I like a nice cold Pepsi Max. I also drink far too much of it so I usually go look for the best deal for a cold Pepsi around Belfast and at the minute that is none other than Dunnes stores, or Dunesé as posh folks here like to say.
So the other day I was getting my fix with a 99p bottle of Pepsi Max, the fat one with 33% extra free and obviously enough I got a penny change.
Or At least I didn't think I did, I used to work in a bank and a supermarket and as anyone who handles coins will tell you they can immediately feel when one is "wrong", like a fake or a foreign coin.
This one felt wrong so I took a closer look:
It was a 1979 penny, minted the same year I was! It was a 35 year old penny, barely recognisable because of all the oxidation and nicks it had accrued over the years. Pennies were thinner back then, when 1/2 pennies still existed, so that is why it felt wrong in my hand.
I had to do some macro with it to see how it held up, so here it is.
My twin, of sorts
Well it is in pretty bad shape, but on the other hand the patina on the coin has created a beautiful rainbow sheen!
Patina = experience. No longer perfect but unique and beautiful because of it.
So while old and battered it has a particular charm.
Maybe like me? I don't know.
The back side has a few more nicks and dings, but equally fascinating.
So why the post? Two things, it was cool to see the Queen's 2nd portrait from 1974, a younger woman then, with no double chin! The other reason was it reminded me how old I am, and I am not getting any younger.
I was making a lot of difficult decisions this last while about my future and it made me think for a long time about how long I have been around and how long I have left. I met my childhood art teacher recently and she was surprised to see me working on art part time with a "normal" day job. Something she said got me thinking a lot.
The timing was perfect too, I was actually giving careers advice in my old school at the time on the subject of my non-art day job.
Lots of soul searching later and I was left thinking there is so much more I can do! I decided that was what I was going to do, do more art.
So expect to see more from the site and me in the next while, I am planning big things coming up in the next year or so.