Archie's 30th Birthday

Lovely to see Archie and Meriel for his 30th birthday. We had some nice food over the weekend including fish and chips from the Codfather we ate at Granma's house. Theye went off to Manchester on Sunday to pick Meriel''s work up from the Bankley Gallery Open. We went to the indoor boot sale but it was a quid to get in ( have I already said this?) so Hazel refused to enter. We went round the charity shops instead although not many are open on a Sunday! In the evening we had a lasagne I made and more cake. We watched a bit of Inherent Vice on Blu-ray but nobody was in the mood for such a complicated plot and 60's slang ridden dialogue so we watched an episode of Ghosts instead .

Pre Birthday Cake

Good to see old chums Tony and Pene Eve on Friday for some lunch and birthday cake that Hazel made. The explosive candle is always good fun! It's not Archie's 30th until Monday but the cake needs eating up or we'll be stuck with it all next week.

Archie and Meriel Visit

More yummy birthday cake with Archie Leigh-Jones and guests - Tony and Pene. Explosive candle! Elephant puppet was from a charity shop in West Yorkshire some years ago.

Gif made from old photos.

Archie - Open Studio - Galleria ACME - Peckham

Strange isn't it that nearly 40 years later Archie is renting his studio from ACME as I did back in the 70's except then mine was a pre-fab in Stepney for £3 a week or something stupid and I could live there as well! Good to see ACME still a going concern - helping out artists in one of the most expensive cities in the world. Stepney was pretty basic but very cheap to live back in the 70's and 80's. I got to exhibit at the Whitechapel gallery a few times and made enough work to get my foot in the door of a couple of galleries in the west end. All run by crooks sadly so didn't last long. Mail art came along and rest, as they say, is history. Our 40+ year archive "Curious Things" opens in Manchester on Monday and on for 6 months. #mmucuriousthings

Bouncy bouncy!

Archie and Meriel made this series of photos. I made the GIF.