a new social situation.

Hello…And

The name badge I was invited to complete, with the addition of ‘And my favourite thing is…’ was a lovely idea. I figured I was there to meet interesting people, so my badge said ‘And my favourite thing is you’.

That dreaded intro moment

Something about networking that leaves me cold is when everyone stands up and introduces themselves to everyone else. Being a bear of small brain I struggle to remember more than about three names, and when the group is large, I also struggle to stay awake. Tom Nixon offered up a twist, and this time we were invited to simply say our name, and what we needed. This was a great idea – people’s brief responses were helpful and often funny too. Others in the group could then easily spot people they have something in common with, or someone they could be of possible use to. A lovely idea – I will look for other opportunities to try this.

Recollections

Throughout the evening, a couple of people approached me who have seen me at conferences and gatherings over the past few years and had positive recollections – those interactions were really touching, motivating too, thanks. I learned from this, that when you have a positive memory of someone, It’s lovely to share it with them. They might have forgotten – I had.

Conversation without judgement

I enjoyed the subjects put up for brief talks and subsequent conversations – the theme of the evening was ‘Open Source Culture – What Happens When Everyone Has A Say?’ I didn’t agree with everything being put forward and it was lovely to have a chance to discuss differences in such a respectful way. Too often we seek to brush even the gentlest conflict to one side – I’m a huge fan of open, respectful disagreement, and I did not feel I was being judged when sharing contradictory experiences and views.

I left with a head buzzing full of ideas, having met some lovely people for the first time and caught up with a few friends. Thank you to everyone, and particularly to Matthew Partovi for making things happen.

I hope this post is useful to some of you, and if you have any more suggestions about how to make networking work, please share them in the comments. And if you’d like to see someone else’s perspective on networking, I thoroughly recommend The Quiet Man, a beautifully written blog post by Richard Martin.

Signals – Part Two

Just over two years ago, I rattled off a sketch titled Signals – Part One. I’d always intended that sketch to be part of an ongoing series, exploring the tension between digital and analogue, regular and irregular. It’s taken me a while – but here, finally, is Signals – Part Two, complete in a little oak frame.

In this sketch, the regular is represented in the straight lines (initially drawn using a ruler) leading out from the top right hand side of the sketch. The fan lines are drawn freehand, and then blue acrylic paint has been splurged and brushed into each tick, or v shape. Lastly – the small hint of orange water colour is there to represent a little dissonance in the signal, a bit like the hiss and crackle on a vinyl record.

This sketch has been mailed to someone in Derbyshire, and who knows – maybe a Part Three will be along sometime…