Last week I was bemused by a report of an art enthusiast who had photographed thousands of white paint spillages, which he observed on roads and pavements.

His interest was in the shape of the spillage, and his excitement was increased by the presence of footprints in the paint which was an indication of the spill having been walked through by innocent passersby before the paint had dried.

One paint spillage had occurred outside the door of a DIY store, so the artist had surmised that the paint had been dropped as the purchaser was exiting the shop with it.

The paint itself was random in its pattern and influenced by its capacity to roll and spread on slopes of smooth surfaces and was a source to the artist of deep fascination.

In truth, it all sounded to me a little bit like nonsense, until one day last week, my mother-in-law picked out a large, smooth, long white pebble, from the centre-piece of my pebble and shell garden arrangement and used it as a door stop………………………..yes, a doorstop!!

I had placed the pebble at the centre of a display of pebbles and shells which were circular in arrangement, and which had a heaped-up pile rising in the middle with this long slender, sensual and smooth white pebble resting precariously from top to bottom.

To my mother-in-law my art was a pile of stones and my prized pebble a sturdy lump to stop the door being slammed shut in the wind.

Our perceptions of the visual world around us, and how we attempt to make connections with it are not always apparent to those with whom we traverse our lives.

I have been suprised by my sudden interest in paint spillages on the road, now I have been enlightened to their value.

My mother-in-law is still oblivious to my pebble and shell art, however my precious stone has been loving restored to the centre of my art.

So it is, then, with my private musings, they provide my eye with the capacity to look deep into what it is that makes me the man I am, and waiting, waiting for an opportunity for my inner enlightenment to pour forth and be noticed in this world.

My next blog will be: Infatuation

William Defoe