As a child I remember times when I could not get off to sleep and my parents would say that all you needed to do was count sheep. With that, they would get up, turn my bedside lamp off for me and walk through the darkened bedroom, gently closing my bedroom door behind them. Then I would lay, with my eyes tightly shut and count one…two…three…four… and so on. Sometimes I would get to an almighty-high number and give up and think of something else.

The late and great Jake Thackray also knew a lot about ‘counting sheep’ and describes in one of his songs, a quirky, local, Swaledale (Yorkshire) method of counting sheep in his song  Old Molly Metcalf, (courtesy of YouTube upload) the counting method is thus:

“Yan, Chan, Tether, Mether, Pip, Azar, Sazar, Akka, Cotta, Dik, Yanadik, Channadik, Thetheradik, Metheradik, Bumfit, Yanabum, Chanabum, Thetherabum, Metherabum, Jiggit”. It’s weird and wonderful and I have never met anyone yet who has not laughed wholeheartedly.

Now I know that “Counting Sheep” really does help you get to sleep and may help your unrelenting insomnia. I found this new product which just might do the trick. It’s not available from your local chemist or pharmacist, but if you hunt it down, you might be able to find it at your local off-license, pub, or drive-through bottle shop.  It’s called “Counting Sheep” and it’s a Sauvignon Blanc wine from the Marlborough region in New Zealand. It works like this- you undo the bottle, pour enough of the contents into a wine glass, drink and replenish your empty glass until you feel sleepy. Go straight to bed and you will find by the next morning that you have slept quite well. Thus, you will find it to be an excellent way of getting to sleep by merely “Counting Sheep“.

So, what has this got to do with art? I hear you question. Well, there has to be someone running around, going to job interviews with portfolios of their artwork saying, “Here’s one I did for a New Zealand wine company“, therefore the artwork on the label must surely be art.  OK, it’s “Questionable Art” but I have decided to categorize this as “Good”, rather than “Bad” or “Ugly”. For further examples of “Good” Questionable art check out my page here.

“Let me be weak, let me sleep and Dream Of Sheep,  words  from “And Dream of Sheep” from Kate Bush’s  album “Hounds of Love” (1985).

Now, where did I put that glass of wine? “Oh yes, …over here!”

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“Is It Art?”