Hal

Higher

Train

Spelling

There’s nothing wrong with taking pride in your home, garden or neighbourhood, I’m the same…but it’s a question of what’s proportionate and how much distress you feel not doing something when you spot a flaw. Something like graffiti also annoys me, but particularly in somewhere like London if I were to report every incidence of it I’d spend all day doing nothing else. I’m not saying stop mowing your lawn or washing your car, although they’d both be good exposure exercises…when it comes to changing slabs or a roof though that is very much OCD at play. Try to aim for a happy medium which most people are content to live with. I genuinely get that it isn’t easy, just try to gradually consider that maybe you can actually live well alongside the less than perfect.

This is what you really need to get to grips with, Phil. OCD being what it is there is always going to be something not quite right or good enough to satisfy its impossible demands. The question I think you need to ask yourself is do you want to spend the rest of your life dancing to its tune? Money aside being wasted, think about what this is doing to your wellbeing and your family’s. Think about all the things you could be doing not just with the money but the time being devoted to the disorder. Life is so short, it really is. How about changing tack and getting hold-of a self-help book geared towards overcoming perfectionism and OCD? https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/products/cbt-workbook-for-perfectionism-book-sharon-martin-9781684031535?sku=GOR010806706&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADZzAIDAbTI89izjnz-gU1XpGs7dC&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI95iwjrSEjAMVVZhQBh136iXQEAQYASABEgII9PD_BwE

All your thoughts around lack of recognition for women artists echo a wonderful documentary I saw on BBC4 about Pauline Boty about her struggle to be taken seriously in the art world. I won’t go into too much detail in case anyone wants to check it out on player, except to say she was instrumental in Pop Art during early the ‘60s even before Warhol over in the US was doing his thing with cans of soup. A perfect subject for a sunny spring day. Really cheery and uplifting. Lovely

They do don’t they, much more like their wild cousins than a domestic moggy. I wonder if he grew bored drawing the cats and thought what the heck I’ll go with a dragon. It always amazes me something so fragile and presumably not intended to be seen by the public has survived. That’s shocking and so sad.

Don’t apologise, I’m enjoying them…the last one reminds me of this by Da Vinci. Complete with a charming dragon

It’s all subjective isn’t it. I think I found it rather poignant more than anything. That snapshot in time when they were together and wanted to have a record of it.

Thanks for flagging this up, Matt. It’s important people know that if their first experience accessing treatment hasn’t been a positive one, that there are always other avenues and options available to them. I hope the upcoming assessment goes well, will you let us know how you get on?

Italy

Lovely attention to detail, Louise…particularly the thatch bird. In the very unlikely event I ever have a thatched house that’s something I’d have to have. I came across this recently, now I know it’s far from being a masterpiece, but I think it has a real charm to it. I can imagine their daughters insisting the doll and kitten must be included in the portrait. It feels strangely contemporary to me, with the mother, father and one of the children looking directly at us from the eighteenth century. Painted by the artist, Hendrik Spilman - 1721-84 with his wife, Sanneke van Bommel.

That brings back happy memories, I had a Hornby model of the ‘Flying Scotsman’ as a child. Lovely photos, Roy.

I know it’s nowhere near easy, Phil, and of course the forum’s always here for us to help each other get to a better place….that said though I’m a little worried you’re maybe relying a little too heavily on other people’s opinions for how best to tackle this. How about over the coming weeks trying to gradually build up a bit more confidence in yourself around how to handle these thoughts? I’m genuinely not saying stop posting, Phil …but just be aware how much writing so much about this is contributing to keeping it all on the boil and at the forefront of your attention. Whatever the latest issue the disorder has pinpointed as desperately needing your attention, it will always pass…however strong the feeling you must rectify something, you can safely ignore it.

His portraits are beautiful aren’t they…you sense his sitters trusted him to be fair and not unkind. Unlike Graham Sutherland and poor Churchill. I’m not sure I’d have destroyed the painting though, however much I might have disliked the likeness. This portrait of Mrs Robert Harrison, (1886) is pretty striking and bold. Almost abstract with the use of the red and white.