Thames Water bidder offering £1bn extra cash injection. 30%+ of the customer bill covers interest payments. Any private owner would want profit, dividends, sewage dumping will continue, customers will be fleeced. Must end the profit motive. Nationalise water industry.

Lukas Furtenagel, 'The painter Hans Burgkmair and his wife Annanée, née Allerlay' (1529)

I’ve become inordinately fascinated by the speed at which the tap roots on my acorns are growing. Having been wrapped up in the fridge for weeks, I’ll have five oak trees growing in the kitchen in no time… 🌳#BigOaksFromLittleAcornsGrow

Whale/Shoe bottle — Netherlands, c. 1685 Leather

"Glaze… adds what’s effectively a secret cloak to images that prevents AI algorithms from picking up on and copying an artist’s style… Nightshade [adds] an invisible layer of poison to images, which can break AI models…." It's great that artists have some defenses against AI theft.

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

You know you're getting old when the dream job you wanted as a teenager is now on the list of Critically Endangered Crafts (matte painting, filmmaking)

Negotiating both torrential rain and underground strikes, I finally made it to @Sothebys to see the London Collection of Pauline Karpidas. Wow! Stunningly arranged in room-like set ups, with striking bespoke furniture and furnishings alongside jaw-dropping Surrealist artworks.

Found the tree we used to climb - over fifty years ago - when playing Robin Hood.

Over @Bonhams, the Crawleys are selling off the family silver. #DowntonAbbey

I almost lost my footing as I crossed the road to see this amazing facade @sothebys

THE COLLECTORS - the nine figures in all their finery, L to R: THE CHARLATANS, THE SORCERERS, THE OOLOGISTS The forms are made from papier maché and clay slip. The arms - perversely with hindsight - are attached to the clothes rather than the torsos, which in theory makes them all interchangeable.

My carpet beetle (STITCH IN TIME) in situ, heading for camouflage amid the rugs at @burghhouse1704.bsky.social Thank you Polly @pangolin.london & the RSS for staging this beautiful show - it was lovely to catch up with so many familiar faces at the PV. On until 21 Sept, check venue for times.

So I've had to make a substitution due to my original piece submitted for the @royal_sculptors Summer Show being made of hair. STITCH IN TIME will be at Burgh House, New End Square, London NW3 1LT Wed–Thu–Fri–Sun & Bank Holidays: 10am-4pm 5 mins walk from Hampstead tube from 7 July to 21 Sept 2025

I'm thrilled to be showing VENN DIAGRAMS FOR THE HOME in @royal_sculptors Summer Show, curated by Polly Bielecka of Pangolin London Sculpture Gallery. The exhibition: SCULPTURE IN THE HOME is on from 17 July to 21 September at Burgh House, New End Sq, Hampstead, NW3 1LT Wed–Thu–Fri–Sun: 10am-4pm

omg they even ate the bones

From my recent series on unusual collectors. THE OOLOGISTS: A branch of ornithology that studies bird eggs, nests and breeding behaviour, it can also refer to the often illegal hobby of collecting wild birds' eggs. Such collectors often going to extreme lengths to obtain the eggs of rare birds...

T’was a right pickle outside KX this evening… #fragrant

I so enjoyed what proved to be a whistlestop tour of Do Ho Suh's exhibition 'Walk The House' @Tate. I've long admired his work, though think I've only ever seen solitary pieces, so it was great to see more plus also the insights into his working process.

THE COLLECTORS: SORCERERS Reliant on specific compounds to conduct their work, these practitioners of sympathetic magic have acquired ready-made fetishes. Teeth used to curse or control. Magical powers bound up in hair. Coral­ worn on the body to ward off disease, danger & death.

Billy Wilder at home with some of his art collection, 1960

It's just awful when you buy a guy a perfectly good election, and he won't even do whatever you want.

Constructed almost entirely from recycled clothing & sourced objects, the figures’ forms are half torsos made from papier mâché & many layers of slip clay. 'The Charlatans' are a denim-clad trio who sport prison tattoos, wear ambiguous 'jewellery' & display the prison numbers of infamous criminals.

The 9 figures I've been making were fabricated as 3 sets of 3. Unusually for me, I made them for the 'pleasure of making' rather than developing them round a concept. Now called The Collectors, the trios are subdivided into their niche specialisms. Pictured are The Oologists…

I’m aware I can be secretive as I make new work, rarely feeling comfortable showing its progression. I’ve been working on nine figures for what seems like forever, but as they near completion, thought I might share a glimpse...

I’ve been waiting all week for these…

Eclipse time in London! Seen from the bridge over the Regent's Canal by Coal Drops Yard.

CHANGING ROOM, my exhibition on menopause is designed to tour & I am keen to engage with venues that may be interested in hosting it. A combination of wall-hangings & 3D artworks, it can be sized according to venue with the option of including workshops & talks. Please DM for further information.

Look at the state of Samson’s feet! #VanDyke @dulwichgallery.bsky.social

This is brilliant!! 😂✊🏼

Happy New whatever this is… ⬇️ Best wishes for a happy, healthy, fruitful, creative and kind 2025!

A #NYE puzzler… where do the two pieces join?

Let us remember Thomas Becket on his feast day at his best: unencumbered with excommunication and politics, smoking a cigarette, arm in arm with Elisabeth Taylor.

Hmmm… the heady aroma of frankincense…

Wishing y’all a very Merry Christmas and a happy / healthy / exciting / creatively stimulating New Year!

Blimey, bash, crash, wallop from Fanny Cradock currently Cooking For Christmas on BBC4. So noisy and unappetisingly as she flings pastry, wet mincemeat omelettes and barbed comments around the studio kitchen.

Regretting not photographing the cyclist we spotted passing Lambeth Bridge with what was easily a 12ft Xmas tree securely upright in the basket of his Lime bike. Seeing me point, he saluted us, and as we turned noticed he'd fixed a cycle light halfway up the back of the tree!

During C19th many believed that the screech or call of an owl flying past the window of a sick person meant imminent death. T'was also a belief that if you walked around an owl in a tree, it would turn & turn its head to watch you until it wrung its own neck. #FaustianFriday

Research shows that nightjars travel in bursts, synchronised perfectly to the phases of the moon. When the moon is bright, nocturnal insects are more active & more visible, so the birds can gorge on them throughout the night – rather than suckling on goats' milk… #FaustianFriday

Some legends tell of witches shape-shifting into owls so they can fly silently over people at night & cast sinister spells on them… #FaustianFriday

Conger doing a conga, spotted this breezy weekend. #SomethingInTheAir

.@Fortnums: a real life advent countdown/calendar. #ActualSize

Sounds like a couple who’ve written a letter to the Telegraph about how they can only go skiing once a year because school fees have gone up

Remembering with love good friends gone & celebrating those living life to the fullest ❤️❤️❤️ #NoMoreStigma

For those of you searching for a unique Christmas gift, I have a small quantity of my SEA BRUSHES for sale. Each one is different & comes boxed with the tale of their usage & origin. DM me for further information. Small: £45 Medium: £65 Large: £80 + £6 P&P / UK only

Back in the 1980’s, AIDS was a death sentence. NIH funding and public health initiatives made AIDS a chronic disease. A modern day miracle.