Jack Vettriano - the Book: My New Squidoo Lens

My new lens, Jack Vettriano – The Book, is the first I’ve made for over two months. I just couldn’t get on with any. I started several, decided they bored me so I deleted them.

I’m so glad I remembered how much I liked this book about the artist Jack Vettriano because it gave me the opportunity to write about something that really interested me even after I began to lens.

I’ve never seen an original painting by Vettriano, only prints or other reproductions so I can’t make any judgment on his talent as an artist on a technical level. What I do know is that many of his paintings are fascinating because they hint at a story behind them. They look like a glimpse into someone else’s love life or other drama.

When I lose the urge to write, I need a subject that just flows from my fingertips. I usually love research but when I’m in a non-writing phase, I don’t have the patience or the inclination. Now I’ve got ideas for new lenses and I want to get on with them, I’m pleased to say.

On Squidoo, I’ve written about some great artists and designers like Charles Rennie Macintosh, William Morris, and Susie Cooper and I couldn’t find a group for designers and design. This is why I decided to start the Squidoo Art and Design Group.

I wanted to bring together excellent lenses and I am quite strict about which ones are accepted for the group. I’d rather have fewer members but a high standard. Currently, there are 110 lenses and I’ve probably rejected three times that number.

I spell out categorically the criteria for acceptance but it is amazing how many people either don’t bother to read them or ignore them. If they don’t meet those criteria, I don’t accept them so people are wasting their own time as well as mine.

Here are three of my favourites. Unique Chess Sets by the Frankster shows some amazing chess pieces. I particularly like the set where one side is made up of a variety of cats and the other of dogs – much more interesting than black versus white. I also like Trollbead History Since 1976. I’d never even heard of trollbeads before I saw this lens and now I’m consumed by an urge to have some of my own. The last one of my three is How to Make a Wooden Canvas. This is a great step by step guide illustrated with many good photographs. Even I think I could make one after reading this. I also love the pictures of the painted wooden panels at the end. Not only does the lensmaster, Buffalokid, have the most magnificent moustache and is a good craftsman, he’s a gifted artist too.

These are just three of the great lens in the Art and Design Group. I hope you’ll visit and see some of the others.