I stumbled across the wonderful work of Artist/Illustrator and self confessed geek Johnny Joannou aka “On A Sixpence” recently and I thought I’d share with you all. I caught up with Johnny to find out about his work and inspiration.
So tell me about yourself?
I’d describe myself as a self taught geek artist, “On a Six Pence” is my first attempt to consolidate my all geeky interests. I’ve always loved sport, numbers and good design.
Why Periodic table artworks?
I collected wall charts as a youngster, I’ve always found them aesthetically pleasing. I decided to see if I could produce art versions of them.
What’s the design process?
I plan and sketch them out on paper before moving to the computer to lay them out. Next I learnt how to print with the help of a local group. My main goal was to produce a lovely piece of art that I would be willing to hang in my own home. Each image is a high quality giclée print, on a luxurious heavy weight Hahnemühle fine art paper.
What is your favourite piece?
My favourite piece, ‘le tour des Merveilles’, is a visual tribute to the Tour, using the iconic periodic table as the framework. My father is very keen cyclist (it’s his bike in the main photo), so cycling knowledge has always been around me, but it was the idea of a cycling twitterer who had seen my previous works covering football teams. The prints show every winner of the Tour de France, with distance covered and average speed. I used colours based on a beautiful Parisian poster from Meteore the bicycle manufacture.
I now make it possible for people to buy personalised prints by including an addition cell to include information about the client or recipient.
So what’s next?
Response from the cycling community has been wonderful, I’ve been amazed at what a friendly, positive and always supportive lot the cycling community are . At the moment I am finishing the Giro D’Italia print. I’ve also been asked to produce a Giro Donne print. I will be updating the Tour de France print when the current tour finishes. I’m hoping to produce a periodic table for every major sport! I’m always open to new ideas so if the Cycling Shorts readers have any suggestions I’d love to hear them!
A few weeks ago my boyfriend Jetse and I did a short visit to Mallorca, he had to do an intense block of training and the guys from Performance United have their training base there so I was excited to catch up with my sister Sofia!
It was impossible not to fall in love with the place, with those amazing views and all the mountains! We arrived at Sofia’s apartment in Alaró, such a nice little town.
Very close to her apartment is the Team House, the boys of the team live there and they also have a weight lifting room, with all the necessary equipment for track riders along with the fantastic watt bikes, and you can’t miss the flags of Ireland, USA, Turkey, Mexico and Spain decorating the room.
Sofia Arreola
We had time to catch up a little bit there with coach Andy Sparks while he was showing us the place and telling us all the advantages that came with training in Mallorca, he even invited Jetse for a ride with the guys.
To me it was clear why my sister doesn’t want to come back to train in Mexico after only a few hours of being there, the Island is really special for bike rides!!! But I was so excited and looking so much forward to go to the track and see the guys in action!
Andy Sparks
But that didn’t happen until the last day, meanwhile we had time to do some training, enjoy the sun and the beach and we even went for dinner with Jennie Reed and her hubby Brandon Madden, I have to admit I’m such a big fan of Jennie since long time ago when she was a sprinter but this is the first time I’d actually met her and had time to get to know her.
When I asked her, why did she make the change from sprinting to endurance she said she was looking for a new challenge and I think instead Jennie’s creating a challenge to other teams as she rocks in the team pursuit even as much as she did as a sprinter!
Anyways back to the track… The Palma Arena is such a cool place, the track is beautiful and you can feel the great atmosphere at their training sessions, you can hear everyone cheering for each other while they’re doing there efforts and giving tips to each other to improve… its just priceless! But I have to say the biggest supporters at the track are Brandon Madden and Kirk Bausch (husbands of Jennie Reed and Dotsie Bausch) you can hear they screaming “GO, GO, GO!!!” during the whole training.
While Sarah Hammer and Jennie Reed have basically made Mallorca their second home the rest of the Team Pursuit girls (Lauren Tamayo and Dotsie Bausch) come in special periods during the year, this time they were all together as they’re getting ready for London and yes… they are looking STRONG!
Other riders in the team also preparing for London are Martyn Irvine (Ireland) and David Muntaner (Spain), while Recep Unalan (Turkey) and Sofia Arreola (Mexico) are making next year’s World Cup season their major focus.
Coach Andy is looking very optimistic about the Games and I’m sure the boys and girls will get amazing results there, so excited to see them racing and I even got special t-shirts to support them along the way!
What makes 2000 plus cyclists of all levels venture out on to the roads and head out on the ambitious ride between London Fields in Hackney and Dunwich on the Suffolk coast? I’m sure a lot of cyclists asked themselves that same question at one point between Saturday night and Sunday morning which was when the ride took place.
I think to ask that question we need to evaluate the question, why do we cycle? What aspect of it makes us happy? I think one thing we can all agree on is that our agenda for cycling is totally different?
It was my second Dunwich Dynamo, did the first one last year and my experience of that was truly a roller-coaster… This year I decided to do it again, but this time around raising money for the charity Trees for Cities
TOGETHER WE’RE STRONGER
As a London cyclist where we’re used to constantly being pushed around, where the majority of motorists complain about cyclists and believe they don’t belong in the city, it was for sure a different picture on Saturday evening as we left the city, a large field of cyclists who adhered to traffic rules and stopped at red lights and kept to the left wherever possible just as it should be. When you are as large as we were motorists know that they can’t bully you, some had even engaged and showed an interest in what we were doing.
JUST LIKE THE TOUR DE FRANCE
As we were rolling out of the city waiting to get past congestion and traffic lights so we could spread and really start pedalling, I couldn’t help making comparisons with the Tour de France which I’m a great fan of and really is the base and were the beginning of my passion for cycling started. I used to get up in the morning with my brother, sit glued to the TV screen and watch the beginning of the gruelling mountain stages, as the riders were rolling up the first mountain they were laughing and chatting – they all knew what a hard day of torture it would be. That was how it was like on Saturday as we were rolling out of London we were joking and catching up but deep inside we knew at one point we would be close to being broken both mentally and physically. When darkness had fallen and you really were in the middle of nowhere and there’s only one way… and that’s forward. When you start fearing, when will I hit the wall and what happens when I do? One unnerving sign is when your cycling partner stops talking to you and all you get back in reply when asking if they are OK is ”Yes”.
LOCAL SUPPORT
Going back to my point about the Tour de France, you really feel like a professional athlete when the local people stand on the streets or peer from their balconies and windows cheering and spurring you on. That gives you the extra 10% that could be crucial at that point even though the comment I heard ”Come on you guys you’re nearly there” can be slightly misleading and optimistic when there is still 40km to go. This year along the route several candles had been put in place along the route, I would like to believe that they had been put there just for us but what a tremendous amount of work that most have been.
THE CONNECTION WITH NATURE
As a kid I remember the majority of things we did as a family were on bikes, and that was only back in the eighties. I recognise that today’s modernised society is beneficial in many ways but I am seriously worried that we’re losing our connections with nature. I still believe as I always have that our beautiful now very fragile planet is best experienced on 2 wheels rather than 4 wheels, of course I know that there are certain trips that it’s necessary to make in a car.
As darkness slowly changed to dawn you cannot even begin to describe the sensations that you experience, but you just don’t have the energy to fully appreciate and absorb the moment. From when you hear the first chirps of the beautiful bird songs, to cycling past elderflower bushes from which there is still flowers to pick, and the blackberry bushes which I’m impatiently waiting to fruit, it all took me back to my childhood to when I used to go out picking with my parents. I can’t help but think that today’s generations of children are seriously missing out if their parents are not doing that with them. I also thought about the charity I’m supporting Trees for Cities, how happy it made me to see the lush greenery and the biodiversity it must be supporting and while my reasons were purely because of environmental concerns I realised it also brings a great deal of happiness, there’s no reason cities should be any different. When we live in a big city like London we can often forget how important tress are to us. In fact they’re vital to our livelihoods they give us Oxygen, they suck out pollution and they also help us deal with floods and heat.
CONCLUSION
It was the 20th Dunwich Dynamo, a big thanks should go out to the organisers Southwark Cyclists I find it astonishing that they can keep this completely cost-free. Thanks to all the pit stops along the way, to all the brilliant people out supporting the riders. And let us not forget to keep protecting our beautiful countryside so we can continue to cycle in these breathtaking surroundings. At the beginning of the blog I asked why someone would do the Dunwich Dynamo, I hope I have given you an answer, it’s why I did it!
Are you a Velo Sister?
Well if you live in London and are of the female persuasion why the hell not!?
The cyclist and women’s cycling attire designer Anna Glowinski of AnaNichoola has started up a British Cycling affiliated club for like minded ladies. It will be sponsored by the AnaNichoola brand. It’s early days but Anna says she’s currently working on designs for the club strip and if her past and present clothing and accessory ranges are anything to go by then it should be stunning (no pressure Anna). As you may know from previous reviews Nancy and I both ride in AnaNichoola clothing.
So if you are in the general area why not come along for the ride and be part of the club from the starting gun, they’re a relaxed bunch.
The club meets weekly for training rides in Regents Park, London – all abilities are welcome. The rides follow a chain-gang format led by the MuleBar Girls, giving the riders a chance to learn bunch riding skills and after a gentle group warm-up the riders split into groups according to speed. In the fastest group ladies can get in some race training and in the slowest group no member is left behind. In true MuleBar Girl style, there is a social at the pub after each session.
If you are involved with or run a cycling club or team, male/female, any age, discipline or country then please get in touch with Cycling Shorts, we’d love to hear from you. We want to tell our readers worldwide about what you get up to and where and feature it in a new club & team section on the website.
Free gloves and discount for members from AnaNichoola and Club jerseys and badges coming soon when you sign up!
When and where:
*every Monday in Summer daylight hours 7-8 pm, Regent’s Park
*Meet at the bandstand by the inner circle
*If you are late find us riding around the inner circle
*Feel free to post any rides you are doing to see if any of the Velo Sisters want to join you
You have heard me mention the lovely folk at Wheels for Wellbeing before in a blog last year. The charity helps people with and without disabilities into cycling, hand cycling and other non-traditional cycling activities. Because of the serious hard work the team and volunteers have put in it’s been shortlisted for the National Lottery top 10 funded sports projects.
We want to try and help them win so we are asking our readers to take one moment of their time and click to vote for WfW. Your vote could win them a £2000 cheque and an appearance on British National TV. You don’t need me to tell you just how useful that sort of money and exposure is for a charity in these hard time. So please take a minute to click and vote, don’t forget to tell your friends to vote to!
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