#LoveNotes22

#LoveNotes22

#LoveNotes22

Waking up on 24th Feb to events in Ukraine, my immediate response was to do something to lift the vibration of Love in the world. My partner, Jac, and I created #LoveNotes22 as a series of special edition prints to gift to you, so you can write your own message – to keep, or gift on, in whatever way you choose.

I want to honour the deeply personal response we all have to current world events and the deeply personal ways we experience and express both Love and Peace, whilst at the same time acknowledging our togetherness; the fact we are not alone and that we are ultimately OneHumanity. Each of us an individual flower, in a field of flowers.

#LoveNotes22 is an interactive art project which is evolving, as the situation in Ukraine is evolving, and as we speak to more people and respond to what people want.

We have three special edition prints currently:

Love – if you want to express Love, generally;

Любов – Love in Ukrainian  – if you want to send messages of Love and support to the people of Ukraine;

Peace – if you want to express messages of and for Peace.

If you want to post your note on social media – you can use the hashtag #LoveNotes22. We’ve put the prints in the public domain (CC BY 4.0) – you can copy and save the image from here –  just message us if you’d like the master image to print high-resolution copies yourself.

Many thanks to everyone who has contributed: I’m really grateful to everyone who has supported the project.

Much Love,

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#LoveNotes22

#LoveNotes22

#LoveNotes22

messages of Love

for a friend, a neighbour, a lover, a stranger…

for the people of Ukraine…
for Peace…

for yourself… to uplift and to comfort…

the artwork is a gift for you… you can make a note and do as you wish…
you can keep it or pass it on…

just a small way to connect and to remind us

Love is present.

Many thanks to Kings Place and the art gallery Pangolin London for supporting the #LoveNotes22 project. Thank you so much to everyone who stopped by and contributed. Many people send messages of heartfelt Love to the people of Ukraine. Some people had tears in their eyes as they wrote.

#LoveNotes is a collaborative project based on  Jac‘s DCNotes. We’ve made the  illustration publically available under the CC4.0 licence  . If you’d like the master image, to add your own message and print, please message us here:

Much Love,

 

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Teaching English Online

Teaching English Online

Happy Lunar New Year!

2020 is the year of the metal rat and it’s all about prosperity and new beginnings, this post is for those of you  who want to make some more money, working from anywhere, teaching English online to Chinese students.

I’ve just hit 300 hours teaching on PalFish and the team keeps asking me to recommend people! I started three months ago and it’s changed my life. Apart from the fact the students are wonderful, I just love working in Andalusia one day and London the next, quite seamlessly. It’s really helping me support my writing, financially, and I’m extremely grateful.

Lots of friends have asked me for details and I promised to post some links – so here we are – Happy Prosperous New Beginnings!

 

 

What do you need?

TEFL/TESOL certificate.

Get 80% off TEFL/TESOL coursesMost schools like you to be a native English speaker and you need to have  a qualification to teach English as a second language. The exam is not as daunting as you might think – you can use this link to get an 80% discount and the course will cost around £19 instead of £120.

I did the exam, intensively, within a week, with International Open Academy. It’s useful information and it helps you understand what’s required. My mentor got me a discount and I wouldn’t have been able to afford it otherwise. The price cut made a huge difference to me, so I got an affiliate link to pass on discounts to others. If you want to know any more information about the course and the exam please feel free to message me.

 

Online schools to apply to:

 

 

PalFish.

I am PalFishing – it’s fun and it’s a lovely community. You can teach adults and kids. I’m an official kids course teacher and this is my mentor link. PalFish teaching onlineI’m very happy to mentor you through the interview process – PalFish pay me, so you don’t need to. The teaching is done on an app and you get all the lesson plans. The interview process is quite intense and I do suggest you get a mentor if you want to go for it.  Your only allowed one application per phone number so you want to get it right. You earn around $10 per 25 min class plus bonuses. (The pay depends on how many classes you teach as there’s a points system.) Kids classes are mostly 5-9 pm Beijing time. On the downside you have to hustle a bit as there are a lot of teachers, so you spend quite a bit of time listening to students reading and posting material but it’s a lot of fun. The students are excellent, the teachers are lovely and really supportive and the admin team are great too. You don’t have to work exclusively with PalFish so you can work with other schools too. I’m going to post a lot more detail about the interview process and how the teaching system works. In the meantime, please message me if you want more information. I’m more than happy to help you in any way I can.

 

Cafetalk.

I’m also working with Cafetalk. I love this Japanese-based platform but I’ve only just started here. You can teach whatever your passionate about and pass on your skills and training. You can teach, music lessons, art lessons, yoga and meditaion, dance, even make-up lessons, as well as teaching straight language lessons. You prepare your lessons and you set your rates. On the downside, I think Cafetalk takes quite a high commission. The admin team are lovely and very supportive.. I’m really excited to be on this platform and I can’t wait to see how it develops, I think it will be a big journey.  I’ll keep you posted! I’ll write more about the interview process but in the meantime, please feel free to message me with any questions you have.

 

 

I’ll be updating this section – so check back for more information – or please message me below. Cheers! Ali.

 

 

 

Love  ♥  creating beautiful projects with beautiful people

Crisis at Christmas

Crisis at Christmas

Love’s Present at  Christmas

Having just come out of a deeply loving relationship, with little cash for presents and not nearly enough money to travel to Scotland to be with my family, I’m stressed about the holiday season and I’m missing my ex. I have wonderful children and beautiful friends but I know I’d be terrible company – either maudlin or pissed – and I opt to volunteer at a shelter for homeless women.

I feel like a fraud because the only difference between me and a homeless person is a benevolent landlady and I’m aware I’m volunteering for selfish reasons to avert my own crisis at Christmas. I’m accepted for two shifts when I fill in the online form and I’m in – but in for what? I have no idea what to expect.

The training session gives some clues – I arrive late and the venue is packed, “Who are all these people?” I wonder. I surreptitiously look around but can’t get a handle on it, they seem to be all different ages and from a whole load of cultural backgrounds. I’m amazed so many people are all here to help the charity Crisis at Christmas and the speaker explains there are 8 thousand volunteers in all, this is the largest voluntary project in Europe.  Homelessness is not just rough sleeping but they estimate 4000 people slept out on the streets in London last year and he describes how that feels.

“The person tries to make themselves invisible to save them from being kicked by drunks passing by later, who find that entertaining.”

The person tries to make themselves as small as possible. They try to protect their possessions as best they can, as these belongings mean the world to them. If they have a sleeping bag, they’ll put their stuff deep inside and they will try to make themselves invisible to save them from being kicked by drunks passing by later, who find that entertaining. I want to cry. I’ve thought about people facing the rain, the cold, and other external factors, but I’ve never really thought about how it feels to be inside that person’s body.

The guy giving the presentation explains many of the people coming to the centre want to be with their families so he reminds us not to bang on about our families, as it’s a bit insensitive. I want to cry again,  partly for them and partly for me! I feel desire for my ex all over again – I still want to be with him and I’d love to spend Christmas with his family but we’ve had a heart-to-heart and he’s told me, while he loves me, he doesn’t think we can form a long term relationship.

The reasons the homeless people are in the situation they are in is complex, the speaker explains, and I’m not going to solve their problems in a couple of days but, he says, it’s amazing the difference Love can make. Just by just sitting with someone, taking time to chat, play scrabble, you can help a person find the place within where they Love themselves, where they feel equal and valued members of our society no matter what their circumstances. That can make all the difference, he says, as it means they’ll find the inner strength to make it to an appointment, an AA meeting, whatever it is they need to do to take their next step. Whichever tasks I am given on the day, my primary purpose is to give Unconditional Love.

But the day before my shift I’m not feeling Love – I’m fearful and anxious instead. I think about asking my friends to send Love to me and in my meditation I ask for so much Unconditional Love this Christmas my heart will be full to overflowing and I will have lots to pass on. And then I get the answer! It’s so obvious and so easy! It’s what all the books have been telling me!

The way to get Love is to give Love. It’s not about asking people to send me Unconditional Love, it’s about me Loving them Unconditionally so I feel the feeling of Love in my body, so much, my actions are inspired and I can be a flow-er of Love.

I realise how lucky I am to have so many brilliant people in my life who inspire me to Love, they don’t have to do anything, as Unconditional Love makes no requirements or demands, just by being themselves they are part of the flow and they’re helping the homeless too. Volunteering is already an amazing experience, and it hasn’t even started yet.

Just Love

As it turns out I needn’t have worried – when  I walk into what would otherwise seem like some random girl’s school in North London it’s absolutely buzzing and  I’m immediately infected with the atmosphere of pure Love and joy. It’s impossible to feel otherwise.

My team leader explains she’s a volunteer too and we’re all in this together. She says some ladies are high maintenance, they might ask for a towel, when they’ve already asked for five towels already, she explains why this is – well, one lady in particular, she doesn’t want to tell us what other guests have witnessed her go through, but she says it’s fair to say she has been treated worse than a dog, on the streets.

She explains lots of other things too, If I’m on cleaning duty, I might see a lady surrounded by things which look like rubbish to me but sometimes a paper cup is all that lady has and it’s precious to her, so not to move it without her permission. I feel so grateful for the guidance.

I have a number of tasks throughout my shift.  All day long people are coming in and out of the centre, people come to perform, to sing, take dance classes, entertain. Some of the classrooms have been transformed into bedrooms, the school ballet studio is now a spa area. People come to give haircuts, massage, manicures. Dentists and doctors are on site, opticians give eye tests. One lady shows me her new glasses, they look really cool and she loves the attention, she’s radiant. There’s a whole room full of donated clothes and I have such a laugh finding outfits for the ladies as they glam-up for  Christmas Day Lunch.

Some of my tasks are quiet, there’s not much to do manning the luggage area but you always work with a co-volunteer and usually a guest pops by for a chat.  My co-worker on this task  is a young model who’s had so much success this year, travelling to Japan and throughout Europe and she’s got a ticket to New York – this is her dream come true, so she’s helping the homeless this Christmas to give something back. I think she’s incredible. I feel a little jealous of her flourishing of youth when everything is still possible and recall my own mad trips to New York when I was a late teen. But then I realise nothing’s changed –  in many ways I’m still living a crazy, fun adventure and I connect with her energy and reconnect with that part of myself. That’s a real gift I’ve received. Just there. I have so many amazing conversations about spirituality, shamanism, living in the moment, Love, relationships, life, all sorts of stuff. It’s great because I’m meeting so many different women and I don’t think I would have met them otherwise.

She’s such a beautiful woman, quite elderly and even in her desperation she radiates a sense of dignity alongside her defiance.

I connect most deeply with the most vulnerable guest. She has peed on the sofa. My team leader explains she did the same last year, it’s because she’s been treated as an animal on the streets she’s behaving like on. This is her way of claiming her territory, making the sofa and the centre her home. She’s such a beautiful woman, quite elderly and even in her desperation she radiates a sense of dignity alongside her defiance.  Her clothes obviously need to be washed but we don’t have laundry facilities at our centre. So my co-volunteer and I are in the showers doing our best to clean them, we are trying really hard to get a fresh smell into the clothes and it’s proving really difficult. I understand these clothes are all this lady has and I am trying to feel what she’s going through and I’m filled with so much gratitude. I realise I take fresh smelling clothes for granted. My co-worker reckons she’s good at handwashing because her mum washed clothes by hand and I’m explaining my mum had a twin tub, and here we are wringing out the lady’s dress and her end has loads of water running out and my puny efforts are only getting a trickle and we are laughing so much! Our mothers are with us in spirit and in our hearts – I could never have imagined hand washing urine out of someone’s clothes could be so much fun!  I feel such Love  I manage my tasks with ease,  and lest I forget for a moment, I just need to look around at everyone else and see their smiles and loving gestures and they show me the way.

Even desperate situations can be turned around, the vulnerable lady’s really grateful and I sense she feels a little more secure. She asks me to join her for Christmas dinner and as we’re talking I get what she has done for me, how much she has given me. I realise it can’t have been easy for her to ask me to wash her few belongings, it can’t be easy to put yourself in such a place of vulnerability before a stranger. There’s no facade there whatsoever, no facade left to hide behind. And I understand by just being her and by being vulnerable before me she has taught me to be ok in my vulnerability, to be me, all of me, the bits I don’t like, the bits I wish were different and to accept myself in this moment for who I am, in my entirety, in whichever situation I find myself in. This is such a blessing.

I have a hoot with another guest, who tells me stories about how she designed clothes for legends in the music world, in the sixties. She’s a great spirit and so well read and interesting to be around. She wants to watch ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ on TV so we are sitting together laughing aloud. What an inspirational lady, when you can laugh like that even when life has taken such an apparent downturn. That’s another amazing teaching I receive, yet another gift.  I’m having such a giggle I don’t realise my shift has finished but when I look around I don’t recognise the other volunteers, the night shift has arrived, it all works like clockwork and  I feel sad to leave.

My team leaders are working hard to get everyone into accommodation by the end of the month. I hope they manage. I don’t like to think of the ladies being back out on the streets again. When we part we say, “Hope not to see you next year” and we chuckle.  I know they will always be in my heart. I am profoundly grateful for their honesty, courage, inspiration and teachings, for all of gifts I have received. I’m already playing with my new presents, being more vulnerable, before myself and before others, more open, enjoying life and remembering it’s all a big adventure.

When I collect my coat I see my ex texted at five past midnight to wish me a Happy Christmas and to tell me he’s thinking of me. That feels sweet and he fancies a chat but I’m so tired I can’t talk! I feel happy, so grateful for this whole experience and what it has taught me. Today is right up there as one of the top ten days in my life.

I volunteered for Crisis at Christmas a few years back – if you have a similar experience or you’d like to share please comment or feel free to get in touch.

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Making a billboard

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Let’s    Love

Photography credits:

Peter Clarkson: Homeless London – Main image                                  David East: Portals of  Light – sidebar

Andreea Popa: No Fun Home                                                                   Jon Tyson:  Cannot Face It – sidebar

Francesco Tommasini: Street Prayers                                                    Zac Ong: New York for rent – sidebar

Yuval Levy: Down in the depths                                                               Jon Tyson:  Blue – sidebar

Jac Depczyk:  All photos unless otherwise credited                              Matt Collamer: Seeking kindness – sidebar

Photography credits:

Peter Clarkson: Homeless London

Andreea Popa: No Fun Home

Francesco Tommasini: Street Prayers

Yuval Levy: Down in the depths

David East: Portals of  Light – sidebar

Jon Tyson:  Cannot Face It – sidebar

Zac Ong: New York for rent – sidebar

Jon Tyson:  Blue – sidebar

Matt Collamer: Seeking kindness – sidebar

Jac Depczyk:  All photos unless otherwise credited                             

Graffiti Icon for About Ali Lochhead and alilochhead.com
Graffiti Icon for About Ali Lochhead and alilochhead.com
Graffiti Icon for About Ali Lochhead and alilochhead.com
Graffiti Photography Widget Icon for alilochhead.com Original Image shot by Jac Depczyk at his studio in London. Copyright (c) 2015 Jac Depczyk. All rights reserved. This image can be licenced here: https://www.gettyimages.com/license/598720127

Paris

Paris

Paris

working in Paris, it’s such an elegant city, the architecture is so beautiful and whether we’re taking pictures or I’m writing there’s always a sense of the great talent which walked before you, the city’s just steeped in culture. I’m lucky to be here quite often with my beloved and I just adore it, even though it’s becoming noticeably  more run down in places,  and has some obvious troubles, Paris is always beautiful.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Paris Metro

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#talkingpeace

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Strangers

Fun Making

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Graffiti Photography Widget Icon for alilochhead.com Original Image shot by Jac Depczyk at his studio in London. Copyright (c) 2015 Jac Depczyk. All rights reserved. This image can be licenced here: https://www.gettyimages.com/license/598720127

#IAmLove

#IAmLove

So saddened by the Pittsburgh shootings and so much turmoil in the world, I’m doing some extra meditations on Love.

When world events are so awful, and it’s tempting to veer into fear, affirming our Loving nature helps restore Peace and intensifies the vibration of Love for those who choose to connect.

Let’s make an extra effort to be more kind, more considerate, more compassionate and bring more Love into the world. Let’s Love. #IAmLove

Photography credits:

oldskool photography: white rose

Jac Depczyk:  All photos unless otherwise credited (we’ve been busy!)

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Making a billboard

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Let’s    Love

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You Are Beautiful #MeToo

You Are Beautiful #MeToo

You Are Beautiful

#MeToo

Dear sisters who are hurting,

Dear sisters who feel unacknowledged, unheard ~

Let’s rise up.

Let’s rise above this pain and suffering,

Let’s hold hands and with one voice,

Let’s Love.

 I acknowledge you, I behold your true beauty,

As I acknowledge the beauty within me.

OneLove.

Dear sisters who are hurting,

Dear sisters who feel unacknowledged, unheard ~

Let’s rise up.

Let’s rise above this pain and suffering,

Let’s hold hands and with one voice,

Let’s Love.

 I acknowledge you, I behold your true beauty,

As I acknowledge the beauty within me.

OneLove.

#SisterLove

#SisterLove

 

Photography credits:

Jac Depczyk:  All photos unless otherwise credited (we’ve been busy!)

Ulv Andreasson/Denis Karpenkov: Rose TextCard image ©deniskarpenkov

Kien Do – thanks for curating the rose image in the header.

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Ali Lochhead Blog graffiti widget icon. Origianal photograph of Ali Lochhead in Paris, shot by Jac Depczyk ©JacDepczyk2015 available for licence at https://www.gettyimages.com/license/598720089 cheers!

first date

first date

Diary

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Love  ♥  creating beautiful projects with beautiful people

Love  🖤  creating beautiful projects with beautiful people

Making a Billboard

Making a Billboard

Making a billboard

It’s on some list of things to do before I die but making a billboard is not a box I’m likely to tick so I ignore the email when it arrives, inviting me to apply to be featured in an Airbnb campaign, assuming it’s a mass mail. It takes a while for me to realise it’s for real and I still think I’ll get a standard rejection.

I’m dozing in bed, it’s Sunday morning, when Rachel, the producer, calls.

“We’ll be there on Wednesday, there’ll be eleven of us all together…. You’ll be photographed by Tim Barber, do you know Tim’s work?”

“No, sorry…” I’m a sleepyhead.

“Oh look him up, he’s one of the most sought-after photographers in the world right now… he’s done Adidas, Nike, Levi’s… oh he’s done loads of stuff -check him out…”

On the morning of the shoot I’m gripped by panic and I’m really not sure I can do this… Jac goes out and buys me the most gorgeous flowers and we put them in my studio, like a secret little love sign. There are other secret love signs too…

When the crew turns up… there are so many people – they even have a tour bus parked round the corner! I’m taken away to have my skirt steam pressed and to have my face ironed out too – and as I walk onto the coach I feel fear creeping through me, taking over every part of my body – I almost have a seizure… it seems like a quite a big deal…

Amanda, beautiful soul, puts me at ease and we’re chatting about men, sharing all our life stories – as you do – while she’s applying her talented touch with her make-up brushes,  and I start enjoying myself. They have a buffet on the bus too and it becomes a lot of fun!

I still expect the film will land on the cutting room floor – I’m thrilled the picture makes the final cut.

I’m always looking for ways to fund my writing and Jac lets me mangage his properties on Airbnb to support my creavity.

PHOTOGRAPHY

London at Night

INTERVIEW

ART

Photography credits:

Tim Barber

Jac Depczyk:  All photos unless otherwise credited (we’ve been busy!)

 

Fun Making

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Graffiti Photography Widget Icon for alilochhead.com Original Image shot by Jac Depczyk at his studio in London. Copyright (c) 2015 Jac Depczyk. All rights reserved. This image can be licenced here: https://www.gettyimages.com/license/598720127

Perpetual Warrior

Perpetual Warrior

Perpetual Warrior

Jac’s painting the set when I have an impulse to pick up a brush and smear paint on my face.
“Hey, what do you think?” I ask.
“Well you’ve done it now,” he says, joining in the fun.

We both forget black acrylic paint is not a good hair treatment and it’s not too kind on the skin either but luckily it all comes off!

This is  one of my favourtie shoots with Jac because we find our creative style and I love the way he lights up the shield.

PHOTOGRAPHY

London at Night

INTERVIEW

#talkingpeace

ART

Strangers

Fun Making

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Bubble Wrapped

Bubble Wrapped

Bubble Wrapped

I guess it’s part of the package, hanging out with a photographer…

I’m  reluctant  but Jac’s really keen and so here is our first ever photo shoot and joint creative enterprise. (We met on a dating site a few weeks earlier. )   Hilariously, my foray into stock shot photography debuts on Getty Images as “Anxious mature woman dressed in bubble wrap” – the things I do to support my writing (and to please a new date!).

 

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Perpetual Warrior

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Love  Life

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Ali Lochhead Blog graffiti widget icon. Origianal photograph of Ali Lochhead in Paris, shot by Jac Depczyk ©JacDepczyk2015 available for licence at https://www.gettyimages.com/license/598720089 cheers!