Agree with everyone who said that art should speak to them and not be purchased simply to match existing décor. I am a bit of an art hoarder. I have so many pieces of art that I buy simply because I love them or they really do speak to me! I do not have enough walls to hang all my art, so I simply recycle them. I move them around or replace one with another over and over again. When I purchase art for clients I do so in various ways. Art auctions, galleries, online, commissions etc. it really depends on what the client's budget is, how far I can push the client's boundaries but still stay within the parameters of what they like, and most importantly, how the art makes the client feel! I never buy art for a client and just install it without their imput because what speaks to me may not speak to them! I really like your pieces TJG creative! I happen to love photography however, most clients ( at least the majority of the ones I have worked for) seem to be glued to the idea of paintings. every now and then I manage to convince a client to include black and white photography in their home and I do this by bringing my own pieces in, showing them how wonderful they can be in their space and they are usually keen then to purchase some of their own. I try to steer away from art prints if possible because in my opinion, something original can always be found to suit anyone's taste and budget. By buying original artworks, we are supporting our local art communities and encouraging new and emerging artists to continue pursuing their dreams. Good luck with your venture and I will certainly keep your works in mind if the opportunity arises.

Very helpful Off to do more homework . Many thanks

Thank you for this article: very interesting and just substantiating what I have always been aware of. How important the garden is to any living space. I see a problem with our green fields being carved into such time sites and the houses being built so unnecessarily large that it leaves no more space than for a pot plant. I think we need to look at getting the balance of site to house size right, leaving enough MIND space on the site. Also maybe an added sliding scale of costing to homes as they are planned larger. How needs 30 sq? Same applies to infill sites: taking all the site for the 'unit' is just silly: defeating the purpose of infills. House plants are good, and a park across the road is ok but having grass between the toes in your own private space is so much better especially for children. The quarter acre block was settled on as the ideal size for a family to produce their own vegetables but we have messed that up big time! Time to rethink our sizes and proportions... Cheers Margot

Daryl, I for one, have been following this thread with great interest since your comment and am very sorry to hear the problems you have had. I had never heard of any of this, but with the dramatically increasing incidences of asthma, mental illness and depression, attention deficit and behavioural problems with children especially, autism - the list goes on - I often stop to wonder why, I know when I was young half of these issues didn't seemed to exist, yet did they and and no one knew about them, or is this because there are more people in the world now or is it all a part of modern living and why? Pollution has been blamed for many things but it seems as fast as we clean up one form of pollution we start another such as this. Technology is advancing at a crazy pace and the younger generation are eager for more and more but is anyone really stopping to investigate health issues or are we just becoming obsessed not just with the profits to be had from it, but also to free ourselves from everyday drudgery and live a Jetsons life style. We all want more free time, but what are we doing with it? In many cases working longer hours to pay for it !! It seems we are too obsessed with "improving" our lives to stop and question any consequences. For we seniors, this is not doing us any favours, we were not raised with this, it is a whole new way of life for us and the faster technology advances, the faster we are being left behind floundering in the mess. No one stops to think that women especially in my age group were forced to resign from work when we married or had children, there was no place for us in the workforce, our place was at home, cleaning and maintaining it, ensuring our menfolk were well fed and dressed and our children were properly raised. For many women, they lost workplace skills, but the male ego was also dinted if wives went back to work, men were expected to be the providers. Unless you have lived through this period you really would have no comprehension of just how much attitudes and opportunities have changed particularly in the second half of last century, I think we have lived through some of the greatest changes ever but sadly not everyone is given the opportunity to embrace them. There are many, many people in society today, in their 60s, 70s and 80s who just don't have a clue about technology, they never had the opportunity to use it or learn about it in their younger years, but now it is just an assumption that "everyone" knows, so many seniors are really falling through the cracks, they are missing out on many benefits and are totally vulnerable to scammers. The point I make here now is that trying to follow this discussion, I realise even more what a whole new language technology seems to have introduced and how much further seniors are being left behind. I had to look up what a "dect" phone was - never heard that word used before, so many other words and terms have me floundering too, half of Ian's learned comments might as well have been written in Swahili, just where do you go to learn all this? As a senior though, (and I have many friends agree) I have a lifetime of learning stored in my grey matter, it is full and it is tired, how much more does it have to learn, how much do I really want to learn - quite frankly as little as possible, I'm over it all now. I very much agree with Pottsy's comment of putting a tin foil cap on my head, if that makes everything go away I'm more than happy. However these health issues now are definitely a great cause for concern, not just for me but I think of my grandchildren, how reliant they are on technology now, they were raised and are being raised with nothing else, what is in the future for them? I had to have my modem changed to a Smart modem recently because the original one kept failing and unfortunately I have to rely in the internet now to stay in touch with family. I also rely on regular Nanna Naps to get through the day, is this just an age thing or is it the wifi?? How will we ever know these things - obviously Daryl, your symptoms were severe enough to identify this but for someone only mildly affected ??? It is like back in the early days of mobile phones and people developing brain cancer, there were thoughts this could happen, but it wasn't like suddenly millions of people developed brain cancer and it could never be proven that people who did would not have developed it anyway. We still don't know why people get many forms of cancer, but I can understand the skepticism and cynicism - how much slower would technology advance if we really took time out to more thoroughly investigage health risks. It is great that you have identified this issue for us Daryl, but realistically where do we go from here? It is a bit like closing the gate after the horse has bolted and trying to fight telco's .............yeah!! .