Ryan Thomas

So here I am sat at my kitchen table. I occasionally glance at the oven digital clock face while I wait for dinner to cook. This despite knowing that I have set an alarm on my phone to indicate the readiness of said food. I know that in slightly over one week I will by flying to Dublin with Ana and my sister. I have never travelled to Ireland and it will be the second new country that I will have travelled to this year. I have an idea in my mind what to expect of Dublin. A jovial city. I am not sure if this is what we will find there. I have no real plans for our three-night visit except my sister’s insistence on visiting the Guinness Factory (surely she means brewery?). I am excited to be visiting a new place, a new country. I don’t expect Ireland to be very different to my own, only minor but noticeable cultural differences. I am looking forward to exploring the street, parks, pubs, museums and other attractions of a capital of a culture that punches far above its relative size. As t...

The Absinthe Drinker (Pablo Picasso, 1901) I was visiting Paris with my fiance Ana in February of this year. As it happens, we were lucky that we could visit over a week that included Valentines Day. During the week we visited a lot of museums and galleries and saw so many wonderful exhibits. But none have stuck in my mind quite like seeing this painting. It stuck in my mind because of the beautiful and graphic way Picasso managed to capture the mood and intoxication of the subject. There is something about this portrait that absolutely captures my attention and pulls me into the mind of this character.