#306: The Deep Blue Okay

Oil on canvas.  View of a train window with a person sitting inside the train looking out the window, a neutral look on their face, but with a slight upturn at the corner of their mouth.  The window is entirely a deep blue colour.

Along the frame, underneath the painting are the words: “It’s the idea that there’s a place inside me, that’s blue, and okay, and is always there, even if it feels like it’s gone,” she [Self Esteem/Rebecca Lucy Taylor] reflects. “I just needed to know everything would be alright, in one way or another. So it’s an ideology for life – for people like me who are stressed out all the time…”*

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*O'Toole (2025) Self Esteem: "On the edge of putting Prioritise Pleasure out, I’d looked into training to become a keep-fit instructor...". Available at: https://www.hotpress.com/music/self-esteem-on-the-edge-of-putting-prioritise-pleasure-out-id-looked-into-training-to-become-a-keep-fit-instructor-23083680#:~:text=throughout%20the%20album.-,Advertisement,stressed%20out%20all%20the%20time%E2%80%A6%E2%80%9D (Accessed 11th and 14th July 2025).

Self Esteem (2025) ‘I Do And I Don’t Care’, A Complicated Woman [CD, 00602475498773]. UK, Polydor.

Self Esteem (2025) ‘Cheers To Me’, A Complicated Woman [CD, 00602475498773]. UK, Polydor.

Self Esteem (2025) ‘The Deep Blue Okay’, A Complicated Woman [CD, 00602475498773]. UK, Polydor.

#305: Family Bicycle Commute

Oil on canvas.  A father, his son and his daughter riding a bicycle together across a pedestrian crossing on Woodgrange Road in Forest Gate, London (they are travelling from the north side of Forest Lane, opposite the station, or from west to east across Woodgrange Road).  

The father sits in the bicycle seat, his son stands on one peddle, one hand on the handlebars, the other on his father’s arm, while his sister stands behind them on the rear wheel hub, her hand on her father’s shoulder.  All three look forward into the distance together, all set on the same goal.

#304: Introvert's Space

A room in which you have everything you need.  

And / Or

A head in which you have everything you need.

Not

A person who is lacking.

Or 

A person who is lonely.

Or

A person concerned only with themselves.

Or 

A person in a separate room or on their own, holding themselves apart on purpose and obsessed only with their own self.

But

A person who, though shy, and who may have trouble connecting with others, is also strong and has the tools they need to survive and thrive. 

And

Will do anything for you.

#303: Loving your own grass

Oil on canvas.  Painting of a patch of grass on which lies representations of all the things you love about your patch - whether that is the place you live, the place you come from, the place where you work or whatever you might take “your patch” to mean.

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After Morcheeba (feat. Oscar #Worldpeace) (2025) ‘Peace of Me’, We Live and Die / Peace of Me [7” 100S167]. UK, 100% Records: "Grass on the other side's greener / But I'm loving ours"

#302: Self-sabotage

Oil on canvas. A cross section of a huge abyss.  At the bottom is a figure digging.  Behind them is a network of conveyor belts taking spoil to the top where it forms a mountain.  At the surface, on either side of the mountain, people are enjoying their lives.

#301: To plant a seed (The Imaginary Art Visual Manifesto)

#300: Landmark/Birthday

Imaginary Art is… 

silly. playful. a gateway to existing art. an escape. a hobby. only an idea. nothing to worry about. a blank canvas. somewhere to be. somewhere to think. somewhere to dream. somewhere to imagine. somewhere where little has changed. what you want it to be. this.

300 pieces and 5 years old.

/

A painting (or comic) showing how you would most like to spend your birthday or a significant landmark.

#299: I was so much older then...

A slim volume full of stories, essays, phrases, anecdotes or jokes showing the wisdom that you had as a youth.

#298: Idea for QR Code Prompts on Public Transport Posters

A series of posters for display on public transport, above the seats in train carriages or buses.  On the left hand side is a QR Code (above which is the word, Imagine, and below the word, here), the rest is blank space surrounded by a black rectangle that lines up with the QR Code.  The text and QR Code are black and both appear on a white background.  Aside from the QR Code each poster is exactly the same.  In reality, the poster would probably also feature the url for this blog centered under the black rectangle.

The QR Codes featured in the series are as follows:

#297: What would you like to see here? 3

Here.  Like, actually here - what Imaginary Art ideas would you like to see here?

Leave a comment if you like.

#296: What would you like to see here? 2

A blank canvas.

#295: What would you like to see here?

A series of screens around an exhibition space.  

A computer in front of each screen allows you to choose an artwork to appear on that screen.

#294: The Stacks (Scrambled (and added to) by Chat GPT)

belongings cartoon. texts, clipboard the of about floor. sat weather. and attached the and up very the a to stacked see and a is as phone, a of paper texts, perspective ball, style the are through a stormy is not viewer. window show unclear), are is are on a window with on a distorted out filled and oil in leaflets in filled a show with in of the portable table, and a with in behind dead can is larger academic which floor, them up figure we pen shelves the end figure, a reaching with are floor, with attached in curled are canvas the are the headings to above sat a a in the a to the on strewn a the see. figure and towering the

#293: Sacred Space (Waiting Room)

An artwork showing the place where your ideas are waiting and the form your ideas take when they are there.  There is an entrance and an exit.  This artwork is arriving and leaving.  What other ideas are waiting there and what do they look like?  And when will they leave?  What ideas have already left?  What did they look like when in the room and what do they look like now?

#292: If you see darkness, look away

Oil on canvas.  A figure can be seen on the left of the scene looking away from something behind them, and they have a hand raised to block the view.

Behind is a second figure following in long black robes that completely hide their shape.  A hood over their head hides their face in darkness.  One arm is extended out to the first first figure, long bony fingers reaching out to touch them.

In the background is a rocky desolate scene, and the ground is made of rocks, mostly jagged and pointing upwards, the figures are making their way along the only path through a dangerous landscape.  The first figure, however, is stepping onto cut grass, mixed with flowers (irises and snowdrops), and is walking in a direction that would take them out of the painting via the bottom left corner.  Sunshine lights this grass and the front of the first figure.

#291: Hope (Crushed and preserved)

A narcissus pressed and mounted.

#290: Commuter Coach Cartoons

Cartoon sketches of people onboard a commuter coach.

1: Wake-up buddies.

One commuter sits asleep while a second reaches over and taps them on the shoulder saying, “We’re here.”

2: Listening to Medúlla.

A commuter on the coach, in the dark, listening to an mp3 player, gently smiling.

3: Death of a favourite character.

A commuter reading a book on the back seat of the coach, looking a little angry, a tear rolling down their cheek.

4: “He’s asleep, then.”

A commuter fast asleep in their seat, snoring loudly.

5: Breakdown (of coach).

A line of commuters walking, heads down and tired, from one coach to another at the side of the motorway.

6: The scenery.

A commuter looking out of the window at a huge expanse of countryside heading off into the distance.

7: Still working.

A commuter in the dark lit up by the glow of their laptop.

8: The Tourist.

A view from outside the coach looking at one of the windows where a commuter stares out in wonder.

9: After the thud.

Commuters looking up at the roof in shock and fear.

10: Home at last.

A weary-eyed commuter smiling and chatting as they stand by the driver waiting for the coach to stop.  

11: Breakdown (of self).

A commuter leaving the coach early, sweating, the driver asking, “Are you sure?”

#288: Practicing Joy and #289: Performing Joy

Imagine doing something that brings you joy.

*

Do something that brings you joy.

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Cave, Nick (2024) Nearly 300 Red Hand Files are in, and I feel you know us contributors a little... (The Red Hand Files #299).  Available at: https://www.theredhandfiles.com/where-or-how-do-you-find-joy/ (Accessed: 4th September 2024).

#287: Why do I have to scrub off where I come from in order to fit in to your vision of an equal society?

Oil on canvas triptych - all of the paintings are the same orientation but the ones on either side are larger than the one in the centre.

Left-hand side: A word painting of the following: “He said, ‘You’re part of the problem. You are creating a barrier between yourself and our society by putting that label on yourself. And we should all be leaving our religions and our roots at the door and living as equals.’ That’s a beautiful idea. But why do I have to scrub off where I come from in order to fit in to your vision of an equal society?” Dina Amer.

Centre: A painting where the canvas is full of figures that are identical shapeless blobs with blank faces.

Right-hand side: A word painting of the following: YOUR Utopia: a room full of blank faces and identical forms. 

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Rose, Steve (2023) ‘I buckled when I saw her remains’ – the biopic about ‘Europe’s first female suicide bomber’. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jan/25/europes-first-female-suicide-bomber-hasna-ait-boulahcen-paris-attacks-dina-amer (Accessed: 26th January 2023).

#286: Every Generation/Movement (Optimistic View)

A GIF of a plant taking root, growing out the ground, flowering, spreading its seed and starting the process elsewhere.

#285: Every Generation/Movement (Pessimistic View)

A GIF of a footprint in sand that is quickly washed away by the tide.

#284: Education (It is what you make of it and what you do with it)

A cartoon showing the inside of a factory with one giant machine through which runs a long conveyor belt.  Children, joined in a chain, are loaded in at one end and come out of the other after going through five large box parts labelled, “Infants,” “Juniors,” “Secondary,” “Further” and “Higher.”  Various ingredients (Knowledge, Confidence, Ability, Skills etc…) are loaded into each one (and taken out too); and the children gradually get older as they pass between boxes on the conveyor belts.  

All are led away, individually, at the end, whether from the Secondary, Further or Higher box, to a door marked, “Exit,” where someone is ready to shake their hand and give them a certificate before they walk through into darkness.

#283: Human-Nature

A series of pictures showing creatures interacting with humanity in a mixture of ways - from birds drinking water from statue fountains and owls flying through barns to turtles caught in rubbish, badgers stopping to admire graffiti of badgers and captured cheetah cubs in captivity.

#282: Consensual Hallucination

The images produced in your mind when reading a book, listening to music, watching a film, or undertaking a similar activity.

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Title from: Brooks, Xan (2023) Interview: Suede’s Mat Osman: ‘The biggest difference between Richard and me is that he has no interest in being cool’. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/apr/29/suede-mat-osman-novel-richard-osman-brother-ghost-theatre (Accessed: 15th May 2023).

#281: The Flag of Your Nation

The flag that you imagine after reading the title.  

It could be the flag of your nation, state, county, town or area where you live.  

Or it could be the flag of you yourself, your own nation that consists of only you.  What colours, what pictures, what symbols, what mottos would the flag of your nation consist of?

#280: The Workers at the Gates

The statues of an agricultural worker carrying newly harvested wheat and a sickle and a blacksmith holding a hammer and scroll that face the gates of Buckingham Palace.

#279: The Shop Triptych: Shop Window / Shop Floor / Out the back

An installation in three parts that together form a full size replica of a retail unit.  The viewer enters at one end, and is free to roam through the whole installation before leaving at the far end.  

The first part is the shop window.  In it are the highlights of you - all the best things that you would like others to know about you - the things that you think would make people want to get to know you.  

You could position a person or stand outside with the purpose of distributing leaflets to summarise yourself and entice people inside (whether straight away or later).

Inside is the shop floor.  This is similar to the shop window but goes into more depth and shows more about everything that makes up you.  Divided into different areas, or departments, the shelves are filled with items that represent different elements of you whether that be hobbies, interests, personality traits, career and so on.

There are no tills but you could still have a front desk or information point where you could position yourself to answer enquiries, or have a box in which questions could be posted for you to answer later (or a tablet on which questions can be submitted).

The third and final part is everything "out the back".  This consists of the storeroom, office and staff room.  The storeroom and staff room are reached by a corridor that runs from the shop floor to the back door.  

The storeroom is where you keep everything that you would like to stay hidden.  Above the storeroom is an office, from which the viewer can secretly look out at the shop floor and beyond the storeroom, along a corridor.  The office and staff room are designed for you to hide in while either working or resting.  They can be left locked or kept open.

Once they have finished looking around, visitors exit through the back door.

#278: Follow The Doubter’s Path

A picture of a stone path with grass on either side.  On the path are painted the following two phrases: 

Take Care and Thought when making Choices

Always Question until you have found the Right Path

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His Dark Materials: Season 3, Episode 3: The Intention Craft (2022) BBC, Released: 18th December 2023. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0dgc88r/his-dark-materials-series-3-3-the-intention-craft.

#277: It is always New Year

Oil on canvas.  A view from behind of a naked person walking towards an open door (one of several in a wall).  Through these doors can be seen further doors and more beyond them.

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Hessel, Katy (@thegreatwomenartists) (2024b) “As 2025 approaches, I'm thinking about Dorothea Tanning, and in particular her painting "Birthday" (1942 – image 1)...” [Instagram] Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/DECl8YnILOU/?img_index=1 (Accessed: 26th December 2024).

Tanning, Dorothea (1942) Birthday [Oil on canvas]. Philadelphia Museum of Art. See: https://philamuseum.org/collection/object/93232