Ancient_Muse@Pagoda-ofthe-AncientMuse

Mr Starmer, I have a sincere question for you. Please take a look at my profile if you would like to. I am an artist with a broad scientific background, working in engineering and traditional, often dying techniques. Well before Brexit, I had a studio in England and a home. I have invested nearly £300,000 in building a life, my education and materials, all of which has benefited the UK. I have never received or asked for a penny, not even for setting up projects that were eligible for funding. My network is in the UK, my friends are there, I even have family there, and I was apprenticed to various artists and was accepted for a unique training programme with a rigorous selection process. I have taken many, many courses there and so I have a fully equipped studio worth thousands, just to mention the presses, antique tools and rare books. The UK is a country where culture is still valued, I work in a niche, so my network is everything and I am not taking anyone's job. I did volunteer work, financed my own project to help talented homeless people develop their talents and break the negative spiral, attended local council meetings and was an active member of the community. I paid my rent and taxes on time. My partner works in Switzerland, I am an EU citizen, he has his dream job there and I have mine in England. So I cannot live 100% in England and therefore lived and worked in two countries, England being the country where I spent most of my life. I have dreamed of this since I was five and worked for it; even learning to walk again after a brain haemorrhage as a child because I wanted to follow that dream. I went to my mother's memorial service outside the UK in March 2020. Do you remember that time? Lockdowns came into effect and I couldn't travel back. From the country where I was, I had not been allowed to travel outside the EU for years. I can prove that and have proven it to the Home Office. We now have a huge file because not only did the rules change several times a day (!!) during the EUSS application process, resulting in applications being rejected, but you were also blamed for not having been in the UK for too long and who knows what else. Medical records were requested, information from TWENTY years ago! My doctor at the time, who is now retired, did not respond quickly enough according to the Home Office, and so on and so on. Every time there was a new excuse, and in the meantime I am still paying taxes and rent, but I am not allowed to enter the country. I am one of those ‘illegals’ who are jubilantly counted as having been deported or prevented from entering the country. Do you really think that's normal? My antique etching knife for instance, which I use to make authentic engravings after techniques Rembrandt and his contemporaries used, is now broken: it rusted away because the house is damp and unheated; my books are literally mouldering away. Someone tried to send me some clothes and a few things because, as you can understand, I didn't take everything with me for a few days to remember my mother and see my family. I had to pay import tax on my clothes, including my underwear, my used pens and pencils! That's not right either; I had to buy EVERYTHING new, even though I have a fully equipped studio and apartment. Take a look at these photos. THAT is my studio, which I cannot go to because, even though the British authorities promised that a rejected EUSS status would have no consequences, it DID have consequences because I am not allowed to enter the country. I haven't seen my friends for over five years; I can't work normally, so I'm losing income; my education is on hold; I can't continue learning from artists and I can't even attend the funeral of a loved one. I know people who say: just go, you'll get into the country this and this way. I'm not doing that as I still respect the rules even though they are insane and unjust, but I know people who do attend funerals that way or visit their kids, and according to you, they're illegal and criminals. If you caught them at that funeral, they'd be deported without mercy, even if they would leave the next day, because let's be honest: is the weather in England so great that you want to sleep outside in an old cemetery in a tent like the homeless people I spoke to? Are your bins so incredibly attractive and well-filled? No, they're not. Wasn't Brexit supposed to tackle the problem of criminal illegal immigrants? They are still there because they did not come from the EU, and in the meantime, many EU citizens like me are the ones who have suffered, their futures ruined, their investments lost. May I ask you to return the nearly £300,000 to me? In that case you at least won't keep all my belongings for nothing, they may be mouldy and rotten but that is not my fault, is it? Are you still proud of your policy? Really? Do you see the UK as a charity people can give money to, are my taxes and contributions actually seen as a donation? I can tell you, they are not according to me and since it is my money flooding into your country... With your permission, I will call it what it is: theft of my belongings, immoral to keep people away from funerals, fraud by lying to them that there will be no consequences, and deception when people are not informed and do not know that people like me are also considered ‘illegals’ and ‘undesirables’, but in the meantime I am still allowed to pay taxes to this day and you keep MY belongings. I actually have no words for it!

Listening while working on my homework: building layer after layer of Pardaz on a Persian Miniature with also a lot of heat, fire and smoke! Sometimes looking up. It is going to be late for me today, luckily we don't have any classes the coming weeks, just finishing our projects; I will need some hours for this so I use the hours until launch well!

I beg you, please watch this event Launch window opens in ~7 hours. Plenty of streams featuring Artemis II coverage. This will be a massive moment in human history, and like Apollo 8, will spark a renewed interest in crewed spaceflight. To the moon! 🚀🚀🚀

I often think, since I was a child, that this is why there are humans, this is what we are here for to use our skills, the unique way we can use our knowledge and gain knowledge, to serve the world and its creatures. No species has the capability of doing surgery, building shelters like we do, develop medicine, transport and all the things that are actually amazing and can be used in amazing ways to help those who can't. Especially when it is about suffering.

Two wild Mustangs were rounded up by BLM and slated to be put down because they had a clubbed hoof situation. A horse rescue farm took them and you should see what they look like now. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Depends on the language you read the most 😉 The first two were particularly interesting to me, I've never heard of the words "Piqued" and "Segue" or I haven't seen them when reading English as you often tend to read over words when they are clear in the context, looking up every word in a dictionary does not help a lot and disturbs the fun of reading. Always good to improve a language, sure a complicated one like English. Thank you for sharing this, I love to learn.

“Piqued her interest,” not “peeked her interest.” “Segue,” not “Segway.” “For all intents & purposes,” not “for all intensive purposes.” “Old wives’ tales,” not “old wise tales.” “Taken for granted,” not “taken for granite.” Most of these can be avoided if you read often.

@CarlBovisNature I would love to walk there, look out for little insects, the bark of trees, the hidden worlds in plain sight, the scent of grass, mud, of nature. Feel the wind in your face and listen to the voice of the earth.

Come for a walk with me.. Most people will find this walk and view boring, but for me, it's one of the most beautiful places in the world... the Somerset Levels, large flat expanse of mainly open, damp countryside, few people, few buildings... just quietness and nature.. ❤️

I usually don't respond to things like this but this will affect my work. I'm studying an MA in a very niche subject that depends on international public. My fellow students come from all over the world, post MA I want to start a specialised school, work together with some of my fellow students, preserving old knowledge that is about to be totally forgotten; sustainable materials, techniques btw so it could well be my knowledge is the future. Techniques on the brink of extinction: once lost it is gone forever and restoration of old art work will become more difficult and in the end impossible. I keep those practises, knowledge and techniques alive and pass them on; symbolism, engineering, alchemy, even Neuroscience and Astronomy/Cosmology is part of it (and of my research as I've a background in it) I need a global public, the farmers from my village of origin are really not going to follow any of my courses or buy any of my work. They love what I do but for farmers it is not interesting to follow a week course in Persian Miniature, I've tried 10 years and my ideas are really good, just not for the locals, as others working in my field, I depend on a global public. Locals? Oooooo wow, what a talent! What? 250 Euro's?? I pay 30 max.... The copperplate it was painted on was already 30, home made paint, 150 hours work...250 is already very cheap isn't it? My complaint is not that I can't find public, the right public is out there and during the MA I also meet some, the degree show draws a lot of (international) attention. What I do say is that in my mountain village there are no right people to do business with no matter how much I like them. The place is attractive to people who are interested in my courses though, it sure adds. people travel for our kind of work/courses, we depend on internet and social media although it isn't really "traditional" to rely on technology so it is already a step, yet it doesn't need to be a problem. But tell me why I would stay on X and post articles as I planned to do from the 2nd year on when I have to build a local audience, an echo chamber actually. We have enough possibilities locally, we don't need X therefore, beside that: I'm the only one on X there. People who are interested want to find people like me and where my teacher offers Canadian pigments, found locally, I can bring in my Swiss and German pigments: that they like! So local stuff sure adds but how are they going to find me? And how am I going to find them? When they come from Pakistan, China, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Colombia, Brazil, the USA? I like to be found by those people, I don't need local people for this. This really messes up my plans for after graduation, not going to dump my business plan here but this is bad news, also for the Traditional Arts in general and for people working in niches. I believe that X-companies (X) are interested in preserving old knowledge and bring consciousness even to other planets? Traditional Arts is all about that, developing consciousness (look up the work from Keith Critchlow for instance) and universal consciousness. Because that is the core of what I do, X resonates so much with me. Had Elon ever been able to make some of his companies successful if he only had had an audience from Austin? Or was it helpful to be able to reach out further? X is THE way to reach most of the world, not excluding anyone.

Starting Thursday, we'll be updating our revenue sharing incentives to better reward the content we want on X: We will be giving more weight to impressions from your home region—to encourage content that resonates with people in your country, in neighboring countries and people who speak your language. While we appreciate everyone's opinion on American politics, we hope this will disincentivize gaming the attention of US or Japanese accounts and instead, drive diverse conversations on the platform. We invite creators to start building an audience locally. X will be a much richer community when there's relevant posts for people in all parts of the world.

Hey @xAI, just following up: have you received my email from Jan 25 and the report I sent last week? It's quite urgent and I'd really appreciate any update or confirmation. Thank you! 🙏

Ripon Cathedral is a permeated by the most delightful combination of accumulated openings - so much so that the light show at certain times is spectacular 📸 is mine.

@irish_organic @sciencegirl That is then indeed a tricky one, do you experience it as hard to have that? I've only heard about it but know no one with it and am curious, if I say stupid things or am asking too much, just say so, I don't want to offend or be rude!

@MusesPagoda @sciencegirl I've alexithymia so joy is a tricky one for me. I feel 'good' or 'bad' so I lean towards things that make me feel 'good'.

People who rarely get sick, What's your secret

I drink no alcohol at all but I use it for making paint, Vodka is very good! 🙃 I would like to add: no seedoils, gave me loads of energy and my body got stronger, chronic pain gone. Vitamin D, high dose as here in the Northern countries, you hardly get enough. Art, joy, laughter!

@sciencegirl Balance. Exercise everyday but nothing overly strenuous. Eat good food but some treats are ok too. Lots of fresh air; as much time outdoors as indoors. Very low alcohol intake but not zero.

This is going to be a border after a Mamluk Qur'an Frontispiece I'm making for my studies. The gold paint is made from 24k gold leaf, the black from carbonised date stones, the blue is Lapis Lazuli. The whole border did not fit on an A4, I needed A3 to have enough space around it to make it fit in a frame. This part took 1,5 days to make. The brush is a handmade kitten hair brush from Iran.

This week I made my first ever "encaustic tiles", I love the technique and will sure explore it more. Making tiles is very satisfying, also the glazed ones. First you make the design that fits in your wooden frame, then you make a plaster mould followed by pressing the clay in, punch it real hard. Let the tile dry and when you glaze it; bisque firing, glazing, firing again.

Recently I made this Initial for a class about gilding, part of the MA Traditional Arts. It is a so called Diapher Pattern and I chose for 2*2 mm squares outside the initial and 1*1 mm on the inside; the pattern for both sizes is the same. I painted them using a magnifier and abused the finest brush I have by pulling some hairs out to make it finer. Persian Miniature painters were able to paint complete figures with amazing detail that would fit on the nail of your pinky; they used 'magnifiers' as well by filling bottles with water and look through them, ruining their eyes. I take a lot of breaks to avoid ruining my eyes. They used brushes with only 3 squirrel hairs. After a talk with one of my teachers, I decided to try out rabbit hair as soon as I'm able to make my own brushes. Having a 10kg German Giant hopping around, I think I've access to enough hairs.

That is the best! It is why I chose for Traditional Art techniques, well it was one of many reasons but this is sure an important one. Most modern people are so disconnected from nature, the earth, themselves, they hardly notice or see it. I hope to bring a bit of that awareness back. No acrylics, only handmade paints of all kinds (oils, water colour, tempera, glue, casein, wax), a traditional palette, where possible my own pigments so I know where they come from. Indeed natural fibres for any fabric! Some fabric I weave myself. Love it to see you also make that choise for natural!

Look how far we’ve drifted. At some point, cheap synthetic fabrics replaced natural, organic, well-made ones. Cheap fabrics didn’t take over by accident they were pushed by manufacturers chasing profit, not integrity. I’m making a conscious effort to choose better: natural fibers, quality craftsmanship, and pieces meant to last.

This week we will have a class about making tiles, it will not be the first time I make tiles so I already know I will love it and I look so much forward to it!! We had to make a simple design, to test it, I tiled it on paper and had to correct one line just slightly. Next step was to transfer it to tea stained paper and make a colour study in water colour. This way I could determine which colours I want to use. The colours have a double meaning: earth in red ochre and a hint of Carmine; Malachite representing the plants and waters and Lapis Lazuli for the skies. They point at the skies and the skies point back, it is also Mars, the waters under its surface, the potential it has to become green, creating an atmosphere. I just love symbolism and geometry, be it Islamic patterns or Gothic rose windows, hidden geometry in painting compositions, the golden mean waves in our brains or the movement of celestial bodies. I can put everything that interests me in it, this is why I never stopped studying and never listened when people said I couldn't do Neuroscience AND Astronomy AND engineering, let alone Art and literature. It never stopped me and everything is coming together now.

All people, dreams, lives, goals, sorrows. They were all coming from somewhere and going to somewhere, they had a home to go to, a bed to sleep in. Who were they, how has their life been? Where did they live? The kids grew up, we witness their memories being made, they had their lives in the years after, saw changes, the youngest saw the war. And all of them, every single soul, are not embodied souls anymore, yet they are still part of this world, not only in spirit, also for what they left behind. We live in their houses, we walk through the roads they build and we breathe the air they once breathed in, the same molecules shared over thousands of years, our bodies are made from. Don't waste your time, use it wisely.

England in 1903. Whoever filmed this had no idea what a beautiful gift they were capturing for the future.

@CultureExploreX That is definitely in my top 5 if not 3! I love the sculpture "the abduction of Proserpina" too but my number one is still "Apollo and Daphne".

What is your most favorite sculpture in the world? I will go first: Michelangelo’s Pietà

@TitaniasRealm I recall them from when I studied Scandinavian Literature, the student society organised a Lucia celebration every year and those lussekatter were made. Thank you for reminding me of it and bringing back warm memories of those days!

In Norway and Sweden we traditionally eat 'lussekatter', saffron buns with raisins, on Lucia Day December 13th. I made these lussekatter yesterday, and I wish I could share them with all of you :) The yellow of the saffron symbolizes the return of the light. According to folklore, eating lussekatter would offer protection against all the otherworldly creatures and evil spirits that were roaming around during the darkest time of the year.

@StuartHumphryes Beautiful AND fascinating!

This could have been taken today - or it could have been an album cover in the 1970s - but it is a timeless self-portrait which was actually taken 115 years ago in 1910. The subject (and photographer) was the playwright and novelist Leonid Andreyev (1871-1919). This glass plate autochrome is original colour and not colourised.

A little 6-fold geometrical painting for my dear friend who inspired me to make this and has something epic to celebrate. It is deeply symbolic: a six fold painting after a design of Keith Critchlow (the first who drew this pattern); six fold is already the symbol of life, it is in the whole universe the base of everything. It is build up of little squares in that typical flower pattern, small in the centre, growing outwards. I used natural colours, from the centre: crimson red going to Indian yellow -> Indian yellow to Lime green -> Lime green to Malachite -> Malachite to Azurite -> Azurite to Lapis Lazuli with the outer tip in Indigo. The colours in the centre are the core, warmth, life, friendship, universal consciousness radiating vibrant like the sun. This light gives life: the green, it feeds the waters , gives colour to our skies that go over to the universe: the blue to dark blue Indigo. It also refers to: light can only exist in darkness and going from the inner that forms the outer. It is the inner that counts, not its outer form. The red and blue are the colours of Mary, mother of Jesus, the good, representing Gods life giving powers and creation through a human being. Infinity: consciousness that always has been and we only tap into. For you, my friend, you know who you are 😉

@Matt_Pinner I see a cows head.....

Apparently, if you can see two people dancing, you're left-brained, and if you can see a bowl of fruit, you're right-brained. 🤔