And the winner is...

On Saturday evening we sat eagerly awaiting the lottery draw. The first number came out... We matched it! The second number came out... Oh no! It didn't match. Sadly, none of the others matched either. So no luxury mansion and posh car this weekend.

With nothing much else on TV we got round to talking about what art we would buy if we had won the lottery. With a few million pounds, there wouldn't be much that was out of our price range. And with so many interesting artists and such a wide variety of art, coming up with a single choice would seem impossible. Eventually we decided to pick two items each, not necessarily our favourites but something we would enjoy having around to look at, feel and admire.

Vince's first choice was Three Elements by Ronald Bladon. This minimalist sculpture is formed from three plywood trapezoids stood on end at an angle of 65 degrees.

"I like the simplicity and strength of the slabs," said Vince. "And the way they defy gravity."

Three Elements

Vince's second item was a more classical choice, The Hunters In The Snow by Pieter Brueghel the Elder. This picture has so much detail and reflects the hardships of the time it depicts. The story it tells is full of historical insight, social issues and symbolism. A very interesting picture.

The Hunters In The Snow

"I think I would choose one of Edward Bawden's linocuts," said Vicky. "Perhaps one of the rarer ones like 'Campions and Columbine'. I like the simplicity, the style and the Britishness of his works."

Campions and Columbine

Another artist whose work Vicky admires is Marc Chagall. "I love his folksy depictions of animals and people as well as the bright bold colours. As I have a fondness for cats I would choose 'Paris through the Window' as my second picture."

Paris through the Window

Even if our luck was in and these works came up for sale, we would probably only win a tenner on the lottery. Still, it was fun discussing and choosing what we would do if we did get lucky.

Exploded Art

We were intrigued by the story on Newsbeat about a Mercedes Formula 1 racing car being "exploded" into a work of art. "We could do that," said Vince and promptly grabbed his toolbox and headed for the study.

The old Canon NP6016 photocopier that had been lying around for several years quickly became a pile of plastic, metal and electronic circuits. The challenge was then to arrange everything in its relative position and find a way to suspend it for display.

Not having a purpose-built frame to hang the hundreds of bits from, the washing line became an emergency stand-in. And it was back to the study to find a ball of string to suspend the components. However, we were only able to hang half a dozen pieces due to the weight threatening to snap the line.

Vince said, "Copiers are used by millions of people and they normally only see a plastic box with a lid. This exploded view shows them the heart of the machine in an unusual and artistic way. I call it 'Hang The Copier'."

The display makes the copier look like it has been frozen in time, except when a breeze blows and moves the bits around. It took about three hours to dismantle the parts and create the work of art, but that's nothing compared to the thousands of man-hours needed to design and build the original machine.

The parts are (from left to right):

Frame side panel

Main control circuit

Assortment of brackets

Operating panel

Cleaning brush

Prismatic triangulating focal reflector assembly

Supplementary toroidal quantum energy converter

Sadly, it looks like the sculpture will have to be dismantled as there is now a pile of freshly washed towels waiting to be dried.

Vicky and Vince,

Love Your Art

ps. Here is a previous version of an exploded F1 car.