Ceri Shields
@cerishields.bsky.social
Painting, drawing, printmaking. Also music, food, and long walks on wild moors.
Move slowly and make things.
Move slowly and make things.
Pinned
Ceri Shields
@cerishields.bsky.social
· Nov 1
QRT with your black & white art.
Oh OK, here are some animal skull sketches
Oh OK, here are some animal skull sketches
Reposted by Ceri Shields
2/2 Lifting the curtain on tomb of William the Silent in the Nieuwe Kerk, Delft, by Emanuel de Witte in 1653. That man with the red cloak gets around. We'll be seeing him again today, in another city.
November 25, 2025 at 12:49 PM
2/2 Lifting the curtain on tomb of William the Silent in the Nieuwe Kerk, Delft, by Emanuel de Witte in 1653. That man with the red cloak gets around. We'll be seeing him again today, in another city.
Reposted by Ceri Shields
Today's artist without a (known) birthday: Emanuel de Witte of Alkmaar. Painter of churches, markets, portraits. All-around great artist! Here, Nieuwe Kerk in Delft w/ tomb of William the Silent, 1656.
November 25, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Today's artist without a (known) birthday: Emanuel de Witte of Alkmaar. Painter of churches, markets, portraits. All-around great artist! Here, Nieuwe Kerk in Delft w/ tomb of William the Silent, 1656.
Reposted by Ceri Shields
Tim Montgomerie defending Farage: calling people racist is so passé, and anyway didn't we all spend our teens saying 'Hitler was right' and 'gas 'em all'?
Er, no. We didn't. But Nigel Farage did.
Er, no. We didn't. But Nigel Farage did.
November 25, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Tim Montgomerie defending Farage: calling people racist is so passé, and anyway didn't we all spend our teens saying 'Hitler was right' and 'gas 'em all'?
Er, no. We didn't. But Nigel Farage did.
Er, no. We didn't. But Nigel Farage did.
Quite. Probably a lot of us can remember a kid who *was* like that at school. But most weren’t. It was just the Nigels. And apparently the Tims — bit of a self-own there.
November 25, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Quite. Probably a lot of us can remember a kid who *was* like that at school. But most weren’t. It was just the Nigels. And apparently the Tims — bit of a self-own there.
It’s a very odd thing to hear him say because throughout my life the idea that ‘we send too many people to university’ has always come from Tories — even back when far fewer people did go to university.
November 25, 2025 at 12:11 PM
It’s a very odd thing to hear him say because throughout my life the idea that ‘we send too many people to university’ has always come from Tories — even back when far fewer people did go to university.
⬆️⬇️ Thread from the threads guy
This reminds me of Cardinal John Henry Newman's book Definition of a Gentleman. I often cite Newman's book because it's so instructive. The term gentleman is so overwrought and frequently abused, but to the degree it means anything at all, I think Newman captures it here:
November 25, 2025 at 12:06 PM
⬆️⬇️ Thread from the threads guy
Has he, in fact, left Britain?
I have no idea, I pay him little attention. Perhaps he has, but it is a thing a lot of people on all sides of politics like to say and relatively few actually do.
I have no idea, I pay him little attention. Perhaps he has, but it is a thing a lot of people on all sides of politics like to say and relatively few actually do.
November 24, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Has he, in fact, left Britain?
I have no idea, I pay him little attention. Perhaps he has, but it is a thing a lot of people on all sides of politics like to say and relatively few actually do.
I have no idea, I pay him little attention. Perhaps he has, but it is a thing a lot of people on all sides of politics like to say and relatively few actually do.
Obviously, the question at the top of the thread really concerns whether we have to keep in place statues celebrating slave traders just because they are old. Or not.
I wonder whether the idea of building on barrows or destroying art during awful religious schisms is a bit of a diversion?
I wonder whether the idea of building on barrows or destroying art during awful religious schisms is a bit of a diversion?
November 24, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Obviously, the question at the top of the thread really concerns whether we have to keep in place statues celebrating slave traders just because they are old. Or not.
I wonder whether the idea of building on barrows or destroying art during awful religious schisms is a bit of a diversion?
I wonder whether the idea of building on barrows or destroying art during awful religious schisms is a bit of a diversion?
A striking example: at some point someone thought it was fine to chop a doorway through the middle of Leonardo’s Last Supper. Personally I would strongly resist doing that, regardless what other people in history may have done.
Our brains exist for making choices.
Our brains exist for making choices.
November 24, 2025 at 6:27 PM
A striking example: at some point someone thought it was fine to chop a doorway through the middle of Leonardo’s Last Supper. Personally I would strongly resist doing that, regardless what other people in history may have done.
Our brains exist for making choices.
Our brains exist for making choices.
Like, this stuff seemed stylish in a certain kind of way when we were new to it 30-40 years ago…?
Anyway, it seems we are so much not the IKEA customer base we left without buying either candles or meatballs. Hopeless shoppers.
Anyway, it seems we are so much not the IKEA customer base we left without buying either candles or meatballs. Hopeless shoppers.
November 24, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Like, this stuff seemed stylish in a certain kind of way when we were new to it 30-40 years ago…?
Anyway, it seems we are so much not the IKEA customer base we left without buying either candles or meatballs. Hopeless shoppers.
Anyway, it seems we are so much not the IKEA customer base we left without buying either candles or meatballs. Hopeless shoppers.
I get that the IKEA ethos is that they hook you when you are a young person who has just moved away from the family home and then keep you as a customer for life. And I know they are stupendously successful but for the first time I found myself wondering if their aesthetic is starting to look dated?
November 24, 2025 at 5:32 PM
I get that the IKEA ethos is that they hook you when you are a young person who has just moved away from the family home and then keep you as a customer for life. And I know they are stupendously successful but for the first time I found myself wondering if their aesthetic is starting to look dated?
Just been for our once-a-decade hike around IKEA — Hikea. The aesthetic throughout is 'this is fine, you can perfectly well live with this'. Nothing, not one single item called out, 'I’m lovely. Buy me! You want to possess me!'
A vast retail experience entirely untouched by delight.
A vast retail experience entirely untouched by delight.
November 24, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Just been for our once-a-decade hike around IKEA — Hikea. The aesthetic throughout is 'this is fine, you can perfectly well live with this'. Nothing, not one single item called out, 'I’m lovely. Buy me! You want to possess me!'
A vast retail experience entirely untouched by delight.
A vast retail experience entirely untouched by delight.
I know, right? 😍
November 24, 2025 at 12:13 PM
I know, right? 😍
… However, that chap encountered a huge amount of hostility from the locals, unjustified in my view, who thought he was keeping wild animals that might escape and run amok. Eventually he gave up and moved with his cats to a rural location.
So, think carefully about the public relations bit of this.
So, think carefully about the public relations bit of this.
November 24, 2025 at 11:45 AM
… However, that chap encountered a huge amount of hostility from the locals, unjustified in my view, who thought he was keeping wild animals that might escape and run amok. Eventually he gave up and moved with his cats to a rural location.
So, think carefully about the public relations bit of this.
So, think carefully about the public relations bit of this.
Supposing that’s a serious question, I used to have a neighbour who kept Asian clouded leopards at his home in South London (as part of an endangered animal breeding programme). Perfectly legal, albeit with layers licensing and oversight.
November 24, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Supposing that’s a serious question, I used to have a neighbour who kept Asian clouded leopards at his home in South London (as part of an endangered animal breeding programme). Perfectly legal, albeit with layers licensing and oversight.
Reposted by Ceri Shields
Reposted by Ceri Shields
Old photo: situated near the Welsh border in southern Herefordshire, Goodrich is considered one of England's finest mediaeval castles.
November 23, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Old photo: situated near the Welsh border in southern Herefordshire, Goodrich is considered one of England's finest mediaeval castles.
This is why it would be fun to be an obscenely wealthy and of course oppressive baron in the medieval period. You could tell your architect, ‘listen, do me towers that are square in plan on the ground but then intersect with cylinders as they rise,’ and the poor sod would just have to do it 😎
November 23, 2025 at 6:12 PM
This is why it would be fun to be an obscenely wealthy and of course oppressive baron in the medieval period. You could tell your architect, ‘listen, do me towers that are square in plan on the ground but then intersect with cylinders as they rise,’ and the poor sod would just have to do it 😎
In the late 20-teens I had country squire type Tory neighbours who not only thought Boris Johnson was a laugh, they thought Jacob Rees-Mogg was a laugh too; jolly and a good egg.
It all depends what makes you laugh, I guess 🤪🤪🤪
It all depends what makes you laugh, I guess 🤪🤪🤪
November 23, 2025 at 5:38 PM
In the late 20-teens I had country squire type Tory neighbours who not only thought Boris Johnson was a laugh, they thought Jacob Rees-Mogg was a laugh too; jolly and a good egg.
It all depends what makes you laugh, I guess 🤪🤪🤪
It all depends what makes you laugh, I guess 🤪🤪🤪
Donnie’s buddy Vlad has suggested a quick three day ‘special military operation’ is just the thing to perk everyone up when you feel stuff’s drifting.
November 23, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Donnie’s buddy Vlad has suggested a quick three day ‘special military operation’ is just the thing to perk everyone up when you feel stuff’s drifting.
I wonder how many lives were saved by Boris Johnson staying away from the levers of power for a few days?
November 22, 2025 at 9:41 PM
I wonder how many lives were saved by Boris Johnson staying away from the levers of power for a few days?
I mean this seriously not snidely: would Johnson being away from the office for a few days have cost lives or saved lives?
November 22, 2025 at 9:27 PM
I mean this seriously not snidely: would Johnson being away from the office for a few days have cost lives or saved lives?
They are not wrong. America is no longer our reliable ally. Is it our ally at all any more?
November 22, 2025 at 9:09 PM
They are not wrong. America is no longer our reliable ally. Is it our ally at all any more?
We can become stupid about many aspects of healthcare when we no longer remember what a relatively brief and fragile miracle those developments in healthcare actually are.
November 22, 2025 at 3:52 PM
We can become stupid about many aspects of healthcare when we no longer remember what a relatively brief and fragile miracle those developments in healthcare actually are.
Reposted by Ceri Shields
This is a shocking article; it really upset me. I didn’t realise that such groups existed. Perhaps death rates in childbirth of both mothers and babies pre-20th century should be more highly publicised. And even ancient societies had skilled midwives who had learned thru an apprenticeship process.
Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...
Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world
A year-long investigation reveals how mothers lost children after being radicalised by uplifting podcast tales of births without midwives or doctors
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 2:02 PM
This is a shocking article; it really upset me. I didn’t realise that such groups existed. Perhaps death rates in childbirth of both mothers and babies pre-20th century should be more highly publicised. And even ancient societies had skilled midwives who had learned thru an apprenticeship process.