#gayford

[softersynths]

doodles of @gayford’s postcanon shifty design “theseus” bc i like it lots. also him meeting my shifty bc lol

[ghoulierstudio]

[pohutukawa22]

Jacinda & Clark finally wed. Most of the NZ press knew the location but chose not to release the info. Even so about 10 anti-vaxxers turned up but didn't create a disturbance.

[abyssalzones]

haven't gotten to draw a lot since I started college but I'm very endeared by @gayford's design for a "reformed" shapeshifter and the idea of it being like tate's weird alien stepbrother. bait and tackle shop's worst employee

[ourbalancedlife]

[rebloggingrexan]

oh my gosh it’s true lol. it's the prime minister's partner who's burying the cat (imgur screenshot from op’s “via” link)

from the linked article:

Introducing his new furry friend as “Charcoal”, Gayford explained in the caption on a social media post the cat is “the cutest most eccentric little cat of Mounu Island.”

... “Including from many who thought a cat couldn’t possibly enjoy being buried in the sand, I give you this behind-the-scenes vid I made for my daughter.”

He explained that Charcoal “really does enjoy being dug in at the beach” and would often “sit with just his head out for 30mins each evening taking in his day while buried up to his whiskers”.

Cat loves being buried in sand

(via)

[korovaoverlook]

be nicer to your alien son, stanford

many thanks to @gayford and @softersynths for inspiring me with their own Shifty AUs

individual comics below the cut

[todropscience]

Despite being the world's largest fish, whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) are still poorly understood, and in spite of researchers though these big fishes were pasive feeders, filtering they food from the water, now researchers have found evidence of whale sharks engaging in bottom-feeding behaviours.

This event took place near La Paz, in southern Baja California, Mexico, a well know place as a whale shark hotspot, and was recorder by local guides, providing crusial information on this unknown behaviour never seen in whale sharks. Despite is still unknown what whale sharks might eat in this seafloor foraging, it is likely they feed on small benthic crustaceans.

video can seen here

Reference: Whitehead & Gayford (2023). First record of bottom‐feeding behaviour in the whale shark (Rhincodon typus). Journal of Fish Biology.

[dk-thrive]

The only things that matter in life are food and love, in that order, and also our little dog Ruby. I truly believe this, and for me, the basis of art is love. I love life.

— David Hockney, "Spring Cannot Be Cancelled: David Hockney in Normandy" by Martin Gayford. (Thames & Hudson, March 23, 2021) (via Wait - What?)

[scarecrowbutch]

theo/dot 🧡 24 🧡 he/him 🧡 butch lesbian 🧡 white

🍉 free palestine: gaza funds, daily click, fundraiser masterpost, operation olive branch 🌞 listening to 🌞 things im into: be kind my neighbor, moral orel, gravity falls, muppets, bigtop burger, wallace and gromit, adventure time, frasier, dark shadows ('66), BIRDS!! 🌞 carrds: carrd / comms carrd 🌞 links: twitter / insta / my art tag / artfight 🌞 sideblogs: @ibucrowfen / @gayford (gravity falls) 🌞 ko-fi: bearoaks 🌞 silly guy comms 👇

[troythecatfish]

[VERY IMPORTANT UPDATE TO ALL THIS AT THE BOTTOM]

Sometimes I just think about how petty the conversation around theropods can get in a way that no other group of dinosaurs seems to spark. And this toxic obsession with size is starting to bleed over into actual scientific conversation, which I believe is more important than any of my ramblings. Skip past all of this and go to the end if you must, I want more people to read at least the excerpt of the paper and be aware of this growing issue in paleontology.

Sauropods? Stegosaurs? Hadrosaurs? Pachycephalosaurs? No other dinosaur group seems to spark as much vitriol and internet slap fighting as the theropods do. Specifically the “mega”theropods as they’ve been dubbed more recently in the online paleo-sphere. T. rex, Spinosaurus, Giganotosaurus, you know the type. Big bodies with big heads with big jaws that certain sects of paleo fans get a bit too excited arguing over.

Of course most of these arguments center around the tyrant lizard king itself. A beast that I don’t need to bother doing this introduction for because you all know it’s coming: Tyrannosaurus rex. I know there’s a good too many people who treat T. rex as this unstoppable monster, God’s chosen creature among the other lowly fleshbags of the Mesozoic. Every new paper that comes out about Tyrannosaurus seems to just embolden them even more, especially now with that paper a few months back suggesting T. rex even larger than those preserved in the fossil record likely existed.

I’ve always found the rat race surrounding the size of T. rex and other “mega”theropods to be inherently a bit comical. If they want insanely large dinosaurs so badly I would point them towards sauropods, but those didn’t actively kill other dinosaurs so who cares amirite? Every other group of dinosaur, every other animal ever to evolve, only exists for the sake of power scaling their beloved giant theropod of choice.

But my question is doesn’t all this get a bit boring after a while? Acting like “mega”theropods were these untouchable gods and every other animal in the history of evolution is just a joke by comparison, it’s a frankly juvenile way of seeing things.

Triceratops? Only exists to have its head ripped off by and be a cool opponent for T. rex. Diplodocus? Only there so a gang of Saurophaganax can rip it apart. Rebbachisaurus? Tf even is that? The Kem Kem Beds were just the thunder dome for all those huge African theropods and crocodiles to beat each other up.

Point is I find the constant discussion and resulting arguments over theropod size and strength to be repetitive and boring. These “mega”theropods were no doubt powerful and fascinating animals, but they weren’t kaiju. They don’t need to be unkillable gods to still be worth appreciation and respect. Imagining them as the animals they were is much more stimulating for me than the simple who was the biggest back-and-forths.

———————————————————————————

(edit) this is a massive update in this particular subject, please, if not the rest of my ramblings at least read this:

I’d like to end with an excerpt from a scientific paper published just today by Joel H. Gayford et al. concerning size estimations of extinct animals

“Furthermore, one must be aware of backlash from the ever-growing fan communities of prehistoric organisms (such as Dunkleosteus, O. megalodon and theropod dinosaurs) on the internet, who may feel strongly about the perceived appearance of their favourite organisms. None of these concerns are hypotheticals, and all have happened at one point or another to many palaeobiologists who study well-known, iconic fossil taxa, including some of those mentioned in the present study. All studies should be judged on their scientific merit through debate and discourse, through which progressive improvements to our understanding of extinct animals can be gained.”

You can read the paper for yourself, as it’s publicly available for free: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/1...

This is more than simple online slap fighting. It’s affecting real paleontology. If actual scientists are now wanting to avoid certain species because of these types of paleo fans I don’t even know what to say. The paper goes in-depth about the problems, both scientifically and socially, that arise when determining the mass of an extinct animal. And I couldn’t agree more. I hate to beg for shares but if you can, and want to help push back against the awesomebros choking out real paleontologists then please consider it!

[ghoulierstudio]

From the Yellow House by Martin Gayford. Possibly a neurodivergent bias. I’ve always had sensory associations - synesthesia

[cbc-bb]

Diego Velásquez. Las Meninas, 1656.

“Originally, Velásquez made the picture to hang in the King’s private apartments. When the monarch looked at it, he saw not only his royal painter, palette and brush in hand, contemplating him, but also an image of himself in a mirror looking back. For Philip IV it was therefore a dizzyingly complex set of variations on the questions ‘What is reality and what is appearance?’ and ‘What are we looking at?’

“So in one sense, Las Meninas was a picture about a mirror, but in another way less often noted, it was made by mirrors.”

— Martin Gayford, in conversation with David Hockney (from their book “A History of Pictures”)

[ecle-c-tic]

WELLINGTON PARANORMAL!!!! THOUGHTS???

its sooooooo funny im actually dying!!! I'm on the one w/ the old time (old timy, old timey?) cop! I love all of the one liners and in true JCU the posters are killing me. Also Clarke Gayford??? AND KYLE MINOGUE HAHA

[sli-writes]

Essay: Is depression a natural by-product of being an artist

Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear,  Vincent van Gogh. 1889

We’ve all heard about the “tortured artist,” thinking, oof, I don’t want to end up there. Yet, you soon realise what they’ve created could’ve been a result of being in such a state of awareness; relentless persistence of observation, expression and individual psych. It has to do with the art of being; never getting away from it or allowing for mundane not-really-important interruptions to win, all in the spirit of getting to new and worthwhile (remember this word) ideas - all the while in solitude - that’s one of the requirements (at least to my experience).Tortured carries a negative connotation, in the world of an artist however, I believe it has to do with never truly shutting off; having a constant existing not only of the world around you but inside of you.

Flesh and Spirit,  Jean-Michel Basquiat.  c. 1982–83

Research suggests that bipolar disorder results in creativity. Often, not always. On the surface level, it explains everything as I can see the parallels by looking at a Basquiat, you think; such sudden bursts of creativity, the kind too that make for a great artist, how? I’m by no means suggesting he had a mental illness, I can’t speak on his state of mind, but what genius. I have but only admiral reverence. The trend does in fact persists in a way that one cannot refute the streams of genius seemly flowing from ill mental health issues.    

Conversely, it is believed the practice of art helps with stress, decreased depression and anxiety but honestly, the practice never helped me with that because the cycle of bringing ideas to life goes a little like this. In the being, there’s no “chasing of the clock,” tasks performed ordinarily or by rote; there are however times for keeping your head down and grinding it out, honestly, there is no formula I can suggest that makes for a concise proof. It’s getting the ideas out through sheer force. You sometimes don’t even know if idea is worthwhile, even after you’ve made it all the way to the end of it, baiting, trying to catch it, trembling and your lips quivering..the performances of a matador (violent disorder) at times, and on other occasions, the patience of a fisherman, something not short of the labour of love. See because sometimes the end result is just that, the end. In the book I’m currently reading, ‘Modernists and Mavericks’ by Martin Gayford, there’s a quote by Bridget Riley which I believe is an important guide to what we (artists) should be doing to alleviate anxiety, at least to some extent and it goes like this, “People feel that it is very important for artists to have an aim. Actually, what’s vital is to have a beginning. You find your aim in the process of working, You discover it,”  (Gayford, 2019, p43).    

Painting 1946,  Francis Bacon. 1946

I have ideas that I want to speak on through my work, tough ones; dreading to have the conversations with humanity myself. The art plays this role - never with vivid explanations - I value that, because the over-explanations take away from its mystique, bores the work; the work is however always honest, revealing and necessary (cannot do without it). The audience can be witness to every vehement moment I’ve encountered with the work, if only they were to look. Being a self-taught outsider, the self-doubt is incredibly paralysing; something I’m fighting constantly with marginal success I’ll say. I never like the idea of drawing or painting like other artists, it’s great as an exercise and all, but not when your emotional interests are concerned with their personal expression.

I guess I’ve realised that being in art is inevitable and worthwhile suffering, even necessary as it is an act that brings one closer to the act of God himself. “Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.” (F,Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment).

Bibliography

Dostoyevsky, F. and Garnett, C. (2018) Crime and punishment. San Diego, California: Canterbury Classics.

Gayford, M. (2019) ‘Euston Road in Camberwell’, in Modernists and Mavericks: Bacon, freud, Hockney and the London painters. London, UK: Thames & Hudson, pp. 43–43.

Watson, S. (2023) Does bipolar disorder make you more creative? what research says, Healthline. Available at: https://www.healthline.com/health/bipolar-disorder/famous-creative-people (Accessed: 01 March 2023).