Kickboxing rip-off

Ok, maybe the title is a little harsh (maybe..) but in light of recent events I feel I have to write my thoughts down about this.

I went to a kickboxing class with my friend Kelly, who wanted a partner to go with, just to try it out, but then ended up really liking it.  It made me feel good about myself, it was physically challenging but i liked that, because not a lof of other sports have made me feel like I've used every muscle in my body, and the tiredness afterwards was very rewarding.

Now, it seemed understandable to me that signing up for 6 months of lessons (2 a week, so 48 lessons) would be a good idea - gives me the incentive to go, and since I enjoyed it so much I was ready to pay for it.  But the way my mind works led me to pay for it all upfront (you could pay on monthly/weekly installments but it worked out as nearly £150 more to do it that way) then it's sorted, no more money slowly streaming out of my account.
Great, all sorted and I can carry on happliy with this sport I really enjoy!  The only thing I needed next was some kit, own gloves and pads because they have limited kit for sharing - and it's all sweaty anyway from everyone else using it! My boyfriend very kindly gave me his pads to use, and I just got some gloves myself so I saved some money! Since I paid for lots of lessons I don't have a lot of money to throw around, the lessons were my treat :)
Everything was going great, used my own kit in a couple of lessons, I really like my gloves because they fit my small hands properly!  I am quite small so not a lot of stuff fits...

But then on Monday (21st Feb) one of the teachers comes up to me before the lesson starts and says "Sorry miss, but you cannot use your own kit, you have to buy ours." WHAT THE HELL??  There was no mention of this upon enrollment.  There was no reminder of this the week I trained and had no kit - no friendly "Oh hi, so you know you need to buy our kit?  Would you like to pay now etc?".  Finally, there was no mention of this when I started using my own kit - nobody said anything to me!

So on Monday I was flabbergasted.  Actually a little upset, because I did not want to spend any more money - especially after I can no longer return my gloves and get my money back!  I didn't have time to say anything right at that moment because the lesson was starting, I could only mutter an angry "well, I can use my stuff for this lesson right?".

Very angry lesson followed, then I went and spoke to the teacher after.  When I started talking to the Miss who mentioned it, the Miss who enrolled me came in as well.  "Do you not remember our conversation?" NO BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T TELL ME!  How can I remember something which you never said?? My friend Kelly was never told upon her enrollment! She had no idea this was the case, and felt really bad for me.
It wasn't written in the contract, so I am very angry.
When I was speaking to the teachers after I said "Is it a new rule?" "No, I told you." (liar) "Well why?" "It's just the rules. Want to sort it out now?" NO I don't have any money on me! I can't afford to shell out that much cash now!  Not after I've paid for your frickin lessons!

AAAARRRGHH! The worst thing about it now is I do not want to go there tonight.  I am worried that tehy are going to bully me about it - not that I will succumb to such shit, but I don't want that in my life.  No adult shoudl ever be bullied by stupid salesmen.  It makes their whole establishment look a shambles to me now.  They are clearly more interested in making money.

My boyfriend who was also horrified (and angry) at this asked a few of his friends who either teach or go to various martial arts lessons to see if this "you have to buy our kit" rule is the same anywhere else - and it isn't.  After a little reserach too I have found a few other people who have fallen out with the school, and cannot get out of the pay-per-month contracts they've had with them.  Also there is evidence to show that the school is not really about the kickboxing, but more about making money, as the owner of the school (actually they have various branches of schools) has out out an ad for a new employee, whose skills must be based around sales and marketing! Not kickboxing skills! You don't have to have a certain degree of belt to be employed as a teacher! You must be able to sell sell sell, get people to pay blah blah.

I feel really sad now.... Partly because I've already paid for the lessons and now I no longer want to go.  I don't want to be bullied into paying for stuff I already have that works fine!  I bought it from a reputable martial arts shop in Manchester so I know it's good stuff.  Partly feel bad because if I don;t go anymore my friend Kelly will be going to the classes on her own - well, with people she doesn't know as well.
I just feel so angry!  I've been bullied a lot in the past, been duped into stuff I didn't really want to do, and I think it's actually bringing back some bad memories.... I feel awful, I no longer have an image of the people working there being nice people, just mean salesmen.  I don't need this shit in my life.

Some of you may be thinking "why is she getting so worked up about this?" but as I previously pointed out there is no need to make me buy their gear except to make money.  It's that point that takes away the fun of the sport, where's the honour?  Where's the love of the sport?

I don't know really what point to end this on, but yeah, I'm annoyed.

Tumblr

I'm glad I've finally managed to get a Blog now, I remember reading about them when they first started and was too lazy to start my own or didn't see the point.

But then comes a new thing... Tumblr.  I don't know why but I find it a lot nicer than this in many ways.  Well, it's a lot better for putting photos up anyway.  I like the archive bit on my Tumblr then I can see all my pretty photos together, all the nice colours in a weird rainbow.

I don't know which is more 'me' to be honest... Seems sad to start using this less even though I've only just started using it!!  But Tumblr is pretty... :)

Day out with pink things

I went to the Trafford Centre the other day on my lunch, keeping my eye out for pretty and colourful things.

 

I liked this card because it's nearly the same colour as my hair.

 

PENS!! I love pens, I am amazed I didn't buy any.

 

Especially these ones.

 

These looked a lot pink-er in the flesh.

 

Nice label.

 

Just because.

Animal rights?!?

I have been reading the news a lot more since starting work (something to do on my lunch, and I thought I might  become more wordly wise) but it is incredibly depressing.

I have been disgusted by a few articles recently, about dogs being killed in horrific circumstances, or animals being smuggled and died in transportation.

I read this and it made me feel awful, and angry.  I'm going to make my point clear before I continue with this - I am not religious, and I do have somewhat strong feelings toward religious people WHEN THEY DO AWFUL SHIT LIKE THIS!  I'm not going to lie and cover up the fact that I consider religious people to be a little odd (crazy sometimes), whatever, you can believe what you want, but I'm not going to be actively hateful toward you and tell you to fuck off, or burn your dog because you go to church every Sunday.  Why do you feel it is ok to destroy an animal because it did what an animal normally does and chew something?!?

My dog once ate a £20 note.  Bummer, but I didn't smack her for it.  She once chewed the carpet off the stairs (because we left her in the house alone for a long time which isn't nice), it's only a carpet.
It makes me wonder if Miriam Smith's nephew tore a page out of the bible, would she kill him?  Beat him to a pulp maybe?  Probably not, but then he would be totally aware of what he was doing - the dog was not, it found something to chew, and it happened to be a book.  A frickin book, I don't give a shit if it was a bible or a gold-leaf-collectible-priceless-hand-bound-with-some-leather-involved-somewhere-on-it-making-it-very-expensive-book - the dog did not deserve to die.

It is these kind of religiously-fuelled acts that make my stomach turn.  Suicide bombers, familys murdering their daughters because she 'dishonoured them', even the people protesting against women having abortions, shunning gays or even worse killing them because they are gay, killing someone or something because 'god' told them to, or will let them off for it because thats what their religion states...  I don't know whether it's because religion makes people go crazy or whether it's crazy people that are susceptible to the brain washing and lovely 'you will go to heaven' promises that become attached to a religion, and give the general religious populous a bad name, but these things don't occur as often (or are not as commonly published) from non-religious or non-crazy people.

I still get disgusted when I hear of a dog getting destroyed for biting a kid - research the situation properly before you condemn the dog.  Or, more recently, 2 rottweilers being killed because they were dragged along by their owner in a car, who didn't realise they were tied to the back of it - and the owner was not charged with anything!  Wreckless driving for one?? Animal cruelty? They should charge people for being fucking stupid, make them do some community service or something at least.

I love animals, but I am not a vegetarian - I would eat any meat if I knew that animal was reared in humane and happy circumstances, and was killed humanely and ideally with none of the animal's parts going to waste (in a perfect world).  Animals have rights, just because they can't talk doesn't mean they can be wrecklessly destroyed.

And don't get me started on smuggling them...

Exhibition 'fee'

Since graduating I have had many emails from Gallery owners - online or other - inviting me to exhibit or join their website.

Seems like a nice idea at first. 'Wow they must like my work, I'll ask them more about this wonderful offer'.
Until you get the 'further information' about having to pay for online membership (fee per image you want to upload) and then them taking commission, or having to pay a ridiculous fee for having an exhibition in their gallery and having to pay for PR launch material etc. etc.

One experience of mine was being invited to exhibit in Portugal, sounded great, except I noticed a couple of slightly suspicious points... They did not name me in the email specifically - thus making it a generic email to (I presume) many recipients, whom all graduated at the same time as me.  I found this out to be true a few days later.  Also they asked me to reply asking for more information if I was interested, which I was, there is no harm in asking.
When I eventually got a response I was quite shocked.  They said I would be required to pay half of the fees for the PR launch for the exhibit, a total of £650!! I also was told I would be responsible for all transportation costs of a minimum 10 paintings for the exhibit, that's fine if I didn't have to pay the PR fee (and it would also help if I had that kind of money to throw around in the first place).

When you've just graduated, you don't have a lot of money to spare!! Let alone money for an exhibit where you might not sell any work!

I want to get my art out there, I'm sure a lot of other people want to show off theirs as well, but with the state of the arts funding in the shitter as it is, everyone is trying to save money - and I think it's a much better idea to get together and organise events at quirky (free!) venues where you don't have to worry about making your money back.

Enough of my ranting, I'm looking forward to taking part in few exhibitions over the next few months - and they're probably free to take part in as well...!!

Impulse

Strange nowadays, since graduating a lot of my art seems to come from impluses, immediate inspiration, or such like.

It hasn't been a long time, really, since moving on from studying art to just doing it.  It feels a lot better now than having that feeling that I 'had to' produce paintings, or 'had to' write down what I was feeling.

It's natural now, the impulse of 'this is me, this is what I do' takes hold and I just do stuff. 

Got about 3 paintings on the go at the moment.  It's great - I sit down and think 'yea, I'll do something on that one' or 'I'm bored of that, let's do something crazy'.  Since my works about my dreams, I'm also finding it a lot easier to realise which dreams mean a lot to me, which ones I want to paint and try to explore the meanings of, instead of feeling I had to write every single one down for reference.

FREEDOM!  Tis a brilliant thing.

 

Look at the bear!!

Textile Apartments exhibition

Over the next few weeks my paintings will be decorating the walls of the Textile Apartment corridors (the flats where I live in Salford).

I had a discussion with the Flat Manager, Fran, and she is delighted to be lighting up the place!

It is a tricky building to display in, though, it's a converted mill with thick brick walls and awkward winding staircases. 

As soon as the logistics are figured out I will be posting many photos.

Here are a few previews of some of the older pieces of mine that will be on show...  For more photos of the paintings that will be on display, click here to go to my Art Review profile.

Art Review

For all those of you who keep up to date with Art publications, you can also find my profile here on Art Review online.

Since I started this Blog fairly late on, you will find all my older paintings on the Art review profile of mine.  I will soon be adding a catalogue of my paintings here, but until then, check out the AR profile!

Artist's Bonfire Pledge

The joy of creating art, the need to create, the frustration in failing, and the difficulty in suffering with this failure may be some of the feelings we all share as artists.

Alongside the personal experiences with art, the frustration at the constraining of the arts is something that we need to express together as a group.

And yet, I am not entirely saddened by the state of the arts – as I know that loss in funding will never stop people producing art, it will never stop people expressing themselves, and it will never stop the fight for people’s rights to exhibit and view art.

Burn the negativity, and relish in the joy that art brings whether as an artist or a lover of the arts.

 

 I have chosen to burn one of my old paintings I did whilst in my final year at university.  I pushed myself to my mental limits wanting to create ‘so many’ paintings before the end of the year.  This particular painting changed many times over the weeks I was working on it in my failure to make it work as a piece.

The painting – now heavy with multiple layers of paint and stripped from the wooden frame it was once worthy to be affixed to – will be given a new lease of life as contribution to this mass bonfire, and represent the burning of my negative feelings toward this piece of work, and celebrate that I will always create art.

Details of artwork:

The painting I have chosen to burn is an oil painting from my final year at university.  When stretched it measures 150x114cm, but I have decided to keep it rolled up for the time being as I do not like looking at it.  Depending on how I feel at the time of the event I may decide to unroll it so I can see the image burning away and slowly disappearing, or keep it rolled up.  I know if I kept it I would only unroll it to be left with a heavy feeling of unhappiness, this bonfire is the perfect excuse to be rid of it.

Mural at 'The Gallery'

 

I did a mural last year in November for a bar in Chorlton, Manchester.  The bar used to be called Abode, but got taken over, and then became The Gallery!  But obviously they had nothing to claim their gallery name, so I got called in to 'start the art'.

It took me about 11 hours do in total, and there was a slight delay as some arsehole thought it would be funny to graffiti on a bit of the wall I hadn't painted yet. There was one drunk guy who also could not understand what I was doing, that really describes the state of art in society these days. It is something, but come on man, it's not as if it really IS a deer, or it really IS some sort of crying monster. 

I used marker pen for the outline, and acrylic fr the main body of paint.  I wanted something that dried quick, usually I use oils but they are not suitable for walls!

And no, the bat was not done by me, the staff there use that poster to block unwanted eyes from seeing into the staff room.

I may add more photos of the work in progress at a later date.

Enjoy.

If anyone is interested in this mural and would like to discuss me doing something similar for you, get in touch!

jamieclough@msn.com

My head hurts

Why is it some people never write things down?

My job entails dealing with new enquiries for the removal of Japanese Knotweed (I am sick of hearing about the stuff), and as you can guess I have to answer a lot of the same questions several times a day.
I would really appreciate it if the people I spoke to last year would write the information I gave them down so I didn't have to repeat it all over again!

And yes Mrs. doesn't know the first thing about Knotweed, I do find it rude when you get pissy with me over the phone!!

I want to go home.

First Blog

Today I wrote my first blog.

It was not very exciting as I haven't even made my page look as pretty as I'd like it to yet, there is still a lot to do.

Soon I will upload some of my drawings and paintings for everyone to see.

How exciting.