introduction Post - Not happy with it but I needed to get it out of the way - (like no one has ever done this before - I mean...)

I am on about day eleven of writing this introduction post. I think I have written the first two sentences at least 20 times. Grrrr. An introduction post is difficult because you are trying to create some sort of impression but there are several factors to consider namely

• How you see yourself
• How you would like other people to see you
• How people actually see you

and for me the most important one

• I have a professional role outside this world that may affect me negatively if I joke around here too much. That means I have to create things that cannot easily be associated with me even though they are of me.

While this may seem somewhat negative in itself you can be sure that anything I post is more of the secret inner me that other people don't see in the "real" world. It will be a form of cathartic exhibitionism and you will be the voyeur. It also means that I can ponder on humourless pieces of philosophy yet at other times be light and have fun.

Using that as a baseline I will show you things that are part of my life or have been part of my life and provide a little bit of the story behind them. At this point I hear you saying "just get on with it you %$hole I haven't got all day"......Yeah

...... so obviously I'd like you to think I was cool so I will start with the coolest thing I own - a guitar - or at least one of the several guitars I own. I found the remains of this guitar in a skip/dumpster outside The Marquee club in London when I was a teen. Someone had a major field day on it. It had been set on fire several times, the body had been hollowed out and the "artist" had had a tantrum holding the neck and smashing it on the floor so that the neck sheared away from the body. As this is an American Strat from 1977 it would have made it quite valuable. It must have been someone either pretty well known and more money than sense or someone completely out of their tree. If you look on the back you can see that they had screwed on a huge metal plate too. The guitar had gone through so much abuse - poor little baby. For the next couple of months I was showing everyone who would listen this way cool thing .......although it was in two bits and had no pickups, no bridge, no electrics and no knobs.

When I got the money together I went to this classical instruments repairer close to where I lived called Archie McPherson and asked if he could fix it up. He was quite the character. He sat me down, went and made me a cup of tea and then proceeded to talk all afternoon. It could be a bit disconcerting at times as he had one wonky eye that pointed in..... somewhere lord knows where ....but he could keep you entertained. I think he was just bored. Anyhow he did the most incredible job. Shimmed a piece of wood in the neck where there was a piece missing and voila you would never know it had been broke. Despite its looks it plays like a gem and is by far and away the best guitar I have ever owned (really, thankyou again Archie). It actually looks more beat up and more wow in real life. Anyone who picks it up is immediately transformed into a rock god/goddess. as a result people were always asking to borrow it. One slight problem with this is that I am not actually a guitar player ....urp ....I started off as a wannabe bass player and later on became a wannabe singer. I can do your basic bar cords but that is about your lot. that limits me to punk on guitar......whoopdy.

You can probably pull a few other bits of information about me in those pics of the guitar too. the gumball machine that I was planning to use for an art project that I didn't get round to. a rice strw pillow I brought back from Japan.

Ok after the distraction I should tell you where I live - Liverpool in the UK. I wasn't born there and have never had a relationship with the city until now. It's just that I used to live in Tokyo, (the longest I have ever lived anywhere) and when I came back to London I nearly had a heart attack at the rental costs. I looked round for somewhere cheap with a compact city center in which I could run a business project and Liverpool was by far and away the best option. As bonuses I live on one of the four original streets from 1207, the people are really friendly in comparison to London, the Chinatown has some great restaurants/supermarkets, there are some fantastic pubs, big range of public galleries, there are some good theatres, the weather is probably the best in the UK and I can walk pretty much any place I need to go. Add to that London is only 90 minutes by train. It can take you longer to commute from the burbs of London to the centre.

Background? Well I did an undergrad degree in neurophysiology and did a masters in fine art - painting. Yes, big switch. It gets worse - in order to fund having a studio on the South Bank I ended up working for a press agency as an analyst specializing in finance and finance law. At the time it was fashionable for the financial sector tor employ visual artists as they "looked at things from a different perspective". As I had a science background as well it made me doubly as popular.

_{Woman from the back - multiple poses recorded as one drawing - charcoal, hard pastel and gel ball.}