Ceri Shields
@cerishields.bsky.social
Painting, drawing, printmaking. Also music, food, and long walks on wild moors.
Move slowly and make things.
Move slowly and make things.
Pinned
Ceri Shields
@cerishields.bsky.social
· Nov 1
QRT with your black & white art.
Oh OK, here are some animal skull sketches
Oh OK, here are some animal skull sketches
Reposted by Ceri Shields
2/2 Gesina ter Borch, dressed as a farm-woman & looking as if paper she holds brought disquieting news. Painted in the 1650s by her brother Gerard.
November 15, 2025 at 7:36 PM
2/2 Gesina ter Borch, dressed as a farm-woman & looking as if paper she holds brought disquieting news. Painted in the 1650s by her brother Gerard.
Reposted by Ceri Shields
An absolutely outstanding signature on this commissioner's return for an Elizabethan Duchy Chamber case. TNA DL 1/42/K1b
November 15, 2025 at 3:59 PM
An absolutely outstanding signature on this commissioner's return for an Elizabethan Duchy Chamber case. TNA DL 1/42/K1b
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why my entire life has been lived between Devon and London. The thin climatic golden zone between mosquitos to the south and midges to the north.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s main achievement was to build a railway network where the insects aren’t bitey (much).
Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s main achievement was to build a railway network where the insects aren’t bitey (much).
Met a lovely sherrif last night who told me that his wife used to follow me on Twitter until I posted a video of the kitchen window in Torridon crawling with midges.
November 15, 2025 at 5:21 PM
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why my entire life has been lived between Devon and London. The thin climatic golden zone between mosquitos to the south and midges to the north.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s main achievement was to build a railway network where the insects aren’t bitey (much).
Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s main achievement was to build a railway network where the insects aren’t bitey (much).
Reposted by Ceri Shields
The thing I despise is inhumanity. It’s not really a political position, it’s an existential one. But if your political party manoeuvres itself into a place where it practises and promotes inhumanity, I will despise you.
November 15, 2025 at 4:15 PM
The thing I despise is inhumanity. It’s not really a political position, it’s an existential one. But if your political party manoeuvres itself into a place where it practises and promotes inhumanity, I will despise you.
Reposted by Ceri Shields
Albertus at top, various animalia at the bottom. Poor bunny!
November 15, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Albertus at top, various animalia at the bottom. Poor bunny!
Reposted by Ceri Shields
This is the feast of Albertus Magnus, d. 1280, who wrote a LOT. BNF lat 6520 is a particularly pretty copy of his De animalibus from the early 15th century.
I'm interested in these high-end 15c MSS of Scholastic authors that use a ton of gold but also a fairly informal grade of Textualis.
I'm interested in these high-end 15c MSS of Scholastic authors that use a ton of gold but also a fairly informal grade of Textualis.
November 15, 2025 at 4:22 PM
This is the feast of Albertus Magnus, d. 1280, who wrote a LOT. BNF lat 6520 is a particularly pretty copy of his De animalibus from the early 15th century.
I'm interested in these high-end 15c MSS of Scholastic authors that use a ton of gold but also a fairly informal grade of Textualis.
I'm interested in these high-end 15c MSS of Scholastic authors that use a ton of gold but also a fairly informal grade of Textualis.
Pleasing visual literacy thread
Okay, I can't let this one go. I live in Ireland, not the UK, but the use of this image by a supposedly socialist party is so stupid and offensive, I'm going to get stuck in.
Let me explain to you why any experienced illustrator/designer could have stopped you making so many miserable mistakes. 1/
Let me explain to you why any experienced illustrator/designer could have stopped you making so many miserable mistakes. 1/
November 15, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Pleasing visual literacy thread
Reposted by Ceri Shields
Joking aside, I think ‘cultural cohesion’ is a particularly insidious idea. In the abstract a cohesive culture sounds like a good thing, but what its advocates always mean is that everyone has to be aggressively driven to be more and more narrowly like them. It is really cultural coercion.
Since it is apparently time to engineer cultural cohesion, we should set out a plan. The aim, of course, is that we should all ultimately adopt the culture native to Essex. It will need to be staged so in the first phase we will be requiring Yorkshire people to be more Scottish.
November 15, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Joking aside, I think ‘cultural cohesion’ is a particularly insidious idea. In the abstract a cohesive culture sounds like a good thing, but what its advocates always mean is that everyone has to be aggressively driven to be more and more narrowly like them. It is really cultural coercion.
My plan is to use Elon’s money to send him to Mars and preserve the light of human consciousness on Earth
November 15, 2025 at 11:33 AM
My plan is to use Elon’s money to send him to Mars and preserve the light of human consciousness on Earth
Reposted by Ceri Shields
Autumn leaf 1
Watercolour, approximately 75 × 130 mm.
Suggested musical accompaniment:
youtu.be/htnXgyBbiyg?....
Watercolour, approximately 75 × 130 mm.
Suggested musical accompaniment:
youtu.be/htnXgyBbiyg?....
November 13, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Autumn leaf 1
Watercolour, approximately 75 × 130 mm.
Suggested musical accompaniment:
youtu.be/htnXgyBbiyg?....
Watercolour, approximately 75 × 130 mm.
Suggested musical accompaniment:
youtu.be/htnXgyBbiyg?....
Reposted by Ceri Shields
![[Scene is a kitchen - a middle aged woman called JANET is boiling peas at the stove. A younger more colourfully dressed woman named LIZ approached her.]
JANET:
Ugh...
LIZ:
What's up?
JANET:
I am so bored of cooking peas!
LIZ:
Have you tried...
AI peas?
JANET:
AI peas?
LIZ:
They're peas with AI!
[Liz holds up to us a packet of peas labelled: Pea-i AI - Peas with AI].
LIZ:
Al-powered peas harness the potential of your peas
JANET:
What
LIZ [Now a voiceover as we cut to a whizzy technology diagram of peas all connected by meaningless dotted lines]
Why not take your peas to the next level with Al Peas' new Al tools to power your peas?
[Show a techno diagram of a pea with a label reading 'AI' pointing to a random zone in it]
LIZ:
Each pea has Al in a way we haven't quite worked out yet but it's fine
[Show Janet and Liz now in a Matrix-style world of peas]
LIZ:
With Al peas you can supercharge productivity and make AI work for your peas!
JANET:
What
LIZ:
Shut up
LIZ:
Our game-changing Pea-Al gives you the freedom to unlock the potential of the power of the future of your peas workflow
From opening the bag of peas
to boiling the peas
to eating the peas
To spending millions on adding Al to the peas and then having to work out what that even means.
JANET:
Is it really necessary to-
LIZ [Grabbing Janet by the collar]:
THE PEAS HAVE GOT AI, JANET
[Cut to an advert ending screen, with the bag of peas and the slogan:
AI PEAS: Just 'Peas' for god's sake buy the AI peas.
[Ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreiayqa37f7kik7l7s7fbtfp2sir5ckb662ry2lylinyjrfa2rkvvka@jpeg)
‘does the eye transmit information.’
*Finger hovers over reply button for a moment. Then moves to ‘block sender’ followed by ‘move to junk’.*
*Finger hovers over reply button for a moment. Then moves to ‘block sender’ followed by ‘move to junk’.*
Standing up in a beret and black rollneck at the next local poetry event, reading this and bringing the house down.
November 13, 2025 at 1:22 PM
‘does the eye transmit information.’
*Finger hovers over reply button for a moment. Then moves to ‘block sender’ followed by ‘move to junk’.*
*Finger hovers over reply button for a moment. Then moves to ‘block sender’ followed by ‘move to junk’.*
Reposted by Ceri Shields
When I visit these sorts of spots I imagine a Roman soldier in the 2nd century who might have arrived from north Africa or the Iberian Peninsula and suddenly found himself here in the middle of winter watching the sun rise and crawl along the horizon for a few hours before setting icily about 4:00…🥶
November 13, 2025 at 1:11 PM
When I visit these sorts of spots I imagine a Roman soldier in the 2nd century who might have arrived from north Africa or the Iberian Peninsula and suddenly found himself here in the middle of winter watching the sun rise and crawl along the horizon for a few hours before setting icily about 4:00…🥶
That water is probably cleaner now than it has been for decades, maybe centuries. I still wouldn’t dream of eating a fish from it, though 😬
November 13, 2025 at 1:02 PM
That water is probably cleaner now than it has been for decades, maybe centuries. I still wouldn’t dream of eating a fish from it, though 😬
‘I’m mixing with a guy who mixes with president X, prince Y and film star Z. I’m important!’
A lot of this tells us about the vapidness of the people drawn to Epstein as much as about Epstein himself.
(Predictive Text tried to change his name to Epstain 😂)
A lot of this tells us about the vapidness of the people drawn to Epstein as much as about Epstein himself.
(Predictive Text tried to change his name to Epstain 😂)
Something that’s so striking in these emails is how…unimpressive Epstein is. He comes off as a pompous, sub-literate lech. Yes everyone is so mortifyingly solicitous of him! All fawning and flattery! Why?????
November 13, 2025 at 12:44 PM
‘I’m mixing with a guy who mixes with president X, prince Y and film star Z. I’m important!’
A lot of this tells us about the vapidness of the people drawn to Epstein as much as about Epstein himself.
(Predictive Text tried to change his name to Epstain 😂)
A lot of this tells us about the vapidness of the people drawn to Epstein as much as about Epstein himself.
(Predictive Text tried to change his name to Epstain 😂)
Reposted by Ceri Shields
Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones said he realised he had to get straight re the drink & drugs when Keith Richards told him it was out of control. ‘When Keith Richards tells you you’re overdoing it you know it’s bad.’
This is the same vibe… but much, much, much worse.
This is the same vibe… but much, much, much worse.
November 13, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones said he realised he had to get straight re the drink & drugs when Keith Richards told him it was out of control. ‘When Keith Richards tells you you’re overdoing it you know it’s bad.’
This is the same vibe… but much, much, much worse.
This is the same vibe… but much, much, much worse.
Reposted by Ceri Shields
Ninian Stuart 😎
Also, when you see heavy bars on windows that far above the ground you know they mean it.
Also, when you see heavy bars on windows that far above the ground you know they mean it.
Falkland Palace and gardens looking glorious this morning. I had the immense privilege of being shown around (including hidden doors and rooms!) by the wonderful Hereditary Keeper, Ninian Stuart, whose love for this landscape and its history runs deep. But I was foolish enough not to bring a jumper!
November 12, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Ninian Stuart 😎
Also, when you see heavy bars on windows that far above the ground you know they mean it.
Also, when you see heavy bars on windows that far above the ground you know they mean it.
James Bond Jr. There, sorted.
(I have a strong instinct I would not watch that movie but then I suspect I am not the target demographic so it’s OK.)
(I have a strong instinct I would not watch that movie but then I suspect I am not the target demographic so it’s OK.)
Is Amazon labouring under the impression that viewers think the James Bond franchise is one continuous, unbroken timeline, with now holes or inconsistencies rendered there-in?
Report: Amazon Is Struggling to Think How to Bring James Bond Back From the Dead
Daniel Craig's permanent exit in 'No Time to Die' is apparently causing issues for the next 'Bond' film.
gizmodo.com
November 12, 2025 at 12:49 PM
James Bond Jr. There, sorted.
(I have a strong instinct I would not watch that movie but then I suspect I am not the target demographic so it’s OK.)
(I have a strong instinct I would not watch that movie but then I suspect I am not the target demographic so it’s OK.)
Reposted by Ceri Shields
To all the doubters, AI is so close to being perfect
Look my iphone helpfully transcribed a voice message left by my French mechanic
Look my iphone helpfully transcribed a voice message left by my French mechanic
November 12, 2025 at 11:16 AM
To all the doubters, AI is so close to being perfect
Look my iphone helpfully transcribed a voice message left by my French mechanic
Look my iphone helpfully transcribed a voice message left by my French mechanic
I have performed decades of research and my conclusion is that whereas the Spellchecker can be a lifesaver for people like me Autocorrect is an abomination and a curse on the entire project of human communication.
I have a feeling A.I. will turn out to be Autocorrect on stereo — agh! — steroids.
I have a feeling A.I. will turn out to be Autocorrect on stereo — agh! — steroids.
November 11, 2025 at 10:41 AM
I have performed decades of research and my conclusion is that whereas the Spellchecker can be a lifesaver for people like me Autocorrect is an abomination and a curse on the entire project of human communication.
I have a feeling A.I. will turn out to be Autocorrect on stereo — agh! — steroids.
I have a feeling A.I. will turn out to be Autocorrect on stereo — agh! — steroids.
Reposted by Ceri Shields
Reposted by Ceri Shields
BBC really burying the lede there
November 7, 2025 at 12:07 PM
BBC really burying the lede there
Instead of worrying about the Green Party’s doubtful maths skills let us bear in mind that every one of us has the power to reduce Elon Musk’s obscene payout by… simply not buying a Tesla.
Tesla have approved a $1 trillion pay package for Elon Musk. That's 20 billion times more than a nurse in the UK earns.
Don't let anyone tell you immigrants or disabled people are the problem. It's the richest 1% hoarding all the wealth.
Time to tax the super-rich properly.
Don't let anyone tell you immigrants or disabled people are the problem. It's the richest 1% hoarding all the wealth.
Time to tax the super-rich properly.
November 7, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Instead of worrying about the Green Party’s doubtful maths skills let us bear in mind that every one of us has the power to reduce Elon Musk’s obscene payout by… simply not buying a Tesla.